MASTER NEGA TIVE NO. 93-81647-20 MICROFILMED 1993 COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY LIBRARIES/NEW YORK as part of the "Foundations of Western Civilization Preservation Project » Funded by the NATIONAL ENDOWMENT FOR THE HUMANITIES Reproductions may not be made without permission from Columbia University Library COPYRIGHT STATEMENT The copyright law of the United States - Title 17, United States Code - concerns the making of photocopies or other reproductions of copyrighted material. Under certain conditions specified in the law, libraries and archives are authorized to furnish a photocopy or other reproduction. One of these specified conditions is that the photocopy or other reproduction is not to be '*used for any purpose other than private study, scholarship, or research." If a user makes a request for, or later uses, a photocopy or reproduction for purposes in excess of "fair use," that user may be liable for copyright infringement. This institution reserves the right to refuse to accept a copy order if, in its judgement, fulfillment of the order would involve violation of the copyright law. AUTHOR: ADAMS, JOHN TITLE: A NEW HISTORY OF GREAT BRITAIN... PLACE: LONDON DA TE : 1818 COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY LIBRARIES PRESERVATION DEPARTMENT Master Negative # -fir »« ^7-20 BIBLIOGRA PHIC MTCROFORM TARHFT Original Material as Filmed - Existing Bibliographic Record 9lc Adl Adams, John, 17$0-l8lU. A new history of Great-Britain, from the in- vasion of Julius Caesso* to the present time ... The 5th ed., cor. «md improved... by the Rev, John Adaras. London, Law, 1818. elOa, 370 p. plates. Restrictions on Use: S o' ^^>^ TECHNICAL MICROFORM DATA REDUCTION RATIO: 1 1 ^-^^ FILM SIZE: ^ ^_ IMAGE PLACEMENT: lA JIA IB HB DATE FILMED: '"^-li-^3^ INITIALS 3 _ FILMED BY: RESEARCH P UBLICATIONS. INC WOnOBRIDGE. CT BIBLIOGRAPHIC IRREGULARITIES MAIN ENTRY: Bibliographic Irregulari ties in thp Original Dnnimp n^ List volumes and pages affected; include name of institution if filming borrowed text. ^Page(s) missing/not available: yolumes(s) missing/not available:. y^ Illegible and/or damaged page(s): WS* l^Jo Page(s) or volumes(s) misnumbered:. .Bound out of sequence: .Page(s) or illustration(s) filmed from copy borrowed from:. Other: tk!^C€iM f!\urn/i&i€ BEST COPY AVAILABLE / c Association for information and image iManagement 1100 Wayne Avenue, Suite 1100 Silver Spring, Maryland 20910 301/587-8202 Centimeter 1 2 3 lUUliililiJiiUilMll^ mi I I Inches 11 TTT 1 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 n 12 13 14 15 mm 'l''l'l!'l''l'''l|'''l|'''l[Nilm 2 3 4 5 1.0 LI 1.25 i^ |2.8 2.5 |5.0 1^ lllll^ Ui P-^ 2.2 I&3 36 S 1- 2.0 ts. U u Kbu, 1.8 1.4 1.6 MPINUFfiCTURED TO PIIM STflNOnRDS BY RPPLIED IMRGEp INC. y ±1^ ;---^.*t; 5i -'51 .■^* •%.i!?W%Jf^^ ^ •^^ it '^^^^^'^^'t'CS^^ ^^li?-'-;- • If- :li^ "•*iS* Columbta Wimtieviitp LIBRARY ■'^v.'.'-•vv'. I'v^.V-.i^i--. ^ Wr V*' •■ior ?* COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY LIBRARIES This book is due on the date indicated below, or at the expiration of a definite period after the date of borrowing, as provided by the rules of the Library or by special arrange- ment with the Librarian in charge. DATE BORROWED DATE DUE DATE BORROWED DATE DUE •43 ' 25Jan'43 > I m i ^^^ i ^^'^B L:^ to 1 1 . T"* f" \\ A DRUID PHIEST INSTilUCTING BHITISH YOUTHS. .y. /: / NEW HISTORY U / OF GREAT-BRITAIN; FROM THE INVASION OF JULIUS CiESAR TO THE PRESENT TIME: EXHIBITING A VARIETY OF INSTRUCTIVE AND PLEASING INFORMATION, Adapted to the Capacities of Young- Persons of both Sexes j ON A PLAN NEARLY SIMILAR TO THAT OF DR. HENRY. THE FIFTH EDITION, CORRECTED AND. IMPROVED. AND ADORNED WITH PRINTS: The whole calculated to operate as Moral Lessons, while it contains eveiy leading Trait of the British History. BY THE REV. JOHN ADAMS, A.M. AUTHOR OF THE HISTORY OF ROBIE, ELEMENTS OF READING, Scc. Read History with the g^reatest Attention; for, to be ignorant of what happened before one was born, is to be always a Child. Locke. LONDON: Printed by Rider and Weed, Little Britain^ FOR LAW AND WHITTAKEU, AVE-MARIA LANE; J. NUNN, GREAT QUEEN street; T. BOOSEY and sons, BROAD STREET; LONG- MAN, HURST, REES, ORME, AND BROWNj PATERNOSTER ROW; AND WILSON AND SONS, YORK. 1818. NEW HISTORY OF GREAT-BRITAIN; FROM THE INVASION OF JULIUS CJESAR TO THE PRESENT TIME: EXHIBITIXG A VARIETY OF INSTRUCTIVE AND PLEASING INFORMATIOxN, Adapted to the Capacities of Young- Persons of both Sexes; ON A PLAN NEARLY SIMILAR TO THAT OF DR. HENRY. THE FIFTH EDITION, CORRECTED AND, IMPROVED, AND ADORNED WITH PRINTS: The whole calculated to operate as Moral Lessons, while it contain?; evt'iy leading Trait of the British History. "v.?rt:rv^. A DRUID PIIIEST INSTRUCTING BRITISH YOUTHS. BY THE REV. JOHN ADAMS, A.M. AUTHOR OF THE HISTORY OF ROME, ELEMENTS OF READING, ScC. Read Histoiy with the ".veatest Attention; for, to be ignorant of what happened before one was born, is to be always a Child. Locke. LONDON: Printed by Rider and Weed, Little Britain, FOR LAW AND WHITTAKER, AVE-MARIA LANE; J. NTJNN, GREAT QUEEN street; T. BOOSEY and sons, broad street; LONG- MAN, HURST, REES, ORME, AND BROWN5 PATERNOSTER ROW ; AND WILSON Aiin SONS^ YORK. 1818. H f\ n lit i: ADVERTISEMENT TO THE PRESENT IMPROVED EDITION. X HE History of Great- Britain is the history of liberty, and of the struggles and efforts of a great nation to preserve it inviolate.^ It enables us to trace the progress of civil society, and the princi- ples and practice of legislation. It points out, in the most striking manner, from example, what we ought to avoid, and what we ought to follow. In the following pages, the young reader will find a concise account of the most important po- litical and military transactions which have oc- curred in this country, from the Roman conquest to these eventful times, with a distinct view of the religion, laws, learning, arts, commerce, and manners, of its inhabitants, in every age. The subjects of the different periods, being thus class- ed, cannot fail to make a strong impression upon ; the youthful mind, and to inspire sentiments of virtue, patriotism, and universal philanthropy. 175600 ADVERTISEMENT. No pains have been spared, in proportion to the extent of the work, to render this edition more particularly worthy of the attention of the rising generation. Modern facts and recent occurrences have been accurately stated; no memorable inci- dents have been omitted ; the remarks, it is hoped, are just and appropriate; and the additional view of society, arts, and manners, will, we doubt not, be found amusing and instructive. Directions to the Binder. Page The 1st, Print— A Druid, or Priest, instructing British Youths, to face the Title, Sd Alfred dividing his last Loaf yviih the Pilgrim , , . , , 41 3d Canute rebuking the Flattery of his Courtiers 46 4th King John signing Magna Charta 81 5th Henry V. engaging the Duke of Alen9on, at the Battle of Agincourt 122 'Cth. .... Mr. Howard relieving a British Prisoner in Turkey, ##..#••,.•,.,., 335 f CONTENTS. BOOK I. BRITISH HISTORY, LITERATURE, AND MANNERS. CHAP. ^ ^^^^ 1. From the invasion of Julius Caesar, 55 years before Christ, to the Arrival of the Saxons, A. D. 449 1 2. Religion of the ancient Britons ^ 3. Constitution, Government, and Laws, of the ancient Britons " 4. Learning and learned men among the ancient Bri- tons • ^^ 5. Of the Arts in Great-Britain before the Arrival of the Saxons ^^ 6. Commerce, Coin, and Shipping, of Britain in the early Ages ^^ 7. Manners and Customs of the ancient Britons 23 8. Miscellaneous Information respecting the ancient Bri- tons * • ' ^^ BOOK II. 1. Political and Military History, from the arrival of the Sax- ons, A. D. 449, to the Norman Conquest, A. D. 1066 • 39 2. Religion of the Saxons before their Conversion to Chris- tianity 4"^ 3. General State of Religion among the Anglo-Saxons, after thev became Christians •••• 50 4. Government and Laws of the Anglo-Saxons • • • • 53 5. State of Learning among the Anglo-Saxons * • • • 56 A3 t CONTENTS. 6. Of the Arts among the Anglo-Saxons* • • * qq 7. Of Commerce among the Anglo-Saxons 55 8. Character and Manners of the Anglo-Saxons and ^anes ^^ BOOK III. 1. Political and Military History, from the Norman Con- quest, A.D. 1066, to the Death of King John, A. D. 1216 yj 2. The Religious Spirit of this period gl 3. Of the Anglo-Norman Constitution, Government, and ^^« ^ 83 4. Literature in Great-Britain, A. D. 1066—1216 • • » 86 5. The Arts, A. D. 1066—1216 » 33 6. Biographical Sketches, A. D. 1066—1216 89 7. Commerce, A. D. 1066 — 1216 9^ 8. Manners, A. D. 1066—1216 93 9. Incidents and curious Particulars, A.D. 1066^-12 16* • • • 9S BOOK IV. 1. Political and Military History, from the Death of King John, in 1216, to the Accession of Henry IV. in 1399. • 97 J?. Religion and Ecclesiastical Affairs, A.D. 1216—1399 •• 102 3. Government and Laws, A. D. 1216—1399 104 4. Literature, A. D. 1216—1399 ;io(j 5. The Arts, A. D. 1216—1399 • io7 6. Biographical Sketches, A. D. 1216—1399 108 7. Manufactures, Commerce, and Internal Police, A. D. 1216—1399 '. . ,' j^^ 8. Manners, A. D. 1216—1399 ^13 9. Incidents and curious Particulars, A.D. 1216—1399. • . 116 BOOK V. 1. Political and Military History, from the Usurpation of ^ Henry IV. in 1399, to the Accession of Henry VII. in 1485 118 t Religion and Ecclesiastical Affairs, A. D. 1399—1485. . . 130 CONTENTS. «^*AP- PAGE 3. Government and Laws, A. D. 1399—1485' • • 132 4. Literature, A. D. 1399—1485 ib. 5. The Arts, A. D. 1399—1485 133 6. Biographical Sketches, A. D. 1399—1485 135 7. Commerce and Maritime Affairs, A.D. 1399—1485' • • • 137 8. Manners, A.D. 1399—1485 J38 9. Incidents and curious Particulars, A.D. 1399—1485' ' • 140 BOOK VL ^ 1. Political and Military History, from the Accession of Henry VIL in 1485, to the Death of Henry VIII. in 1547 141 2. Ecclesiastical History, A. D. 1485^-1547 147 3. Constitution and Government, A. D. 1485—1547 149 4. Literature, A. D. 1485—1547 151 5. The Arts, A.D. 1485—1547 153 6. Biographical Sketches, A. D. 1485—1547 155 7. Commerce, A. D. 1485—1547 158 8. Manners, A. D. 1485—1547 160 9. Incidents and curious Particulars, A. D. 1485—1547 "162 BOOK VII. 1. Political and Military History, from the Death of Henry VIII. in 1547, to that of Queen Elizabeth, in 1603 163 2. Ecclesiastical History, A. D. 1547 — 1603 • 167 3. Constitution and Government, A. D. 1547—1603 171 4. Literature, A. D. 1547 — 1603 17s 5. The Arts, A.D. 1547—1603 174 6. Biographical Sketches, A. D. 1547—1603 • -* 177 7. Commerce, A. D. 1547 — 1603 183 8. Manners, A. D. 1547 — 1603 185 9. Incidents and curious Particuhirs, A. D. 1547— 1603' •• 188 BOOK VIIL 1. Political and Military History, from the Accession t)f • James ^. in 1603, to the Revolution, in 1688 190 S. Ecclesiastical History, A. D. 1603—1688 ••••••.••. ^ . • 202 1 1: (, 1 i I CONTENTS. CHAP. PAGE 3 . Government, A. D. 1603—1688 206 4. Learning, A. D. 1603—1688 208 5. The Arts, A. D, 1603— 1688 209 6. Biographical Sketches, A.D. 1603—1688 210 7. Commerce, A.D. 1603—1688 215 ^ 8. Manners, A. D. 1603—1688 216 9. Incidents and curious Particulars, A.D. 1603 — 1688»»« 218 BOOK IX. 1. Political and Military History, from the Revolution, in 1688, to the Peace concluded at Paris, in 1815 220 ■ Continued 237 ■ Continued : 245 ■ Concluded • 260 2. Ecclesiastical History, A. D. 1688—1815 295 3. Government, A. D. 1688—1815 299 4. Literature, A.D. 1688—1815 303 5. The Arts, A.D. 1688—1815 308 6. Biographical Sketches, A. D. 1688—1815 312 7. Commerce and Manufactures, A.D. 1688—1815 342 8. Manners, A.D. 1688—1815 349 9. Incidents and curious Particulars, A.D. 1688— 1817* •• 358 A LIST OF THE SOVEREIGNS OF ENGLAND, WITH THE DATES OF THEIR ACCESSION TO THE THRONE. 1. JCiGBERT, of the Saxon race, the first monarch of England 827 2. Ethel wolf 836 3. Ethelbald 857 4. Ethelbert 860 5. Ethelredl 866 6. Alfred, the Great • 871 7. Edward the Elder 901 8. Athelstan » 925 9. Edmund 1 941 10. Edred 947 11. Edwy *•••• 955 12. Edgar, the Peaceable 959 13. Edward the Martyr 975 14. Ethelredll. 979 15. Edmund Ironside •••• 1016 16. Canute the Great, the first Danish king 1017 17. Harold I. Harefoot 1036 18. Hardicanute • 1039 19. Edward III. the Confessor, of the Saxon line 1041 20. HaroldlL 106^ 21. William the Conqueror, the first Norman king 1066 22. William II. surnamed Rufus • 1087 23. Henry I. Beauclerc • • # ....... HO* '!?''•' t $ ! SOVEREIGNS OF ENGLAND. A. B. 24. Stephen of Blois ' • • 1135 25. Henry II. the first of the House of Plantagenet 1154 26. Richard I. Coeur de Lion 1189 57. John, Sans Terre 1199 28. Henry III. of Winchester 1216 29. Edward I. Longshanks 1272 30. Edward II. of Caernarvon • • • • • 1307 51. Edward III. of Windsor 1327 32. Richard II. of Bordeaux 1377 33. Henry IV. of Bohngbroke 1399 34. Henry V. of Monmouth 1413 35. Henry VI. of Windsor 1422 36. Edward IV. the first king of the line of York • • • » 1461 87. Edward V. 1483 88. Richard III. ; 1483 39. Henry VII. the first sovereign of the family of Tudor. . . . 1485 40. Henry Vm * 1509 41. EdwardVI 1547 42. Mary I ^ 1553 43. Elizabeth 1558 44. James I. the first monarch of the race of Stuart, and king ofGreat-Britain 1603 45. Charles I ^ .... 1625 Interregnum from the death of Charles I. in 1649; to the year 1654. Oliver Cromwell, Protector 1654 Itichard Cromwell, Protector •• 1658 46. Charles II 1660 47. James II 1685 48. William in. and Mary II 1688 AVilliam IH. alone 1695 49. Anne 1702 60. George I. the first king of the house of Brunswick 1714 51. George II 1727 52. George UL • 1760 THE HISTORY OF GREAT-BRITAIN. BOOK I. BRITISH HISTORY, LITERATURE, AND MANNERS. CHAP. L fRPM THE tNVASlON OF JULIUS C^AR, 55 YEARS BEFORE CHRIST, TO THE ARRIVAL OF THE SAXONSj A.D. 449. THE earliest emigration from Gaul to Britain is sup- posed to have happened in the reign either of Da?id or of Solomon, about a thousand years before the coming of our Saviour. The first denomination of the island was Albion, (signifying heights^) a name evidently conferred before it was peopled, and while its heights were only Tiewed at a distance from the opposite shore of Gaul. The more recent and general appellation of Britain, after all the learning that has been employed upon it, appears to be derived from a Celtic word, denoting separation. Even the Romans, after they had acquired some knowledge of the island by the invasion of Caesar, seem to have enter., tained scarcely any other feeling respecting this country, than that it was shut out from the rest of the world. Thus Virgil calls our ancestors " Penitus ioto dirisos orbe Britannas: ^^ « The Britons quite separated from the whole world. . ^ - But when the Romans had extended their conquests over a great part of Britain, the geographers and historians of that illustrious people threw a different light on the island and its inhabitants. And, indeed, so similar were the manners of its rude tribes to, those of the opposite shores, that there is no room to doubt of a common origin for both. B y t!^ 1^ i i; t HISTORY OF GREAT. BRITAIN. Julius Caesar, about fifty-five years before the birth of Christ, having made great progress in the conquest of Gaul, began to cast an ambitious eye on the island of Britain, and to think of adding it to the Roman empire. He is said to }iave been prompted to form this design, by the beauty and magnitude of the British pearls, which he greatly admired : but his ambition would have stimulated him to a hostile visit, even if pearls had not formed a part of the natural treasures of the country. Ills ostensible reason was the assistance which some of the British nations had given to his enemies io Gaul. In order to obtain some intelligence of the state of the country which he designed to invade, Caesar convened, from different parts of Gaul, a great number of merchants who had visited this island in the way of trade, and asked them many questions concerning its dimensions, the number, power, and customs of its inhabitants, their art of war, and their harbours capable of receiving large ships. Having received satisfactory answers, he embarked his troops at Calais, and in a few hours reached the coast of Britain, near Dover. After sailing about eight miles towards the north, he determined to land at Deal, though the British army stood ready on the shore, to. give him a warm reception. As his fleet approached, the Britons, astonished at the shape and motion of the galleys, and the playing of the engines, first halted, and then began to retreat. But still many of the Roman soldiers hesitated to leave their ships, and en. counter at once the waves and the brave natives; when the standard.bearer of the tenth legion, having first invoked the gods, leaped into the sea, and advancing with the eagle to- wards the troops, cried aloud, " Follow me, fellow-soldiers, unless you will betray the Roman eagle into the hands of the enemy : for my part, I am determined to discharge my duty to Caesar and the commonwealth." All who beheld this heroic action, and heard the animating speech with which it was accompanied, were fired with courage and emulation, plunged into the sea, advanced towards the shore, and obliged the Britons to retire. After .concluding a peace, Caesar returned into Gaul, and began io make preparations for a second expedition into Britain, which he undertook in the next year, when the islanders agreed to pay tribute. From these expeditions, however, the Remans derived no other advantage than a better knowledge of the island. ROMAN INVASION. S The Britons, at this period, were governed in time of war by a political confederacy, of which Cassibelanus (whose territories lay about Hertfordshire) was the head: and this form of government long continued to be occasion, ally exercised among them. While the Romans were engaged in the horrors of civil war, Britain was entirely neglected by them, and the tri- bute, which had been imposed by Caesar, was never paid. Even after Augustus had attained the peaceable possession of the whole empire, he did not think it proper to invade Britain; being probably restrained from it by his favourite maxim, " Never to Jish with a golden hook;'' that is, never to engage in an enterprise, which was likely to be more ex- pensive than profitable. The emperor Claudius, however, undertook and executed an expedition, in which, without any display of ^ ^ ^^^ military skill, he subdued the south-eastern parts of the island: yet Caracfacus and other intrepid chieftains continued to withstand the Roman power. That patriotic warrior being at length taken prisoner, after a desperate battle, and carried to Rome, his undaunted behaviour be- fore Claudius gained him the admiration of the victors, and is celebrated in the histories of the times. Boadicea, queen of the Iceni, (the inhabitants chiefly of Norfolk and Suffolk,) also opposed the invaders with great spirit: but, being de. feated, she disdained to survive the liberties of her country* Agricola, general to Domitian, after subduing South-Britaln, carried his arms northwards, where his successors had no reason to boast of their progress, every inch of the ground being bravely defended. To protect the Britons from the invasions of the Picts and Scots, the Romans built two famous walls, one between the friths of Clyde and Forth, and the other between Tin. mouth and the Solway Frith. The former was erected by the order of Antoninus Pius ; and, at the latter boundary, where Adrian had formed a rampart of earth, Severus em- ployed his troops, for the space of two years, in building a stupendous wall of stone, twelve feet high, and eight feet thick, strengthened with many towers^ castles, and stations, at convenient distances. The vestiges of this great work, called the Picts'-Wall, are still visible. Before the Romans left the island, they assisted in re- pairing this wall, which had fallen to decay through the in^ juries of time and of the enemv. The expense of this work b'2 1 4 IirSTORY OF GREAT. BRITAIN. was defrayed by the cheerful contributions of the more opulent inhabitants, who considered it as one of the chi^f means of their future safety. But, as waUs and bulwarks de?en1 h"' ".l' "11'^"^ '^^^^ ^"^ welLarmed sold errl defend them the Roman general gave the Britons exact inodels of the several kinds of arms, with ample instr^ ions how to make and to use them, in'defence of the r fo^' try their wives, children, and liberties. He then departed with h.s troops, after South.Britain had been subject^o the Romans about 340 years. *uuject to me The Scots and Picts, finding the island finally deserted by the Roman legions, ravaged ali before them with a furv ne. cul.ar to the northern nations in those ages, and which a remembrance of former injuries could not fail' to aggrayate! J\hen they approached the wall, they found it in ^mpLt^ repair, and apparently well defended by armed Britons. But so httle had these profited by the instructions of t he k late masters, that they became an easy conquest, and were soon put to fUght. The enemy breaking in, like huug^ wolves into a sheep-fold, pursued them with great slaughter^ on I • '^fJ^'^'^l^y^ ^^^ «°ce more.recourse to the Romans told them that they had no choice Irft, but that of beioi blrSus "^ ^^ ^^^ '^^' '''" P^"'^'*"S ^y **»^ swords of tkp Amidst all their calamities, however, they had one con, Bolation : they had embraced Christianity ;-a religion which, above all others, teaches the endurance of misfortunes which encourages its votaries to triumph in adversity, and inspires the soul with joy in the hour of affliction. As thev could receive no assistance from Rome, tke Britons began to consider what other nation they might call in to their relief. Vortigern, prince of the Daomonii, (inhabiting Corn, wall and Devonshire,) then possessed the principal authoritr among them, by whose advice they requested and encaffed two baxon chiefs, Hengist and Horsa, to protect th^m ffom the Scots and Picts. The Saxons were in those days masters of what is now called the English Channel; and their native regions (comprehending Scandinavia and the northern parts of Germany) being overstocked with inhabitants, they rea, dtly accepted the invitation of the Britons, whose fears and present sufferings they relieved, by checking the progress of 4U€ ^nem^ ; for which service the Isle of Thaaet was 4lloUe4 Religion of the britons. I tb tiiefh for their residertce. But their own country was so barren, and the fertile lands of Britain so alluring, that, in a very short time, Hengist and Horsa began to meditate a settlement for themselves; and, fresh supplies of theiir countrymen frequently arriving, the Saxons soon became formidable to the Britons, whom, after a violent struggle, they subdued, or drove into Wales, where their language and descendants still remain. CHAP. IL RELIGION OF THE AliCIENT BRITONS. THE adoration of a plurality of gods, introduced among mankind by slow degrees, proceeded from various causes. The different names and attributes of the true God were, through mistake, adored as so many divinities. The sun, moon, and stars, the most striking and illustrious objects in nature, were at first viewed with great veneration, as the most glorious works and lively emblems of the Deity, and by degrees received marks of that devotion which was due only to God himself. Princes and great men, who had been the objects of universal admiration during life, were made the objects of adoration after death. The Britons had gods of all these kinds. Offerings constituted an important part of their religion. They consisted of the most useful and excellent articles and products, and of such as, they thought, would be most agreeable to the gods. In their sacrifices they offered not only beasts, but the blood of captives taken in battle. They believed that their deities had the government of the world and the direction of future events in their hands; and that they would, upon proper application, discover these events to their pious worshipers. This belief gave rise to astrology, augury, magic lots, and an infinite multitude of religious rites and ceremonies, by which they hoped to dis- cover the counsels of Heaven, with regard to theraseUcs and their undertakings. The priests, who taught the principles, and performed the offices, of religion among the ancient Britons, were called Druids. They enjoyed the highest honours and privileges. So great was the veneration in which they were held, that when two hostile armies, inflamed by warlike rage, with swords drawn and spears extended, were on the point of u9 p. ill ,!• •» I i.ii I •1 f 'i- *•(, 1 ' 6 HISTORY OF GREAT -BRITAIN. engaging in battle, at their intervention they sheathed fherr swords, and became calm and peaceful. Besides the Supreme Being, the Druids believed in an evil demon, who constantly opposed him. They believed also in fate, or predestination. This doctrine they inculcated with great care. They farther maintained the immortality of the soul, and a state of future rewards and punishments; m which every person respectively was to have that retribution, which his good or bad conduct in life deserved. In this futurity, they clothed the soul with a sort of airy vehicle, or lighter body, not altogether incapable of pleasure or pain. Of the immortality of the soul, the Druids seem to have had a much more firm and invariable belief than the priest$ Of philosophers of the Greeks and Romans, who, with the exception perhaps of a few instances, might be said rather to wish and hope for it, than steadily to embrace that con- soling truth; whereas the Druids, by constantly teaching this doctrine, procured it not merely a vague and general. but a steady and prevailing, faith. The state of bliss into whi«h the souls of good and brav© men were supposed by the Druids to enter immediately after their death, was called Flath-ennis, which signifies, the island of the brave and virtuous. In this island there was an eternal spring, and an immortal youth. There the sun always shed its kindest influence. Gentle breezes fanned it, and streams of ever-equal currents watered it. The trees were alive with music, and bending to the ground with flowers and fruit. The face of nature, ever unruffled and serene, diff"used happiness on every creature, and wore a perpetual smile of joy. In short, every dis- agreeable idea was removed from the Druidical heaven, and no property was wanting there which could recom- mend a paradise. Indeed, the tradition concerning the first paradise, which in the earliest age of Druidism would be fresh and well known, might be the model on which it was formed. From the airy halls and other circumstances men- tioned in the poems of Ossian, the situation of this happy place seems to have been in some calm upper region, beyond the reach of every evil which infests the lower world. This, it must be allowed, was a far more agreeable mansion for the enjoyment of sublime felicity, than that subterraneous region in which the Greeks and Romans placed their Elvsian fields. ^ RELIGION OF THE BRITONS. t l^he Druids likewise believed in a place of future tor- ment, which was a dreary gloomy region, frozen with perpetual cold ;— an idea of punishment that seems very natural for a people, who lived in a climate where the in- conveniences of excess of cold were more strongly felt than those of heat. It was an article in the Pruidical creed, " that it was unlawful to build temples to the gods, or to worship them within walls, and under roofs." All their places of wor- ship, therefore, were in the open air, in groves planted with those trees in which they most delighted. Of these, the chief was the strong and spreading oak, for which they had so high an esteem, that they did not perform the least reli- gious ceremony, without being adorned with garlands of its leaves. In this veneration for the oak the Druids were not singular. The priests of other nations, and even the He. brew patriarchs, seem to have entertained an almost equal veneration for that tree. The sacred groves were watered by some consecrated fountain or river, and surrounded bf a ditch or mound, to prevent the intrusion of improper per» sons. In the centre of the grove was a circular area, en* closed with one or two rows of large stones, set perpen,. dicularly in the earth. These constituted the temple, withia which the altar stood, on which the sacrifices were olfered^ In some of their most magnificent temples, particularly that of Stonehenge, stones of prodigious weight were placed on the tops of the standing pillars, which formed a kind of circle in the air, and added much to the grandeur of the whole. Though the sacred groves of the Druids have been long de- stroyed, yet of the temples and cromlechs, or stone tables which were enclosed within them, there are still many vestiges remaining in the British isles, and other parts of Europe. The religion of the Druids continued longer in Britain than in some other countries, having been revived first by the Saxons, and afterwards by the Danes. Even so late as the eleventh century, in the reign of Canute, it was found ne- cessary to make the following law : " We strictly forbid all our subjects to worship the gods of the gentiles ; that is to say, the sun, moon, fires, rivers, fountains, hills, or trees, and woods of any kind." With regard to Christianity, it is highly probable, from the concurring testimonies of several writers, and from other circumstances, that Britain was visited by the first rays of 4he Gospel, before the end of the first century. Eusebius, B 4 If I » HISTOAY OF (JREAT.MtTAW. bishop of Caesarea, equally famous for My learning and Itf. tegnty, who flourished at the beginning of the fourth cen- tury, and was in high favour with Constantine the Great, positively asserts, that the Christian religion was first preached in South-Britain by the apost[es and their disciples: and It IS reasonable to suppose, that the success of the Ro^ mans paved the way for the triumphs of the Gospel of Peace. J^ IS certain also that many of the soldiers and officers in the Koman armies were Christians ; and, as their legions were repeatedly sent over into Britain to extend, as well as to preserve, their conquests, it is more than probable, that Christianity was thus diffused among the natives. After the suppression of the revolt under Boadicea, Britain enjoyed great tranquillity for many years, under a succession of mild governors, and presented an inyiting asylum to Chris- tiaiis, who were cruelly persecuted in other parts, particu. larly at Rome. For the greatest part of that imperial city A. D. 64. ^^^»"g ^^en reduced to ashes by a dreadful fire, - , . ^ J^® *>***"* ^^""Oj in order to divert the suspicion of his having been the incendiary, laid the blame of it upon the Christians, and on that false pretence put great numbers of them to the most cruel kinds of death. Multitudes of them, therefore, fled into other countries ; of whom not a few took shelter in this island, as a place of the greatest safety, and thereby much increased the number of Chr stian^ in Britain. If any of the apostles visited this country, it was St. Paul whose zeal, fortitude, and diligence, were abundant. For though Joseph of Arimathea and St. Peter are said to have preached the gospel, and Simon Zelotes to have suffered martyrdom here, yet these assertions rest on no better foun- dadon than monkish legends. We have, however, good authority to say, that, in the year IS% there was a school of leariimg to provide the British churches with proper teachers; from which period it would appear that Chris, tianity spread its benign and salutary influence among th# inhabitants, in their several districts. CHAP. HI. li CONSTITUTION, GOVERNMENT, AND LAWS, OF THE ANCIENT ^^ BRlTONS. ^TpHE fathers and heads of families were the first sovA -*- reigns, and the patriarchal was the most ancient form CONSTITUTION, &c. OF THE BRITON^. 9 of government. The first slates or civil societies, therefore, were large tribes or clans, consisting of brothers, sisters, cousins, and other near relatives, living in the same district, under the protection of their common parent, or of his re* presentative, the head of the tribe or family. But this go- vernment, in its most pure and simple form, was not of long duration. For, as these tribes became more numerous, they gradually approached nearer to one another. Disputes arose among them about their limits, their possessions, the honour and dignity of their chiefs, and many other points. These disputes produced wars; and each of the contending clans, in order to defend themselves and annoy their ene- mies, contracted alliances with one or more neighbouring clans, which were thereby in a little time consolidated into one large society. When Britain was invaded by the Ro- mans, it contained many independent states, each composed of various tribes. Of this it will be sufficient to give one decisive proof. The Cantii, or people of Kent, at that period, formed one of the British kingdoms; and yet Caesar mentions no fewer than four kings in Kent at the same time, who could be no other than the chieftains or heads of so many clans or families of which that little kingdom wa» composed. The counties of Essex and Middlesex, and some part of Surry, were possessed by the Trinobantes, or TrinouanteSr The name of this nation seems to be derived from the three following British words, Tn, Now^ and Hant^ which sig- nify the inhabitants of the new city ; for by them London was founded, the most ancient name of which was Tri-noWy or the New 6VVy. The Silures, or inhabitants of South- Wales, were unquestionably one of the bravest of the ancient British nations, and defended their country and their liberty against the Romans with the most heroic fortitude. Ac- cording to Ptolemy, who flourished about the middle of the second century, ther6 was not so much as one town among the Caledonii, the ancient inhabitants of the High, lands, and northern parts of Scotland. This seems to be a proof, that these nations, or rather tribes, at that period, led a wandering unsettled life, strangers to agriculture, subsist- ing on their flocks and herds, on what they caught in hunt- ing, or gained by plunder, and on the spontaneous produc- tions of the earth. The Texali, who were in possession of the sea.coasts, seem to have been more settled, and ifl 8 more advanced state of civilization. They had a towB^ b5 10 HISTORY OF GREAT- BRITAIN, i \m I I! called Devana, at the mouth of the river Deva, or Lee where Aberdeen now stands. ' As both agriculture and commerce were in their infancy in this island, and extensive tracts of it were covered with woods and marshes, at the time of the first Roman invasion, it is highly probable that the country was not very populous. If we allow twenty thousand persons of both sexes to each of the thirty-eight nations, they will make in all 760,000. Some learned authors will not admit this number. But any computation much short of this must certainly be too low, when we consider what is said by Tacitus and Dio of the numerous armies of the Britons in those early ages. The royal power was circumscribed within very narrow bounds. A fierce people, powerful and martial chieftains, and ministers of religion who had so much influence as the Druids, were not likely to submit to the will of a sovereign, as a supreme law. The kings commanded the forces of their respective states in time of war; but they could not im- prison or punish any of their soldiers. This was wholly in the hands of the Druids. " None but the priests," says Tacitus, " can inflict confinement, stripes, or correction of any kind; and they do this, not at the command of the general, but in obedience to their gods, who, they pretend, are peculiarly present with their armies in war." The laws, as well as other branches of learning among the ancient Britons, were couched in verse. Though this may appear extraordinary to us, it was far from being peculiar to the natives of Britain. The first laws of all nations were composed in verse, and sung. We have certain proof that the first laws of Greece w ere a kind of songs. The laws of the ancient inhabitants of Spain were verses, which they sang. This custom was long kept up by many nations, as they could more readily get them by heart, and retain them in memory. That great law, the marriage of one man with one wo- man, which is so clearly pointed out by nature, was fully established among our ancestors. Their kings and queens were subject to it, as well as the meanest of the people; and when they presumed to violate it, they were hated and aban- doned by the world. This appears from the story of Cartis- mandua, queen of the Brigantes, a people inhabiting Lanca- shire, Cumberland, Westmoreland, and parts of Northum- berland and Durham. " Corrupted by prosperity," says Tacitus, "she abandoned herself toluxury, and, despising \: CONSTITUTION, &c. OF THE BRITONS. 11 her husband Venutius, admitted her armour-bearer Vello- catus to his place in her throne and bed. This infamous action proved her ruin ; for, as her subjects espoused the cause of her injured husband, she was reduced to the great- est distress, and implored the protection of the Romans. These sent an army to her relief, which rescued her person, and fought several battles in her cause ; but she was at^ last obliged to leave her kingdom in the possession of Venutius." Murderers and robbers were burned to death. Persons who betrayed or deserted the cause of their country were hanged on trees ; and cowards, sluggards, habitual drunk- ards, and prostitutes, were sufi*ocated in bogs. The most valuable possessions of almost all nations, in the early period of their history, were their flocks and herds. Several of the British nations, when they were first visited by the Romans, had no other property or means of subsist- ence than their cattle. A high price, therefore, was set, not only upon the life, but upon each limb, of every useful ani- mal. By the ancient laws of Wales it was forbidden, under certain penalties, to throw a stone at an ox in the plough, to tie the yoke too tight about his neck, or urge him to too great an effort in drawing. Very high damages were allowed to the husbandman whose crops were injured by the straying of his neighbour's stock. He was authorized to seize and retain one out of every three hogs, sheep, goats, geese, and hens, which he found among his corn. It is probable that there were no laws among the ancient Britons to prevent or punish verbal injuries; which are so sensibly felt, and so fiercely resented, in modern times. Among the nations of antiquity, in general, the coarsest language was given and returned without ceremony, and was not considered as an object worthy of the attention of legis- lators. By their laws of succession, a man's lands, at his death, did not descend to his eldest son, but were equally divided among all his sons ; and, when any dispute arose in the division of them, it was determined by the Druids. Even the youngest son, it appears, was more favoured in some respects than the eldest, or any of his brothers. "When the brothers have divided their father's estate, the youngest shall have the best house, with all the office-houses, the implements of husban- dry, his father's kettle, his axe for cutting wood, and his knife. These three last things the father cannot give away, »or leave by his last will, to any but his youngest son; and, I 12 HISTORY OF GREAT-BRITAIN. LEARNING AND LEARNED MEN. 13 11 if they are pledged, they shall be redeemed." To acconnt for this law is not very difficult. The elder brothers of a family were supposed to have left their father's house before hh death, and to have obtained houses and necessary imple- ments : but the youngest, by reason of his tender age, was considered as more helpless, and not so well provided. With regard to the Roman government in this country, we shall only observe, that the Britons were made to groan under a load of taxes. The Romans imposed taxes on land, mmes, houses, and several kinds of animals. Artists of all kfnds paid a certain tax for the liberty of exercising their ieveral arts. Those who administered to luxury, and made the greatest profits, paid the greatest sums ; nor did the ihighty monarchs of Rome disdain to claim a share in the dis- honourable gains of female prostitution. The Roman em- perors sometimes imposfed a capitation, or poll-tax, which, with another upon the bodies of the dead before they were allowed to be buried, occasioned great discontent in Britain. The famous Boadicea complained bitterly of these two taxes in her harangue to the British army before the battle with the Romans, under Suetonius. "Have we not been deprived of our most valuable possessions, and do we not pay many heavy taxes for what remains? Besides all the various im« positions on our lands and goods, are not our bodies taxed, and do we not pay for the very heads on our shoulders? But why do I dwell on their impositions upon the living, when €ven the dead are not exempted from their exactions? Do not you all know how much we are obliged to pay for the bodies of our departf^d friends? Those who are subject to other nations are subject only for life; but the exquisite tyranny and insatiable avarice of the Romans extort taxe» even from the dead.*** CHAP. IV. ^ lEARNING AND LEARXID MEN AMONG tUE ANCIENT BUIT0K9. ^ j^HE philosophy of the Druids bore a greater resemblance ■^ to that of Pythagoras, than to any system of the other sages of antiquity ; the transmigration of souls being one of * A heavy impost of the rame kind exists at the present Tnoroentf which has indnced a noble author to reprobate the illiberality of our liiiancial ministers, whom he compare* to vultures, watching an oppor- " tumty of prejing upon the dead. their doctrines. As this great philosopher visited many countries in pursuit of knowledge, he perhaps imparled his discourses to the Druids, and adopted some of their opinions. Astronomy, geography, geometry, and arithmetic, were studied in this island at a very early period ; for though the Britons were unacquainted with the Arabic characters of the Idst-mentioned science, we have no reason to suppose that they were destitute of marks or characters of some other kind, which answered the same purpose, both in making antl recording their calculations. The letters of the Greek alphabet were probably used for both these purposes. This seems to be plainly intimated by Caesar in the following ex- pression concerning the Druids of Gaul : " In almost all their public transactions, and private accounts or computations, they make use of the Greek letters." Monuments sfill remaining sufficiently evince, that the an- cient Britons could apply the science of mechanics^ so as to produce very astonishing effects. As these monuments ap- pear to have been designed for religious purposes, it is scarcely to be doubted that they were erected under the direction of the Druids. How many obelisks, or pillars, are still to be seen on the tops of mountains, in Britain and its isles I we can hardly suppose that it was possible to cut these prodigious masses of sione (some of them above forty tons in weight) without vvf dges, or to raise them out of the quarries without levers. But it certainly required still greater knowledge of the mechanical powers, and of the methods of applying them, to transport those huge stones from the quarry to their places of destination. The famous Julius Agricola was the first of the Roman governors of this island who gave any considerable ^ ^ ^^^ attention to the concern? of learning. This illus- trious person (being not only one of the greatest generals, but also one of the best and most learned men of the age in which he tived) took great pains io reconcile the provincial Britons to his government, by introducing amongst them the Roman arts and sciences. With this view, he persuaded the noble youth of Britain to learn the I^tin language, and to apply to the study of the Roman eloquence. These per- suasions were successful, because they were seasonable ; and the British youth, being deprived of their former instructors, by the destruction and expulsion of the Druids, (which hap« pened about this time,) willingly put themselves under thos« teachers who were provided for them by the Romans. tl 14 HISTORY OF GREAT.BRITAIN. i- i I Though the names of some learned men, who flourished ?n Gaul in the third, fourth, and fifth centuries, are still pre- served, it must be confessed that we know very little of the literati of Britain in those times. This is chiefly the conse- quence of the dreadful havoc which was made, first by the Scots and Picts, and afterwards by the Saxons, among the monuments of Roman arts and learning in this island. Sylvius Bonus was a learned Briton, who flourished in the fourth century, and was contemporary with the poet Auso- nius, whose indignation he incurred by cr'ticising his works. Ausonius wrote six epigrams against Sylvius, in which he re. proached him chiefly on account of his country; for the sting of each epigram is this: " If Sylvius be good, he is not a Briton; or, if he be a Briton, he is not good ; for a Briton cannot be a good man." St.Ninian, who was one of the chief instruments of pro- pagating the Christian religion in the northern part of this island, among the Scots and Picts, was a Briton of noble birth and excellent genius. After he had received as good an education as his own country could afford, he passed se- veral years at Rome, which was then the chief seat of learn- ing, as well as of empire. Thence he returned into Britain, and spent his life in preaching the gospel in the most uncul. tivatcd parts of it, w ith equal zeal and success. St. Patrick, the famous apostle of the Irish, was also a Briton of a good family and ingenuous disposition. Having received the first part of his education at home, he studied a considerable time under the celebrated St. Germanus, bi- shop of Aries. He afterwards visited Rome, where, by the depth of his learning and the sanctity of his manners, he gained the esteem and friendship of Celestine, bishop of that city, who advised him to employ hife great talents in attempt, ing to civilize the people of Ireland, and to instruct them in the knowledge of the Christian religion. He readily under- took the arduous task of instructing and converting an ig- norant nation; and his pious labours were crowned with astonishing success. The famous heretic Pelagius, whose real name is believed to have been Morgan, was born in that part of Britain, which is now called North-Wales, on the 13th of November, 334, the same day with his great antagonist, St. Augustin. Even the most northern parts of this island produced some men of learning in this period. Celestius, the disciple and friend of Pelagius, was a Scotchman, who acquired great OF THE ARTS IN GREAT-BRITAIN. 15 reputation by his writings, about the beginning of the fifth century. He defended and propagated the peculiar opinions of his master Pelagius, with so much learning, zeal, and sue cess, that those who embraced these opinions were frequently called Celestians. CHAP. V. OF THE ARTS IN GREAT-BRITAIN, BEFORE THE ARRIVAL OF THE SAXONS, A.D. 449. THE first arts were those of hunting, pasturage, and agri- culture. As soon as the Romans had obtained a firm establishment in Britain, agriculture began to be very much improved and extended. This was an art in which that re- nowned people greatly delighted, and which they encou- raged in all the provinces of their empire. " W hen the Ro- mans," says Cato, " intended to bestow the highest praise on a £Ood man, they used to say, he understands agriculture well, and is an excellent husbandman; for this was esteemed the greatest and most honourable character." As soon, there- fore, as the Romans had subdued any of the British states, they endeavoured by various means to bring their new sub- jects to cultivate the land, in order to render their conquest more valuable. r j ii. As in early times the Britons had no better food than the spontaneous productions of the earth, or the animals which they took in hunting, so they had no better lodgings than thickets, dens, and caves. Their winter-habitations and places of retreat in time of war, being dug deep in the ground and covered with earth, were rendered secure and warm by art Some of these subterraneous houses are still remaining in Cornwall, and in the western isles of Scotland. The sum- mer.habitations of the most ancient Britons were very slight, and consisted only of a few stakes driven into the ground, in* terwoven with wattles, and covered with the boughs of trees. They next proceeded to form the walls of large beams of wood; which.was the mode of building in Britain when it was first invaded by the Romans. These wooden houses were not square, but circular, with high tapering roofs, at the top of which was an aperture for the admission of light and emission of smoke. The foundations of some of the largest houses of this description were of stone, of which there are some vestiges still remaiuitis in Anglesey and other u HISTORY OP GREAT- BftlTAIN. Ill I 'I parts. It was in imitation of these wooden houses that the most ancient stone edifices were briiit in a circular form, and had a large aperture at the (op. The palaces of the British princes were built of the same materials, and on the same plan with the houses of their subjects, and differed from them only in solidity and magnitude. *' What the Britons call a town," says Strabo, « is a tract of woody country, surrounded by a mound and ditch, for the security of themselves and cattle against the incursions of their enemies.'* The forests of the BrUons were their cities; for, when they had enclosed arery large circuit with felled trees, they built within the enclosure houses for themselves, and hovels for their cattle. These buildings were very slight, and not designed for long duration. But, as soon as the Romans began to form settlements and plant colonies in the island, a sudden and surprising change ensued in the state of architecture. The first Roman colony was planted at Camulodunum, within the circuit of the modern county of Essex; but the town was destroyed by the Britons, nine years after its erection, in their great re. 1. D. 60. ^^^^ ""^'^'' I^oadicea. It appears to have been a ' * . ' large and well-built town, adorned with statues, temples, theatres, and other public edifices. But London affords a still more ^riking example of the rapid progress of the Roman architecture in this island. There was either no town in that place, or, at most, only a British town or ew. closed forest, at the time of the first Roman invasion. But it had not been in the possession of the Romans many years, before it became a rich, populous, and beautiful city. A knowledge of the art of war being necessary, all the young men among the ancient Britons, as well as other Celtic nations, were trained to the use of arms from their early youth, continued in the exercise of them to their old age, and were always ready to appear, when called by their feaders into actual service. Their very diversions and amusements were of a martial and manly cast, and contributed greatly to increase their agility, strength, and courage ;~a circum- stance which is, perhaps, too much neglected in the military discipline of modern times. Mankind have naturally a taste for imitation; and from this taste some of their most innocent pleasures are derived. Of this kind are the two imitative arts of sculpture and pamting The idea of forming images of men and other Mimals of clay and wax, and other soft substances, whicft OF tHE ARTS IN GREAt ► BRITAIN. 17 are easily moulded into any form, is so natural and obvious, that the practice of it has been very ancient and universal. When the Britons had arrived at some dexterity at working in wood, they began to adorn these works with various figures ; particularly their war-chariots, which were curi- ously carved, and on which they lavished all their art. When the authority of the Druids had been superseded by that df th^ Romans, statues were introduced into the tern* pies, as well as into public and private houses. At the departure of the Romans, however, they carried off some of the most admired pieces of sculpture ; and most of those that remained, together with the edifices which they adorned, were destroyed by the Scots and Picts in their incursions, and by the Saxons in their long wars. The few pieces which have escaped all these accidents and the injuries of time, and are now preserved with care in the repositories of the curious, are chiefly figures cut oa altars, and particular stones, in basso-relievo. Some of these are in a fine and delicate taste. Fainting is another of the pleasing and imitative arts, representing visible objects on smooth surfaces, by lines and colours. Some rude beginnings of this art have been dis. covered among the most savage nations ; and the first essay* of it were certainly very ancient in this island. Caesar, Pliny, and Herodian, mention the British practice of body- painting. " All the Britons stain themselves with woad, which makes their skins of a blue colour. They draw upon their naked bodies the figures of animals of all kinds, which they esteem so great an ornamenf, that they wear no clothes, that these figures may be exposed to view.*' We learn from other authors, that this body-painting was a distinct trade or profession in those times ; and that the artist began his work by making the intended figures upon the skin with the punctures of sharp needles, that it might the better imbibe and retain the colouring. This is said to have been a very painful operation. When these figures were made on the body in childhood, as they commonly Were, they grevV and enlarged vfrith it, and continued upon it through life. Per- sons of inferior rank had but few of these figures, of a small size, and coarse workmanship, painted on theif bodies ; but those of better families had them in greater numbers, of larger dimensions, and more elegantly executed, accord- ing to their diflferent degrees of nobility. " The name of the Picts," says Isidorus, <' corresponds very well with the i 18 HISTORY OF GREAT- BRITAIN. ll t I I' appearance of their bodies; for they squeeze the juice of certain herbs into figures made on their bodies with the points of needles, and so carry the badges of their nobility on their spotted skins." There is not any one circumstance in the history of the ancient Britons more surprising than that of their early and admirable taste for poeiri/. At a time when they were almost naked, and without tolerable lodgings, and when they chiefly depended on what they caught in hunting for their subsistence, they composed sublime and beautiful poems, of various kinds, on many diflferent subjects. The ardour of their devout affections, their enthusiasm for warlike ex. ploits, and their admiration of the beauties of the fair sex doubtless inspired the first poets; and, as they knew nothing of writing, men of genius soon perceived that their composi- tions could not be circulated among their contemporaries, or transmitted to posterity, if they did not clothe them in melo- dious numbers, and adorn them with the charms of poetry. Our ancestors, and all the Celtic nations, composed hymns in honour of their gods, which they sang at their sacrifices and other religious solemnities. ~f As war was the great business and chief delight of the an. cient British princes, so it was one of the most frequent sub- jects of the songs of their poets; for it was their opinion that martial songs enlivened war, supported the yielding fight, and inflamed the courage of the combatants. Some- times, indeed, when the bards did not approve a war, they €ang such mild pacific strains as calmed the rage of armies ready to engage, and brought about a peace. Thus, even among these fierce barbarians, rage gave way to wisdom, and Mars yielded to tluj Muses. Next to the martial feats of heroes, the charms of the fair, and the cares and joys of virtuous love, were the most fre- quent and delightful subjects of the songs of the ancient British bards. Their descriptions of female beauty are always short and delicate; expressive of the modesty and innocence of the minds of the ladies, as well as of the charms of their persons. '• Half hid in her shady grove, Roscrana raised the song. Iltr white hand rose on the harp! I beheld her blue rolling eyes. She was like a spirit of heaven half-folded in the skirts of a cloud. She rose bright amidst my troubled soul. She came with bending eye, amidst the wandering of her heavenly looks*." *0i COMMERCE, COIN, AND SHIPPINGf. H The ancient inhabitants of Britain, as well as of many other countries, had at least as great a taste and fondness for music as they had for poetry. Music is natural to man- kind, who have been accustomed to singing in all ages, and in all countries. Vocal music, perhaps in imitation of the feathered songsters of the woods and groves, was here, and every where, more ancient than instrumental. In the first stages of society, the two sister arts of poetry and music seem to have been always united ; every poet was a musician, and sang his own verses to the sound of some instrument. This was one of those circumstances which rendered the music of the ancients so affecting, and enabled it to produce such strong emotions of rage, love, joy, grief, and other passions in the hearers, by conveying the pathetic strains of poetry to their hearts, in the most rousing, softening, joy- ous, or plaintive sounds. Though the ancient Britons were not altogether unac- quainted with wind-instruments of music, yet they seem to have delighted chiefly in the lyre or harp. They sang and played by the ear, and their tunes, as well as their poems, were handed down from one age to another. CHAP. VI. siiao. COMMERCE; COIN, AND SHIPPING, OF BRITAIN IN THfi EARLY AGES. rilHE Phcenicians are generally believed to have been the A inventors of navigation and foreign trade, and the in- structors of other nations in their most useful arts. They were the boldest and most expert mariners, the greatest and most successful merchants of antiquity. Some writers are of opinion, that this island was discovered by that adventurous people before the Trojan war ; and, if we could be certain that the tin, in which the Tyrians or Phojnicians traded in the days of the prophet Ezekiel, was brought from Britain, we should be obliged to embrace this opinion. But, as we know that they found great quantities of tin, as well as of more precious metals, in Spain, we cannot fix the aera of their arrival in Britain from this circumstance. It is not probable that the Phoenicians planted any colo. nies, or built any cities, in Britain. We may suppose, that they contented themselves with making occasional voyages into this part of the world, for the sake of trade. The commo- *1 «0 HISTORY OF GREAT- BRITAlSr. lis: Ml; ditif s exported by them were tin, lead, and the skins both of wild and tame animals. Under this last article was com. prehended the excellent wool of the British sheep, which most ha?e been of great use to these traders in their woollen manufactures. Though the Phoonicians were rich in gold and siher, they made no use of coin in their commerce with the people oi Britain. That people had, in those times, no idea of the nature or use of money ; and the Phcenicians profited too much by their ignorance, to give them any insight into thos6 important points of commercial knowledge. They acted in the same manner towards the ancient Britons as the Euro- peans acted towards the people of America, on their first discovery of that country. They gave things of small price in exchange for the most valuable commodities. Salt, earthen-ware, and trinkets made of brass, were the articles they carried into Britain. The first and second of these were indeed useful, but of easy purchase, and were probably sold at an exorbitant rate to the unskilful Britons. The articles made of brass were chiefly of the ornamental kind, as chains for their necks, rings, bracelets, and the like, of which the Britons were remarkably fond. 'i'hough the Britons had some iron at the arrival of tht Romans, yet, as Caesar observes, they had it only in small quantities, hardly sufficient for their home.consumptioo, and none to spare for exportation. But, after the Romans had been some time settled in this island, this most useful metal became very abundant, and made a part of the British exports. Gems, and particularly pearls, which were esteemed by the Romans the most precious and excellent of all commo- dities, were exported from Britain at this period. Caesar, after his return from this island, consecrated a breast-plate of great value and beauty to Venus, in her temple at Rome, which, according to the inscription that accompanied it, was composed of British pearls. Yet it is probable that the pearls of our island were inferior to those of India and Arabia in general, though some of them might be remark- able for their size and beauty. As Britain abounded in cattle of all kinds, we may be certain that they furnished the merchants of those times ^ith several articles for exportation. The British horses were so beautiful, and so admirably trained, that they were much admired by the Romans, and exported for the saddles of their great mvn, and for mounting their cavalry. COMMERCE, COIN, AND SHIPPING. n It will perhaps appear ridiculous to many readers to be informed^ that the British dogs constituted no inconsider- able article in the exports of this period. But, in the hunt, ing and pastoral stages of society, these faithfil animdlg are the favourite companions and most useful possessions of men ; and, even in a more advanced period of civilization, they contribute not a little to our amusement. Those dogs were of different kinds. But the greatest numbers, and those which bore the highest price, were designed for hunt* ing, and excelled all others, both in their swiftness ^d fix^uisite scent. They are thus described by Oppiaa ; ^ There is a kind of dogs of mighty fame, " For hunting, worthy of a fairer frame: ** By painted Britons brave in war they're bred, ^* Are beagles caU'd, and to the chase are led : ** Their b<>dies small, and of so mean a shape, ^ You'd think them curs that under tables gape/* The goods imported into Britain, according to StrabO| were ivory bridles, gold chains, cups of annber, and drink, ing glasses. But, after the Roman conquest, the imports unavoidably became much more various and valuable. Be* sides wine, spices, and many other articles for their tables, the Britons soon found it useful to import the greatest num- ber of their tools, arms, furniture, clothing, and many other things. When metals were first used as money, and made the com- mon price of all commodities, their value was determined only by their weight. The seller having agreed to accept a certain quantity of gold, silver, or brass, for his goods, the buyer cut off that quantity from the plate or ingot of that metal in his possession ; and, having weighed it, delivered it to the seller, and received the goods. But this method of trans- acting business was attended with much trouble, and was liable to various frauds, both in the weight and fineness of the metals used io commerce. It was, therefore, ordained by the laws of several ancient nations, that all the metal used as money should be divided into small pieces, and itamped with certain marks. As a considerable number of gold coins were found ia 1749, on the top of Rarn-bre, in Cornwall, which are sup- posed to have belonged to the ancient Britons, it may have been discovered that this island produced gold and silver not long after the first invasion of the Romans. The figures thM were first stamped on the coins of 4II nations, (espe- 1;1 1 ' V }■ ' I 1 II I' ■I HISTORY OF GREAT BRITAIN. \ 24 - cially of those nations whose chief riches consisted in their < flocks and herds,) were those of oxen, horses, hogs, and «heep We may therefore conclude, that those coins ot any country which hare only the figures of cattle stamped upon them, and perhaps of trees, representing the woods in which their cattle pastured, were the most ancient corns of that country. Some of the gold coins found at Karn- bre, and described by Dr. Borlase, are of this kind, and may be deemed the most ancient of our British coins. When sovereigns became sensible of the great importance of money, and took the fabrication of it under their own direction^ they ordered their own heads to be stamped on one side of their coins, while the figures of some animals still continued to be impressed on the other side. Of this kind are some of the Karn.bre coins, with a royal head on one side, and a horse on the other, which we may suppose to have been struck in a more advanced state of the British coinage, x i. v Floats or rafts are believed, by most authors, to have been the first kind of water-carriage. To these succeeded ca- noes^ made of one very large tree excavated, to secure it« freight from being wetted or washed away : «' Tunc alnos primumfluvii sensere cavata^^ " Then first ou seas the hollow alder swam." As uncultivated nations wanted proper tools for sawing large trees into planks, the most ancient vessels or boats m several countries were made of osiers, and the flexible branches of trees interwoven as close as possible, and co- Tered with skins. " The sea, which flows between Britain and Ireland," says Cajsar, '• is so unquiet and stormy, that it is only navigable in summer ; when the people of these countries pass and repass it in small boats made of wattles, and covered carefully with the hides of oxen." After the Roman conquest, when London, in the reign ot Nero, was become a great city, abounding m ■*• ^- ^^ • merchants and merchandise, it certainly abound- ed also in shipping. And when, in the year 359, no fewer than eight hundred ships were employed in the exportation of corn, the whole number employed in the British trade must have been very great. ^ ^x. v y Towards the end of the third century, when the I'ranK and Saxon pirates began to infest the seas, we may form some idea of the greatness 'of the British fleets by obserying the CUSTOMS OF THE ANCIENT BRITONS. 23, fast preparations that were made against them for several years. The emperor Constantius did not think it safe to put to sea, or to attempt the recovery of Britain, till he had collected a fleet of a thousand sail ; and, after all, his 5uc- H^ess in that enterprise is ascribed more to his good fortune in. passing the British fleet m a thick fog than to his superior force. The high encomiums bestowed on Constantius, for this exploit of recovering Britain, afford another proof of its great importance on account of its naval force. " O happy victory ! (exclaims his panegyrist,) comprehending many vic- tories and innumerable triumphs. By it Britain is restored, the Franks are exterminated, and many nations, which had conspired together, are constrained to make submission. Re- joice, O invincible Caesar ! for thou hast conquered another world, and, by restoring the glory of the naval power of Rome, hast added to her empire a greater element than the whole earth," By the departure of the Romans, the Britons suffered as much in their maritime affairs as in any respect whatever. The Roman fleets and garrisons being withdrawn, the British ships became an easy prey to the Frank and Saxon pirates at «ea, and were not secure even in their Harbours. CHAP. VII. MANNERS AND CUSTOMS OF THE ANCIENT BRITONS. THE most agreeable and entertaining part of history is, perhaps, that which exhibits a view of manners. They who delight in observing the various passions, foibles, and humours, of mankind in real life, will view with pleasure a delineation of the manners, customs, and characters, of na- tions during their several periods. The ancient Britons were remarkable for the size and sta- ture of their bodies, and for their fair complexions. The women, in particular, excelled in the fairness and softness ef their persons. The hair of the Caledonians, or North- Britons, is said to have been of a reddish cast ; and that of the Silures, or people of South-Wales, most commonly curled. All the Celtic nations had blue eyes, which were esteemed very beautiful. Their voices, when they exerted them with a view to excite terror, were exceedingly loud, horrid, and frightful. — " Now Fingal arose in his might, nnd \ ,f «4 HISTORY OF GREAT-BRITAIN. thrice be reared his Toice. Cromla answered around, and* the sons of the desert stood still." t The Britons were ^s remarkable fpr their strength, as fop the bulk, of their bodies. They excelled in running, swim- ming, wrestling, climbing, and all kinds of bodily exercises. / They could patiently endure the greatest difficulties. " The Caledonians," says an accurate writer," are accustomed to fatigues, to bear hunger, cold, and all manner of hardships. They run into the morasses up to the neck, and live there se- veral days without eating." But they were not capable of /bearing much heat or thirst ; and they exerted their strength I fvith so much violence on their first assault upon an enemy^ I that it was soon exhausted. The following poetical picture of an ancient Briton, in .' the prime of his strength^and beauty, was drawn from the :' life by the hand of a master : " Was he white as the snow ^ of Ardven ? Blooming as the bow of the shower ? Was his hair like the mist of the hill, soft and curling in the day of the sun? Was he like the thunder of heaven in battle? Fleet as the roe of the desert ?" Nature was not less liberal to the Britons in the faculties of their minds, than in the formation of their bodies. They were acute and ingenious, and very capable of acquiring any art or science to which they applied. Julius Agricola loaded \ with praises the young men of Britain, who studied the Ro- man language and learning, and declared, that they excelled the youths of Gaul in genius. Valour in war was the most admired and popular Yirtue of the ancient Britons. They were accustomed, almost from Ji their infancy, to handle arips, and to sing the glorious ac- X tions of thfir ancestors. This inspired their young hearts with an impatient desire of engaging the enemy. As they advanced in years, they wejre made fully sensible, that every thing in life depended on their courage. The smiles of the fair, the favour of the great, the praise of the bard$, the applause of the people, and even happiness after death, were pnly to be obtained by brave and daring exploits in war,— " Mine j^rm rescued the feeble, the haughty found my rage was fire. For this my fathers shall meet me at the gates of their airy halls, tall, with robes of light, with mildly-kindled r eyes." j / Their courage was accompanied and ennobled by a love !: ''of liberty. To this powerful passion their leaders con- stantly addressed themselves ia all their harangues; and by CUSTOMS OF THE ANCIENT BRITONS. 2S this were they animated to make so long and obstinate a re- sistance to their invading foes. The character which a celei brated historian gives of them, even after they had submitted to the Roman government, before they were enervated by Roman luxury, is probably just, and is certainly honourable. "The Britons," says Tacitus, " are a people who pay their taxes, and obey the laws with pleasure, provided that no arm biirari/ and illegal demands be made upon them; but these they cannot bear without the greatest impatience ; for they are only reduced to the state of subjects, not of slaves." >spitalitv was one Jitthe most shining virtues of the an- cient BmonsTiVS soon as they beheld the face of a stran. "cerTT^ey^Tell sincere joy at his arrival, accosted him in the most friendly manner, and gave him the warmest invitations to TrnEeTtheif doors, whic^j^^ It toSBDHtidffnff-Tsteemed infamous for a chieftain to shut the i[ V<&''!i^'<-*''^*^ Jdoor of his hou^^^,sUjdJ4~leslE7a^ ^ne bafcTs^xpfessed it, the sirnns^T^$fi£lildXQj^^^ his contracted souL As soon as the stranger accepted 'thSTrieifdly Inn vFfat^ entered the hospitable door, water was presented to him to wash his feet ; and if he received and used it, and at the same time delivered his arms to the master of the house, it was un- derstood as an intimation that he intended to favour him with his company for some time, at least for one night. This diffused joy over the whole mansion. The music of the harp began, and an entertainment was immediately prepared and served up, as sumptuous as the entertainer could afford. Hospitality of a similar kind continued to be practised long after this period, by the genuine posterity of the ancient Bri- tons in Wales and the islands of Scotland ; and even to this day there are unfrequented parts of these countries where it is to be found the same in spirit and substance, though rob. hed of its splendid and captivating exterior. The Britons were famous for the warmth of their natural affections, their duty to their parents and superiors, and their inviolable attachment to their friends and family. All the young men of a clan, or tribe, treated the old men with the respect due to parents ; and those of the same age be. haved towards one another as brothers. Nothing could equal the respect, affection, and firm attachment, which every family bore to its head or chieftain. For his safety and ho- i nour, every friend was ready to expose his own life to the { most imminent danger. In a word, all the members of a clan were animated with one spirit ; and whoever did aa C \ M 1 , >f, i 28 IIISIORY OF GREAT -BRITAIN. I 1 (^v injury or offered an affront to one of them, drew upon him, self the resentment of the whole. This family affection, op clanship, is hardly yet extinguished in some parts of this island.. >:^ Their new-born infants were plunged into some lake or river, even in the winter.season, with a view to try the strength of their constitutions, and to harden their bodies. Every woman nursed her own children, without having the least idea that it was possible for any other woman to per- form that parental office. The sons of all ranks of men -were allowed to run, wrestle, jump, swim, climb, and, in a word, to do what they pleased without any restraint, till they began to advance towards manhood. To this continual exercise and perfect liberty, together with the simplicity of their diet, Caesar ascribes the great strength of body, and boldness of spirit, to which the youth of these nations at. tained. As war was the favourite profession of the ancient Bri- tons, they had some remarkable customs in the prosecution of it. When an unfortunate chieftain implored the pro- tection and assistance of another, he approached the place of his residence with a bloody shield in one hand, to intimate the death of his friends, and a broken spear in the other, to re- present his own incapacity to revenge it. When one chief- tain entered the territories of another on a friendly visit, he and his followers carried their spears inverted, with their points behind them ; but, when they came with a hostile in- tention, they carried them with the points before. Invaders never neglected to draw blood from the first animal they met on the enemy's ground, and to sprinkle it upon their colours. When two hostile armies were stationed near each other, it was the constant custom of the commanders of both to re- tire from their troops, and spend the night before a battle in meditating on the dispositions they intended to make during .the approaching action. When two British kings or chiefs made peace, or entered into an alliance, they generally con- firmed the agreement by feasting together, by exchanging arms, and sometimes by drinking a few drops of each other's blood, which was esteemed a most sacred and inviolable I)ond of friendship. The tender affection which subsists among near relatives and dear friends, has, in all ages and countries, disposed the survivors to pay ce^-tain honours to the dead, and to com- mit their rema'ms to the earth with some peculiar ceremonies, CUSTOMS OF THE ANCIENT BRITONS. 27 It was the custom of the British nations in the South, and of the Gauls, to throw into the funeral pile, on which the body was burned, those things, and even those animals, in which the deceased had most delighted; and sometimes they even threw into the flaming pile such of his servants and friends as had been his greatest favourites, and all were re- duced to ashes together in the same fire. With the ashes of the deceased, they buried his books of accounts, and the notes of hand for the sums of money which he had lent whilst alive, that he might exact the payment of them in the other world. The sepulchral urns were usually deposited under barrowsj or large circular heaps of earth and stones. But, as the bones of men lying at full length, and without any marks of burning, have been found in some barrows, it ap- pears that on some occasions the South-Britons buried their dead without burning. This was the constant practice of the Caledonians, whose manner of burying their dead Is thus described by one who had the best opportunities of being ac- quainted with their customs: "They opened a grave six or eight feet deep; the bottom was lined with fine clay, on which they laid the body of the deceased ; and, if a warrior, his sword and the heads of twelve arrows by his side. Above, they, laid another stratum of clay, in which they placed the horn of a deer, the symbol of hunting. The whole was co- vered with a fine mould, and four stones were placed on their ends to mark the extent of the grave. The bows of warriors, as well as their swords and arrows, were deposited in their graves. These graves were marked sometimes only with one, and sometimes with two stones ; and sometimes a eairn or barrow was raised over them. The favourite dogs of the de- ceased were often buried near them. But the most important and essential accompaniment of sepulture, among the ancient Britons, was the funeral song, containing the praises of the deceased, sung by a number of bards to the music of their harps, when the body was deposited in the grave. To want a funeral song was esteemed the greatest misfortune and dis- grace, as they believed that without it their spirits could en- joy no rest or happiness in a future state." The language, which was spoken by the Britons at the time of the Roman invasion, was a dialect of the Celtic, which had been the language of all the nations of Europe descended from Gomer, and still continued to be spoken by the people of Gaul, and several other countries. A convin- cing proof of this is, that the names of the generality of British c2 I H ts HISTORY OF GREAT.BRITAIN. \i f < in ii !•• ,i rivers, hills, mountains, towns, and cities, are signidcaDt in that language, and descriptive of their situations, properties, and appearances. For the^r*^ inhabitants of every country are under a necessity of giving names immediately to those objects about which they have daily occasion to converse; and these primitive names are naturally no other than brief descriptions of the most striking appearances and obvious properties of these objects in their native tongue. Dialects of the Celtic still continue to be spoken in Wales, in the Highlands and western islands of Scotland, and in Ireland, as well as some places on the continent ; for, though the Romans endeavoured to introduce not only their laws and government, but also their language, into all the countries which they conquered, they failed in this last attempt in se- veral provinces of their empire, and particularly in Britain. Some of the noble youth of the provincial Britons were pre, vailed upon to learn the Latin tongue, and to study the Roman eloquence : but even these did not discontinue the use of their native language, and the body of the people neither understood nor spoke any other. As the Romans never conquered the Caledonians, they cannot be supposed to have made any change in their language, which is now spoken by their posterity in the Highlands, with less variation from the original Celtic than in any other part of Europe. With regard to dress, though the first inhabitants of every country go almost naked, yi^i the decent custom of wearing clothes of some kind or other h^d become very general in Britain before it was invaded by the Romans. The Caledo- nians, indeed, are said to have been naked in the beginning of the third century. As the Romans, however, hardly ever saw them, but in a warlike posture, or engaged in some mili- tary expedition, they might imagine them to be naked when they were not absolutely so; because it was the constant custom of that people tq throw off nearly all their clothes before they advanced to battle, that they might not be en- cumbered by them in the action. The upper garment pf the ancient Britons, and of all the other Celtic nations, was the mantle or plaid. This was a piece of cloth of a square form, sufficiently large to cover the whole body. It was fastened upon the breast, or one of the shoulders, with a clasp, or with a thorn, or sharp-pointed piece of wood. As this gar- ment succeeded the mantles made of the skins of some of the larger animals, which had formerly been worn by all the Celtic nations, it was made to imitate these skins in their \ u f -; III CtJSTOMS OF TlIE ANCIENT BRITONS. 2§ shape and form ; and iti several countries, particularly ia Britain^ those who were poor, or less civilized, still conti« . nued to wear skins, while those who were more wealthy, or i I more improved, were clad in plaids. Close trowsers, rem semhWn^ OMT pantaloons^ were next introduced. These gar- ments, which were both graceful and convenient, and dis- played the fine shape and turn of their limbs to great advan* tage, were used by the posterity of the Caledonians in the Highlands of Scotland till very lately, and are hardly yet laid aside in some remote corners of that country. They likewise wore a vest, or tunic, adjusted exactly to the shape and size of the body, fastened before with clasps, and reach- ing no lower than the groin. These vests had. sleeves which covered the arms, at first only as far as the elbows, but af- terwards down to the wrists. For some time after this' gar- ment was invented, it was used only by persons of rank and wealth; but, by degrees, it came into common use. Instead of shoes, they had a piece of the skin of a horse, cow, or other animal, tied about the feet with the hair outwards. The ancient Britons were extremely proud of the length and beauty of their hair. It is said to have been the last re- quest of a captive warrior, who was condemned to be be- headed, that no slave might be permitted to touch his hair, and that it might not be stained with his blood. We seldom meet with a description of a fine woman, or handsome man, ; in the poems of Ossian, in which the hair is not mentioned | as one of the greatest beauties of the portrait. Not con- ^ tented with the natural colour of their hair, which was com- f monly fair or yellow, they made use of certain washes to I make it still brighter. They shaved all their beards, except ^ the upper lip, the hair of which they allowed to grow to a very inconvenient length. Most of the inhabitants of this island lived for some time on the spontaneous productions of the earth, in their natural state, with little or no preparation. At the time of the Ro- i man invasion, however, they had great herds of cattle and ! flocks of sheep, whose flesh and milk yielded them a variety \ of substantial dishes. They used little bread at their enter* tainments, but a great quantity of flesh, which they either boiled, broiled on the coals, or roasted on spits. They had also venison, game, and poultry of all kinds, though ^ they were restrained, by some superstitious fancy, from using | jj as food either hares, hens, or geese. They were not igno- rant of the art of salting flesh ; but their salt had a very dif- c3 I i U m ao HISTORY OF GREAT-. BRITAIN. I I i-- ' ferent appearance from ours, and was made by the following process; — They raised a pile of trees, chieiiy oaks afid hazels, set it on fire, and reduced it to charcoal; upon which, while it was still fpd-hot, they poured a certain quantity of salt water, which converted the whole mass into a kind of salt of a black colour. The Caledonians had the art of roasting their acorns and other wild fruits, grinding them into meal, and making them into a kind of bread. The following account of their man- ner of dressing venison for a feast may serve as a sufficient specimen of their cookery. A pit, lined with smooth stones, ivas made, and near it stood a heap of flint-stones. The stones, as well as the pit, were properly heated with heath. Then they laid some venison in the bottom, and a stratum of stones above it, and this they did alternately, till the pit •was full. The whole was covered over with heath, to con- fine the steam. This was evidently a very laborious process, and required the assistance of many hands. Accordingly, the greatest heroes did not disdain to assist in preparing the feast of which they were to partake. "It was on Cromla's shaggy side that Douglas placed the deer; the early fortune of the chase before the heroes left the hill. A hundred youths collect the heath; ten heroes blow the fire; three hundred choose the polished stones. The feast is smoking wide." Water was the only drink of the most ancient inhabitants of this island; but it was not long before they began to use the milk of animals, as being more warm, pleasant, and nou- rishing. Previous to the introduction of agriculture, mead, or honey diluted with water, and fermented, was the only Strong liquor known to the Britons. This continued to be a favourite beverage among them long after they had become acquainted with other liquors. The mead-maker was the eleventh person in dignity in the courts of the ancient prince of Wales, and took place oi i\\e physician, Tlie following ancient law of the principality shews how much this liquor "Was esteemed by the British princes: " There are three things in the court which must be communicated io the king before they are made known to any other person, namely, every sentence ofthejudge^ every new song^ and every cask of tneadJ'^ This was perhaps the liquor which is called, by Ossian, the joy and strength of the shells with which his he. .roes were so much delighted. After the introduction of agriculture, ale or beer became CUSTOMS OF THE ANCIENT BRITONS. 