The Sun.
London, England, 1845-12-31 00:00:00

LITERATURE.

THE CABINET HISTORY OF ENGLAND ;
being an Abridgment, by the Author, of the Chapters
eutiVed " Civil and Military History" in the " Pictorial
History of England." Vols. X. and XL By Charles
Mae Farlane.
These volumes contain the greater part of the his-
tory of James 1., with that of his unfortunate son, up
to the famous Remonstrance passed by the Commons

in the sixteenth year of his reign, when his power
and authority were gone, and preparations were made
on both sides for settling all differences by an appeal
to the sword. The reign of Charles I. forms the most
important era of English history. During that period
was commenced the great struggle against the
despotic power of the sovereign, and the foundations
were laid of that constitutional liberty which has long
been the boast of this island. It is, therefore, of great
importance that facts involving such consequences
should be correctly stated and fully elucidated, and
the more so as they have hitherto been greatly
obscured or grossly distorted, and written rather to
serve party purposes, or suit personal prejudices,
than to lay open the real causes of the revo-
lution, and point to succeeding generations the
debt of gratitude they owe to the Pyms, and
Hampdens, and Eliots, and the calumniated Puritans.
Hume, with all,his great abilities, his apparent impar-
tiality, and his clear insight into the motives which
generally actuated mankind, has failed in this part of
his history, and to a certain extent cast an odium upon
the Parliamentary leaders which they little merit.
He has done justice to their splendid talents, their
consummate skill in forming and carrying into effect
their plans—he admits even their patriotism in re-
sisting arbitrary power, and cannot deny that to the
Puritans we are indebted for the most valuable
privileges we enjoy as freemen ; but still his praises
are evidently forced, and he endeavours to lower
these men in public estimation by turning into ridi-
cule some of their speeches, and by inveighing against
their fanaticism and hypocrisy. That, however, is
not the only defect in his history. His partiality to
the Stuarts, and the pity which he excites for the fate
of the unfortunate sovereign who made war upon
his people to defend what he calls his pre-
rogative, but which all impartial men call despotic
power, tended much to lower the character of the op-
posite party even among good reformers, and to de-
stroy all their merit in the eyes of the High Church
party. His prepossessions in favour of that worthless
race of kings blinded a mind otherwise so clear and
unbiassed, and made him palliate, or deny, or excuse
crimes, which ought to meet with universal reproba-
tion. Even in the history of that contemptible and
vulgar sovereign, James 1., this partiality is most
glacing. He tells us, of course, what he could not
'conceal—that he was desperately attached to young
favourites, that he conferred on them the highest
honours, and loaded them with wealth; that they, in
fact, were his chief councillors, though they followed
each other in rapid succession, and that such a
stranga propensity caused general offence
and scandal, while at the same time he not
only throws a veil over his crimes, but asserts what
few persons now believe, that these propensities had
eothing in them "immoral or flagitious." The trial,
conviction, and pardon of the greatest of his favour-
ites, Somerset and his profligate wife, for the murder
of Sir Thomas Overbury, are briefly described, and
made to appear as little injurious to the king as pos-
sible, though nothing can be more fatal to his
character than the whole scene of this man's life at
court. The favourite seduced this woman while the
wife of the injured Essex, the king granted his royal
permission for a divorce, the guilty pair, with the
king's consent also were married, and though they
wereguilty of an atrocious murder, for which many
of the other accomplices suffered death at Tyburn,
they were pardoned a few weeks after conviction, and
the king settled on Somerset the splendid income of
40,0001. a year for life. This extraordinary conduct
is attributed to some secret cause, to some ap-
prehensiorts of the king's that Somerset
might make fearful disclosures, and the whole
history of the trial confirms the worst suspicions.
Somerset for some time absolutely refused to submit
to a trial, told Sir George More, the Lieutenant of the
Tower, that he should carry him to 'Westminster Hall
by force in his bed, and that the king durst not bring
Lim to trial. The rest of the strange scene is thus
graphically described by the author of this excellent
history :
" This language made More quiver and shake ; . . .
yet away goes More to Greenwich, as late as it was,
being twelve at night, and bounces up the back-stairs as
if mad.' The king, who was in bed, on hearing what
the Lieutenant had to say, fell into a passion of tears,
and said, On my soul, More, I wet not what to do I
Thou art a wise man ; help me in this great strait, and
thou shalt find thou dost it for a thankful master.' Re-
rurning to the Tower, the Lieutenant told his prisoner
that he had been with the king, and found him a most
affectionate master unto him, and full of grace in his in-
tentions towards him ; but, said he, to satisfy justice,
you must appear, although you return instantly again,
without any further proceeding, only you shall know
your enemies and their malice, though they shall have
no power over you. With this trick of wit he allayed
his fury, and got him quietly, about eight in the morn-
ing, to the Hall ; yet feared his former bold language
might revert again, and, being brought by this trick into
the toil, might .have more enraged him to fly out into
some strange di'covery. He had two servants placed
.11 each side of him, with a cloak on their arms, giving
hem a peremptory order, if that Somerset did any way
fly out on the king, they should instantly hoodwink him
with that cloak, take bim violently from the bar, and
carry him away ; for which he would secure them from
any danger, and they should not want also a bountiful
reward."