31 the general drink of the British nations, *' All the nations," says Pliny, "' who inhabit the west of Europe, have a liquor with which they intoxicate themselves, made of corn and water. So exquisite is the cunning of mankind in gratifying their various appetites, that they have thus invented a method to make water itself intoxicate." If the Phoenicians or Greeks imported any wine into Bri- tain, it was only in very small quantities. That most gene- rous liquor was very little known in this island, before it was conquered by the Romans. After that period, wine was not only imported from the continent in considerable quantities, but some attempts were made to cultivate vines, and to make wine in Britain. Breakfast and supper were the only meals of the ancient Britons, at the latter of which they ate and drank with great freedom, and often to excess. The guests sat in a circle upon the ground, with a little hay, grass, or the skin of some ani- mal, under them. Every guest took the meat set before him in his hands, and, tearing it with his teeth, fed upon it in the best manner he could. If any part of the meat could not be easily separated, a large knife lay in a particular place for the benefit of the whole company. The dishes, in which the meat was served up, were either of wood or earthen-ware, or baskets made of osiers. These last were most used by the Britons, as they very much excelled in the art of making them, both for their own use, and for exportation. Their drinking.vessels were made of the horns of oxen and other animals ; but those of the Caledonians consisted of large shells, which are still used by some of their posterity in the Highlands of Scotland. They indulged themselves in feasting as often as they had an opportunity. No public assembly was held, either for civil or religious purposes, no birth-day, marriage, or funeral, could be celebrated without a great feast ^ and it seemed to be the general opinion, that no treaty of peace, or alliance, could be properly cemented without such an entertainment. It was by frequent festivities that the chieftains gained the affections and rewarded the services of their followers; and those who made the greatest feasts were sure to be most po- pular. These convivial meetings were accompanied with music and dancing. The songs of bards arose; the voice of sprightly mirth was heard ; the trembling harps of joy were strung; and the youth of both sexes danced for the amuse- ment of the company, and for their ow n gratification. c4 e 1 ( f .a 3t HISTORY OF GREAT. BRITAIN. MISCELLANEOUS INFORMATION. S3 i . i r r I' As hunting was an introduction to the art of war, it be- came a favourite diversion of the ancient Britons, By this exercise the young chieftains paid their court to the fair ob- jects of their love, by displaying their agility before them, and making them presents of their game. So strong and ge- neral was the passion for hunting, that young ladies of the highest rank and greatest beauty spent much of their time in the chase. " Comhal was the son of Albion, the chief of a hundred hills. One was his lore, and fair was she, the daughter of mighty Conloch. Her bow-string sounded on the winds of the forest. Their course in the chase was one, and happy were their words in secret."^ CHAP. VIII. MISCELLANEOUS INFORMATION RESPECTING THE ANCIENT BRITONS. ^ nnHE armories of the Britons were furnished with helmets, J- coats of mail, shields, and chariots, and with spears, f daggers, swords, battle-axes, and bows. The helmet, coat of mail, and chariot, were confined to the chiefs, whilst the I common soldiers always fought on foot. The shield was like the target of our present Highlanders, slight, generally Ground, and always bossy. The sword was like that of some I mountaineers, large, heavy, and unpointed. The dagger \was similar to their dirk. The British chariots had their "wheels frequently furnished with sc)'thes like the Gallic, ■were always drawn by two horses, and carried sometimes two persons, the driver and the warrior, and sometimes only «ne. The Romans do not appear to have fostered any prejudices in the Britons, against the habits of their fathers. They did ;^. not endeavour, with the policy of the Tartar conquerors of China, to assimilate the natives to themselves in the dis- / tinguishing exteriors of dress. The general drapery of the I nation was British, improved only with some additions from T the Roman wardrobe. The British gentlemen, like the Gallic, retained their ancient ornament of chains; and the , Britons, in general, did not adopt the Roman pileus as fi^ I a covering for the head, but continued the use of thei- own I caps, and such bonnets as are worn by the peasants in Scot« ' land. The privileges of the great officers of the British court were particularly striking. They were all presented annu. ally with a piece of linen and wooUen cloth by the king and queen, and regularly gratified besides with old clothes from the royal wardrobe. The king's riding coat was three times a year given away to the master of the mews; his caps, sad- dles, bits, and spurs, became the perquisite of the master of the horse; and the chamberlain appropriated to himself his old clothes and old bed-quilts. The chaniberlain of our own court, even in the reign of Edward the First, by the an- cient custom, received the king's old coverlets, curtains, and bt-ddin?. Kven to this day he receives, at a coronation, the furniture of the chamber, the bed, and the bed-dress in which the sovereign slept the night before. But, in the palaces of the Britons, this principle was carried so far, that even the wardrobes of the officers were, in some cases, inheritable by their inferiors. These were not all their privileges. They had a right to stated messes of meat when they gave enter- tainments in their own apartments; the president of the pa- lace being entitled to three dishes, and three horns of the best liquor, and the master of the mews to three horns and one dish. But the latter was cautiously required to bring his cup in person to the hall, at every repletion of it, lest he should drink too much, and neglect his birds. And if, in hunting, the master of the mews killed, in the king's pre- sence, one of the three birds that were denominated noble, the king was bound to assist him in dismounting and remount- ing, and to hold his horse while he took the game. But, if he killed it in the absence of the king, he was required to hasten to the palace, and present the game to his majesty; and, by the etiquette of the court, the king rose up in a compliment to him, or else gave him the mantle which he wore. The vitrification of sand by the force of fire, which forms one oHhe most pleasing discoveries in the whole circle of do- mestic improvements, was at first merely the consequence of chance. Such have been almost all the great discoveries of man. Sand being vitrified by an accidental fire, art imi- tated the work of casualty. Annulets of this me^al have T been discovered in various parts of our isFand, having a nar- | row perforation and thick rim ; and the existing superstitions \ concerning thepi shew, that they were once used as talis- ; mans among the Druids. In the barrows on Salisbury plain, which are probably older than the invasion of the Romans, c 5 I Sil - ■■-TI M f Ofl Ml 34 HISTORY OF GREAT -BRITAIN. many beads of glass have been discoyered. As the Britons had the art of forming beads and rings of glass, they certainly applied it to domestic pdrposes, and manufactured glass-ves- sels. These, like their annulets, were green, blue, yellow, or black, and many of them curiously streaked with other colours. The following was the process of the manufacture. The sand, being reduced to a sufficient fineness, was mingled irith three-fourths of their nitre, which was a fixed salt, and both were melted together. The metal, being then poDred into other vessels, was left to harden into a mass, and afterwards replaced in the furnace. It there became clear and transparent in the boiling, and was then figured by blowing, or modeled by the lathe into all such vessels as were wanted. % V The British bill of fare was greatly enlarged by the Ro- wans. 'J'he decline of the drutdical relitjion removed the re- straints which the prejudices of national faith imposed upon their palate's ; and geese, hares, and hens, were no more prohibited to be eaten. Nor were the original prohibitions of the Britons confined entirely to these. They exteiided also to the fish of the sea, and of the rivers. When an ob- ject has been employed in the ministry of religion, it has naturally such an odour of sanctity thrown over it, as must prevent it from being used in the common offices of life. Their rivers were exalted into divinities, and they made the turbulent ocean around them an object of adoration. The Highlanders to this day talk with great respect of the genius of the sea. They will not bathe in a fountain, lest the ele- gant spirit which resides in it should be offended and remove; and they rarely mention the water of rivers without prefix, ing to it the appellation of excellent. In one of the western islands, the inhabitants retained the custom to the close of the last century, of making an annual sacrifice to the genius of the ocean. A quantity of ale having been prepared by a general contrib^ftion against All-Saints day, and the whole body of the islanders being assembled on the shore, the oc- casional priest of the festival walked up to his middle in the sea, bearing a full cup in his hand ; invoked the deity by the title of shoni/ or uater ; supplicated his kindness to- wards them ; and poured the liquor in libation to the God. The anniversary was then concluded with feasting, dances, and songs. This was, perhaps, the reason why the Britons never fed upon fish. The inventive spirit of religion, which stamped divinity upon the rivers and the ocean^ whick MISCFXLANEOUS INFORMATION. 35 offered a sacrifice to the sea, and feared to offend the elegant genius of a fountain by bathing in it, would, in the full height of superstition, naturally consider the scaly inhabitants of the sea and rivers as the little Naiads of both, and as sharing a part of their divinity with them. But the Romans increased the variety of the British provi- sions, not only by the introduction of forbidden animals to the table, but by the importation of foreign ones into the is- land. These seem to have been rabbits, pheasants, cuckows, pigeons, partridjjes, plovers, turtles, and peacocks. The peacock was a dish of considerable repute among the Romans, and was first placed upon the table by Hortensius the orator, about seventy years before Christ, in a supper which he gave to the sacerdotal college. The rabbit was originally a native of Spain, and began to be brought into Italy in the days of Augustus. But hares had always been here ; and though they were only used for the purposes of divination, yet they were kept about the courts of the chiefs, from the delight which they took in breeding them. The idea of a hare-warren, and the model of a park^ were originally derived to us from the primaeval Britons. The cuckow just fledged, was reckoned, by the Romans of the first century, to excel every other species of birds in the taste of its flesh. Here it is not consi- dered as a bird for the table, but has been eaten by a few curious adventurers in feasting, and is said to be a delicate treat. The Italians retain the fondness of their ancestors for it to this day. After the introduction of commerce, the side-tables of the old Britons were decorated with considerable splendour. On them were to be seen drinking cups of various sizes, and in number equal to those who sat at table. One cup wai generally of silver, while the rest were made of wood, horn, or earth. Persons of the higher class sat at a table in the centre of the great hall. Their dependents, completely armed, as if on guard, formed a wider circle, and regaled themselves at the same time on long benches very little raised from the ground. When they had finished the substantial meal, the most honourable man at the feast called for a cup of ale, and drank to the next on his right hand ; and the same cup, being filled to the brim to each person, went round the whole circle. The guests brought along with them their own knives and forks, which hung from thegirdlein the same sheath with the dagger. On some particular occasions, the hospitable chief placed parties of men on the bye-roads of c6 '1 :if^ f: i i II 55 HISTORY OF GREAT.BRITAIN. the country, to bring passengers, by a kind of friendly com- pulsion, to his table.* Cock fi^jhtinj; is a recreation generally supposed to be the production of the British genius. But it was known to man^ of the ancients, and infroduced among us b\ the Ro- mans. The iinromnion bravery which has always distin. guished our British breed, would soon induce these con- querors of the world, fond as they were of barbarous diver- sions, to train them up for the pit, to direct their courage agaiiist their brethren, and arm them with artificial spurs. Such exhibitions were bss cruel in their nature than their ex- ecrable shows of gladiators, and nearly the same, in the scale of humanity, with their baiting of the wolf, the bull, and the bear. And, as more than one of the cities of Britain built a large amphitheatre for the latter, so others of them would naturally erect a small one for the former. One at least seems to have been constructed for it; and that is the little circle of gravel and sand, placed upon an eminence, near Richborough Castle^v' The horse was originally an inhabitant of Britain, but the ass was not. The latter bore a considerable price among the Romans and Spaniards ; and though its milk was not applied amont; the Romans to the purposes of medicine, it "was early converted to the uses of vanity. In the higher period of their empire, it was supposed by the ladies to contribute much, as a wash, towards whitening their skins. Kero's consort kept a train of five hundred mdch asses in constant attendance upon her ; and her bath was continu- ally replenished with their milk. The magic rites, which were practised in our island, at this period, with such a wild solemnity, were merely the mixed efiusions of m< dicine and superstition, each acting upon the other, and both heightening the whole. The three fol- lowing plants were partic ilarly the favourites of the druids. Samol was thought a remedy for all the diseases in cattle^ vervain was a cure for every disorder in man, and the misle- toe was denominated the all-healing plant. i The British females, after the introduction of spinning, I -were so constantly employed at the distaff, that the spindle \ became the s}mbol of the sex ; and still in England, when the banns ot ma'rimony are published, those women who * At the present day, this kind of hospitality would be deemed » proof of vulgarity and want of refinement. MISCELLANEOUS INFORMATION. 37 have not been married are called spivsters. When a British virgin was marriageable, the lover addressed hims^-lf first t > 1 I: 3S HISTORY OF GREAT BRITAIN. it, storms and tempests will arise to destroy their corn, overturn their cabins, and carry desolation through the country. 'I*he construction of the military roads in Scot- land, in the last reign, afforded a remarkable proof of this notion. An enormous stone (which crossed the intended line of one of the roads) being removed, a British sepulchre -was found below, containing ashes, fragments of bones, and half burned stalks of heath. As soon as it was known to the Highlanders, they assembled in arms even from the remotest parts of the country, and, forming themselves into a body, carefully collected the reliques, marched with them in solemn procession to a new place of burial, and there paid military honours to the deceased by discharging their musquets over his grave. Ildany of the northern tribes excluded women from their future paradise, in order, as they expressed it, " to prevent brawls and contentions in the seats of the blessed." But the softer sex, among the Britons and other Celtic nations, passed >*ith their friends to the fortunate isles, and enjoyed the conversation of their husbands and lovers in the regions of bliss. Their beauty increased with their change, and, to use the words of the bard, " They were ruddy lights in th6 island of joy." BOOK II. CHAP. I. POLTTFCAL AND MILITARY HISTORY, FROM THE ARRIVAL Or THE SAXONS, A.D. 449, TO THE NORMAN CONQUEST, A.D. 1066. MANKIND, in the possession of the present good, are apt to overlook the prospi'ct of future evil. The Britons did not foresee that their deliverers were to be their conquerors. The Saxons, however, after subduing the Scots and Picts, soon pulled off the mask. They com- plained that their subsidies were ill paid, and insisted upon larger supplies of corn and other provisions. These de- mands being r^-j^^eted, they proceeded to open hostilities against the p*^opl«' whom they had engaged to protect. Many battles were fought with various success, in one of which the Saxon general Horsa was slain. The sole command now de. A. D. 585. POLITICAL AND MILITARY HISTORY. 30 volved upon Hengist, who ravaged the country with fire and sword, and, in his furious massacres^ made no distinction of age, sex, or rank. Of the unhappy Britons who escaped the general slaughter, some took refuge among rugged rocks and mountains; many perished by hunger; and many, for- ; saklng their asylum, preserved their lives at the expense of their liberty. Intlns^^g^ji^emity, a British and Christian hero ap peared. ^:ATfIi u r7 pr iiic^^j p^fe "Sliu ires,''reYTvei3 the \ expTrTngvaroulTof^Ts countrymen, an^^efeated the Saxons j in several enffagements. But, after a TtTni "conirnuance of / h'bslilTties, in which the South-Britons were sometimes the / enemies and sometimes the allies of the Scots and Picts, the i Saxons became masters of the whole territory to the southward of the Clyde and Forth, except Wales and Cornwall, in which the harassed Britons found j refuge. / History affords an example of few conquests more bloody, ' and few revolutions so violent as that effected by the Saions. In the course of their wars with the Britons, they established many separate kingdoms, namely, Kent, Sussex, Essex, Wes- sex, Mercia, East-Anglia, and Northumberland. These seven kingdoms formed what is commonly called the Saxoa Heptarchy. To relate the separate history of each, would afford little instruction or entertainment. Jealousies and dissensions arose among the Saxon chiefs ; and these were followed by perpetual wars, which are no more worthy of the historian^s notice than the combats of crows and kites. After a variety of inferior revolutions, the seven kingdoms were united under Egbert, king of Wessex, in the year 827. His dominions were nearly of the same extent with what is now properly called England; — a name which was given to the empire of the Saxons in Britain, immediately after the termination of the Heptarchy. Egbert was succeeded by his son Ethel wolf, who divided his power with his son Athelstan. No inconveniences seem to have arisen from this partition ; the terror of the Danish invaders preventing all domestic dissensions. Time proved that this terror was too j.jst; for the Danes, though often repulsed, and sometimes defeated, always obtained their immediate end, by committing depredations, and carrying . off their booty. They avoided coming to a general engage- | i(!| ment, which was not suited to their plan of operations. Their vessels, being small, ran easily up the creeks and rivers. They drew them a^hore^ and formed an entrench. I I 'J in' i •f m \i 40 HISTORY OF GREAT-BRITAIN. ment round them, leaving them under a guard. They scat* tered themuelves over the face of the country in small par- ties, making spoil of every thing that came in their v*ay; goods, cattle, and women. If opposed by a superior force, they betook themselves to Iheir vessels, set sail, and invaded some distant quarter, not prepared for their reception. All England was kept in continual alarm: nor durst the inha- bitants of one part go to the assistance of another, lest their own families and possessions should be in the mean time ex- posed to the fury of the rayagers. Kvery season of the year was alike: no man could reckon upon a moment*s safety. Encouraged by their past successr>s, the Danes at length landed in so large a body as seemed to threaten the whole island with subjection. But the Anglo-J^axons, though la. bouring under the weight of superstition, were still a gal- lant people. They rous« d themselvfs with a vigour pro- portioned to the necessity, and defeated their invaders in several engagements. The Danes, however, ventured for the first time to take up their wititer-quarters in England; A D 852 ^"^ receiving in the spring a j owerful reinforce- ment, they advanced from the isle of Thanet, •where they had stationed themselves, and committed horri. ble ravages in London and Canterbury. KtheUolf was a weak prince, unfit to reign in turbulent times; but, if he d d not cive vigour to he state, he ehvated and enriched the church, by ordering the payment of a tenth part of the produce of all landed property to the clergy. His sons, Kihelbald and Kthelbert, divided the kingdom between them; but at length the latter reigned alone, and ■was succeeded by his brother E'helred^ who bravely de- fended his dominiops against the Danes. Another son of FtheUolf was the celebrated Alfred, one of the f-reaiest princes mentioned in historv. He fought seven battles with ihe Danes with various success, and, when defeated, he foi rd resources that rendered him as terrible as before. Jle was. however, at one time reduced to a state of uncommon distrtss, being forced to live in the disguise of a cowherd. Vet he still kept up a s 1 ALFRED DIVIDING HIS LAST LOAF WITH THE riLGRIM, fOLITICAL AND MILITARY HISTOllV. 4i day that he had sent out all his attendants to procure fish and other thino;s necessary for the family. When they were gone, the king took a book and began to read, whilst his queen was employed in her domestic concerns. They had not been long thus engaged, before a poor pilgrim knocked at the door, and begged that they would give him something to eat. The humane king called to Egelswitha, and requested her to give the poor man a part of what was in the house. The queen, finding only one loaf, brought it to Alfred, to shew how slender their store was. Not d<*tcrred, however, by tlie scanty view, from his charitable purposes, he cheerfully gave the indigent Christian one half of the loaf, consoling the queen with this religious refl<'ction, " that he who could feed five thousand persons with five loaves and two fishes,'* could make (if it so pleased Him) the remain- ing half of the loaf sufiice for more than their necessities. The king then resumed his studies, and felt that satisfaction which results from the performance of a beneficent action. Nor was his piety long unrewarded ; for his companions re- turned with so great a quantity of provisions, that Alfred and his friends were not again exposed to any similar incon- venience during their seclusion. At length, a prosperous event emboldened the royal fugi- tive to leave his retreat, and enter on a scene of action more worthy of himself. Oddune, earl of Devonshire, being be- sieged in his castle, made an unexpected sally upon the Danes, put them to the rout, pursued them with great slaughter, and gained possession of the famous Raven, an enchanted standard, in which they reposed the highest con- fidence. The account of this victory was immediately carried by the faithful earl to Alfred, who was happy to find the seeds of valour beginning to revive among his subjects. But before he would assemble them in arms, he resolved to inspect the situation of the enemy, and judge of the pro- bability of success, as an unfortunate atiempt, in the pre- sent state of national despondency, must have terminated in fin ll ruin. In consequence of tliis resolution, he entered ^ the Danish camp und*^r the disguise of a harper, and passed unsuspected through every quart'T. He observed the supine security of the ravagers, their contempt of the English, and their neglect of all military regulations. Encouraged by these propitious appearances, he sent secret intelligence to his most powerful subjects, and summoned them to assemble, »• !'f >j H .^H I i^ HISTORY OF GREAT- BRITAIN. U il-i along with their retainers, on the borders of Selwood Forest. The English, who, instead of finding a period to their ca- lamities in submission, as they had fondly hoped, had found the insolence and rapine of the conquerors more intolerable than the fatigues of war, joyfully resorted to the place of rendezvous. They saluted their beloved monarch with bursts of applause. They could not satiate their eyes with the sight of a prince, whom they had believed dead, and who now appeared as their deliverer. They begged to be led to liberty and vengeance. Alfred did not suffer their ardour to cool. He conducted them inistantly to Edington, where the Danes lay encamped; and, taking advantage of his previous knowledge of the enemy^s situation, he directed his attack against the most unguarded quarter. Surprised to see an army of English- men, whom they considered as totally subdued, and still more to find Alfred at their head, the Danes made a feeble resistance, notwithstanding their superior number. They were soon put to flight, and routed with great slaughter. Alfred, no less generous than brave, and who knew as well how to govern as to conquer, took the remainder of the Danish army, and their prince Guthrum, under his protec- tion. He granted them their lives on submission, and liberty to settle in the kingdoms of Northumberland and East Anglia, which were desolated by the frequent inroads of their countrymen, on condition that they should embrace Christianity. They consented, and were baptized. This mode of population fully answered Alfred's expectations; for the greater part of the Danes settled peaceably in their new possessions. This great prince, during the last three years of his reign, enjoyed a profound peace, which he employed in establishing civil and military institutions, in composing the minds of men to industry and justice, and in providing against the return of the former calamiiies. After re-building the ruined cities, particularly London, he divided the king- dom into counties, hundreds, and tithings, and established a regular n ilitia for its defence. but Alfpd did not trust solely to his land-force; for he also distinguished his rtign by the formation of a maritime povier, and may be consider* d as the creator of the English navy. Sensible that ships are the most natural bulwark of aa island^ a circumstance hitherto entirely overlooked by POLITICAL AND MILITARY HISTORY. 43 the Saxons, or English^* (as they began now to be generally called,) he met the Danes on their own element. A fleet of 120 armed vessels, provided with warlike engines and expert seamen, maintained a superiority over the enemy, and gave birth to that claim, which England still supports, to the sovereignty of the ocean. In order to guide the magistrates in the administration of justice, he framed a body of laws, which are still in force under the name of Common Law, He established a mode of trial by jury, the best security of our liberties, both personal and political. So vigilant was he against any violation of this bulwark of our constitution, that he hanged Cadwine^ one of his judges^ for sentencing a man to death without the consent of the twelve jurors. His vigour pervaded every department of the state ; and the police of his kingdom was so good, that golden bracelets were hung up near the high* ways, and no one dared to touch them. He died in 901, in the fifty-third year of his age. His character is so com. pletely amiable and heroic, that he is justly dignified with the epithet of Great. His civil and military qualifications equally claim our admiration. In him the virtues were so well tempered, and so justly blended, that no one of them exceeded its proper limits. He possessed the most enter- prising spirit with the coolest prudence, and the most rigid justice with the gentlest mercy. With the highest capacity, and the most ardent inclination for study and science, he united the most shining talents for action. He knew how to reconcile the vig;our of authority w ith the arts that conciliate love, and to give the sovereign command the air of a friendly request. He was succeeded by his son, Edward the Elder, under whom, though a brave prince, the Danes renewed their in- vasions. His successor, Athelstan, in order to encourage commerce, enacted, that every merchant who made three voyages to the Mediterranean, should be put upon a footing with a thane^ or nobleman of the first rank. He caused the Scriptures io be translated into the Saxon tongue. He was successful in his wars with the Scots, and died in 941. The reigns of his successors, Edmund, Edred, and Edwy, were weak and inglorious. Edgar, who mounted the throne in the year 959, revived the naval glory of England, * This name arose from th« A^igUt^ the m»st auia«r«us 9f the emi* {[rant Gei'manic tribes. II i' r. ;l I ^! ;•! 44 HISTORY OF GREAT-BRITAIN. and is said to have been rowed down the riTor Dee by eight kings, his vassals, whilst he himself sat at the helm : but, like many of his predecessors, he was the slave of priests, par. ticularly of St. Dunstan, abbot of Glastonbury, who di- rected both the spiritual affairs of the king, and the tempo- ral concerns of the kingdom. Nothing, either in church or state, was transacted, without his advice and concurrence. He was sole treasurer, and, by his counsel, most of the benefices in the kingdom were bestowed upon monks, while the secular clergy were totally neglected. The monarch's partiality rendered Dunstan too powerful for a subject.— His zeal was as furious as his power was great, and his un. derstanding as shallow as his ambition was boundless. The monks, however, whom he had so much obliged, took every opportunity of sounding his praise, and even repre- sented him as a prophet and apostle. The circumstances of Edgar's marriage with Elfrida, daughter of Ordgar, earl of Devonshire, were at once singular and criminal. The fame of this lady's beauty having reached the king's ears, he sent his favourite, Alhelwold, to take a survey of her charms. Finding that they surpassed report, the enamoured courtier sacrific^^d his fidelity to his passion, and assured the king, that Elfrida's fortune and quality alone procured h*"r the admiration of the world, and that her charms, far from being extraordinary, would have been entirely oTcrlooked in a woman of inferior condition. " But," added he, " though she has nothing to claim the attention of a sovereign, her immense wealth would, to a subject, be a sufficient compensation for the homeliness of her person, and, though it could never produce on me the illusion of beauty, it might make her a convenient wife!" Edgar, ready to promote his favourite's interest, not only approved his purpose, but forwarded his success by his re- commendation to the parents of Elfrida; and Athelwold was soon made happy in the possession of his mistress. Royal favourites are never without enemies. Edgar was soon informed of the truth; but, before he would execute vengeance on Athel wold's treachery, he resolved to satisfy himself of the extent of his guilt. He accordingly told him, that he intended to pay him a visit at his castle, and be in- troduced to his new-married wife. Athelwold was thunder- struck at the proposil; but, as he could not refuse the ho- nour, he only begged leave to go before theking a few hours, to prepare for his reception. On his arrival, he informed POLITICAL AND MILITARY HISTORY. 45 Elfrida of his deceit and danger, and entreated her to con- ceal from Edgar, by all possible means, that fatal beauty which had seduced him from his fidelity to his sovereign and friend. Elfrida promised compliance, though nothing ap» pears to have been farther from her thoughts. She took care to appear before the king with all the advantages, which the richest attire, and most engaging airs, could bestow. This had the desired effect. She instantly excited, in the bosom of the amorous Edgar, the highest love towards her. self, and the most furious desire of revenge against her hus, band. He, however, dissembled those passions, till, having seduced Athelwold into a wood, on pretence of hunting, he stabbed him with his own hand ; and soon after he espoused Plfrida. . . One of the remarkable incidents of this reign was the ex-. tirpation of wolves in England, which the king effected by changing the tribute-money, usually paid by the Welsh princes, into an annual tribute of three hundred heads of wolves. Edgar was succeeded, in 975, by his eldest son Edward, afterwards barbarously murdered by his step-mother, whose son Ethelred ascended the throne in 979. The nation was at that time severely harassed by the Danes. In the hope of checking their ravages and encroachments, the king, with the concurrence of a national council, agreed to pay 24,000 pounds to the fierce invaders. This money was called Dane- geld; and hence arose the first land-tax in England. The imprudent grant was soon followed by a measure of an op- posite nature. Ethelred gave orders for a general massacre of the Danes who had settled in his dominions : but this in. human act served only to enrage the Danish king Swein, who, in 1013, obliged Ethelred, his queen, and two sons, to flee into Normandy; a province of France, at that time go- verned by its own princes. Swein, dying suddenly, was succeeded by his son Canute the Great. But Ethelred, returning to England, forced Ca- nute to retire to Denmark ; whence, however, he invaded England with a great army, and obliged Edmund Ironside, (so called from his uncommon bodily strength,) to divide with him the kingdom. Edmund being assassinated, Canute succeeded to the whole, which he enjoyed for many years in great tranquillity, and died in the year 1035. With Canute fell the glory of the Danes in England ; and lijt his death the torch of discq^rd, which had lighted up SQ » ; i \i I'fi I IV • ■• < m 4G HISTORY OF GREAT- BRITAIN. many woes to this country, began to burn with a more bale- ful lustre. Canute, though nursed in blood, and surrounded with scenes of injustice and barbarity, passed to the grave •with the character of the mildest virtues. He acquired the surname of Great from his conquest ; but he merited that epi- thet much better from the virtues which he displayed during the pacific period of his administration. He was ever atten- tive to the interest of his people, and displeased with the adulation of his courtiers. He had the good sense to check their flattery in the fol. iDwing singular manner. Whilst some of them were ex- claiming one day, that every thing was possible to him, being then near Southampton, he ordered his chair to be set near the sea, when the tide was rising, and, as the waves approached, he commanded them to retire, and to obey the voice of him who was the lord of the ocean. He feigned to sit some time in expectation of their submission; but, when the sea began to wash him with its billows, he turned to his courtiers, and remarked to them, that omnipotence resided with that Being alone, in whose hands were all the elements of nature. His son Harold Harefoot performed nothing memorable; and his successor Hardicanute was so degenerate a prince, that the Danish royalty in England ended with him. The family of Ethel red being now called to the throne, Edward the Confessor succeeded ; though Edgar Atheling, a weak youth, descended from an elder branch, had the lineal right. Edward was a great benefactor to the church, and excessively attached to the Normans, among whom he had resided. He was governed by his minister, earl Godwin, and that noble- man's sons, of whom the eldest was Harold. It is said that he bequeathed the crown to William, duke of Normandy. Upon the death of the Confessor, however, earl Harold mounted the throne. William, who, though his birth was illegitimate, had suc- ceeded his father Robert in the Norman duchy, resolved to assert his pretensions to the English crown. He invited the neighbouring princes to join his subjects in the bold attempt, and made liberal promises to his followers, of lands and ho- nours in England, to induce them to give him more effectual assistancp. He thus collected 50,000 brave adventurers; and, while Harold was embarrassed with an invasion from Norway, the ambitious duke landed without opposition. Harold, returning from the North, encountered William in Sussex, near the place where the town of Hastings now stands^ iij ¥ CANUTE REBUKING THE FLATTERY OF HIS COURTIERS. !i 'M 46 mSTORY OF GREAT -BRITAIN. I I I 'ili many woes to this country, began to burn with a more bale- ful lustre. Canute, though nursed in blood, and surrounded with scenes of injustice and barbarity, passed to the grave -with the character of the mildest virtues. He acquired the surname of Great from his conquest ; but he merited that epi. thet much better from the virtues which he displayed during the pacific period of his administration. He was ever atten- live to the interest of his people, and displeased with the adulation of his courtiers. He had the good sense to check their flattery in the fol- lowing singular manner. Whilst some of them were ex- claiming one day, that every thing was possible to him, being then near Southampton, he ordered his chair to be set near the sea, when the tide was rising, and, as the waves approached, he commanded them to retire, and to obey the voice of him who was the lord of the ocean. He feigned to sit some time in expectation of their submission; but, when the sea began to wash him with its billows, he turned to his courtiers, and remarked to them, that oiHnipotence resided with that Being alone, in whose hands were all the elements of nature. His son Harold Harefoot performed nothing memorable; and his successor Hardicanute was so degenerate a prince, that the Danish royalty in England ended with him. The family of Ethelred being now called to the throne, Edward the Confessor succeeded ; though Edgar Atheling, a weak youth, descended from an elder branch, had the lineal right. Edward was a great benefactor to the church, and excessively attached to trhe Normans, among whom he had resided. He was governed by his minister, earl Godwin, and that noble- man's sons, of whom the eldest was Harold. It is said that he bequeathed the crown to William, duke of Normandy. Upon the death of the Confessor, however, earl Harold mounted the throne. William, who, though his birth was illegitimate, had sue ceeded his father Robert in the Norman ducliy, resolved to assert his pretensions to the Engli^ih crown. He invited the neighbouring princes to join his subjects in the bold attempt, and made liberal promises to his followers, of lands and ho- nours in England, to induce them to give him more effectual assistancp. He thus collected 50,obo brave adventurers; and, while Harold was embarrassed with an invasion from Norway, the ambitious duke landed without opposition. Harold, returning from the North, encountered William in Sussex, near the place where the town of Hastings now stands^ '!V CANUTE REBUKING THE FLATTERY OF HIS COURTIERS. '1 '" ^ M RELIGION OF THE SAXONS. 47 and a most sanguinary battle was fought between the twa Harold being killed, and his army routed with armies. great slaughter, the crown of England devolved upon WiL liam, in the year 1066. ,. , j r* •* Thus was the Anglo-Saxon government dissolved, alter it had continued above six hundred years from Hengist, the first king of Kent, CHAP. II. . I RELIGION or THE SAXONS BEFORE THEIR CONVERSION TO CHRISTIANITY. MEN not favoured with revelation, give their own pas- sions and prejudices to the divinities whom they adore. Brought up in battle, and habituated to blood, the Saxons made their gods as fierce and intractable as themselves. The character given of Odin differs in no respect from the pictures we have of those bold and intrepid warriors, who 1^ their predatory armies into the regions of the south. The su. preme gods of other nations are represented as favourable to the existence of the human species. The chief title of Odm was the Father of the Slain. The events of his life, except the means of leaving it with renown and through violence, commanded little of the attention of his worshipers. His dominion, therefore, in some measure, may be said to begyi in the hour of death. , ^i. • c The mode of worship, among the Saxons and their Scan- dinavian ancestors, was as simple as their ideas of a divinity were unrefined. A great log of unfashioned wood, perpen. dicularlY raised in the open air, was the common representa- tive of Odin. This symbol they distinguished by the name of Irmunsel, a word which, in their language, signified the uni- versal pillar that sustains the world. Thor, from which Thursday, the fifth day of the week, is derived, was only the title of Thunderer, annexed by all na- tions to the Supreme Divinity. Odin was worshiped under that name as presiding over the regions of the air, as the ruler of tempests, the director of thunder, the lord ot the weather, and protector and nourisher of the fruits of the 6Ai*th Contrary to the practice of the Celtic nations, the Saxons^ Danes, and other northern tribes, admitted a female divinity into the catalogue of their gods. As Odin was believe^ tP f \i i i\ 48 ill ' HISTORY OF GREAT. BRITAIN. RELIGION OF THE SAXONS. 49 be the father, Frefi was esteemed the mother of all the deities. Odin was the irresistible principle which gives motion to every thing that breathes; and Frea furnished that por. lion of matter which is infused into living creatures by the active and pervading spirit distinguished by the name of God. In the most ancient times, Fr^a was the same with the goddess Hertha, or the Earth. Her worship filled the minds of her devotees with sentiments very different from those which the bloody altars of Odin inspired. During the feast held in honour of Hertha among the Angli, and their neigh, hours on the Baltic, an universal joy was spread over the country. Benevolence and hospitality prevailed in every quarter. War and discord ceased ; and it was then only that peace and quiet were either known or loved. The uni, versal parent of mankind did not, they justly thought, de- light in the destruction of her race; and, therefore, every instrument of death was shut up during her supposed resi. dence in the land. When she retired to her sacred groves, her warlike worshipers, whose bent to humanity was only temporary, recoiled with violence into their favourite occu,. pation of slaughter and war. To Frea, the sixth day of the week was consecrated, which still bears her name. The Saxon and Danish priests believed and taught the im. mortality of the human soul, and a state of rewards and pu- nishments after death. The place of rewards they called Valhalla^ where the heroes spent the day in martial sports, and the night in feasting on the flesh of the boar, and drink- ing large draughts of beer or mead out of the sculls of their enemies whom they had slain in battle, presented to them by beautiful young virgins, who waited upon them at table. The place of punishment they called Nijicheim^ or The Abode of Evil^ where Jlela dwelt, whose palace was ^w^mw^, whose table was Famine, and bed Leanness. In the former of those places, all brave and good men, and in the latter, all cowards and bad men, were to reside to the end of this world, when the heavens and the earth, and even the gods themsches, were to be consumed by fire. After this general conflagration, a new and more glorious world was to arise out of the ashes of the former ; the heroes, with all good and just men, were to be admitted into a palace built of shining gold; and cowards, assassins, false swearers, and adulterers, vere to be confined in a place built of the carcases of ser- pents. The descriptions given of the dominions and persons of Heja are full of fancy. " On the shores of the dead bodies remote from the sun," says the Edda, '' there is a spacious and dismal hall, with its gates wide open to the northern winds. The walls are wattled with snakes, whose heads look inward, and vomit poison. Rivers of this poison rush through the hall, which the unhappy are forced to ford. But in the worst condition are those who are precipitated into the inmost regions. They are tormented by the evil demon who dwelU in extreme darkness." Hela, who presides over these baleful regions, is herself a figure expressive of suit, able horrors. One half of her frame is blue, the other bears the colour of the human skin. Her aspect is fierce and terrible; her temper unrelenting and cruel. The terror which Hela and her dominions impressed on the minds of the Anglo-Saxons and their ancestors ia Scandinavia, was perhaps as great an inducement to valour as were the joys of Valhalla, or heaven. Men however chose, for the sake of their reputation, to derive their con. tempt of life from the latter. To die with exultation and joy under the torture or arms of an enemy, was as peculiar to the northern nations, as it was necessary to their renown. " The goddesses invite me," says Lodbrog, " the Valkyrian goddesses, whom Odin has sent from his hall. The hours of my life are passing away ; with a smile I give up my soul." The minds of the Saxons were much engaged in the predfc. tion of future events, and their divination was very simple. It consisted of slips of wood cut from a fruit-bearing tree, and distinguished by different marks or notches. These were jumbled together in a white cloth. Then a priest, if it was a public ceremony, or, if a private augury, the father of a family, implored the assistance of the gods, and lifting up his eyes towards heaven, took up a slip three times, and prognosticated either good or evil, according to the number of marks on the piece he happened to take in his hand. Future events were likewise prognosticated among the Saxons, by the singing and flight of birds, and from the neigh- ing of horses, especially those of a white colour, which they considered as the ministers of the gods, and fed in woods and groves at the public expense. But their surest presages, Tsvith regard to the events of war, were drawn from the issue of a single combat, fought between one of their own cham- pions, and a captive of the people against whom they had commenced hostilities. f\ I vn 50 HISTORY OF GREAT. BRITAIN. I • Hi I Though in very ancient times the Saxons had no covered temples, they at last erected some of incredible grandeur and magnificence. The sacred fire was never extinguished, and near it stood a vase for receiving the blood of the victims, and a brush for sprinkling it upon the spectators. Certain great festivals were kept with peculiar solemnity. That which was celebrated at the winter solstice was called Yulcy a name by which our festival of Christmas is still known in many parts of Scotland, and in some parts of England. An opinion that souls could be annihilated, was never admitted into the mythology of the heathen Saxons. To be reduced to its first principles, was what they called the dissolution of the universe. It is thus described in their pro- phetic writings. " The sun shall grow dark above ; the earth shall sink under the ocean. The bright stars shall fall from heaven. Fire shall rage through the ancient fabric of the world ; and the flames ascending, shall touch the very skies. But the souls of men will escape the ruin which shall overwhelm the universe. They will convene on the plains of Ida, where the virtuous will be indulged with perfect happi- ness and joy." The northern nations seem not to have been much preju- diced in favour of their native climate. The seats of the unhappy are placed under the pole, and open to its winds, whilst the habitations of the blessed are near the sun. Cramped with the cold of the north, they looked for joy in the tepid regions of the south ; and the posterity of the Scandinavians shewed, by their successive migrations, that they wished io anticipate on earth the pleasing warmth of their celestial habitations. CHAP. III. •ENERAL STATE OF RELIGIOX AMONG THE ANGLO.SAXONS, AFIEll THEY BECAME CHRISTIANS. THE Anglo-Saxons were converted to Christianity by the preaching of Augustine, a Roman monk, and the zeal of B< rtlia, daughter of Caribert, king of Paris, and wife to Ethclbert, king of Kent. St. Grrgory, (who was advanced to the papal chair in the year 510,) prompted by his zeal for religion, and having his compassion moved by the sight of some beautiful English youths exposed to sale in the streets of Rome, resolved to GENERAL STATE OF RELIGION. 51 attempt the conversion of their countrymen. With this view he sent Augustine and forty other monks to England. H« furnished them with letters of recommendation to the king, queen, and several bishops of France, who received them kindly, and provided them with every thing that could give facility to their sacred mission, particularly with interpret- ers. Thus encouraged, these missionaries sailed from France, and landed in the isle of I hauet, ^*^' ^^* w hence they immediately dispatched one of their interpreters to acquaint king Ethelbert with the design of their coming. That prince soon after gave them an audience in the open air, assigned them a place of residence in the city of Canter, bury, and allowed them to use their best endeavours to convert his subjects. Having thus obtained the royal license, they immediately entered on their holy labours, which were crowned with such success, that in a very short time the king and a great numbrr of his subjects were converted. Augustine baptized no fewer than ten thousand on Christ- mas-day, and was soon after consecrated archbishop of Canterbury. But, as the Anglo-Saxons received the Christian doctrine through the polluted channels of the church of Rome, though the circumstance of their conversion opened an intercourse with the more polished states of Europe, it had not much influence either in purifying their minds, or in softening their manners. The grossest ignorance and superstition prevailed among them. Reverence for saints and reliques seemed to have supplanted the worship of the Supreme Being ; donations to the church atoned for every violation of the laws of so- ciety; and monastic observances were more esteemed than moral virtues. Even the military virtues, so habitual and so dear to the Saxons, began to fall into neglect. Many of the nobles preferred the indolence and security of the cloister to the toils and tumults of war; while the crown impoverished by continual benefactions to the church' had no longer any rewards left for the encouragement of valour. This corrupt species of Christianity was attended with ano. ther train of inconveniences, proceeding from a superstitious attachment to the see of Rome. The Britons had conducted all ecclesiastical matters by their own synods and councils acknowledging no subordination to the Roman pontift'. But the Saxons, having received their religion through the medium of Italian monks, were taught to consider Rome as the capital J>2 If, f ;H 52 HISTORY OF GREAT -BRITAIN. GOVERNMENT AND LAWS. 53 'J '. ft> of their faith. Pilgrimages to that city were accordingly re- presented as the most meritorious acts of devotion ; and not only noblemen and ladies of rank undertook this tedious journey, but kings themselves, resigning their crowns, im- plored a safe passport to heaven at the foot of St. Peter's chair, and exchanged the purple for the sackcloth. During the eleventh century, the pope and Roman clergy carried on a lucrative trafi&c in reliques, of which they pos- sessed inexhaustible stores. Kings, princes, and wealthy prelates, purchased pieces of the cross, or whole legs and arms of the apostles. An English archbishop, who was at Kome in 1021, purchased from the pope an arm of a saintfor one hundred talents of silyer, and one talent of gold. This may enable us to form some idea of the knavery of the sellers, and the astonishing superstition of the purchasers of those commodities. . In consequence of the introduction of celibacy into the monasteries, the clergy augmented their power, in the tenth century, by detaching their brethren from secular aifairs and carnal pursuits, and rendering them more independent of the civil magistrates. The chief promoter of this innovation was archbishop Dunstan, whose zeal, being supported by all th« power of the crown, triumphed over every obstacle. The building, endowing, and adorning of monasteries, were carried on with such mad profusion for more than a century, that a great part of the wealth of England was ex- pended on these structures, or lay buried in their ornaments and utensils. " The masses of gold and silver," says a re- spectable historian, " which queen Emma, with a holy pro- digality, bestowed upon the monasteries of Winchester, asto- nished the minds of strangers, while the splendour of the precious stones dazzled their eyes." Let us be thankful to Divine Providence that we live in a more enlightened age, and let our improvement in knowledge and virtue bear some pro- portion to the advantages witli which we are favoured. CHAP. IV. GOTTRNMENT AND LAWS OF THE ANGLO-SAXONS. THE Saxon annals are too imperfect to enable us to deli- neate exactly the prerogatives of the crown, and the privileges of the people, after the settlement of the Saxons in Pritain. The government might be somewhat different in th« different klngdoins of the heptarchy, and might also undergo several changes before the Norman conquest; but of those changes we are in a great measure ignorant. We only know, that, at all times, and in all the kingdoms, there was a na- tional council, a Wittenagemot^ or assembly of wise men, whose consent was necessary to the enacting of laws, and to sanction the measures of public administration. The con- stituent members of this assembly were the nobility, the dig- nified clergy, and all freeholders possessing a certain portion of land. The Anglo-Saxons were divided into three orders of men, the noble, the free, and the servile. The nobles, who wer« called Thanes, were a very numerous body of men, compre- hending all the considerable landholders in England. They were the genuine descendants and representatives of the an- cient German companions of their princes. In times of war, they constituted the flower of the armies, and in times of peace they swelled the trains of their kings, and added greatly to the splendour of their courts. The freemen were denominated ceorls, and were chiefly employed in husbandry ; wlience a husbandman nnd ctorl came to be synonymous terms. If any one of tht^m prosj* red so well as to acquire the property of five hides of land, upon which he had a church, a kitchen, a bell-houso, and a .reat gate, and obtained a seal and office in the king's court, he was esteemed a nobleman or thane. If a ceorl appli«^d to learning, and attained to priest's orders, he was also consi- dered as a thane. Success in trade or in war raisf d liim to the same rank. Thus the temple of honour stood open to these ceorls, whether they applied themselves to agriculture, commerce, letters, or arms, which were then the only pro- fessions esteemed worthy of a freeman. Slavery continued in England as long as the Saxons wer« heathens, and for some time after their conversion to Chris- tianity. Slaves were the most numerous class in the commu- nity ; and, being the property of their masters, wt re conse- quently incapable of holding any property thems«'lvps. They were of two kinds, namely, household slaves, after the man- ner of the ancients, and rustic slaves, who were sold and transferred like cattle with the soil. These last were called villaniyOT villains^ because they dwelt in the villages belong- ing to their masters, and performed the servile labour of cul- tivating their lands. The bishops had authority to regulate the quantity of work to be done by slaves, and to take care 2)3 w 54 HISTORY OF GREAT -BRITAIN. that no man should treat his slave harshly, but as a fellow- christian. The clergy also procured a law to be enacted, ordaining that all the English slaves of every bishop should be set at liberty at his death. But, notwithstanding this, the greatest part of the common people groaned under the yoke of servitude, during the period of the Saxon government in this country. The higher nobility and dignified clergy among the Anglo. Saxons, possessed a criminal jurisdiction within their own ter- ritories, and could inflict the punishment even of death, with- out appeal. This was a dangerous privilege, and liable to the greatest abuse. But, although the Anglo-Saxon govern, ment seems at last to have become in some measure aristo- cratical, there were still considerable remains of the ancient democracy. All the freeholders assembled twice a year in the county-courts, to receive appeals from the inferior courts; — a practice well calculated for the preservation of general liberty, and for restraining the exorbitaut power of the nobles. The criminal laws of the Anglo-Saxons, as of most barbar- ous nations, were uncommonly mild. A compensation io money was sufficient for murder of any species, and for the life of persons of any rank, not excepting the king and the archbishop, whose head, by the laws of Kent, was estimated higher than that of the king. Fines were also ordained for all kinds of wounds. The price of a limb was not the same in all parts of England. The value of it in one county might be three pounds, in another only forty shillings. But if the punishments for crimes among the Anglo-Saxons were singular, their proofs were no less so. When any controversy about a fact was too intricate for the ignorant judges to unravel, they had recourse to what they called the judgement of God, or, in other words, to chance. Their modes of consulting that blind ditinity were various ; but the most common was the ordeal. This method of trial was practised either by boiling-water or red-hot iron. When the water or iron had been consecrated by prayers, masses, fastings, and exorcisms, the accused person either took up, with his naked hand, a stone sunk in the water to a certain depth, or carried the iron to a certain distance. The hand was immediately wrapped up, and the covering sealed for three days, and if, on examining it, there appeared no marks of burning or scalding, the person accused was pronounced innocei^t; if otherwise, he was declared guilty. GOVERNMENT AND LAWS. 55 Another way of performing the ordeal of hot iron was, by requiring the person, who was to be tried, to walk blind* fold, with his feet bare, over nine hot plough-shares, placed at certain distances. If he did this without being burned, he v/as acquitted. These fiery ordeals, however, were nothing but gross im- positions on the credulity of mankind. Three days before the trial, the accused person was committed wholly to the custody of the priest who was to perform the ceremony, and therefore he had time enough to stipulate for his deliverance, and to receive instructions how to act his part. No person was permitted to enter the church, but the priest and the ac- cused, till the iron was heated, when twelve friends of the accuser, and twelve of the accused, were admitted, and ranged along the wall on each side of the church, at a re- spectful distance. After the iron was taken out of the fire, several prayers were said, and the accused drauk a cup of holy water, and sprinkled himself with it; which might tak« a considerable time, if the priest was indulgent. The clergy, likewise, were in possession of some secret, which they made use of, when they saw reason, to prevent any disagreeable effects. No champion of the church ever sustained the least injury from the touch of hot iron in this ordeal ; but when any one was so fooLhardy as to appeal to it, or to that of hot water, with a view to deprive the church of any of her possessions, he never failed to endure all the natural effect of the ordeal, and to lose his cause. In all the states established by the Anglo-Saxons in this island, the chief magistrate was called the cj^ning or king ; a title of the most honourable import in their language, as including the ideas of wisdom, power, and valour, the most necessary qualifications of a sovereign, both in peace and war. Though hereditary succession generally took place, yet the next heir was sometimes superseded by a more distant relative of the royal line, who was judged more capable of reigning. The Anglo-Saxon monarchs were not absolute. The laws and customs of their country limited their power and prerogatives. To administer justice, and command the army in time of war, were the two chief duties of the regal office ; and he who could not discharge both th^se, was con- sidered by our ancestors as unqualified to reign. The highest officer, in the courts of the Anglo-Saxon kings, was the mayor of the palace, always a prince of the royal family. The priest of the household was the next in dignity, d4 >^l' 56 HISTORY OF GREAT -BRITAIN. ANGLO-SAXON LITERATURE. 57 :# who sat at the royal table, to bless the meat, and to chant the Lord's prayer. The third in rank was the steward, who had a variety of perquisites, of which the following were the most remarkable. " As much of every cask of plain aU shall belong to the steward of the household, as he can reach with his middle finger dipped into it, and as much of every cask of ale with spiceries as he can reach with the second joint of his middle finger, and as much of every cask of mead as he can reach with the first joint of the same finger." There was also a judge of the household, who settled all disputes that arose among the servants of the royal family. A learned education and a long beard were indispensable qualifications of this great officer. The silentiary was aa officer, whose duty it was to command silence in the hall, when the king sat down to table. He then took his stand iiear one of the pillars; and, when any improper noise arose, he immediately quashed it by striking the pillar with his rod. But the most remarkable of all was the king's feet-bearer. This was a young gentleman, whose duty it was to sit on the floor, with his back towards the fire, and hold the king's feet in his bosom while he sat at table, to keep them warm and comfortable; a piece of state and luxury unknown is nodern times. CHAP. V. STATE OP LILiRNING AMONG THE ANGLO-SAXONS. TTPON the subversion of the western empire in the fifth ^^ century of the Christian aera, its rude and untutored conquerors, hurrying over the most fertile parts of Europe, ignorant of letters, and altogether addicted to the love and exercise of arms, quite neglected Roman literature and elegance. The Arabians too, above a century after this event, headed by the deceitful and enthusiastic Mohammed, rushed from their savage deserts to enforce the precepts of his religion, and, under his immediate successors, rashlr dared to consume the valuable library of Alexandria, the rich deposit of whatever the best and wisest of the ancient world had been amassing for ages. Among the Christian clergy, with whom literature ought to have been cherished, the most excessive ignorance was to be found ; and it is not uncommon to discover, in the deeds of a synod, a sentence like the following : " As my lord bishop cannot write himself, at his request I have subscribed. Even Charlemagne, that far-famed monarch, the theme of minstrels, and the hero of romance, was unable to write his own name, and forty-five years of his life had elapsed be. fore he attempted any progress in literature. ^ When the Romans invaded Britain, they instructed and improved those whom they had subdued. The Saxons, being a fierce illiterate people, acted a very different part, and their destructive progress was marked with darkness and desolation. All the libraries left by the Romans, in this island, were destroyed by the ravages of war. In the year 890, king Alfred gave an estate of eighthides of land, for a sinele volume on cosmography. " At my accession to the throne," says this incomparable man, " all knowledge and learning were extinguished in the English nation ; insomucli that there were very few to the south of the Humber who understood the common prayers of the church, or were ca. pable of translating a single sentence of Latin into English ; but, to the south of the Thames, I cannot recollect so much as one who could do this." In those dark ages, however, there were some men, who prevented the total extinction of literature in this island. Gildas the historian was one of these, and is the only British author of the sixth century whose works are published. He was so much admired by his countrymen, that he obtained the appellation of Gildas the Wise, though his works do not seem to entitle him to that distinction. His history of Bri- tain is only valuable for its antiquity, and from our total want of better information. Columhanus, a native of Scot* land, was a learned monk and writer, contemporary with Gildas. He was educated in the famous monastery of lona, and afterwards founded the abbey of Luxeville in France, which he governed above twenty years with great reputation. He composed a system of laws, which were so severe, that, if a monk smiled in the time of divine service, he was to re. ceive fifty lashes with a whip. ,^ ,. i. Aldhelm, bishop of Sherborne, was the first Englishman who wrote Latin in prose and verse. His style is elegant, and his compositions shew him to have been well acquainted with philosophical and religious subjects. Alfn-d thf' Great declared that Aldhelm was the best of all the Saxon poets, and that a favourite song, which was universally sung m his time, near two centuries after its author's death, was of Ins composition. When he was abbot of Malmesbury, having s 5 •;. I rjri^ 58 HISTORY OF GREAT. BRITAIN. ANGLO-SAXON LITERATURE. 59 f- VJ a fine voice, and great skill in music as well as poetry, and observing the backwardness of his barbarous countrymen to listen to grave instructions, he composed a number of little poems, which he sang to them after mass, in so sweet a man- ner, that they were gradually instructed and civilized. This learned prelate died in 709. Beda^ or Bede, surnamed the Venerable, was the great luminary of England, and of the Christian world, in the eighth century. He was born at Weremouth in Northum- berland, in 672, and died in 735. He spent his life in the monastery of Jarrow, near the mouth of the Tyne. But though his life was humble and obscure, his fame spread over all Europe ; and even the pope solicited his advice in the government of the church. He exercised his pen on a great varicfty of subjects. His ecclesiastical history of Eng- land commences at the invasion of Julius Caesar, and ends iu 723. " The death of Bede," says William of Malmesbury, *' was fatal to learning, and particularly to history; inso- much that it may be said that almost all knowledge of past events was buried in the same grave with him, and hath con- tinued in that condition even to our times." Alcuin^ abbot of Canterbury, was an eminent philoso- pher, orator, and divine. Being sent on an embassy by Offa, king of Mercia, to the court of Charlemagne, he was induced to settle in France, and io become preceptor to that great prince. Some of his letters to his patron breathe an excellent spirit. " By wisdom," says he, kings reign^ and princes decree justice. Cease not then, O most gracious king, to press the young nobility of your court to the eager pursuit of wisdom and learning in their youth, that they may attain to an honourable old age, and blessed immortality. For my own part, I sow the seeds of learning in the minds of your subjects in these parts, mindful of the sa}ing of the wisest man : In the morning sow thy seed, and in the evening teithhold not thine hand; for thou knozcest not whether shall prosper either this or that. To do this hath been the most delightful employment of my whole life. In my youthful years, I sowed the seeds of knowledge in the flourishing se- minaries of my native soil, and in my old age I am doing the same in France, praying to God, that they may spring up and flourish in both countries." He composed many treatises on various subjects, in an elegant and pure style. He retired from Charlemagne's court to St, Martin's Abbey, at Tours, where he died in the year 804. The most learned man in Europe, about the middle of the ninth century, was a native of the town of Air, in North- Britain. Johannes Scoius Erigena, seeing his own country involved in darkness and confusion, undertook a journey into Greece, where he acquired the knowledge of the Greek language and philosophy, which were very rare accomplish- ments in those times. His principal work is his book " con- cerning the nature of things," the most curious literary pro- duction of that age, being written with a metaphysical acute- ness which none of his contemporaries possessed. The reign of Alfred is a memorable period in the annals of literature, with the love of which the following circum- stance first inspired him. He was not taught to know one letter from another till he was twelve years of age, when a book was put into his hand by accident rather than design. The queen, his mother, being one day in company with her five sons, of whom Alfred was the youngest, and having a book of Saxon poems in her hand, beautifully written and adorned, observed that the royal youths were charmed with the beauty of the book ; upon which she said, " I will make a present of this book to bim who shall learn to read it soonest." Alfred immediately applied to the task with such ardour, that, in a short time, he both read and re- peated the poems to the queen, and received the book for his reward. From that moment he was seized with aninsatiabla thirst for knowledge, and reading and study became his chief delight. , , _ ' . This prince was not only an universal scholar, but a great encourager of learned men; and, what is much to his praise, he employed his taste for knowledge to promote the happi- ness of his subjects. He founded schools on a very extensive plan ; and though Oxford had been a seat of learning in more ancient times, yet that university appears to have been so entirely ruined in the beginning of his reign, that he may justly be styled the father and founder of it; a circumstance equally honourable to his memory, and to one of the most famous universities in the world. Learning revived under Alfred's auspicious reign, which clearly evinces that a prince, animated with a desire of diffusing knowledge and happiness amoj]g his subjects, can produce the most beneficial change m the spirit of a nation. . After the death of this great man, the torch of science, which he had taken so much pains to relume, was totally txtinguished, and the demon of ignorance and superstition D 6 I' : y} 60 HISTORY OF GREAT -BRITAIN. ARTS OF THE ANGLO-SAXONS. 51 spread her dreadful pall over the barbarous sons of prostrate Europe, He and a ftw others, whom history has delighted to hold up to our admiration, and whom it has embalmed nvith grateful praise, were but as meteors that flash on the surrounding gloom, are gazed at for a momint with stupid bonder, and are then lost in the darkness of returning night. *' The succeeding age," sa}s a learned writer, " for its bar- barism and wickedness, may be called the age of iron ; for its dullness and stupidity, the age of lead; and, for its blind. ness and ignorance, the age of darkness." CHAP. VI. OF THE ARTS AMONG THE ANGLO-SAXONS. FEW improvements in the arts were made by the Saxons in Englandy after the first inyasion of the Dants. These barbarians seem to have carried otf with them almost all the bullion and ready money of the Anglo-Saxons; for Alfred the Great left no more to his two daughters, for their por- tion, than 100/. each. Harold, however, many years after, in his last victory over them, recovered as much treasure as twelve stout men could carry. The Anglo-Saxon husbandmen had a very imperfect know* ledge of agriculture. They ploughed, sowed, and harrowed, their lands; but, as all these operations were performed by wretched slaves, who had little or no interest in their suc- cess, we may be sure that they were executed in a superficial manner. Their ploughs were very slight, and had only one handle. They were unacquainted with water-mills for some time, after their settlement in this country, and had no better way of converting their corn into meal, than by grinding it with hand-mills turned by women. The lands belonging to the monasteries were best cultivated, because the superiors and directors of those foundations spent some part of their time in the salutary and laudable labours of the field. "In ancient times," says the author of the black book in the exchequer, *' our kings received neither gold nor silver from their tenants, but only provisions for the daily use of their household. This custom continued even after the conquest, during the whole reign of William I., and I my. self have conversed with several old people who had seen the Toyal tenants paying their rents in several kinds of provision at the king's court." By the laws of Ina, king of the West- Saxons, the following rent was to be paid for a farm consist* ing of ten hides of land ; namely, ten casks of honey, three hundred loaves, twelve casks of strong ale, thirty casks of small ale, two oxen, ten wethers, ten geese, twenty hens, ten cheeses, one cask of butter, five salmon, and one hun- dred eels. In some places the rents were paid in wheat, rye, oats, malt, flour, hogs, and sheep, according to the nature of the farm, or the custom of the country. But, though this was the usual mode of payment, money-rents for lands were not altogether unknown in England in the period under review. When the arts and practices of the husbandman were so imperfect, it cannot be supposed that those of the gardener had made greater progress. There is, however, sufficient, evidence, that gardens were cuUlvat«^d, and fruit-trees planted and engrafted, in this period, particularly by the monks. The useful art of architecture suffered no less than agri- culture, by the departure of the Romans. That ingenious and active people, with the assistance of their British sub- jects, who were instructed by them, had adorned their domi- nions in this island with a great number of elegant and mag- nificent structures, both for public and private use. Some of these structures were built with so much solidity, that they would have resisted all the attacks of time, and re. mained to this day, if they had not been wilfully destroyed. This was done by the Anglo-Saxons, in the course of their long wars against the unhappy Britons ; for it seems to have been a maxim with these ferocious conquerors, to destroy all the towns and castles which they took from their enemies, instead of preserving them for their own use. Like all the other nations of Germany, they had been accustomed to live in wretched hovels, built of wood or earth, and covered with straw, or the branches of trees; nor did they much im- prove in the knowledge of architecture for 200 years after their arrival. During that period, masonry was quite un- known in this island, and the walls even of cathedrals were built of wood * Masonry was restored, and some other arts connected with it were introduced into England, towards the end of the •eventh century, by two clergymen, who had often visited ♦ Dr. Henry's History of Great-Britam, I «( ■ I V i t u^ €^ HISTORY OF GREAT. BRITAIN. ARTS OF THE ANGLO-SAXONS, 63 Rome, where they had acquired some taste for these arts. These were, the famous Wilfred, bishop of York, and Be- nedict Biscop, founder of the abbey of Weremouth. '' In the year 674," says Bede, " Benedict crossed the sea, and brought with him a number of masons, in order to build the church of his monastery of stone, after the Roman manner, of which he was a great admirer. When the work was far advanced, he sent agents into France to procure glass-makers to glaze the windows of his church and monastery, who not only performed the work required by Benedict, but instruct- ed the English in the art of making glass for windows, lamps, drinking.vessels, and other uses." The ancient Britons, in- deed, were acquainted with this art; but the Saxons had rarely practised it before this period. The art of building edifices of stone, with windows of glass, and other ornaments, did not greatly flourish for several cen- turies after the time of Benedict; so that, when Alfred the Great formed the design of rebuilding his ruined cities, churches, and monasteries, and of adorning his dominions with magnificent structures, he was obliged to invite artifi- cers from foreign countries. Nor is it the least praise of this illustrious prince, that he was the greatest builder and the best architect of the age in which he lived. There is suf- ficient evidence, however, that, long after his time, almost all the houses in England, and the greatest part of the mo- nasteries and churches, were very mean buildings, constructed of wood, and covered with thatch. The Anglo-Saxon no- bility had no taste for magnificent buildings ; but spent their great revenues in mean, low, and inconvenient houses. From the few remains of Saxon architecture in England, it appears to have been a rude imitation of the ancient Roman manner, and very different from that which is commonly called Gothic, of which so many noble specimens adorn our country. The most admired of the Saxon churches seem to have been low and gloomy, their pillars plain and clumsy, their walls immoderately thick, their windows few and small, with semicircular arches at the top. At this period our ancestors were not unacquainted with the art of working in gold, silver, iron, load, and jewels. The famous St. Dunstan was the best blacksmith, brazier, goldsmith, and engraver, of his time. Many trinkets, made by this celebrated mechanic, were long preserved in the church, as the most precious reliques, and objects of th« highest veneration. From the following lines it has been inferred, (though it is not absolutely certain,) that he was the inventor of the ^olian harp: " St. Dunstan's harp, on the church-wall, " Upon a pin did hang : " The harp itself, with strings and all, " Untouch'd by hand did twang*.'* Among the various artists employed by Alfred the Great, there were not a few who wrought in gold and silver, and, with the instructions of their royal master, performed several works in these precious metals, of incomparable beauty. The truth of this assertion, says Dr. Henry, is abundantly confirmed by that most beautiful jewel of exquisite workman, ship, found at Ethelingey, in Somersetshire, where this great, prince concealed himself in his distress, aud where he some- times resided in his prosperity. " Alfred ordered me to be made," was the inscription upon this jewel, which was cer- tainly worn by that prince. | Artificers who wrought in iron were highly regarded in those warlike times, because they fabricated swords and other oftensive arms, as well as defensive armour. Every military officer had his smith, who constantly attended his person, to keep his arms and armour in order. The chief smith was an officer of considerable dignity, in the courts of the Anglo-Saxon and Welsh kings, where he enjoyed va- rious privileges. He sat next to the domestic chaplain, and was entitled to a draught of every kind of liquor brought into the hall. The number of battles fought in England, during this pe- riod, is almost incredible. We may, therefore, reasonably suppose, that the pernicious art of shedding human blood was brought to greater perfection than useful and beneficent arts. The Anglo-Saxon armies were generally attended in their march by waggons loaded with arms and provisions, and sometimes with their wives and children. They sur- rounded their camp in the night with these waggons, which served as a fortification. The art of war, however, was not reduced to a science, as it is in our times. Nations, who worship images, naturally encourage those who have any taste or genius for the art of making them. If the sculptor's art does not owe its origin, it certainly owes its greatest improvements, to idolatry. The Anglo-Saxons, * PennftQt. Ifei 64 HISTORY OP GREAT- BRITAIN. at the time of their setllement in this island, had the art of carving in wood, or cutting; in stone, the images of their deities. When Coifi, the chief priest of the Northumbrian Saxons, was converted to Christianity, he overturned the altars, and broke down the statuf s of their gods, in the great temple at Godmundham, near York. The shapes of the statues of these deities, with their various emblems, are still preserved in several publications. The painters, as well as sculptors, of the ages which we are now considering, were chieHy employed in working for the church, by drawing pictures of our Saviour, the Virgin Mary, the apostles, and oth.'r saints. The first pictures used in this island, for the ornament of the Anglo-Saxon churches, were brought from Rome. But as the expense of bringing them ail from the continent was stnsibly ft It, such of the English, particularly of the ch rgy, as had a taste for painting, applied to that art. in order to furnish their own churches with these admired ornaments; and some of these ingenious men were even acquainted with the art of painting on glass. , . j » Of all the pleasing arts, poetry was the most admired and cultivated during the prt sent period. The greatest princes were no less ambitious of the laurel, than of the royal crown. Alfred was the prince of poets, as well as the best of kings, and employed his poetic talents to enlighten the minds and civilize the manners of his subjects. The poets of the north were particularly famous, and much caressed by our Anglo. Saxon kings. '* I know a song," says one of them, " by which I soften and enchant the arms of my enemies, and render their weapons of no effect. I know a song which I need only to sing when men have loaded me with bonds ; for, the moment I sing it, my chains fall in pieces, and I walk forth at liberty. I know a song useful to all mankind ; for, as soon as hatred inflames the sons of men, the moment I sing it they are appeased. I know a song of such virtue, that, if 1 should be overtaken in a storm, I can hush the winds, and render the air perfectly calm." In those days, every one who courted esteem, made it his study to be acquainted with vocal and instrumental music. To be ignorant of this art, was accounted disgraceful. Besides the harp, the Anglo-Saxons had other musical instru- ments, particularly the small pipe, the bag-pipe, the flute, and tabor. COMMERCE AMONG THE ANGLO-SAXONS, 6$ CHAP. VII. OF COMMERCE AMONG THE ANGLO-SAXOlfS. THE Saxons, in achieving their sanguinary conquest, de- stroyed every trace of ingenuity which the Romans had introduced into the island, without bringing one peaceful art with which the Britons were not better acquainted; and the inveterate wars between the princes of the heptarchy afterwards obstructed the usual progress of civilization. But no sooner was England united into one kingdom, under Egbert, than commerce and manufactures began to flourish. The principal English exports, during the Anglo-Saxon times, were tin, lead, wool, hides, horses, and slaves! These slaves consisted not solely of such unhappy persons as the laws of war, or other causes, had reduced to the condition of perpetual servitude. The Anglo-Saxons are accused, by contemporary writers, of making merchandise even of their nearest relatives ; " a custom, (adds a respectable historian, who lived after the Norman conquest,) which prevails in Northumberland, even in our own days." Though the commerce and navigation of the Anglo-Saxons were cruelly injured by the invasions of the Danes, yet England, at that time, contained msny large trading towns, and a greater number of inhabitants, both in the towns and in the country, than could have been expected in such a tur- bulent and hostile period. London, York, Bristol, Exeter, and Norwich, were great and populous cities. From the representation of the Anglo-Saxon vessels in the famous tapestry of Bayeax, it appears, that they were a kind of galleys with one mast, on which was spread one very large sail, by means of a yard raised almost to the top with pullies. Their shape was not inelegant, and their prows were adorned with the heads of men, lionij, and other animals. The Anglo-Saxon coins were mancuses, shillings, pennies, halflings, and feorthlings. The mancus was a gold coin, equal to seven shillings of our present money, and the shil- ling, a silver coin, was equal to eleven pence three farthings. The penny was likewise a silver coin, equal to three pence 1 of our money. As it would be inconvenient, at present, to I have no smaller coins than crown-pieces, so it would have been equally inconvenient, in the Saxon times, to have hftd ^ffl 66 HISTORY OF GREAT- BRITAIN. no coins of less value than those penny-pieces. To prcTent this, they coined halflings, or halfpennies of silver, worth about three halfpence, and feorthlings, or the fourth of their penny, worth about three farthings of our money. But after all, when many articles were so very cheap, it would still have been inconvenient to have had no coin of less value than the sil?er farthing; and therefore they coined a brass piece, called a sti/ca, of the value of half a farthing of their money, and of a farthing and a half of ours. The Anglo- Saxon pound was not a real coin. Coins of such weight would at any time be inconvenient; but when the precious metals were so scarce and valuable, they would have been peculiarly improper. A pound, therefore, signified as many coins as were made out of a pound of metal, and, if thrown into the scale, would have weighed about twelve ounces Troy. CHAP. VIIL €IURACTER AND MANNERS OF THE ANGLO-SAXONS AND DANES. THE Anglo-Saxons were tall, robust, and handsome. Their graceful appearance attracted the notice, and ex- cited the admiration of Gregory the Great, when he beheld some English youths exposed to sale in the market.place at Rome. He was so much struck with the beauty of theii; persons, that when he was informed that they and their coun- trymen were not yet converted to Christianity, he broke out into this exclamation: "How lamentable is it, that the prince of darkness should have such beautiful subjects, and that a nation so amiable in their bodies should have none of the charms of divine grace in their souls I Their form is truly angelic, and they are fit to be the companions of the angels in heaven." Active in emergency, and inured to fatigue, the Anglo-Saxons were intrepid in danger. They were ex- tremely hospitable, but addicted to excessive drinking, and very apt to quarrel when they were intoxicated. They were so fond of gaming, that, after losing their estates and effects, they often played away their persons and liberties. Of the endowments of their minds, it is not easy to form an accu* rate estimate. . Many of the Anglo-Saxons were remarkable for their lon- gevity. When the famous Turketul, who had been chan- cellor of England, and one of the greatest warriors and CHARACTER AND MANNERS, See. 67 m. statesmen of his time, retired from the world, and became abbot of Croyland, he found three very aged monks in that monastery, to whom he paid particular attention. The eldest of these monks died in 973, after he had completed the 168th year of his age ; the second died, in the same year, at the age of 142; and the third died in 974, in his 11 5th year. The Danes, who constituted so great a proportion of the inhabitants, and were for some time the predominant people of England in this period, were of as bold and intrepid a spirit as the Saxons had ever been, and rather more fierce and warlike. In those ages, the people of Scandinavia, com- prehending the kingdoms of Denmark, Norway, and Sweden, breathed nothing but war, and were animated with a most astonishing spirit of enterprise and adventure. By their nu- merous fleets, they rode triumphant in all the European seas, carrying terror and desolation to the coasts of Germany, France, Spain, Italy, England, Scotland, and Ireland. The inhabitants of all these countries, especially of the sea-coast, lived in continual apprehensions of those dreadful enemies; and it made a part of their daily prayers to be preserved by Providence from their destructive visits. Born as they were in fleets or in camps, the first objects, on which they fixed their eyes, were arms, storms, battles, and slaughter ; and these terrible objects by degrees became familiar, and at length delightful to them. Their childhood and their dawn of youth were wholly spent in running, leaping, climbing, swimming, wrestling, boxing, fighting, and such exercises as hardened both their souls and bodies, and disposed and fitted them for the toils of war. As soon as they began to lisp, they were taught to sing the exploits and victories of their ancestors ; their memories were stored with nothing but tales of warlike and piratical expeditions, of defeating their enemies, burning cities, plundering provinces, and of the wealth and glory acquired by brave exploits. With such an education, it was no wonder that their youthful hearts soon began to beat high with martial ardour ; and that they early became impatient to grasp the sword and spear, and to mingle with their fathers, brothers, and companions, in the bloody conflict. It was one of their martial laws, " that a Dane who wished to acquire the character of a brave man, should always attack two enemies, stand firm and receive the attack of three^ retire only one pace from four, and flee from no fewer than Jive.^^* ♦ Henry's History of Great-Britain. m 6S HISTORY OF GREAT BRITAIN. CHARACTER AND MANNERS, &c. 69 ^. The Anglo-Saxons and Danes were rude and unpolished in their address, and haughty in their deportment. The man. ners of the Welsh, in this dark period, must have been even less delicate than those of the Anglo-Saxons; for they thought it necessary to make a law, " that none of the cour- tiers should give the queen a blow, or snatch any thing with violence out of her hands, under the penalty of forfeiting her majesty's protection." With regard to their marriage-ceremonies, on the day be. fore the wedding, all the friends and relatives of the bride- groom, having been invited, arrived at his house, and spent the time in feasting, and in preparing for the approaching ce- remony. On the ensuing morning, the bridegroom's com- pany mounted on horseback, completely armed, and pro- ceeded in great state and order, to conduct the bride in safety to the house of her future husband. The company proceeded in this martial array to do honour to the bride, and to pre- vent her from being intercepted and carried off by any of her former lovers. After the nuptial benediction was given, both the bridegroom and bride were decorated by the priest with crowns made of flowers, which were kept in the church for that purpose. Marriages, on that account, and for several other reasons, were most commonly celebrated in the sum- mer season. The wedding-dresses of the bride, and three of her maidens, and of the bridegroom, and three of his at- tendants, were of a peculiar colour and fashion, and could not be used on any other occasion. These dresses, there- fore, were anciently the perquisites of the minstrels or mu- sicians, who had attended the wedding; but afterwards, when the minstrels had fallen into disgrace, they were com- monly given to some church or monastery. At night the new-married pair were conducted to their apartment, and placed on the hymeneal couch, where they drank of the marriage^cup with all who were present. Next morning the whole company assembled in their apartment before they arose, to hear the husband declare the morning.gift^ or what settlement and indulgences he would grant his wife; and, when the gift was declared, a competent number of his re- latives became sureties, that he would perform what he pro- mised. The feastings and rejoicings continued several days after the marriage, and seldom ended till all the provisions •were consumed. To indemnify the husband, in some de- gree, for all these expenses, the relatives of both partiei made him some presents. The laws of matrimony were observed with great strict- ness. Examples of adultery were extremely rare, and pu- nished with much seYcrity. The husband of an adulteress, in the presence of her relatives, cut off her hair, stripped her almost naked, turned her out of his house, and whipped her from one end of the village io the other. A woman, who had been thus exposed, never recovered her character; and nei- ther youth, beauty, nor riches, could ever procure her another husband. Ladies of high rank generally nursed their own children. This laudable practice, however, did not continue to be universal among them ; otherwise there would have been no occasion for the following severe remark : " A certain wicked custom hath arisen among married people," says one, " that some ladies refuse to nurse the children whom they brought forth, but deliver them to other women to be nursed." As the Anglo-Saxons admired valour and intrepidity abore all other qualities, they were very anxious to discover vvhe- ther their sons would be possessed of them, and had various methods of putting their courage to the trial, even in infancy. Of those modes the following was the most common. At an appointed time, the family and friends being assembled, the father placed his infant son on the slanting side of the roof of his house, and there left him. If the child began to cry, and appeared to be afraid of falling, the spectators were much dejected, and prognosticated, that he would be a cow- ard ; but if he clung boldly to the thatch, and discovered no marks of fear, they were transported with joy, and prg- nounced that he would be a brave warrior. As to rites of sepulture, it was so much the custom of the Anglo-Saxons to deposit the bodies of their dead on the sur- face of the ground, and to cover them with earth and stones, that they did this even when they buried them in churches ; and the floors of some churches were so much encumbered with these little mounts, that they became quite unfit for the celebration of divine service. The inconveniences of this practice were at length so sensibly felt, that several canons were made against burying any in churches, except priests, or saints, or such as paid dearly for that privilege. It was likewise decreed, that those who were buried in them should be deposited in graves of a proper depth under the pavement. The house in which a dead body lay before it was buried, F^ a scene of continued feasting, singing, dancing, and ajl i {1 •I I' ' * II n 70 HISTORY OF GREAT- BRITAIN. kinds of diversions. In some places of the north, they kept the dead unburied till they had consumed all the wealth which the deceased had left, in games and in feasting. This custom had prevailed in the times of Paganism, and was discouraged by the church ; but it was too agreeable to the general fond- ness for feasting and rioting to be soon abandoned. The Anglo-Saxon kings, queens, and nobles, lived in a kind of rude pomp and state, and were always surrounded with a crowd of officers, dependents, and domestics. Ca- nute the Great, who was the richest and most magnificent prince in Europe, of his time, 'never appeared in public, nor undertook any journey, without a retinue of three thousand armed men. Of the Teutonic or Anglo-Saxon language, the origin is indisputably Gothic ; and from the same source, we hav« reason to believe, sprang the Greek and Roman languages. Some learned men have discovered a remarkable affinity be- tween the Greek and Anglo-Saxon tongues, both in their ra- dical words, and in their general structure. With this view they have collected a considerable number of words, which are names of the most necessary and common things, and of a similar sound and sense in both languages. The resem- blance, between the Anglo-Saxon and modern English, is so great, that most of the words of the former are still in use, though many of them are much changed in their spelling and meaning. The Anglo-Saxons and Danes long retained that fondness for bathing in warm water, which they had deri\«d from their ancestors. In their laws, the warm bath is always con- sidered as one of the necessarians of life, and no less indispen- sable than victuals, drink, or clothing. A common penance enjoined by the canons of the church, to such as had been guilty of great sins, was, to abstain for a certain time from the warm bath, and to give victuals, drink, clothes, firing, bath, and beds, to a certain number of poor people. On the other hand, they had a very great aversion to bathing in cold water, which was therefore enjoined as a penance. The nobility spent the greatest part of their revenues in giving entertainments to their friends and followers. These feasts were more remarkable for their abundance than for their elegance. Some kinds of provisions were then ustd which would not now be touched, but in the extremity of famine. The Danish inhabitants of Northumberland, in par- ticular, were fond of horse-iiesh, which they devoured in CHARACTER AND MANNERS, &c. 7i great quantities. Ale was the favourite liquor of the Anglo- Saxons and Danes, as it had been of their German ancestors" As trade was in its infancy, wine was both scarce and dear in Britain. Mead was also one of the luxuries of life, and could be procured only by persons of considerable opulence. Pigment was one of the richest and most delicious liquors of those times, and so much admired both in England and on the continent, that it was commonly called nectar. It was a sweet and odoriferous liquor, made of honey, wine, and spiceries. Morat was also esteemed a delicacy, and was found only at the tables of the great. It was made of honey, diluted with the j uice of mulberries. BOOK IIL CHAR I, POLITICAL AND MILITARY HISTORY FROM THE NORMAN CON- QUEST, A.D. 1066, TO THE DEATH OF KING JOHN, A. D. 1216. VJ^^ have already seen the duke of Normandy victorious ▼ ^ at Hastings. Nothing could exceed the astonishment of the English nation, when the report of the disastrous de. feat was diffused over the country. In order to terminate an enterprise, which he knew dispatch alone could render successful, William instantly put his army in motion, and ad- vanced by forced marches to London. His approach in- creased the general alarm, and the divisions already prevalent in the English councils. The superior clergy, of whom the majority were French or Normans, began to declare in his favour; and the pope's bull, by which his undertaking was avowed and consecrated, was now openly offered as a reason for general submission. Other causes rendered it difficult for the English to defend their liberties in this critical emer. gency. The body of the people had, in a great measure, lost their ancient pride and independent spirit, by their re- cent subjection to the Danes, and deemed the inconveniences of admitting the pretensions of William less dreadful than those of bloodshed, war, and resistance. A repulse, which a party of Londoners recei\ed from five hnndred Norman horse, renewed the terror of the great defeat at Hastings. The easy submission of all the inhabitants of Kent was an k I? r M r D th 72 HISTORY OF GREAT-BRITAIN. additional discouragemeDt to the metropolis ; and the barn, ing of Southwark made the citizens of London dread a like fate for their capital. Few men entertained any thoughts but of self-preservation. The bishops set the example. The nobles, with Edgar Athelinff, the natural heir to the crown, waited upon WiU liam, and declared their intention of yielding to his autho. ritv AH seemed in a state of harmony ; and Williim, who at first was inclined to defer his coronation till the consent of the nation at large should be obtained, now hastened the ceremony. It was accordingly performed in Westminster- Abbey, apparently with general satisfaction. The new sovereign confirmed the liberties and immunities of London, and all the other cities of England. In hu whole administration he bore the semblance of the lawful prince, not of the conqueror ; so that the English began to flatter themselves they had only changed the succession of their sovereigns, without injury to their form of govern. "* But William, notwithstanding this seeming confidence in his English subjects, and his apparent friendship for them, took care to place all real power in the hands of the Nor. mans He every where disarmed the inhabitants. He built fortresses in all the principal cities, which he garrisoned with Norman soldiers. He bestowed the forfeited estates on the most powerful of his captains. To one of his favourites he gave the whole county of Chester, which he erected into I palatinate, and rendered by his grant almost independent of the crown. While his civil administration wore the face of the legal magistrate, his military institutions were those of a master and tyrant. ,., j j By this mixture of rigour and lenity, he so subdued and composed the minds of the people of England, that he ven- tured to re-visit his native country, within six months after he had left it. On this ostentatious tour the English nobles ac companied the king. Their dress, equipage, and rich plate, astoBished the Normas, who, nevertheless, looked on them as prisoners led in triumph. Meanwhile Edgar Atheling, al- though respectfully treated by the new sovereign, thought proper to retire from England with his sisters. His friends assert, that his flight was guided by Heaven, as it gained Malcolm of Scotland for the princess Margaret, m whose offspring the Saxon race was restored to the throne of Eng^ land* POLITICAL AND MILITARY HISTORY. 73 Insurrections now appeared in every part of the country, which served only to rivet the chains of the English. Ac- quainted with the restless disposition of the Northumbrians, who had begun the revolt, and determined to incapacitate? them from ever more molesting him, William issued orders for laying waste that fertile country, which, to the extent of sixty miles, lies between the Humber and the Tees. The houses were reduced to ashes by the unfeeling Normans ; the cattle were seized and driven away; the instruments of husbandry were destroyed ; and the inhabitants were com- pelled either to seek a subsistence in the southern parts of Scotland, or to perish in the woods by cold and hunger, which many of them chose rather to do than abandon their native soil. The lives of a hundred thousand persons are computed to have been sacrificed to this stroke of barbarous policy. But William was now determined to proceed to extremities against all the natives of England, and to reduce them to a condition in which they should be no longer formi- dable to his government. It was a crime sufficient in an Englishman, says Mr. Hume, to be opulent, noble, or power- ful ; and the policy of the king, concurring with the rapacity of needy adventurers, produced an almost total revolution in the landed property of the kingdom. Ancient and honour- able families were reduced to beggary. The nobles were every where treated with ignominy and contempt, while their estates were divided amongst the new-comers, subject to those military services which had been used on the con. tinent. At this period, likewise, a complete change was made in the ecclesiastical as well as in the civil state of the realm ; for, under the pretext of disaffection to the Norman govern* ment, almost every Anglo-Saxon of rank or wealth in the church was deprived of his benefice, and replaced by a fo- reigner. To effect these alterations, the pope, whose vanity and avarice the sagacious conqueror took care to gratify, aided him with the full force of his then exorbitant authority. The king had even entertained the difficult project of totally abolishing the language of this country. He ordered th« English youth to be instructed in the French tongue, in all the schools throughout the kingdom. The pleadings in the supreme courts of judicature were in French. The deeds were often drawn in that language; and the laws were com- posed in the same. No other tongue was used at court. It became the language of all fashionable company, and th« £ :f 'I i.\u Ml k •«'.i' f ! 74 HISTORY OF GREAT -BRITAIN. natives themselves affected to excel in it. To this attempt of the Conqueror, and to the foreign dominions so long annexed to the crown of England, we owe that predominant mixture of French which is found in our language. Desirous of procuring accurate information of the state of his kingdom, with a view to taxation and other points of arbitrary policy, William gave orders for a survey of all the lands: Domesday-book, the result of this investigation, is still preserved in the Exchequer. The king's love of the chase prompted him not only to en- act severe laws against those who interfered with him in this favourite amusement, but also to depopulate the country in Hampshire, to the extent of thirty miles. Having expelled the inhabitants, and destroyed all the villages, houses, plan- tations, and even churches, which stood within that tract, he reserved it for the habitation of wild beasts, and distinguished it by the name of the New Forest. The repose of this fortunate prince was disturbed in his old age, by the rebellion of his eldest son Robert, who had been appointed governor of Normandy, but now assumed the government as sovereign of that province, in which he was favoured by the king of France. William, seeing a war inevitable, entered upon it with his usual vigour, and with incredible celerity transporting a brave English army, invaded France. As the grounds of the quarrel between the Norman and Philip were not very important, a truce was soon concluded, and a perfect harmony might have been restored, had not the French monarch dropped a sarcastic remark on the enormous corpulency of his antagonist. William had kept his bed some days, and was told that Philip had enquired, whether the kingof England was not yet delivered of his great belly ? This coarse jest had fatal consequences. For the irritated William, alluding to the custom of France, sent word to Philip, that "ten thousand lances should attend his churching at Notre Dame, instead of the usual tapers." To make this promise good, he flew to arms, and ravaged the isle of France to the walls of Paris. He invoked in flames the city of Mante, sparing neither churches, convents, nor the hapless priests and nuns, who hoped to And security in religious edi- fices. The heat of the weather and of the flames, added to the effect of a bruise from the pommel of his saddle, finished the earthly course of this hitherto-invincible prince, on the ninth of September^ 1087. POLITICAL AND MILITARY HISTORY. 7$ The spirit of William I. was bold and enterprising, yet guided by prudence; and his exorbitant ambition, which lay little under the restraints of justice, and still less under thosi of humanity, ey^r submitted to the dictates of reason and iound policy. Though not insensible to generosity, he was hardened against compassion ; and he seemed equally osten- tatious, and ambitious of renown, in his clemency and in hii vengeance. *' William IL (surnamed Rufus, or the Red, from /he colour of his hair,) a brave and intrepid prince, was repeatedly en- gaged in war with his oppressed and discontented subjects Ihe succession to the crown of England was disputed be-' tween him and his elder brother, Robert, whom the Nor- mans very much loved. The contest, however, ended in fevour of William. About this time the crusades to the Holy Land began, and Robert, who was among the first to engage m them, accommodated his disputes with William for a sum of money, which that monarch levied from the clergy. William was accidentally killed as he was hunting in the New Forest, by Sir Walter Tyrrel, a French gentleman, who instantly embarked for the Holy ^•^' ^ ^^^' Land to expiate the involuntary deed. This prince built Westminster.hall, as it now stands, and added several works to the lower, which he surrounded with a wall and ditch. l^nnce Henry (surnamed Beauderc on account of his learning) was hunting in the New Forest, when he received intelligence of his brother's death. Having secured the royal treasure at Winchester, which he knew to be necessary for tacihtating his designs on the crown, he hastened with it to London, where in less than three days he was crowned. Ihus by his courage and celerity he intruded himself into the vacant throne, no one having sufficient spirit or sense of duty to appear in favour of Robert, wh(/was still en. gaged in the crusade. He rendered himself popular bv- his marriage with Matilda, daughter of Malcolm, king of d!a L^'nf 'h^ f ?r'^ K^?^^' ^'^'""S. This lady, on the death of her father, had been educated in a nunnery in Enff- and, and had worn the veil, although she had never takea the vows ;--a circumstance which was, at first, thought to militate against her being permitted to marry. It was how ever, determined in a council of prelates and nobles' that' as she had assumed the veil for the protection of her honour' aunng the late troubles, she was still free to marry; and hei £ i ' i^ f'l y rk 1 1 1 1 1 1 76 HISTORY OF GREAT . BRITAIN. nuptials were celebrated with great pomp and solemnity. Thus was the long breach, between the Saxon and Normaa interests, finally united, to the great satisfaction of the English. Henry made himself master of the duchy of Normandy, and, with the most ungenerous meanness, detained his bro- ther Robert a prisoner till the time of his death, which was a period of twenty-eight years. lie was afterwards engaged in a sanguinary but successful war with France. He died in the sixty -eighth year of his age, having settled the succession upon his daughter Matilda, widow to Henry V. emperor of Germany. The crown, however, was seized by Stephen earl of Blois, the son of Adela, daughter to William the Conqueror. In the mean time, Matilda found a generous protector in her uncle, David, king of Scotland, and a worthy subject in her natural brother, Robert, earl of Glocester. who headed her party, till her sou was of age. A long and bloody war ensued. The barons, who dreaded the power of the clergy, inclined towards Matilda ; and Stephen, having been aban- doned by most of his partisans, was defeated and taken prisoner in 1141. The nobles and clergy now demanded to be governed by the Saxon laws, according to the charter granted by Henry I. ; and, finding Matilda refractory, they drove her out of England. Stephen, having ostensibly re- covered his throne, found that his clergy and nobility had in fact excluded him from the government, by building 1100 castles, in which the owners lived as independent princes. He endeavoured to procure from them a recognition of the claim of his son Eustace to the succession ; but this attempt so highly exasperated the clergy, that they invited Henry (Matilda's son by Geoffrey Plantagenet, earl of Anjou) to assert his hereditary right. Eustace dying soon after the arrival of the*young prince, Stephen was permitted, by a treaty, to retain the name and office of king, during his life ; and Henry, who was in fact invested with the chief exe- cutive power, soon acquired the sovereignty by the usurper's death. Henry II. commenced his reign in 1154. The first acts of his government corresponded with the high idea enter- tained of his abilities. He dismissed all the mercenary troops, and demolished the newly-erected castles, which had proved so many sanctuaries to rebels. But the ex. orbitaut power of the clergy, and the conduct of Thoma^ POLITICAL AND MILITARY HISTORY. 77 Becket, whom he had raised from a low station to the dig- nity of chancellor, and primate of all England, gave him great uneasiness. Becket, while chancellor, was pompous in his retinue, sumptuous in his furniture, and luxurious in his table, beyond what Britain had ever seen in a subject. His house was a place of education for the sons of the chief nobility, and the king himself often condescended to par- take of his entertainments. His amusements were as gay as his manner of life was splendid and elegant. He employed himself, at leisure hours, in hunting, hawking, gaming, and horsemanship. His complaisance and good humour had ren- dered him agreeable, and his industry and abilities useful, to his master. But no sooner was he installed in the see of Canterbury, which rendered him the second person in the kingdom, than he secretly aspired at being, in effect, th« first. He maintained, in his retinue and attendants alone, his usual pomp and lustre; in his own person, he affected the greatest austerity and mortification. He wore sack cloth next his skin ; his food was generally bread, and his drink water ; he lacerated his back with frequent discipline, and he daily washed the feet of thirteen beggars. Thus did Becket, by a pretended sanctity, set himself up as the champion of the clergy, in opposition to the crown. The king assembled his nobility at Clarendon, a name still famous for the con- stitutions there enacted, which abolished the authority of th« Romish see over the English clergy, and rendered the church dependent upon the civil power. Becket, finding it in vain to resist the torrent, signed those constitutions, till they could be ratified by the pope, who, as he foresaw, rejected them. In the mean time, however, being convicted of robbing the public, while he was chancellor, he lied to France, where the pope and the French king espoused his cause. The con- sequence was, that all the English clergy on the king's side were excommunicated, and the subjects absolved from their allegiance. This disconcerted Henry so much, that he con- descended to treat with the rebel prelate, and, on one occa- sion, humbled himself so far, as to hold the stirrup while he mounted his horse. This humility swelled Becket's pride, and increased his insolence, which at last became insupport- able to Henry. Finding that he was only the first subject in his own dominions, he was heard to say in the anguish of his heart, "Is there no one who will revenge his monarch's cause upon this audacious priest?" These words reached the ears of four knights, who immediately set out for Cau- e3 m I; ' it '8 HISTORY OF GREAT. BRITAIN. i! ---^ terbury, and murdered Becket before the altar A.D. 1 170. ^^ j^.g ^^^ church. Such was the tragical death of this lofty and inflexible prelate, who was able to covei from the world, and probably from himself, the efforts of pride and ambition, under the disguise of sanctity, and of zeal for the interests of religion. The intelligence of this murder threw Henry into th« greatest consternation. He shut himself up for three days, and refused to take any sustenance. He chiefly dreaded the displeasure of the pope. He found means, however, by a MelUtimed embassy, to divert the pontiff's anathemas from himself: they were only directed in general terms against the actors, accomplices, and abettors of the murder. The clergy, though their rage was thus happily diverted from falling immediately on the king, were not idle in extolling the merits of Becket's martyrdom. Endless were their panegyrics on his piety. Two years after his death he was canonised: a solemn jubilee for celebrating his merit was established; his body was removed to a magnificent shrine, enriched with presents from all parts of Christendom ; and it is computed that, in one year, above a hundred thousand pilgrims arrived at Canterbury, and paid their devotions at his tomb. It is indeed a mortifying reflection (says Mr. Hume) to those who are actuated by the love of fame, so justly denominated the last infirmity of noble minds, that the wisest legislator, and most exalted genius that ever reformed or enlightened the world, can never expect such tributes of praise, as are lavished on the memory of pretended saints. It is only a conqueror, by no means an amiable character, who can pretend to the attainment of equal renown and glory. As soon as Henry found that he was in no immediate danger from the thunders of the Vatican, he undertook an expedition to Ireland, which the pope had gra- A.D. 117K j.jQyjj|^ permitted him to conquer, and which he in a great measure subdued. After this success^ he was in- volved in a war with the king of Scotland, who, in con- cert with the French monarch and Henry's eldest son, menaced him with the ruin of his authority. Sensible of his danger, and of the effects of superstition on the minds of the people, Henry went barefoot to Becket's tomb, prostrated himself before the shrine of the saint, remained in fasting and prayer during a whole day, and watched all night the holy reliques. He even submitted to POLITICAL AND MILITARY HISTORY. 70 a penance still more singular and humiliating. He assem- bled a chapter of the monks, put a scourge of discipline into the hands of each, and presented his bare shoulders to the lashes which these ecclesiastics inflicted upon him! The next morning, he received absolution ; and his generals ob- tained, on the same day, a great victory over the Scots, which was regarded as a proof of his final reconciliation with heaven. The amours of this monarch rendered him unhappy in his old age. Among the number of his mistresses, was Rosa- mond, daughter of lord Clifford, usually distinguished by the appellation of Fair Rosamond^ on account of her exqui- site beauty. We are told that Henry, who entertained a violent and lasting affection for this lady, concealed her ia a labyrinth in Woodstock-park, where she was at length discovered, and poisoned by the queen ; but this part of the story seems to be fabulous. His infidelity, however, was keenly resented by his queen Eleanor. He had married this princess from motives of ambition, as the valuable duchy of Aquitaine was her portion. Jealous, haughty, and impla- cable, she encouraged his sons in repeated rebellions, which so aflected their father, that he died of a fever at Chinon ia France, in the 57th year of his age. For wis- _ qq dom, virtue, and abilities, Henry was the greatest *^* prince of his time. His son, Richard I., (surnamed Cceur de Lion from his great courage,) undertook a crusade to the Holy Land, where he performed prodigies of valour. After several glorious, but fruitless, campaigns, he commenced his return to England, but was treacherously surprised by the duke of Austria, who sent him a prisoner to the emperor Henry VI. That sordid prince extorted 150,000 marks for the release of his illus- trious prisoner, who, finding likewise an enemy in the king of France, was obliged to defend himself with all the vigor of hostility, but was at length killed in a private dispute with the proprietor of the castle of Chains. One Bertrand de Gourdon, an archer, took aim at ^'^' ^^^^' him, and pierced his shoulder with an arrow. The king immediately gave orders for the assault, took the place, and hanged all the garrison, except Gourdon, whom he reserved for a more cruel execution. The wound in itself was not dan- gerous; but the unskilful surgeon, in extracting the arrow, so irritated the part, that a gangrene ensued, and it proved mortal. When Richard found his end approaching, he sent e4 !■: ! I 80 HISTORY OF GREAT- BRITAIN. for Gourdon, and asked why he sought his life. ^* My fit- ther, and my two brothers," replied the undaunted soldier, *'fell by your sword. 1 am now in your power, and you ma\ do your worst; but I shall endure the most severe tor- ments with pleas'ire, since Heaven has afforded me ample teTenge." Struck with the boldness of the reply, and hum- bled by his approaching dissolution, Richard ordered the prisoner to be set at liberty ; but his blood-thirsty general, Marcadee, seized the unhappy man, flayed him alive, and then hanged him. The reign of John, who succeeded his brother Richard, is infamous in the English history. He put to death princ« Arthur, who had the hereditary right to the crown, being the son of his elder brother Geoffrey. His misfortunes com- menced with this crime. All men were struck with horror at the inhuman deed, and he was from that moment detested by his subjects, both in England and on the continent. Through his baseness and cowardice, the English lost th© greatest part of their territories in France. The church also, "which had not declined a contest with the most powerful roonarchs, took advantage of John's imbecility, and, with the most aggravating circumstances of insolence and scorn, forced her yoke upon him. Pope Innocent ordered the monks of Canterbury, without the king's permission, to elect for their primate, cardinal Langton, an Englishman by birth, but attached to the see of Rome. John was greatly enraged when he heard of this infringe- ment of his prerogative, and, venting his passion on the monks, sent two knights to expel them from their convent, and take possession of their revenues. The pontiff, in re- venge, laid the kingdom under an interdict. By this sen- tence, the nation was suddenly deprived of all the exterior rites of religion. The altars were despoiled of their orna- ments. The crosses, the reliques, the images, the statues of the saints, were laid on the ground; and, as if the air itself had been profaned, and might pollute them by its contact, the priests carefully covered them up, even from their own approach and veneration. The use of bells ceased in all the churches. The bells themselves were removed from the steeples, and laid on the ground, with the other sacred uten- sils. Mass was celebrated with shut doors, and only the priests were admitted to that holy institution. The dead were not interred in consecrated ground, but were thrown into ditches, or buried in common fields, 'i'he people were pro- I I: li If KING JOHN SIGNING MAGNA-CHARTA, RELIGIOUS SPIRIT OF THIS PERIOD. 81 hibited from the use of meat, as in Lent, and debarred from all pleasures and amusements. They were forbidden even to salute each other, to shave their beards, or to give any decent attention to their persons and apparel. Every thing wore the 1 appearance of the deepest distress, and of the most immediate apprehension of divine vengeance and indignation. John at last so much dreaded a French invasion, (hat he became a tributary to the pope, and laid his crown and regalia at the foot of the legate Pandolf, who kept them for five days. The great barons resented his meanness, by taking arms; but he repeated his shameful submissions to the pope, and, after experiencing various fortunes of war,was at last brought so low, that the barons obliged him to sign the great deed so well known by the name of Magna Charta. This ^^ \s controversy ; and the Arabs communicated to philosophy a spirit of metaphysical and frivolous subtilty. Misled by these guides, the persons who first applied to science were involved in a maze of intricate inquiries. Instead of allowing their fancy to take its natural range, and to produce such works of elegant invention, as mi^ht have improved the taste and refined the sentiments of the age, they spent the whole force of their genius in specula* tions as unavailing as they were difficult. Judicial astrology, in this period, was cultivated with greater diligence than the most useful science. None, indeed^ but astrologers, were honoured with the name of mathema- ticians. These pretended prognosticators were so much ad* mired, that there was hardly a prince, or even nobleman, in Europe, who did not keep one or more of them in his fa- mily, to cast the horoscopes of his children, discover the success of his designs, and the public events that were to happen. The most famous of these astrologers published a kind of almanack every year, with a variety of predictions concerning the weather and other things. We have the fol- lowing quotation from one of these almanacks, in the works of a learned writer of those times. " The astrologers call this year (1170) the wonderful year, from the singular situ- ation of the planets and constellations, and say that, in the course of it, the councils of kings will be changed, wars will be frequent, and the world will be troubled with seditions ; that learned men will be discouraged : but towards the end of the year they will be exalted." From this specimen we may perceive, that their predictions were couched in very general and artful terms. But, by departing from this prudent conduct, and becoming a little too plain and positive, they brought a temporary disgrace on themselves and their art. For, in the beginning of the year 1186, all the great astrolo- gers in the Christian world agreed in declaring, that from an extraordinary conjunction of the planets in the sign Libra, which had never happened before, and would never happen again, there would arise, on Tuesday, the 16th of Septem- ber, at three o'clock in the morning, a most dreadful storm, which would sweep away not only single houses, but even great towns and cities ; and that this storm would be followed by a destructive pestilence, blcody wars, and all the plagues that had ever afilicted miserable mortals. This direful pre- diction spread terror and consternation over Europe, though it was contradicted by the Mohammedan astrologers of Spain, who said, there wo^jkl only be a few shipwrecks, and a little failure in the vintage and harvest. When the awful dny drew near, Baldwin, archbishop of Canterbury, commanded a solemn fast of three days to be observed over all his province. But, to the utter confusion of the poor astrologers, the 16ih of September was Uncom. monly serene and calm, the whole season remarkably mild and healthy, *^ and there were no storms all that year," says a pleasant writer, " but such as the archbishop raised in tli# church by his own turbulence." ' i r S8 HISTORY OF GREAT - BRIT AIN. CHAP. V. •niE ARTS. A. D. 1066 — 1216. THE conquest of England by the Normans very much contributed to the improvement of agriculture in Bri- tain ; for, by that event, many thousands of husbandmen, from the fertile plains of Flanders, France, and Normandy, settled in this island, obtained estates or farms, and employed the same methods in the cultivation of them, which they had used in their native countries. Architecture receiyed as great improvements as agriculture. The twelfth century, indeed, may very properly be called the age of architecture, in which the rage for building was more violent in England than at any other time. The reli- gious of every order, enjoying peace and prosperity, dls- played the most astonishing ardour in every thing that might increase the splendour of divine worship. The ancient edi- fices, \*hich had been raised in the days of Edgar and Edward the Confessor, were demolished, and others of greater mag. nificence were erected. As William was sensible, that the want of fortified places in England had greatly facilitated his conquest, and might fa- cilitate his expulsion, he built strong castles in all the towns within the royal demesnes. All his earls, barons, and even prelates, imitated his example; and it was the first care of every one who received the grant of an estate from the crown, to build a castle upon it for his defence and residence. William Rufus was still a greater builder than his father. " This prince," says an early writer, " was much addicted to building royal castles and palaces, as the castles of Dover, Windsor, Norwich, Exeter, the palace of Westminster, and many others, testify; nor was there any king of England be- fore him, who erected so many, and such noble edifices." Sculpture, under the extensive protection of superstition, flourished in those ages. The patron saint at least adorned every church; and, in all the cathedrals, images abounded. Painting was much used by the Anglo-Normans, in the de- coration of churches ; and the beautiful paintings in the cathedral of Canterbury, built by archbishop Lanfranc, are much celebrated. In the specimens of their miniature* paintings, which are still extant, we perceive not only the five primary colours, but also various combinations of them. The accurate connoisseur; however^ will not allow that they BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES. 89 wefc acquainted with the art of painting in oil. The illumi- nation of books was a branch of miniature-painting followed by the monks, with great success. The materials, which these holy artists employed, were so durable, that their missals still dazzle our eyes with the brightness of their co- lour, and the splendour of their gilding. To adorn the Bible and other books, copper-plates are now used instead of this art. Though poetry did not flourish during this period, it did not fail for want of patronage. Matilda, queen to Henrj Beauclerc, was a generous patroness of poets. Longchamp, the favourite minister of Richard Coeur-de.Lion, kept many- bards in his pay, and even allured minstrels from France to enliven the streets of London by their songs. The works, however, which met with such encouragement from peopU of rank, were composed in the Norman or French language, the original English poetry being little cultivated. It was dangerous in those times to write satirical versei against men in power. Henry I. condemned one Luke de Barra to have his eyes pulled out, for writing defamatory ballads against him; and when the earl of Flanders warmly interceded for the unhappy poet, the king replied, '' Thii man, being a wit, a poet, and a minstrel, hath composed many indecent songs against me, and sung them openly, to the great entertainment and diversion of my enemies; he shall, therefore, be punished, to deter others from the like petulance." This cruel sentence was accordingly executed on the unhappy satirist, who died of the wounds he received in struggling with the executioner. CHAP. VL BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES. A. D. 1066 — 1216. THE limits of this work will admit only a brief account of the most eminent characters. Ingulphusj abbot of Cropland, who was born in 1030, and died in 1109, wrote an excellent history of his own ab- bey, into which he has introduced much of the general history of the kingdom, with a variety of curious anecdotes not to be found in any other work. He was a great favourite of William the Conqueror, and obtained many privileges for his monastery, which he rebuilt. f*l 90 HISTORY OF GREAT- BRITAIN. COMMERCE. 91 1 i Ltanfranc, archbishop of Canterbury, who died in 1089, rebuilt the cathedral of Canterbury, and has the character of a great statesman, as well as of a learned prelate, Anselm^ the successor of Lanfranc, died in 1109. He was the first archbishop who restrained the English clergy from marrying. He excelled in the application of metaphysics to theological subjects; for which reason, he was considered as one of the fathers of scholastic divinity. Eadmer^ the friend and contemporary of Ansel m, and bishop of St. Andrew's, in Scotland, wrote the history of his own time, in six books, from 1066 to 1122. This work is highly esteemed for its authenticity and purity of style. Nicholas Brekespere, the only Englishman who ever sat in St. Peter's chair, was born near St. Alban's, and in his youth performed the meanest offices about the abbey of that place, in which his father was a monk. Being refused the habit in that monastery, he went to Rome, and, after many vicissitudes of fortune, was introduced to pope Eugenius HI. who conceived so high a regard for him, that he made him a bishop. He succeeded to the popedom in 1154, and took the name of Adrian. He died in 1159, leaving some letters and homilies. William of Malmshury^ a monk and librarian of that abbey, and an excellent English historian of his own time, died in 1143. Few writers have been so highly praised as this mqdest friar, whose humble sentiments of his own merit deserve to be recorded. " I presume not," says he, '' to expect the applause of my contemporaries ; but 1 hope that, when favour and malevolence are no more, I shall receive from impartial posterity the chara<;ter of an industrious though not an eloquent historiographer." Geoffrey Monmouth^ bishop of St. Asaph, flourished in the reign of Henry I. Too much ridicule has been thrown on his history. It was not his own. The greatest part of it was translated from an Armorican manuscript. The whole is a romance ; and, in those days, romance was a species of writing much honoured. Henry of Huntingdon^ a priest, poet, and historian, died in 1170. In the Anglia Sacra is a long letter of this au- thor to a friend, on the contempt of the world, which con- tains many curious anecdotes of the kings, nobles, prelates, and other great men, who were his contemporaries. JVilliam Little^ better koown by his Latin name, Guliel- mu8 Neubrigensis, composed a history of England, in five books, from the Norman conquest to 1197, which, for vera- city, regularity of disposition, and purity of language, is one of the most valuable productions of this period. John of Salisbury^ who died in 1182, was a man of such learning, that when his adherence to the turbulent Becket forced him into exile, his merit gained him the see of Chartres in France, Giraldus Cambrensis^ who died about the year 1216, wrot4 "A History of the World," in which his information, re.» specting ecclesiastical affairs, is extremely valuable. CHAP. VII. COMMERCE. A. D. 1066 1216. THE commerce of England, which had not been contemp- tible even during the ravages of her various spoilers, began in this period to increase with some rapidity. Besides London, whose opulent traders were styled barons^ York, Bristol, Canterbury, Exeter, and many other towns, grew rich and respectable by their attention to trade and naviga- tion. It is painful to relate, that, for some years after the Norman invasion, slaves continued to compose a part of the exports from England, notwithstanding the decree issued by the great council against this odious traffic. More laudable exports were horses, wool, leather, cloth, corn, lead, and tin. The imports were gold, precious stones, silk, tapestry, furs, wine, and spices. So important did the regulation of their wine appear to the Anglo-Normans, that a jury was appointed in every city to examine the merits and settle the value of this enticing commodity. Spices were favourite in- gredients in their meat, drink, and medicines. The Sabaeans imported into London their frankincense and other spices ; and from the rich country about Babylon was brought oil of palms. Little alteration was made by the Norman invaders in the coins used by the Anglo-Saxons. In the course of this period, the silver penny is sometimes called an esterling or sterling ; and good money in general is sometimes called esterling^ or iierling money. It is unnecessary to mention the various conjectures of antiquaries about the origin and meaning of this appellation. The most probable opinion seems to be, "1 •tirii m HISTORY OF GREAT-BRITAIN. MANNERS. 9S r !/■ that some artists from Germany, who were called Esterlings, from the situation of their country, had been employed in fabricating our money, which consisted chiefly of siher pen- nies; and that from them the penny was called an esterling, and our money esterling or sterling money. CHAP. VIII. MANNERS. A. D. 1066 — 1216. THE Tery singular spirit of chivalry, which began io dis- play itself about the beginning of this period, and wai introduced into England by the Normans, gave a new turn to the education of the young nobility and gentry, in order to fit them for obtaining the honour of knighthood, which ■was then an object of ambition to the greatest princes. Those noble youths, who were destined for the profession of arms and the honour of knighthood, were early taken out of the hands of the women, and placed in the family of some great prince or baron. At their first entrance into this school of chivalry, they acted in the capacity of pages or Talets ; for those names, which are now appropriated to do- mestic servants, were then sometimes given to the sons and brothers of kings. In this station they were instructed in the laws of courtesy and politeness, and in the first rudiments of chivalry and martial exercises, to fit them for shining in courts, at tournaments, and on the field of battle. Henry II. received this part of his education in the family of hij uncle, Robert, earl of Glocester, who was one of the most accomplished knights of the age in which he flourished. After they had spent a competent time in the station of pages, they "were advanced to tiie more honourable rank of esquires. Then they were admitted into more familiar intercourse with the knights and ladies of the court, and perfected in dancing, riding, hawking, hunting, tilting, and other accomplishments necessary to fit them for performing the ofiices of knight- hood, to which they aspired. In a word, the courts of kings, princes, and great barons, were a kind of colleges of chivalry. The martial sports, commonly called tournaments^ were very favourite diversions in those ages. When a prince had resolyed to hold a tournament, he sent heralds to the neigh. 4>ourin|; courts and countries to publish his design, and to Invite all brave and loyal knights to honour the intended so. lemnity with their presence. This invitation was accepted with the greatest joy, and a vast number of ladies and gen. tlemen commonly assembled. All the knights who proposed io enter the lists, hung up their shields in the cloister of a neighbouring monastery, where they were viewed by the la- dles and knights. If a lady touched one of the shields, it was considered as an accusation of its owner, who was immedi- ately brought before the judges of the tournament, and tried with great solemnity; and, if found guilty of having defamed a lady, or of having done any thing unbecoming the charac- ter of a true and courteous knight, he was degraded, and expelled from the assembly with every mark of infamy. The lists were surrounded with lofty towers and scaffolds of wood, in which the princes and princesses, ladies, lords, and knights, with the j udges, marshals, heralds, and minstrels, were seated in their proper places, in their richest dresses. The combatants, nobly mounted and completely armed, were conducted into the lists by their respective mistresses, iu whose honour they were to fight, with bands of martial music, amidst the acclamations of the numerous spectators. In these exercises, representations were exhibited of all the different feats of actual war, from a single combat to a general action, with all kinds of arms, as spears, swords, battle-axes, and daggers. At the conclusion of every day's tournament, the judges declared the victors, and distributed the prizes, which were presented to the happy knights by the noblest and most beautiful ladies in the assembly. The victors were then conducted in triumph to the palace; their armour was taken off by the ladies of the court; they were dressed in the richest robes, seated at the table of the sove. reign, and treated with every possible mark of distinction. In a word, they became the favourites of the fair, and the objects of universal admiration. The most magnificent tour- nament celebrated in this period, was that proclaimed by Henry II. of England, in the plains of Beaucaire, . -, . at which no fewer than 10,000 knights were pre- ' * * sent, besides ladies and other spectators.* Though the Normans were brave and generous, they, were also haughty, passionate, and licentious. Their success and prosperity in England rendered them regardless of that re- spect and decency with which females were commonly treated * Dr. Henry's History of Great-Britain. Ijif 1 * I' i 1! I h ' I t 94 HISTORY OF GREAT-BRITAIN. .in those times, and made them rude in their behaviour to the vives and daughters of the English. This licentiousnesi vas so great, that the princess Matilda, daughter of Mal- colm Canmore, king of Scotland, and afterwards queen of Henry I., being educated in England, was obliged to wear the Teil of a nun, to preserve her honour from being violated by the Normans. The Anglo-Normans had only two stated meals in a day, dinner and supper. The time of dinner^ even at court, and in the families of the greatest barons, was at nine in the morning; and the time of supper at ^uc in the afternoon. These hours were thought to be friendly to health and long life, according to the following verses, which were then often repeated. Lever a cinq, diner a neuf, Sou per a cinq, coucher a neuf, Fait vivre d'ans nonaote et neuf. To rise at five, to dine at nincy To sup at Jive, to bed at nine, Make a man live to ninety-nine. The sumptuous entertainments, which the kings of England and of other countries gave to their nobles and prelates, at the festivals of Christmas, Easter, and Whitsuntide, contri. buted very much to diffuse a taste for profuse and expensive living. It was natural for a proud and wealthy baron to imitate, in his own castle, the entertainments he had seen jo the palace of his prince. A celebrated writer, during this period, tells us, that he was present at an entertainment which lasted from three o'clock in the afternoon to mid. night, et which delicacies were served up which had been brought from Constantinople, Babylon, Alexandria, and from various parts of Syria. These delicacies, we may pre- sume, were very expensive ; for Thomas Becket gave five pounds, equivalent perhaps to sixty pounds at present, for one dish of eels. The rich had, at their tables, some kinds of provisions which are not now to be found in Britain. When Henry II. entertained his own court, the chief officers of his army, and all the kings and chieftains of Ireland, in Dublin, at the festival of Christmas, the Irish A. D. 1 71. ^^^^ astonished at the variety of provisions which they beheld, and were not easily prevailed upon to eat the flesh of cranes, a kind of food to which they had not been accustomed. INCIDENTS AND CURIOUS PARTICULARS. 95 CHAP. IX. INCIDENTS AND CURIOUS PARTICULARS. A. D. 1066 1216. IN 1068, the English were required to put out their fires and candles at e-ght in the evening, on the ringing of the curfew-bell. They were also obliged to deliver np their arms. In 1091, a storm at south-west blew down 600 houses and many churches in London. In the same year, Ingul- phus, abbot of Croyland, laments the destruction of his mo- nastery by fire, and particularly the loss of a precious astro- nomical instrument, which he calls a Nadir, " It was a beautiful table," says he, " wherein Saturn was of copper, Jupiter of gold, Mars of iron, and the Sun of silver. The eyes were charmed and the mind instructed by beholding the colure-circles, the Zodiac and all its signs, formed with wonderful art, of metals and precious stones." Was not this an imperfect orrery? In 1092, a dreadful conflagration destroyed the greatest part of London. In 1100, an inundation of the sea happened, which over, flowed the lands of Godwin, earl of Kent, to this day called Godwin Sands. Of these shoals, the late Mr. Smeaton, civil engineer, gives the following account: " Upon our journey to Ramsgate, having \isited the Godwin Sands, in order to examine their nature, we found that, though, like quicksand, they were clean and unconnected, yet they lay so close that it was difficult to work a pointed iron bar into them more than to the depth of six or seven feet." In 1108, great numbers of Flemings, leaving their country on account of floods, repaired to the eastern coasts of England, and were troul^lesome to the inhabitants. Henn^ removed them to Pembrokeshire, where their descendants still retain a distinction in language. In 1110, Henry matched one of his illegitimate sons to the rich heiress of Fitz-Aymon. The lady had a poetical turn: and when the king told her that his son's name was Robert, she thus addressed him : ** It were to me a great shame ** To have a lord without twa name." Henry immediately conferred on him the name of Fitz-Roy. About this period surnames were much used by people of cank in England. I 96 HISTORY OF GREAT -BRITAIN. IT B M J In 1114, the Thames was so ill supplied with water, that people walked across between the bridge and tower of London, the water only reaching up to their knees. In 1 136, there was a great fire in London, which consumed a considerable part of the city, as well as the bridge, then built of wood. In 1 174, Henry 11. called together the nobility of Langue- doc, in order to mediate a peace between the count of Thou- louse and the king of Arragon. As Henry, however, did Dot attend, the nobles had nothing to do but to emulate each other in wild magnificence and barbarity. The following instances, bordering upon insanity, shew the spirit of those early ages. The countess of Urgel sent to the meeting a diadem worth 20G0 pounds, to be placed on the head of a ■wretched buffoon. The count of Thoulouse sent a diadem of the value of 4000 pounds to a favourite knight, who distributed that sum among the poorer knights. Another nobleman gave an immense dinner, cooked by the flame of "wax.tapers. But the singular magnificence of count Ber. trand Rimbault attracted the loudest applause; for he set the peasants around Beaucaire to plough up the soil, in which he sowed small pieces of money^ to the amount of fifteen hundred English guineas. Piqued at this princely extrava- gance, and determined to surpass his neighbours in savage brutality, if he could not in prodigality, lord Raymond, having ordered thirty of his most beautiful and valuable horses to be tied to stakes and surrounded with dry wood, heroically lighted the piles, and consumed his favouriteii alive! In H09, an unfortunate circumstance occurred, which threatened the university of Oxford with destruction. A woman having been accidentally killed by a student, the townsmen seized three innocent academics, and, with the king^s permission, put them to death. Shocked at this bar- barity, the professors and scholars abandoned Oxford, and retired to Cambridge and Reading. In 1214, they were all reinstated by a bull from Rome. POLITICAL AND MILITARY HISTORY. 97 BOOK IV. CHAP. L POLITICAL AND MILITARY HISTORY FROM THE DEATH OF KIN« JOHN, IN 1216, TO THE ACCESSION OF HENRY IV. IN 1399. X^NGLAND was in a deplorable state when the crown -■-^ devolved upon Henry III., who was only nine years old. The earl of Pembroke being chosen his guardian, the French were driven out of the kingdom, and their king re. nounced all claims to English territory. But Henry having been persuaded to violate the great charter, the barons im- mediately formed an association against him ; and a civil war broke out, when he was abandoned by all but his Gascons and foreign mercenaries. The famous Simon de Montfort, earl of Leicester, who had married his sister, being appointed general of the insurgents, proved so far successful, that the king and his brother were defeated and made prisoners in the battle of Lewes. The heir-apparent also fell into the hands of the enemy : but he soon obtained his liberty ; and, assem- bling a considerable number of his father's subjects, put the rebels to flight, and killed Montfort. Henry died in 1272, in the sixty-sixth year of his age, and the fifty-seventh of his inglorious reign. But to the struggles of that time the people, in a great measure, owe the liberties of tbp present day. '^" V, Edward I, began his reign by confirming the great charter, and making strict enquiry into the affairs of the state. He annexed the principality of Wales to his crown, and was the first who gave the title of Prince of Wales to his eldest son. He then invaded Scotland, when John Baliol, the king, re- uewed his oath of fidelity, and put him in possession of the whole kingdom. But, while Edward was endeavouring to recover some dominions which he had lost in France, the brave William Wallace rose up in defence of his country, and, having dispossessed the English of all the fortified places, was declared regent. Edward then returned from France, advanced into Scotland at the head of a power- ful army, and defeated Wallace, who, several years after- wards, was betrayed into the hands of the English, and sent to Loudon, where that great hero suffered the death of a F , ! n-^ 98 HISTORY OF GREAT - BRIT AIN. traitor. Edward died in 1307, in the 69th year of his age, and the 35th of his reign, having ordered his heart to be sent to the Holy Land. His son Edward II., who married Isabella, daughter to the French king, mounted the throne with great advantages, which he soon forfeited by his own imprudence. The battle of Bannockburne, between him and Robert Bruce, A.D. 1314. established the latter on the throne of Scotland, He raised to the summit of power the two Despensers, father and son, whom the parliament banished. The queen, an ambitious and worthless woman, who persuaded her husband to recall the favourites, at last became enamoured of Morti- mer, earl of March. A breach between her and the De^ spensers soon followed ; and, going over to France with her lover, she found means to form such a party in England, that, on her return with some French troops, she made her hus- band prisoner, and forced him to abdicate his crown in favour of his son Edward III., then fourteen years of age. The king's death completed her guilt. He was bar. A. D. 1327. ij^j-ouj-iy murdered in Berkeley-castle, by ruffians ■who were employed by her and her paramour. During the minority of Edward III., little domestic tran- quillity was to be expected. When he assumed the reins of government, Mortimer was hanged at Tyburn, and the queen was confined for life. It was not long before the young king had a serious dispute with David, king of Scotland, though his sister was the wife of this prince. David was driven to France by the son of John Baliol, who did homage to Edward for Scotland. In 1328, Charles the Fair, king of France, dying without male issue, Philip of Valois, his cousin, in consequence of the Salic law, which is supposed, to exclude females, suc- ceeded to the throne. He was opposed, however, by Ed- ward, as being the son of Isabella, sister to the deceased king, and first in the female succession. The French re- jected the claim of the English monarch, who, after long deli- beration, resolved to assert it by arms. He invaded France in 1339 ; and, from that time to 1360, only occasional truces suspended the rage of hostility. In 1340, he took the title of king of France, which he used in all public acts, and quartered the arms of France with his own, adding this motto, Dieu et mon droits " God and my right." At Cressy, in 1346, the French, whose number exceeded lOOjOOO, were defeated by 30,000 English, chiefly by the POLITICAL AND MILITARY HISTORY. 99 valour of the prince of Wales, commonly called the Black rnnce, from the dark hue of his armour. Above 35,000 of the French were slain, among whom were many of the prin- cipal nobility, twelve hundred knights, and fourteen hundred gentlemen; while the English lost only three knights, one esquire, and a small number of private men. On his return to the camp, Edward flew into the arms of the prince of Wales, who had distinguished himself in a remarkable man- ner. " My brave son V> cried he, « persevere in your ho- nourable course. You are my son ! for valiantly have you acquitted yourself to-day. You have shewn yourself worthy of empire." ^ A weak mind is elated with the smallest success • a great spirit is little affected by any turn of fortune. Edward, instead of expecting that the victory at Cressy would be im! mediately followed by the total subjection of the disputed kingdom, seemed rather to moderate his views. Ho pru- dently limited his ambition to the conquest of Calais, by - which he hoped to secure an easy entrance into France. The battle of Poictiers was fought in 1356, between prince Edward and John of France, in which the French were totally defeated, and their king taken prisoner. The captive monarch, after having received the most courteous and generous treatment from his conqueror, was conducted by him to England. Edward having left his queen Philippa (daughter to the earl of Hainault) regent of England, she had the good for. tune to defeat the Scots, who had invaded (he kingdom soon pelled Edward Baliol from the throne, was unable to effect his escape from the field; and thus two crowned heads were captives m London at the same time. Both kings were after wards ransomed: but John returned to England, and died at the palace of the Savoy. After the peace of Bretigni, into which Edward was fright- ened by a dreadful storm, his popularity declined. This was chiefly occasioned by his extravagant attachment to Alice Ferrers a young lady of wit and beauty, whose in- fluence oyer him had given such general disgust, as to become the object of a parliamentary remonstrance. Meanwhile the prmce of Wales died, leaving behiyd him a character adorned with every eminent virtue, and which would throw lustre on the most shining period of ancient or modern history. The king did not long survive this melancholy incident. He died f2 I I t f-' I I.' I :', m Ml 100 HISTORY OF GREAT -BRITAIN. _. at Richmond in Surry, in the sixty-fifth year of A. D. 1377. j^.g ^g^^ ^^jj ^j^g fifty.first of his reign ; one of the longest and most glorious in the English annals. The domestic government of Edward was even more wor- thy of admiration than his foreign victories. By the prudence and vigour of his administration, England enjoyed a longer terra of interior tranquillity than it had been blessed with in any former period, or than it experienced for some ages after. He gained the affections of the great, yet curbed their licentiousness. His affable and obliging behaviour, his mu- Tiiticence, and generosity, excited such emulation of regard for him, as made them successful in most military enterprises ; and their unquiet spirits, directed against a public enemy, had no leisure to breed those private feuds to which they were naturally so much disposed. This internal tranquil- lity was the chiefbenefit that England derived from Edward's continental expeditions ; and the miseries of the reign of his successor made the nation fully sensible of the \alue of the blessing. i j x xt. Richard IT., son of the Black Prince, succeeded to the throne of his grandfather at the age of eleven years. Though a council was chosen to administer the public affairs during the king's minority, the government of the kingdom was secretly directed^by his three uncles, the dukes of Lancaster, York, and Glocester ; especially by the first, who was m reality the regent. , t- i ^ War had been carried on between France and England after the death of Edward III., but in so languid a manner as served only to exhaust the finances of both kingdoms. In order to repair the expenses of these fruitless armaments, the English parliament found it necessary to impose a poll-tax of^hree groats on every person, male and female, above fifteen years of age. The injustice of a tax to which all the poor, except mendicants, were obliged to contribute as much as the rich, was obvious to the meanest capacity, while the rigorous manner in which it was levied, made it yet more irtA-eatherers v«...x. ^^ ^ - - w ^ mi vk and demanded payment for the man's daughter. Ihe smith asserted that she was below the age assigned by the sta- tute. One of the fellows seising the maiden, and offering to produce a very indecent proof of the contrary, the father Jtnocked out the ruffian's brains with his hammer. Ihe by- POLITICAL AND MILITARY HISTORY. 101 standers applauded the action, and, exclaiming that it was full time for the people to take vengeance on their tyrants, immediately flew to arms.' .The flame in an instant spread over that and the neighbouring counties, and the populace, headed by the most audacious and criminal of their asso- ciates, who assumed the feigned names of Wat Tyler, Jack Straw, and Hob Carter, committed the most outrageous violence on such of the nobility and gentry as fell into their hands. i'C» At length nearly one hundred thousand of them assembled on Blackheath^ whence they made: their way to London, where they continued their outrages. The king passing along Smithfield, very slenderly guarded, met Wat Tyler at the head of a large body of the rioters, and entered into a con- ference with him. Tyler, having ordered his companions to retire till he should give them the signal, ventured into the midst of the royal retinue ; where he behaved himself in such a manner, that Walworth, the mayor of London, not able to bear his insolence, gave him a violent blow, which brought him to the ground, and he was instantly dispatched by the rest of the king's attendants. The mutineers, seeing their leader fall, prepared themselves for revenge; and the king, with his whole company, would probably have pe- rished on the spot, had it not been for an extraordinary pre- sence of mind which Richard discovered on this occasion. Accosting the enraged multitude, with an affable and intrepid countenance, he asked them what was the meaning of their disorder ? " Are you angry, my good people," added he, " that you have lost your leader ? I, your king, will be your leader." The populace, overawed by his presence, implicitly followed him into the fields ; and, a body of well-armed veterans having been secretly drawn together, they peaceably separated, upon his granting them a charter of redress for their grievances, which, however, was soon after annulled ia parliament. Had Richard been a prince of real abilities, he might now have established the tranquillity of his dominions on a sure foundation ; but he delivered himself up to worthless favour-^ ites, particularly Robert de Vere, earl of Oxford^ whom he created marquis of Dublin, and duke of Ireland. This base subserviency soon produced an animosity between the minion and his creatures on the one hand, and the princes of the blood and chief nobility on the other, and brought pn a continual scene of dissension between the king and f3 102 HISTORY OF GREAT -BRITAIN. ECCLESIASTICAL AFFAIRS. 103 1/ -; his people, which ended in the exile of the duke, Michael de la Pole, the son of an eminent merchant, had likewise acquired, in an eminent degree, the friendship of Richard, by whom he was appointed chancellor of the realm. The duke of Glocester, perceiving the mischiefs which the impo. litic conduct of his nephew might occasion, formed a party against him, when Richard ordered the duke to be seized, and conveyed to Calais, where he was privately strangled. Richard was now upon the point of becoming more de- spotic than any king of England had ever been, when he lost his crown and life by a sudden catastroph?. John of Gaunt, or Ghent, duke of Lancaster, had a son named Henry, who, having a quarrel with the duke of Norfolk, was banished from the kingdom, as was also his opponent. Returning from exile, on pretence of claiming his ducal inheritance, he excited a rebellion against the unpopular king. Richard, who was then in Ireland, where an insurrection had broken out, hastened back to England; but, his troops refusing to fight, and his subjects in general deserting him, he A.D.1399. ^^g made prisoner, with no more than twenty attendants. Being conducted to London, he was deposed in full parliament, upon a formal charge of tyranny and mis- conduct, when the new duke of Lancaster was proclaimed king, by the name of Henry IV. With regard to Richard, it was long the prevailing opinion, that Sir Piers Exton, and others of his guards, fell upon him in the castle of Pontefract, "where he was confined, and dispatched him with halberts« But it is more probable that he was starved to death in pri- son, in the thirty-fourth year of his age, and the twenty-third of his reign, having no issue by either of his marriages. CHAP. IL RELIGION AND ECCLESIASTICAL AFFAIRS. A.D. 1216 1399. AS the power of the pope, and of the church, appears to have been at its greatest height in England during this period, it may not be improper to take a short view of this prodigious fabric of ecclesiastical tyranny, and of the deplo- rable oppressions under which our ancestors groaned in this superstitious age. Some of those oppressions are well ex- pressed in a letter of complaint written to the pope by the king, prelates, and barons, of England, in 1246. In that letter they complain, that the pope, not content with the an- nual payment of Peter-pence, exacted from the clergy great contributions, without the king's consent, and against the customs, rights, and liberties, of the realm of England ; that the patrons of churches could not present fit persons to the vacant livings, as the pontiff generally conferred them on Italians, who understood not the English language, and car- ried out of the kingdom the money arising from their bene- fices; that he oppressed the churches, by exacting pensions from them ; that in churches filled by Italians, th6re were neither alms nor hospitality; and that the care of souls, and the interests of true religion, were totally neglected. To these were added other grievances no less oppressive and in- tolerable. His holiness filled the highest dignities of the church by his own power, compelling the archbishops and others to pay exorbitant sums for their preferments. He evoked all causes of any importance to Rome, and kept the parties long waiting, for his decision, at great expense; and large sums were annually sent to Rome, for pardons, indul- gences, and dispensations. The insatiable avarice and insupportable tyranny of the court of Rome gave such universal disgust in the fourteenth century, that a bold attack made on the authority of that court, and the doctrines of that church, was, at first, more successful than could have been expected in those dark ages. Dr. John Wickliffe, a secular priest, educated at Oxford, began, in the reign of Edward III., to spread the doctrines of reformation by his discourses, sermons, and writings ; and many people of all ranks became his disciples. He was a man of parts, learning, and piety ; and had the honour of being the first person in Europe who publicly called in ques- tion those doctrines which had passed for certain during so many ages. The doctrines of Wickliffe, being nearly the same with those which were propagated by the reformers in the sixteenth century, gave great alarm to the clergy, and a bull was issued by the pope for taking him into custody. Cour- tenay, bishop of London, cited him before his tribunal; but the reformer had now acquired powerful protectors, who screened him from danger. The duke of Lancaster and lord Percy, having encouraged the principles of Wickliffe, made no scruple to appear openly in court with him, in order to give him countenance upon his trial. They even insisted that Wickliffe should sit in the bishop's presence, while his doc- trines were examined. Courtenay exclaimed against the in- f4 ll: V 104 HISTORY OF GREAT- BRITAIN. GOVERNMENT AND LAAVS. 105 I. ^ . Suit. The Londoners, thinking their prelate affronted, at- tacked the duke and his companion, \¥ho with some difficulty escaped from their hands. The duke continued to protect Wickliffe, during the minority of Richard ; and the princi. pies of that reformer were so much propagated, that, when the pope sent to Oxford a new bull against these doctrines, the university deliberated for some time whether they should receive it, and did not take any vigorous measures in conse. quence of the papal orders. Even the populace of London were, at last, brought to entertain favourable sentiments of this reformer. When he was cited before a synod at Lam- beth, they forced their way into the assembly, and so over- awed the prelates, that they dismissed him without any far- ther censure. Wickliffe died of a paralytic disorder, at his rectory of ^ cjQ . Lutterworth, in Leicestershire, when the clergy, ' mortified that he should escape their vengeance, took care, besides assuring the people of his eternal damna- tion, to represent his last distemper as a visible judgement of Heaven upon him, for his multiplied heresies and impieties. His proselytes, however, still increased in England, and wer« distinguished by the name of Wickiiffites, or Lollards. His principles were carried over to Bohemia by some young men of that nation, who studied at Oxford. But, though many were strongly disposed to receive them, affairs were not yet fully ripe for this great revolution, which was reserved for a nore free and enquiring age. CHAP. IIL •OVERNMENT AND LAWS. A. D. 1216 — 1399. IN the long reign of Henry the Third, the disputes which arose between the king and the nobles rendered England a scene of confusion. The people, however, obtained a con- firmation of the great charter, with the addition of new pri- vileges. But the liberty of the subject made the greatest progress in the reign of Edward the First; a prince who, from his numerous and judicious laws, has been denominated the English Justinian. During the first thirteen years of his reign, the English laws received more improvement than in all the ages since his time. But what renders this aera par- ticularly interesting is, that it afibrds the first instance of ihfi admission of the deputies of towns into parliament. In order to raise subsidies to support the wars in which he was en- gaged, he found himself obliged to employ a new method, and to endeavour to obtain, by the consent of the people, what his predecessors had hitherto expected from their own power. The sheriffs were ordered to invite the cities and boroughs of the different counties to send deputies ^^ 1283. to parliament; audit is from this aera that we are to date the origin of the house of commons. King Edward confirmed the great charter eleven times in the course of his reign. And, at length, he converted, into an established law, a privilege of which the English had hitherto only a pre- carious enjoyment, by decreeing that no tax should belaid, nor impost levied, without the joint consent of the lords and commons. This most important statute, in conj unction with Magna Charta, forms the basis of the English constitution. Under Edward the Second, the commons began to annex petitions to the bills by which they granted subsidies. This was the dawn of their legislative authority. Under Edward the Third, they declared that they would not in future ac- knowledge any law to which they had not expressly assented. Soon after this, they exerted a privilege in which consists, at this time, one of the great balances of the constitution : they impeached, and procured to be condemned, some of the chief ministers of state. During the whole of this period, however, the government was at best only a barbarous monarchy, not regulated by any fixed maxims, nor limited by any certain undisputed rights, which in practice were regularly observed. The king con- ducted himself by one set of principles, the barons by an- other, the commons by a third, and the clergy by a fourth. All these systems of government were opposite and incompa- tible. Each of them prevailed in its turn, as incidents were favourable to it. A great prince rendered the monarchical power predominant. The weakness of a king gave the reins to the aristocracy. A superstitious age saw the clergy tri- umphant. The people, for whom chiefly government was , instituted, and who chiefly deserve consideration^ were the ^ weakest of the whole. But though they sank under the vio- lence of tempests, they silently reared their heads in mor« peaceable times; and, while the storm was gathering, were courted by all sides, and thus received a still greater acces- sion to their privileges, or, at least, some confirmation of them. f5 i iT-l i| 105 HISTORY OF GREAT- BRITAIN. CHAP. IV. LITERATURE. A. D. 1216 1399. T^HE supreme authority which Aristotle obtained in the schools of theology, as well as of philosophy, during this period, had a considerable influence both on learning and religion. The name and some parts of the writings of Aristotle were known in England, and other countries of Europe, long before this time. But he did not obtain that dictatorial authority among learned men, and in the most famous seats of learning, which he so long maintained, till the middle of the thirteenth century. About that time he began to be called the philosopher^ by way of eminence. " He is preferred," says Roger Bacon, " before all other philoso- phers, in the opinion of all men of learning; whatever he has affirmed is received by them as true and sound philoso- phy; and, in a word, he has the same authority in philo- sophy that the apostle Paul has in divinity." To such an extravagant height was this veneration for Aristotle carried, before the middle of the fourteenth century, in some of the most famous universities, particularly in that of Paris, that students were obliged to take a solemn oath to defend his opinions. This blind submission could not but obstruct the progress of real knowledge, even if Aristotle's admirers had been generally capable of reading his works in their original language, and had not been compelled to receive them through the medium of false translations. Divinity now soared above the scriptures. The schoolmen Talued themselves on making improvements in theology, with- out recourse to either Testament; and those unfashionable sages, who still studied the sacred writings, were styled, in derision, Bible doctors. They were considered as men of little penetration or acuteness, had very few scholars, and were not allowed to have an apartment, or a servant to at- tend them, or even a stated hour for reading their lectures, in any of the famous universities of Europe, *- Astronomy and optics were known to the illustrious Roger Bacon, but to few others. The same great man seems also to have monopolized the knowledge of mechanics and chemistry. We may judge of the ignorance of this age in geography, from the following story. Pope Clement VI. having, in 1344, created Louis of Spain i^x'mca of the Fortunate Islands. THE ARTS. 107 meaning the Canaries, then newly discovered, the English ambassador at Rome, and bis retinue, ^ve^e seized with an Tarm that Louis had been created king of Enf nd. Jh^^^ accordingly hurried home, in order to convey this important "S! h";.ver, was the ardour for study at this time that in the university of Oxford alone there were thirty thousand Tdtr Wt%hen was the occupation of an these you^ men ? To learn bad Latin, and worse logic. They disputed without end, and without' meaning, Perple^^"g/^f P^^^// Truths, and Vmng plausible colours to f^ fj^^^^.^^ ^^^^^^^^^^ ties These frivolous disputes were conducted with so rauctt eagerness, that from ang?y words the disputants sometimes proceeded to blows, and raised dangerous tumults in th* seats of learning. CHAP. V. tHE ARTS. A. i>. 1216 — 1399. IN the period which we are now examining, very little pro- gress was made in agriculture. The country was almost conSr-olved in Lr -^f\^'^^^^^^^^^^ the people, and particularly of the nobility, from the im- provement of their lands. The wretched tenure, likewise, TwhTch the inferior farmers held their possessions, was ^ Kual bar to every amendment of soil. ^ Gard«^^^^^^ the immediate protection of the great, had better success. Every large castle or monastery had its garden, orchard, and frequently its vineyard. The English, at this time, had a conSalle quantity of wine of their own manufacture, not much inferior to foreign wine. admired With recard to architecture, some of the most admirea catTedrals'in England, viz. those of Jork Salisbu^^^^^^^ Winchester, owe their existence to this ^^^'^^^ ''}'!fj ^n ^iX allowed to have produced the truest and fairest mo- dels of what is called the '^ lighter Gothic stye of butldm^.^ The sterples with spires and pinnacles, the pillars formed of In assei^ of columns, the lofty windows sornet.mes tower ng to a point, sometimes much enlarged divided mto s3 K^^ stone muUions, and always filled w.t.i g a s Sd wlh r/ely colours, to represent the stor^^^^^^^^^^^^ and martyrs, stamp the sacred edifices of the thirteentn ana fourteenth centuries. f6 k li 108 HISTORY OF GREAT- BRITAIN. BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES. 109 i^ This rapid progress in architectural elegance was greatly assisted by a band of ingenious workmen of various coun- tries, who, forming themselves into societies under the title of ^' Free Masons ^^^ offered their services to opulent princes, and were much attached to the bountiful Henry, and to his illustrious successor. The ardour of our English reformers, and the party-zeal of civil wars, haye left us few perfect memorials of the state of sculpture, in the early ages. Father Montfaucon says, that the art was greatly improved during the thirteenth cen- tury, and Matthew Paris mentions a monk, his contemporary, as an admirable statuary. So great and general was the taste for painting in this period, that not only the apartments of the great, but those of private persons, were ornamented with historical pictures. When Chaucer awoke from his celebrated poetical dream, the gay objects, which his fancy had presented, had vanished, and he saw nothing, ** Save on the wals old pourtraytiirc ** Of horsmen, haukes, and houndis '^ And hart dire, al ful of woundis.