Hume keeps all these remarkable circumstances out
of sight, though attested by Coke as well as Weldon,
and merely remarks, " Allowing all these circum-
stances to be true, of which some are suspicious, if not
palpably false, the great remains of tenderness which
James still felt for Somerset may, perhaps, be suf-
ficient to account for them." Throughout the whole
history of Charles the First the same par-
tiality in favour of the royal martyr prevails.
The philosophical and elegant historian, by a
singular perversion of facts, about which there can
be no doubt, declares that Charles "was candid, sin-
cere, upright, as much as any man whom we meet in
history ;" and adds, " perhaps it would be difficult to
find another character so unexceptionable in this par-
ticular." Now, it is a matter of history that the Par-
liamentary leaders could place no confidence in the
king's most solemn promises, and that this very cir-
cumstance urged them to extremities for their
own preservation. It is necessary to cite only two
or three instances to disprove the assertion that the
king was " candid, upright, and sincere." His very
entrance into public life displayed great duplicity.
While he remained at Madrid he deceived the whole
court, and more especially the confiding Infanta,
with promises and engagements which he never in-
tended to perform. He even submitted to a course of
mental reservation, evasion, lying, and per-
jury, says the writer of this work on
good authority. He was ready to vow
whatever they chose to get safe out of
their country, " fully resolving to break all these en-
gagements as soon as he conveniently might;" and
his first remark on finding himself on board one
of his father's ships was, " that he had duped the
Spaniards." Another instance of perfidy occurs on
the memorable occasion when he reluctantly con-
sented to give to the Parliament at Westminster the
appellation of the Parliament of England, and secretly
entered an explanatory protest in his council-book,
pretending that though he had called them a Parlia-
ment, he had not thereby acknowledged them for
such. And what justification or apology can be
made for his shuffling, evasive, and faithless conduct
in reference to the Petition f Right ? He at first
gave an evasive answer—he at last gave it his full
assent, and broke every article of it either imme-
diately after, or during the long period that he
ruled without Parliaments. His breach of pro-
mise to Strafford, too, is an indelible blot
on his memory, and proved that he was neither can-
did, nor sincere, nor upright. Strafford saw the
storm coming, and, to escape from his enemies, asked
leave to retire to his government in Ireland; but the
king, afraid to act without him, refused his consent,
and assured the devoted victim that " not a hair of
his head should be touched." Charles basely betrayed
his friend, appointed a commission to sign the war-
rant for his execution, and the Earl, on receiving the
fatal intelligence, and indignant at such weakness and
treachery, exclaimed, in the agony of despair, " Put
not your trust in princes." A candid and sincere
friend would have been torn to pieces rather than
submit to such infamy; but he lived to repent his
baseness, and at the hour of his death could not for,
get his treachery to Strafford. This admirable
historical sketch, drawn by Mr. Mac Farlane,
and, among many other standard works, pub-
lished at a cheap rate by Knight and Co., pourtrays
the scenes of that eventful period in their true light,
and reveals many facts which Hume mysteriously
concealed. One of its great merits is its impartiality.
Justice is done to Chalcs, but no more than justice.
There is no indiscriminate praise of the patriotic
leaders of the Commons, nor of the principal men
who figured in the civil war. He justly blames the
extravagance and the wild fanaticism of the Puritans;
he admits that the Scotch Covenanters were like their
neighbours, and not very nice in keeping their word
when it suited their purpose to break it ; and is no
less severe against the intolerance and tyranny of the
Presbyterians and Puritans than the determined and
open despotism of Charles, and Laud, and Stratford.
l'e Laud he does full justice, and asserts that some
of his reforms in church discipline and habits were
not only harmless, but judiciously contrived---a sen-
timent from which we totally differ. Of the king
not much good is recorded, because, it truth were
observed, little could be said in his favour. Nearly
his whole life was' disgraced either by treacherous
policy or by downright absolutism. No
two characters differ more widely from each
1 other than the character of Charles as drawn
by Hume and that which he was proved to