^ This, we may believe, is a real description of his own bed- chamber. Though the poets of this period were as much admired by their contemporaries, as those who flourished in better times, their works are now generally neglected. This is chiefly owing to the antiquated style in which they wrote. The English language, though nervous, was then harsh, frowned on by the court, despised by the gentry, and disguised by a barbarous and irregular mode of spelling. Several other musical instruments, besides the harp^ were now used by the minstrels. In the band of Edward III, we find five trumpeters, a cyteler, five pipers, a fidler, a tabret, a mabrer, two clarions, and three hautboys. CHAP. VI. BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES. A. D. 1216 — 139ft. IhfATTIIEJV Paris, a Benedictine monk, was an inge- nious poet, orator, and historian. He is chiefly known by an universal history from the creation of the world to the year 1259. His account of the reign of Henry III. is ap- parently very authentic. With that prince he was familiarly acquainted ; yet he had not the meanness to flatter him, or to violate the truth of history. . Roger Bacon, a learned monk of the Franciscan order, was descended of an ancient family, and born near Ilchester, in Somersetshire, in 1214. He applied himself with asto- Dishing ardour to the acquisition of knowledge, both at Ux- ford and Paris ; and his attainments were so uncommon, that the populace looked upon him as a magician. By the con- trivance of his own fraternity, who were jealous of his supe. rior abilities, he was prohibited from reading lectures to the students, and afterwards imprisoned. His fame, l^owever, reached the ears of pope Clement IV., ^^« 5^^"ffV",t*^^i he would send him a copy of Ws works. This collect^n is now extant under the title of " Opus Majus,^^ or his Great Work. After remaining in prison for ten years, he ob. tained his liberty, and returned to Oxford, where he died '" This wonderful man had a profound knowledge of the ma- thematics and natural philosophy. He discovered the error in the calendar; and his plan for correcting it was adopted by Gregory XIII. He gave such a description of the composi- tion of gunpowder, that it is evident he was the original inven. tor of it. His acquaintance with chemistry was extensive. He also described the camera obschra, and those kinds of glasses which ma-nify or lessen objects. In short, the cha- racter which Dr. Freind gives of him is not too great, '^that he was the miracle of the age in which he i^ed, and the greatest genius, perhaps, for mechanical knowledge that ever appeared in the world since Archimedes." Matthezo of Westminster, a monk of the fourteenth cen. tury, was remarkable for that strict attention to veracity, which his Flowers of Histories (Flores Historiarum) dis- ^\hn Duns Scotus, of Northumberland, a celebrated theo. loeian of the Franciscan order, distinguished himself by the acuteness of his parts. Several thousand persons attended his lectures at Oxford. « He described the Supreme Being,;> says one of his disciples, " as if he had seen God ; the at ri- butes of celestial spirits, as if he had been an angel ; and the felicities of a future state, as if he had enjoyed them. He died in 1308. « ^ , i. j- ^ :« igin Anthoni/ Beck, bishop of Durham, who died in 1310, merits npUce for the singularity of his character. He led the ir il 110 HISTORY OF GREAT- BRITAIN. Tan of the first Edward's army against the Scots, and dared eyen to make a harsh retort to a reproof from that stern monarch. At Rome, he opposed alone a number of ruffians, who had forcibly entered his house. So active was his mind, that he always rose immediately after his first sleep ; saying, ** that it zsas beneath a man to turn himself in bedJ*^ As he loved military parade, he had knights and soldiers always about him. Vanity prompted him to spend immense sums. He once gave 40/. sterling for forty fresh herrings ; and he ordered to be cut, into horse-cloths, a piece of cloth, which had been proverbially said to be " too dear for the bishop of Durham,''^ Sir John Mandeville, celebrated for his distant travels and credulity, was born at St. Al ban's, and died in 1372. He began his travels in 1322, and continued them during thirty-four years through a great part of the world. He left, at his death, an " Itinerary," or account of his travels, in English, French, and Latin. Geoffrey Chaucer^ the father of English poetry, was born in London, in 1328, and educated at both universities. After visiting several foreign countries for his improvement, he became a student of the law in the Middle Temple. But this study not being agreeable to his taste, he resolved to try his fortune at court, for which he was well qualified, being re- markably handsome in his person, elegant in his manners, a general scholar, and an admired poet. He accordingly ob- tained the honourable place of page to Edward III., in 1359, when that illustrious prince was in the summit of his prosperity, and the English court in its highest splendour. In this station he rendered himself so agreeable to his royal master, that he obtained many substantial marks of his favour, and enjoyed an income of no less than 1000/. a year, equivalent to 12,000/. at present. In this flourishing state of his affairs, he married Philippa Rouet, sister to lady Swynford, afterwards the wife of John, duke of Lancaster. This nobleman having espoused the cause of Wickliffe from political views, Chaucer engaged with warmth, and from principle, in the same cause. In order to avoid the resent- ment of the clergy, he was obliged to go abroad, where he spent his whole estate in supporting himself and his fellow- exiles. He then returned privately into England, but was apprehended and committed to prison, from which he was not released, before he had disclosed the secrets of his party. Retiring to Woodstock, he employed himself in the correc* MANUFACTURES, COMMERCE, &c. Ill tion of his former pieces, and in the composition of new works. By the exertions of his friends, who recovered their influence at court, he obtained several grants from the crown, whiqh enabled him to spend the last years of his life in ease and plenty. He died in 1400, leaving two sons, one of whom was speaker of the house of commons, and ambassador to France. Of his poems, the Canterbury Tales are by far the best. There have been several editions of his works. Sir John Gower, an eminent lawyer and poet, the contem- porary and intimate friend of Chaucer, whom he succeeded in the laurel, was descended from an ancient family, and born in 1320. In his character as a lawyer, he made so consi- derable a figure, that he was appointed chief justice of the Common Pleas. His principal production, as a poet, is Confessio Amantis. He appears to have been fond of writing, and laments in a very pathetic strain, that, by the failure of his sight, he was constrained to lay aside his pen. He died in 1402. CHAP. VIL MANUFACTURES, COMMERCE, AND INTERNAL POLICE. A.D. 1216—1399. THE chief manufacture of England, in the aera of which we now treat, was that of wool. This she owed to the fostering hand of Edward III., who gave encouragement to foreign weavers, and enacted a law which prohibited every one from wearing any cloth but of English fabric. The ma- nufactures of leather and lead were also very considerable. The greatest part of our domestic trade was still trans- acted in fairs, of which some were of long duration, fre- quented by a great number of people from different countries, and stored with commodities of all kinds. The fair of St. Giles's.hill, near Winchester, continued six- teen days, during which time all trade was prohibited in Win- chester, Southampton, and every place within seven mUes of the fair, which very much resembled a great city, inhabited by foreign and domestic traders, who exposed their various commodities to sale. We are assured by a contemporary writer of undoubted credit, that male and female slaves were publicly sold in the fairs of England, near the coaclu- 8ion of the fourteenth century. I 5; in HISTORY OF GREAT-BRITAIN. In the beginning of the reign of Richard II. the parliament complained of the decay of foreign comm^r^>.during the preceding reign, and asserted, that one -se^-port formerly contained more vessels than were then, ^to be found in the whole kingdom. This calamity they ascribed to the arbi- trary seisure of ships by Edward, for the service of his fre- quent expeditions. With regard to the coin, the third Edward, in 1344, struck florins of gold, which were ordered to pass for six shillings, and the halves and quarters in proportion. Find, ing, however, that he had rated these pieces too high, he coined the gold noble of 6*. 8(/.j and recalled the florins to his treasury. The police of the kingdom was certainly much improved during this period, particularly in the time of the renowned Edward. Yet there were several faults in the constitution, the bad consequences of which, all the power and vigilance of the king could never prevent. The barons, by their confe- deracies with those of their own order, and by supporting their retainers in every iniquity, were the chief abettors of robbers, murderers, and ruflians of all kinds ; and no law could be executed against those criminals. The nobility were brought to give their promise in parliament, that they would not countenance any felon or violator of the law : yet this engagement, which we may wonder to see exacted from men of their rank, was never regarded by them. The commons made continual complaints of the multitude of robberies, murders, rapes, and other disorders, in every part of the kingdom, which they always ascribed to the protection that the criminals received from the great. The king of Cyprus, who paid a visit to England in the reign of Edward III., )vas robbed and stripped on the highway, with his whole retinue. Edward himself contributed to this dissolution of law, by his facility in granting pardons to felons from the solicitation of courtiers. Laws were made to prevent this prerogative, and remonstrances of the commons were presented against the abuse of it. But a wish to gratify a powerful nobleman continued to be more operative than the desire of protecting the people. MANNERS. 113 CHAP. VIII. MANNERS. A. D. 1216 1399. AN almost unlimited hospitality reigned in the palaces of princes, and the castles of great barons, in the times which we are now delineating. The courts of some of the kings of England were splendid and numerous, to a degree hardly credible. That of Richard II. is thus described by Stowe. " His royalty was such, that, wheresoever he lay, his person was guarded by two hundred Cheshiremen; he had about him thirteen bishops, besides barons, knights, esquires, and others; insomuch that ten thousand people came to the household for meat every, day, as appeared by the messes told out of the kitchen to three hundred servitors." We may form some idea of the magnificence and hospitality of the opulent barons pf those times, from an account of the household expense/of.the earl of Lancaster in 1313; from which it appears that'this nobleman expended in house-keep- ing, during that year, no less than 7,309/., more than equal to 87,700/. of our present money. The consumption of wine alone was 371 pipes. The nobility in general spent "almost all their revenues in hospitality at their castles m the country, which were ever open to respectable strangers, as well as to their own vassals and followers. This profuse wajr of living began to decline a little towards the conclusion of this period; and some barons, instead of dining always in the great hall with their numerous dependents, according to ancient custom, dined sometimes in private parlours, with their own families and friends. But this innovation was very unpopular, and subjected those who adopted it to acri- monious reproach. , A splendid ostentatious kind of gallantry, expressive of the most profound respect and the highest admiration of the beauty and virtue of the ladies, was studied and practised by the martial barons, knights, and esquires, of this period. This gallantry appeared in its greatest lustre at royal tour- naments, and other grand and solemn festivals, at which the ladies shone in their brightest ornaments, and received pe- culiar honours. When Edward III., in 1344, celebrated the magnificent feast of the round table, at Windsor, to which ^11 the nobility of his own dominions, and of the neighbour- ing countries, had been invited, queen Philippa, and three hundred ladies, illustrious for their birth and beauty, unu ^i 114 HISTORY OF GREAT. BRITAIN. i ii formly dressed in the richest habits, adorned that solemnity, and were treated with the most pompous and romantic tes- timonies of respect and admiration. Many of the most mag- nificent tournaments of those times were the effects of this kind of gallantry, and designed for the honour and enter, tainment of the ladies, who appeared at these solemnities in ▼ast numbers, and from different countries. Sometimes a few brave and gallant knights published a proclamation in their own and several other countries, asserting the superior beauty and virtue of the ladies whom they loved, and chal- lenging all who dared to dispute that superiority, to meet them at a certain time and place to determine the important controversy by combat. These challenges were constantly accepted, and produced tournaments, to which princes, knights, and ladies, of different nations, crowded. This romantic gallantry displayed itself in times of war as well as peace, and youthful knights fought as much for the honour of their mistresses as of their country. A party of English and a party of French cavalry met near Cherbourg in 1379, and immediately prepared for battle. When they were on the point of engaging, Sir Lancelot de Lorres, a French knight, cried aloud, that he had a more beautiful mistress than any of the English. This was denied by Sir John Copeland, who ran the Frenchman through the body with his spear, and laid him dead at his feet. When Edward III. raised a great army to assert his claim to the crown of France, a considerable number of young English gentlemen put, each of them, a patch upon one eye, making a solemn ▼ow to his mistress, that he would not take it off till he had performed some notable exploit in France to her honour.* Chivalry had declined in England during the inglorious reigns of John and Henry III.; but it revived under the sway of Edward I. That prince was one of the most accom- plished knights of the age in which he flourished, and delighted in feats of chivalry. It is a sufficient proof of this, that, •when he was on his return from the Holy Land, after his father's death, and knew that his presence was ardently desired in England, he accepted an invitation to a tourna- ment, at Chalons in Burgundy. At that famous tournament, which terminated in a real battle, he displayed his valour and dexterity to a great advantage, and gained a complete • Dr. Henry's History of Great- Britain. MANNERS. 115 victory. Edward III. was no less fond of chivalry, and encouraged it both by his example and munificence. In this he was influenced by policy as well as inclination. Having formed the design of asserting his claim to the crown of France, he laboured to animate his own subjects with an enterprising spirit, and to allure as many valiant foreigners as possible into his service. With this view he celebrated several pompous tournaments, to which he invited all stran- gers who delighted in feats of arm?, entertained them with the greatest hospitality, and loaded such of them as excelled in these martial sports with honours and rewards, in order to attach them to his person, and engage them to fight in his cause. With the same view, and about the same time, he founded the most honourable order of the Garter, of which his own heroic son, the Black Prince, was the first knight; and ail the first companions were persons famous for their victories at tournaments, and in real wars. The varied and ridiculous modes of dress which this period produced, were very justly the subject of bitter reprehension from the satirists of the time. What could exhibit a more f{jKastical appearance than an English beau of the fourteenth century ? He wore long pointed shoes, fastened to his knees by gold or silver chains ; a stocking of one colour on one leg, and of another colour on the other; short breeches which did not reach to the middle of his thighs ; a coat, one half white, the other half black or blue; a long beard; a sdk hood buttoned under his chin, embroidered with grotesque figures of animals, and sometimes ornamented with gold, silver, and precious stones. This dress was the height of the mode in the reign of Edward III. The fashionable females are thus described by Knyghton: "The tournaments are at- tended by many ladies of the first rank and greatest beauty, dressed in party-coloured tunics. Their tippets are very short, their caps remarkably small, and wrapped about their heads with cords; their girdles and pouches are ornamented with gold and silver; and they wear short swords, like daggers, before them, which hang across their stomachs. They are mounted on the finest horses, with the richest fur- niture; thus equipped, they ride from place to place in quest of tournaments, by which they dissipate their fortunes, and often ruin their reputation." The passion for' feasting increased so much in England during the fourteenth century, that a severe law was enacted by Edward III., to restrict certain ranks to proportionable ii 116 HISTORY OF GREAT. BRITAIN. banquets. His example, however, did not tend to enforce it; for, at the nuptial entertainment of his son Lionel, there were thirty courses, and the fragments of the table fed one thousand persons. When we speak of the luxuries of our ancestors, we must not forget the wines. This expression denoted a collation taken by the great and elegant just before they went to bed, which consisted of spiced liquors and delicate cakes. The wines were sometimes given immediately after dinner, and on the ceremonious visits of fashionable people at any hour. In the course of the fourteenth century, the Anglo-Saxon gradually changed into what may be called the English lan- guage, and forced its way into the courts of justice, from which it had been excluded almost 300 years. That animo- sity was now extinguished which had long subsisted between the posterity of the Normans and of the Anglo-Saxons, who were now consolidated into one people. The Normans, who were engaged in agriculture, trade, and manufactures, found it necessary to speak the language of the multitude, into which they introduced many French words and idioms. Besides this, Chaucer, Gower, and several others, composed a number of volumes in English ; and, being men of learning, borrowed many expressions from the Greek, Latin, Italian, and French, languages, with which they enriched their own. But the mode of spelling was unsettled, and very different from the modern. Several words were then in common us« which are now become obsolete ; and many bore a very dif- ferent meaning from their present import. A knave, for example, signified a servant, in opposition to a freeman, and sometimes a male, in opposition to a female : " The time is come^'' says Chaucer, " and a knave child she bare,^^ Its modern meaning is well known. CURIOUS PARTICULARS. 117 CHAP. IX. INCIDENTS AND CURIOUS PARTICULARS. A. D. 1216 — 139f . IN 1236, at Merton in Surry, the lay-nobility made the ce- lebrated declaration, " We will not suffer the laws of England to be altered." The pope had endeavoured to in- troduce a constitution of the canon law, which legitimates, on the marriage of the parents, all children born of those parents before such marriage. But here the laity triumphed ""'h/l^sllTbard, styled Master Henry the Versifier, \i^^ one hundred shillings allowed him as a fee of o^c^- "^ >^ thus described, in a sharp satire, by a humorous Cornish poet, whom he offended by reflections on his country. « The thiffh of a sparrow, the feet of a goat, « Hare 4ins and boar's feings, thee a monster denote; « ?hou cansTwhine like a Vhelp, like a bull thou canst roar, « Thou art foul as a witch, and as black as a Moor. « Thus peerless appealing, believe mc thy songster, " Thy grimly grimaces demonstrate a monster. In 1276, it was enacted, that no ship should be deemed a wreck, out of which a man, a dog, or a cat, had escaped ""'in mS, say the annals of Dunstable " we sold our slave bv birth, William Pike, with all his family, and received one mark from the buyer.>' Men must then have been cheaper than horses. . ^ j v., r>:^a nf In 1302, the mariner's compass was invented by Orioja or ^Z'Tsie, on account of a great famine, the pariia^"* fixed he price of provisions. An ox cost two pounds e^ht SSngs7a fat hog, ten shillings; a ^heep, three sh.U.ag and six pence ; a fat goose, seven pence halfpenny , a lat cauon sis pence; a fat hen, three pence; two chickens, tltree pence; fou pigeons, three pence; two dozen eggs, three pence.' The rates atfixed by parliament >yere inferior he'osual marUt-prices, in those years of fatnme and mor. talitv of cattle ; and these commodities, instead of a third, had really risen to a half, of the present value. But the carcUy aVthat time was'so great that wheat was so„^ times sold for above four pounds ten shdlings a quarter — a"ertaTn proof of the wretched state of agriculture ,n those "'Tu 1340, gunpowder and guns were first invented by Schwartz7a monk of Cologne. Bombs and mortars were also "7„"1hV':mVyeara'remarkable naval engagement oc. culred near"tuys It is said, that the English had only 260 -sels again'st 400 French ships abo.eJOO of -hich were captured by our gallant ancestors; aud that 30,00U men lost^ their lives in the two fleets, only a seventh part of that number falling on the side of the victors. ! '1 HI I ' 111 118 HISTORY OF GREAT. BRITAIN. In 1349, Edward III. instituted the order of the Garter, in imitation of some others of a similar nature, which had been established in different parts of Europe. A story prevails, but unsupported by ancient authority, that the countess of Salisbury, at a ball, happening to drop her garter, the king took it up, and, seeing some of his courtiers smile, cried out, " Honi soil qui mal y pense, Evil to him that evil thinks." He then instituted the order, in memorial of this event, and gave that exclamation as the motto. The magnificent castle of Windsor was built by the same monarch ; and bis method of conducting the work may serve as a specimen of the condition of the people in that age. Instead of engaging workmen by contracts and wages, he assessed every county in England to send him a certain num- ber of masons, tilers, and carpenters, as if he had been levy- ing an army. The greatest novelty introduced into the civil government, during the reign of Richard II., was the creation of peers by patent. Lord Beauchamp of Holt was the first person ad. yanced to the house of lords in this manner. BOOK V. CHAP. I. POLITICAL AND MILITARY HISTORY FROM THE USURPATION OF HENRY IV., IN 1399, TO THE ACCESSION OF HENRY VIT., IN 1485. HENRY IV. being settled on the throne of England, in prejudice to the earl of March, who sprang from an elder branch of his family, several of the principal nobility entered into a conspiracy against him ; but the insurrection "Was easily quelled. A revolt in Wales soon followed. Owen Glendour (a descendant of the ancient princes of that coun- try) having become obnoxious on account of his attachment to the late king, lord Grey, who was closely connected with Henry, and had a great fortune in the marches ot Wales, availed himself of this circumstance to seize his neighbour's estate. Glendour recovered possession by the isword. Henry sent assistance to Grey, while the Welsh POLITICAL AND MILITARY HISTORY. 119 took part with Owen; and a troublesome and tedious war was kindled, which the Welsh chieftain long sustained by his valour and activity. , •• .1 o a- j.^ The confusions incident to the times tempted the Scots to make incursions into England. Archibald, earl Douglas, on his return from one of these irruptions, was overtaken bf the Percies at Ilomeldon ; and a fierce battle ensued, wherem the Scots were totally routed, and Douglas himself, with manjothers of the nobility and gentry, fell into the hands of tlie Yictors. When Henry received intelligence of this Ice^s, he sent a message to the earl of Northumber and not to rans'om his prisoners, as he intended to detain them, in order to make an advantageous peace with Scotland But the earl regarding them as his right, according to the laws of war in that age, this demand gave great disgust to him, Ire especially when he considered himself as the prmc.pal person to whom Henry was indebted for his crown. •^/The impatient spirit of his son, Henry Percy, surnamed iloispur, inflamed the earl's discontent; and his brother, the earl of Worcester, encouraged him to attempt the de. thronement of the perfidious usurper. He entered into a corresrondence with Glendour, gave liberty to ear Douglas, wTth w^hom he made an alliance, aud roused up all his par- Tans to arms. Percy took the command of the troops, and marched towards Shrewsbury, in order to ^^ ^403. ioin his forces with those of Glendour. Ihe Cg had, fortunately, a small army on foot, with which he rnTtantty hurried awa^, and approached Percy near Shrews- bury, before he was' joined by the Welsh chieftain. The polfcy of one leader, and the impatience of the other, im, mediately brought on a battle. / . a* ^^ The armies lore nearly equal in number, cons.st.ng of about 12,000 men each; and we scarcely find any battle , a those aaes where the shock was more terrible or more con- I'l'lllnTy coolly exposed his ?--»*-» ^e'swi:!: of the field. His gallant son, the pnnce of Wjjes, whose mil tarv achievements were afterwards so renowned, and who here performed his noviciate in arms, s.gnal.zed h.mself Tn his father's footsteps ; and even ^ wound which he had received in the face with an arrow, could ..ot oblige h.m to rcUre On the other side, Percy supported that fame which he had acquired in many a bloody combat ; and Douglas st.U appealed his rival, amidst the horror and confu -on of the day. But, while the armies were contending m this i v HO HISTORY OF GREAT- BRITAIN. furious manner, the death of Percy, by an unknown hand, decided the victory, and the royalists prevailed. ^ The earl of Northumberland had levied a fresh army, and was on his march to join his son ; but, hearing of the defeat at Shrewsbury, he dismissed his forces, and came with a small retinue to the king at York. He pretended, that his sole intention in arming was to mediate between the parties. This seemed to satisfy Henry, who granted him a pardon. Not being able, however, to repress his enmity towards the king, the earl afterwards joined in rebellion with several others, and at length lost his life in the cause. Henry being freed, by the death of the earl of Northum- berland, and by that of Glendour, which happened soon after, from all his domestic enemies, endeavoured to regain the popularity which he had lost by his late severities. The house of commons, on this occasion, became sensible of their own importance, and began to assume powers which had not usually been exercised by their predecessors. Among other advances of this kind, in the sixth year of Henry's reign, when they voted him supplies, they appointed trea- surers of their own^ to see that the money should be dis- bursed for the purposes intended. Henry died at Westminster, in the 47th year of his age, and the 14th of his reign, with the reputation of a wise prince, rather than that of a good man. His son, Henry v., succeeded to the throne in 1413. The precarious situ- ation of the late usurper had so much infected his tamper ■with jealousy, that he entertained unreasonable suspicions, f^Uh regard to the fidelity of his eldest son, and excluded fhim.from all share in public business. The active spirit of young Henry, restrained from its proper exercise, broke out into extravagances of riot and debauchery, which threw him among companions totally unworthy of his rank and station. When heated with liquor and jollity, he scrupled not to ac- company his riotous associates in attacking persons in the streets an^ highways. One of his dissolute companions hav- ing been indicted before Sir William Gascoigne, the chief justice, Henry was not ashamed to appear at the bar with the criminal, in order to give him countenance and protec- tion. Finding that his presence did not overawe the chief- justice, he proceeded to insult him on his tribunal. But Gascoigne, mindful of the character he then bore, ordered the prince to be imprisoned for his rude behaviour, to which Henry, with a feeling worthy of his better moments, peace. POLITICAL AND MILITARY HISTORY. 121 ably submitted. The nation in general considered the young prince with more indulgence than his father ; and observed so many gleams of generosity, spirit, and magnanimity, breaking through his wildness, that they never ceased hoping for his amendment. ;/ The first measures of the young king confirmed those pre. possessions in his favour. He immediately dismissed the com- panions of his dissolute courses, and received the wise mini- sters of his father, who had checked his riots, with all the marks of favour and confidence. The chief-justice himself, who trembled to approach the royal presence, met with praises instead of reproaches for his past conduct. As it was the dying request of the late king to his son, not to allow the English to remain long in peace, which was apt to breed intestine commotions, he determined to take advan- tage of the confusion which reigned in France, through the colitentions of the dukes of Orleans and Burgundy, each of whom aspired to the administration of affairs ; Charles VI.» by sudden fits of phrensy, being rendered incapable of con- ducting the government. Henry accordingly assembled a large fleet and army at Southampton, in order to invade that kingdom, and landed near Harfleur, at the head of 6000 men at arms, and 24,000 foot, mostly archers. ^ ^^ ^^^^ He immediately laid siege to that town, and took it in defiance of all opposition. \ ■ ' The fatigues of the siege, and the unusual heat of the sea- son, had so wasted the English army, that Henry was not inclined to undertake any other enterprise, and was obliged to think of returning to England. But, as he had dismissed his transports, he was under the necessity of marching by land to Calais. While he was pursuing this route, continu- ally harassed by the enemy, his provisions cut off, and his soldiers languishing with sickness and fatigue, he was sur- prised to observe the whole French army, consisting of six times the number of his diminished force, under the command of the constable D'Albret, drawn up on the plains of Agiu- court. Henry's situation was now exactly similar to that of Edward III. at Cressy, and that of the Black Prince at Poictiers ; and the memory of those great events inspired the English with courage, and induced them to hope for a like deliverance from their present difficulties. Henry drew up his army on a narrow ground between two woods, to cover each flank, and patiently expected an attack. Had the French general declined a combat, th« G 1 * 122 HISTORY OF GREAT -BRITAIN. English must have relinquished the advantages of their situ- ation ; but the impetuous valour of the nobility, and a vain confidence in superior numbers, brought on an action, which proved, to the English, glorious and successful. After the battle vras ended, during which the king was furiously assaulted by the duke of Alen9on, whom his at- tendants put to death, the peasants fell upon the baggage, and put some of the unarmed followers of the camp to the sword. Henry, seeing the enemy on all sides of him, began to entertain apprehensions from his prisoners, the number of whom exceeded that of his whole army ; and he thought it necessary to issue general orders for putting them to death. But, on discovering the truth, he stopped the slaughter, and saved many of them. In this conflict, the number of the slain, on the part of the enemy, amounted to 9,000, and 1 3,000 were made prisoners, while the loss of the English did not exceed 500. During an interruption of hostilities from England, France was still exposed to all tlie furies of a civil war ; in the course of which, the duke of Orleans was assassinated by the duke of Burgundy ; and he, in his turn, fell by the trea- chery of the dauphin. In a state so ill-prepared to resist a foreign enemy, Henry landed in Normandy, at A. D. 1418. ^Y^c head of 25,000 men ; and, after reducing se- veral places, even threatened Paris, from which the terror of his arms had obliged the court to remove to Troyes. In the midst of these successes, he was agreeably surprised to find his enemies, instead of combining against him, severally dis- posed to rush into his arms, and to make him the instrument of their vengeance on each other. The imbecility of the French king rendering him passive in every thing, a treaty was concluded, importing, that Henry should espouse the princess Catharine ; that Charles, during his life-time, should enjoy the title and dignity of king of France ; that Henry should be acknowledged heir of the monarchy, and be in- trusted with the present administration of the government ; and that the kingdom should pass to his heirs general. In a few days after signing the treaty of Troyes, Henry espoused Catharine, and took possession of Paris. He then turned his arms, with success, against the dauphin, who as- sumed the style and authority of regent. And, to crown his good fortune, his queen was delivered of a son, who seemed to be universally regarded as the future heir of both monarchies. But the glory of the king, wheu it had nearly HENRY V. ENGAGING THE DUKE OF ALENQ^^, AT THE BATTLE OF AGINCOURT* '*-~ 1 1 '» i 122 HISTORY OF GREAT -BRITAIN. English must have relinquished the advantages of their situ- ation ; but the impetuous valour of the nobility, and a vain confidence in superior numbers, brought on an action, which proved, to the English, glorious and successful. After the battle was ended, during which the king was furiously assaulted by the duke of Alen9on, whom his at- tendants put to death, the peasants fell upon the baggage, and put some of the unarmed followers of the camp to the sword. Henry, seeing the enemy on all sides of him, began to entertain apprehensions from his prisoners, the number of whom exceeded that of his whole army ; and he thought it necessary to issue general orders for putting them to death. But, on discovering the truth, he stopped the slaughter, and saved many of them. In this conllict, the number of the slain, on the part of the enemy, amounted to 9,000, and 13,000 were made prisoners, while the loss of the English did not exceed 500. During an interruption of hostilities from England, France was still exposed to all the furies of a civil war ; in the course of which, the duke of Orleans was assassinated by the duke of Burgundy ; and he, in his turn, fell by the trea- chery of the dauphin. In a state so ill-prepared to resist a foreign enemy, Henry landed in Normandy, at A. D. 1418. ^-^c head of 25,000 men ; and, after reducing se- veral places, even threatened Paris, from which the terror of his arms had obliged the court to remove to Troyes. In the midst of these successes, he was agreeably surprised to find his enemies, instead of combining against him, severally dis- posed to rush into his arms, and to make him the instrument of their vengeance on each other. The imbecility of the French king rendering him passive in every thing, a treaty was concluded, importing, that Henry should espouse the princess Catharine ; that Charles, during his life-time, should enjoy the title and dignity of king of France ; that Henry should be acknowledged heir of the monarchy, and be in- trusted with the present administration of the government; and that the kingdom should pass to his heirs general. In a few days after signing the treaty of Troyes, Henry espoused Catharine, and took possession of Paris. He then turned his arms, with success, against the dauphin, who as- sumed the style and authority of regent. And, to crown his good fortune, his queen was delivered of a son, who seemed to be universally n garded as the future heir of both monarchies. But the glory of the king, when it had nearly HEXRY V. ENGAGING THE DUKE OF ALEN^ON, AT THE BATTLE OF AGINCOURT. POLITICAL AND MILITARY HISTORY. 123 reached the summit, was stopped short by the hand of nature. He was seized with a fistula, a malady which the ^^ ^ ^^^^ surgeons at that time had not skill enough to cure, and died in the thirty-fifth year of his age, and the tenth of his reign. ,, . .r u'„«t The abilities of this prince appeared equally in the cabinet and in the field. The boldness of his enterprises was no less remarkable than his personal valour in conducting them. He had the talent of attaching his friends by affability, and of gaining his enemies by address and clemency. The t.nglish, dazzled by the lustre of his character, still more than by that of his victories, were reconciled to the defects in his title, and the French almost forgot that he was an enemy. He left an infant son, who succeeded to the throne, ^atha. rine, soon after his death, married Sir Owen Tudor, by whom she had two sons, the earls of Richmond and Pern, broke. The family of Tudor, first raised to distinction by this alliance, mounted afterwards the throne of England. The affairs of government were conducted by young Henry's two uncles, the dukes of Bedford and Glocester. men of great courage and accomplishments, but ]vho were unable to preserve their brother's conquests. On the death of Charles VI., while a strong party supported the preten- sions of the English prince, the majority of the French were disposed to submit to the legitimate heir of the monarchy. The war was, therefore, renewed with spirit. The duke of Bedford, acting as regent of France, met with considerable success, and at last laid siege to Orleans, the capture of which would have completed the conquest of France. The siege, however, was raised by the valour and good conduct of Joan d'Arc, the Maid of Orleans, a phenomenon hardly to be paralleled in history. She was servant at a small mn, and in that station had been accustomed to attend the horses of the guests, and to perform those offices which fall to the share of the men-servants. She was of an irreproachable life, and had never given any proofs of that enterprising sDirit which afterwards rendered her name so famous. Ihe distressed situation of France excited the feelings of every rank- and Joan, inflamed by the general sentiment, was seized with a wild desire of bringing relief to her sovereign in his present distresses. Her mind being continually em- ployed on this object, she fancied that she saw visions, and heard voices, exhorting her to re-establish the throne of France, and to expel the foreign invaders. Thinking her- ' g2 Hi 124 fflSTORY OF GREAT- BRITAIN. self destined by Heaven to this office, she went to Vaucou- leurs, and, having obtained admission to the governor, in- formed him of her inspirations and intentions. Though the governor treated her at first with some neglect, he at last adopted her schemes, and gave her some attendants to con- duct her to Chinon, where the French court then resided^^ J^ing introduced to the king, she offered, in the name of tie Supreme Creator, to raise the siege of Orleans, and con. duct him to Rheims to be crowned. An assembly of grave doctors examined her mission, and she was interrogated by the parliament, who were all convinced of her inspiration. Joan was now completely armed, mounted on horseback, and shown in that martial habiliment to the people. She was then sent to Blois, where a large convoy was. prepared for the supply of Orleans; and, having ordered all the soldiers to confess themselves before they set out on their enterprise, she put herself at the head of the army, with a consecrated banner in her hand, and safely escorted the supply to the city. The French now believed themselves invincible under her influence, while a dead silence and astonishment reigned among those warriors who were formerly so elate with victory. The spirit, resulting from success, was on a sudden transferred from the victors to the vanquished. The siege of Orleans was soon raised; and the French, A.D. 1429. allowing the English no leisure to recover from their consternation, pushed on their conquests, till Charles -was crowned at Rheims, as the Maid had foretold. During the ceremony, she stood by the king's side, holding in her hand the sacred banner. After the coronation she wished to retire to her native place ; but the French general being sensible of the advantages which might still be reaped from her presence, she was prevailed on to stay. The town of Compeigne being at that time besieged by the duke of Bur. eundy, she threw herself into the place, and, in making a sally, was taken by the English. The duke of Bedford, intent upon her ruin, ordered her to be tried by an eccle. siastical court, for idolatry and magic. She was found guilty by her ignorant or iniquitous judges; and this admi- rable heroine was cruelly delivered over to the flames, for having rendered signal services to her sovereign and country. The affairs of the English, however, instead of being ad- vanced by this act of cruelty, went every day more and more to decay. Even the great abilities of the regent could not stop the torrent of ill success ; till, at length, his death POLITICAL AND MILITARY HISTORY. 125 put a concluding stroke to the triumph of the English; and, after some years, they had nothing left of their conquests but the town of Calais. In proportion as Henry VI. advanced in years, his charac- ter became fully known to the court. Of the most inoffen- sive and simple manners, but of the most slender capacity, he was fitted to be governed by those who surrounded him; and it was easy to foresee that his reign would prove a per- petual minority. When he had reached the age of manhood, it was natural to think of choosing a queen for him; and the leaders of the two contending factions equally wished to recommend one to his acceptance, as it was probable that this circumstance would secure the perpetual triumph of the party. The cardinal of Winchester proved successful ; and Henry was Contracted to Margaret of Anjou, daughter of Regnier, titular king of Sicily, Naples, and Jerusalem, descended from a count of Anjou, who had left these mag- nificent titles to his posterity, without any real power or possessions. The treaty of marriage was ratified in England ; and Margaret, on her arrival, formed a close connection with the cardinal and his party, who, fortified by her power- ful patronage, resolved on the final ruin of the duke of Glocester. This generous prince had already received from his rivals a cruel mortification. His duchess, the daughter of lord Cobham, had been accused of witchcraft. It was pretended that she had a waxen figure of the king, which she and her associates melted in a magical manner before a slow fire, with an intention of making his strength waste away by the like insensible degrees. The nature of this crime, as the philosophic Hume ingeniously observes, so opposite to all common sense, seems always to exempt the accusers from observing the rules of common sense in their evidence. The prisoners being pronounced guilty, the duchess was con- demned to do public penance, and to suffer perpetual impri- sonment; and her supposed accomplices were executed. But the people, contrary to their usual practice on such marvel- lous trials, acquitted the unhappy sufferers, and ascribed these violent proceedings solely to the malice of the duke's enemies. The cardinal of Winchester and his party, there- fore, became sensible that it was necessary to destroy a man whose popularity made him dangerous, and whose resent- ment they had so much cause to apprehend. Being accused of treason, and imprisoned, he was soon after found dead in g3 J 26 HISTORY OF GREAT - BRITAIN. his bed; and, though his body bore no marks of outward violence, it was concluded that he had fallen a victim to the vindictive barbarity of the courtiers. His murder excited general abhorrence, and laid a foundation for the troubles that ensued. , ^ . . ^^^ The discontent of the people broke out m yarious com. motions, which were soon suppressed ; but there arose one in Kent w^hich was attended with more dangerous conse. quences. John Cade, a native of Ireland, whose crimes had obliged him to retire into France, assumed the name of Mor- timer, and, at the head of 20,000 Kentish men, encamped on Blackheath, in his way to the capital, in order to obtain a redress of grievances. The city opened its gates to Cade, ivho for some time maintained great order and discipline among his followers; but, at length, when he could not prevent them from committing depredations and outrages, the citizens, assisted by a detachment of soldiers from the Tower, repulsed the rebels with great slaughter. Ihe in- surgents were so discouraged at this blow, th^^ "P^"/^" ceiving a general pardon, they retreated towards Rochester, and there dispersed. This pardon was soon after annulled ; and, a price being set on Cade's head, he was kdled by a gen- tleman of Sussex, and many of his followers were capitally punished for their rebellion. , :. ^ ^i. Richard, duke of York, who had succeeded to the pre- tensions of the earl of March, the descendant of the third Edward's son Lionel, duke of Clarence, was suspected of having secretly instigated Cade to this attempt : but he was averse to violent measures, and, even when no visible object lay between him and the throne, he was prevented by his own scruples from mounting it. The king, however, being seized with a distemper, which so far increased his natural imbecility as to render him incapable of maintaining even the appearance of royalty, the duke was ap- A. D. 1454. p^i^ted lieutenant of the kingdom, with powers to open and hold a parliament. His forbearance, upon this occasion, though very amiable and unusual, proved the source of all those furious wars and commotions which ensued; for no sooner had Henry recovered, so as to carry the appearance of exercising the royal power, than his queen, a woman of a bold spirit and manly understanding, advised him to annul the protector- ship, and place the administration m the hands of the duke of Somerset; who was obnoxious to the people. Richard i POLITICAL AND MILITARY HISTORY. 127 having levied an army, without advancing any pretensions to the crown, a battle was fought near St. Alban's, in which the Yorkists were victorious. The king himself fell into the hands of the duke, by whom he was treated with great re- spect and tenderness. Various were the turns of success during this contest be- tween Henry and the duke of York. The king (by the direction of Margaret) having resumed his prerogative, a battle was fought on Bloreheath, in Staffordshire, which terminated in favour of the duke. Sir Andrew Trollop, however, soon after deserting to the royalists, when a ge- neral action was every hour expected, the Yorkists were so dismayed, that they separated without aiming a stroke. After several engagements, the duke of York was slain in a battle, between him and the queen, at Wakefield, in the year 1460. This justly-lamented prince left three sons, Ed- ward, George, and Richard, with three daughters. Upon the death of the duke of York, the earl of War- wick took the command of the forces belonging to that party. This nobleman, commonly known, from thp subse. quent events, by the appellation of the KingMaker^ was distinguished by his bravery, hospitality, and magnificence. Having always been zealous in the cause of the house of York, he entertained an inveterate hatred to Margaret and her favourites. Soon after he had assumed the command, he met the queen at St. Alban's, where another action en- sued, in which he was defeated, and the king fell again into the hands of his own party. The young duke of York now appeared at the head of the cause, and gave new spirits to it. This prince, being very handsome, insinuating in his manners, courageous, and enter- prising, soon found himself so much possessed of public favour, that he determined to assume the name and dignity of king, and to insist openly on his claim. For this pur- pose he advanced with the remains of Warwick's army, and, having obliged Margaret to retire, approached the capital. The army being assembled in St. John's fields, the people were asked, whether they would have Henry or - .^- Edward for their king. They unanimously voted ^'^' * for the duke ; and this election was confirmed in a council of nobles and citizens. But Edward did not fully consider himself as king before he had obtained a signal victory at Towton over the friends of Henry. g4 128 HISTORY OF GREAT -BRITAIN. The animosity between the contending families now be- came implacable ; and the nation, divided in its atrections, took different symbols of party. Ihe adherents of the house of Lancaster having chosen, as th^'' ™a'^ °«/'\™^; tioi., the Red Rose, and those of York, the fVhtle, these civil wars were known over Europe by the name of th« " Quarrel of the Tuo Roses." , . , , . . „,.,, While the war raged, Edward privately married Eliza- beth, the widow of Sir John Grey, though he had some time before sent the earl of Warwick to demand the sister of the French king in marriage. In this embassy Warwick was successful, and nothing remained but to bring over the princess into England. When the secret of Edward's mar- rLe was known, the haughty earl deemed himself affronted, leturnfd to England inflamed with rage and ind.gnatK)n, and from being the king's best friend, became his most for- ^idLble enemy." To such a length did this "obleman carry bis resentment, that, although the greatest animosity had so long existed between him and the house of Lancaster, he was prevailed oi. to espouse the cause of Henry, who, by the as istance of Louis XI. of France, *as «p aced on the throne, whilst Edward narrowly escaped into Holland, Edward, however, returning after five months, advanced to London under pretence of claiming his dukedom of \ork; but, being received into the capital, he resumed the exercise of Joyal authority, and made Henry bis prisoner Edward, now iindii.g himself in a condition to face War- wick, who had taken post at Bari.et, marched fron^ London "o at ack him ; and, beh.g joined the night before the battW by his brother, the duke of Clarence, who upon this occa- sion ungenerously deserted his father-in-law, he conceived rong hopes of victory. The earl, after having displayed uncommon valour, lost his life in the engagement, as d d a nreat nu^b r of h s adherents ; and the Yorkists completely frTumpheT The same day on which this decisive batt e was foueh? queen xMargaret and her son, a young prince of great hoS,'land.d at Weymouth. When this princess received S^astrous intelligence, her courage forsook er^nd she took sanctuary in the abbey of Beau leu. »"*;- ^""8 «"- couraged by the appearance of several powerful noblemen she reLmed her former spirit, and determined to risque an encaoement. She advanced into Glocestersh.re, and found hefself supported by a considerable army ; but her hopes ^ere ruined in the'sanguinary field of Tewkesbury. Ihe \i POLITICAL AND MILITARY HISTORY. 129 prince, it is said, was murdered by the king's two brothers ; and Henry was a4so, as was generally belieyed, assassinated by Richard, duke of Glocester ; while Margaret, whose am- bition had fanned the flames of civil war, was only punished with imprisonment. The fortunate Edward now indulged himself in pleasure and dissipation. He suddenly roused himself from his indo- lence, and made preparations for a war with France : but, after he had invaded that country, he granted peace to Loui3 for a small pecuniary present, and the promise of an annual pension. After another interval of tranquillity, he agaia menaced the French with hostilities ; but death prevented the execution of his purpose. He died in the 42d ^ ,,1483, year of his age, and the 23d of his reign, leaving two sons, Edward, then in his thirteenth year, and Richard, in his ninth. Only one brother survived him ; for he had put the duke of Clarence to death in a fit of political jea. lousy and resentment. Edward V. having received the oaths of the principal no- bility, his uncle, the duke of Glocester, was made protec. tor of the kingdom. He was no sooner invested with this dignity, than, under pretence of guarding the young king and his brother, he removed them both to the Tower. He had endeavoured to cover, by the most profound dissimula- tion, his fierce and savage nature ; but now he carried his ambitious views beyond the reach of precaution, and no longer hesitated to remove all obstructions which lay be- tween him and the throne. For this purpose he first secured to his interest the duke of Buckingham. He then tried to gain the assistance of lord Hastings : but, finding him inflexibly faithful to the chU- dren of Edward, he accused him of treason, and ordered him to be decapitated without even the formality of a trial* He procured from many of the nobles and commons, (not^ indeed, assembled in parliament,) an acknowledgement of his right, on pretence of the invalidity of the marriage of lady Grey with Edward, who had previously espoused an- other lady. He was now proclaimed king ; and, soon after his coronation, his two nephews disappeared. It is the ge* neral opinion, that they were smothered as they lay asleep, by sir James Tyrrel and his ruffian associates. Richard did not long enjoy the crown which he had seized. He quelled an insurrection of the duke of Buckingham, g5 fe h; 130 HISTORY OF GREAT BRITAIN. whose services he had requited with ineiratitude ; but he was less successful in his opposition to Henry Tudor, earl ol Richmond, a descendant of John duke of Lancaster. Ihe earl set sail from Harfleur, with a small army of about 200U men, and landed at Milford-haven, while Richard, who knew not in ^hat quarter he might expect the invader, had taken post at Nottingham. The two rivals, at last, ap- proached each other at Bosworth, near Leicester, Henry at the head of GOCOmen, and Richard with an arniy of above double that number. Soon after the battle began, lord Stanley appeared in the field with 8000 men, and declared for Richmond. This measure, which was unexpected to the men, though not to their leaders, inspired unusual courage into Henry's soldiers, and threw those of Richard into dis- may and confusion. The intrepid tyrant, sensible of his de- sperate situation, fought with unexampled fury to the last ,,, moment, and then perished by a fate too mild A. i>. 1485. ^^^ honourable for his flagitious enormities After the battle, the ornamental crown, which R>chard had worn in the field, was placed upon the earl's head by lord Stanley ; and Long live Henry ^j^'^''^}'''^'^^^^^^ all quarters. Thus ended the reign of the Plantagenets ; and thus terminated the civil war which had so long deso- lated the kingdom. CHAP. II. RELIGION AND ECCLESIASTICAL AFFAIRS. A. D. 1399—1485. THE Lollards, or followers of Wickliffe, greatly increased during this period, and became formidable both to the church and to civil authority. At the head of this sect, m the reign of Henry V., was sir John Oldcas le, lord Cob- ham, who had distinguished himself by his valour and mill, tary talents. His high character, and his zeal for the sect, pointing him out to the archbishop of Canterbury as the proper victim of ecclesiastical severity, he was convicted and condemned to the flames. Cobham, however, found moans to escape from the Tower before the day appointed for his execution ; when his party, stimulated by zeal, ap- pointed a general rendezvous, in order to seize the king, and Jut their persecutors to the sword. But Henry, having ECCLESIASTICAL AFFAIRS. 131 J gained intelligence of their designs, surprised and took a great number of them, some of whom were executed. Cob- ham was seized after a long concealment, and committed to the flames as an obstinate heretic. i. ^ i. , The archbishop now commanded the university of Oxford to appoint twelve of its most orthodox members to examine the works of Wicklifl'e, and extract his heretical doctrines. In compliance with this injunction, two hundred and sixty-, seven erroneous opinions were transmitted to the primate, who sent them to the pope, with a request to condemn them, and grant him authority to take the body of Wicklifi"e out of the grave, and throw it on a dunghill, that it might be trampled on by all Christians. The pope condemned Wick- liff*e's doctrines, but would not permit the primate to disturb his ashes. About this time, John Huss, professor of divinity in the university of Prague, converted to the opinions of Wickliffe a great number of his countrymen. The council of Con- stance had resolved to condemn him unheard; but the em- peror of Germany desired them to listen to what he had to say in his defence. He was accordingly accused of heresy in thirty-nine articles, part of which he denied, and part he of- fered to defend. But his voice was drowned by the noise purposely made by the cardinals ; and, on his refusing to ab- jure all the articles, he was immediately declared a hardened heretic, and a propagator of sedition. As such he was de- graded by four bishops, stripped of his sacerdotal habit, and clothed in the dress of a layman. His hair being cut in the form of a cross, a paper mitre was put upon his head, painted with the representation of three devils, and he was delivered over to the secular judge, who condemned him and his writ- ings to the flames. He died with great constancy. His friend Jerome soon after shared the same fate. Great stress was now laid on pilgrimages, processions, in- dulgences, confessions to priests, and their pardons. George Neville, archbishop of York, enumerates no fewer than thirty-seven kinds of sin, which none but the pope or a bishop could pardon. In this catalogue, the first and greatest sin was heresy ; and the least, in the estimation of the church, was raising a sedition, which endangered a state or city. a 6 \. 11 132 HISTORY OF GREAT-BRITAIN. CHAP. HI. GOVEKNMENT AND LAWS. A. D. 1399—1485. THOUGH the constitution, government, and laws of England, had not yet arrived at that excellence to •which they have since attained, they were considerably im- proved in the course of this period, and much exceeded those of any .'ther state in Europe. It was still, however, an un. dispu^d prerogative of the' kings of England to press, not only sailors and soldiers, but goldsmiths, «-"bro.derers and artificers of all kinds, and even musicians, into their °rrvice They likewise naturalised foreigners by their own authority. Philip de Comines, after describing the disorders that rXned in the governments of France, Germany, and Italy a^d the crufl oppressions under which the people of all those countries groaned, concludes in this manner: In ^y opUiion, of all the states in the world that I know, Eng- Und is the country where the commonwealth is best governed, l;dth?perple"ar'e least oppressed" May the inh^Uan , of this island ever enjoy this most desirable of all distinc- *'°SoL excellent laws for the regulation and f n^ou^ge. ment of trade were made in the reign of Edward IV., who Tas himself one of the greatest merchants in Europe and paid particular attention to commerce. The statutes ol Richard III. were the first that were expressed in the English Un uago a 1 former ones having been either in Latin or French, which were not understood by the great body of fhe peopK-, nor even by many of the legislators. These were also the first printed statutes of England. THE ARTS. 133 CHAP. IV. UTEttATURE. A. D. 1399 1485. mire unsettled state of Britain, France, and some other X countries, torn by the most furious factions, and kept in continual agitation by wars and revolutions, was very un- favourable to the progress of literature- for the wars of those times were not carried on by standing armies, as a T,re ent, while the rest of the people pursue their several Sccrpations in tranquUlity; but persons of all ranks were sailed into the field. X We meet with frequent complaints to parliament, that learninff was very little esteemed. The most valuable Tmngs in the church were bestowed on illiterate men, or foreigners, by papal influence, while the best scholars in the kingdom were left to languish in indigence and obscurity, and were sometimes driven to the necessity of begging their bread from door to door, recommended to charity by the chan- cellors of the universities in which they had studied. Two of these learned mendicants, we are told, came to the castle of a certain nobleman, who, understanding from their ere- dentials that they had a taste for poetry, commanded his servants to take them to a draw-well, and, after putting each of them into a bucket, to let them down alternately into the water, till they should make a couplet of verses on the buckets. After they had endured this discipline for a consi- derable time, to the great entertainment of the baron and his company, they made their verses, and obtained their liberty. On the other hand, when any one had powerful friends, or abundance of money, though he might be extremely igno- rant and profligate, he seldom failed of preferment. " I knew a certain illiterate idiot," says a judicious doctor of the fifteenth century, " the son of a mad knight, who, for being the companion, or rather the fool, of the sons of a great family of the royal blood, was made archdeacon of Oxford before he was eighteen years of age, and soon after obtained two rich rectories and twelve prebends. I asked him one day what he thought of learning? As for learning, said he, I despise it. I have better livings than any of you great doctors, and I believe as much as any of you." In all the authors of this period, the most obvious defect is a total want of taste. The art of criticism seems to have been totally neglected ; and the generality of writers appear to have had no idea of purity of style, or propriety of sentiment. When they attempted to be pathetic or sublime, they always ran into the most extravagant bombast. CHAR V. THE ARTS. A. D. 1399 1485.' HE style of sacred architecture, commonly called the Gothic, continued to be gradually improved; and, in the course of this period, it was brought to the highest per- fection. Of this lofty, bold, and perfect style of building, T 134 HISTORY OF GREAT- BRITAIN. several specimens remain entire, uhicli are still beheld with pleasure and admiration. Of this kind are the chapel of King's college at Cambridge, the chape of ^t. George at Windsor, the divinity school at Oxford, and the college church in Edinburgh. . .x. ' ^„ The changes introduced into the art of war, by the mven. tion of gunpowder, were very slow. The martial adventurers of those times were not fond of relinquishing the arms to which they had been accustomed ; and it was difficult to hnd instruments to manage and direct an agent so impetuous as gunpowder. Some of their cannons ^ej^J^^^^f '"^^^ ^^^^ Ld others very small. Some discharged balls of 500 pounds weight, and required fifty horses to draw them, and others i^ere not much heavier than a musquet. Many of the cannon, balls were made of stone. In 1419, Henry V. gave a com. mission to John South, clerk of the ordnance, and John Bennet, mason in Maidstone, to press a sufficient "umber of masons to make 7000 cannon-balls, in the quarries of Maid, stone-heath. It is a curious and well-attested fact, that the art of discharging red-hot balls from cannons was known and practised early in this period. When an English army, com. manded by the duke of Glocester, besieged Cherbourg, in 1418, the besieged discharged red-hot balls of iron from their cannon into the English camp, to burn the huts in which the soldiers were lodged. , , ^, . .i. ix„„i, o„^ Though great guns were now used both in the attack and defence of places, no alterations were yet made in construct- ing and fortifying such places. The prodigious thickness and solidity of the walls of the Anglo-Norman castles, made them appear sufficiently strong to resist any force with which they could be assaulted. The truth is, that the people of England, in this period, were much more employed m beating down than in building. Many large, strong, and magnificent castles were demolished or dismantled during the desolating civil wars between the houses of York and Lancaster; while very few were erected; for, when these castles were destroyed, their noble proprietors, who might have rebuilt them, were either killed or ruined. During this period, the excellent art of printing, which hath contributed so much to dispel mental darkness, and to diffuse the light of every species of knowledge, was invented on the continent, and introduced into this island. Laurence Coster, keeper of the cathedral of Haerlem, conceived the first idea of typography, aud priated several small books m BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES. 135 that city, with wooden types tied together with threads. As this art was likely to be very profitable, Laurence kept the secret with great care, and wished to transmit it to his family. But this design did not succeed ; for, about the time of his death, one of his workmen, carrying off some of his master's types, retired to Mentz, where he began to print with them, being encouraged and si'pplied with money by John Fust, a wealthy citizen. His assistant, John Gutenberg, afterwards invented metal types, and set them in frames; which was so great an improvement, that the city of Mentz claimed the honour of being the place where printing was invented. The art was improved b^ Peter Schoeffer, who invented the mode of casting the types in matrices. Caxton, a citizen of Lon- don, who observed the rising art with curiosity and joy, is entitled to the honour of being the first who practised it in England. CHAP. VL BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES. A. D. 1399 1485. ^IIOMAS Walsingham^ a monk of St. Al ban's, was the best of our historians during this period. His narrative is more circumstantial and satisfactory than that of the other annalists of those times. He relates, indeed, ridiculous sto- ries of visions, miracles, and prodigies ; but this was the fault of the age rather than of the man. John Whethamstede^ abbot of St. Alban's, wrote a chro- nicle of twenty years in this period, which contains many original papers, and gives a very full account of some events, ^ particularly of the two battles of St. Alban's. The most re- markable circumstance in the personal history of this writer is his longevity. He was ordained a priest in 1382, and died in 1464, at the advanced age of one hundred and five, having been eighty- two years in priest's orders. Though the inns of court and chancery were crowded with students of law in this period. Sir Thomas Littleton and Sir John Fortescue were the only gentlemen, of that profession, who made a distinguished figure as authors. Sir Thomas Littleton^ after receiving a liberal education, was entered of the Inner Temple. His abilities as a lawyer procured him, from Henry VL, the office of steward of the court; and Edward IV. appointed him one of the judges of the court of common-pleas. He died in 1481, leaving three 136 HISTORY OF GREAT. BRITAIN. sons, %Tho all became eminent in the law. It yas for the use of one of them that he wrote his celebrated treatise on Tenures, or titles by which all estates were anciently held m "" Sir John Fortescue was the great ornament of his honour- able profession, and one of the best and most learned men of the ace in which he flourished. Being appointed chief jus- tice of the King^s Bench by Henry VI., he steadily adhered to that monarch in all his troubles. His famous work, Ue Laudibus Legum Angliae," is a monument both of his abili. ties and his aflection for his country. He died in the ninetieth vear of his afi;e. , , , fVittiam Caxton, the first English printer, was bred a mer- cer- but, when a marriage was concluded between Mar- garet, sister to Edv^ard IV., and the duke of Burgundy, Caxton appears to have been of the lady's retinue when she arrived at Bruges. Here he acquired a knowledge of the newly.discoveredartof printing; and the first book he print. ed was the Historic of Troy, translated by himself from the French, in 1471 : but the first book printed in England was the Game of Chess, dated in 1474. James I. of Scotland, was one of the most learned men of the age in which he lived. This ingenious and amiable prince fell into the hands of the enemies of his country, when he was living from the snares of his ambitious uncle, who go- verned his dominions, and was suspected of designs against his life Henry IV. and V. of England knew the value of the prize which they had obtained, and kept it with the most anxious care. King James was thirteen years of age when he lost his liberty, and was detained in close confinement till he was about twenty.six. In this melancholy situation, so unsuitable to his age and rank, books were his chief compa- nions, and study his greatest pleasure. Having received a good education in early youth, under the direction of Ward- law, bishop of St. Andrew's, he became, by his subsequent application, a general scholar, an excellent poet, and an ex- quisite musician. He invented a new kind of music, plain- tive and melancholy, but at the same time so sweet and sooth- ing, that it hath given pleasure to thousands m every suc- ceeding ajre. Three of his poems are still extant, namely, ChrisVs Kirk of the Green, Peebles to the Flay, and the Kin'T'sQuair, which afford sufficient evidence that the ge- nius^'of this royal poet was equally fitted for the gayest or the gravest strains. COMMERCE AND MARITIME AFFAIRS. 137 CHAP. VII. COMMERCE AND MARITIME AFFAIRS. A.D. 1399—1485. rr^OUGH the English, in this period, were much engaged A in war, and consequently could not carry on trade with the same ease and safety as in more peaceable times, the cir- cle of their commerce was rather enlarged than contracted. Foreign trade was not then conducted as it is at present. Merchants did not usually carry their goods to the ports, where they were to be finally disposed of, but to certain em- porta, called staple towns, in which they met with customers from the countries where their merchandise was wanted, and with the commodities they wished to purchase for importa- tion. These arrangements were probably suggested by the consideration of the imperfect state of navigation, w-^luch ren- dered long voyages tedious, and of the number of pirates, which made them dangerous. Merchants, therefore, of dis- tant countries divided the fatigue and danger, and met each other half-way. Bruges, in Flanders, was the great empo- rium of Europe in this period, to which the merchants of the south and north conveyed their goods for sale ; and so great was their resort to it from the Mediterranean and the Baltic, that one hundred and fifty ships were seen to arrive at its harbour of Sluys in one day. The heroic Henry V. was as victorious by sea as by land, and in his reign the fleets of England rode triumphant on the narrow seas. None of the kings of England before him had any ships that were the property of the sovereign or the na- tion. At his first invasion of France, he had two large and beautiful ships, with purple sails, the one called the^m^'* Chamber, the other his Hall, Edward IV. paid great at- tention to mercantile and maritime affairs, and sometimes collected very great fleets. The reign of Richard III. was so short and turbulent, ttlat he had little opportunity of shewing his attention to the dominion of the sea. Some attempts were now made to build ships of greater burthen than those of the former period, in imitation of the carracks of Venice and Genoa, which were often seen m the British harbours : but these attempts were very few, as they are mentioned by our historians with expressions of admira- tion. A gentleman of Hull obtained various privileges and immunities from Henry VI. " because he had built a ship as large as a carrack;'' and James Kennedy, the patriotic Di- w 138 HISTORY OF GREAT -BRITAIN. shop of St. Andrew's, is as much celebrated for building a sWp of uncommon magnitude, called the Buhop^s Barge, as for building and endowing a college. The new coins of this period were nobles and angels, worth nineteen shillings and fourteen shillings of our present money They were much admired, both at home and fjo'^d, for their purity and beauty. In the first parliament of James III. of Scotland, an act was r^'^<^\f<>^ ^^"VTZTmcII "for the use and support of the king's subjects, and to be given as alms to the poor." MANNERS. 139 CHAP. VIII. MANNERS. A.n. 1399—1485. CHIVALRY, one of the most remarkable peculiarities in the manners of the middle ages, began to decline m the fifteenth century. Our kings and nobles were then so much engaged in real combats, that they could not pay equal at. Sn to the representations of them in tilts and tourna- " The brayery and martial ardour of both the British nations never appeared more conspicuous than in this period, parti- cu arly in the reign of Henry V. The English, ""der that heroic prince, seemed to be invincible, and fought with so S courag; and success, that, near the end of his reign They had a probable prospect of making a comp ete conquest of France. The Scots were much admired for intrepidity m their own defence, and for the seasonable succours which they sent to their ancient allies, in their greatest distress, when thev were on the verge of ruin. . , „ x ^ The hospitality of all ranks, but particularly of the g^^at and opulent, ^^L now very remarkable. The castles of the powerful barons were capacious palaces, daily crowded ^ith their numerous retainers, who were always we come to Thek plentiful tables. " Ne;ille, carl of War v.. ck," says ^tow " was ever held in great favour by the commons of the land ' on account of his hospitality in all places wherever he went • and, when he came to London, he kept such a house, that six oxen were eaten at a breakfast, and every tavern was full of his meat." The earls of Douglas, in Scotland, before the fall of that great family, rivaled, or rather ex- ceeded, their sovereigns in pomp and profuse hospitality. But to this manner of living, it is highly probable, these great chieftains were prompted, not so much by the innate generosity of their tempers, as by a desire of increasing the number and attachment of their retainers, on which, in those turbulent times, their dignity, and even their safety, de- pended. Though these dependents did not constantly reside in the families of their lords, they wore their liveries and badges, feasted in their halls, swelled their retinues on all great solemnities, attended them on their journeys, and fol- lowed them into the field of battle. Some powerful chief- tains had so great a number of these retainers at their com- mand, that they set the laws at defiance, were formidable to their sovereigns, and terrible to their fellow-subjects. It was now become the custom in great families to have four meals in a day, viz. breakfast, dinner, supper, and //- veri/^ the last of which was a collation of cakes and mulled wine in their bed-chambers, just before they went to rest. As our ancestors were still early risers, they breakfasted at seven, and dined at ten, supped at four, and had the livery between eight and nine. But though their morning repast was early, their appetites seem to have been sufficiently keen. An earl and his countess had, for breakfast, " two loaves of bread, a quart of beer, a quart of wine, two pieces of salt fish, six baconed herrings, four white herrings, or a dish of sproits:' It is remarkable, that shop-keepers, mechanics, and labourers, breakfasted at eight, dined at noon, and supped at six, which were later hours than those of the no- bility. So different are the customs of one age from those of another. The English were remarkable in this period, among the nations of Europe, for the absurd practice of swearing in conversation. The count of Luxemburg, accompanied by the earls of Warwick and Stafford, visited the Maid of Or- leans in her prison at Rouen, where she was chained to the floor. The count, who had sold her to the English, pre- tended that he had come to treat with her about her ransom. Viewing him with just resentment and disdain, she cried, " Begone I You have neither the inclination nor the power to ransom me." Then turning her eyes towards the two earls, she said, " I know that you English are determined to put me to death, and imagine that, after I am dead, you will conquer France, But though there were a hundred thousand of your swearing countrymen in France, they will never conquer that kingdom." A contemporary histo- rian, who had frequently conversed with Henry VI., men- '''/■■, h> 140 HISTORY OF GREAT -BRITAIN. -m.nrUhle sinaularity in his character, that h« Srd°'„otTw:r rcoioT ^SnverLtion, but reproved Hs did not swear II odious an habit, which, ;rtr ::^t:urfsn"w tott universaUy reprobated, and banished from ever y polite compan y. CHAP. IX. ,ncidi:nts anb curious particulabs. a. "•1359-1485. - ,T trr «7o Viave the first instance of TN the reign "f p"y ^^'..^''.Xr^ security. The com- 1 debt contracted "P«".P">'=''"^"*"L""ves to be noted, mencement of this pernicious practice deserves lo ^ I it is more likely to l'->me Pernic^ous^he mo e a n ^^ .^ advances in opulence ''"^ "^d *. Ihe r^^^^^^^^ ^^ ^^ are now become too apparent, anu inreai v istence of the nation. ^ j jj,g f^u^. Playing-cards were invented about the ^n« ^^^^^^, ^j teenth century, ."^y^ P"°*" ^j i„ W' '"'■'•^'"*"''''" '^'"'' that unhappy Pr'°<:e'^5."i'H„Iheir appearance from what «ore originally very d'ffr"* '" ^^^''^PPe" minated, which ''"'■ "d no Ks'ui3 SS: :rteU as labouk The required no little ^h^"* *"" ^ ., ^ ',o- o^ a very considera- p,?ce of one pack was no less "an 18. 8d.^a;^ pLy,,g.eards ble sum in those times. 1 his is '"« ^ , K^ ^ in- were little known or used for many years alter tney w vented. . number of iudges in the courts at During this period, the """"f" J % „f Henry VI., Westminster was not fixed, "'' '" ""^ S" ° „dges in the **•": T^lmZ PWs ^Vlientsalf Jit's o\ thlse judges court of Common Pj^"'- /J . ^jj^.^ „f the King's Bench and were very small, ine cniei j" ^ t(,e Common P]- ''^^.-t r^V , b;^^^^^^ granted to other judges 30i., «"' "^°v ;'•' /n^. Besides the salaries, the former 160/. and to he '»"" I'Jv,!^*^*,^;^;' cloth, and every judge had a certain q-ant ^X "^ out'o the royal v^ard- furs, for h'ssummer and „n,te„obe^ out of ^^ ^j ^^ ^^^ robe, or anequjvalent in money, in ^^ ^^^^ ^^ ''TUe"n"a1ud wt^dmiiteXto his office, he tooka r^r..^oX "S be would not receive any ee psion, esii^tSii^KS^^^^^^^^^ Talue." V. POLITICAL AND MILITARY HISTORY. 141 BOOK VL CHAR L POLITICAL AND MILITARY HISTORY, FROM THE ACCESSION OF HENRY TIL, IN 1485, TO THE DEATH OF HENRY VIIl. IN 1547. WHEN the victory of the Lancastrians at Bosworth had extinguished the usurpation of Richard HI., the title of Henry Vlf. was confirmed by the parliament; and his mar- riage with the eldest daughter of Edward IV. united the claims of the rival houses, and seemed to give general satis- faction to the nation. He had, therefore, every reason to promise himself peace and security. But though a prudent and politic prince, he had un- happily imbibed a violent antipathy against the adherents of the house of York, which neither time nor experience could efface. Instead of embracing the present opportunity of abolishing party-distinctions, by bestowing his smiles in- discriminately on the friends of both families, he carried to the throne all the partialities that belong to the head of a faction. He thus excited and inflamed that disgust and dis- content which tended to endanger his government. He con- lined in the Tower Edward earl of Warwick, son of the duke of Clarence. This unhappy prince had been formerly detained, in a like confinement, by the jealousy of Richard. A comparison was drawn between Henry and that tyrant ; and, as theTower was the place where Edward's children had been murdered, a fate not more gentle was feared for War- wick. While the compassion of the nation was thus turned towards youth and innocence, exposed to oppression, a re- port was spread, that the earl had made his escape. A general joy was diffused by the rumor; and such an oppor- tunity was not neglected by the enemies of Henry's govern- ment. Richard Simon, a priest of Oxford, attempted to gratify the popular wish by holding up an impostor to the nation. For this purpose, he cast his eyes upon Lambert Simnel, a baker's son, who, being endowed with understanding be- yond his years, and address above his condition, seemed well calculated to personate a prince of royal extraction. 142 HISTORY OF GREAT- BRITAIN. I This youth, who was instructed to assume the name and character of the earl of Warwick, soon seemed to be so perfect in his part, that the queen-dowager was supposed to have given him a lesson. His appearance in Ireland excited general attention. He was received with the greatest joy, and even proclaimed and crowned as Edward VI. The earl of Lincoln, nephew to the late king, joined him with a body of foreign soldiers ; and a descent was made in Lancashire : 1487 ^"* Henry triumphed over his enemies in the A.D. 14»7. jj^^^j^ of Stoke, and captured the bold impostor, whose life he condescended to spare. The intrigues of another pretender gave Henry still greater anxiety. Perkin Warbeck, a youth to whom Edward IV. had been god-father, was tutored by that prince's sister, the duchess of Burgundy, to personate her nephew Richard, duke of York. He supported the character with ability and address, and, for many years, filled the court with alarm : but he was at length induced, by a promise of safety, to surrender himself to Henry, who, after detaining him for two years in confinement, found a pretence for putting him to death, and also sacrificed to his jealous fears, the innocent earl of Warwick. Soon after the king had thus secured internal tranquillity, he had the satisfaction of completing a marriage between his son Arthur, prince of Wales, and the infanta Catharine, fourth daughter of Ferdinand and Isabella of Spain. The young prince, however, in the course of a few months, sick- ened and died, much regretted by the nation. Henry, de- sirous of continuinghisalliance with Spain, and also unwill- ing to restore Catharine's dowry, obliged his second son, Henry, to be contracted to the infanta. His eldest daughter was soon after sent with a magnificent train to Scotland} where she was married to James IV. The situation of the king's afi*airs, both at home and abroad, was now, in every respect, very fortunate. Uncon- trolled, therefore, by opposition of any kind, he gave full scope to his natural propensity ; and avarice, which had ever been his ruling passion, broke through all restraints of shame and justice. He had found two ministers, Empson and Dud- ley, perfectly qualified to second his rapacious and tyrannical inclinations, and to prey upon his defenceless people. Arbi- trary decrees were issued without trial or jury, and the laws were turned into a system of oppression. Remorse seized liim, at intervals, for the abuse of his authority, but was POLITICAL AND MILITARY HISTORY. 143 insufficient to make him stay the rapacious hands of the two oppressors of his people. When the approach of death, however, alarmed him, he ordered, by a general clause in his will, that restitution should be made to all whom he had injured. He died of a consumption, at his ^ ^ 1509. favourite palace of Richmond, in the 53d year of * * his age, and the 24th of his reign. His capacity was excel- lent, but somewhat contracted by the narrowness of his heart. He possessed insinuation and address, but never em- ployed these talents, except where some great point was to be gained ; and he remains a singular instance of a man placed in a high station, and endowed with talents for great affairs^ in whom avarice was more predominant than ambition. Even among private persons, this passion is often nothing but a species of ambition, and is chiefly incited by the prospect of that respect and distinction, which riches procure. The accession of Henry VIII., who was now in his eigh- teenth year, gave universal satisfaction. The beauty and vigour of his person, accompanied with dexterity in every manly exercise, added to a knowledge of literature far be- yond his age, gave promising hopes of his becoming the idol of the people; and, as the contending titles of York and Lancaster were at last fully united in his person, men justly expected from a prince, obnoxious to no party, that im- partiality of administration which had long been unknown in England. One of the earliest acts of his reign tended to increase his popularity. He ordered Empson and Dudley to be tried for their iniquitous proceedings ; and, when it appeared that their offences were not capital in the eye of the law, they were condemned as traitors, for a supposed conspiracy against him. While the young king rioted in pleasure and indulgence, he met with a minister who complied with all his inclinations, and flattered him in every scene to which his impetuous temper was inclined. This was Thomas Wolsey, dean of Lincoln, and almoner to the king. He was the son of a butcher at Ipswich ; but, having received a learned educa- tion, and being endowed with an excellent capacity, he was employed by Henry VII. in some secret negotiations, in which he acquitted himself much to his satisfaction. Some time after the accession of Henry VIII. Fox, bishop of of Winchester, cast his eyes upon him, as a proper person to supplant, in the royal favour, the earl of Surry, of whose DAMAGED PAGES 145-146 ^;1 144 HISTORY OF GREAT. BRITAIN. .nneriorlty he was jealous. For this purpose, he recom- Xded Wolsey, who soon supplanted both his patron and The earl. Being admitted into Henry's parties of pleasure he took the lead in every gaiety; nor were h.s years, which „ere nearly forty, nor his character as a clergyman, any Restraint upon him. The king, having found a person so Tgre" ble to him, advanced Wolsey from be-.g the compa. nfon of his pleasures, to be a member of h.s council, and from being a member of his council to be his sole and abso- '" Enltaged by Wolsey, and impelled by his natural tem- per, Henry made the most expensive preparations by sea and ^ ' land to invade France. Terouenne being be. A.D. 1513. sieged the French endeavoured to throw sue. cours into the place. Henry, as soon as he received inteU Ifeence of the approach of the French cava ry, sent some troops to oppose them; when, notwithstanmng the French party chiefly consisted of gentlemen who had behaved w. h ^reat gallantry in many desperate actions, they precipitately fled upon the approach of the English. They were pursued, and many officers of distinction became P"«)ners; among whom w Js the famous chevalier Bayard : and from this h s^y flight of the French, the action was called the battle oj *-^ After this advantage, the king might have made incursions to the gates of Parir. Scarcely ever was the French mo- narchv in greater danger, or less in a condition to defend Us"f Lainst the powerful armies which assailed it on every rfde ^ut Louis was extricated from his present difficulties wthe b unders of his enemies; and Henry, after taking Tournay, returned to England, elate with t"fl'nS S"'cess. The Sc'ots having made an incursion into England, the earl of Surry marched to oppose them, and a battle ensued at Flodden-field, wherein the king of Scotland and many ^f Ws noMes weJe slain. But, instead of taking advantage of this defeat, and reducing the kingdom to = "Ejection, as he might easily have done, Henry generously granted a peace to his sister Margaret, who was ''PP'>"'t«'' /''S'"'* ^". "g the minority of her son. He ''kewse «>ade Jjeace - * Louis XII. of France, and bestowed on him his sister Mary '" HenrToffered himself a candidate for the German empire, during its vacancy, but soon resigned his pretensions to Francis I. of France, and Charles of Austiia, king of bpain, V POLITICAL AND MILITARY HISTORY. 145 the latter of whom was elected emperor in 1519. His con „»'. V'" ?^ K "!^"",** "'"*'"*'' ''"' ''«t^««" those princes! I^^aT ■ \y^''}'^rf views upon the popedom. Wolsey hoped to gain h.s elevation to the chair of St. Peter by the interest of the emperor; but, finding himself twice deceLd! he persuaded h.s master to declare for Francis, who had beea taken prisoner at the battle of Pavia. Henry was thus the dupe of both parties, paying great part of their expenses, till at la^t hewas obliged to impose heavy burthens on his subjects vie^tt^^hl "'^P''^^'r' ?^ «^"y ^«'« afterwards subser. V ent to the great work of the reformation, he at first de- clared himself the champion of the -Romish church He for which the pope gave him the title of Defender of tL Fmth. In he year 1527, however, he began toTntfrt^n ^ «.me scruples with regard to the v'alidity of h s maS" with his brother's widow. Anne Boleyn, having ImTv appointed maid of honour to the queen, had,^rom S frequently seen by Henry, and conversing with him'Tcaufred an ascendency over his afiections. Finding the ^comn.Uh ments of her mind in no degree inferior to hfr exterior ^ es' he resolved to raise her to the throne. Having, therefore divorced Catharine, he married the object of hf aSZ' and was soon after excommunicated b/the pope. *""'='"•"'' Enraged at this treatment, Henry abolished the panal authority .n England, refused to pay to the see of rL» v or'^'l""'".' "'"'''^ the dissolution of mrn^^terierand hiftead o'f t""^^.' \'"'' ^ ''» "'"ers, to ackX'ledgJ were etth" k'"-'.''T''' """^ those who refused obedience Z7rl «• Ti. ""I','' °' P"' *■" ''«''*''. Among these last ZZ% f w'T"' ^°'^' ""-J Fisher, bishop of Roches er Vh. ^ ^ ^olsey, too. having on this occ Jon incited th« «nrin^ h'-. "^'I.'"*' ^s diligently as I have served mv " grey hkirs -r"""* °°* ""'^ '"''''«*«" ">« - the days of mj Anne Boleyn soon lost the king's favour H!» ,«•»...• for her languished from satiety.^ He lad besTdesfl'' lad?:?"' "11''"'^ •'''"«•'*" of'^Sir John SeymTuta roZ criminal'cor/esVtdtcTwithteT:,^^^!"^. ^^^ chamber, and, being tried by a jur/of p^ " " H 146 HISTORY OF GREAT- BRITAIN. « charge was unsupported by proof, she was condemned to lose her head. Henry, in his impatience to gratify this new passion, not only lost all sense of humanity, but all regard to decency ; for he married Jane Seymour on the very day after the mur- der of his innocent queen. Jane dying in child.bed, he began to think of a new marriage. Having turned his thoughts towards several princesses, he was persuaded by his minister Cromwell to espouse Anne of Cleves, whose fa- ther, the duke of that name, had great interest among the Lutheran princes, with whom he wished to form an alliance. A flattering likeness by Hans Holbein had given Henry a favourable opinion of the person of this princess; but the first sight of her inspired him with great disgust. His aver- sion to her increasing every day, he resolved to seek the dis- solution of a marriage so odious to him ; and, by alleging a pre-contract on the part of the lady, he easily obtained his wish. His fifth wife was Catharine Howard, whom he or- dered to be decapitated for ante-nuptial impurity. He after- wards espoused Catharine Parr, who narrowly escaped being brought to the stake for her religious opinions, which favoured the reformation. Henry's cruelty increased with his years, and was exer- cised promiscuously on Protestants and Catholics. He put to death the brave earl of Surry, though no crime was proved against him ; and his father, the duke of Norfolk, must have suffered the next day, had he not been saved by the king's prior decease. The tyrant died in the fifty.sixth year of his age, bequeathing his crown, first to Edward^ then to Mary, and next to Elizabeth. Though a catalogue of this monarch's vices would compre- hend some of the worst qualities incident to human nature, yet he was not altogether destitute of virtues. He was open, gallant, liberal, and capable, at least, of a temporary friend, ship and attachment. Notwithstanding his arbitrary adminis- tration, he was so far from being hated by his subjects, that he possessed in some degree, even to the last, their love and '\fiection. His exterior qualities were advantageous, and fit "aptivate the multitude. His magnificence and personal V rendered him illustrious in vulgar eyes. And it aid with truth, that the English in that age were ^y subdued, that, like eastern slaves, they were •^ire those acts of violence and tyranny, whict^ ''r themselves; and at their own expense. ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. i4f CHAP. IL ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. A.D. 1485—1547. TTJUmNG the reign of Henry VII. the disciples of Wick. ^ liffe were not, in general, so ambitious of the crown of martyrdom, as they had formerly been. When they were ac cused of heresy, and threatened with the cruel death inflicted on heretics, many of them recanted. Though the authority of the pope, and the tenets and ce- remonies of the church of Rome, seemed to be firmly estab. shed .n England, at the accession of Henry VIIL, the foun. dations on which they rested were in some degree under, mmed, and the fabric was not so firm as it appeared. The revival of learning, and the invention of the art of printing, rendered books more attainable; so that knowledge becam'e more general than it had been in former times. This also gave an opportunity to persons of different opinions to com- municate their sentiments to the public, which produced the tltZTrr""^ '''I'T' ^ *^°"^""^"ce of incidents con! tributed to forward this great revolution. Pope Leo X., by his generous and enterprising temper, had much exhausted his treasury, and was obliged to emplov every invention, which might yield money, i„%rder to sup^ poit his projects, pleasures, and liberalities. For this £!l?1\ published the sale of a general indulgence, the several branches of which were bestowed on particular per. sons who were entitled to levy the imposition. The Angus, tine friars had usually been employed in Saxony to preach the indulgences, and, from this trust, derived both profit and consideration. But the person to whom they were farmed apprehending that practice had taught them to secrete the money, gave this occupation to the Dominicans. The monks in order to prove themselves worthy of the distinction con! S °" . ?^ exaggerated the benefits of indulgences, which were to free the purchaser from the pains of purgatory and advanced, on this subject, doctrines aJtogethef new.' thpl /r .?'^"f''' ^^' collectors were said to have led the most licentious lives. ,itf„7w!:"'K^'' "" ^"S^stine friar, professor in'the univer. s.tjr of Wittenberg, resenting the affront put upon his order ?hf?.i? P-?*'*", '^^"'*' '^"'^ ''^""''' "" *^ CHAP. IIL CONSTITUTION AND GOVERNMENT. A.D. 1485-1547. A a^o^^J^Hp'"'' vrr"^ re-established, soon after the seeu.ertTZ:?nZl liu^n^T^af th^' '^''7 '^^^ wearipd f^../u. Tu na\»on. But, as the people were longed on"; foSVpte1h?J";V'''^/'''' """''s'^' «"1 sUtanP« %l t?.°f ' "'^y abhorred even the idea of re. o ?he merJv orth'i^ ^ "'"'• '"" •'«f--l«»». and abandoned them^Z!hjL f T^'^'S^y while the commons, finding ers wle ™^!rfl *'"''" 7^" ^'^ '''"'erto been th'eir lead? ers, were more than ever afraid to form an opposition taiSed^rthr."'?" "."' "^^^ '""^''' ««cXd a^d at. Lanc^'ter tht. '?"'"'" ^'''"''" **■« '•""^^^ "^ York and moned to'thp fi 7'^' '"^-'y-^ight temporal peers were sum. «on1f *°h^„ J"* P" '»»«°t f Henry VIi: This diminu. scale of lovernmenl. anS'""' TT'^ '^'" ^^'^ht in the itsSrn t'n^h r"?'"';""^''' '^'•e" England muYubmit, in "arrS which ttl "I "•''!.' T*'""^ °^ Europe. All tho • seemld JnT ■''*^ "''^^ ^"^ *he defence of its liberty S of Zt7 " n^ •'";.*'"' *° P°^'P°"« ^he inevitable If.' ment wJ^ solkti. "7"^ ^'.'"S" "^ ^^"^ ^111. theparlia- at thlt time scarcel v°"' A*' ""'"'«*'' ^"^'''^ '"^"'^ ^«« fntfa dung on loakTw-tS • "'"*';" P*^' "« "^ *"-"„ as brought his I'ife If "Z'' """^ "'*'' '" '"^h '' "^nner parliament took ^fTh?*"*''' • ^"' "" *•>« »»«<=« ^Wch the was to en ' t « thf/ "'"""y' *^«" '" ^''^h » P^^^^Y court, for U^ r/uct ^ aHiarnt""' Tht3f V^^ T^«°"^^ must be snnnn«H f„ I . . '* P^^'bition, however, courts ; for ^thekLthr: /^'^'"'^d <,nly to the inferior' h3 t 150 HISTORY OF GREAT- BRITAIN. There is a bill of tonnage, which shews what uncertain Ideas the parliament had formed both of its own privileges and of the rights of the soyereign. This duty had been voted j to eTery king since Henry IV., during the term of his life only. Henry VIII., however, had been allowed to levy it SIX years without any law ; and, though there had been four parliaments assembled during that time, no attention had been g.ven either to grant it to him regularly, or restrain him Irora levying it. At last, the parliament resolved to give him that supply ; but, even in this concession, they plainly show themselves at a loss to determine whether they granted it orwhetherhehadarightof himself to levy it. ^ The revenues of the crown, at this time, were very great I he treasure found in the coffers of Henry Vll. was equiva- lent to 8,000,000/. of our money at present. All that wealth, the ordinary and extraordinary revenues of the crown, the tenths and first-fruits from the clergy, which had been formerly paid to the pope, together with the inestimable spoils of all the religious houses in England, whose value al. most exceeded the bounds of calculation, came into the pos- I session of Henry YilL Had these revenues been well ma- naged, they might have made the crown independent of the » country, and enabled the king to reign for a lon^r time without a parliament. But, fortunately for the people of i.ngland, Henry dissipated all those treasures, died poor, and transmitted his croM n to his son and successor, as dependent yon the people for their supplies in parliament, as at any for- ~-%^ mer period. "^ With regard to the administration of justice in this mo. narch^s reign, the laws were basely perverted, and the most shocking acts of oppression were perpetrated, under the pre. tence of punishing offences. On what slender evidence were the amiable queen Anne Boleyn, and her accomplished bro. ther, lord Rochford, found guilty of high-treason, condemned I and executed! On what trivial pretences did the convoca- tion pronounce a sentence of divorce between Henry and his queen, Anne of Cleves, which was confirmed by parliament! How many noble persons were found guilty of high-treasori without any trial, by acts of attainder, though they earnestly intreated to be tried before they were condemned ! Was not this a gross violation of the first and plainest principles of Jaw and justice? Who, after this, will hesitate to pronounce Henry a tyrant, and his parliaments the servile executioners ©f his imperious and cruel mandates? , LITERATURE. 1^1 CHAP. IV. LITERATURE, A.D. 1485 1547. ^T^HE morning of that auspicious day which succeeded thd -A. Jong night of ignorance, in which almost all Europe had been involved from the fall of the western empire, had dawned on Italy, and some other parts of the continent, before it reached this little sequestered world of Britain. While learning was reviving in some other countries, it was languishing and declining in this island ; and the period that immediately preceded the present, was here one of the darkest and most illiterate. In every former period, some extraordinary men arose, such as the venerable Bede, Alfred the Great, Roger Bacon, and Wickliffe, who, by the force of their genius and application, dissipated, in some degree, the gloom with which they were surrounded, and rendered their names immortal. But 4n the fifteenth century there were hardly any who deserved a permanent reputation by their writings. ^ Our present period, however, presents us with a more agreeable prospect. A better taste and greater esteem for literature were introduced. The countenance given to letters by Henry Viri, .and his ministers, contributed to r*»«^«- learning fashionable in England. Erasmus speaks with ff^elt satisfac ion of the general regard paid by the nob^^^^tv and gentry to men of education and of improv^ed minds. ^ No province of literature was cultivated with so much care and success by the revivers of learning in this perioTas philology, or the accurate knowledge of lan^ua^es mrft.? iarly of the Latin and Greek classics 7ho feg'le^ct n^o dedine of L • *^^^/^"^"' '^^' «"« great cause of the decline of learning, and of the bad taste and barbarism of the middle ages. The revivers of learning, therefore a^ted causes of its decline. By acquiring a correct and rrfZlt kno.led,e of the language%tyre, ani mann" of Sse ex ef lent writers, they obtained two great advantages tL fi access to all the stores of wisdom^ and e'oju nfe^hS^t^^^^^^ writings contained, and to all the pleasure wM^h^i- "" "ley acquired the art of commun catin^r thpir n«^n f k^ u* ?' the .orid i„ a perspicuous, elegant, i'S^Suer'! h4 152 HISTORY OF GREAT. BRITAIN. Ml lu this art, some of the revivers of learning, both in Britain and on the continent, succeeded to admiration, and wrote in Latin with a classical purity not anvvorthy of the Augustan age. The success and example of those eminent men brought the study of the Latin language into fashion. To speak and to write pure and classical Latin, was considered as a va- luable and even a polite accomplishment, to which persons of high rank and of both sexes aspired. In order to assist youth in the acquisition of this accomplishment, the greatest scholars of the age, as Erasmus, Linacre, and many others, did not disdain to spend their time in writing rudiments, grammars, vocabularies, colloquies, and other books. The haughty monarch, Henry VJIL, and his no less haughty minister, cardinal Wolsey, stooped to employ their pens in writing instructions to youth, in the study of this favourite language. The king wrote an introduction to grammar^ and the cardinal composed a system of instructions to be observed by the masters of the school which he founded at Ipswich, his native town. The cardinal had been a schoolmaster, and was well qualilied for giving these instructions, which are equally sensible and particular. James IV. of Scotland was an ex- cellent Latin classic ; and his letters are written with greater purity and elegance than those of any other prince in Europe. T- o nrnvf} the Roman classics were i^'^''" =•♦... i:«/i -with so THE ARTS. IJt AlA •• .rw.^, »M%f W Ot>«««««^*» •• -••— - « much diligence, and the capacity of imitating their style and manner was so much valued, that the sixteenth century may very properly be called Seculum Latinum^ the Latin age. The restorers of learning found much greater difficulty in acquiring a competent knowledge of the Greek language, and in persuading others that the study of it was either neces- sary or useful. That copious and beautiful language, in which so many of the philosophers, poets, historians, and orators of antiquity had w ritten, was almost unknown in Britain in the beginning of this period. The celebrated Erasmus came into England in 1497, and went to Oxford with an intention of teaching Greek, but met with little encouragement. Many both of the secular and regular clergy declaimed against him in the schools, and even in the pulpit, with great bitterness. They railed particularly against his Greek New Testament, as a most impious and dangerous book. He continued, however, to teach at Oxford a considerable time, encouraged by a few ingenious men, who gladly received his instructions, and afterwards communicated them to others. Erasmus bestows high encomiums on Wolsey, as a patron of letters and learned men. " This extraordinary man " says he, " had a genius and taste for learning, in which he had made great proficiency in his youth, and for which he retained a regard in his highest elevation. Polite learning yet struggling with the patrons of the ancient ignorance, he upheld by his favour, defended by his authority, adorned by his splendour, and cherished by his kindness. He invited the most learned professors by his noble salaries. In fur- nishing libraries with the works of celebrated authors, he contended with Ptolemy Philadelphus himself, who was more famous in this respect than for the greatness of his power, or the dignity of his government. He recalled the three learned languages, without which all learning is lame." When the cardinal visited Oxford in 1518, he founded seven lectures, and chose the most learned men he could procure to read them. He at the same time intimated his intention of doing much greater things for the honour of the university and the advancement of learning, which he executed in part, and, to his unspeakable sorrow, was prevented from executing fully, by his unexpected fall. CHAP. V. THE ARTS. A.D. 1485—1547. PpROM the accession of theTudors, and the extinction of ■^ those factions which distracted England, a period of comparative tranquillity commences. Such repose being propitious to arts and commerce, the country recovered from the calamities of internal discord, and continued afterwards m a state of progressive, though slow, improvement. Agriculture and gardening, during the distraction of the civil wars, had been much neglected, but were now prose- cuted with such success, that to the present period is a- scribed the introduction of various fruits and vegetables into England. The fruit-garden was enriched by large accessions from foreign countries; and apricots, melons, and currants, were brought from Zante, for the first time, in the sixteenth century. In the beginning of the reign of Henry VIII., carrots, turnips, and other edible roots, were imported from Holland and Flanders. Queen Catharine, when she wanted a salad^ was obliged to dispatch a messenger thither on pur- pose. The introduction of hops from the Netherlands w«6 h5 %4 HISTORY OF GREAT-BRITAIN. somewhat earlier, and their culture was much encouraged. Flax was attempted, but without success, though enforced by law. The legislature, at that time, endeavoured to exe- cute, by means of penalties, those national improvements, which have since been fostered and cherished by bounties. To the passion of the age, and the predilection of the monarch for splendid tournaments, may be attributed the at- tention bestowed on a breed of horses, of a strength and nature adapted to the weight of the complicated panoply, with which the knight and his courser were invested. Sta- tutes of a singular nature were enacted, allotting, for deer- parks, a certain proportion of breeding-mares, and enjoining the prelatesand nobles, as well a,s those whose wives wore velvet bonnets^ to have stallions of a certain size for the saddle. The legal standard was fifteen hands in horses, and thirteen in mares. There is a certain perfection in art to which human genius may aspire with success, beyond which improvement degene- rates into false taste and fantastic refinement. The rude simplicity of Saxon architecture was supplanted by the mag- nificence of the ornamental Gothic. But magnificence itself is at last exhausted, and it terminated, during the present period, in a style which some, in allusion to literature, de- nominate the florid. The superb chapel, which Henry VII. erected in Westminster, exhausted every ornament that taste could dictate, or piety accumulate, and exhibits a splendid specimen of Gothic architecture in its latest period. Gre- cian architecture was then introduced ; but its orders, till a purer taste prevailed, being intermixed with those of the Gothic, produced a discordant and barbarous assemblage. After the invention of artillery, the utility of castles ceased. The king and nobility solicited better accommoda- tion and superior elegance. Hampton-court is a standing monument of Wolsey's magnificence. The mansions of gentlemen, however, were still sordid, and the huts of the peasantry poor and wretched. The former were generally thatched buildings composed of timber, or, where wood was scarce, of large posts inserted in the earth, filled up in the interstices with rubbish, plaistered within, and covered on the outside with coarse clay. The latter were slight frames, prepared in the forests at a small expense, and, when erected, covered with mud. The arts of painting and sculpture were not zealously cultivated in Britain during this period. Italy was a mor« ^ 9 « •'BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES. 155 genial soli for those pleasing arts ; and, even in the Ne- therlands, they flourished more than in England. To sup- ply the deficiency of native artists, foreigners were employ- ed by persons of taste and opulence. Mabuse, a Flemish painter, was encouraged by Henry VII. ; and the celebrated Hans Holbein was long retained in the service of that mo- narch's son, who also employed Tori-egiano, a Florentine, m sculpture. ' Poetry was cultivated by the courtiers of Henry VIII. as a vehicle of gallantry. The brave but unfortunate earl of Surry had taste to relish the Italian poets, and judgement to reject their affected, though splendid, conceits. His son- nets breathe the unaffected dictates of nature and love. Tenderness predominates in the sentiment, whilst ease and elegance distinguish the language. From these sonnets, the earliest specimens of a polished diction and refined sensi. oility, succeeding poets discovered the capacity and secret powers of the English tongue. In poetical refinement, th« elder Wyat co-operated with Surry. Some of the poetasters of this period amused themselves with dramatic composition : but the pieces which they pro. duced were not performed on regular theatres. They were chiefly written on religious subjects, and displayed neither the vigour of genius, nor the elegance of poetry. CHAP. VI. BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES. A. D. 1485 1547, 'T^HOUGH Erasmus was not a native of Britain, but of f ™lland, he resided several years in England at dif. ferenttinies; and, hy his teaching, conversation, and writ- Ihf I.TM'^'^'o^' """^^ ^' ^"^ "'^^^ *° »°«P'f« a taste for the study of the Roman and Greek classics, the first staee in the restoration of learning. He met with the greatest en" menTZ/ ^^T {^-E^ VIII., and all the learned English- men of that period. He was one of the most correct and elegant Latin writers among the moderns. Sir Thomas More, lord-chancellor of England, the great friend and admirer of Erasmus, was also a very^ngeS and learned man. He was born in 1480; and,^bXe h' iVTZrr ^'.T ^^t^ad acquired a criticafknoi! iedge of the Latin and Greek languages, and had studied H 6 -^-~v 156 HISTORY OF GREAT.BRITAIN. i rhetoric and seyeral other branches of learning with success. When he was about twenty, he became a kind of devotee, fasted frequently, wore a hair-shirt, slept upon boards, and had a great inclination to enter into the Franciscan order. From this, however, he was diverted by his friends ; and, in obedience to the commands of his father, who was a re- spectable judge, he applied to the study of the law. When he was called to the bar, he became conspicuous for the eloquence of his pleadings : and, at the age of twenty-one, he made a distinguished figure as a member of the house of commons. At the accession of Henry VJIL, his reputation and business were very great. But, in the midst of the greatest hurry of business, in which the whole day was oc- cupied, he stole time from his sleep to pursue his favourite studies, to correspond with many learned men at home and abroad, and to compose his Utopia, a political romance, which was greatly admired. The king was so charmed with his learning and the pleasantry of his conversation, that he Bent frequently for him. This was very disagreeable to Sir Thomas, as it consumed too much of his time ; and, to avoid this royal interruption, he made use of a stratagem which few would have employed. He affected to be very dull and unentertaining several times successively, and was no more sent for; sacrificing the reputation of a wit^ and the con. tersation of a king^ to save his time. At last, he brought down upon himself all the vengeance of a haughty and overbearing monarch, by opposing his divorce from Catharine of Arragon. This, however, not giving a fair opportunity for open violence, several other ac- cusations were brought against him, but without success, till the act of supremacy was promulgated. He peremptorily refused to take the oath which that statute required, and was therefore (in 1535) condemned to death. His good qualities were degraded by bigotry and intolerance. Dr, nomas Linacre was physician to both the Henrys, and the most elegant scholar of his age. He founded two lectures of physic at Oxford, and one at Cambridge. He contributed very much to rescue the healing arts from the wretched state in which he found them, by his strenuous and successful efforts for the re-establishment of the College of Physicians in London, of which he was the first presi- dent. When he was advanced in life, he applied to the study of theology, and obtained several preferments in the church. He died In 15^4. His virtues were equal to his BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES. 157 abilities. In a word, he was a benefactor to mankind, an honour to literature, and an ornament to human nature. Should such men ever be forgotten ? Dr. John Colet was one of those ingenious men who con- tributed to the revival of learning in Britain. In 1505 he obtained the deanery of St. Paul's, where, by his preaching arid other labours, he greatly advanced the reformation, llavmg a large estate without any near relatives, he resolved, m the midst of life and health, to consecrate the whole of It to some perpetual benefaction ; and this he performed by founding and endowing St. Paul's school, in London. He died in 1519. William Lily was the first master of St. Paul's school, in which he presided for twelve years with great reputation and success. Among other things, he composed a grammar for the use of that school, which is well known. In this, how. ever, he was assisted by Erasmus^ Colet, and Robinson, three of the best linguists in Europe ; and it was published with a preface composed by cardinal Wolsey, recommending It to universal use. Of such importance did the education of youth in classical learning appear to the greatest men of that age. Gavin Douglas^ bishop of Dunkeld, was distinguished by his talents and learning. After finishing his academical stu. ^f^^^^ ^^"^ *^ '*^^^' ^^^""^ ^® acquired a taste for poetry. Mr. Warton styles him "one of the distinguished luminaries that marked the restoration of letters in Scotland at the commencement of the sixteenth century." His principal works are. The Palace of Honour, and a translation of ytrgtl's jEneid into Scottish heroics. He died in 1522 His countryman, William Dunbar, celebrated the marriage of James IV. with Margaret of England, in his Thistle and Kose, a very happy allegory, in which the vulgar topics of an epithalamium are judiciously avoided. Hector Boece, or Boethius, «* may be justly reverenced (says Dr. Johnson) as one of the revivers of elegant learn- ing." He was the first president of that college which was founded at Aberdeen by bishop Elphinston, His principal work is a History of Scotland, written in a pleasing Latin style, but not esteemed for accuracy or fidelity of state- ment, ^ 158 HISTORY OF GREAT-BRITAIN, CHAP. Vll. COMMERCE. A. D. 1485 1 547. THE accession of Henry VII. to the throne of England was an event favourable to commerce, as it put an end to a long and ruinous civil war, which had thrown every thing into confusion, and inflamed the minds of one half of the people with the most violent hatred against the other. The avarice of this prince naturally led him to encourage com- merce, which increased his customs. But, if we may judge from most of the laws enacted during his reign, trade and in- dustry were rather hurt, than promoted, by the care and at- tention given to them. Severe laws were made against taking interest for money, which was then denominated usury. Even the profits of exchange were prohibited, as savouring of usury, which the superstition of the age zealously proscribed. All evasive contracts, by which profits could be made from the loan of money, were also carefully guarded against. These laws must have been very injurious to trade. We may observe, however, to the praise of this king, that some- times, in order to promote commerce, he lent to merchants sums of money without interest, when he knew that their stock was not sufficient for those enterprises which they had in view. The government prohibited the exportation of horses, as if the foreign demand for those animals did not encourage the breed, and render them more abundant in the kingdom. In order to promote archery, no bows were to be sold at a higher price than 6*. and 4fi. of our present money. The only efl'ect of this regulation must be, either that the people ■would be supplied with bad bows, or none at all. Prices were also affixed to woollen cloth, caps, and hats ; and the wages of labourers were regulated by law. It is evident that these points should be left free in the common course of business and commerce. In 1492, Christopher Columbus, a Genoese, set out from Spain on his memorable voya-ge for the discovery of the western world ; and, a few years after, Vasquez de Gama, a Portuguese, passed the Cape of Good Hope, and opened a new passage to the East-Indies. These great events were attended with important consequences to all the nations of Europe, even to such as were not immediately concerned in those naial enterprises. By the enlargement of commerce COMMERCE. 159 and navigation, industry and the arts were every where in- creased. It was by accident only that Henry VII. had not a considerable share in those great naval discoveries, by which this period was so much distinguished. Columbus, after meeting with many repulses from the courts of Porta- gal and Spain, sent his brother Bartholomew to London, in order to explain his projects to Henry, and solicit his pro- tection for the execution of them. The king invited him to i^ngland ; but his brother, being taken by pirates, was de, tamed in his voyage, and, in the mean time, Columbus, hav. mg obtained the countenance of Isabella, was supplied with a small fleet, and happily executed his enterprise. Henry, not discouraged by this disappointment, sent out Sebastian Cabot, a Venetian, to the west- ^' ^' ^'*^^- ward, in search of new countries. That navigator, after discovering America, returned to England without making any conquest or settlement. Elliot, and other adventurers, made a like attempt in 1502. The king expended 14,000/! m building one ship, called the Great Harry. She was, properly speaking, the first ship in the English navy. Be- fore this period, when the prince wanted a fleet, he had no other expedient than hiring or pressing ships from the mer- chants. During the reign of Henry VIII. the foreign commerce of ^.ngland was chiefly confined to the Netherlands. The in- habitants of the Low-Countries bought the English commo- dities, and distributed them into other parts of Europe. Foreign artificers, in general, much surpassed the English in dexterity, industry, and frugality ; hence arose the vio- lent animosities which the latter, on many occasions, ex- pressed against any of the former who were settled in Eng- land. Irritated for want of customers, and moved by the seditious errors of one Dr. Bele ^' ^* ^^^7. and the intrigues of Lincoln, a broker, they' raised an in. surrection. The apprentices and others of the poorer sort, m London, began by breaking open the prisons, where some persons were confined for insulting foreigners. After com. mittiiig other outrages, they dispersed ; but many of them were apprehended by the earis of Shrewsbury and Surry. A proclamation was issued, that women should not meet to- gether to babble and talk, and that men should keep their wives m their houses. On the following day, the duke of Norfolk came into the city at the head of 1300 armed men, and made enquiry into the tumult. Bele and Lincoln, and f t i. 160 HISTORY OF GREAT-BRITAIN. several others, were sent to the Tower, and condemned for treason. Lincoln and thirteen more were executed. The other criminals, to the number of four hundred, being brought before the king, with ropes about their necks, fell on their knees, and cried for mercy. Henry knew at that time how to pardon, and dismissed them without farther punishment. So great was the number of foreign artisans in the city, that 15,000 Flemings were obliged to leave it, by an order of council, when Henry became jealous of their partiality for queen Catharine. The king declared, in an edict of the star-chamber, that the foreigners starved the natives, and obliged them, from idleness, to have recourse to theft, mur- der, and other enormities. He also asserted, that the vast multitude of strangers raised the price of grain and bread ; and, to prevent an increase of the evil, all foreign artificers were prohibited from having above two foreigners in their houses. During this reign, about 2000 persons annually suffered death in England for robbery ; a greater number than are now executed for those crimes in the space of twenty years. Must there not, then, have been a great improvement in morals since the reign of Henry VIII. ? And this improve- ment has been chiefly owing to the increase of industry and of the arts, which have given maintenance, and, what is al- most of equal importance, occupation, to the lower classes. The silver coins of Henry VII. were shillings or festoons, groats, pennies, and farthings. His gold coins were sove- reigns, rials, and nobles. They were all of standard purity. He possessed too much money, and loved it too well, to sink its value by too great a quantity of alloy. Henry VIII.j after squandering his father's treasures, issued coins which had only four ounces of silver with eight ounces of alloy in the pound weight. This shameful debasement of the money was one of the most imprudent and pernicious measures of his reign. It was productive of innumerable inconveniences in business; and the restoration of the coin to its standard purity was found to be a work of great difficulty. U CHAP. VIII. MANNERS. A.D. 1485 1547. THE best criterion of civilised society is the free inter- course and reciprocal conMence between parents and i\ r MANNERS. 161 their offspring. Domestic manners, however, in this period, were severe and formal. A haughty reserve was affected by the old, and abject deference exacted from the young. Sons, when arrived at manhood, stood uncovered and silent in their father's presence; and daughters, though women, were placed like statues at the cupboard, and not permitted to sit down till their mother departed. Though those times were magnificent, most of the com^ forts and conveniences of modern life were unknown. Queen Margaret, on her marriage with James IV., made her public entry into Edinburgh, riding on a pillion behind the king. The halls and chambers of the wealthy were surrounded with hangings of arras, and furnished with a cupboard, long tables, forms, a chair, and a few joint-stools. Their beds were apparently comfortable, and often elegant; but people of inferior condition slept on a mat, or a coarse bed of straw, under a rug, with a log for a pillow. The large and fantastical head-dresses of the ladies, in the former age, were now superseded by coifs and velvet bon. nets. Among gentlemen, long hair was fashionable through- out Europe, till the emperor Charles V. devoted his locks for his health; and, in England, Henry, a tyrant even ia taste, gave efficacy to the fasbi,.o by a peremptory order for his attendants and co'^^tiers to pCll t^^eir heads. The same spirit induced him, by sumptuary laws, iu regulate the inordinate dress of his subjects. Cloth of gold or tissue was reserved for dukes and marquises, and that of a purple colour for the royal family. Sflks and velvets were restrict, ed to commoners of wealth and distinction, and embroidery was forbidden to all beneath the degree of an earl. Cuffs for the sleeves, and ruffs for the neck, were the inventions of this period. Pockets, a convenience unknown to the ancients, are perhaps the latest real improvement on dress: but, instead of pockets, a loose pouch seems to have been sometimes suspended from the girdle. The cookery of these times exhibited a profusion of hot spices, with which every dish was seasoned. At entertain- ments, the rank of each guest was discriminated by his situation above or below the saltcellar, which was placed invariably in thm middle of the table ; and the usher was in- structed to displace such as might seat themselves above their betters. The chief servants always attended above the salt- cellar, beneath which the table was crowded with poor de- pendents, whom the guests despised, and the servants neg- 16^ HISTORY OF GREAT-BRITAIN. f lected. Churchmen affected peculiar ceremony, and the ab-# hot of St. Alban's dined with greater state than the nobility. His table was elevated fifteen steps above the hall, and, in serving his dinner, the monks, at every fifth step, performed a hymn. He dined alone at the middle of his table, to the ends of which the guests of distinguished rank were admit- ted ; and the monks, after attending the abbot, were served with equal respect by the novices. At Wolsey's entertain- ment of the French ambassadors, the company was sum- moned by trumpet to supper, and the courses were an- Bounced by a prelude of music* CHAP. IX. INCIDENTS AND CURIOUS PARTICULARS, A. D. 1485 — 1547. IN 1485, Henry VII., on the day of his coronation, estab- lished fifty yeomen of the guard, the first standing army. In 1500, there happened so great a plague in England, that it obliged the king and court to remove to Calais, and carried off upwards of 30,000 people in London. In 1529, the name of Protestant took its rise from thr reformed protesting against the church of Rome, at the diet of Spire in Germany.*'- — - In 1544, good lands wete let at one shilling per acre. Commodities, however, were not cheap in proportion, chiefly in consequence of the bad husbandry of that age. In 1546, a law was made for fixing the interest of money at 10 per cent. This was the first legal interest known in England. Formerly all acts of that nature were regarded as usurious. The preamble of this very law treats the prac. tice of receiving interest for money, as illegal and criminal ; and the prejudices still remained so strong, that the law permitting interest was repealed in the following reign. POLITICAL AND MILITARY HISTORY. 163 BOOK VII. CHAP. L fOLITICAL AND MILITARY HISTORY, FROM THE DEATH OF KING HENRY VIII. IN 1547, TO THAT OF QUEEN ELIZABETH, IN 1603. A S Henry's son Edward was only in his tenth year when -^^ he succeeded to the throne, the regency was settled in the person of his uncle the earl of Hertford, afterwards duke of Somerset, a declared friend of the reformation. Much of the popish leaven, however, still remained in the council. The government was embroiled at once with France and Scotland. As soon as affairs at home were brought to some degree of composure, the protector marched to the north- ward, with 18,000 men, in order to execute, if possible, th« project of uniting the two British kingdoms by a marriage between Edward and Mary Stewart, the young queen of Scotland, an union which Henry had recommended with his dying breath. But the queen dowager's attachment to France and the catholic religion rendering the negociation ineffectual, a desperate battle was fought near Musselburgh, in which 10,000 of the Scots were killed. The reformation was not effected without public distur. bances. The common people, during the reigns of Henry and Edward, being deprived of the great relief they had re- ceived from the religious houses, repeatedly took up arms, but without effect. Dudley, earl of Warwick, quelled one of these insurrections; and he afterwards drove the protector from the helm, and sacrificed that nobleman to his ambition, ' The reformation, through the zeal of Cranmer and others, made rapid progress. In some cases, they lost sight of that moderation which the reformers had before so strongly re- commended; and some sanguinary executions, on account of religion, took place. Edward's youth excuses him from blame; while his charitable endowments, as Bridewell, St. Thomas's Hospital, and several schools, which still exist and flourish, shew the goodness of his heart. He died of a con- sumption, in 1553, in the sixteenth year of his age. Edward, on his death-bed, from his zeal for religion, made a very unconstitutional will, excluding his sist^jr Mary ■J 0,jwte 164 HISTORY OF GREAT.BRITAIN. from the succession, which he transferred to Jane Grey, grand.daughter to a sister of Henry VIII. This accom* plished and amiable young lady reluctantly complied with the desire of her father-in.law, the earl of Warwick, who, under the title of duke of Northumberland, governed the king and the kingdom; but the nation supported the claim of the princess Mary ; and lady Jane, her husband, and the duke, were put to death by the new queen. . Mary, being thus settled on the throne, suppressed an in. surrection under Wyat, and proceeded, like a female fury, to re-establish popery. She lighted up the flames of perse- cution, to which she consigned the most illustrious reformers. Her husband, Philip 11. of Spain, was, like herself, an un- feeling bigot; and the chief praise of her reign is, that, by the marriage-articles, prorision was made for the independ- ence of the English crown. By the assistance of troops, which she sent to her husband, he gained the important bat- tle of St. Quintin; but that victory was so ill improved, that the French, under the duke of Guise, soon after took Calais. This loss is said to have broken Mary's heart, who died in 1558, in the forty-third year of her age. Elizabeth, the daughter of Anne Boleyn, now ascended the throne amidst the effusions of general joy; but, as her mother's marriage was deemed unlawful by all catholics, Mary, queen of Scotland, grand-child to a daughter of Henry VII., considered her own claim as preferable. This rivalry gave great displeasure to Elizabeth, who, as she could with difficulty bear the thoughts of a successor, could still less endure the idea of a rival. Mary, after her return to Scotland, on the death of her husband, Francis 11., gave her hand to lord Darnley. This choice was injudicious and unfortunate; for he had not those talents or that good sense which would have rendered him an useful associate in the task of government, and was fickle, ungrateful, dissolute, and unprincipled. Perceiving a decline in the queen's affection for him, and suspecting her of an improper regard for Riccio, a Piedmontese mu- sician, he promoted the murder of the obnoxious foreigner, and thus roused in her breast all the bitterness of resent- ment. His own death soon followed that of the supposed favorite. He was suddenly blown up in a house to which he had retired for the recovery of his health ; and it is not certainly known whether the earl of Murray, and other enemies of the queen, planned his destruction with a view i POUTICAL AND MILITARY HISTORY. 165 of imputing the crime to her, or she herself was guilty of the atrocious act. The earl of Bothwell was tried for the murder; but his influence procured an acquittal; and he had the audacity to carry off the queen to the castle of Dunbar, where he accomplished his amorous wishes. He now obtained a divorce from his wife; and the imprudent princess condescended to marry him. Some attempts made by Bothwell (and, it is said, with the queen's consent) to get her infant son into his power, excited the most serious attention; and an association was formed for protecting the prince, and punishing the mur- derers of Darnley. Armies were raised on both sides; and Mary, bemg taken prisoner, was sent to the castle of Loch- leven. Bothwell found means to make his escape into Den- mark, where he was thrown into prison, lost his senses, and at length died miserably. Many schemes were proposed by the associated lords for the treatment of the captive queen. The result was, that they obhgfd her to sign an instrument, by which she resigned her crown in favour of her son, and appointed the earl of Murray regent. In consequence of this forced resignation, the young prince was proclaimed king, by the name of James VI. «»^ ^ The queen, finding it impossible to remain in her own kingdom with honor or dignity, embraced the resolution of seeking refuge in England, where she expected, from the repeated declarations of Elizabeth, protection and security. But she did not adopt this determination before she had been defeated by the regent at Langside, whence she fled into Cumberland. The English queen, unfaithful to her professions, detained the unhappy fugitive for eighteen years : she then brought her to trial, pretending that Mary aimed at the crown, and, without sufficient proof of her guilt, put her to death ;— an action which greatly tarnished the glories of her reign, and which reflects indelible disgrace on her memory. As to Elizabeth's aflairs with Spain, which formed in fact the main business of her government, they exhibit different scenes of remarkable events, partly arising from her own masterly conduct, partly from the sagacity of her states- men, and partly from the intrepidity of her forces by sea and land. The same Philip, who had been the husband of her late fiister, upon the accession of Elizabeth to the throne, offered '■^W. '— '-- n 16& HISTORY OF GREAT. BRITAIiV. I II to marry her; but she dexterously aroided his addresses; and, by a train of skilful negociations between her court and that of France, kept the balance of Europe so undeter. mined, that she had leisure to unite her people at home, and to establish an excellent internal policy. But, as the king of Spain could not always be imposed upon by her arts, he made use of the immense sums which he drew from Peru and Mexico, in equipping one of the most formidable armaments that had ever been put to sea, and a numerous army of veterans, under the prince of Parma, the best general of that age. The most renowned nobility and princes of Italy and Spain were ambitious of sharing in the enterprise ; and so elated were the Spaniards with Tain hopes, that they denomi. nated their navy The Invincible Armada, Lord Howard, however, and the brave sea-officers under him, engaged this formidable fleet, put it to flight, and chased it for several days ; and, had not their ammunition fallen short, they would have obliged the whole armada to surrender at discretion. An event, however, almost equally fatal to the Spaniards, soon happened. A violent tempest overtook them after they had passed the Orkneys; and many of the ships were driven either on the western isles of Scotland, or on the coast of Ireland, where they were wrecked, so that not one half of them returned to Spain. Such was the miserable and dis- graceful conclusion of an enterprise, which had nearly ex- hausted the revenue and force of Spain, and had long filled all Europe with anxiety or expectation. The queen's support of the rising republic of Holland was connected with the Spanish war. Of the seventeen provinces of the Netherlands, seven revolted in consequence of the stern bigotry and inhuman tyranny of Philip ; and the in. surgents were seasonably supplied with money and troops from England. Elizabeth also assisted Henry IV. of France against the encroaching ambition of the Spanish despot, who wished to make himself the arbiter of Europe. The discomfiture of the armada having begotten a kind of enthusiastic passion for enterprises against the Spaniards, several expeditions were undertaken, in order to invade their territories in Europe and America, and many of their rich ships were captured. In some of these expeditions, the com- mand was given to the earl of Essex, who, by his exterior ac- complishments and real merit, was daily advancing in favour with Elizabeth. His passion for glory made him desire a •ontinuance of the war, and he encouraged the queen iu tLo ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORy/ 157 prosecution of it. The rivalry between this nobleman and lord Burghley, induced each to insist the more strenuouslr on his own counsels; but, as the earPs person was agree able to the queen, and his advice conformable to her incli" nations, he seemed daily to acquire an increase of influence' Had he been endowed with caution and self-command, equal to his shining qualities, he could scarcely have had a rival i„ the queen's confidence. But his lofty spirit could ill subn^^ uired deference, which Elizabeth's temper re- As Elizabeth advanced in life, she became distrus^fnl peevish, and jealous. Though she undoubLdly oved Jhe earl of Essex she teized him by her capricious temper into the madness of taking up arms, and then put him to deLth Soon after, she fell into a profound melancholy? which aU the advantages of her high fortune, and all the g^rorfes of her prosperous reign, were unable to alleviate. This depression of mind was attributed to various causes; but the most pro bab e was a revival of her tenderness for Essex, o^cas oned by the protracted delivery of a ring, which she had formerl J given to him as an evidence of her continued regard Sh^ died^m t^ seventieth year of her age, and the fo'r^;'fifth S This princess understood the art of reigning Jn^an eminent degree. Her wise ministers and brave tarriors sha^e the praise of her success; but they owed their advancement Jo her choice were supported by her constancy, and, wUh aU their a^Hlities could never acquire an undue lUnd^n^pve her. In her family, ,n her court, and in her kingdom she remained equally mistress. The force of the tender r/sions was great o,er her, but the force of her mind was stm sZe Vh .K^K^T ^^ ^^"^^^Plate her as a woman, we are struck Sdt'v S ''"'T'^^" ^' '^^ ^^^^^ ^-»^^^- and exten^fve S^ei^tv of7.m """"T ""'' ^"^'"^^^ «^ disposition, feLes hv whVh H ^'''. and some of those amiable weak! nesses by which her sex is distinguished. • CHAP. IL ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. A. D. 1547—1603 A th/;/"'."'?^*^"7^' "^"^^ forwarded hy the decease of -*- the capricious Henry, and the accession of the amiable and virtuous Edward. It had, on its side, tk^Mnof i c=^-r^ \ : 168 HISTORY OF GREAT- BRITAIN. :\ "i i I IJ if the young king, whose education was totally in the hands of reformers, the wise counsels of Cranmer, the firm and bold arguments) delivered from the pulpits of Latimer, Hooper, and other celebrated preachers, as well as the good will of the people in general. Bishop Gardiner, however, in the royal chapel, though re. quested not to speak on controversial subjects, warmly sup- ported the real presence of Christ's flesh and blood in the sa- crament. The effect of this ill.judged rhapsody was grossly indecent. The two parties, in the church, and before the king, respectively uttered loud and vehement cries, to encou- rage or insult the preacher. The impolitic orator, on his leaving the rostrum, was committed to prison ; nor had his eloquence any effect on the well.instructed mind of the young monarch. When Mary ascended the throne, the people had reason to dread the effects of that bigoted attachment to popery, which she had imbibed from her mother, Catharine of Arra* gon. By the medium of cardinal Pole, she absolved the two bouses of parliament from those protestant errors which had corrupted the purity of the catholic faith ; and she assented with joy to a bill which repealed the heretical laws enacted by her late brother. The affairs of administration in matters of religion were now chiefly conducted by Gardiner and Pole. The latter was not a stranger to candour and moderation ; but the per- secuting spirit of Gardiner being consonant with the cruel bigotry of Mary and Philip, the laws were let loose in their full rigour against the reformed religion, and England was soon filled with scenes of horror. The persecutors began with Rogers, prebendary of St. Paul's, a man eminent for virtue and learning, who was burned in Smithfield. Hooper, bi- shop of Glocester, was sent to that city to undergo the same fate. Ferrar, bishop of St. David's, was likewise burned in his own diocese. The prelates Ridley and Latimer perished together in the same flames at Oxford. During the course of three years, it is computed that two hundred and seventy- seven persons were brought to the stake, and the imprison- ments, fines, and conflscations, were almost without num- ber. Those who died at the stake may justly be called Martyrs; and they all died with calmness and intrepidity, avowing, even while their sinews were shrinking, and their flesh consuming by the flames, tlieir entire resignatiop to th« fiCCLESIASTJCAL HISTORY.- ig^ 1S.:^S:;'::i::l ''-'' ^--p'^-^ i^y m the cause for The d.ath of archbishop Cranmer would have been mor. generally lamented, if he had not, by his own example, given countenance to the horrible practice of religious m'ufde" St.II cherishing the natural love of Jife, and terrified bv the prospect of those tortures *hich awaited him; he allowed in an unguarded hour, the sentiments of nature to prevail over his resolution, and agreed to subscribe the doctrines of the papal supremacy and of the real presence. The court however, at once perfidious and cruel, determined that his *ohcoss.on should not avail him, and ordered him to be im. mediately carried to execution. Cranmer, repenting of what he had done, m the flames atoned for his frailty, bv hoS forth his right hand till it was entirely consumed^, calf aloud several times. This hand has offended ^ On the death of her sister, Elizabeth did not hesitate with regard to the party she should embrace. Her educat on? S uf^lu^l"^''"''; '"'^ ''"'■*'' ^"""'the reformation, sle'de. layed the change of religion till the meeting of the parliament" atid then after her right of succession to the thro'ne wadset' tied, such acts were passed as tended to the establishment ofthe protestant religion. Having ordered that the gosp jj a.^ ep,s«es, the Lord's Prayer, the Apostles' Creed, and the Ten Commandments, should be read in English in all places of worship, Elizabeth soon found how pleasing these directions appeared to the generality of her people, and par- ticularly to the inhabitants of the metropolis. Among ofhw tokens, It was remarked, that, as she went in profes ion under a triumphal arch erected by the city of London, she was presented, by a cherub descending from above, i'„ the character of Truth, with an English copy of the Bib e T sh^ bosom """'* gfaciously, kissed it, and placed it in her The translation of the Bible into English was, at this iunc- ture oddly recommended to the queen by one iUinsford, a protestant whom she had released, who implored her pitr FIiI°h '.K 7^;!'°,"*''^^^"*'*'^' ^"^' ^^°k^' a"d John, tlizabeth, not displeased at the quaint idea, smiled, and told to be reteaseT"'' ^°^"''* whether these captives wished «f ^^" ,*''* °** °^ '"Pf^raaey was tendered to the bishops of Mary's appointment, all, except Kitchen of Llandaff refused it, and lost their sees. Heath, Tonstal, and Thirlb;-, »^- i < 170 HISTORY OF GREAT- BRITAIN. ^ere treated xvith great kindness; the first was exiled to his Iwn estae, where the queen frequently ^i«ited him; the other two lived at Lambeth, with their hospitable friend a chbishop Parker. White and Watson, being sullen, were kept or some time in confinement ; and Bonner, the most barbarous and brutal of all the persecutors passed the rest of his days in prison. Not a drop of blood was shed m re. .en^e for Mary's enormities; and, beside the transfer of the church-lands to the new prelates, not one estate was confis- ^^To'settle the religion of the nation to translate the Scrip- tures into English,\nd to regulate the eccesrastical co^^^^^^^ were great objects, which the new constellation of bishops Tamest y endeivou^ed to compass. The translation of the Bible was allotted to various eminent divines, who accom, Dlished it in the space of two years. . ^ About this time, the heads of the protestan party m Sco - land entered privately into a bond of association for their rutual protection and the propagation of their te-ts s y hng ThemselTes the Congregation of the Lord, }- <^o.'l^^^^^ the established church, which they denominated the Congre gation of Satan. The converts to the new religion, resent, ing the murder of Wishart, a conscientious and popular di- Vine, whom cardinal Beaton had committed to the flames, rejoiced in the death of the inhuman prelate who was ass as sinated bv a son of the earl of Rothes ; and, when the pri. mate Hamilton had dared to follow the example of the car- dinal, they resolved to check such enormities by an open m- sirrc'ction! Encouraged by the zeal of John Knox, who had imbibed, at Geneva, the presbyterian doctrines, they aemandc d, ou pain of hostility, the immediate convocation of a parliament, for the settlement of the atfa.rs of religion Having mounted the pulpit at Perth, Knox declaimed with such vehemence against the idolatry and other abuses of he church of Rome, that his auditors were strongly incited to attempt its subversion. During those movements of holy indignation, the indiscreet bigotry of a priest, who was preparing to celebrate mass, and ha(i opened all his reposi. tory of images and relics, hurried the enthusiastic populace into immediate action. They fell with fury upon the devout catholic, broke the images, tore the pictures, overthrew the altars, and scattered about the sacred vases. Ihey next proceeded to the monasteries, against which their zeal more parUcularly pointed its thunder. Not content with expelling CONSTITUTION AND GOVERNMENT. 171 the monks, and defacing every implement of idolatrous wor- ship, they vented their rage upon the buildings which had been the receptacles of such abomination; and, in a few hours, those superb edifices were level with the ground. In 1560, the parliament of Scotland was perfectly disposed to establish the protectant faith. Petitions in favour of re- formation were kindly received, and the few catholics who sat in the house, seeing their party very weak, chose to be silent. The papal authority being abolished, and the service forbidden to be read in Latin, a Calvinistic confession of faith was adopted; but so little had the protestant Scots learned to profit by the odious appearance of that persecu. tion which had martyred their brethren, that one of their new laws enacted death, as a punishment for a third offencf against the new directions for church-worship. CHAP. III. CONSTITUTION AND GOVERNMENT. A. D. 1547 1603. npiIE despotism of Henry VIII. was succeeded by a kind J- of nerveless aristocracy. A few potent noblemen, dur- ing the reign of Edward, struggled for power and profit, and left the people to be plundered and ruined by bribed senators and iniquitous judges. Edward undoubtedly had good dis- positions; but, except the spirited Latimer, who attempted by his plain but satirical discourses to open his eyes, he seemed hardly to have a single person about him who was not ready to support the prevailing system of corruption. The mildness of Cranmer rendered his advice ineffectual ; and the duke of Somerset was governed by his wife, the vainest of women. The corruption of the judges, though connived at by the great, could not escape the severe animadversions of Latimer, in his sermons before the king. " Novv-a-days," says he, " the judges are afraid to hear a poor man against the rich ; they will either pronounce against him, or delay the suit, so that he shall not be able to go through with it. But the greatest man in the realm cannot hurt the judge so much as a poor widow." He then relates the story of a jiidge who was flayed alive for taking bribes, and whose skin was nailed to a chair for future judges to sit in. " The magistrates," adds he, " shew favour to some, and will not sufler them to bo put to shame."—." Oh I he is such aa oae's serT^t, I jnust i2 172 HISTORY OF GREAT -BRITAIN. UTERATURE. 173 I not meddle with him. He is a great man, I dare not dis. please him." — *' Fie upon thee! art thou a judge, and wilt thou be afraid to give right judgement? Fear him not, be he ever so great a man ; but take care to do true ju&tice." The tyrannical laws against high treason, instituted under Henry the Eighth, were abolished by Edward. But this young and virtuous prince haying soon passed away, the blood-thirsty Mary astonished the world with her cruelties. In the long and glorious reign of Elizabptb, England began to breathe anew ; and the protestant religion, being once more established, brought with it more freedom and to- leration. The star-chamber, that effectual instrument of the tyranny of the two Henries, yet continued to exist ; the in. quisitorial tribunal of the high commission was even insti- tuted; and the yoke of arbitrary power lay still heavy on the subject. This, however, was rendered tolerable by the brilliancy of the reign, and the affection of the people for a princess whose splendid talents rendered her worthy of being ranked among the grtatf-st sovereigns. The established principles of the times, which attributed to the prince such an unlimited power as was supposed to be the origin of all law, were unfavourable to liberty. The ho- milies, published for the use of the clergy, inculcate a blind and passive obedience to the sovereign ; and Dr. Gifford was suspended in 1 584, for preaching up a limited obedience to the civil magistrate. It is remarkable that, throughout the historical plays of Shakespeare, in which the manners, and characters, and even the transactions, of the several reigns, are so exactly copied, there is scarcely any mention of civil liberty. In the elaborate panegyric of England, contained in the tragecly of Richard II., and the detail of its advantages, "we have not a word of its civil constitution, as different from, or superior to, that of other European kingdoms. It was only during the next gei»eration that the noble principles of liberty took root, and, spreading themselves under the fhelter of puritanical absurdities, became fashionable among ihe people. Queen Elizabeth herself, indeed, was no friend to liberty, but watchfully checked those faint d awnings of its spltHidour, which occasionally pervaded the gloom of despotism ; nor was the administration of justice in her time calculated to tecure either life or property. Dr. Hay ward having dedi- cated a book to the earl of Essex, the queen, supposing it tp contain treason, and suspecting that it was not written by himself, but by a more mischievous person, asked Sit Francis Bacon, whether he ought not to be racked, to make him produce the author? To which his lordship replied, ** Nay, madam, he is a doctor ; never rack his person, but rack his style. Let him have pen, ink, and paper, and help of books, and let him be enjoined to continue the story' where it breaks off ; and I will undertake, by collating tlw styles, to judge whether he were the author or no." Thus, had it not been for Bacon's humanity, or rather his wit, Dr. Hay ward would have been put to the rack for a most innocent performance. His real offence was his dedicating a book to that munificent patron of the learned, the earl of Essex, at a time when this nobleman lay under her majesty's displeasure. The queen^s menace of trying and punishing this author for treason, could have been easily executed, however innocent the book might have been. While so many terrors hung over the people, no jury durst have ac- quitted a man, when the court was resolved to have him condemned. The practice also of not confronting witnesses with the prisoner, gave the crown-lawyers all imaginable ad- Tantage against him. CHAP. IV. LITERATURE. A. D. 1347 — 1603. npHOUGH the English language was much neglected in A the middle of the sixteenth century, great attention wai bestowed on ecclesiastical knowledge ; nor was any rank deemed so exalted as to exclude the necessity of a thorough acquaintance with the learned tongues. Four successive so- vereigns, Henry, Edward, Mary, and Elizabeth, might justly be styled proficients in literature. To an address of the university of Cambridge, written in Greek, Queen Elizabetk made an extemporary reply in the same language ; and sh« translated into English the orations of Isocrates. She gave a spirited answer in Latin, without premeditation, to the Polish ambassador, who had been deficient in respect to her, >Vh«n she had finished, she turned to her courtiers, and said, with great emotion, " I have been forced this day to scout up my old Latin, that had long been rusting.'* Elizabeth, even after she was queen, did not entirely relinquish the am- bition of appearing as an author ; and, next to her desire for th« honage of meo to her beauty, this seems to have beea I 3 < I 1 i) II 174 HISTORY OF GREAT- BRITAIN. the chief object of her vanity. She translated Boetius, on the Consolation of Philosophy, in order to allay her grief, because Henry IV. of France had changed his religion. As lar as we can judge from Elizabeth's compositions, we mav pronounce, that, notwithstanding her application and excel- lent parts, her taste in literature was not very elegant or re- ined. ® The queen's example had very great influence. The ad. Tantages of learning gradually became as much the property of the laity as of the clergy ; and, soon after the reign of this interesting princess, men attained to that state of general im- provement, in which they have ever since made progressive advances. In the age of Elizabeth, learning was the passport to the most honourable and lucrative situations. Sir Thomas Smith was raised from a professorship at Cambridge to be, first ambassador to France, and afterwards secretary of state! The dispatches of those times, and, among others, those of lord Burghley, are frequently interrupted by quotations from the Greek and Latin classics. Even the ladies of the court •were adepts in literature, and valued themselves more oo. their erudition than on their rank and quality. THE ARTS. 175 CHAP. V. THE ARTS. A. D. 1547—1603. #^N the art of agriculture we need only observe, that the ^^ general stock of aliment was now increased by the dis- covery of potatoes. Captain Hawkins is said to have brought this excellent root from Santa Fe, in New Spain, in 1565. 55ir Walter Raleigh soon after planted it on his lands in Ire- land; but, on eating the apple, which is nauseous and un. wholesome, he had nearly consigned the whole crop to de- struction. The spade, however, discovered the real potatoe, and the root soon became a favourite eatable. It continued, for a long time, to be thought rather a species of dainty than of provision, and it was not supposed capable of preserv- ing the country where it was fostered from the attacks of famine. The land of England was, at this time, both cheap and productive. The good bishop Latimer has given the follow- ing account of the produce of a small farm : "My father," says he, '« was a yeoman, and had a farm of three or four pounds a-year, upon which he tilled enough to keep half a dozen men. He had pasture for a hundred sheep ; and my mother milked thirty cows. He kept his son at school till he went to the university, married his daughters with Jive pounds a-piece, kept hospitality with his neighbours, and gave some alms to the poor ; and all this he did out of the said farm." A mixed system of architecture was adopted towards the close of the sixteenth century, the finest example of which "Was Theobalds, the magnificent seat of the lord Burghley, Elizabeth's secretary. Hatfield-house owes its origin to the same great' minister, and Osterley-house to the patriotic sir Thomas Gresham, who built the Royal Exchange, which was destroyed by the fire of London, in 1666. It was at Os- terley that the opulence and gallantry of sir Thomas rivaled the wonders of romance. Elizabeth had visited the superb mansion, and, on quitting the window to go to bed, had re- 'marked aloud, " How much more handsome the court-yard would appear if divided by a wall." The words were caught by sir Thomas, who instantly, on quitting the royal presence, sent hastily to his masons and bricklayers, assisted them with a number of labourers, worked all night, and completed the wall according to the queen's wishes, before she rose in th« morning. The courtiers, chagrined at the knight's alertness, consoled themselves by remarking, that it " was no wonder he could so soon change a building, who could build a *' Change" Houses, in general, were built of strong timber. " In times past," says Holinshed, " men were contented to dwell in houses built of willow ; but when our houses were built of willow, then had we oaken men; but now that our houses are made of oak, our men are not only become willow, but a great many altogether straw. In these the courage of the owner was a sufficient defence to keep the house in safety ; but now the assurance of the timber must defend the mea from being robbed." With regard to sculpture^ some goodmedals were struck, during Elizabeth's reign, on great public occasions, particu- larly that on the defeat of the Spanish armada, of which the motto, ascribing the victory to Divine Providence, is ad- mirable : Jjfflavit Deusy et dissipantur, ** God raised a storm, and our enemies were scattered.'* Painting lay dormant in England during the short reign of Edward VI. Under Mary it was enlivened by the presence I 4 176 HISTORY OF GREAT. BRITAIN. ! of Antonio More, a native of Utrecht, who was sent over to London, that he might paint the portrait of the intended bride of the Spanish Philip. For this work he had a hun- dred pounds, a gold chain, knighthood, and a pension of a hundred pounds per quarter, as painter to their majesties. Elizabeth encouraged painting, because she was never tired of seeing portraits of herself. A pale Roman nose, a head of hair loaded with pearls and powdered with diamonds, a large ruff, a still larger farthingale, and a bushel of pearls, are the features by which we recognize Elizabeth. With regard to poetry^ we may observe, that the sangui- nary measures which Henry VIII. pursued in his domestic policy, threw a cloud oyer the studies oi the nation, which the barbarities of his daughter Mary rendered yet darker, and which was not dispelled till the middle of the reign of Eli- zabeth. Then the muse^ always the firs|; in the train of lite- rature, ventured once more to expand her wings, and Chaucer found a successor worthy of himself in the celebrated Spen- ser. The principal work of this poet is named the Fairy Queen. It is of the heroic kind, and was intended as a compliment to Elizabeth and her courtiers. But, instead of employing historical characters for that purpose, like Virgil, the most refined flatterer, if not the finest poet of antiquity, Spenser make? use of allegorical personages ; a choice which has contributed to consign to neglect one of the most poeti- cal compositions that genius ever produced: for the (Jescrip. tions in the Fairy Queen are generally bold and striking, or soft and captivating ; the language is nervous and degant, while the versification is harmonious and flowing. Shakespeare, the father of our drama, was more happy in his department of composition. He wandered in pursuit of universal nature. The glaqcings of his eye arc? from Heaven io earth, from earth to Heaven. We behold him, however^ breaking the barriers of all method. In the same scene, he descends from bis meridian of the noblest tragic sublimity, to puns and quibbles, to the meanest merriments of a plebeian farce. In the midst of his dignity, he resembles his own Richard II. the skipping king, whp, sometimes, discarding the state of a monarch, " Mingled his royalty with carping fo«ls." He seems not to have seen any lmpropri?ty in the most ab- rupt transitions, from dukes to buffouos, and from kio^s to idawn«. BIOGRAPHICAL SltETCHfi^. 17^ No satires, properly so ealled, were written till neap the close of the queen's reign. Pictures drawn at large of thft vices of the times, did not sait readers who loved to wander in the regions of artificial manners. The muse, like tho people, was too solemn and reserved, too ceremonious and pedantic, to stoop to common life. Satire h the poetry of a nation highly polished. During the latter part of this period, a knowledge ot music appears to have been an indispensable accomplishment in do* me&tip life. *' Being at a banquet," says Morley, " after supper was ended, and music-books were brought to table^ the mistfess of the house, according to custom, presented me with a part, earnestly intreating me to sing. After many ex. coses, I protested that I could not, when every one began t» wonder, and some whispered to others, enquiring how I had been brought up.'* Elizabeth herself performed with some skill on the lute, as well as on the virginals, an ilUshaped clumsy box, much inferior to a spinnet, both in loudnes» and sweetness. She loved also to hear loud music, and used to listen during her meals to " twelve trumpets and two ket-. tle.drums, which, together with fifes, cornets, and side-drums, made the hall ring for half an hour together..'^ CHAP, VI. filO&RAPHlCAL SKETCHES. A. O. 1547^-1603. TOHNi LELANDy the first and last antiquary royal in England, died in 155% He was bred under William Lily, and studied successively at Cambridge, Oxford, and Paris. He searched cathedrals and religious houses for cu. lious records and secrets of antiquity, in which employment be spent sii^ years, visiting every county in the kingdom. His Collectanea and Itinerary, the manuscripts of which are in the Bodleian collection, are very valuable performances. Upon the whole, he may not unjustly be styled the father of the English antiquaries. Roger Ascham, who was born in 1515, and bred at St. John's college, Cambridge, distinguished himself so highly by his excellence in the Greek and Latin tongues, that Henry VIII. and Edward VI. successively allowed him a pension ta ^ablehim to travel* In 1548, he was. appointed tutor W I 5 r 11 178 HISTORY OF GREAT. BRITAIN. Elizabeth, with whom he read most of Cicero's works, the orations of Isocrates, the plays of Sophocles, and other an- cient authors. After being employed in this honourable manner for two years, he returned to Cambridge, where he niled the office of public orator with great reputation. But His attachment to dice and cock-fighting kept him miserably ^V'\ u poverty is noticed by Buchanan, in an epigram, which has been charged with displaying more wit than friend- Ship. Ascham had the singular good fortune, that, though Known to be a protestaut, he escaped the anger of queen ^ary, and even enjoyed her favours. Elizabeth, when she iieard of his death, exclaimed, that she would rather have lost ten thousand pounds ! This was a strong testimony of the good.will of that oeconomical princess. His taleots were «o blended with activity, that he wrote for Mary, in the space of three days, letters to forty-seven persons, of whom the meanest was a cardinal. His Latin epistles have been frequently printed, and are admired by all good ludges of composition. He died in 1569. J S ^ «» Sir John Cheke, born in 1514, after being bred at St, 1 ^[^A^^l^^^' "^^^ ^^^^*^*^ ^^^^^ professor at Cambridge, in 1544, his reputation was so high, that he was appointed to be one of the tutors to prince Edward, who, being himself a surprising scholar, had the highest sense of his preceptor'! merit. After the immature death of this amiable monarch, Sir John took part with the unfortunate lady Jane Grey. AS a Protestant and patriot, he could not do otherwise, vvhen lady Jane was crowned, he acted as her secretary during the nine days of her reign. For this he was confined T *f^ Towner, and deprived of a great part of his property, m 1554, he was set at liberty, and went abroad, but his estate was confiscated. Some time after, he was seized at iJrussels, and conveyed to Antwerp, whence he was sent to *r^°J u^"*' ^^^'"^ committed to the Tower, where he was attended by some of the clergy, who candidly told him, that fte must either recant or go to the stake. Sir John had not fortitude for the latter, and therefore signed his abjuration, and was received into the bosom of the Catholic church, we may pity the weakness of the man ; but who can answer for himself in so trying a case ? For the present he saved ftis iiie; but who was to restore him his peace? Mortified toeyond expression, he was obliged to be present at the exa. Biination of heretics, upon almost every occasion ;— a bond- age, to a generous mind, much worst than death ! He diil BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES. 17a not long survive this extreme vexation, but died of grief, in 1557. About the same time flourished Thomas Tusser^ a plea- sant poet, as well as a good farmer, whose Georgics may be read without disgust by those who have studied the works of Hesiod, or even of the Mantuan bard. His work is entitled, " Five Hundred Points of Good Husbandry." His direc- tions are entertaining, as they shew the customs of his age ; and, from the antiquity of his diction, he may be styled the English Varro. The directions which he gives for the cul- ture of a hop-garden, are remarkably judicious, and finish thus : "The hop, for its profit, I thus do exalt, **It strengtheneth drink, and it savoreth malt, *' And, being well-brew'd, long kept it will last, " And drawing abide, if you draw not too fast." The vicissitudes of this man's life were remarkable. After acting as a chorister in the royal chapel, and at St. Paul's cathedral, he studied at Eton school and at the university of Cambridge; and, in the subsequentcourseofhislife, he became, by turns, musician, farmer, grazier, and poet. Without a tincture of careless imprudence, or vicious extravagance, this desultory character seems to have thrived in no vocation. Fuller says, that his stone, which gathered no moss^ was the stone of Sisyphus. His plough and his poetry were alike un- profitable. Sir Thomas Pope^ who died in 1558, was an eminent statesman as well as a polite scholar, and the founder of Trinity college, Oxford. Employed by Thomas Cromwell in overseeing the dissolution of religious houses, he acted with singular candour and moderation, and amassed a splen*. did fortune without staining his private character. He was not only steady, but wonderfully fortunate, if it be true, that, in the four last reigns of the Tudor dynasty, he never changed his faith, and yet retained the favour of his sove- reigns. To him the abbey at St. AI ban's owes its exemption from ruin and demolition. Mary employed him to watch over Elizabeth ; a delicate task, which he yet performed so as neither to excite suspicion in the queen, nor resentment in her sister. Sir Philip Sidnet/^ an accomplished statesman, general, and poet, was born in 1554, and died in 1586. He was employed on several ambassies by queen Elizabeth, who had a great esteem for him. He served with great reputation m. x6 180 HISTORY OF GREAT. BRITAIN. the Netherlands, with the troops sent by the queen to assist the states ; and fell in the seryice of his country. This amu able man was equally the delight of Elizabeth's court aod arm^, as his person and endowments were only equaled by his valour and humanity. After his thigh-bone had been broken by a musquet^shot^ in the agony of his wound he called for water. Some was brought to him ; but, as he was lifting it to his lips, the ghastly looks of a dying soldier struck his eye. "Take this,'» said he, holding the cup to him: " % necessity is yet greater than mine.'' He died with the resignation of a saint : and so general was the grief for his loss, that it was looked upon as a sin to appear in gay clothes at court for several months after. As a writer Sidney appears rathei; a,man of git at literature than of bright genius. His 4rcadia, ^o Highly admi^^d in that age, is nov/ little esteemed. ^ Edmund Spenser^ a celebrated poet, whose fame is im- mortalised by the Shepherd's Calendar and the Fairt/ Queen^ was born in London, and educated at Pembroke.college, Cambridge. His animated lines on Despair gained him the patronage of sir Philip Sidney, when he was appointed poet- laureate to Elizabeth; but, for some time, he only wore the barren laurel, possessing the place without the pension. The queen was so well pleased with one of his poems, that she ordered him a hundred pounds for it. "What!" said the ceconomical Burghley, « all this for a song?"—" Give him then what is reason," said the queen, who had already re- pented of her generosity. Spenser, to whom this conversa. tion had been communicated, waited for some time with pa- tience, but at length presented his petition : nor reason '* I was promised, on a time, to have reason for ray rbyiyie; ' From that time unto this season, I've received nor rhyme fS .T^e q^^^": perui^ed the sarcastic complaint, frowned on the minister, and ordered the money to be pai/1. Soop after, fortune smiled on our bard. He married a rich wife, was made secretary of Ireland, and had a large grant of land; Demo^d'& revolt, hoN^ever, proved his ruin. His planta- tions were destroyed, his house and one of his children were burned, and he was forced to flee into England. Even thither misfortune accompanied him. Sidney was no more : and Spenser, who had no other patron, is believed to have lan- guished and died in actual penury, in 1598. The following lines, in Mother Hubbard's Taicy are supposed to have eivea «ittgust to lord Burghley, * BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES. lat ^ Full little dost thou know th^vt hast not tnec^ '* What hell it is in suing long to bide j ** To speed to-day, to be put back to-morrow ; '^ To feed on hope; to pine with fear and sorrow j ♦* To have thy prince's grace, yet want her peers j *f To gain thy ^kii;ig, yet wait many year^ j ** To fret thy §pui with crosses and with cs^ye j " To eat tlyr heart with comfortless despair j " To fawn, to crouch, to wait, to ride, to run, ' ** To spend, to give, to want, to be undone," William Shakespeare^ the great poet of nature, was de* iicended of a, reputable fapiMy? at Stratford upon Avon,^ where his father cari-ied oo the wool-trade. He was born m 1564j and educa.ted at the free-school in Stratford, but was^ taken early from sphool, ^nd employed in his father's busi- ness. At seventeen years of ^ge he married, and was a pa- rent before he was out o^ his mino,i;ity. Having become ac- quainted with some persons who followed the practice of deer-stealing, he was prevailed upon to engage with them iiji robbing Sir Thomas Lucy's park. The injury being repeated- that gentleman was provoked to commence a prosecution against the delinquents ; a^nd Shakespeare, in revenge, made him the subject of a ballad, which, tradition says, was pointed with so much bitterness, that he found it necessary; to quit the country. From Warwickshire he came up to London, where he ienlisted among the players ; but he never made any figure as an actor; and Mr.'Rowe says, that his highest character was the ghost in his own Haiqlet. He, therefore, directed his genius to the composition of dramatic pieces, which at first he adapted chiefly to the lower classes; but, when his performances had gained the approbation of ihe queen, and the full protection of the court, he composed more polished pieces. Soon after the accession of James I., he became a theatrical manager, and continued so for seve- ral years; till, having acquired a good fortune, he quitted the business of the stage, and spent the remainder of his days at Stratford, where he died in 1616. He was interred in the great church of that town, where a handsome monu- ment was erected for him. In 1740, another very noble one was raised to his memory in ^Westminster- Abbey, the chief expense of which was defrayed by the profits arising from the performance of his tragedy of Julius Caesar. His judge- ment in managing the incidents, selected from such historical books or romances as fell in his way, is equal to that bold- ness of inventioa which he displayed when he relied upon bit own strength. 18^ HISTORY OF GREAT- BRITAIN. COMMERCE. 