possess by undoubted facts in history. Hume repre-
sents him as a gentleman in every respect, while he
was notoriously addicted to vulgar language, more
vulgar even than that used by his uncouth father, and
in his letters was constantly in the habit of using such
expressions as "rascals," " villains," and in a commission
with which he intrusted the Marquis of Hamilton for
reducing the discontented;Scots,he called the Presby-
terians " that rascally people ;" and the favourite
epithet he applied to such illustrious men as Eliot,
and Pym, arid Hampden, was " the vipers." On
read in Y the trials of Laud and Strafford, as described
by the Tory historian, one is astonished at the inex-
tinguishable hatred of the people against these two
Ministers, and the savage determination with which
they were pursued to death; but a correct history,
like that here given, explains the mystery, and shows
that no men ever were more justly doomed to death
for betraying the liberties of their country. The
style of the work, too, deserves great praise. It is
nervous, dignified, and eminently Factical. The
object of the writer is not to round off a period or draw
a beautiful metaphor, but to state facts in the most
impressive manner, and furnish the reader with the
truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth.
When he condescends to use figures of writing they
are generally thrown in his way, and taken up, as it
were, by accident, and in that respect he is generally
very happy. For instance, the courtiers at Vienna
told the emperor that Gustavus Adolphus, the
Lion of the North, was but a king of snow, who
would melt away as he approached the north.
" But," says Mr. Mac Farlane, " the Swede continued
his course, and there was no melting away; or, if there
was, it was of that nature which releases the avalanche
from the mountain, to thunder through and over-
whelm the valley beneath." And in a like
happy figure of speech, when stating that the Pres-
byterians of Ulster had by Strafford's tyranny and
persecution been banished to their native country, he
adds, " These preachers returned to their native
hive in Scotland, whence there soon issued such a
swarm as darkened the sun of the house of Stuart."
The work altogether is entitled to the highest praise;
it, in fact, forms a new era in the writing of history ;
it is neither prolix nor tedious; on the contrary, the
reader regrets often that the description of some great
man, such as the splendid account of the birth, educa-
tion, and character of Hampden, given as an episode,
is not more prolonged, and every possible detail exhi-
bited to view. No novel or romance can be more en-
tertaining; and, we say with perfect sincerity, that the
eleventh volume of this publication, containing a his-
tory of the events preceding the civil war, is the most
interesting book we ever read.

KNIG TIT'S WEEKLY VOLUME, for all _Readers.
No. 74. Lord Brougham's Statesmen of George 111.
This, the first volume of the third series of this
standard work, which Mr. Knight is rebublisbing in
his weekly volume, contains Lord Brougham's re-
marks on the French revolution, with his precis of
the characters of Robespierre, Danton, Camille, Des-
moulins, St. Just, and Sieyes. Lord Brougham met
Sieyes at Brussels in 1817, and he relates some
curious anecdotes of the self-sufficiency of the cele-
brated Abbe, who, however, was always regarded by
Carnot and by Talleyrand as a man of great merit,
and to whom is due the honour of having first sug-
gested the three great measures which secured to
France the blessings of constitutional Government,
namely, the joint verification of the powers at the
meeting of the States-General, the formation of the
National Guards, and the establishment of the
new system of provincial division and administration.
This volume also contains several interesting anecdotes
of Fouche, communicated by Earl Stanhope, who
was well acquainted with the ex-Minister of Police
during his sojourn at Dresden, after the fall of Na-
poleon, in 1815. At the conclusion of the remarks
o❑ the French Revolution, the sketches of English
Statesmen continue, and we have a spirited vindica-
tion of the character of John fourth Duke of Bed-
ford from the calumnies of Junius, an elegant pane-
gyric on the life and labours of Earl Camden, and a
withering philippic against demagogues in general,
and John Wilkes in particular. Mr. Knight is
conferring a great benefit on society by thus placing
these historical sketches, by Lord Brougham, within
the reach of all classes of readers.

THE COMIC BLACKSTONE. By Gilbert
Abbott A' Beckett.

This is a reprint of the admirable series of papers
by Mr. A'l3eckett, which have from time to time
appeared under the above title in Punch, and the
perusal of which most of our readers have no doubt
heartily enjoyed. They are here collected into a
small volume, beautifully printed, and altogether
very nicely "got up." The frontispiece, by George
Cruikshank, is one of those fanciful pieces of sati-
rical drollery that none but George Cruikshank
could imagine or design.

MRS. CAUDLE'S CURTAIN LECTURES ;

Edited from the original MLS. by Douglas Jerrold.
Here we have that stream of wisdom which con-
tinually flowed from Mrs. Caudle's lips, and which bath
for nearly twelve months past delighted and instructed
the world, collected, as it were, into a reservoir.
Who has not enjoyed the cup of caudle provided
weekly by Punch? Behold, here is the caudle-bowl—
an admirable Christmas present. Leech's illus-
tration of Mr. Caudle's return from the skylark, is
very rich.

THE MANUAL OF HERALDRY; being a con-
cise Descrirt'on of the several Terms used, and contain-
ing a Dictionary of every Designation in the Science.

This is a most elegant, and, at the same time, very
useful little book. The taste for mcedieval architec-
ture, and for mceclieval decorations in our buildings,
public and private, is now reviving, and we would
recommend all those employed in the decorative art to
procure this little manual, and make it their vale
mecum. It will prevent the commission of many a
blunder. It is copiously illustrated with woodcuts
(there are upwards of 400 illustrations), and in its
pages will be found " all the varied figures invented
by the College of Heralds, and bestowed from the
day of the conquest till the reign of Elizabeth, upon
the nolyility and gentry, as marks of merit for services
rendered in the cabinet or in the field," and which
constituted the chief ornaments of the halls, palaces,
and churches of England, up to the close of the six-
teenth century.