183 iU In Scotland, the elegant Mart/ Stuart set a bright example to her subjects in literary attainments. Not content with light and graceful accomplishments, with which the court of Catharine de Medicis could supply her, she studied the dead languages; and, at a very early age, astonished the king and court by pronouncing an oration, composed by herself, in classical Latin. Her skill in poetry was great, and her ele- giac compositions were truly affecting. James Crichion^ a descendant from the ancient Scottish kings, of whom so many wonderful things are recorded as to have procured him the name of " The admirable Crichton," was born in Perthshire, and educated at St. Andrew's. Before he was twenty years of age, he had gone through the whole circle of the sciences, and was, besides, an accom- plished gentleman. He now began his travels, and, reach, ing Paris, challenged all the learned men to dispute with him in any art or science, and in any language, ancient or mo- cJern. When he had managed this disputation with great success, from nine in the morning till six at night, the pro- fessors presented him with a diamond.ring and a purse of gold. The next day he went to a tilting.match, and, in pre- sence of the court, gained the prize fifteen times. Thence he went to Rome, where he ably disputed in the presence of the pope and the cardinals. At Venice, he obtained a com- plete victory over the followers of Aristotle. At Mantua, in 1583, this bright but short-lived meteor was extinguished. The duke's son, who was his pupil, resenting the preference shown to the accomplished North-Briton by a lady of rank and beauty, attacked him in disguise at her door, and, having saved his own life by discovering himself, seized the sword which was presented to him by his over-awed preceptor, and brutally stabbed him. George Buchanan^ an eminent Scottish poet and historian, was born in 1506, and died in 1582. In the celebrated his- tory of his own country, he has united the force and brevity of Sal lust, with the elegance and perspicuity of Livy. His severe remarks, however, on the errors of the unfortunate Mary, raised him many foes, and are by no means laudable, as they bear the marks of self-interest, partiality, and ma- lice, against a woman in distress. Every man of taste knows with what admirable skill and genius he translated the Psalms into Latin verse. His great talents procured him the ho- nourable appointment of preceptor to James VI. of Scotland. When he was reproached with having made his majesty a pedant, " It is a wonder," said he, " that I have made so much of him." He died in more affluence than men of wit and learning commonly attain, having considerable posts in Scotland, and a pension from Elizabeth. Among the females of this period, Mrs. Margaret Roper, daughter to Sir Thomas More, was highly distinguished by her classical attainments. Mildred, the eldest daughter of Sir Anthony Cooke, was as eminent for learning as for piety and charity. His second daughter, Anne, on account of her sense and erudition,was appointed governess to Edward VI. At the age of twenty.two, she published twenty -five sermons, which she had translated from the Italian tongue. Catharine, the knight's third daughter, was celebrated for her knowledge of the Hebrew, Greek, and Latin, languages. As lady Jane Grey was one of the most unfortunate, so was she one of the most accomplished and learned women of her age : when she was sentenced to die, on the prevalence of Mary's party, because she had been proclaimed queen of England, she wrote a Greek letter to her sister, on the even- ing previous to her death. CHAP. VII. COMMERCE. A.D. 1547 1603. QUEEN Elizabeth, conscious what addition both to the strength and wealth of the nation must accrue from the extension o^' her trade, gave great encouragement both to commerce and manufactures. Her private interest and the importunity of her avaricious favourites, however, be- trayed her into the measure of granting monopolies, and of creating companies with exclusive privileges, injurious to the interest of her most industrious subjects. Before the reign of that princess, the English sovereigns usually had recourse to the city of Antwerp for voluntary loans ; and their credit was so low, that, besides paying the- high interest of ten or twelve per cent., they were obliged to make the city of London join in the security. That great and enterprising merchant. Sir Thomas Gresham, engaged the company of merchant-adventurers to grant a loan to the queen; and, as the money was regularly repaid, her credit by degrees established itself in the city, and she shook oflf her dependence on foreigners. At the same time, the mer- chants of the Hanse-towns, or trading cities of Germany, r H: 184 HISTORY OF GREAT- BRITAIN. withdrew from the Fnglish commerce, hoping that necessitr irould occasion tneir recall. This weak step only tended to <^n.,nce the Lnglish merchants, that they could carry on trade without their assistance. Having therefore built ships, they soon found the sweets of those additional profits which Sltl"7 ;"^^f "dence afforded them. The exports from ^ngland to the Hanse-towns were wool, cloth, saffron, lead, tin and cheese; while she received from them jewels^ ^ronght silks cloth of gold and silver, spices, drngsfl^en^ h^^rfu^liiru^f ^' ''^'^*"^' ""'^^ ^"^"""^^^-' *^ »^-- After the death of the czar John Basilowitz, his son Theo- ik)re revoked the patent which the English enjoyed for a monopoly of the Russian trade. When the queen remon. S T'uu ^\^ J""^^at«o». he told her ministers, that Uade which by the laws of nations ought to be common to Tai'n tr » J" ^ converted into a monopoly for the privat.^ gain of a few. So much juster notions of commerce were entertained by this barbarian than appear in the conduct of the renowned Elizabeth ! Theodore, however, continued some privileges to the English, on account of thJir being the discoTerers of the communication with his country. The trade of Turkey, which commenced about the year 1583, was immediately confined to a company by Elizabeth Before that time, the grand signor had always conS Lngland to be a province of France. In 1600, the English East.India company received its first formation, that trade being till then in the hands of the Portuguese, in consequence of their having first discovered the passage to India by the Cape of Good Hope. Factor^ islands of Amboyna, Java, and Sumatra. thP Fna^r* years after the commencement of this period, ^e English manufactures were in a state of depression, as ^rergn wares of almost all kinds had the preference. In ofJl niT "^^'t ^T^' ^" ""^^*^^' *<^ ^ 4851 strangers 9Dly 58 Scots. Ihe persecutions in France and the Low tervm^fi- ' ^^ "^^^^ commerce and manufacture, were hZli^^\''^^"'''"\ ^^ ""'' ***^" ^^^' Sir Thomas Gresham built, at his own charge, for the recepUon of merchTntT the magnificent fabric of the Exchange, whkh Z Jue^^ ^med, giving it the appell^ion of the Ro'y^l E^chanje? " MANNPRS. 185 TJie navy of this country, at the decease of the queen, consisted of forty-two vessels. None of these ships carried above forty guns; four only came up to that number; there were but two ships of a thousand tons; twenty-three were below five hundred, some were of fifty, and some even of twenty, tons ; and the whole number of guns belonging to the fleet did not exceed seven hundred and seventy-four. In those days, indeed, the naval power of our sovereigns chiefly consisted of ships hired or impressed from the merchant- service. Crown and half-crown pieces of silver became, for the first time, current money in the reign of Edward VI. The six- penny piece, too, then appeared in England. During the two first years of her active government, Eli- zabeth coined so much money, that she found herself en- abled, in 1560, to utter a proclamation, by which the bad coin was reduced to its real value. " Next to the reforma- tion of religion," says the ingenious Mr. Leake, " nothing could be more glorious or beneficial to the kingdom, than the reformation of the money." The parliament congratu* lated Elizabeth upon this event, and it makes a striking part of the laudatory inscription on her tomb at Westminster. CHAP. VIII. MAJINJIES. A.. P. 1547-r-1603. THE nobility in this age still supported, in some degree, the ancient magnificence in their hospitality, and in the number of their dependents. The queen, l^owever, found it prudent to retrench, by proclamation, their expense in the maintenance of retainers. The expense of hospitality she ia some degree encouraged, by the frequent visits she paid her nobility, and the sumptuous feasts which she received from them. The earl of lieicester gave her ^n entertainment ia Kenilworth.castle, which was extraordinary for cost a«d mag^ luficeace. Among other particulars, we a^e told that three hundred apd sixty-five hogsheads pf beer were consumed sit it. The earl bad fortified this castle, whipk contained arms for ten thousand men. The earl of Derby had two hundred and forty servants. Burghley, though he was fru- gal, and had no paternal estate, kept one hundred servants. He entertained the queen twelve times in his country-house, ^^ IM H ! i i! i I * I !! I! li k- i u i • 186 HISTORY OF GREAT. BRITAIN. •where she remained four or five weeks at a time. Each visit cost him two or three thousand pounds. Among the other species of luxury, that of apparel began much to increase during this age; and the queen thought proper to restrain it by proclamation. Her example was very little conformable to her edicts. As no woman was ever more desirous of making impression on the hearts of beholders, no one ever went to a grea(er extravagance in apparel, or studied more the variety and richness of her dresses. She appeared almost every day in a different habit, and tried all the several modes by which she hoped to render herself agreeable. She wai also so fond of clothes, that she could never part with any of them; and, at her death, she had in her wardrobe all the different habits (to the number of three thousand,) which she had eyer worn. Perfumed gloves, ornamented with tufts of rose-coloured silk, were so much the delight of Elizabeth, that she would always be drawn with her favourite pair, presented by the earl of Oxford, on his return from Italy. Silk stockings, too, came in with Elizabeth. Mrs. Montague (her silk- woman) having presented her with a pair of black silk stock- ings, she never afterwards wore cloth hose. Knit stockings were first introduced to the English court by William, earl of Pembroke. ' The farthingale, a Spanish petticoat, was introduced in tht reign of Philip and Mary. The handkerchiefs of the ladies were frequently wrought with gold and silver. In the old ballad of George Barnwell, It is said of Millwood, " A handkerchief she had, " All wrought with beaten gold; " Which she, to stay her trickling tears, " Before her eyes did hold." Ruffs, made of lawn and cambric, and stiffened with yel- low starch, reaching to the upper part of the head behind, were worn both by ladies and gentlemen. " When I saw queen Elizabeth," says Hentzner, " she was in her sixty-seventh year, and had in her ears two pearls with Tery rich drops. She wore false red hair, and her bosom was uncovered. She was dressed in white silk, bordered with pearls of the size of beans ; and over it was a mantle of black silk, shot with silver threads ; and, instead of a chain, ihe had an oblong collar of gold and jewels. Whenever sh« MANNERS. 187 turned her face, as she went along, every one fell down on his knees." Her father had been treated with the same de. ference. James I. suffered his courtiers to omit it. The beard, in the reign of Mary, throve abundantly. Those of bishop Gardiner and cardinal Pole, in their por- traits, are of a most uncommon size. The beard was some- times used, in the sixteenth century, as a ioothptck.case. The celebrated Huguenot, admiral Coligni, always worehii tooth-pick in his beard. ^ Among the customs of this age, there was no one mort prominent or more lasting than that of smoking tobacco. This herb reached England in 1 596, imported by the remains of sir Walter Raleigh's unfortunate settlers in Virginia. 1 he knight himself was one of its first admirers ; but, for jom* time, he observed great secrecy in his attachment, tdl tht foible was discovered by a ridiculous accident Sir Walter was enjoying his pipe in solitude, forgetful that he had or- dered his servant to attend him with a goblet of ale Tht faithful domestic suddenly entering the study, and finding, as he thought, his master's brains on ^^^^f^^T'Tif. in smoke and flame through his nostrils, did h^s utmost to extinguish the conflagration, by emptying the goblet on the knight's head; and, rushing out of the room, alarmed th. family with an account of the frightful scene he had wit- nessed. Sir Walter then made no secret of taking tobacco, and many years afterwards he smoked two pipes publicly on the scaffold. , . . a»^«. In the course of this period, theatrical representation* famished amusement to all ranks. When the regular dra. matic pieces had once gained possession of the stage, their progress was rapid. The people hailed them as mines of pleasure, and were never satiated with the ores they pro. duced. The earliest patent, for acting plays, is dated m 1574; but, in the beginning of the next century, at least fifteen licensed theatres were open to the inhabitants of Lon- don. The best plays, particularly those of Shakespeare, were acted at the Black-friars theatre, which was crowded with people of fashion. To the best places at *!;« «»?«"»' theatres, the price of admission was, as late as 1614, only one shilling; and, at the inferior ones, one K*°»y «' *'»» pence would procure decent accommodation Beforejh. exhibition began, three flourishes, or pieces of music, were played. The instruments chiefly used were trumpets, cor- sets, and hautboys. The person who spoke the prologue K.' ■;< #- £! ^^ * I » f I li| I V a I 188 HISTORY OF GREAT. BRITAIN. was ushered in by trumpets, and usually wore a long black Tel?et cloke. An epilogue was not considered as a necessary appendage to a play. Plays, in the early days of the drama, began about one in the afternoon, and generally continued about two hours. One dramatic piece composed the whole entertainment of the day. When the author sold his play to the stage, the customary price was six guineas. CHAP. IX. INCIDENTS AND CURIOUS PARTICULARS. A. D. 1547 1603. ¥N 1553, Edward VI. incorporated Bethlehem and Bride. -■• well hospitals in the metropolis, including a school for poor boys, with certain regulations, under the patronage of the corporation of London. During the heat of queen Mary's persecution, Elizabeth was in a Tery unpleasant state. Being once urged to explain her sentiments concerning the real presence, she made th« following extemporary reply : " Christ was the word that spake it, " He took the bread and brake it, " And what the word did make it, •* I do believe and take it," She was, however, under the disagreeable necessity of hear- ing mass, and submitting to confession. Bishop Gardiner had once actually procured a warrant for her death, signed by some of the privy-council ; but the queen, being informed of it, forbade the execution. Elizabeth loved the pomp of the Romish service, and re. tained, in her church-ordinances, some of those vestments which her brother Edward had dismissed : she expunged from the Litany, " From the tyranny of the bishop of Rome^ and all his detestable enormities^ Good Lord^ deliver us /" She once called out from her closet to her chaplain, in the mid. die of a sermon, to desist from condemning the sign of the cross; she openly thanked one of her divines for pleaching on behalf of the real presence; she hated th^t the clergy should marry, and, but for Cecil, would have forbidden them. On the other hand, she is said to have severely re- primanded a clergyman for placing before her, at church, a ritual ornamented with paintings of saints, and other illunil. natipDs. INCIDENTS AND CURIOUS PARTICULARS. 180 In 1576, captain Frobisher, in his pursuit of a north-west passage to Asia, fell in with the Straights which lead to Hud- son's Bay, and discovered the* western coast of Greenland. He brought with him to England a poor savage, who, uncon- scious of the advantage of civilization, pined away through regret for his native snows. . ^.j. In 1569, the Italian method of book-keepmg was taught in England by James Peele. His work, printed in the black letter? is still extant; and its instructions, though verbose, *ln TssC a supply of water was brought, by Peter Morris, a freeman of London, to the highest part of the city. He laid pipes over the tower of St. Magnus. In 1588, the Chest at Chatham was established, which, by means of a small deduction from the pay of every seaman, provides an annual allowance for such as may chance to be wounded. . , , x txr * • In 1590, Elizabeth formed an establishment at Westmin* Bter, for forty boys, in every species of classical learning. The progress of Westminster school has been steady and for- tunate. Its masters have been, and are still, as much dis- tinguished for their learning, as the ^udents for spirit and ^Vhe university of Edinburgh was founded, in 1580, by James VI., on the supplication of the magistrates ruling that metropolis ; who, with the most opulent citizens, were the benefactors and endowers, aided by donations of religu ous houses and lands. These are accordingly the sole pa* trons and visitors, though James seemed to have wished to be the sole patron, and to have it called '' K*ng James s ^^Thf Mareschal College, at Aberdeen", was foimd^fr'"'* 1594, by George, earl-mareschal, who endowed it w>th a considerable landed estate; but the expense of the building was chiefly defrayed by the town of Aberdeen. In 1589, coaches were first introduced int6 England. The hackney act passed in 1693, and hackney-coaches were increased to one thousand in 1770, and to twelve hundre* in 1801. \f. 1 1 1 t I . ',il f .f> 190 HISTORY OF GREAT. BRITAIN, BOOK VIII. CHAP. I. POLITICAL AND MILITARY HISTORY, FROM THE ACCESSION OF JAMES I., IN 1603, TO THE REVOLUTION, IN 1688. THE crown of England was never transmitted from father to son with greater tranquillity than it passed from the family of Tudor to that of Stuart. James VI. of Scotland, json of the unfortunate Mary, succeeded Elizabeth on the throne of England, by the title of James I.; and, as his he- reditary right was unquestionable, and the late queen, with her dying breath, had recognised the title of her kinsman, his accession was universally approved by all orders of the 6tate. James was not insensible to the great flow of affection which appeared in his new subjects ; and, being himself of an affectionate temper, he seems to have been in haste to make them some return of kindness and good offices. In six weeks after his entrance into the kingdom, he is computed to have bestowed knighthood on no less than two hundred and thirty-seven persons; and titles of all kinds became so common, that they were scarcely a mark of distinction. But, as the king's favours were shared oat to the Scot- tish courtiers who attended him to England, proportion, ably in greater numbers than to the English, the latter did not fail to murmur. It must, however, be owned, in justice to the new king, that he left almost all the chief offices in the hands of Elizabeth's ministers, and committed the con- duct of political concerns, both foreign and domestic, to his English subjects. Henry IV. of France, in conjunction with the United Pro- vinces, and the northern crowns, now proposed a league to depress the exorbitant povver of the house of Austria. But the genius of the English monarch not being equal to such vast enterprises, and the love of peace being his ruling pas- sion, he declined it. Amidst this tranquillity, a conspiracy was carried on to subvert the government, and to seat on the throne Arabella Stuart, the king's npar relative by the family of Lenox, aiKl descended equally from JUenry VII. The lords Grey POLITICAL AND MILITARY HISTORY. 191 and Cobham, sir Walter Raleigh, and other persons of dis- tinction and influence, were concerned in this dangerous de- sign. Cobham and Grey were pardoned, after they had laid their heads on the block; and Raleigh, having received a respite, was remanded to confinement; but Mr. Broke, and two Romish priests, suffered death for the conspiracy. It was an advantage to this monarch, at the beginning of his reign, that the courts of Rome and Spain were thought to be his enemies; and this opinion was increased by the disco- very and defeat of the gunpowder-plot. This was a scheme of the Roman-catholics to cut off, at one blow, the king, lords, and commons, at the meeting of parliament, when it was also expected that the queen and prince of Wales would be present. About ten days before the meeting, a catholic peer received a letter, which had been delivered to his ser- vant by an unknown hand, earnestly advising him not to at- tend. The nobleman, though he considered the letter as a foolish attempt to frighten and ridicule him, thought proper to lay it before the king, who, studying the contents with more attention, began to suspect some dangerous contrivance by gunpowder, and ordered all the vaults below the house of parliament to be inspected. A magistrate was therefore sent, with proper attendants, who, finding Guy Fawkes, or Vaux, before the door of the upper house, immediately seized him, and at the same time discovered in the vault thirty-six barrels of powder, which had been carefully con- cealed under faggots and piles of wood. The match, and every thing proper for setting fire to the train, were found in the pocket of Vaux, whose countenance bespoke his savage disposition, and who, after regretting that he had lost the opportunity of destroying so many heretics, made a full dis- covery. The conspirators, being seized by the country- people, confessed their guilt; and many of them suffered death in different parts of England, Notwithstanding this horrid crime, the bigoted catholics were so devoted to Gar- net, a Jesuit, one of the conspirators, that they fancied mi- racles to be wrought by bis blood; and, in Spain, he was considered as a martyr. James was much blamed for his partiality to favourites. His first was Robert Carr, a Scottish gentleman, who was created earl of Somerset. He married the countess of Essex, who had obtained a divorce from her husband, and was, with her, found guilty of poisoning sir Thomas Overbury. The king, however, pardoned them both. His next fa. ' ' \ '} n !' 'f i^ HISTORY OF GREAT-BRITAIN. touTite was George Vniiers, an English gentleman, who, xj^cm Somerset's disgrace, was adtrrttted to an unusual share of favour and familiarity With his sovereign, and created duke of Buckingham. , . t.. *.ir i^ Having formed a system of policy for attaching himself to the court of Spain, that it might assist him in recovering the palatinate, James sacrificed to that system the brave sir Walter Raleich, on a charge of having committed hostilities acrainst the Spaniards in the West-Indles. this great man, finding his fate inevitable, acted the concluding sdene of his life with great courage and resolution. Feeling the edge of the axe by vi^hich he was to be beheaded, he said. Us a sharp remedy, but a sure one for all ills." He Coolly ha- rangued the people, and, laying his head upon the block, \^ith the utmost composure, received the fatal blo\r. The king, having lost his eldest son Henry, who had an Invincible antipathy to a popish match, cast his eyes upon the infanta of Spain, as a proper wife for his son ChaTles. Ihe duke of Buckingham, who was a favourite both with the father and the ^on, availing himself of the prince's romantic humour, proposed a secret expedition to the court of Madrid, as an act of gallantry which would render him more agree- able to the infanta, and give him an opportunity of seeing her person before the irrevocable union should take place. Ihe mind of the young prince was immediately inflamed with the idea • and, in an imprudent moment of conviviality, they set out for Madrid, in disguise, with only three attendants. As they passed through Paris, they ventured to go to a ball at court, where Charles saw the princess Henrietta, whom he afterwards espoused, and who was at that time in the bloom of youth and beauty. In eleveti days after their departure from London, they arrived at Madrid, and surprised every body by a step so unusual among great princes. Ihc young prince was received by the king with every token of respect and attention, and, by his prudent demeanour, joined to his youth and advantageous figure, endeared himself to the whole iobrt. Buckingham, however, who had rendered himself odious to the Spaniards by his arrogance, dreading the influ- ence which that nation would acquire after the arrival of the infanta, used all his credit to prevent the match; and Charles, after acting a solemn farce of courtship, returned without his bride. Had it not been for the royal partiality in his favour, the earl of Bristol, then ambassador in Spain, would have brought the duke to the block. POLITICAL AND MILITARY HISTORY. 193 The opposition of the parliament to the prerogative, which James exerted, in many instances, to an unusual degree, was at this time carried to a great height, and laid the foun- dation of those fatal struggles between the crown and the people, which took place in the subsequent reign. The two parties, called Whigs and Tories^ were now formed. James died on the 27th of March, 1625, in the fifty-ninth year of his age, after a reign of twenty-two years over Eng- land. His reign over Scotland was almost of equal duration with his life. In all history, it would be difficult to find a reign less illustrious, yet more unblemished, than that of James in both kingdoms. While he imagined that he waa only maintaining his authority, he encroached on the liber- ties of his people ; and, while he endeavoured, by an exact neutrality, to acquire the good-will of all his neighbours, h« was unable to preserve fully the esteem of any. His inten. tions were just, but more adapted to the conduct of private life, than to the government of a great nation. His gene- rosity bordered on profusion, his learning on pedantry, his pacific disposition on pusillanimity, his wisdom on cunning^ , and his friendship on light fancy and boyish fondness. Charles I. was in the twenty-fifth year of his age, when he ascended the throne. His attachment to the duke of Buck, ingham was undiminished; but he would have evinced greater juiigement and patriotism, if he had withdrawn his confidence from that unworthy minister. The spirit of the people had forced the late king into a breach with Spain; but, as Charles gave some early indications of his despotic temper, the par- liament testified very little inclination to furnish him with money for carrying on the war. The king sent troops to assist the French Calviuists ; but they were so ill supported, that Rochelle was reduced to extremity, by which the protes- tantinterest received an irrecoverable blow in France. The blame of every public miscarriage was thrown upon Bucking, ham, who sheltered himself under the royal protection, till he was assassinated by one Felton, a subaltern officer, as he was ready to embark for the relief of Rochelle, which sooa after surrendered to cardinal Richelieu. The death of the duke of Buckingham did not deter Charles from his arbitrary proceedings, >vhich the English patriots, in that enlightened age, justly considered as so many acts of tyranny. He laid impositions upon trade, without the au« thority of parliament. Many of the merchants, and soma members of the house of commons, refused to pay these ar. K. 194 HISTORY OF GREAT-BRITAIN. in bitrary duties. Some of them were imprisoned, and the judges were checked for admitting them to bail. The house of commons resented this conduct by drawing up a protest, and denying admittance to the gentleman.usher of the black rod, who came to adjourn them, before it was finished. This served only to widen the breach, and the king dissolved the parliament; after which he exhibited informations against Dine of the most eminent members, among whom was the great Mr. Selden, who was as much distinguished by his love of liberty, as by his uncommon erudition. The accused members objected to the jurisdiction of the court; but their plea was over-ruled, and they were sent to prison during the king's pleasure. Every thing now operated to the prejudice of Charles. The commons would vote no supplies without some redress of the national grievances ; upon which Charles, presuming OB what had been practised in reigns when the principles of liberty were less understood, levied money upon various mono- polies, and raised taxes without the authority of parliament. About this time, a great number of the puritans, tired of the restraint they experienced in England, embarked for North.America, and there laid the foundations of a govern, ment that possessed all the liberty, both civil and religious, of which they were deprived in their native country. But at length the enemies of that sect prevailed on the king to put a stop to these emigrations. As John Hampden, John Pym, and Oliver Cromwell, were among those who were pre- vented, by an order of council, from going in some ships ■which were ready to sail, the king had afterwards full lei- sure to repent of this exercise of his authority. Not long after, John Hampden acquired, by his spirit and courage, universal popularity throughout the nation. Hav. ing been rated at twenty shillings of ship-money, for an estate which he possessed in the county of Buckingham, he re. solved, rather than tamely submit to so arbitrary an impo- sition, to risque a legal prosecution. The case was argued during twelve days, in the exchequer-chamber, before all the judges of England. Although the arguments appeared to be in favour of Hampden, a majority of the judges gave sen. tence for the crown. The intrepid patriot, however, ob- tained, by the trial, the end for which he had so generously sa- crificed his safety and quiet. The people were roused from their lethargy, and became sensible of the danger to which theit liberties were exposed. POLITICAL AND MILITARY HISTORY. 195 While the king was acting in this imprudent and arbitrary manner, an insurrection broke out in Scotland, in conse- quence of his encroachments upon the presbyterian system. A covenant was signed by all ranks of people, binding them to a rejection of the royal canons and liturgy, and to a de- fence of the national liberties ; and a considerable body of mal.contents ventured to invade England. The court en. deavoured to pacify the intruders; but tranquillity could not easily be restored. A parliament being convoked, a formi- dable opposition was organised in the house of commons. The king was constrained to grant the petition of right, and to give up the earl of Strafford to the vengeance of his adver- saries. A catholic rebellion arose in Ireland, which the people imputed to the arts of the royalists; and, to com- plete the climax of misfortune, a civil war was produced in England by the clashing pretensions of Charles and the par- liamentary leaders. The last dispute respected the com- mand of the militia, which the king refused to surrender to the two houses. When they had taken that force into their own hands, he erected, in 1642, his standard at Nottingham. In the battle of Edge.hill, neither party prevailed; but, near the close of 1643, the affairs of the royalists seemed to wear a promising aspect. A defeat, however, at Marston.Moor, greatly injured their interests; and, in 1645, the conflict at Naseby nearly decided the contest, and left the king at the mercy of his subjects. Upon the approach of Fairfax to form the siege of Oxford, the harassed monarch made his escape from that city, and threw himself into the hands of the Scottish army. Oxford surrendered in 1646; and the few remaining garrisons soon followed the example. The parliament then consulted how to get the king out of the bands of the Scots, and to send them back into their own country. After several debates about the disposal of his person, the Scots, having received 200,000/., delivered up Charles to the commissioners of the parliament of England. He was conducted to Holmby-house, and was afterwards re- moved to Hampton-court, whence he fled to the Isle of Wight. He had not been long there, before a party of Cromwell's soldiers seized him, and conveyed him first to Hurst- castle, then to Windsor, and at last to London. A court of justice was now illegally constituted: after an ex- traordinary trial, sentence of death was passed upon him ; ,aad he was beheaded before his own palace, at Whitehall) «2 I 196 HISTORY OF GREAT -BRITAIN. f on the 30th of January, 1649, in the forty-ninth year of his age, and the twenty-fourth of his reign. Charles had many virtues ; but he suffered himself to be guided by counsellors much inferior to himself in knowledge and judgement, whilst he paid too much deference to the ad- vice of his consort, who was superstitiously attached to the errors of popery. The dissolution of the monarchy in England soon followed the death of the monarch. The peers met, and sent down their votes, as usual, to the commons, who did not deign to take the least notice of them ; and, in a few days, the lower house passed a vote, abolishing the house of peers as useless and dangerous. The commons then ordered a new great seal to be engraven, on which that assembly was represented, with this legend, In the Jirst year of freedom , by God's blessing^ restored, 1649. And the forms of all public busi- ness were changed, from the king's name, to that of the keepers of the liberties of England. The confusions which overspread England after the death of Charles, and the unsettled humours of the people, were only to be controlled by the great influence, both civil and military, acquired by Oliver Cromwell.* This man, suited to the age in which he lived, and to that alone, was qualified to gain the affection and confidence of the people, by what was mean, vulgar, and ridiculous in his character, and to command their obedience by what was great, daring, and en- terprising. Familiar even to buffoonery with the meanest sentinel, he never lost his authority. Transported to a de- gree of madness with religious ecstasies, he never forgot the political purposes to which this show of piety might be ren- dered subservient ; so that, in a short time, the common, wealth, of which he was the chief conductor, found every thing composed into a seeming tranquillity. In 1649, he was sent general into Ireland, and, in about nine months, subdued almost that whole kingdom ; and leav- ing his son-in-law Ireton to complete the conquest, he re- twned to England. In 1630, he was appointed commander- in-chief of the forces of the commonwealth, and set out on his march against the Scots, who had espoused the royal cause, and placed young Charles on the throne. In 1651, he totally defeated the royalists at Worcester, when the king himself was obliged to flee. ♦ The son of a gentleman of small fortune in Huntingdonshire. POLITICAL AND MILITARY fllSTORY. 197 Numberless were the difficulties which Charles encoun- tered, in order to elude the search of his enemies. At Bos- cobel, on the borders of Staflbrdshire, he was secreted by one Penderell, a farmer; and, for his better concealment, he got up into an oak, where he sheltered himself twenty-four hours. This tree was afterwards denominated The Royal Oak; and for many years it was regarded with great vene- ration. At length, after a variety of adventures and suffer- ings, the king landed safely in Normandy. Admiral Blake, and other naval officers, now carried the terror of the English name by sea to all quarters of th« globe, while Cromwell, having little employment, began to be afraid that his services would be forgotten. He there- fore marched with about three hundred musqueteers, and dissolved the parliament, after having loaded the members with the vilest reproaches, for their tyranny, ambition, op- pression, and robbery of the public. He next annihilated the council of state, with which the executive power wa* lodged, and transferred the administration to one hundred and forty persons, whom he summoned to Whitehall. Be- ing in a short time declared lord.protector of the common^ wealth, Cromwell exercised greater power under that title than had ever been annexed to the regal dignity. He gave the command of all the forces in Scotland to general Monk^ and sent his own son, Henry, to govern Ireland. The court of Spain, having long courted in vain the friendship of the surressful usurper, applied at last to king Charles, who had removed his small court to Bruges; and that prince raised four regiments of his own subjects, whom he employed in the Spanish service. The protector sent over into Flanders six thousand men, who joined the French army under Turenne. A battle was fought, in which the Spaniards were defeated ; and Dunkirk, being soon after sur- rendered, was by agreement delivered to Cromwell. The protector, however, reaped very little satisfaction from the success of his arms abroad. The situation in which he stood at home, kept him in perpetual inquietude. Hav- ing deceived every party, he had lost the confidence of all. He was so alarmed, that he never moved a step without guards, and seldom slept above three nights together in the same chamber. Society terrified him, and solitude was not to be borne. His health sensibly declined, and he was seized with a slow fever, which terminated in his death, , ^ -^ in the sixtieth year of his age. As he had, ^' "* °^*' K 3 198 HISTORY OF GREAT-BRITAIN. when nearly speechless, expressed a wish that his son Richard might succeed him, the council immediately recognised his succession. Henry, who governed Ireland with popularity, ensured to his brother the obedience of that kingdom. Monk proclaimed him in Scotland. The army and fleet acknowledged his title. Foreign ministers paid him the usual compliments. And Richard, whose unambitious character would never had Jed him to contend for empire, was tempted to accept so rich an inheritance, which seemed to be tendered to him by uni- versal consent. But, as he wanted resolution, and possessed none of those arts which were proper to conciliate an en- thusiastic army, he soon signed his own abdication. Thus suddenly fell the family of the Cromwells. Richard continued to possess a moderate estate, and extended his peaceful and quiet life to an extreme old age. His social vir- tues, more valuable than the greatest capacity, met with a recompense more precious than noisy fame. The restoration of monarchy was effected by a general concurrence of the people, who seemed to have thought that jieither peace nor protection could be obtained, unless the ancient constitution should be established. Monk, a man of military abilities, had the sagacity to observe this change in the sentiments of the people ; and, having rendered himself absolute master of the parliament, he restored A. D. 1060. (^jj^ri^s ij^ g(.ing ijorn on the 29th of May, 1630, Charles was now thirty years of age. He was pos- sessed of a good shape, a manly figure, and a graceful air; and his whole demeanour and behaviour were well qualified to support and increase the popularity he had acquired. To a lively wit and quick comprehension, he united a just under- standing, and a general observation both of men and things. The easiest manners, the most unaffected politeness, the most engaging gaiety, accompanied his conversation and address. Even when he was known to be base and unprincipled, he did not lose the general favour. An act of indemnity was one of the first measures of Charles's government. Those who had an immediate hand in the late king's death were, however, excepted; and Cromwell, Ireton, Bradshaw, and others, now dead, were attainted, and their estates forfeited. Vane and Lambert, though not among the regicides, were also excepted. Ten only, out of twenty-eight who were tried and condemned for the murder of the king, were devoted to immediate destruction. And these were all the severities which followed such furious civil POLITICAL AND MILITARY HISTORY. 109 wars and convulsions. Charles knew and cultivated the true interest of his kingdom, till he was warped by pleasure, and immersed in indolence. He has been severely censured for selling Dunkirk to the French king for 250,000/. to supply his necessities, after he had squandered the large sums granted to him by the parliament. Among the evidences of his degeneracy as a king, may be mentioned his giving way to the popular clamour against the lord-chancellor Clarendon, as the chief adviser of the sale of Dunkirk. Though his lordship was a man of extensive knowledge and great abili- ties, and more honest in his intentions than most of his other ministers, Charles sacrificed him to the sycophants of his pleasurable hours. The great seal being taken from Claren- don, he withdrew into France, where he lived in a private manner, and survived his banishment seven years. The first Dutch war, which began in 1665, was carried on with resolution and spirit under the king's brother, the duke of York ; but Charles having misapplied the public money which had been granted for the prosecution of it, the Dutch, while a treaty of peace was depending, insulted the royal navy of England. They sailed up the river Medway, as far as Chatham, made themselves masters of Sheerness, and burned several men of war, together with a magazine full of stores. Notwithstanding this treacherous affront, Charles concluded a treaty at Breda, by which the colony of New York, in North-America, was ceded by the Dutch to the English. In 1678, the famous Titus Oates, and some others, opened a charge against the papists, of a plot to murder the king, and introduce popery. Though nothing could be more ridi- culous than some parts of their narrative, yet it was sup- ported with the utmost zeal on the part of the parliament, and the aged lord Stafford, Coleman, secretary to the duke of York, and other papists, were executed. The duke him- self was obliged to leave the country. The earl of Shaftesbury, who was at the head of the oppo- sition, urged the total exclusion of the duke from the throne : but the bill miscarried in the house of peers. All England was again in a flame. The king took measures to crush or intimidate the opponents of the court. Lord Russel, who had been remarkable for his opposition to the popish suc- cession, Algernon Sydney, and several other distinguished protestants, were tried, condemned, and suffered death. Even the city of London was intimidated into the measures 200 HISTORY OF GREAT- BRITAIN. of the court, and the duke returned in triumph to Whitehall. It was thought, however, that Charles repented of his ar- bitrary conduct, and intended to take some measures for the future quiet of his reign, when he was seized with a sud- A.D.1685 ^*^" ^^ ^^ illness, and, after languishing a few ' days, expired, in the fifty-fifth year of his age, and the twenty.fifth of his reign. He had married Catharine, infanta of Portugal, with whom he bad received a large pe- cuniary portion, besides the town and fortress of Tangier, in Africa; but he left behind him no lawful issue. The de- scendants of his natural sons and daughters are now among the most distinguished of the British nobility. On the death of Charles, the duke of York was immedi- ately proclaimed king, under the title of James II. He made himself considerably popular by an early declaration in fa- vour of the church of England. Soon after his accession, however, the duke of Monmouth, natural son of the late king, landed at Lyme, in Dorsetshire, with only eighty-three followers, and, declaring that his mother was married to Charles II., announced his intention of delivering the nation from the usurpation of James. Having raised an army in tiie wf St of England, he attacked the king's forces at Sedge- moor, near Bridgevvater ; and, had it not been for his own misconduct, and the cowardice of lord Grey, he might have been completely victorious. Though Grey and the cavalry fled in the beginning of the action, the undisciplined infantry gallantly maintained the combat for three hours. They were at length put to flight ; and thirteen hundred of them were killed in the battle and pursuit. The duke continued to flee from the field till his horse sank under him; and he was at last found lying in a ditch, covered with fern. When seized hy his enemies, he burst into tears. He wrote the most sub- missive letters to the king, and conjured him to spare the issue of a brother who had ever been attached to his interest. But James was inexorable; and the unfortunate duke wa» punished with death for his rash attempt. Had this victory been managed with prudence by James, it would have tended much to increase his authority. But the cruelty with which the revolt was punished, and the rash confidence with which this success inspired the king, led to his ruin. The savage colonel Kirk, on his first entry into Bridge water, without the least enquiry, ordered a great number of the prisoners to be executed, while he and his company should drink the king's health ; and, observing their POLITICAL AND MILITARY HISTORY. 201 feet to quiver in the agonies of death, he commanded the drums to beat, and the trumpets to sound, saying he would give them music to their dancing. About two hundred and fifty persons afterwards fell a prey to the no less savage disposition of judge Jefferies, who was appointed to try them. . /. J • James employed the most offensive measures for rendering popery the established religion of his dominions. He pre. tended to a power of dispensing with the known laws. He instituted an illegal ecclesiastical court, and openly received and admitted into his privy-council the pope's emissaries. The imprisonment of seven bishops, who presented a petition against reading his declaration for liberty of conscience, greatly alarmed even his protestant friends; and his en- croachments upon the civil and religious rights of his sub- jects were disapproved by the pope himself. In this extremity, many great men in England and Scot, land applied for relief to William, prince of Orange, a man of great abilities, and the inveterate enemy of Louis XIV., who then threatened Europe with subjugation. Accord- ingly, the prince, who was the nephew and son-in-law of James, embarked with a fleet of five hundred sail for Eng- land, avowing it to be his design to restore the church and state to their due rights. Upon his arrival, he was joined, not only by the Whigs, but by many whom James had con. sidered as his best friends. Even his daughter Anne, in- spired with protestant zeal, deserted this misguided monarch, and, with her husband, prince George of Denmark, joined the invader of her country. ,,.,*.• a Alarmed by so many proofs of a general disaffection, and not daring to repose trust in any one, James embraced the resolution of escaping into France. He sent off before-hand the queen and the infant prince, under the conduct of count Lauzun, an old favourite of the French monarch. He him- self, soon after, disappeared in the night-time, attended only by sir Edward Hales, and hastened to*a ship, which waited for him near the mouth of the Thames. But, being seized by the populace at Feversham, he returned to- Rochester, and thence to London, where he was received with accla- mations. Urged, however, by his fears, he withdrew again to Rochester, whence he privately retired to the sea-coast, and, embarking in a frigate, was transported into Picardy^ He then hastened to St. Germain's, where he was received by Louis with the highest generosity, sympathy, and regard. Ik 5 302 HISTORY OF GREAT. BRITAIN. Thus the courage and abilities of the orinre of nr,„„. seconded by surprising good fortune, effected the d;n?erari ?orLilhrfl ' f""^ f ""^-^'^ '^ «'«"« P"-«=-' suppo ed by a formidable fleet and a numerous army. The succession of ^u7eT ct- '-TT"'. i" ^^ ^^"'^^- Some advised the prince to claim it by right of conquest. A reeent with kingly power, was proposed by others R,.f o?fi !i question had been aJtaL, with' great "^aUn^LblS t I kinrbv t^o'"'-' '"'h^ house of peers, it was car e'^i fo^ bill h'v L-l T"' °"'^- ^'•^ convention then passed a bill, by which the crown was settled on the prince and TtrpHlf "llV'":,!""^ '"'' ''■'-■"istra.L'iemain d in tne printe. lo this settlement was annexed a declaration of rights in whichthe chief subjects of dispute between he king and people were finally determined. '^ The powers of the royal prerogative were more narrowly circumscrYbed EnS^;:-:!?"^"' ''-■- -^^ormVSToX ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. 203 CHAP. II. ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. A. D. 1603—1688. 'J^HE pacific reign of James I. was marked by a series of church an! the puritans Fnlced hTm to?aH a cofr'" '"! Hampton-court, on nretPn-vT „r « j- conference at Bight reconcile both n/rftc t* ''"l'"g «^P« ■»">'« wise mean, Th„ 1 ■ !, ' *''*" Prudent and politic in the conduct of^i^ouT Si^h^'h rnVt"fe"e^^ ''" /sX^rit^rtrtcnutS it-' ^"^-^^^"of^Xy dangirous,^„ a m^na rc^"" refinements are mean, and evin lous disputes" Wsat lUT'"^ "?'?"^'^ '"'» ^"^0. dignity, ^.hich they could noSherwi^^'h"^ importance and being himself enlfatedin ?he iarrThr ''T'^'^l ""*'' have recourse to contempt or^ridcile .he "^ T" '""^'^ i.ac.. Though the sSi^thTSUrSetr principal subjects of dispute, concerning the cross in bap- tism, the ring in marriage, the use of the surplice, and the bowing at the name of Jesus, were apparently frivolous. These were the mighty questions which were solemnly agi- tated, before the king and his ministers in the conference at Hampton-court, between some bishops and dignified clergy- men on the one hand, and some leaders of the puritanical party on the other. The puritans complained of a partial and unfair management of the dispute. The king, it must be confessed, from the beginning of the conference, shewed the strongest propensity to the established church, and fre- quently inculcated a maxim, which, though it has some foundation, is to be received with great limitations : No Bu shop. No King. The bishops, in their turn, were very li- beral of their praises towards the royal disputant; and the archbishop of Canterbury said, that undoubtedly his ma^ jesti/ spoke by the special assistance of God's spirit. In 1617, James attempted to establish episcopacy in Scot- land ; but the zeal of the people baffled his scheme. He must first have procured an acknowledgement of his own authority in all spiritual causes ; and nothing could be more contrary to the practice, as well as principles, of the presbyterian clergy. The ecclesiastical courts possessed the power of pronouncing excommunication. That sentence, besides the spiritual consequences supposed to follow from it, was at- tended with immediate effects of the most important nature. The person excommunicated was shunned by every one, as profane and impious. His whole estate, during his life-time, and all his moveables, for ever, were forfeited to the crown. The king, therefore, could only extort a vote from the ge- neral assembly of the kirk, for receiving certain ceremonies upon which his heart was more particularly set; namely,, kneeling at the sacrament, the private administration of it to sick persons, the confirmation of children, and the ob- servance of Christmas and other festivals. This constrained consent of the presbyterian clergy was belied by the inward sentiments of all ranks of people : even the few, over whom religious prejudices have less influence, thought national ho- nour sacrificed by a servile imitation of the modes of worship practised in England. In the reign of Charles I., when the commons of England proceeded to carry their scrutiny into his management of re- ligion, his indignation was roused, and he dissoked the par- liament. The commons, on this occasion, behaved with. k6 ',- /reednm „ f *k P""'^"'-..,The Arminians, by asserting the S "ad ' :h.T?k^"''' .""'' ^fl^^'^S^'her rationaf opi. enthusiasts ""''"*'' ''',«'»»e'»«s obnoxious to those violent III fermerfn il7l *^' ^ ' l""* "•'*'""*<» ""e highest pre. shonr the .h!^f '"'': '^''"''' Montague, and other bi- shops, the chief supporters of episcopal government were undZ^Z^ o be tainted with Arminianism. Thesame men the cou "t te:S'tt' '"/**"" '"' "-^ ^"""^hewn to themb;' and an JncnnH-,- fZ"°"'.^'''"'^''' °f P'"'^'^^ obedience, ana an unconditional submission to princes. ' lionreauirJ'd'""' '•!.'*''",'""' " ''">"« ""''"^ "^ »"?«'•''«- to which hp "^"' ^°"^°r"y *° ^""^ *"='^°' ceremonies, whnm h • T"" prompted by Laud, bishop of London ioatro'lLTauth" '■: '" of ^-"*»bury, and'^invested S uncootro led au hority over the consciences of the peoole ^rl n fcr h^"'v^r '\'^ "'^••^'' *° -''"'"^•>. S «i Tery mtle from that of the church of Home. The ouritans therefore, regarded him as the forerunner of an ichri" and catLrf Ti.' ' ".«"!f ' "' """ "P""""- H»-"g emb ced the S bv T>."" ^"!'"l'' 5^ ^'"^ *'"■ °f Devonshire w„ Stnl ^^ ^ ' *''y '^^ '"''• •changed her religion : « It is c3» ^heanswered, "because I hate to travel /„ a replTed «f^^ ■"*.«""•§ of these words being demanded, she tnak nt'l,,.! P* n'"^ that your grace and many others are ch ef nC- ' . *^* «""* ^^^"'^ y°"-" In » word. Laud's r^fo^'* Cromwell assumed the reins of government, he ttolics and episcopalians. He was most favourable to «fe ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. 205 independents. He also paid considerable attention to the millenarians, or Jifth.monarchy men^ who had great interest in the army, and whose narrow understanding and enthusi- astic temper afforded full scope for the exercise of his pious deceptions. These men, while they anxiously expected the second coming of Christ, believed that the saints, among whom they considered themselves to stand in the first class, were alone entitled to govern in the mean time. Cromwell, in conformity with this way of thinking, told them, that he had only stepped in between the living and the dead^ to keep the nation, during that interval, from becoming a prey to the common enemy. He, in a great measure, conciliated the affection of the presbyterians, by joining them in a commis- sion with some independents, to examine those who were to be admitted to benefices, and also to dispose of all the churches that were in the gift of the crown. The candidates for holy orders were no more perplexed with questions concerning their progress in Greek and Ro- man erudition, or their talent for profane arts and sciences. The chief object of scrutiny regarded their advances in grace, and the critical moment of their conversion. With the pretended saints of all denominations, Cromwell was familiar and easy. Laying aside the state of protector, which, on other occasions, he well knew how to maintain, he insinuated to them, that nothing but necessity could ever oblige him to invest himself with it. He talked spiritually to them. He sighed, he wept, he canted, he prayed. While Cromwell enjoyed the chief sway, a new sect started into notice. George Fox, a shoe-maker, believing, or pre- tending, that he was illuminated by the Holy Spirit, began to declaim againsf the corruptions of religion and the super- fluity of established ordinances, and to recommend the ut- most simplicity of worship, and a patient expectation of the influence of the divine light, which, he said, was intended to operate for the regulation of faith and practice. Robert Barclay, who was less illiterate than Fox, defended and il- lustrated these opinions; and the proselytes or converts were called Quakers, because they were thrown into tremors, under the operation of the spirit. In the reign of Charles II. great rigour and severity were exercised against the presbyterians, and all other noncon- formists to episcopacy, which was again established wUh a high hand, both in England and Scotland. James II., more imprudent and more arbitrary than his 206 HISTORY OF GREAT. BRITAIN. predecessor, sent an ambassador extraordinary to Rome, in order to make his obeisance to the pope, and to reconcile his kingdoms to the catholic communion. The pontiff, in- stead of being pleased with this forward step, concluded that a scheme, conducted with so much indiscretion, could not be successful, and treated the embassy with neglect. The only proof of complaisance which James received from the pope, was his sending a nuncio to England. Four ca- tholic bishops were publicly consecrated in the king's cha- pel, and sent out, under the title of vicars apostolical, to exercise the episcopal function in their respective dioceses. Their pastoral letters, directed to the lay-catholics of Eng- land, were printed and dispersed by the express permission of the king. The regular clergy of that communion appeared at court in the habits of their order ; and some of them were so indiscreet, as to boast that, in a little time, they hoped to walk in procession through the capital. This encourage- ment of popery soon deprived James of the crown, and in- duced a witty courtier of Louis XIV. to exclaim, *' There goes a simpleton^ who gave up three kingdoms for a mass,^^ CHAP. iir. GOVERNMENT. A. D. 1603 1688. UNDER the sway of the Stuarts, the nation began to re- cover from its long lethargy. James I., a prince ra- ther imprudent than tyrannical, drew back the vtil which bad hitherto disguised so many usurpations, and made an ostentatious display of what his predecessors had been con- tented to enjoy. He asserted, that the royal authority zeas not to be controlled, any more than that of God himself. Kings, he said, were omnipotent : and those privileges, which the people so clamorously demanded as their inheritance and birthright, were no more than an effect of the grace and to- leration of his royal ancestors. These principles, announced from the throne, and propagated from the pulpit, spread an universal alarm. A new light had risen upon the nation, through the extension of commerce and the art of printing ; and a spirit of opposition frequently displayed itself in this reign, to which the British monarchs had not, for a long time, been accustomed. The storm, which was only gathering during the reign of Jamesj began to vent itself under his successor. The gene. GOVERNMENT. • 207 ral notions of religion, by a singular concurrence, uniting with the love of liberty, the same spirit which had made an attack on the established faith, now directed itself to poli- tics ; and Charles had to cope with a whole nation put in motion, and directed by an assembly of statesmen. The compulsory loans and taxes, disguised under the name of benevolences, were declared to be contrary to law; arbitrary imprisonment, and the exercise of martial law, were abo. lished ; the court of high commission, and the star-chamber, were suppressed ; and the constitution, freed from the ap- paratus of despotic power, with which the Tudors had ob- scured It, was restored to its ancient lustre. Charles could not reconcile himself to limitations and restraints so injuri. ous, as he thought, to sovereign authority. His discourse and conduct betrayed his secret design. Distrust took pos- session of the nation. The tempest blew from every point of the compass. The constitution was rent asunder; and Charles exhibited, in his fall, an awful example to the universe. The royal authority being thus annihilated, the Eudish made fruitless attempts to substitute a republican ffovern. ment in its stead. Subjected, at first, to the power of the principal leaders in the long parliament, they saw that power expire, only to pass, without bounds, into the hands of a protector. Charles II. was therefore invited to the throne. But, as he seemed intent upon the recovery of the ancient powers of the crown, the nation resolved to take away some of the remnants of despotism. The laws against heretics were repealed ; and the habeas^corpus act, that barrier of personal safety, was established. On the death of Charles, began a reign which affords 3 most exemplary lesson both to kings and people. James II hurried away by a spirit of despotism and monkish zeal, no't only extorted from his subjects unlimited obedience, but sought to establish, on the ruins of a religion held most dear by the nation, a mode of faith which repeated acts of the le, gislature had proscribed. The people, seeing their liberty thus attacked, even in its first principles, had recourse to that remedy which reason and nature pointed out. They withdrew the allegiance which they had sworn to James, and thought themselves absolved from their oath to a king who himself disregarded the oath taken at his coronation! Ihe throne was now declared vacant, and a new line of suc- cession established, when an advantage was taken of the rare opportunity of entering into a compact between king and 208 HISTORY OF GREAT.BRITAIN. THE ARTS. i; r. i people. The revolution of 1688, therefore, is the third grand aera in the history of the English constitution. The great charter had marked out the limits within which the royal authority ought to be confined; some outworks were raised in the reign of Edward 1., but the circumvallation wa» not completed till the Revolution. 20§ CHAP. IV. LEARNING. A.D. 1603 1688. ^I^HE reign of James I. was distinguished by the labours -■- of many eminent authors, both in prose and verse, but mostly in a bad taste. The pun was common in the pulpit, and the quibble was propagated from the throne. The king's Basilicon Doron^ however, and all his speeches to parlia- ment, evince that he possessed no mean genius. But the great glory of literature, during this reign, was sir Francis Bacon. If we consider the variety of talents displayed by this man, as a public speaker, a man of business, a wit, a courtier, a companion, an author, and a philosopher, he is justly the object of our admiration. Charles I. was a good judge of writing, and was thought by some more anxious about purity of style than became a monarch. In his turbulent reign, men of vast abilities made their appearance. Then the force and compass of our lan- guage were first fully tried in the public papers of the king and parliament, and in the bold eloquence of the speeches of the two parties. Then was roused, in political and theo- logical controTersy, the vigorous genius of John Milton, which afterwards broke forth with so much lustre in the poem of Paradise Lost, unquestionably the greatest eflfort of human imagination. No poet, ancient or modern, is so sublime in his conceptions as Milton; and few have ever equaled him in boldness of description, or strength of ex- pression. Cromwell, though he has been styled a barbarian, was not insensible to literary merit. Usher, though a bishop, received a pension from him. Marvel and Milton were in his service. Waller, who was his relative, was caressed by him, and always said, that the protector was not so il- literate as people commonly imagined. He intended to have erected a college at Durham, for the benefit of the northern counties. It must, however, be confessed, that the wretched fanaticism, which so much infected the parlia- mentary party, was no less destructive of taste and science, than of all law and order. Gaiety and wit were proscribed. Human learning was generally despised. Freedom of en- quiry was detested. Cant and hypocrisy alone were encou- raged. Amidst the thick cloud of enthusiasm, which overspread the nation, during the commonwealth and protectorship, there were a few sedate philosophers, who, in the retire- ment of Oxford, cultivated their reason, and established conferences for the mutual communication of their scientific discoveries. The celebrated Boyle, and Wilkins, who was afterwards bishop of Chester, promoted these philosophical conversations. Immediately after the restoration, these men procured a patent, and, having enlarged their number, were denominated the Royal Society, But this patent was all they obtained from the king. Though Charles was a great lover of the sciences, particularly chemistry and mechanics, he animated them by his example alone, not by his bounty. His craving courtiers and mistresses engrossed his expen- diture, and left him neither money nor attention for literary merit. His contemporary, Louis XIV., far exceeded him in liberality. Besides pensions conferred on learned men throughout all Europe, his academies were directed by rules, and supported by salaries. CHAP. V. THE ARTS. A. D. 1603—1688. AGRICULTURE, for many centuries, was very imper- fectly cultivated in Britain. The sudden transitions so often mentioned by historians, from the lowest to the highest price of grain, and the prodigious inequality of its value, in different years, are sufficient proofs, that the produce de- pended on the seasons, and that art contributed very little to guard against the injuries of the heavens. Considerable improvements were now made in this beneficial art. A nume. rous catalogue might be formed of books and pamphlets, treating of husbandry, written about this time. The nation, however, was still dependent on foreigners for daily bread. Two millions sterling went out at one time for corn. It was not till the fifth year of Elizabeth, that the exportation of corn had been allowed in England ; and Camden observes^ I 210 HISTORY OF GREAT -BRITAIN. that agriculture, from that moment, received Dew life an^ vigour. Before the ci?il wars, agriculture, and also the fine arts, were favoured at court, and a good taste began to prevail in the nation, under the auspices of Charles I. Inigo Jones was superintendant of the king»s buildings. Charles, notwith- standing his narrow revenue, and his freedom from all vanity, lived in such magnificence, that he possessed twenty-four elegantly-furnished palaces. This prince was particularly fond of pictures, sometimes handled the pencil himself, and was a connoisseur in the art. The productions of foreign masters were purchased at a very high price. Their value was doubled by the emulation between Charles and Philip IV. of Spain, who were touched by the same elegant passion! Vandyke and Rubens were respected and caressed at court. In poetry. Waller, whose taste was formed under the first Charles, and who wrote during the bright«.st davs of the se- cond, was one of the chief refiners of our versification, as well as language. Lee, whose dramatic Went was great, in- troduced into blank verse that solemn pomp of sound, which was long much affected by our modern tragic poets. The pathetic Otway brought tragedy down to the level of domes- tic life, and exemplified that simplicity of expression, so well suited to the language of the tender passions. But Otway was by no means a chaste dramatist ; and the comic writers, contemporary with him, were grossly iicentions: noi was the reign of Charles II., though crowded with men of genius, the aera either of good taste or of delicate sentiments. The painters were not more chaste than the poets. Nymphs bathing, or voluptuously reposing on the verdant sod, were the common objects of the pencil. Even the female portraits of Sir Peter Lely, who was patronised by the king, are more calculated to provoke loose desire, than to impress the mind with any idea of the estimable qualities of the ladies whom they were intended to represent. CHAP. VI. BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES. A. D. 1603—1688. Walter Raleigh^ an illustrious navigator and historian, born in 1552, performed eminent services to queen Elil zabeth, particularly in the discovery of Virginia, and in the ' defeat of the Spanish Armada. He lived in prosperity and S'E I 6I0GRAPHICAL SKETCHES. 211 honour during her reign; but, on the accession of king James, he lost his interest at court, and, being accused of high-treason, was condemned to die. By the interest of his friends, however, he was reprieved, and committed prisoner to the Tower of London, where he wrote his History of the World, a work of such uncommon merit, that it procured his liberation. He then received a commission from the king, to explore the golden mines of Guiana, where his eldest son, Walter, was killed by the Spaniards. The town of St. Thomas being burned by captain Keymis in this expedi- tion, Gondomar, the Spanish ambassador, made heavy com- plaints to James ; and, in order to appease him. Sir Walter was apprehended in Devonshire, his native county, and con- demned on his former attainder ;~an instance of injustice and cruelty unparalleled in our annals. It gave the highest oflence then, and has ever since been mentioned ^ ^^ igig. with general indignation. He suffered decapita- tion with great coolness and fortitude. Lord Napier, a Scottish nobleman, who distinguished him- self by the invention of logarithms, died in 1622. He dis- covered the arithmetical rods which go by his name, and was not only an able mathematician, but a learned theologian. William Camden, who died in 1623, rendered his name immortal, by a work entitled Britannia, being a history of the ancient inhabitants of Britain, and a survey of the state of the country. In 1593, he was appointed head-master of Woetminoicr-ochool, -while he enjoyed a prebend of Salis- bury, without being in orders. Mr. Hume says, that his Life of Queen Elizabeth is " among the best historical pro- ductions which have been composed by any Englishman." Sir Francis Bacon, an able historian, and a celebrated philosopher, was born in Westminster, in 1561, being the son of the lord-keeper sir Nicholas. He was noticed when a child by queen Elizabeth, and gave such early indications of his future eminence, that she used to call him her " young lord-keeper." Being accused of bribery and corruption in the office of lord.chancellor, during the reign of James I., he was fined 40,000/., and sentenced to be confined in the Tower; but he was soon restored to liberty, had his fine re- mitted, and was summoned to the first parliament of Charles I. It must not be omitted that the greatest part of the blame attaches to his servants. Of this he was so sensible, that, during his trial, as he passed through the room where his do- mestics were sitting, when they all rose up on his entrance. I -•? 2 12 HISTORY OF GREAT-BRITAIN. he said, " Sit down, my masters, your rise hath been my fall." After his disgrace he went into retirement, where he devoted himself to his beloved studies. He died in 1626. His writ- ings are an inestimable treasure of sound wisdom ; and he has been styled the *' father of experimental philosophy." Sir Edward Coke, chief-justice of England, who died in 1634, was a very eminent lawyer. His Institutes, in four parts, are invaluable. The first part is a comment on Sir Ihomas Littleton's Tenures. He met with many changes of ^rtune; was sometimes in power, and sometimes in disgrace. He was, however, so excellent at making the best of a dis- grace, that king James used to compare him to a cat, who always fell upon her legs. Benjamm Jonson, after being a bricklayer and a soldier, acquired great celebrity as a dramatic writer, with the iudil cious aid of his friend Shakespeare. At the accession of James 1., he had the honour of preparing the device for the entertamment of the king, in his passage from the Tower to Westminster-abbey. That prince dignified him with the ap- pointment of poet-laureate ; and Charles I. raised the salary from one hundred marks to one hundred pounds. He died in 1637, in a state of poverty, produced by his extravagance. imgo Jones, a famous architect, who died in 1651, was surveyor-general of the royal works, and had the manage- ment of the masques and interludes for the entertainment of the court. This brought him into a quarrel with Ben Jon- son, his Co.adjutor, x^ho ridiculprl hJm in ihp rnmrdy nf Rar- tholomew-fair, under the name of Lantern Leatherhead. He designed the palace of Whitehall, the Banqueting.house, and Several other buildings. «» > rVillmm Harvey, physician to Charles I., discovered the circulation of the blood, and the motion of (he heart in ani- mals. This discovery made a great revolution in the medical science; and many foreign practitioners endeavoured to rob the author of his due honour, by ascribing it to other per- sons, and among the rest to Father Paul of Venice. But the right of our learned countryman has long since been fully established. He died in 1657. ^ ^ Abraham Cowley, who died in 1667, was a poet of great ingenuity and vigour of thought. "Of all authors," says Mr. Addison, '^ none ever abounded so much in wit, ac- cording to Locke's true definition of it, as Cowley." His IM-ose writings please, by the honesty and goodness which they express, and eren by their spleen and melancholy. BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES. 213 Sir John Denham, whose Cooper's Hill has been com- mended by all men of taste, died in 1668. With reference to this poem, Dr. Johnson says, that " he seems to have been the author of a species of composition that may be denomi- nated local poetry, of which the fundamental subject is some particular landscape, to be poetically described, with the ad. dition of such embellishments as may be supplied by histori- cal retrospect or incidental meditation." John Milton, in a state of poverty, blindness, disgrace, danger, and old age, composed that wonderful poem, Para^ disc Lost, which not only surpassed all the performances of his contemporaries, but all the compositions, which had flowed from his pen, during the vigour of his age, and the height of his prosperity. This circumstance is not the least remarkable of all those which attend that great genius. It is well known, that he never enjoyed during his life the re- putation which he deserved. Whitelocke talks of one Milton^ as he calls him, a blind man, who was employed in trans- lating a treaty with Sweden into Latin. These forms of ex- pression are amusing to posterity, who consider how obscure Whitelocke himself, though lord-keeper, and an ambassador, has become in comparison with Milton. He had three daugh. ters, two of whom used to read to him in eight languages though they understood none but their mother-tongue. Milton was so handsome, that at Cambridge he was called Ihe Lady of Christ's College.'' He died in 1674. Edward Hyde, earl of Clarendon, and lord-chancellor of Lngland, has immortalised his name by a history of the great rebellion. An air of probity and of goodness runs through this work ; as these qualities did in reality embellish- and ennoble the life of the author. He was afterwards, how. ever, impeached of high-treason, and fled to France, where he died in 1674. James Gregory, an eminent Scottish mathematician, who invented the reflecting telescope, the burning concaTe mirror, and the quadrature of the circle by an infinite convercinff se. nes, died in 1675. - ^ Sir Matthew Hale, a celebrated judge, was induced, though newas in his heart a royalist, to act under the republican rulers of the state, and also, under the protector Cromwell, liis integrity was acknowledged by all parties; and he was esteemed for the excellence of his private character : but his proceedings against supposed witches did uot tend to his ho- nour. His death happened in 1676. 214 HISTORY OF GREAT- BRITAIN. Dr. Isaac Barrow, who died in 1677, was an excellent divine, and mathematician. When the king advanced him to the dignity of master of Trinity College, Cambridge, his ma. jesty was pleased to say, '' he had given it to the best scholar in England." He was succeeded in the mathematical chair, which he resigned upon this appointment, by his illustrious pupil Sir Isaac Newton. Samuel Butler lived for some time, in the capacity of steward, with Sir Samuel Luke, a famous commander under Oliver Cromwell. It is thought that he intended to ridicule this knight under the character of Hudibras, It is surprising how much erudition Butler has introduced, with so good a, grace, into a work of pleasantry and humour. Hudibras is one of the most learned compositions in any language. No performance whatever abounds so much in strokes of true wit and satire. The advantage, which the royal cause re- ceived from this poem, in exposing the fanaticism and false pretences of the former parliamentary party, was prodigious. The king himself had so good a taste as to be highly pleased with the merit of the work : yet was he either so careless in his temper, or so little endowed with gratitude, that he al- lowed the author, who was a man of virtue and probity, to live in obscurity, and die in want. Butler died in 1680. Algernon Sidney, a celebrated patriot, and political wri- ter, was a violent opposer of Cromwell after he became pro- tector. He set up Marcus Brutus for his pattern, and died like him in the cause of liberty. A false accusation being brought against him for being concerned in the rye-house" plot, he was triehewn upon quitting their offices, as they retired without securing a place, pension, or reversion. On the other hand, the present procedure of the pensioned earl of Chat)iam tended to lessen that popularity of which he had before enjoyed so boundless a share. About this time peace was restored to the East-Indies by lordClive; and the company, by purchasing a grant of the revenues of Bengal and its dependencies, acquired the chief authority over three flourishing provinces. A new enemy, however, arose on the borders of the Carnatic. Hyder All, who from a common soldier had become prince of Mysore, in confederacy with the viceroy of the Decan,. declared war against the English. The council of Madras having sent troops under colonel Smith, he obtained a complete victory ; and the viceroy soon made peace with t^e English. Hyder continued the war with an appearance of animosity ; but, in 1769, peace was proposed to him, and accepted. The flame which had been for sometime kindling, between Great-Britain and her American subjects, now began lo blaze out. Some duties had been imposed, in 1767, on paper, glass, and other articles, to be paid upon their importation into America, from England. This was considered by the colonists as an invasion of their chartered rights. The gene- ral assembly came to a resolution to discontinue the use of all British manufactures, till these duties should be repealed. In this respect they were only gratified in part; for the im- post upon tea was ordered to remain, to the great disgust of the provincials, whose invectives against the arbitrary con- duct of the ministry were incessant and acrimonious. The duke of Grafton had proposed, that the Americans should be conciliated by a removal of all the late imposts ; but, being out-voted in the cabinet, and conscious also of the unpopularity which he had entailed upon himself by in- fringing the rights of the Middlesex freeholders, who insisted VB the admission of Wilkes as their representative, he resigned / / t POLITICAL AND MILITARY HISTORY. 241 -««.^ his employment, which was immediately granted A.D.177U. to lord North. Discontent and disorder continued to prevail in the colo- nial territories ; and war at length arose. The chief mal- contents met in a self-constituted congress, and voted against the claims of the parent-state. Arms and ammunition were manufactured with zeal : at I^xington, in 1775, the militia ventured to oppose the troops of the government, and Bos- ton was subjected to a blockade. When some works had been erected on Bunker's-hill, which commanded the town and harbour, general Gage sent two thousand men to assault them. After an obstinate conflict, in which the king's troops severely suffered, the Americans were driven from their post, and the works destroyed. As soon as the news of this battle reached the congress, they appointed George Washington, a gentleman of aflluent fortune in Virginia, (who had ac- quired considerable experience in the command of different bodies of the provincials during the last war,) commander, iu-chief of all the American forces. The Americans, not content with defending the thirteen provinces, made a bold attempt for the conquest of Canada : but general Montgomery, being disappointed in the hope of obtaining a considerable accession of force in that country, and not having the apparatus of a regular siege, was unabla to reduce the capital. He fell in the assault ; and the in. vaders were repelled with no small loss. In the next campaign, general Howe had an opportunity of bringing the war to a close, as far as could be judged from the great superiority of his force: but he was not suf. ficiently active and diligent. He was, indeed, victorious ia the battle of Bedford, and gained possession of New- York; while earl Cornwallls over-ran New- Jersey. The members of the congress, after a declaration of independence, fled into Maryland for greater security ; and Washington, near the end of the year, had scarcely the shadow of an army. But he and his associates were not discouraged ; and, during the winter, he harassed with effect the incautious and negli. gent enemy. The incidents of the year 1777 were, in some respects, unfavourable to the republicans, over whom theking^s troops prevailed at Brandy wine and at German-town ; but, in one instance, a very important advantage was obtained by the champions of liberty. A plan was formed for the advance of an army from Canada to the southward, to co-operate M [,Hl e42 HISTORY OF GREAT.BRITAIN. lii ti » t -with Howe in a powerful attack upon the revolters. Bur- goyne undertook the expedition ; but, after many difficulties, and some fierce conflicts, his troops were obliged to surren, der to Gates and Arnold. An expedition up the north river was more successful, under Clinton and Yaughan ; the former of whom, soon after, succeeded Howe as commander* io.chief, and, evacuating Philadelphia, retreated with his army to New-York. In 1778, the French entered into an alliance with the Thirteen United Colonies ; and, as affairs wore so gloomy an aspect, the earl of Carlisle, governor Johnstone, and Mr, Eden, were sent as commissioners to treat of peace ; but the hour was past, and the terms were rejected with disdain. The war was carried on with mutual animosity; and the -whole of Georgia was reduced by the British forces. Hos* tilities now commenced with France ; and admiral Keppel engaged the French fleet. Not a ship was taken on either side ; and, some censure being passed on vice-admiral Palli- ser's conduct, he applied to Keppel for redress, which was denied. He then exhibited articles of accusation against Keppel, who was tried and acquitted; and there the farce ended. In the fourth campaign, little impression was made upon the Americans. They fought with disadvantage in East* Jersey, and were deprived of considerable territories ; but they trusted to the aid of their new allies, who soon after drew the Spaniards into the confederacy. In 1779, the combined fleets menaced Great-Britain with an invasion; but, after an idle parade before Plymouth, they retreated without the infliction of serious mischief. A French squadron, under the count d'Estaing, sailed to St. Vincent, and reduced that island, as well as Grenada: but, in an attempt which the same commander made with the American general Lincoln for the recovery of Georgia, both loss and disgrace were sustained. In the progress of the ^ar, sir Henry Clinton alarmed the Americans by the re- duction of the province of South-Carolina; and Cornwallis gained the battle of Camden : but these triumphs were inde- cisive. The ardour of freedom was unallayed ; and Wash- ington still entertained strong hopes of ultimate success. The Spanish fleet, and also that of France, were brought io action, in 1780, by admiral Rodney. He captured four ships of the line from don Joan de Langara, near Cape St Vincent; another blew up during the cugagement; aad one POLITICAL AND MILITARY HISTORY. U$ was wrecked. But, io the West-Indies, he did not equallr . prevail over M. de Guichen. ^ A new enemy now arose to harass Great-Britain. The republican party in Holland, in defiance of all the remon- strances and endeavours of the prince of Orange, clandes- tinely assisted the Americans ; and war was therefore de. Glared against the states. The fleets of th^ two nations met near the Dogger-bank, in 1781 ; and both parUes fought with equal intrepidity. An expedition was ordered for the re- duction of the Cape of Good-Hope: but the enterprise was rendered abortive by the approach of a French squadron. Eari Cornwallis continued to act with spirit in North, America. He opposed, at Guildford, a much greater force than that which he commanded, and compelled his adversa- Pies to retreat with considerable loss. He then marched into Virginia, hoping to reclaim that province to full subjection. General Washington, not being seriously molested by sir Henry Clinton, resohed to try the effect of a sudden attack upon Cornwallis. He judiciously concerted, with the count de Rochambeau, a plan of co-operation, by which the eaii and his army were surrounded at York-town, and constrain- ed to capitulate. The constant majorities in favour of the court now began to diminish, and the ministry lost ground upon every important question. At length the com. ^' ^' ^^^2. mons shook off the yoke, and declared themselves hostile to a continuance of the war. Lord North signified his inten. tion of resigning; and a complete and radical change took place. The marquis of Rockingham was appointed first lord of the treasury ; lord John Cavendish, chancellor of the exchequer; the eari of Shelburne and Mr. Fox, secre. tariesof state; Mr. Burke, paymaster of the forces; lord Umden, president of the council; the duke of Richmond master of the ordnance ; and Keppel, first lord of the ad! miralty. Measures of a pacific tendency were immediately adopted ; but the war sUll continued iu different scenes of action. Admiral Rodney, whom the new ministers intended to re- call, obtained a signal victory, near Dominica, over the count de Grasse, whose line was broken by a skilful and masterly manceuvre. Five ships of the line were taken, and one, in consequence of a furious broadside from the vessel HI which Rodney particularly acted, foundered during the engagement. m2 , ' I it 11 I r. 1 i# ' I l! I i!-i it In li ■V. b\ HI ii II II 148 HISTORY OF GREAT.BRITAIN. assembly would also have assented to the measnre, if tb« king's strong disapprobation of it had not been privately in- timated to many of the peers. His majesty apprehended that the great power and patronage, which the leaders of the coalition would derive from this bold and ambitious scheme, would render him a cipher in his own court, subject to the domineering arrogance of ministers whom he had reluctantly accepted. His interference was censured by a vote of the commons; but, being exhorted to act with spirit, he dis- missed Mr. Fox and his friends from the cabinet, and com- mitted the chief direction of affairs to Mr. Pitt, who, assisted by the lord.chancellor Thurlow, earl Gower, lord Sydney, the marquis of Carmarthen, and the duke of Richmond, prepared to oppose with vigour the formidable majority which influenced the deliberations of the lower house. For two months, the contest was warmly prosecuted ; and Mr, ■,»Q4 Pitt could not finally prevail, without aprema. A. D. 17»4. ^^^^ dissolution of the parliament. He then pro- cured a commanding superiority of votes, and fully established bis ministerial power. He regulated at his discretion the affairs of India, and attended with zeal to national concerns. His attempt to improve the connection with Ireland was de- feated by that legislative independence which the sister-king- dom had recently obtained. In his financial schemes he was more successful. His plan for the gradual reduction of the national debt, by the annual appropriation of a million of pounds sterling, allayed the fears of those who were alarmed at the enormous increase of the public debt. Willing to harmonise with France, the king concluded a commercial treaty with Louis XVI. ; but, as it did not sa- tisfy the wishes of the French nation, it was not carried into full effect. Both princes, at that time, were desirous of in- terfering in the affairs of Holland. The republican party threatened the stadtholder with a serious diminution of his power; and, if lyouis had adhered to his promise of sup- porting that faction by arms, the prince of Orange would probably have been obliged to yield. Taking advantage of the irresolution of the French king, the Prussian court sent an army into Holland, under the command of the duke of _j^- Brunswick; and Great-Britain made prepara- A. D. 17»7. ^.^^^ ^^^^ ^^^^^j ^^^ military. The speedy re- duction of Amsterdam subdued the firmness of the republi- cans, who acquiesced in an augmentation of the stadtholder's power and prerogative. Ml POLITICAL AND MILITARY HISTORY. 247 A triple alliance was now concluded by his majwty witti Prussia and Holland: but, soon after the adoption of this judicious measure, he lost, by the suspension of his faculties, the power of political judgement and discrimination. For several months, the two factions contended for the supre. macy of the state ; but, when the regential arrangements were nearly completed, the king's recovery was announced. While Mr. Pitt was exulting in the continuance of that power, which he seemed to have been on the point of losing by the visitation of God, his attention was called to the affairs of France, The great disorder of the finances of that kingdom had induced Louis to convoke a meeting of the notables^ by whom he was advised to summon a national council. He therefore assembled the nobility, clergy, and commons, and thus gave occasion for the display itqq of that zeal for liberty, which his impolitic en- couragement of the American revolt had propagated among his subjects. The popular representatives easily overpower- ed the two other branches of the legislature, and reduced the king io a state of dependence. After some years of agi^ tation and convulsion, the democratic leaders dethroned Louis, and framed a republican system. Dreading the diffu- sion of revolutionary principles, the British court took strong measures of counter-action ; and, when the deposed prince had been sacrificed to the brutal and sanguinary rage of the Jacobins, the French envoy was dismissed with indig- nation. War was now declared against Great- - Britain and Holland by the republican chiefs; ^* ^* ^^* and, on the other hand, our court endeavoured to organise a general association of the European powers for the ruin of the new government. Hostilities had previously commenced between France and Austria, to the great disadvantage of the latter ; and a Prussian army had penetrated into Cham- pagne without effect. Conde and Valenciennes were taken by the English and their associates: but the duke of York was driven from Dunkirk with disgrace ; and Toulon, which was surrendered to lord Hood, was re-taken by the French. In the progress of the war, little impression was made upon the new republicans, who were animated with extraordinary spirit by the supposed enjoyment of liberty. Robespierre, who for some time had the chief sway, gave vigour to the measures of national defence ; and, while he checked the in. trusion of foreign arms, he raged with remosseless barbarity against all who in any way opposed, or who merely ventured M 4 I 'I i' 3 it 4 •! i if 248 HISTORY OF GREAT- BRITAIN. .'^ ^ ; ; ■> I ) .1 to disapprove, his conduct and proceedings. The i»vidow and sister of Louis were put to death, as enemies of the republic ; and, in all parts of the country, murder was the order of the day. Even after the reign of terror bad ceased by the triumph of another party over the upstart tyrant, various enormities disgraced the government, and the promised bless- ings of liberty were not conceded. All the efforts of the allies could not prevent the com- plete success of the French in the Austrian Netherlands and in Holland ; nor were the restless invaders sulficiently checked in Germany, Spain, or Italy. But their naval and colonial power was greatly impaired by British valour. Lord Howe, in 1794, captured a considerable part of a fleet which dared to oppose him^ and Martinique and other islands were reduced. When the kings of Prussia and Spain had concluded peace with France, his Britannic majesty, in compliance with the popular wish, opened a negotiation ; but, when lord Malmes*. bury insisted on the restoration of the Netherlands, he was abruptly dismissed from Paris ; and the rulers of France sent an armament to invade Ireland. The attempt was baffled by tempestuous Nveather; and a descent on the coast of Wales rather amused than alarmed the nation. Th« Spaniards, being impelled to war by French influencej se- verely suffered in a naval engagement, in 1797, by the cou- rage and skill of Jervis and iNelson. By taking arms in the cause of Fraticc, the Dutch also exposed themselves to the mischiefs of maritime hostility, and were not only deftated hy Duncan, but were deprived of the Cape of Good-Hope, of their possessions in Ceylon, and of the isles of Amboyna and Band a. A mutiny among the seamen, and a rebellion in Ireland, roused all the vigour of the ministry. An increase of pay "Was allowed to the mal-content sailors; but their demands of a relaxation of discipline were treated with contempt. Many ships at the Nore were for some weeks in a state of absolute revolt, under the sway of Parker and a council of delegates: but submission was at length enforced. The Irish rebellion was of longer duration, and far more mis- chievous in its progress. Many sanguinary conflicts occurred in the summer of the year 1798; and acts oi wanton cruelty attended the occasional triumph of each party. The rebels, 'who were princlfially Romanists, the most numerous and the least favoured part of the Hibernian population, were nearly POLITICAL AND MILITARY HISTORY. ^9 overpowered, when a body of French landed to assist them. General Lake was repelled by the enemy at Castlebar; but, on the approach of the marquis Cornwallis, resistance ceased, and a general dispersion ensued. . About the same time, the unjustifiable invasion of Egypt, by the French, gave their adversaries an opportunity of establishing, beyond all competition, the maritime fame of Great-Britain. In the bay of Aboukir, Nelson attacked a fleet which had every advantage of situation, captured nine ships of the line, and destroyed others. A new war in India increased the British triumphs. Tippoo, the son of Hyder All, had been vanquished by lord Corn- wallis, in 1792, and deprived of one-half of his dominions ; but, as he was supposed to be implacably hostile to the Eng- lish, Mysore was invaded, in 1799, by general Harris, and the capital besieged. The sultan fell in the operations of defence ; and his territories were dismembered by the allied conquerors ; for the nizam of the Decan, and the Mahrattas, had joined in the fortunate enterprise. An expedition to Holland, in which the Russians co-ope- rated with the troops of our sovereign, did not meet with the desired success. The natives were not cordially disposed to accept the services of the invaders ; and, after an useless display of courage, the army purchased a safe retreat by the delivery of eight thousand prisoners without exchange. The danger of a separation of Ireland from the British so- vereignty, in consequence of the intrigues of democratic agents and revolutionists, produced, both in the cabinet and the parliament, the desire of a legislative incorporation. As the scheme was far from being agreeable to the Irish nation, all the arts of corruption were practised, with a view of se- curing a majority in the two houses; and that ^reat point was at length gained. The manly eloquence of Grattan and Ponsonby^ and the argumentative ability of Foster, were exerted in vain: the dignity of the realm was sacrificed to political expediency ; and it was ordained, that it should be represented by thirty-two peers and one hundred commoners, who should meet at Westminster, with the members for Eng- land, Wales, and Scotland. This union took place on the first day of the nineteenth century. At this time, the war, instead of givin? way tp an advan. tageous peace, was extended to the north by the caprice of Paul, the Russian potentate, who detaiaed all the British M -5 I • ■i \ t.r. II I ri ;;i 1 250 HISTORY OF GREAT. BRITAIN. Tessels in his ports, and proclaimed a renewal of the armed neutrality, by which the empress Catharine had opposed the high maritime claims of Great-Britain. The Danes and ^or^t Swedes having readily entered into his views, an armament was sent to the Baltic, to enforce their dereliction of the confederacy. Lord Nelson, not discou« raged by the formidable works and floating batteries near Copenhagen, commenced a fierce attack, and made dreadful havock. If the Danes had known that Paul was then dead^ (for he was strangled by a party of bold conspirators,) they "would not perhaps have resisted ; and they now submitted to the demands of our court, as did also the king of Sweden, and Alexander, the new Russian emperor. The French not being dislodged from Egypt by all the efforts of the Turks, a British army undertook that task. Sir Ralph Abercromby enijaged (he enemy near Alexandria, and fell, like Wolfe, in the arms of victory. Grand Cairo "Was afterwards taken; and Egypt was restored to the do« minion of the Porte. Napoleon Bonaparte, a Corsican adventurer, who had ac- quired the supreme authority in France, under the title of first consul, had repeatedly expressed a desire of peace. His overtures were rejected by Mr. Pitt and lord Grenville; but, when those ministers had retired from the cabinet, on finding the king disinclined to accede to the claims of the catholics, Mr. Addington, the succeeding premier, agreed to a negotiation, it was stipulated, in the treaty of Amiens, that A D 1805 Great- Britain should only retain Trinidad and the Dutch territories in Ceylon, restoring every other conquest; that the Capp of Good Hope should be a free port ; and that Malta (which the English had taken from the French in 1800; should be given up to its former possessors, the knights of St. John. While peace prevailed in Europe, the tranqnillity of Bri- tish India was disturbed by a new war, which seems rather to have arisen from the ambition of the superior servants of the company, than from the real encroachments or hostilities of any of the native powers. The peishwah of the Mahratta state had been humbled into submission ; bet Scindia, a po- tent chieftain, was suspected of entertaining hostile views; and the rajah of B^rar was also an object of jealousy. Great preparations were made to reduce these princes to a state of subserviency ; and, when sir Arthur WeHcidey bad triumphed POLITICAL AND MILITARY HISTORY. ^61 at Assi, and Lake had been victorious at Dehli and at Laswari, such treaties were concluded as seemed, in a great measure, to accomplish the object of the court of Calcutta. The British nation in general rejoiced at the return of peace: but a party of senators clamorously called for an immediate renewal of the war, alleging that Bonaparte, far from being idle during the suspension of arms, would take every opportunity of extending his power. They had cer* tainly some reason for this opinion ; but it did not necessa- rily follow, that the treaty ought to be immediately re- nounced or infringed on the part of the British government. Discussions and disputes quickly ensued. The ministers did not object to the expedition for the recovery of the French possessions in the island of St. Domingo ; but they complained of arbitrary encroachments and territorial seizures in Italy, of the retention of a considerable army for the purpose of enslaving the Hollanders, and of the attempts for the anni- hilation of the independence of Switzerland. As these acts of ambitious injustice tended materially to alter the relative situation of the contracting parties in the late treaty, by in- creasing the power of France, while that of Great-Britaiii remained stationary, the spirit of the agreement was supposed to be violated; and Malta was therefore retained, with a view of augmenting the resources of iGrreat.Britain. Napo- leon was inflamed with rage, when he found that his applica. tions for a surrender of that island were treated with con- tempt ; but his indignation yielded to forbearance ; and he suffered the king and his ministers to be the ostensible ag. gressors in the new war. Under the pretence of great preparations in the ports of France and Holland, the diplomatic intercourse ceased, and letters of marque were issued against the French, lon^ within fourteen months after the adjustment of the ^'^' ^^^^' definitive treaty. The first consul immediately resolved^ that all British subjects, then in the territories of the repub- lic, should suffer, in some respect, for the supposed injustice of their sovereign; and he ordered that .they should be con- fined within a certain extent of country, and be liable to farther punishment if they should attempt to escape. Ho gave directions for the equipment of a great number of gun^ boats and transports, with a view to an invasion of this island ; and, though the republican rulers had, during the former war, admitted the neutrality of Hanover, he sent an army to take possession of that electorate* M 6 Ul * •! Hi lifi ^* 252 HISTORY OF GREAT -BRITAIN. For some time after the renewal of the war, the incidents vhich attended its progress were not very remarkable. Some islands and colonial settlements were indeed taken from the French and the Dutch ; but, as it was supposed that these were mere objects of eventual restitution, such conquests made little impression upon the public. In the mean time, an alarm arose from an insurrection in Ireland, planned by Emmet and Russell, who were men of ability and the most determined spirit. The most distinguished vic- tim of seditious rage was the chief.justice Kil warden. Other loyal subjects suffered in desultory conflicts with the insur- gents : but the commotions, which did not extend far from Dublin, were speedily quelled by the vigour of the govern- ment, and the chief instigators and most active agents were capitally punished. A conspiracy had been previously de- tected in England. Colonel Despard, not thinking himself sufficiently noticed in the lavish distribution of honours and rewards, and having imbibed a strong tincture of the revolu- tionary mania, aimed at the overthrow of the existing esta- blishment, and seduced some soldiers into his schemes. The jury, satisfied with the evidence adduced against him and his confederates, pronounced verdicts of guilt ; and the colonel, with six others, suffered death. As Mr. A ddington's administration was deemed too feeble A D 1 804 ^"^ inefficient for the exigency and dangers of the crisis, Mr. Pitt was restored to ministerial power. Yet iiis exertions were not calculated to strike terror into the French, as his former efforts had served rather to pro- mote the extension of their power, than to reduce it within reasonable bounds. To repel the danger of invasion, he augmented the regular force of the kingdom ; and, with a ?iew of dividing and distracting the attention of the enemy, he endeavoured to form a grand continental confederacy* At the same time. Napoleon continued his encroachments, and strengthened his government in every possible mode. He detected a conspiracy of Georges, the Chouan leader, of the ex-generals Pichegru and Moreau ; and, on pretence of the necessity of ^tablishing his authority, for the univer- «al benefit of the nation, and the maintenance of order and security, he declared himself emperor of the French, and procured a decree of the conservative senate for the continu- ance of that dignity in his family. To give the greater weight to this assumption of a splendid title, he was anointed and crowned by the pope. POLITICAL AND MILITARY HISTORY. 253 While the new emperor was stimulating the subservient court of Madrid to join him in the war, he pre- tended to be earnestly desirous of peace, and ad- ^'^' 1805. dressed a letter to his Britannic majesty, exhorting him to desist from a hopeless contest. The king replied, that such a pacification as might not be incompatible with security and honour, was the great object of his wish ; but it would be expedient, he said, to consult some friendly powers before a promise of negotiation should be'given. Observing sym- ptoms of partiality toward the French in the conduct of the Spanish monarch, he recalled his diplomatic minister from Madrid; and, by ordering an attack upon such ships as should not submit to a search or to detention, he drew from the offended prince a declaration of war. The defiance wa» answered by our court with due spirit; and ample supplies of seamen and soldiers were readily voted by the parliament. Mr. Pitt's proposal of a systematic concert among the European powers, met only with partial acceptance. The emperor Alexander promised to concur in such an associa- tion as might check the alarming progress of Bonaparte's am- bitious tyranny ; and Francis, the Austrian potentate, de- clared his intention, as did also Gustavus IV. of Sweden, of acceding to the proposed league. But the king of Prussia,* whose numerous and well.disciplined army might have been effectively employed on this occasion, contented himself with giving a loose and indefinite promise; and the Bavarian elect- or and other German princes were more disposed to co- operate with Napoleon than to enter into the confederacy against him. The Austrians having made an irruption into Bavaria, the ruler of France complained to the senate of this act of ag- gression, and declared that he would take speedy and exem- plary vengeance for the hostile insult. He crossed the Rhine and the Danube with a great force, animated with the most sanguine hopes of victory. At Ulm he procured the surren- der of a considerable army. He intimidated Francis and his court into a retreat from Vienna; and, attacking the Aus- trians and Russians at Austerlitz, he was gratified witii a signal triumph, which enabled him to dictate the terms of peace to the unfortunate emperor, whose northern ally, being thus precluded from a vigorous prosecution of the war, reluctantly retreated to his own dominions. * Son and successor of that prince who vainly endeavoured to crusk th« revolution in France. < l| 254 HISTORY OF GREAT-BRITAIN. Ft M While the British court feelingly lamented the disastrous issue of the continental campaign, the joy of maritime suc- cess pervaded the nation. After a long search for the French and Spanish fleets, lord Nelson was gratified with an oppor. tunity of action, on the 21st of October, near Cape Trafal- gar. With twenty-seven sail of the line, he boldly engaged thirty-three ; and, instead of being doubtful of the event, he was only apprehensive that the enemy might avoid a close contest. While his flag.ship headed one column of his squa- dron, his able and intrepid associate, lord Collingwood, conducted the other to a fierce attack. When the admiral had made a vigorous impression upon two of the French ships, he was pointedly assailed by musquetry, to which he exposed himself by his forwardness and alacrity; and, to the regret of all admirers of naval skill, courage, and patri- otism, he received a mortal wound. VVhile he remained in a disabled state, (and he did not long linger in agony,) the victory was secured. Nineteen ships appeared to have been taken ; but, as it was impossible, amidst tempestuous wea- ther, to bring off every ostensible prize, orders were given by lord Collingwood for the destr;jction of those vessels which could not be secured. The result is thus stated by an historian : '* Four prizes reached Gibraltar : fifteen were de- stroy ♦d or lost; and, of the fourteen which retreated, six were wrecked, and four, in the ensuing month, were cap- tured, after a very spirited resistance, by sir Richard Strachan." For this brilliant victory, the king ordered a public thanks- giving ; and the remains of the hero were conveyed, through the city, in pompous but melancholy procession, to St, Paul's church. The gentrui loss, from the grief which it excited, seemed to be individuulised. It was felt in every bosom: it was seen in every eye : it will be remembered by every ge* neration. The national gratitude was evinced by the parlia- mentary grant of a large sum, for the purchase of an estate, intended as a perpetual accompaniment of the title. The frustration of the minister's hopes of a successful con- tinental campaign, had an injurious effect upon bis health, which had for some time been seriously impaired. He could not avoid rejoicing at the ruin of the hostile fleets ; but his joy was overpowered by the disastrous issue of the battle of Austerlitz. He died at the age of torty.six years. That zeal for liberty which he displayed in his youth was soon relaxed by the smiles of the court \ and he became as ready to sup- POLITICAL AND MILITARY HISTORY. 263 port the high claims of the prerogative, as if he had never en* listed in the ranks of opposition. He was himself disinter- ested ; but he connived at the rapacity, if not at the gross dishonesty, of public officers. He had great talents for ora- tory ; but he did not possess, in an equal degree, the pro* fundity of political wisdom. Lord Grenville, who, though a zealot for war, had co* alesced with Mr. Fox, the strenuous advocate of peace, and had refused to join Mr. Pitt on his resumption of power, be* cause his new friend was not then invited into the cabinet, was now requested by the king to form such an administra- tion as would, in his opinion, promote the public interest. Mr. Fox was re-appointed secretary of state for the foreign department : Mr. Krskine, whose hostility to the war had been equally strong, was intrusted with the great seal : lord Grenville was placed at the head of the treasury, while lord Henry Petty was declared chancellor of the exchequer; and to Mr. Grey was committed the direction of the admiralty. As the partisans of these statesmen loudly boasted of that union of talent which the new arrangements exhibited, this combination was sneeringly called, by Mr. Pitt's friends, the administration of all the talents. From Mr. Fox and his colleagues, two objects of interest- ing concern were expected by the public. One was, the commencement of a negotiation for peace; the other was, the abolition of the slave-trade. Due attention was paid to both these considerations. The former failed, in consequence of the insatiate ambition of Bonaparte; while the latter was put into a train of adjustment. The extraordinary conduct of the king of Prussia menaced Great.Britain with new hostilities. He had been persuaded to surrender Cleves and other territories to Napoleon, by whom he was encouraged to indemnify himself by a seizure of Hanover. He easily gained possession of the electorate, by the quiet retreat of all the allied troops, except the Swedes, whom he compelled to seek refuge in the duchy of Mecklenburg; and this act of violence was followed by an exclusion of all British vessels from his ports. But this storm was soon allayed. Frederic William repented of his indis- cretion ; and, being threatened with territorial spoliation, ftnd alarmed at the audacious invasion of the rights of the Germanic body by the sovereign of France, (who had formed a league of dependent states under the denomination of the Hheuish confederacy,) he resolved to oppose by arms the ilii I ] n .1 n t56 HrSTORT OF GREAT-BRITAIN. unjustifiable enterprises of that ambitious tyrant. He in* formed Alexander of his altered intentions, and requested the co-operation of that prince: but he did not wait for the arrival of a Russian army, before he made those military movements which drew Napoleon into the field. The gene- ral whom he employed was the duke of Brunswick ; and under him served the prince of Hohenlohe and Blucher, either of whom would hate better exercised the functions of com- mander in chief than the aged fayourite of the court. At Jena and Auerstadt, the French were victorious : Berlin was seized and garrisoned ; Stettin, Magdeburg, and other towns of great strength, were quickly reduced ; and ruin seemed to impend over the unfortunate Frederic. During this cam- paign, Hanover was again subjected to the French yoke. The Russians at length made their appearance, when the enemy had penetrated to the Vistula: but they could not, with all their exertions, effectually support the Prussian monarch. Consigning his late offences to oblivion, the British mini- sters declared their intention of assisting him : but they were so tardy in their movements, that he was nearly ruined while they were ostensibly making arrangements for his relief. Other objects seemed to them more worthy of attention. They directed their Tiews to South- America, to Italy, and to Turkey. When the Cape of Good Hope had been taken by an ar. mameut which Mr. Pitt had sent out, sir Home Popham, un- authorised indeed by the orders which he had received, sailed from that settlement, with a small force, to Buenos-Ayres, which he quickly reduced. Encouraged by the intelligence of this unexpected success, and dreaming of a great extension of the British trade and colonial power, the ministers sent a reinforcement to secure the acquisition, not then knowing that it was soon recovered by the Spaniards. In Italy, British troops were employed in the defence of the house of Bourbon against encroachment and usurpation. Ferdinand IV. had been deprived of the kingdom of Naples by the arms of Napoleon, who had placed his brother Joseph on the throne : but the usurper did not reign in full peac« or security, being harassed by occasional insurrections. While the C'alabrians were in arms, sir John Stuart, con- ducting some regiments from Sicily, endeavoured to support the insurgents, by attacking the French general Regnier, near Maida. With an inferior force, unaided by cavalry, he de- feated seYCQ thousand meo^ who were Tigorously assisted by POLITICAL AND MILITARY HISTORY. 257 their equestrian comrades : but this victory had no important result. Unwilling to suffer the Turks to languish in repose, the British and Russian courts, not content with undermining the French influence over the divan, concerted schemes of hostility not altogether just or honourable. But, before this determination was carried into effect, the leader of the cablo net yielded to fate. Mr. Fox did not, when he was iii power, manifest that high degree of political ability which his friends ascribed to him : but it may be alleged, that the shortness of his career, and his declining health, concurred to baffle their expecta- tions. Even his eloquence did not seeni^^so impressive, on the treasury-bench, as it had been while he presided over the ranks of opposition. Yet no unprejudiced person will deny, that he possessed the talents both of an orator and a states- man. His of&cial successor Was Mr. Grey, with whom lord Gren* Tille acted on harmonious terms, even when it was pretended that he wished to renounce all connection with those who had strenuously opposed the war. In one point they more particularly agreed. Both wished to favour the catholics; and they hoped, by their persuasive influence, to subdue the kiug^s reluctance to the encouragement of those sectaries. The new continental war was not brought to a close in one campaign ; for the kif3g of Prussia was animated, by the exhortations of the Russian emperor, to a spirited prosecu*. tion of the contest. Jn the mean time, the British court, without a striking display of policy or judgement, attended to other concerns. An exiK'dition was undertaken for the conquest of Monte- Video ; and, after a siege of eleven days, that town was taken by assault. An attempt was also made for iqo7 the re-capture of Buenos-Ayres ; but it was so ill- conducted, that the troops were compelled to retire after a severe loss ; and tlieir commander, Whitelocke, even con- sented to restore Monte- Video, and to abandon all hopes of territorial acquisition in South-America. When the Russians had invaded the dominions of the grand si^nor, and seized three provinces with little difficulty, a British fleet passed the Dardanelles, destroyed a Turkish squadron, and reached the vicinity of Constantinople. The Porte negotiated, with a view of gaining time for hostile pre- parations 'j and, when the unreasonable demands, proposed m ''VI * *l n u 958 HISTORY OF GREAT-BRITAIN. > •>'■ as the basis of an accommodation, had been rpjected with spirit, the fleet no longer advanced, but hastily retreated, to avoid the danger of ruin. Remembering the former success of the English in Egypt, the king gave orders for an invasion of that country. A de- scent was made with a small force, and Alexandria was taken 'with facility : but considerable loss was sustained in an at. tack upon Rosetta ; and the endangered invaders were con. (»trained to evacuate the Egyptian territory. When this misfortune occurred, the new minisfers had lost their power. They proposed to his majesty, not that all the claims of the catholics should be conceded, but that the highest stations in the military and na^al departments should be placed within their reach. The royal acquiescence was apparently obtained: but, in consequence of some inter, ^iews with politicians of the opposite party, who wished to promote the disgrace of all the talents, the seeming consent was revoked ; and it was alleged, that such concessions were inconsistent with the coronation.oath, as they might be in. jurious to the protestant settlement. It was therefore re. quired, on the part of a great personage, that the ministers, who had dared to suggest the adoption of so impolitic a measure, should purchase their continuance in office by signing a strong protest against the renewal of the proposi. tion. They objected to the demand, and were therefore dismissed ; and, as their public conduct had not given gene- ral satisfaction, the ensuing change was not severely repro- bated, except by their devoted partisans. The duke of Portland, who had joined Mr. Pitt amidst the alarm which that minister had studiously excited by his artful clamours against Jacobinism, now re-obtained the highest ministerial dignity : but he was as subservient to his new colleagues as he had before been to Mr. Fox. Mr. Spen- cer Perceval, who had practised at the bar with reputation, and whose fluency of speech had induced the court to be- lieve that he possessed great political and flnancial capabi-^ lities, resigned the hopes of an elevated station in the law, and accepted the post of chancellor of the exchequer. Lord Hawkesbury (son of the king's confidential friend, Mr. Charles Jenkinson) was appointed secretary of state, with lord Castlereagh, Mr. Pitt's chief agent in the accomplish- ment of the union with Ireland, and Mr. Canning, who had distinguished himself as an anti-jacobin writer. Earl Cam- den and the earl of Westmoreland did not add to this pha. POLITICAL AND MILITARY HISTORY. 25# lanx the weight of talent ; and the lord-chancellor Eldon, though he is allowed to be an able judge, is not an adept in political science. Such were the men who, with the ad- dition of lord Mulgrave, earl Bathurst, and the earl of Chatham, were selected to guide the vessel of the state amidst the storms with which it was threatened. Being disappointed in the hope of an ample majority in the house of commons, the duke and his colleagues took an early opportunity of dissolving the parliament, though new elections had taken place in the preceding autumn. They gained, by this bold step, the point at which they aimed, and secured a plenitude of power. In taking a survey of continental concerns, they saw with regret the progress of the French ; yet they did not exert themselves for the rescue of the king of Prussia from the perils in which he was in. volved. That monarch and his ally continued to oppose the powerful enemy : but, at Eyiau, the confederate troops were severely harassed, if not defeated ; and, at Friedland, they yf*re nearly overwhelmed. The discouraged princes then solicited and obtained the indulgence of an armistice ; and the treaty of Tilsit soon followed, by which Frederic was obliged to cede above a third part of his dominions, and to submit to the exercise of the most galling tyranny over the rest. Alexander even entered into a league with Napo- leon, whom he suffered to be the chief director of the afl'airs of the continent, with a proviso that he himself should oc- cupy the next station in point of power. Aware of the arbitrary views of Bonaparte, and conclude ing that the court of Copenhagen would soon be compelled to concur in his vindictive schemes against Great-Britain^ whose commerce with the continent he had lately endea- voured to ruin by a decree issued at Berlin, the king offered his protection to the Danes, on condition of the surrender of all their ships of war, of which he promised to take ho- nourable care. When he found the court unwilling to com. ply with this haughty demand, he ordered an attack of the capital ; the bombardment of which, for four days, proved so mischievously effectual, that all the ships were given up^ and brought away in triumph. The Portuguese navy, on the same pretence, would have been seized in the same man- ner, if the prince, who.governed in the name of his imbecile mother, had not consented to employ it in the conveyance of the court to Brasil, on the appearance of a French army. :'!i' a ')<' I ( I i! >J '. f >l *i 1 560 HISTORY OF GREAT- BRITAIN. The undefended realm was quickly over-run by the invaders^ who basely plundered and cruelly oppressed the people. To repel or obviate the attack upon the British commerce, the privy-council issued orders, requiring the masters of all trading-vessels, bound to France, or to any country in which the influence of Bonaparte predominated, to stop at one of our ports, and purchase, by the payment of a duty, permis. sion to prosecute the intended voyage ; and announcing, at the same time, the blockade of all the European ports from which British ships were excluded. On the other hand, all vessels which should submit to these imperious ordinances, were declared, by the ruler of France, to be denationalised^ and consequently liable to seizure. Between the great contending powers, the Austrian em- peror offered his mediation ; but it was deemed unworthy of acceptance; and, when the Russian potentate had also tes. tified a desire of restoring complete peace to Europe, the declaration was treated with contempt, because it was con- sidered as insincere. The envoys of those two princes were now recalled from England; and the king of Prussia, in consequence of the late treaty, prohibited all commercial or friendly intercourse between his subjects and those of Great- Britain. CHAP. I. concluded. THE British horizon, at the close of the year 1807, seemed to exhibit a clouded and gloomy aspect. The chief powers of Europe, over-awed by the policy and the military genius of Bonaparte, seemed content io revolve round his axis, as the satellites of a superior planet. They were readj to contribute to the humiliation, if not to the ruin, of Great- Britain, instead of aiding and supporting her exertions for a restoration of the balance of power. The king of Sweden, alone, appeared to be animated with a sincere desire of crushing the fortunate adventurer, who aimed at the subju- gation of P^urope : but his power was circumscribed within Tery narrow limits, and he could not ably or properly direct even the means and resources which he possessed. At this crisis (says an historian) '^ no immediate hopes of rescue or relief were generally entertained : yet, to the discerning few, a glimmering ray appeared in the western horizon, which POLITICAL AND MILITARY HISTORY. 261 seemed to penetrate through the gloom, and to hold out the prospect of a renovation of light." The prospect to which this writer alludes was afforded by the state of Spain. Charles IV. was a weak prince, who meanly submitted to the sway of Godoy, an ambitious up. itart, the confidential friond and favourite of his licentious queen. Napoleon, having allured this dictator of the Spa- nish cabinet into his views by a treaty for the dismember- ment of Portugal, in which kingdom the minister was to bo gratified with territorial power, s«nt an army into Spain with the ostensible view of promoting th« execution of the un. justifiable agreement. The invaders were suffered to seize some important fortresses; and the king, who was unpre. pared for resistance, was exhorted to conciliate Bonaparte by a surrender of his frontier provinces. Perplexed and confounded, he became still more unfit for action than he had long been ; and he would probably have fled from the rising storm to Mexico, Paraguay, or Peru, if the people had not insisted upon his continuance in Europe. A con. ipiracy was formed against the prince of peace, as Godoy was styled ; who, escaping the danger of assassination, was committed to prison. Charles then resigned the crown to his son Ferdinand, who did not shrink from the ^^^ burthen of royalty. The king's abdication did not suit the immediate purpose of Napoleon, who wished that the nominal authority might remain with Charles, until his own schemes should be more fully matured. lie therefore desired the father to resume his authority, and endeavoured to inveigle the son into his power. Ferdinand fell into the snare, and repaired to Ba. yonne; while Murat, Bonaparte's brother-in-law, trusting to the influence of the French army, acted as governor of the realm, in the name of Charles. His arbitrary conduct excited a riot at Madrid ; and he punished the people by a brutal massacre. Both Charles and Ferdinand afterwards resigned their pretensions, in favour of Napoleon, who, having summoned many of the Spanish nobles to Bayonne, framed a new constitution for the disordered kingdom, and gave the sovereignty to his brother Joseph. These particulars may not appear to the reader to be closely connected with the history of Great- Britain ; but, if it be considered that the convulsions of Spain furnished our court with an opportunity of glorious interposition, and that our diplomatic ministers and military commanders sub- 1 P I 'i ii f 96S HISTORY OF GREAT- BRITAIN. 31 sequentlj took the lead in the affairs of that kingdom, this introductory sketch will not be deemed irrelevant. The indignation which was excited by the injustice of Na. poleon and the barbarity of Murat, did not immediately exert itself: but, when it had been inflamed by mutual and general consultation, the chief citizens of Seville formed a junta or administrative council, proclaimed Ferdinand VII., and declared war against the French. A desire of powerful aid directed the eyes of all toward Great-Britain ; and, in consequence of applications from different provinces, useful supplies were quickly sent to the peninsula. The French were attacked with spirit ; and the zeal of patriotism was soon invigorated by partial success. A strong body of the invaders surrendered at Baylen : Valencia was bravely de, fended ; and Saragossa was maintained against a succession of furious assaults. The Portuguese realm, in the mean time, was recovered by the rising zeal of the natives, and by the exertions of a small British army, commanded by sir Arthur Wei lesley. This gallant officer had distinguished himself in India against the Mahratta chieftains, whose power was dreaded by the company ; and he established his fame hy his campaigns in the peninsula. Hostilities also arose in the north of FiUrope, The king of Sweden, being attacked by the Russians, obtained from Great. Britain a considerable subsidy for the defence of his dominions ; and troops were likewise sent to his assistance ; but, in consequence of a misunderstanding between Gus- tavus and sir John Moore, they remained inactive, while Finland was wrested from the Swedes. As the king could not oppose the enemy with effect, he was advised by our court to agree to a peace ; but he scorned the idea of sub- mission, and resolved to continue the war, to the great disp gust of his principal subjects, who, conspiring against him, deprived him of his sovereignty, and raised his uncle to ih» throne. In the progress of the Spanish war, a supreme junta was constituted ; and such preparations were made, as seemed to indicate a determined spirit of resistance. But the French, boing greatly reinforced, wtre victorious in a series of en- gagements. Madrid, from which Joseph had tttd'in a panic, was re-taken ; and Napoleon issued orders from that city, and made a variety of regulations, as if he had been master of Spain. Kxpecting a personal attack from that potentate, ^r John Moore retreated into Gallicia, losing many of his POLITICAL AND MILITARY HISTORY. 265 men in a hasty march amidst the rigours of winter. Being encountered by Soolt at Corunna, the English lono repelled the foe; and, while they lamented the * loss of their commander, re-embarked for Britain with little molestation. Incidental misfortunes did not discourage the British mi. nistry. It was resolved in the cabinet, that the war in Spain should be prosecuted with vigour. Concluding that the French would be obliged to employ a great force in this war, the emperor Francis was again inclined to risque the event of hostilities, in the hope of fully recovering his independ- ence, and regaining the territories which he had lost in the preceding contest. It does not appear that he was insti- gated by our court to this renewal of war : but, as soon as his purpose was known, a subsidy was offered for the inyi- goration of his efforts, and readily accepted. After some actions of inferior moment, victory was resolutely disputed at Aspern and Essling; and, as it was peremptorily claimed both by the French and the Austrians, it may be presumed that it did not devolve to either party. But, at VVagram, the conflict was so decisively adverse, to the hopes of the emperor, that he was willing to procure peace by new sacri- fices. Under the pretence of occasioning such a diversion as might be favourable to the Austrians^, but principally for the destruction of a French fleet in the Schelde, a great ar. mament was sent out ; and the isle of Walcheren was re- duced, as a preparatory measure. After a long delay, it was judged hazardous to proceed up the river to the vicinity of Antwerp; and, when the climate of the island had con- siderably diminished the number of the invaders, it was abandoned as an useless conquest. On the coasts of France and Spain, many ships of the line were, in the same year, destroyed by tKe valour of British seamen, who were headed in one instance by lord Cochrane, and in the other by lord Colling ivood. In the West- Indies, Martinique was subjected to the sway of our sovereign ; and to the Spaniards such aid was afforded as enabled them to dispossess the French of the town of St. Domingo; — a service which was rewarded with the grant of commercial favours. The second campaign in the peninsula was distinguished by the exploits of sir Arthur Wellesley, who, when the French had again invaded Portugal, pursued marshal Soult over the I ' ' :'il r i! r I; I 1i I" 264 HISTORY OF GREAT- BRITAIN. Douro, and drove him into Spain, and afterwards obtained a Yietor^ at Talavera over the usurper of the Spanish throne. But this success was not improved by the desultory valour of the natives, who were not subjected to regular discipline or effective command. Yet the duke del Parque was vic- torious at Tamames; and (he garrison of Gerona did not submit before the most active and undaunted courage had been long displayed. At length the campaign terminated to the advantage of the enemy, who, at Ocana and Alba made great havock among the unfortunate patriots. ' A dissension between Mr. Canning and Jord Castlercagb chiefly on the subject of the Walcheren expedition, led to some official changes. The rival ministers having resigned their stations, and the duke of Portland being inclined to retire into private life, the earl of Liverpool (as lord Hawkes- bury was then styled) requested, in the king's name, the association of the lords Grenville and Grey ; and, on the refusal of those noblemen to act without a preponderating sway, Mr. Perceval was appointed first lord of the treasury*! but not before the post was vacated by the duke's death. It was the opinion of the marquis Wellesley, who had been sent to Spain to stimulate the zeal of the ruling junta, and to promote a reform both of the political and military system, that neither of the allied governments acted with that zeal and vigour which would ensure ultimate success. His remonstrances had some effect in both countries; but, even after he had been declared secretary of state, he could not obtain the assent of his colleagues to that enlarged scale ef expenditure which he recommended. The eyes of Europe were still directed to the Spanish war, which continued to exhibit a variety of features. The French particularly wished to gain possession of Andalusia; A.D. 1810. ''"*' though they easily captured Seville and other towns, they could not make themselves masters of Cadiz, in which city the junta found a safe re- treat. Granada was subdued by the enemy ; and consider, able progress was made in the reduction of otiier pro- Tinces. Yet, even in those which were apparently conquer- ed, parties of rtsolute men, headed by enferprising officers, took every opportunity of harassing the hated intruders. Ihey intercepted supplies, and cut off small detachments; and, when pursued by superior numbers, generally found the means of escape. - POLITICAL AND MILITARY HISTORY. ^65 Amidst these hostilities, the cories, or national council assembled in the isle of Leon, after such modes of election as the junta bad prescribed. Various reforms, political and civil, were voted; and arrangements were made for the establishment of general freedom : but they were not ho- noured with due accomplishment. "New attempts were made by the French, in this campaign, for the reduction of Portugal. Field-marshal Beresford had the chief command of the native troops ; and, by con- tinued attention, he brought them to a high state of disci- pline. Sir Arthur Wellesley, who was now ennobled by the title of Wellington, studiously watched the movements of the enemy, who, after the reduction of Ciudad-Rodrigo in Spain, entered Portugal, and invested Almeida, the fall of which was hastened by the accidental explosion of a quantity of ammunition. The superiority of the French force rendered it expedient for lord Wellington to retreat- but, having fixed upon a defensible station at Dusaco, he repelled every assault with such vigour and execution, that the French suffered a far greater loss than they inflicted. He then formed lines for his security, with admirable skill and efficiency ; while marshal Massena, unwilling to attack him in such a position, anxiously watched him at a respect- ful distance. In Italy, the campaign was not very active. Murat, who had acquired the sovereignty of Naples when Napoleon transferred his brother to the Spanish throne, was desirous of reducing Sicily under his yoke ; and his troops found an opportunity of landing on the island: but the native sol- diers, and their British defenders, were fully prepared to meet the invaders, who were quickly thrown into such confusion that only a part of their number had the good fortune to escape to the continent. Success, in point of colonial acquisition, continued to attend the British arms. Not only Guadaloupe was sub- dued ; but the isles of Bourbon and of France were com- pelled to submit to the masters of the sea. Amboyna made a faint resistance; and the garrison of Banda yielded to a requisition of surrender. The king, who had long been resolutely bent on a con. tinued opposition to the dangerous predominance of France" now ceased to rejoice in the occasional triumph of his arms! Lamenting the illness of Amelia, his youngest daughter! •vho, sensible of her approaching dissolution, presented t« ' '^i 'i ! l-l i •lit ' ' 266 HISTORY OF GREAT- BRITAIN. him a ring, and requested him to wear it in remembrance of her affection, he could not resist the impulse of sympathy, ^s his mind, in ail probability, was at that time weakened by the advance of age and the toils of state, the effect of the melancholy interview was that depression of spirits which led to a subversion of intellect. The ministers, thinking that this misfortune was only temporary, suflfered almost a month to elapse before they proposed, that the two houses should take measures for the prevention of anarchy or dis- order. In the mean time, as is usual in regular monarchies, the machine of government continued its course without the least disturbance. A hill of regency was at length com- pleted ; and the prince of Wales, acquiescing A. D. 1811. jjj g^jjjg restrictions with regard to the grant of the peerage and other points, which were limited to one year, began to exercise the functions of government. However disposed he might be to a change of administra- tion, the prince regent resolved, during the period of re- striction, to employ those statesmen whose conduct had met with the approbation of his royal father ; and, on the subject of a continuance of the war, he did not feel the least hesitation. Lord Wellington preserved Portugal by defensive firmness. Massena, to prevent the addition of famine to the diseases which had thinned his army, left a position in which he had long remained inactive, and retired into Spain, suffering his troops, from a spirit of revenge, to perpetrate in their pro- gross every kind of outrage and enormity. The march of Soult with a considerable army from Se- ville, to attack the defenders of Spain, led to the battle of Albuera. Both parties fought with the most impetuous courage ; and each seemed unwilling to retreat without ur- gent necessity. At length the allies prevailed at every point ; but the advantage which they gained was not very impor- tant ; and lord Wellington, after a severe loss, was obliged to relinquish the siege of Badiijoz, one of the keys of Spain. Cadiz had been subjected to a long blockade ; and, when the strictness of the investment was relaxed, the Spaniards made a bold attempt to put an end to that disgrace which hung over the seat of government. Their efforts were un- successful; and, though general Graham, who had agreed to act in concert with the native commandf-r on this occasion, triumphed at Barrosa over a great superiority of number, ^e result was of little moment. After some months of in- POLITICAL AND MILITARY HISTORY. 267 action, produced by a sense of comparative weakness, lord Wellington blockaded Ciudad-Rodrigo ; but he soon suffer- ed the enemy to xelieve that strong town, and reverted to a state of mere observation. All the vigour of the French had not yet secured to them the complete possession of the province of Catalonia, though they were masters of its capital at the beginning of the war. They now attempted to seize the- towns and fortresses which had hitherto eluded their grasp. On the acquisition of Tar- ragona they were more particularly intent; and when, after various assaults, they had forced their way into the place^ they deliberately put to death a great number of the inha- bitants, who could not escape to the British ships. la Valencia, Suchet repeatedly defeated general Blake, and captured the chief town, as well as the strong castle of Morviedro. This campaign, upon the whole, was more favourable to the French, as far as Spain was concerned, than to the pa- triotic natives : but the latter did not despair of final sue. cess ; nor were their British friends disposed to abandon the contest, as they were of opinion that the deliverance of Europe greatly depended on the issue of the war in the peninsula. The new king of Sweden was desired to send troops to the assistance of the French in Spain. He had declared war against Great-Britain, to gratify the inveterate enemy of our country; but marshal Bernadotte, who, after signalising his courage and talents in the service of France, had been chosen heir to the Swedish crown, made only a shew of hostility, and declined a compliance with the insolent de. mand of auxiliaries for the Spanish war. By the influence of Napoleon, the Russians had been placed for some years in a warlike attitude against Great. Britain : but there was little animosity on either side, and the war consequently languished. The Danes, however, were decidedly hostile, because they had reason to complain of the conduct of our court: yet they had not the means of inflicting grc^at injury. It was more within the power of the Dutch to inflict mischief: but they did not act with vigour, and they would gladly have concluded peace with this country. They were at this time deprived, by British valour, of their important colonial possessions in tho island of Java. n2 u i- i 268 HISTORY OF GREAT. BRITAIN. \l \ w ii t When the prince regent had been for one year in the pos- session of power, it was supposed that he would discard 1819 *^^ ministers who had unnecessarily restricted 'his authority ; but, when the lords Grey and Grenville had refused to join Mr. Perceval and the earl of Liverpool, he retained the same statesmen in the cabinet. They advised him to prosecute the war with Vigour ; and the influence of the court easily procured ample supplies from the parliament. The decline of trade and manufactures, consequent on the anti-neutral decrees of Bonaparte, had occasioned great discontent in Great-Britain; and loud complaints were made of the orders and regulations to which the privy-council had resorted. An inquiry was therefore ordered in both houses; and it was supposed that Mr. Percev?^ would have yielded in this instance to the wishes of his parliamentary oppo. nents : but, in the midst of the investigation, he was assassi- nated, in the lobby of the house of commons, by a discon. tented trader, named Bellingham, who had in vain applied for redress, on pretence of insults and losses sustained in Kussia. The commons voted a large sum for the support of the widow and children of the lamented minister ; and, after a fruitless negotiation between the leaders of the ca- binet and the champions of opposition, the earl of Liverpool became the principal director of the national affairs. He agreed to a revocation of the obnoxious orders, and endea- voured to promote an accommodation of all disputes with the United States of America. The search of ships for de- serters, and the obstruction given to the trade with the French, of whose commodities the Americans were the chief carriers, liad so highly offended that government and nation, that a speedy war w as expected : but it was delayed by the conciliatory measures of the British court. When the Spaniards found that all their exertions had not enabled them to exterminate or expel the invaders of their country, they peremptorily demanded a reform of the govern- ment. The administrators were therefore displaced by a vote of the cortes ; and the duke del Infantado was appointed president of a new council of regency. A constitutional code was completed ; and various abuses and grievances were rectified and redressed. But, amidst the agitations and distractions of the country^ no regular plan of effec- tual reform could be adopted. POLITICAL AND MILITARY HISTORY. 269 Lord Wellington commenced the fifth campaign with the siege of Ciudad-Rodrigo, which was attended w.th seme loss. He enforced the surrender, however, sooner than ^as generally expected, and prepared for more important enterprises. Badajoz was so bravely defended, that the tl sustained in the siege exceeded one thousand men wh.le the wounded nearly amounted to four .mes that "umber. Salamanca was afterwards reduced ; and, near that acade. mical city, the confederates signalised, by a considerable "ctory, the glorious cause in which they were engaged. On this occasion, above fifteen thousand men were kdled wounded, or captured. This s-":'-"^, ^='^/°""*i,^'^ ^^t recovery of Madrid and Seville, and by other exploits: but an abortive attempt for the reduction of the castle of Bur- aos, and the consequent necessity of a retreat, damped the ^tL^pLfe's^Vgrd'esire of subduing Spam did not pre. vent him from embarking in a still more dangerous war. He found that Alexander began to be ashamed of that mfan. ness of submission, which had for some time disgraced lum and that no farther dependence could >>e reposed on that prince's subserviency. The uneasiness which he felt at this discovery was at length absorbed in indignation ; and he resolved to convert into an open enemy the potentate who would no longer promote his ambitious schemes. Wjth the great army which he could bring into the field, collected from various parts of the continent, he did not dream of ill success, or suppose, for a moment, that an invasion of Russia would terminate in disappointment or disaster. While he was preparing for the execution of this unjust and impolitic enterprise, he amused the British court with a renewal of negotiatory ofi^ers ; but the basis, proposed by him for a treaty, did not argue that candour or sincerity which alone could tempt the prince regent to accept the As it is not necessary, in a compendium of British his. tory, to enter into a detail of the war which at this time arose to diversify the scene of hostility, it will be sufficient to observe, that the early operations of the I'rench and their associates were successful ; that they over-ran Lithu. ania, took Smolensk by assault, and, after a very sanguinary conflict at Borodino, penetrated to Moscow ; and that, to prevent the invaders from taking up their winter.quartcrs in n3 8. .1) 'm Y 470 ) II HISTORY OF GREAT.BRITAIN. that city, the soldiery aud the inhabitants set fire to it, and thus gave an appalling check to the progress of the enemy, "Who, straitened for supplies, and apprehensive of being surrounded, began to retreat from the scene of horror. The mind can scarcely picture to itself a more disastrous retreat. Intense cold, fatigue, famine, and the sword, oc- casioned the fall of many myriads of wretched victims ; but the unfeeling barbarian, who led them to their destruction, escaped in safety, and re-appeared in France with as much coolness, self-possession, and complacency, as if he had performed all the duties of a man, or had acted like a bene, ficent angel. The prince regent zealously encouraged the Russian em- peror in his present course, and formed a new league against the disturber of Europe. Frederic William, who had been so far enslaved by Napoleon as to be obliged to send an army against a friendly prince, now resolved to shake off the yoke, and to turn upon his oppressor. The emperor of Austria, who had also acted against the Russians in this campaign, was not immediately disposed to attack a power- ful prince, to whom he had condescended to give his daugh- ter in marriage: but the allies had reason to conclude, that he would soon become an efficient member of the confe- deracy. Even Bernadotte, the crown-prince of Sweden, concurred in the new alliance, in the name of Charles XIII., and promised to take the field in person against his former patron and sovereign, whose pestilent ambition he condemn^ edin the most pointed terms : yet, if fortune had not offered him the splendour of an exalted station, he would probably have been as ready to second all the enterprises of Napo- leon, as the most devoted marshal of the imperial staff. While the war raged in the north of Europe, the long- depending disputes between Great-Britain and the United States of America involved the two nations in hostilities, which were prosecuted with great acrimony, if not with extraordinary vigour. The savages were enlisted in the British cause ; and, if they sometimes acted like civilised warriors, they at other times gave a loose to their habitual barbarity. It could not be supposed that the irritated re- publicans would refrain from loud complaints of the base malevolence of those who could stoop to the encourage- ment of such brutal associates ; but all censures and anim- adversions of this kind were treated with derision or C0Q« tempt. POLITICAL AND MILITARY HISTORY. 271 A great object, on the part of the Trans-Atlanf.c enemy, X^atthe acqu sition of Canada: but the attempts opon that proT nee were so feeble, that the governmen could not Reasonably expect, from sach efforts, any important -c«ss General Hull advanced «Uh seem.ng confidence but when he had received intelligence of the approach of the savage , . J „ .ot,oat • anil bein" overtaken by a small he commenced a retreat , anu, oein^ ovrn . • Vn-^p,.. British force, he tamely suffered himself and h.s ^ol owe.s fo be captured, instead of endeavouring to overwhelm h.s adversaries. On another occasion, a body of Amer.can m- ^aders likewise yielded, after a very short resistance, to the 2grace of captivity. The president of the congress and tho^se members who had concurred with h.m m F<^c,p.tat ng a war, consoled themselves for these disasters by some .n. stances of maritime triumph. The British ministers did not attend with zeal to the Ame. ,ican war. Their thoughts were almost wholly occupied with the affairs of Europe ; and the flattering V^o^^'^ couraged them to offer the treasures of he nation, «ith prompt liberality, to the princes who had en. ^^^ jg,3_ tered into a new confederacy. Notwithstanding the wasteful havock of the late expe. dition. Napoleon was enabled, by the terrific infiuence of desDO ism, to open another campaign with an army which KceTded th^ united amount of i:,,. disposable force of Alexander and Frederic. Yet the all-ed 1-'-- 'J.-U.ned the idea of a retreat, and resolve, without dela) , to face their enterprising enemy. On the P'^m of Lu en, m Sasonv. the fortune of war was again tried. Both armies contended with zeal and alacrity; and nearly as many fell on one side as on the other. The result was indecisive ; and at Bautzen, a still more murderous conflict ensued, m WW h neither party could justly claim the -c oj?- Aj^ armistice was then concluded; and, during that i» ^"al, th^as Utance of the Austrian emperor was o^^'t^^f ''>• ^^^ force of re.itevated persuasion. He dread.d the effect of that da igerous preponderance which the French would ac- qui e by^n eventual triumph over their present opponents, U Jnot expect that even his ^»"f ^'f- «j'^^ n^ram from treating him with the arrogance of insult and encroach, ment He therefore sent a Urge army into the field, under the command of the prince of Schwartzenberg, an officer of courage and talent, in whom he reposed full confi. dence. N 4 f * 272 HISTORY OF GREAT. BRITAIN. Here let us pause, and take a survey of the remarkabfe crisis. An usurper, whose ambition was inordinate, and whom the attainment of one object only impelled to an- other, was pressing forward to the extension of his influence over all the princes and states of the continent, entertaining at the same time the hope of an ultimate triumph over an insular nation, which had dared to rouse other powers against him. On the other side appeared (without includ- ing Great-Britain as a military auxiliary) four powers, en- Jisted and armed in the cause of national independence, ^vhich other states seemed ready to resign. It might have been supposed, that those four warlike states would be able to crush the tyrant, or at least to confine him within the limits of moderation ; but he had acquired such a high de- gree of military fame, and such a commanding influence, that he could organise a most formidable array of his own people, who seemed eager to follow him to the extremity of Europe, and could also collect with ease a great mass of dependent force, even while he was employing a very con- siderable army in the subjugation of Spain. Thus the con- test was still rendered doubtful ; and it might reasonably be conjectured, that, if he should obtain some important vic- tories in this campaign, the confederacy would be dissolved and another opportunity of concentrating such a force agiinst him might not in the course of many years occur. But, if the allies should prevail in one or more general en- gagements, there was a chance of turning the tide so vio- lently against him, that he might not be able to recover from the shock. The British court watched the contest with uncommon anxiety. Notwithstanding the alleged necessity of opposing the enemy with vigour in Spain, a considerable detachment, it was thought, might still have been spared for the exigen. cies of the war in Germany : but the ministers probably concluded, ihiit the employment of a powerful army in Spain would be equally advantageous to the common cause. Reinforcements were therefore sent to lord Wellington, who, having compelled the French to abandon the defence of the Douro, moved forward with alacrity, while they hastened in dismay toward the Ebro. He brought them to action near Vittoria, where they had taken a strong posi. tion : but no situation could secure them from defeat. King Joseph, and his military instructor Jourdan, laboured in vain to maintain their ground, and could not prevent the POLITICAL AND MILITARY HISTORY. 273 disorderly retreat of their artny. . ^J-g^^^J^-^^^^^^^^^^^^^ the slaughter was not so great as might have be«° expe^ but the discomfiture seemed to be comp ete S r J^^" ^^J ray, who commanded another army °f '»>« f "^' ^^tued the Wirt the spirit of Wellington ; 'JTf ' .*''°;,tn„ J/r'o t^ion, enemy in one instance, he was reduced, ""^""'fhad formed to the supposed necessity of retreating, after he baa the siege of Tarragona. cnccpss to pre- Lord Wellington «f^^«'"Pt^''^|; "^'^i trog«sr^ight^not pare for an invasion »f F'""'-;''- .^^"*'''',P"for of Pampe- be obstructed by the strength of *'• .^^''f ''*" °' l„tion of luna, he resolved to "^^ ^^ery exertion for the reduction one fortress, while the other was ^'"J-JJlf^J. ° ^^'^'^^'Jject Upon the posts which were connected with the la""- ""J ' the French made fierce but fruitless assaults ; »"» tn« ^^ of the besiegers at length subdued all r^^'»"">'='^ '" '^^„^°™". town and castle. The dividing rivulet was soon af er crossed Tnd h: aines'found themselves on that territory -to .v^hich since the elevation of ^onaparte no enemy had da ed t intrude. Thus (says an h.s tor.an) 'j^f J'''"%;;„ „„able French after all the r threats of invasion, had Deen o"'^ fointtct, was hurled upon them; and *.- es ab^^m "' «« !. rival warrior and a hostile army within that front.cr wnica they supposed to be sacred, proved a rankling thorn m the ^■"•^blSer^ie army in Germany notwithstanding the iuUon but, when battles had been risqued at Gros- Keren and near the Katzbach, in which success attended Sirenemies^France, a ^'^^':%^^^'^f^ ll^^^'^TJ Xl A^» vch\c\\ Naooleon occupied with a mighty lorce. xu« assa'uU proved u^isuccessful ; and the prince of Schwartzenberg assduiip»u . -popijinff the vmorous eflorts by whicJ rkt^re^dravoZl't! chastis^the boldness of the assailants. On this occasion, general Mor.au, who had ^e^^^'tca by H^-aent hopes of su^ess - |.o.. the a.U. Sv zel *^ brii:rsudd >y direSe-i by a cannon ball After an ordfrly retreat from the walls of Dresden the prince of Schwartzenberg derived, from the rashnes. of V-in- 1 „« -r^nonrfnnitv of being victorious at v^uim , auu t^pr^ce oTrwede" trlpheS at Juterbock; but much Ire [mportant success was destined to follow. Napoleou N 6 1 .: !: I»: 274 HISTORY OF GREAT- BRITAIN. \ ' vhosc activity aptitude for business, and plausible eloquence, had procured his re-admission into the cabinet, undertook the task of promoting the British interest, in that negotiation which was expected to ensue from the mutual assent of the contending princes. In the mean time, the contest approached to a decision, as far as the collision of arms could bring it to a close. The A.D. 1814. *^*^"^^^ratc troops crossed the Rhine, and menaced the French with an invasion even more formidable than that which had appalled Louis XIV., and had driven that vain-glorious prince to the verge of despair. The cool intrepidity and determined perseverance of Blucher tended to convince them of the danger to which they were exposed- and the courage and skill of the prince of Schwartzenberg pro! mised to be advantageously displayed even against the boasted talents of rhe great Nnpoleon, It was a point of policy to pretend that the allies, however fair and moderate might be their public declarations, had no other view, in th^ir invasion of France, than the dismember- ment and partition of the country, in imitation of the con- querors and oppressors of Poland; and such reports had a considerable effect in animating the French to a spirited re- sistance. Kven the conscripts, in general, though driven into the field by menace and terror, thought themselves bound in honour to support their emperor, and to assist him ^ith Zf a! in the defence of their invaded country. Napoleon thus obtained the command of a faithful and resolute army Out, as It was prevented by the late losses, and by various cir! cumstances, from being so numerous as the crisis required, be seems to have been fully sensible of the danger to which he was exposed, however he might attempt to conceal his apprehensions under the form of the most assured confidence. After some less important conflicts, he contended with Blu^ Cher at Brienne, and compelled him to retreat with loss: but, at La-Rothiere, he was attacked by the Austrian general, and constrained to retire in his turn. Instead of following the plan of the duke of Marlborough, ivho wasted several campaigns in the mere attack of for- tresses, the allied commanders boldly pressed forward to the French ca])ital, regardless of the strength of the frontier towns. The capture of the great seat of power, they thought, would put an end to the war, by enabling them to dictate the terms of peace; and they trusted for success to the magni- POLITICAL AND MILITARY HISTORY. 277 tude of their force, and to the reviving zeal of the long-de- pressed adherents of the house of Bourbon. Negotiations, however, were not neglected. The e^x\ of Aberdeen and lord Cathcart, under the direction of lord Castlereagh, treated at Chatillon with Caulincourf, though this minister had rendered himself particularly obnoxious to the allied powers by his concern in the murder of the duke d'Enghien, who, when he was taken in a neutral country, had been condemned to death by a court-martial. Plenipo. tentiaries were also employed by the Austrian, Russian, and Prussian courts; and they insisted, in such a peremptory tone, on the abandonment of the French conquests and usur. nations, that Bonaparte seemed willing to comply with the requisition: but, when Lisle and other strong towns were demanded as temporary securities for his observance of the stipulated terms, a demur arose on bis part, and the confe- rences were discontinued. Not only the friends of war, but also the advocates of peace, rejoiced at this disagreement, because even the latter were convinced of the insecurity of any pacification with Napoleon, upon whose honour no one could rely, if he thought that his interest could be promoted by perfidy. , . , Few British troops accompanied the armies of the com- bined powers in their march to Paris: but a considerable force served under sir Thomas Graham, in the Netherlands. That commander, flattering himself with the hope of reducing Bereen.op.Zoom, employed major-general Cooke in that task. He knew that it was attended with danger ; but he had little doubt of the success of his gallant troops. One column penetrated into the place by passing the harbour; but, in its progress along the ramparts, it was exposed to such a galling fire, that many of the assailants fell, and a great number were made prisoners. The other columns also suffered so severely, that Cooke, to avoid the ruin of the detachment, consented to the captivity of the survivors. The progress of the invaders of France continued to ex- cite, in an extraordinary degree, the attention of Europe. The eagerness of hope, and the anxiety of fear, alternately prevailed in the minds of all political observers. At one time, the horizon was apparently illuminated: at another, it was clouded and darkened. When the forward movements of Blucher had diftused an alarm among the French, Bonaparte attacked and repelled some of the advancing divisions; and, in one convict, the ■1, hi fw ! * ! 278 HISTORY OF G^RE AT- BRITAIN. Prussian general was reduced to the greatest danger, his In- fantry being almost surrounded by cavalry: but the major part of his force esca/ied by an union of skill and courage. The advantages obtained by the French on these occasions, and also over sopie detachments of Schwartzenberg's army seemed to give a serious check to the two commanders : but their retrograde steps were merely the effects of temporary policy, and served to amuse the hostile leader with hopes which in a great measure disarmed his caution. The re-cap- ture of some important towns elevated his spirits; and he drove BluchtT before him to Laon : but, by a rash assault upon that town, he lost a multitude of men, and encouraged rather than checked his enemies. B^ing placed between powerful armies. Napoleon found his attention so divided and distracted, that he could not make a vigorous impression upon either host. He stationed himself near the Aubo^ to prevent the renewed advance of Schwartzenberg; and, when he had been dislodged from Ar. cis, he moved to so great a distance from Paris, as to afford to his adversaries an oppoKunity of reaching that city. Aj far as they could judge while the event was still uncertain, a more fortunate conjuncture could not have occurred. At this critical time, lord Wellington was not idle or negli. gent. As soon as the decline of the inundations allowed him to take the field, he attacked various posts with success ; and, proceeding to Orthes, where marshal Soult had taken an advantageous station, he endeavoured to turn both flanks of the enemy. The different assaults were so far successful, that the French, who at first retired in good order, soou after fled with great rapidity. Valuable magazines were seized ; and, if no strong towns were reduced, hopes were at least entertained of the speedy improvement of this success, particularly after the general had received an address from the most respectable inhabitants of Bourdeaux, stating their desire of promoting the restoration of the royal family, and soliciting speedy assistance and support. Troops were im. mediately sent, for the defence of the royalists against the armed adherents of Napoleon ; and British ofiicers, without arbitrary interference, acttd for a time as masters of the city. To the memory of those who were conversant in history, this incident recalled the time when an l^nglish prince kept his court at Bourdeaux, where Richard 11. was born. The passage of the Adour, which the inhabitants of the vi- cinity deemed impracticable, was effected by the skill and POLITICAL AND MILITARY HISTORY. 279 iudeement of general Hope and admiral Penrose; and, though this success did not intimidate the garrison of Bayonne into a surrender, it gave the invaders the command of a consider, able portion of territory. The royalists now shook off the terror which had long depressed them, and began, in all parts of the country, to interchange their thoughts, and communu cate their hopes and views. A remarkable occurrence, which was not generally ex- pected, put an end to the war in Spain, while the French were still in possession of a considerable part of the kingdom. Bo- naparte, humbled by his ill-success in the last campaign, had degraded Joseph from his sovereignty, and condescended to permit the return of Ferdinand into the peninsula. He en- gaged to deliver up all the places occupied by the French ia Spain, on condition of the speedy evacuation of every part of the country by the agents and troops of Great- Britain. He acknowledged the right of Ferdinand and his heirs to the throne, insisting, at the same time, on the regular payment of a liberal annuity to Charles IV. The corles wished to ex. act, from the restored king, an oath for the observance of the new constitution; but he had no inclination to comply with such a demand. He even dissolved the assembly, and an. nulled the code. Being influenced by the advice of the ene. mies of freedom, he persecuted the very men who had strenu- ously supported his claim against all the efforts of the usurp. er ; and, regardless of the public voice, he ruled with despo. tic sway. , , In France, the grand object of the confederacy was eagerly pursued. It was suspected by many English politicians, that the emperor of Austria was not zealous in the cause, and that if any attempt should be made to dethrone Bonaparte, he would rather secede from the coalition, than deprive his daughter of the dignitv of empress of France, or his infant grandson of the eventual succession: but, by entertaining these apprehensions, they calumniated or misconceived the character of a respectable potentate. He, on the contrary, gave such instructions to the prince of Schwartzenberg, as tended to a much more satisfactory decision of the contest than would have resulted from the completion of the late negotiations. ». - xu * It was now resolved, in a councd of war, fnat the two ar. mies should advance, at such a limited distance from each other as would allow a convenience of communication., Bonaparte had marched too far to be able to return with I i ill ^1 ; S80 HISTORY OF GREAT- BRITAIN. J V' sufficient celerity to that theatre of action in which his pre.1 sence would have been most useful to hi« cause; and he wasl so inconsiderafp and infatuated, that, while he thought m was pr<'( luding the retreat of his adversaries, he was pursuing a cours<' which facilitated their success. I Wl j'e ;i large body of cavalry watched his desultory move, ments, that march, upon which such a weight of interest de. pended, was prosecuted with as much coolness and regularity as if the armies had been passing through a tranquil and friendly country. Two generals, Morh'er and Marmont remained for the defence of the metropolis; but they were not the most able officers of the school of Napoleon, norl were they so devotedly attached to him as Bertrand and some other marshals were. But, if they had been the greatest warriors of the age, they had too small a force to oppose the invaders with effect. They were therefore easily repelled* and the allies reached the vicinity of Paris. It could not be supposed that the city would be surren. dered without a blow. New works had be*-n raised for its de.| fence; and a long range of artillery threatened to destroy a multitude of the assailants, Buteven a greater display offeree would not have intimidated the intrepid champions of the in. dependence of Europe. J'hey stormed the posts with ala- crity ; and their rapid success diffused such consternation among the Parisians, that a capitulation was proposed, to prevent the ruin of the city. On the 31st of March, a con- vention was adjusted, by which the regular troops were al- lowed to retire, while the municipal guard remained ; and no injury was to be offered to the citizens. Such was the fall, and such the disgrace, of the most cor. rupt city in the modern world. So signal a triumph filled Europe with joy ; and no nation exulted more cordially on the memorable occasion than the British community, whose treasures and influence, and whose gallant example, paved the way to this very important and splendid success. The emperor Alexander and his allies were now the dic- tators of the fate of France. They did not, however, ven- ture to interfere openly in the settlement of the public af- fairs, or to recommend a particular prince or family to ge- neral approbation : but it was well known that they wished for the re-establishment of the house of Bourbon, in the per- son of that prince who had long resided in England as a pri. Tate gentleman ; and it was still more certainly known, that they would not permit the continuance of Bonaparte in th« POLITICAL AND MILITARY HISTORY. 281 sovereignty, or suffer any one to act in his name. Talley- rand, styled the prince of Benevento, was appointed by the conservative senate to administer the national affairs, with four other members of that body ; and these temporary rulers iramediately declared, that Napoleon had forfeited all right to the royal or imperial dignity in France. The next step was the formation of a new constitutional code, fa- vourable to the cause of freedom; and Louis Xavier, the exiled brother of the murdered king, was invited to fill the vacant throne. If Bonaparte, when he found, on his return from hi» wild excursion, that the allies were in possession of Paris, had been assured of the continued readiness of his troops to execute all his orders with implicit obedience, he would probably, in the emotions of rage and despair, have led his brigands to the city, and have rewarded them with all the spoils which they could collect, with a view of punishing the inhabitants for what he termed their pusillanimous and disgraceful submission to the enemy. But all the force which he could then assemble was not adequate to such an attempt; and therefore, after giving vent to his rage in com- plaints and execrations, he was induced to believe that sub- mission was the best remedy for those misfortunes which he had brought upon himself. He therefore announced to the public his abdication of the throne, and was treated by his conquerors with unexpected lenity and moderation, being escorted to Elba, and allowed to enjoy the sovereignty of that island, with a princely income. This choice of an asylum was suggested by a friend of Bonaparte, and, though it was disapproved by lord Castlereagh, was sup- ported by the Russian emperor : but a residence in the wilds of Siberia, subject to a strict surveillance^ would have been a more suitable and prudent choice. The new king, after expressing in the strongest terms his gratitude to the prince regent, embarked for Calais, and took quiet possession of the throne. He made some altera- tions, by his own authority, in the constitution which had been prepared by the committee of senators; but his ar- rangements were not subversive of public freedom. He allowed the existence of a chamber of peers and a body of popular representatives, without permitting either assembly to propose a law in the first instance. He did not wish to be arbitrary ; yet he found it necessary to restrain the licen- tiousness of a depraved population. if iv'l 111 I I I '11 !♦'• V 282 HISTORY OF GREAT- BRITAIN. Even after the surrender of Paris, hostilities were in n. nous parts continued. The garrisons of some fortresses refused to subrait to Louis; and Soult, either not informed! ♦!•! ir*"^"^ occurrences, or (as some affirm) concealing the intelligence, suffered lord Wellington to attack him near loulouse He repelled the assault which was made upon fZ K '?"i^. ^' the Spanish troops; but he could not prevent the heights on his right from being forced by sir William ..n 1 Ik''^''' ^''^'"S lallied the retreating division, also attacked the central position with success. Sir Rowland f 1^' u ^^"^f^"^^ time, dislodged the enemy from a fortified suDurb ; and the invading army established itself on three sides of the city, but not without a very severe loss. Ex. pecting that the place would be stormed, the greater part of the Frerich army retired from it in the night, leavin. sixteen hundred prisoners and valuable stores. With this conquest the war ceased in the south of France. The for- tresses in other parts were at length surrendered to the authority of Louis; but the strong towns in the Nether, lands were reserved for another sovereign, and some of them were garrisoned for a time by British troops. W n- ' f^''^ ""Z ^^""^y^ *^^ ^"§^»sh a'so interfered. Lord William Bentinck, who had for some years directed the ad. ministration of Sicily, endeavoured to obtain possession of the city and territory of Genoa. In his progress through a iDountainons country, he met with considerable opposition : and, when he reached the vicinity of the capital, he found ine enemy m the occupancy of very strong positions ; but, h2n^^ A^'c'T'^^'"''' ""^ ^ squadron, and the aid of Gala- Drian and Sicilian troops, he surmounted all obstacles, and enforced a complete surrender. About two months after the reduction of Paris, treaties were concluded by Louis with the allied powers. Whatever might be the reluctance of his people to the restitution of those territories which had been annexed to the empire since the revolution, he was willing to accede to the demands of those princes who had placed him on the throne. He there- lore engaged for the general abandonment of the country between the former French frontier and the Rhine, and for the derehction of all arbitrary influence over Germany, r ' f R*"."^? ^'Ju ^^^^y- P'^^^^^ ^^ ^»s ready acquiescence yreat-Untain liberally consented to restore all the French islands and colonial districts which had been taken during tHe war, except St. Lucia, Tobago, and the Mauritius. POLITICAL AND MILITARY HISTORY. 283 In the earlier part of the year, a treaty had been adjusted between our court and that of Copenhagen, requiring from the latter a conjunction of military and naval force with the allies, in consideration of a subsidy ; but the promised aid was unnecessary. When the Russians drew the Swedes into the grand alliance, the kingdom of Norway was offered to them as a lure, without regard to the feelings of the Danes or the Norwegians ; and Great-Britain guarantied the oifer : but the encroachment was softened by an intimation, that the province of Pomerania would be given in exchange. The king of Denmark relinquished all claim of authority over the Norwegians, and requested them to submit pa- tiently to the transfer ; but their spirit revolted from such disgrace ; and, declaring their state independent, they of- fered their crown to Christian, son of the Danish monarch. He must have been aware of the impracticability of retain- ing such a sovereignty, in defiance of a formidable confe. deracy ; yet he was willing to make the experiment. The contest was not of long duration. While British ships blockaded the ports of Norway, the king of Sweden and the crown-prince invaded the realm, and, after some un- important conflicts, they overpowered all resistance. Peace was now restored to the continent of Europe : but its permanency was, at least, problematical. Among the soldiers and the populace of France, such an attachment to the banished emperor was observable, that it was doubtful whether Louis would long reign in tranquillity. To prevent a public misrepresentation of his government and conduct, the press was restricted by a new law, which, while it gave great offence, did not preclude the eff'usions of oral calumny, or the secret correspondence of mal-conteuts and coospi. rators. Between Great-Britain and the American republic, the war still continued; and the animosity with which it was prosecuted did not reflect honour upon either party. An attempt had been made by the Russian emperor to conciliate the contending governments ; but his mediation was not ac- cepted by the prince regent. Canada was again the chief scene of action. Major- general Wilkinson, expecting an attack from the British troops, quitted his position near the frontier, and suffered his retreat to bear the aspect of flight : but his force was not seriously impaired. He soon after meditated a new in- fasion ; an attempt which only subjected him to loss and VI t.' 1 'I p 584 HISTORY OF GREAT- BRIT AIJC. disgrace. For some months, the hostilities were unimporf ant ; but, when the Americans had considerably augmented their army m the vicinity of Lake.Erie, thev reduced tie lort of that name, and menaced the post of Chippawa with an assault. An inferior force, which advanced against the! suflfered severely in the conflict, and retreated, to%void ru J Ihe subsequent advance of a division toward the cataraci ^rn^'^^T "^'1 ^"^"*^^*J w»th great danger: but the apJ proach of another corps, under general Drummond, turned P.Li'j%^!f "'* *^^ republicans, though their number greatly exceeded the amount of his brave followers. ^ ' nJ' \ ^^f;!^^"! "^^^^ not secure, even in their capital, Washington itself was not a place of strength: but the citizens hoped that the post of Bladensburg would preser them from insult. A light brigade, howfver, forced th statK,n ,n one part; and, in another the impe'tuous atta threw th^'"''' '"? ''^ '"r ^ '^^^^^^S« -' ^-J^^ts, qui k ^l a1 ^""T^ J"t« confusion. Consternation was ml doused hrough the defenceless city. The invaders march! ^Ischef fn'lf ^ ^"" determination of doing all possible for th/h -i^-' f^^^;:T,^"f- They set fire to the c«p/^ (or the building in wh.ch the two national assemblies wer surv r.?'.>!' deliberate,) the president's palace, the tre ! lun'/^ ^^l war.office: the arsenal and its stores were ^ sZ/ ^^"""^ •* *^ d^^J^-yard and rope.walks were reu- thTlr ?.' ^"d «*!;^^ damage was inflicted, but without the destruction or pillage of private houses It may be supposed that the result of this expedition filled the eYemy Tondemnfrv""- 71' P'^^^''^"* ^^"^'^ ^^ acrlmonio S agamst the perpetrators of such outrages. While the republicans were thus incensed, thev derived bvTh: b^ ''*"" It "'.^^*'"^ ^" '"^^ — lossLsta ned and on thr^^^^^^ Fort Erie, (who failed in two assaults,) «on of Ih- . ""^ ?'"''.'^ ^^^^ "^^^ Baltimore, the reduc. the de Jf nf "" n Z T^ ^"^"^Pted. They also exulted in the defeat of a British flotilla on LakeXhampIain, and in olher hand 7h M? ^''" '" ""'''^ "P^" Plattsburg. On the Great HH^- '^^''^.''''' ^^'^^ thus obscured the lustre of efl^ct Wp on .• '' '". '^"'^ '""''"•'" compensated by the lifax to fhfp "^r ^^ ^ V'"^""^^"* ^^'^h ^^''-d from Ha. lifax to the Penobscot. The vigour displayed on this occa- i^ POLITICAL AND MILITARY HISTORY. 285 Bion by the officers of both services enforced the submission of a spacious district, situated to the eastward of that river, to the British government. In the ensuing winter, a negotiation which had been long [depending terminated in a pacific treaty. Captured forts and districts were ordered to be restored by each party ; but all controversies on the subject of territorial limits were reserved for subsequent determination ; and, to the great surprise of the public, the maritime disputes were left un- I settled. The calm which followed the raging storm was delusive and treacherous. All the endeavours of the French king to secure a permanency of peace were rendered fruitless by the negligence of the confederate princes, who did not watch, with sufficient caution, the proceedings and conduct of their ambitious enemy. The prince of Elba easily found on opportunity of escape. Having equipped a small arma- ment, he appeared on the coast of France with ^ ^ ^g^^ eleven hundred bold adventurers, who, like him- self, were only pleased when they could prosecute a course of rapine and murder. So few of the French officers or soldiers were disposed to be faithful to their king, that the perfidious invader, who might at first have been arrested and punished even by the smallest garrison in the south of France, was enabled to procure a great accession of force, to march unmolested to Paris, and to resume a sovereignty of which he was totally unworthy. The views and designs of Providence are not so obvious as to be discerned in every instance by human sagacity : but we may conclude that Bonaparte was let loose upon the world as a scourge, to punish the prevailing wickedness, or, by the injurious consequences of his mischievous career, to call the attention of mankind to the contrast between a future state and the miseries of the present life, and thus promote a due observance of the interesting concerns and important duties of religion. Attila, the ferocious Hun, was considered in that light by the divines of a distant age; and the resemblance of Napoleon to that barbarian, if we make an allowance for the dlfierence of time, is strong and pointed. Bonaparte'sescape and restoration excited, throughout Eu- rope, a greater degree of horror than of mere surprise. The idea of the re-establishment of such a man in power shocked the feelings of all, except the admirers of false glory and the <> 284 HISTORY OF GREAT. BRITAIN?. disgrace. For some months, the hostilities were unimport- ant ; but, when the Americans had considerably augmented their army in the vicinity of Lake-Erie, they reduced the fort of that name, and menaced the post of Chippawa with an assault. An inferior force, which advanced against them, suffered severely in the conflict, and retreated, to avoid ruin! The subsequent advance of a division toward the cataract of Niagara was attended with great danger : but the ap. proach of another corps^ under general Drummond, turned the tide against the republicans, though their number greatly exceeded the amount of his brave followers. The Americans were not secure, even in their capital, against which a bold stroke was aimed by General Ross. Washington itself was not a place of strength : but the citizens hoped that the post of Bladensburg would preserve them from insult. A light brigade, however, forced this station in one part ; and, in another, the impetuous attack of the bayonet, and the furious discharge of rockets, quickly threw the enemy into confusion. Consternation was now diffused through the defenceless city. The invaders march. ed into it with a full determination of doing all possible mischief to the government. They set fire to the capitol^ (or the building in which the two national assemblies were accustomed to deliberate,) the president's palace, the trea, 8ury, and the war-office: the arsenal and its stores were also destroyed : the dock-yard and rope- walks were ren- dered useless ; and other damage was inflicted, but without the destruction or pillage of private houses. It may be supposed that the result of this expedition filled the enemy "With indignation. The president loudly and acrimoniously condemned it ; and the public prints teemed with invectives against the perpetrators of such outrages. While the republicans were thus incensed, they derived some consolation from reflecting on the severe loss sustained by the besiegers of Fort-Erie, (who failed in two assaults,) and on the fall of general Ross near Baltimore, the reduc- tion of which was in vain attempted. They also exulted in the defeat of a British flotilla on Lake-Champlain, and in the consequent retreat of general Prevost, who had made great preparations for an attack upon Plattsburg. On the other hand, the ill-success which thus obscured the lustre of Great-Britain was in some measure compensated by the eflective operations of an armament which sailed from Ha. Max to the Penobscot. The vigour displayed on this occa- POLITICAL AND MILITARY HISTORY. 285 sion by the officers of both services enforced the submission of a spacious district, situated to the eastward of that river, to the British government. In the ensuing winter, a negotiation which had been long depending terminated in a pacific treaty. Captured forts and districts were ordered to be restored by each party ; but all controversies on the subject of territorial limits were reserved for subsequent determination ; and, to the great surprise of the public, the maritime disputes were left un- settled. The calm which followed the raging storm was delusive and treacherous. All the endeavours of the French king to secure a permanency of peace were rendered fruitless by the negligence of the confederate princes, who did not watch, with sufficient caution, the proceedhigs and conduct of their ambitious enemy. The prince of Elba easily found on opportunity of escape. Having equipped a small arma- ment, he appeared on the coast of France with ^ ^ isi5. eleven hundred bold adventurers, who, like him. self, were only pleased when they could prosecute a course of rapine and murder. So few of the French officers or soldiers were disposed to be faithful to their king, that the perfidious invader, who might at first have been arrested and punished even by the smallest garrison in the south of France, was enabled to procure a great accession of force, to march unmolested to Paris, and to resume a sovereignty of which he was totally unworthy. The views and designs of Providence are not so obvious as to be discerned in every instance by human sagacity : but we may conclude that Bonaparte was let loose upon the world as a scourge, to punish the prevailing wickedness, or, by the injurious consequences of his mischievous career, to call the attention of mankind to the contrast between a future state and the miseries of the present life, and thus promote a due observance of the interesting concerns and important duties of religion. Attila, the ferocious Hun, was considered in that light by the divines of a distant age; and the resemblance of Napoleon to that barbarian, if we make an allowance for the difference of time, is strong and pointed. Bonaparte's escape and restoration excited, throughout Eu- rope, a greater degree of horror than of mere surprise. The idea of the re-establishment of such a man in power shocked the feelings of all, except the admirers of false glory and the > I. 'if i t i demnification of his auxiliaries. A considerable part of this sum was to be appropriated to the reparation of the Nether- land fortresses ; and very little, we may suppose, will be re- ceived by Great- Britain, as our ministers are so liberal and unsparing in all concerns connected with the national finan- ces. Like Mr. Pitt, they occasionally spoke of the necessity of indemnity; but they scarcely thought of it in the nego- tiation. A signal act of justice, which seemed to excite as strong resentment as even the defalcations of territory, was the sei- zure of the valuable pictures and statues, and other produc. tions of art and talent, which the French brigands had at different times carried eff from Italy, Germany, and the Ne. therlands. Blucher and the duke of Wellington insisted iipon plenary restitution; and their soldiers were employed in stripping the Louvre of those adventitious decorations which had drawn strangers from ail parts of Europe to the French metropolis. The confederate powers not only settled the affairs of France, but those of Europe in general. In a congress at Vienna, which was attended by lord Castlereagh on the part of Great-Britain, various arrangements were made for an adjustment of the balance of power. The prince regent procured, for his unconscious parent, the title of king of Ha- nover, and, for himself, the honour of being the protector of the Ionian islands, which were to be garrisoned by British troops. That portion of Poland which had been granted by Napoleon to his vassal, the king of Saxony, was ceded to the emperor of Russia, in addition to the part which he had long possessed ; and the king of Prussia not only recovered his Polish territories, but was gratified with Tery considerable acquisitions in Saxony. While the pope was restored to his temporal power and possessions, the king of Sardinia was al- lowed to add Genoa to the recovered principality of Pied- mont ; and the Austrian emperor re.obtained the Milanese and other provinces in the northern division of Italy. To the prince of Orange the Netherlands were transferred ; and he thus became a considerable potentate, able to assist with vigour in checking the future aggrandisement of France, If these powerful regulators of the affairs of Europe should adhere to their declarations, and be observant of the genuine duties of princes, the blessings of peace may long gladden the hearts of their subjects. But, with all this parade of pa- cific intentions, it is not probable that the miseries of war Ifrill very long be avoided. However horrible in its nature, it is the pastime and amusement of princes ; and, as a large standing army is now the appendage of every government, a mere apprehension of the decline of military spirit, for want of actual service, may prompt some of the European courts to seek occasions of offence, and again to " let loose the dogs of war," That the French will endeavour to provoke hos- tilities, and to draw their king into a contest, after the re- moval of the foreign troops, there is little reason to doubt ; but we earnestly hope that the ostensible purpose of the con- gress will be kept in due remembrance ; that Louis will not, like his royal predecessor, suffer his officers or courtiers to precipitate him into a rash war; and that every attempt of that kind will be instantly baffled hy the energy of the allied powers. CHAP. IL ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. A. D. 1688 — 1815. THE toleration granted by king William to the dissenters did not please the high-church zealots ; but it gratified all who were inspired with sentiments of moderation and hu. manity. Another act of his reign gave equal disgust. This was, the deprivation of the primate Sancroft and five other prelates, for their refusal of taking the new oaths of allegiance and supremacy. Notwithstanding these acts, the church re- mained without serious commotions during his sway. In the reign of Anne, a complaint was made, to the house of commons, of two sermons, published by Dr. Henry Sa- cheverel, containing positions contrary to the principles of the Revolution, to the existing government, and to the protestant succession. Sacheverel was a man of narrow intellects, and an over-heated imagination. He had acquired some popu. larity among those who distinguished themselves by the name of high-churchmen, and took all occasions to vent his ani. mosity against the dissenters. The commons, having con. sidered the complaint, ordered the clerical zealot to be taken into custody, and impeached him at the bar of the house of lords. Upon this occasion, the Tories were not idle. They boldly affirmed that the Whigs had formed designs hostile to the church, and only intended by the present prosecution to try their strength before they would proceed openly to the execution of their project; and Sacheverel was consequently o4 1 I 296 HISTORY OF GREAT- BRITALV. considered as the champion of the high party. The eyes of the whole kingdom were turned upon this extraordinary" trial. It lasted three weeks, during which all other business was suspended ; and the queen herself was every dai^ present, though in quality of a private spectator. A vast multitude constantly attended Sacheverel to and from Westminster, hall, striving to kiss his hand, and praying for his deliver- ance. The queen's sedan was beset by the populace, ex. claiming, "God bless your miijestv and the church. We hope your majesty is for Dr. Sacheverel. '» The mob de- stroyed several meeting.houses, and plundered the dwell- ing-houses of many eminent dissenters. After obstinate disputes, and much virulent debate, Sacheverel was found guilty. His sentence imported, that he should be prohibited from preaching for three years, and his two sermons be burned by the hands of the common hangman. Tbe lenity of the sentence was considered as a victory obtained over the Whigs. In the succeeding reign, the zeal of the high-church party, though checked by the liberal spirit of the kinff, broke out into a warm controversy. Dr. Hoadly, bishop of Bangor, hy recommending religious freedom, and animadverting on the impropriety of tests, entailed upon himself the censure of the Tory divines. lie defended himself with learning and talent ; but the lower house of convocation condemned his opinions, as hostile to ecclesiastical discipline. Since that time, the two houses of convocation have not been suffered to imitate the debating spirit of the lords and commons, but have merely met, pro forma, with every new parliament. George if. was as friendly to the cause of religious free- dom as his father had been, it is not, therefore, a matter of surprise, that sectaries should have multiplied in his reign. A remarkable sect arose, about the year 1739, under the auspices of Mr. John Wesley, who, conscienti- ously declining that preferment which he mi^ht have enjoyed in the established church, ^imed at the establishment of a devout fraternity. Jlis disciples, pretending to the adoption of a more strict method, and to a greater purity of faith, than any other votaries of religion, received the denomina- tion of Methodists. Mr. George Whitefit Id, who had less learning, and a greater portion of enthusiasm, than Wesley, favoured the new scheme of faith and grace; but, while one leaned to Calvinism, or to the doctrines of election and pre- destination, the other was more inclined to the propagation ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. 297 of Arminianism or free will. Both branches of the new sect diffused therr influence to a wide extent. The counfess of Huntingdon was a great encourager of the Methodists, She liberally contributed to the erection of places of wor- ship for the increasing society, and founded a college for training youth to the sectarian ministry. The Presbyterians, at the same time, formed a very nume- rous class of dissenters in Kngland, Wales, and Irelandj while, in Scotland, they continued to compose the estab- lished church. In that part of the united kingdom, an alarm was excited, in the year 1780. by a declared intention of extending, to the catholics of the north, that freedom of worship, and right of inheriting or purchasing landed pro- perty, which had recently been granted by law to the Eng- lish followers of the Romish system. Riots arose in several towns, but they were quickly suppressed. The flame, how- fver, which burst forth in England, blazed for a time with dreadful vehemence. An immense multitude, wearing blue cockades, assembled in St. George's-fields, in order to pe- tition the two houses against the late act. They proceeded by different routes, in a quiet and orderly manner, to Pa- lace-yard. But, the procession being augmented by a great number of evil-minded persons, who put cockades in their hats, and cried, " No popery," with an intent to rob and commit outrages, a most unhappy scene ensued. A lawless mob, for several days, paraded the streets, burning or de- stroying catholic ciiapels and houses, setting open prisons, stealing etlVcts, and extorting money from the inhabitants; till the soldiery put a stop to their outrages, by killing two hundred of them, and taking a great number into custody. The ring-leaders were afterwards tried, condemned, and hanged upon the several spots wMiere they had committed their depredations. The most prominent outrage was their setting fire to the prisons of the Fleet, the King's Bench, and iXewgate ; and the most alarming attempt was that which tliey made on the Bank of Kngland, with an avowed design to [)l under it, and to destroy the books. Lord George Gordon was afterwards tried for having collected this as- sembly ; but, as it appeared that he was actuated merely by rtligious principles, and had never encouraged the mob to commit, nor even expected that they would commit, any outrage, he was acciuitted. { Fanaticism is not yet wholly banished from the earth, and ambition still less. This insurrection is a proof, that it is o 5 i ,'c *\ ^•1 n S98 HISTORY OF GREAT-BRITAIN. easy to stir up the people with the cry. Religion is in dan- ger. Who knows what the consequence of such a tumult might have been, if, instead of a lord George Gordon, it had been headed by another Cromwell I In the year 1793, the progress of toleration, and the more enlightened spirit of the times^ gratified the votaries of the Romish religion in Ireland with various indulgences^ or (in their own opinion) with those rights to which they were entitled. They were permitted to vote at parliamen- tary elections, and to enjoy many offices to which (from the time of queen Elizabeth) they had not been admissible : but, being still excluded from the highest employments, and from the privilege of sitting and voting in parliament, they remained in a state of dissatisfaction and disgust. The catholics of Great-Britain deserved equal indulgence ■with their Hibernian brethren ; but they were not even al. lowed to vote at elections. In a country in which they formed the far greater part of the population, it was thought prudent and politic to conciliate them. In Britain, the same urgent motive did not exist. Attempts have been repeatedly made, in the present reign. to procure a removal of all tests, that dissenters of every denomination may be placed upon an equal footing with the members of the established church : but these endeavours have been strenuously and effectually counteracted. The advocates of orthodoxy maintain, with regard to the pro- testant non- conformists, that they have no right to expect a participation of preferments or offices, if they will not com. ply with the easy terms upon which they may obtain them ; and, with reference to the followers of the Romish system, that it would be more particularly unsafe to give them the power of subverting a church to which they are inveterately hostile, and of undermining a government of which pro- testantism is the basis and the essence. The followers of the established church were alarmed at the continued progress of the methodists, who, confining to themselves the title of evangelical preachers, acquired great influence over the ordinary people. Some of the regular pastors were induced to practise a more interesting and im* pressive mode of predication, with a view of keeping their flocks within the pale of the church ; but all their efforts could not prevent the annual increase of methodism. The vulgarity and illiteracy of many of the sectarian preachers at length induced a minister of state^ in the year 1811) to GOVERNMENT. 299 i propose a new law, by which a license for preaching should only be granted to those who could procure a respectable recommendation ; but this slight degree of interference ex- cited such loud clamours, that lord Sidmouth relinquished his scheme of reform, which, instead of injuring the non- conformist assemblies, would have added weight to their re- ligious proceedings. With regard to the present state of the hierarchy, it may be observed, that the episcopal bench is very respectably filled, and that the heads of the church exercise their func- tions with general propriety and moderation. The prelates, indeed, are usually brought forward by interest, rather than selected for excellence of character : but there are occa- sional instances of the promotion of divines who have been recommended only by learning and worth ; and it would be uncandid and illiberal to affirm, that those who have risen by the powerful influence of the noble or the opulent have disgraced their stations by want of merit. From the change of times and of manners, the sanctity of an apostle, or of a father of the church, cannot be expected in a modern bishop. If the prelates attend to the concerns of religion, maintain decorum in their manners, and avoid the grossness of vice and immorality, the public have reason to be satisfied. For some years, churchmen and dissenters have vied with each other in promoting the most extensive circulation of the scriptures. The addition of short explanatory notes would be preferable to the mere display of the sacred text; for the common people, to whom copies are either given, or sold at a low price, are so prone to misapprehension, and so liable to error in endeavouring to recollect or to under- stand what is not perfectly clear, that every apparent ob- scurity ought to be previously removed by the biblical scholar. CHAP. III. GOVERNMENT. A.D. 1688—1815. IN the reign of William, the perpetual contest between the Whigs and Tories, and the supposed necessity of granting large supplies to support the war on the continent, gave rise to two great and growing evils, intimately connected with each other ;— the national debt, and the corruption of the house of commons. At the same time that the king, by a 06 1^ ! ■I I 300 HISTORY OF GREAT-BRITAIN. pernicious funding system, was loading the state with im- mense sums, borrowed to maintain his continental connec- tions, he was liberal of the public money to his servants' at home, and employed it with little ceremony, to bring over his enemies, or to procure a majority in parliament. In order to put a stop to this corruption, so far as it affected the representatives of the people, a bill was brought in for triennial parliaments ; and William found himself under the necessity of passing it, or of losing the vote of supply, with which it was coupled. He was besides afraid to exert the influence of the crown, in defeating a bill of so much consequence to the nation ; more especially as the queen, whose death he was sensible would weaken his au- thority, was then indisposed. A similar bill was extorted from Charles [., but repealed soon after the Restoration, in compliment to Charles H. To this imprudent compliance may be ascribed the principal disorders of that and the sub- sequent rei^n. A house of commons, elected once in three years, would have formed such a strong bulwark of liberty, as must have baffled or discouraged all the attacks of arbi- tiary power. 'J he more honest and independent part of the community, therefore, zealously promoted the present law; which, while it continued in force, certainly contri- buted to stem the tide of corruption, and to produce a mor*^ fiiir representation of the people. 'J he speedy and fortunate suppression of the rebellion, in 1715, increased the influence of the crown. The Whig ministry, being no longer under apprehensions from the en- croachments of arbitrary power, and willing utterly to crush their political enemies, without foreseeing the conse- quences to public liberty, framed a bill for repealing the triennial act, and for extending the duration of parliaments to the term of seven jjears. This bill, though warmly op. posed by the Tories, (who now, in contradiction to their principles, took the popular side of all questions,) and by many independent and unprejudiced members of both houses, was carried by a great majority. Sir Robert Wal pole was considered as the prime minister of England, when George I. died ; and some differences having happened between him and the prince of Wales, it was ge- nerally thought, upon the accession of the latter to the crown, that Sir Robert would be displaced. That might have been the case, could another person have been found equally capable of managing the house of coraraous, and aOVERNMENT. 3C1 gratifying that predilection for Hanover which George II. inherited from his father. No minister ever understood better the temper of the people of England than Walpole, and none, perh-jps, ever tried it more. He filled all places of power, trust, and profit, and almost the house of com- mons itself, with his own creatures ; but peace was his dar- ling object, because he thought that war must be fatal to his power. During his long administration, he never lost a question that he was earnestly disposed to carry. The ex- cise scheme was the first measure that gave a shock to his power ; and even that object he might have achieved, had he not been afraid of the spirit of the people. He was so far from checking the freedom of debate, that he bore with equanimity the most scurrilous abuse that was thrown out to his face. He gave way to some prosecutions for libels, when his friends thought themselves affected by them ; but it is certain, that the press of England was never more free than during his administration. And as to his pacific sy- stem, it undoubtedly more than repaid to the nation all that was required to support it, by the increase of trade, and the improvement of manufactures. With regard to the kind's personal concern in public matters, Walpole was ra- ther his minister than his favourite ; and his majesty often hinted to him, that he was responsible for all the measures of government. , - , . , From the resignation of Walpole to the death of his royal patron, no beneficial change occurred in the government. Those who, when they moved in the ranks of opposition, boasted of their high regard for public freedom and the rights of the people, were induced, when they entered into office, to follow the routine of ministerial practice, and were more ready to undermine than to support the consti. tution. . ^ . . After the accession of his present majesty, some points were apparently gained by the advocates of popular preten- sions. By a spontaneous act of the new king, the twelve judges of the realm were rendered more independent than they had ever before been ; and, in consequence of that spirit which was promoted by the zeal of Wilkes, general warrants for the seizure of persons and papers were pronounced illegal, with an exception of those cases in which the charge in- volved high.treason. By the intrepid perseverance of the same senator, (if his factious spirit should be supposed to detract from his claim to the character of a patnot,) that i \i i 30a HISTORY OF GREAT. BRITAIN. ""r^l.^}}?^ ^^^ annulled the legal choice of the freeholders of Middlesex, and had seated in the house of commons an individual who had no just pretensions to the honour, was at length rescinded; and thus the rights of electors were confirmed. In cases of controverted election, a bill which was introduced by the ex-minister, Mr. George Grenville promised to operate as a remedy for that partiality ^ith which such disputes had been decided. It was opposed by lord JVorth ; but it obtained the assent of the house. That assembly was rendered, in some degree, less corrupt by an exclusion of contractors ; and ministerial influence received a check from an act which disqualified officers of the revenue from voting at elections. But, though the direct authority of the crown was diminished, its influence continued rather to increase than to decline. *u ^}'^ ^^^ excesses of the French revolution had alarmed the different governments of Europe, the British ministers, Mr. Pitt and lord Grenville, brought forward two bills which encroached on the freedom and rights of the people. One of these statutes gave a severe check to public meetings, from which great mischief was apprehended ; while the othe^ tended to confound sedition with treason, and, without that necessity which alone could justify such an act, rendered tlie law more terrific and sanguinary. Before Mr. Pitt was invested with political power, he had strenuously promoted a reform of the popular representa- tion; and, even while he was in office, he professed a simi. iar wish : but, after the mischievous explosion in France, he retracted and relinquished his opinion, and, while he was employed m forcing a legislative union upon the Hibernian nation, he expressed his hope, that, as the new elections proposed for the Irish members would be conducted on the principles of fair representation, this arrangement would be deemed preclusive of any farther reform. Propositions, however, have been subsequently made for that constitu- tional purpose; and, though they have been uniformly un- successful. It does not necessarily follow, that they will always be discountenanced. Such a measure affords the only chance for a repression of that encroaching influence, which may otherwise, at no very distant period, render the consti- tution an empty name. This is not the language of faction, or the effusion of splenetic discontent: the remark is solely dictated by a zealous regard for the honour and interest of our country. LITERATURE. 303 The inconsistency of Mr. Pitt was also observable in an- other point connected with the political influence of the peo. pie. When the interest of the coalition continued to prevail in the house of commons, so as to threaten him with serious obstructions to his ministerial sway, he recommended an ap- peal to the general voice of the nation ; and the king dis- solved the parliament. But, when he wished that the exist- ing parliament of Ireland should relinquish its independent power, he would not suffer any new elections to take place, because he knew that the people were unfriendly to the scheme. Yet, in the latter case, the appeal was more con- stitutionally expedient than in the former, and more urgently required by political justice and integrity. CHAP. IV. LITERATURE. A. D. 1688 1815. THE names of Newton and Locke adorned the reign of William III. That monarch had a particular esteem for the latter, as he had also for Tillotson and Burnet, though he was far from being liberal to men of genius. During this reign, Locke wrote his Essai/ on Government^ and Swift, his Tale of a Tub. These are two of the most excellent prose compositions in our language, whether we consider the style or matter. The former is an example of close manly reason- ing, and the latter of the irresistible force of ridicule, when supported by wit, humour, and satire. But as William, though a powerful prince, and the prime mover of the political machine of Europe, was deemed in England, by one half of the nation, only the head of a fac- tion, many of the nobility and gentry kept at a distance from court; so that the advance of taste was very inconsiderable, till the reign of Anne. Then the splendour of heroic actions called off, for a time, the attention of all parties from poli- tical disputes, to contemplate the glory of their country. Then appeared a crowd of great men, whose characters are well known, and whose names are familiar to every ear. Then subsisted, in full force, that natural connection be- tween the learned and the great, by which the latter never fail to be gainers. Swift, Addison, Congreve, Rowe, Steele, Prior, Pope, and other men of genius in that age, not only enjoyed the friendship and familiarity of the principal persons in power, but most of them, in early life, obtained places ia 304 HISTORY OF GREAT-BRITAIN. LITERATURE. 305 some of the less burihensome departments of government which put it in their power to pass the rest of their days in case and independence. Thus raised to respect, above the necessity of writing for bread, and enabled to follow their particular veins, several of those men of ij^nius united their talents, in furnishing the pubJic with a dail> paper, under the name of the Spectator; which, by combating, with reason and raillery, the faults in composition and improprieties in beiiaviour, as well as the reigning rices and follies of the time, iiad a wonderful effect upon the taste and manners of the nation. It contributed greatly to polish and improve both. The reign of Anne has been styled the Augustan age of English literature : but its flourishing state continued beyond that period; and, from her death to that of the second George, no visible decline ensued. The ministers of George I. were the patrons of erudition, and some of them were no mean proficients themselves. George II. was himself no Mae- cenas; yet his reign yielded to noneof the preceding in the number of learned and ingenious men it produced. The episcopal bench was never known to be so well adorned with able prelates, as it was in the early years of his reign; a proof that his nobility and ministers were judges of literary qualifications. In other departments of erudition the fa- vour of the public generally compensated thecoldne'ss of the ' court. After the rebellion in the year 1745, when Mr. Pel. ham was considered as first minister, the screen between go- Tcrnment and literature was in a great measure removed and men of genius began to taste the royal bounty. ' The science and literature of that reign embraced every object of human contemplation. Maclaurin ably illustrated the philosophy of xVewton, and particularly distinguished himself by his system of fluxions. Dr. Halley was celebrated for his skill in astronomy, and for his zealous attention to the improvement of navigation. Metaphysics were studied with acuteness by Andrew Baxter, who endeavoured to de- monstrate the immateriality of the soul from the principles of reason and philosophy ; and the talents of bishop Berkeley and of Da\id Hartley, in the same pursuit, were generally acknowledged. Theology had many able and leanu d culti. vators, among whom may be mentioned tlie prelates Sher- lock, Hare, Warburton, Butler, and Hoadly, beside Dr. Chapman, a«»d the very respectable dissenters, Lardner and Leland. Atterbury, the uufortuuate bisho^j of Rochester, was an admired preacher : but his published sermons are not more elegant or interesting than those of Seed. Derham en. listed natural history in the cause of religion, an n Of the national schools, erected upon the plans of Dr. Bell and Mr. Lancaster, some mention may also be expected. They are calculated to afford elementary instruction to hundreds of children at the same instant, by a rapid process; and, if they should be encouraged by liberal subscriptions, we may be allowed to entertain the hope, that very few of the present race of young persons will be unable to read or write. S V 308 HISTORY OF GREAT-BRITAIN. CHAP. V. THE AUTS. A. D. 1688 — 1815. THE very useful art of agriculture has been greatly im- proved within the last fifty years. Many of the nobility and gentry attend personally to the management of their es- tates, and, with the advice of reflecting men, have given a scien. tific direction to the practice of husbandry. Societies, formed in different counties, have been found particularly beneficial in this respect ; and from the board of agriculture, instituted by the government in the year 1793, many provincial surveys have emanated, which, by affording grounds of comparison, have led to considerable improvement. Chemistry has been rendered subservient to the fertilization of land; and the pro- ducts of the earth have been more varied and abundant. Gardening has profited by the general improvement of -agriculture; and rural habitations have thus received addi. tional comfort and ornament. For gardening, upon an ex- tensive scale, we are indebted to the taste and genius of Kent. He taught us (says an historian) to imitate nature, or, more properly speaking, to act upon her plau^ in forming our plea- sure-grounds, instead of impressing upon every natural ob- ject the hard stamp of art. He taught us, that the whole se- cret of modern gardening consists in making proper use of natural scenery, wood and water, hill and valley, in con- junction with architecture, so as to give beauty and variety to the embellished ground; in judiciously veiling or exposing the 8urroui444«g 4;^»^mtry; in contrasting the luxuriant mea- dow with the barren heath, the verdant slope with the rugged steep, the sylvan temple with the ruined tower, the meander- ing rill with the majestic river, and the smooth surface of the lake, or artificial sea, with Nature's most sublime object, a view of the boundless and ev< r-agitated ocean. While the culture of land was improved, the art of cover- ing its surface with buildings did not decline. Sir Christo- pher Wren, who flourished in the preceding period, continued io superintend the construction of elegant edifices, formed upon Grecian models: but, after the cathedral of St. Paul, no structure could give him additional fame. Sir John Van- brugh had less taste ; and it is indeed astonishing, that he vv ho displayed in his comedies such a vein of wit and pleasantry, should have been so dull and heavy in his architectural de- signs. Of the fifty new churches, which, at the desire of THE ARTS, 309 queen Anne, the parliament ordered to be erected, (though the resolution was never carried into full effect,) some were built by Gibbs, on whose abilities they reflect credit. He also contributed, by the admired Senate-house, to the em- bellishment of Cambridge. The earl of Burlington was not merely an amateur, but a professor, of this noble art, m which Kent, the improver of pleasure-grounds, had likewise a considerable degree of skill. These ingenious men were succeeded by Robert Adam, whose plan of the Adelphi ex. cited general attention, and by Sir William Chambers, whose erections, on the spot which contained the palace of the pro- tector Somerset, combine taste and magnificence with great commodiousness and utility. Wyat's imitations of Gothic splendour concur with his original plans to establish his fame; and Soane may be mentioned with praise, as an intelligent and able director of architectural operations. In the construction of bridges, some improvements are ob. servable. To that of Black-friars, says Dr. Russell, an- tiquity cannot afford a parallel;" yet it has been asserted, uith equal confidence, that it is deficient in substantiality, and does not promise to be very durable. That which has been lately erected over the Thames, and denominated Waterloo.bridge, is less elegant, but is superior in strength and firmness. That of Vaux-hall is both strong and orna- mental, and has arches of cast-iron, with piers of stone A bridge over the Taaffe in Glamorganshire, consisting of one arch of an extraordinary span, the work of a common me- chanic, has been highly praised for its capability «f resisting the utmost force of the swollen stream, which had previously swept away two less judicious erections. Three openings through the stone-work, on each side of the arch, have so far diminished the pressure, as to save the bridge. As both public and private buildings have been greatly im- proved, their interior decorations have also become more elegant. Not only rude and ill-shaped articles of furniture have given way to the neatest specimens of modern art, but, in the progress of luxury, additional accommodations have been introduced. The houses of many persons, even of the middle class, are replete with every appendage hat can be deemed useful, and with every gay article that P^^e or osten- tation can desire; and those who are reckoned among the poor have, in numerous instances, the means o procuring something more than the necessaries of life ; but these me^s .1 t 310 HISTORY OF GREAT- BRITAIN. THE ARTS. 311 i. ti i i' \ h have been deplorably diminished by the rapid increase of borthensome taxation, consequent on a protracted war. The mechanic arts have thriven by British culture. Judge- ment, dexterity, and persevering industry, have improved almost every branch of manufacture. By the use of ma- chinery, many articles of dress have been produced in a bet- ter form, and with much greater quickness, than by mere per- sonal labour; and the powers of the steam-engine have been strikingly augmented, so as to expedite and perfect various branches of metallic operation. In the fine or polite arts, for a considerable time, less pro- ficiency was made. Sculpture was rarely practised with srkill by native artists before the present reign : but Bacon, who ■was at first a painter of porcelain, at length attracted notice by his models, the forms of which he transferred, by an instrument of his own invention, to the stone or marble. His statue of Mars was hailed as a promising specimen of ge- nius, from an artist who had never studied at Rome ; and he was thenceforward employed by persons of taste in a variety of figures and groupes. Banks, like Bacon, was strongly impelled to farther exertion by the grant of rewards from a society which had been instituted at London in 1753, for the encouragement of arts, manufactures, and commerce. He executed monuments and other works of considerable merit, both in this country and in Russia. Many admired works have also proceeded from the chisel of Flaxman ; and the ge. Bius of Westmacott shines in the same branch of art. The painters who were principally encouraged in England, in the earlier part of this period, were foreigners : yet Jervas, a native artist, was honoured with patronage, and praised by the poets. Sir James Thornhill was employed by queen Anne and her two successors ; and he embellished Green- wich hospital and Hampton-court with great effect; for he soared above the talent of a mere portrait-painter. High- more also directed his attention to historical subjects; but Richardson and Hudson confined themselves to portraits. The last-named artist was more distinguished as the instructor of Reynolds, than by his own excellence. An artist of a peculiar taste arose in the person of Hogarth, who, without being qualified for the highest department of bis favourite art, delineated regular moral stories, and thus i)ecame the novelist of painting. In his Rakers and Harlot's Progress^ he amused and instructed the public ; and some of ills single or detached pieces are pregnant with characteristic humour. When the king's admiration of the arts prompted him, ia 1768, to institute the Royal Academy, he appointed sir Joshua Reynolds the first president. Many of the portraits produced by this artist are excellent, in point of resemblance, character, and grace; but the colouring is not formed for permanency. He also represented, with great elegance and eft*ect, some subjects drawn from history. From the hands of West, who succeeded him in the presidency, we have a much greater number of historic pieces ; and, if they display less freedom and spirit than those of sir Joshua, yet many of them have great merit. Gainsborough became an able artist with little instruction, and excelled in the delineation of rural scenes. Morland, who was also little indebted to regular study, depicted landscapes and rustic life with interesting fidelity. Opie likewise emerged from obscurity to pictorial fame, and, with a peculiarity of manner, painted both good portraits and historical and miscellaneous pieces. Barry, being employed by the Society of Arts to decorate the place where the members assembled, produced a series of pictures, which exhibit the fire of genius, not accompanied, however, with the most refined taste. Sir Thomas Laurence is consi- dered by many as the best portrait-painter of the present day: Westall is more conversant in landscape : andWilkie exhibits, with humour and correctness, traits of character and manners, drawn from ordinary life. In music, foreign composers long had a paramount influ- ence in this country; and the charm is not yet broken, as the opera-house is still thronged with the admirers of Italian harmony. Dr. Arne, Arnold, and Shield, however, were able composers ; and some of their native successors, now Hying, occasionally enchant us with enlivening strains or im- pressive melody. In ancient times, music and poetry were united in prac- tice by the same individual ; but they have, fpr many ages, formed distinct pursuits. In the first reign belonging to this period. Dry den still survived, enjoying the highest rank among the poets of the time : for Addison and Prior were far from being equal to him. After his death, that distinc- tion was claimed by Pope, to whom the Muses disclosed all their charms. The poems of Congreve are unworthy of his genius ; and Gay, though his Fables are very pleasing com. positions, cannot justly be considered as a great poet* I. \ I. ^ I ' ( 312 HISTORY OF GREAT. BRITAIN. BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES. 313 i ' ' tH 1 If; Thomson took a comprehensive view of the tranquil, the pic- turesque, and the \sUd scenes of nature, and embodied them in his charming Seasons, The LoVe^Elegies of Hammond are elegant and classical. Dr. Young's poetic character was tinctured with gloom; but, to minds of a sirious turn, his NighuThoughts will ever be agreeable. The few remains of Collins are so captivatinj;, that we wish he had written more. Gray and Akenside courted the lyric muse with suc- cess. Goldsmith's poems possess an elegant simplicity, which is far from being feeble or nerTekss. Churchill sur- prised the world with his Rosciad; but his fame and merit afterward declined. MjFon was a respectable poet, without the fervour of genius. The productions of Burns are inter- esting, forcible, and pathetic. Of living bards we have a considerable number. Those who are most admired are Walter Scott and lord Byron. From the example and reputation of the former, a new school has arisen, of which the chief features seem to be, an affectation of antique phraseology, a fondness for chivalrous incidents and adventures, and a profusion of imagery,' with a small sprinkling of sentiment and pathos. Southey has favoured the public with some works of merit; but, since he obtained that courtly laurel, " which Dryden and di- viner Spenser wore," his efforts have miserably declined. The pleasures of memory and of hope have been forcibly represented by Rogers and Campbell ; and rural scenes have derived new attractions from the genius of Bloomfield, whom the patronage of Capel Lofft contributed to raise from the obscurity of mechanic life. CHAP. VI. BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES. A. D. 1688 1815. THIS flourishing period presents a multitude of distin- guished names ; but our limits will only allow the men- tion of a select number. , About the commencement of this period, died Dr. Ralph Cudzsor/h, a divine of great learning, and a zealous defender of religion. After being a distinguished tutor at Emanuel- college, Cambridge, he became master of Clare-hall, and afterwards of Christ's-college. He was regarded as an acute metaphysician, a souad reasoner, and an able mathema- tician ; and his piety was equal to his erudition. His Tru€ Intellectual Si/stem is his most celebrated work. Dr, Thomas Sydenham^ who died in 1689, surpassed all his contemporaries in medical skill. He was educated at Oxford; but, when that city was converted into a garrison by the adherents of Charles I., he repaired to London, and was advised by a friend to study and practise tlie healing art. When the parliamentarians had the chief sway, he returned to the university, and, subscribing the covenant, zealously followed the advice which he had received. He at length fixed his residence at Westminster, and gradually acquired the most extensive practice. He introduced the cool regi- men in the smalUpox, and was particularly successful in checking the progress of epidemical distempers. Dr. John Tillotson, who died in 1 694, was the son of a clothier in Yorkshire, and was educated at Cambridge. Though he was bred among the puritans, he readily con- formed at the Restoration to the church of England. He distinguished himself by his zeal against the progress of pope- ry, both in his preaching and from the press. His sermons were formerly much read and esteemed ; and they do not deserve to be neglected, whatever may be the value of many of those discourses which are now in more general estimation. He attended lord Russel at his execution ; and it is remark, able that he urged upon him, as also did Dr. Burnet, the doctrine of non-resistance; — a principle which both ^aw rea- son to renounce afterwards. At the Revolution he was taken into the entire confidence of William and Mary ; and, when Sancroft was deprived of his see, the metropolitan dig- nity was conferred on him, much against his inclination. Sir William Temple^ a celebrated statesman, who died in 1700, rendered his country important services as ambassador to the United States, particularly in concluding the triple league of England, Holland, and Sweden, and in effecting the marriage between the princess Mary and William. In 1680 he retired from public affairs; but he was often con- sulted by the persons who managed the government, and was often visited by king William. He was a strict observer of trutky being of opinion, that no one who failed once in ve- racity, ought ever to be trusted again. His conversation was easy and pleasant. He hated dispute, and avoided ex- postulations, which, he used to say, might sometimes do well between lovers, but never between friends. In his Memoir* and letters, he improved the harmony of the English Ian- l;l' !l t> > r^ ti; ! 4 t * 314 HISTORY OF GREAT -BRITAIN. guago. Ilis Miscellanies contain many curious pieces, which display a considerable depth of thought. John Dryden^ the poet, was born of a respectable family in Northamptonshire, and educated under the famous Dr. Busby at Westminster-school, whence he removed to Trinity, college, Cambridge. He was not rigid or inflexible in his principles; for he complimented, in heroic stanzas, the me- mory of Cromwell, and he soon after flattered and panegy- rised the restored king. In 1668, he succeeded Sir William Ddvenant as poet-laureate ; and, in the following year, his lirst play, the Wild Gallant^ was performed. At the Revo- lution, because he had suffered himself to be perverted to the Romish faith, he was dismissed from the office of royal poet, which was conferred upon Shadwell, whom he severely sati- rised in his MacFlecknoe, In 1697, he published his admi- rable translation of Virgil. His abilities did not decline with his years. He was an improving writer to the last, even to near seventy years of age; improving even in fire and ima- gination, as well as in judgement; which may be seen in his Ode on St. Ccvili(Cs Day^ and his FableSy\vis latest perform- ances. He was equally excellent in verse and prose. '^I have heard him frequently own with pleasure," says Con- greve, " that, if he had any talent for English prose, it was owing to his having often read the writings of the great arch, bishop Tillotson. His versification and his numbers he could learn of nobody; for he first possessed those talents in per- fection In our tongue." He died in 1700. John Locke, who died in 1704, was the most celebrated philosojiher of the age in which he lived. He was intended for the nudical profession ; which, however, he did not regu- larly practise. His Essai/ on the Human Understanding and his Treatise on Education, have rendered his name immortal. He gives the following advice to a gentleman who complained that he had lost many ideas by their slipping out of his mind, « Never go without a pen and ink, or something, to write down all thoughts of moment that come into your mind. I must own I have often omitted it, and have often repented of it. The thoughts that come unsought, and, as it were, drop into the mind, are commonly the most valuable of any we have, and therefore should be secured, because they seldom return." This writer was not, like many studious men, neg- lected by the great; for he was patronised by the earls of Shaftesbury and Northumberland, and obtained some con- s'.derable posts : but he at length retired from public busi- BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES. 315 ness, and passed the four last years of his life chiefly in the «tudy of the Scriptures. Dr Gilbert Burnet, who died in 1715, was a native of Edinbuigl., and educated at Aberdeen. At the age of twen- ty-six, he was chosen professor of divinity at Glasgow; but, in 1674, he resigned his professorship, and settled in London, where he was appointed preacher at the Rolls chapel. About this time commenced his acquaintance with the earl of Ro- chester, which happily ended in his lordship's conversion. In 1686, he settled in Holland, on the invitation of the prince of Orange, to whom, in his intended design of invading Eng- land, he was of the most important service. In 1689 he was promoted to the see of Salisbury^ and, during his epi- scopal administration, he distinguisiiod himself by his mode- ration toward dissenters. In 1699 appeared his Exposition of the thirty.nine articles of the church of England. His other publications are the Histories of the Reformation, and of his own Time, an excellent treatise on the pastoral care, and several sermons. His Life of the earl of Ro- chester is an admirable performance, which young people should read with attention. It exhibits a picture of the miseries of vice, painted in striking and glowing colours. This dissipated nobleman, in his last illness, summoned all his servants into his bed-chamber, to declare before them the horrors that he felt at the recollection of his past life, and hoped that what he then sufl'tred from his vicious courses, would have the efl'cct of preventing them from following his example. Nicholas Ronce^ who died in 1718, was educated at West- minster-school, and afterwards became a student of the Temple : but, says Dr. Johnson, he " suffered law gradually to give way to poetry ;" and the success of the Ambitious Step-Mother, his first tragedy, induced him to devote him- self wholly to literary pursuits. Six other tragedies fol- lowed; of which, the most interesting and popular are the Fair Penitent and Jane Shore, Mr. Rowe also translated Lu can's Pharsalia with admirable felicity. He was neglected by the court in the time of queen Anne; but, in the succeed- ing reign, he was made poet-laureate, and farther gratified with a post in the custom-house, and an employment under the lord-chancellor. He had only reached his forty-fifth year when he died. He was a lively and pleasant com- {)anion, and a master of polite learning, ^2 ill ' t< ,1, il ) I :^ II 316 HISTORY OF GREAT -BRITAIN. The Rev. John Flamsteed^ a celebrated English astrono- mer, when very young, discovered a great turn for mathe- matical learning, and sent to the Royal Society calculations of some remarkable eclipses of the fixed stars by the moon, for which he received the thanks of that learned body. Sir Jonas Moore introduced him to the king, and procured for him the place of astronomer royal. In 1675, the foundation- stone of the Royal Observatory was laid, when Mr. Flam- steed removed, with all his apparatus, to the queen's house at Greenwich, where he resided till his death, in 1719. In the Philosophical Transactions are many of his papers; but his great work is, Historia Ccelestis Britannica, Joseph Addison, who died in 1719, wrote the most ad- mired papers in the Spectator, and in other publications of the same kind. In those papers he has discussed an infinite variety of subjects, both comic and serious, and has treated each so happily, that one would suppose he had studied that alone. He enchants us with all the magic of humour, and all the attractive charms of natural and moral beauty. Our language is more indebted to him, not only for words and phrases, but for images, than to any other writer in prose. His Cato is one of our best modern tragedies. In 1716, by his marriage with the countess-dowager of Warwick and Hol- land, he became possessed of Holland-house, near Kensing- ton. Here was the scene of his last moments, and of his af- fecting interview with the earl of Warwick, to whom he had been tutor, and whose licentious manners he had anxiously, but in vain, endeavoured to repress. As a last effort, he sent for him into the room where he lay at the point of death, hoping that the solemnity of the scene might make some im- pression upon him. When that young nobleman came, he requested to know his commands, and received the memo- rable answer, "See in what peace a Christian can die." Dr. Johnson, after drawing his character in a forcible and elegant manner, says, " Whoever wishes to attain an English style, familiar but not coarse, and elegant but not osten- tatious, must give his days and nights to the volumes of Addi- son. »> Matthew Prior, who died in 17^1, was both a poet and a statesman. From the patronage of the earl uf Dorset, he derived the benefit of an academical education. At St. John's college, Cambridge, he obtained a fellowship, which he en- joyed during the whole remainder of his life. He early dis- BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES. S17 ptayed his wit and humour in ridiculing: the Hind and Pan. ther, a poem which Dryden had written in defence of popery. Being recommended by his patron to king William, he was appointed secretary to several ambassadors ; and he was stdl more favoured by queen Anne, who sent him to France as her minister plenipotentiary. For his concern in the treaty of Utrecht, he was excepted out of the act of grace, which George I. granted in 1717 ; but he was only punished with imprisonment. His most considerable poem is his Solomon^ in which he has exposed, with force and elegance, the vanity of human pursuits. His lighter pieces are lively and pleasing ; and his manner of relating a story has been particularly ad- mired. « Sir Christopher Wren was the most eminent architect ot his age, as well as an excellent mathematician. In 1661, he was chosen SavUian professor of astronomy at Oxford; and, in 1668, he was appointed surveyor-general of his majesty's works. The conflagration of th6 city of London gave him many opportunities of employing his genius; for the cathe- dral of St. Paul, some of the parochial churches, and other public structures, which had been destroyed by that dread- ful calamity, were rebuilt from his designs, and under his di- rection. After being president of the Royal Society, and a member of parliament, he died in 17*23. Sir Isaac Newton, who died in 1727, was the greatest phi- lt)Sopher and mathematician that ever appeared. His doc- trine of the power of gravitation, and his theory of light and colours, will immortalise his name. He likewise studied and explained the Scriptures. Dr. Halley, the mathematician, before he applied himself to this study, was once speaking rather freely on the subject of revelation, in company with Sir Isaac, who pointedly said to him, "I am always glad to hear you, sir, when you speak about astronomy, or other parts of mathematics, because that is a subject which you have studied, and well understand; but you should not talk of Christianity, for you have not studied it; I hav^, and am certain that you know nothing of the matter." This great man was born in Lincolnshire, and educated at Trinity-col- lege, Cambridge. He rapidly surmounted every difficulty in Euclid's Elements ; and, when he had studied the works of M. Des-Cartes with little profit, he was stimulated by the Arithmetica Infinitorum of Dr. Wallis to the exercise of his own sagacity and invention. He soon discovered the method of fluxions ; and he proceeded, with zeal and ability, p3 .» N lli vV A SIS HISTORY OF GREAT- BRITAIN. BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES. 319 !ili'' i ■ liii ■M (I • • » I ! I 1 A ■I! to the establishment of those principles upon which the sy- stem of nature appeared to him to be founded. In his poli- tical capacity, he promoted the Revolution ; and, on the re- commendation of Mr. Montague, (afterwards earl of Hali- fax,) he was appointed by king William warden of the mint. He subsequently became master of that establishment, and liTed in afiluonce and fame to his eighty-fifth year. Sir Richard Steele^ in concert with Addison and others, published the Tatler, Spectator, and Guardian, He was a ready composer, well versed in polite literature, and of a Tery lively genius. He certainly was not equal to his friend Addison; but his essays are not (as they have sometimes been called) mere trash ; and his comedy of the Conscious Lovers may still be read with pleasure and interest. He died in 1 729, as did also a man of greater talents, William Congreve, whose comedies abound with wit and vivacity, and display a great knowledge of human nature. About the same time died another eminent man. Dr. Samuel Clarice^ whose theological erudition, mathematical know- ledge, and philosophical learning, distinguished him from the ordinary class of divines. As he enjoyed the favour both of ^ueen Anne and George I., he would probably have risen to the episcopal dignity, if he had not given offence to the heads of the church by his latitudinarian notions respecting the Trinity. John Gay^ who died in 1732, is well known as the author pf beautiful Fables^ which will be read and admired as long as any taste for that kind of writing shall exist. His Beggar's Opera had a run unparalleled in the history of the stage, being acted in London sixty- three nights without interruption. Of this performance, when it was printed, the reception was different, according to the different opinions of its readers. Swift commended it for the excellence of its morality, as a piece that placed all kinds of vice in the strongest and most odious light; but others censured it as giving encouragement not only to vice, but to crimes, by making a highwayman the hero, and dismissing him at last unpunished. Alexander Pepe^ an illustrious poet, says, '' that he lisped in numbers^ and that he could not remember the time when he began to make verses." In the style of fiction, it might have been said of him as of Pindar, that, when he lay in his cradle, the bees swarmed about his mouth. A propensity to versification manifested itself in him as soon as he had read some of the works of Dryden, whom he preferred to the other poets. At the age of ten he was impressed with such veneration for his instructor, that he persuaded some friends to take him to the coffee-house which Dryden frequented, and pleased himself with having seen him. " Who does not wish," says Johnson, " that Dryden could have known the value of the homage that was paid him, and foreseen the greatness of his young admirer ?" Self-confidence is the first requisite to great undertakings; and he who is pleased with himself, easily imagines that he shall please others. Pope published some welUwritten odes and translations before he was fourteen years of age. He tried all styles, and many subjects. He wrote a comedy, a tragedy, and an epic poem, which he afterwards destroyed. His pastorals first intro- duced him to the wits of the day ; his Windsor Forest added to his growing fame; but his Essai/ on Criticism, which is a master-piece in the art, widely extended it. His judgement as a poet being now universally acknowledged, his next pub- lication no less happily proved the extent of his fanc>^, and the power of his creative imagination. This was the Rape of the Lock, an inimitable display of poetical talent. This is the most airy, ingenious, and delightful, of all his composi- tions, occasioned by a frolic of gallantry, rather too famu liar, in which lord Petre cut off a lock of Mrs. Arabella Termor's hair. The design of the poet is, as he tells us, to laugh at the little unguarded follies of the female sex. I n 1713 appeared his proposals for a translation of Homer's Iliad, the subscriptions for which amounted to six thousand pounds, besides twelve hundred pounds which Lintot gave him for the copy. He then purchased a house atTwicken- ham, whither he retired with his parents. By the assistance of Broome and Fenton, he translated the Odyssey. He afterwards published the Dunciad, in which he satirised the dullness of the court, and the stupidity of authors. At the desire of lord Bolingbroke, he wrote the Essay on Man, an ethical poem, in which are many beautiful and highly -finished passages. " i t.^ His method of composition was to write his first thoughts in his first words, and gradually to amplify, decorate, rec- tify, and refine them. He has left, in his version of Homer, a treasure of poetical elegancies to posterity. That work may be said to have tuned the English tongue ; fc^r, since its appearance, no writer, howevA deficient in other powers, has wanted melody. In poetical vigour Dryden is superior to p4 I. r. a- M iii i m "tl! II ^20 HISTORY OF GREAT- BRITAIN. Pope; but, thoHgh the former has brighter paragraphs, he has not better poems. Pope was fretful, and easily displeased. He would some- times leave the earl of Oxford silently, do one could tell why, and was to be courted back by more letters and messages than the footmen were willing to carry. His frugality bor- dered upon parsimony. When he had two guests in the house, he would set a sin«ile pint upon the table; and, hav- ing himself taken two small glasses, would retire, and say, Gentlemen^ I leave you to your wine. He was, however, the friend of religion and virtue ; and his letters are replete with feelings of benevolence. This admired poet was of a puny, delicate constitution : yet, by care and temperance, his life was prolonged to hii i5fty-sixth year. He died in 1744. Dr. Jonathan Szcift, an illustrious wit, poet, and satirist, was born, according to some, in Ireland, and, as others say, in England, in 1667. In his academical studies at Dublin, he was either not diligent, or not happy. It must disai>point every reader»s expectations to learn, that, when at the usual time he claimed the bachelorship of arts, he wap found by the examiners too conspicuously deficient for regu- lar admission, and obtained his degree at last by special fa^ vour^ a term used in that university to denote want of merit. Of this disgrace it ma> be easily supposed that he was much ashamed ; and shame had its proper etTect in producing re- formation. He resolved, from that time, to study eight hours in a day, and continued his industry for seven years, with what improvement is sufficiently known. This part of Swift's history (says Dr. Johnson) well deserves to be remem- bered; it may afford useful admonition and powerful encou- ragement to many, whose abilities have been made for a time useless by their passions or pleasures, and who, having lost one part of life in idleness, are tempted to throw away the remainder in despair. Being left destitute by the death of his uncle, upon whom he had relied for support, he paid a visit to sir William Temple, who received him with great kindness, and employed him in correcting his works. He thus became known to king William, who, as his notions were all military, expressed his kindness to Swift by offering to make him a captain of horse. Having quarreled wi4h his patron in 1694, he entered into holy orders, and obtained the prebend of Kilroot. But BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES. 321 sir William could not bear his absence ; and, a reconciliation taking place. Swift returned to the house of his friend, who, when he died, bequeathed to him a pecuniary legacy and his posthumous works. Swift then endeavoured to procure some preferment in England, but was disappointed ; on which he became chaplain and private secretary to lord Berkeley, one of the lords-justices of Ireland, but was soon after dismissed with the livings of Laracor and Rathbeggin. He resided at the former of these places, performing the duties of a parish- priest with great exactness and decorum. While he was there, he invited over from England the celebrated Stella, whom he afterwards privately married, but with whom he never associated, except in the company of a third person. After the accession of queen Anne, he distinguished him- self as a political writer. In 1713 he became dean of St. Pa- trick's, Dublin. He had set his mind on some good church- preferment in England, and had even looked to a bishopric ; this preferment, therefore, was rather a disappointment than otherwise. He died in a state of mental imbecility, in 1745. In his lucid moments he bequeathed the bulk of his fortune to erect a hospital in Dublin, for idiots and lunatics. The company of dean Swift was courted by persons of the first rank in life and literature. He had a rule never to speak more than a minute at a time, and wait for others to take u{> the conversation. He was peculiarly happy in punning ; and used to say, " that none despised that talent but those who were without it." He also greatly excelled in telling stories ; but, in the latter part of his life, he used to tell them rather too often. He never dealt in the double entendre^ or pro- faneness upon sacred subjects. He loved to have ladies in company, because it preserved, he said, the delicacy of conversation : yet he was the most gross and indelicate of writers. His Tory zeal was strongly displayed in his pamphlet re- specting the Conduct of the Allies^ in the periodical paper called the Examiner^ and other productions. Tlie Travels of Lamuel Gulliver strikingly exhibit his humorous and sa- tirical propensity. His sarcasm upon the Revolution deserves notice. When he was informed of king William's selection of these words for a motto, Non raput, sed recepi^^ he said, •' There is an old saying, and a true one — the receiver is as bad as the * " I did not seize the crowu, but I received it," p5 % if -w ^i m -'W 322 HISTORY OF GREAT. BRITAIN. thtef. This remark is also applicable to those rapacious and unprincipled men, who, for services which have been already overpaid, accept, from prodigal ministers, large pensions, of which they frequently are not in want, and which they know to be far superior to their deserts. James Thomson^ an admired poet, was born in the shire of Roxburgh, in 1700, and educated at the university of Edinburgh. Being intended for the church, he performed a probationary exercise by explaining ;. psalm, when his dic- tion was so poetically splendid, that Mr. Hamilton, the professor of divinity, reproved him for speaking language unintelligible to a popular audience. Having now resolved to go to London, he procured letters of recommendation, which he had tied up carefully in his handkerchief; but, as he passed along the street, with the gaping curiosity of a stranger, he gave attention to every thing rather than to his pocket, and was robbed of his magazine of credentials. He met, however, with a kind reception from his friends, and, in a short time, published his Winter, He dedicated his Spring to the countess of Hertford, whose practice it was to invite, every summer, some poet into the country, to hear her verses and assist her studies. This honour was one summer conferred on Thomson, who took more delight in carousing with lord Hertford and his friends, than in assist- ing her ladyship's poetical operations, and therefore never received from her another invitation. His poetical pursuits were for a time interrupted by his accompanying on his travels Mr. Charles Talbot, son of the lord-chancellor, with whom he visited most of the courts and capital cities of Europe. Soon after his return, he lost, not only his fellow- traveller, but also lord Talbot himself, and was thus re- duced, from an easy competency, to a state of precarious dependence, in which he passed the remainder of his life, except the two last years of it, when he enjoyed the place of surveyor-general of the l^eeward Islands, procured for him by lord Lyttelton. He died in 1748. His Seasons bring before us the whole magnificence of nature, whether pleasing or dreadful ; and have not, either in style or ima- • gery, ever been equaled. His tragedy of Coriolanus was brought upon the stage after his death, recommended by a prologue, which Quin, who had long been the friend of Thomson, recited in such a manner as shewed him to be, on that occasion, no actor^ The commencement of this intimacy is very honourable to Quin, who is reported to BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES. 323 y\ have delivered the poet (then known to him only for his genius) from an arrest, by a very considerable present ; and its continuance is honourable to both ; for friendship is not always the sequel of obligation. Thomson was silent in mingled company, but cheerful among select friends, who always spoke with the most eager praise of his social quali- ties, and the warmth and constancy of his friendship. Dr. Isaac Waits, an eminent divine, an ingenious poet, and a multifarious writer, received his education under Mr. Rowe, who kept an excellent seminary in London, and to whom his grateful pupil inscribed a Latin ode. In 1696, he went to reside with sir John Hartop, as tutor to his son. He afterwards entered into the family of sir Thomas Abney, after whose death he continued to reside with the lady and her daughter to the time of his death. For some years he preached to a dissenting congregation ; but his weak state of health induced him to discontinue that practice. He died in 1748. He was a pious and amiable man, free from all bigotry and sectarian pride. His talents were highly re- spectable, and he employed them in the most useful way. Few men have left behind them such purity of character, or such monuments of laborious piety. He has provided in- struction for all ages, from those who are lisping their first lessons,to the enlightened readers of Malebranche and Locke; he has left neither corporeal nor spiritual nature unexamined; he has taught the art of reasoning, and the science of the stars. His treatise on logic has been received into the uni- versities, and therefore wants no private recommendation. ''Few books have been perused by me," says Dr. Johnson, " with greater pleasure, than his Improvement of the Mind^ of which the radical principles may indeed be found in Locke's Conduct of the Understanding ; but they are so expanded and ramified by Watts, as to confer upon him the merit of a work in the highest degree useful and pleasing. Whoever has the care of instructing others, may be charged with deficiency in his duty, if this book is not recommended." He excelled in devotional poetry ; and his version of the psalms, and his original hymns, are highly popular. In his natural temper, he was quick of resentment; but, in his established and habitual practice, he was gentle, modest, and inoffensive. His tenderness appeared in his attention to children, and to the poor. Dr. Conifers Middleton, a famous divine and critic, tra- veled into Italy, which gave occasion for his well-known p6 I \m : li I ■ I ! t !( 324 HISTORY OF GREAT- BRITAIN. letter from Rome, shewing the conformity between popery and paganism. His capital performance is the History of Cicero, perhaps one of the most complete pieces of bio- graphy ever written. His Discourse on the Miraculous Pozcers of the Christian Church gave rise to a controversy, in which his orthodosy was strongly disputed. His death happeni'd in 1750. In the following year died Henry Snitit-John^ lord Bo' lingbroke, whose political conduct has been noticed in the civil history. After his return from exile, he became aa able literary opposer of Walpole's administration. His Letters on History are excellent ; but his philosophical works should be read with caution, as they contain many things which clash with the great truths of revelation. Dr. Philip Doddridge^ who died at Lisbon in 1751, was one of the most respectable men of the age in which he flourished. His non-conformity may be lamented ; but, as he was a conscientious Christian, his merit ought not to be under.valued. He chiefly exercised his ministry at North- ampton, where he also superintended the education of youth. His principal work is his Family Expositor^ which abounds with religious and moral instruction. His Rise and Pro- gress of Religion in the Soul^ and his Memoirs of Colonel Gardiner^ who united fervent piety with courage and pa- triotism, are likewise well known and esteemed. Mr. William IVhiston^ a divine and mathematician of un- common parts and learning, was sir Isaac Newton's deputy and siiccessor, in the Lucasian professorship of mathematics. He published several works explanatory of the Newtonian philosophy, and had the honour of being one of the first who rendered those principles popular. The work by which he is best known is, "'-k Theory of the Earth, from its Original to the Consummation of all Things;^' wherein the creation of the world in six days, the universal deluge, and the general conflagration, as laid down in the holy scrip- tures, are shown to be perfectly agreeable to reason and philosophy. Being in conversation with Walpole, when the discourse happened to turn upon politics, Whiston affirmed, ^' that there could be no true policy without bting founded in morality." Sir Robert replied, " he had heard a great deal of those theories in his time : but, as men were con- stituted, it would be impossible to put them into practice." Whiston still continued in his opinion, whilst Sir Robert took the contrary side ^ at last, seeing no end of the argu* BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES. 325 ment, the philosopher dryly replied, " Suppose, sir, you try my advice for once, and then give me your opinion after- wards."— The queen, walking with him in Hampton-court garden, observed, that, however right he might be in his notions on some subjects, it would be, perhaps, better if he kept them to himself.—'^ Is your majesty really serious in your advice? " said the old man. " I am, really," replied the queen.— "If Martin Luther (rejoined Whiston) had been of your way of thinking, where would your majesty have been at this time?"— He died in 1752. In the same year died Dr. Joseph Butler, bishop of Dur- ham, a favourite of queen Caroline. His sermons arc esteemed; but his principal work is that which treats of the analogy of religion, natural and revealed, to the constitutioa and course of nature. Henry Fielding is more known as the author of three admirable novels, Joseph Andrews, Tom Jones, and JmeliOj than as a theatrical writer, or an investigator of the affairs of police. He possessed an estate of two hundred pounds per annum, and married a lady who had fifteen hundred pounds. This fortune, had it been managed with prudence and ceconomy, might have secured to him a state of inde- pendence for life, and, with the aids which it might have derived from the productions of a genius unencumbered with anxieties and perplexity, might have even aff'orded him an affluent income ; but he prodigally opened the gates of hos^ pitality, and suff'ered his whole patrimony to be devoured by hounds, horses, and entertainments. He was afterwards appointed a magistrate for Middlesex, and died in 1754. William Coilins was endowed with a great genius for poetry, as appears from his Ode to the Passions : but his merit was under -valued by his contemporaries. He hoped to procure, by literary occupation, that comfortable sub- sistence which his small patrimonial property denied him : but he was not sufficiently prudent or steady to command employment in the capacity of a professional author ; and his disappointment seriously affected his spirits. Harassed with debts, and wounded by neglect, he lost his soundness of mind, and declined into melancholy and helpless imbe- cility. He was rescued from absolute poverty by the testa- mentary liberality of an uncle ; but it did not enable him to recover the energy of his intellect. He died at his nativ« town of Chichester, in 1756. 1 'I i^i I' Bt N I 326 HISTORY OF GREAT. BRITAIN. Dr. Hartley^ an eminent physician, who died in ITS?, is -well known by an excellent work, entitled, Observations on Man^ his Frame^ his Duty^ and his Expectations. " You do well to take Hartley with you," said Dr. Johnson to a friend : " the Bible is the best book ; but, next to it, Dr. Hartley's is one of the best." The late Dr. Reid, of Glas- gow, has also written on the Intellectual Powers of Man in a masterly manner. Samuel Richardson^ a distinguished novelist, was born in Derbyshire, in 1689. He had only an ordinary education; but his natural talents, and his acuteness of obserTation, enabled him io amuse and instruct the world. In 1740, •when he was only known as an industrious printer, he sur- prised the world by his Pamela. Clarissa and Sir Charles Grandison followed, and diffused his fame not only over his native island, but through every region of the continent. He depicted both virtuous and vicious characters with fide- lity and skill, and particularly excelled in the develope- ment of the female heart. He died in 1761. William Shenstone., an agreeable poet, after quilting the university of Oxford, retired to his paternal estate, (he Leasowos, which he laid out in great taste. Here he de- voted himself to rural pleasures and poetry. To embellish the form of Nature is a laudable amusement. This he did "with sach judgement and fancy, as made his little domain the envy of the great, and the admiration of the skilful ; a place to be visited by travellers, and copied by designers. The pleasure of Shenstone, however, was all in his eye. He valued what he valued merely for its looks. Nothing raised his indignation more than to ask, if there were any fishes in his water. In time, his expenses brought clamours about him, which overpowered the lamb's bleat and the linnet's song ; and his groves were haunted by beings very different from Fauns and fairies. He spent his estate in adorning it 5 and his death, in 1763, was probably hastened by his anxie- ties. He was a lamp that spent its oil in blazing. There are some good stanzas in his Pastoral Ballad ; and the SchooUmistress is a pleasing imitation of Spenser's manner. His greatest fault is, the want of vigour. Alan Ramsay^ a celebrated Scottish poet, wrote several excellent songs and much-esteemed poems ; but his best per- formance was The Gentle Shepherd^ a pastoral comedy, \\\ which nature is painted to the life. He died in 1763. BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES. 327 Dr. Edward Youngs an excellent writer both in prose and verse, first published his poem called The Last Dai/^ which gave great satisfaction, and procured him numerous friends, among the rest Addison, for whose Spectator he wrote several papers. The turn of his mind inclining him to the church, he entered into orders, was made chaplain to the king, and obtained the living; of Welwyn in Hertford- shire. In his satires, entitled " Love of Fame the Universal Passion^^^ the characters are selected with discernment, and drawn with nicety ; the illustrations are happy, and the re- flections just. Young has the gaiety of Horace without his laxity of numbers, and the morality of Juvenal with greater variation of images. But Swift says, that " the j)oet should have been either more angry or merry." The loss of his wife, (daughter of the earl of Lichfield,) and of her two children, produced his Complaint^ or Night^rhoughts^ in which he has exhibited a very wide display of original poetry, variegated with deep reflections and striking allu- sions ; a wilderness of thought, in which the fertility of fancy scatters flowers of every hue and odour. " In this work," says Dr. Johnson, which finely represents the au- thor's melancholy and morality, " particular lines are not to be regarded ; the power is in the whole, and in the whole there is a magnificence like that ascribed to a Chinese plan- tation, the magnificence of vast extent and endless diver- sity." The author died in 1765, at the age of eighty-one years. He enjoys the credit of an extempore epigram on V^oltaire, who, when he was in England, ridiculed, in the company of the jealous English poet, Milton's allegory of Sin and Death. " Thou art so witty, profligate, and thin, " At once we think thee Milton, Death, and Sin." Dr. John Leland^ who died in 1766, was an eminent dis- senting minister, and an able and zealous defender of re- vealed religion. He entered into an ample investigation of all the arguments adduced by deistical writers, and secured the triumph of Christianity over its most acute opponents. The Rev. Laurence Sterne^ author of Tristram Shandy^ was an original and ingenious writer. Of his skill in deli- neating and supporting his characters, those of his uncle Toby, and of corporal Trim, afford ample proof. To his power in the pathetic, whoever shall read the stories of Le Fevre, Maria, the Monk, and the Dead Ass, must, if he has 1 / I i 3^8 HISTORY OF GREAT-BRITAIN. BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES. 329 • lii feelings, bear a sufficient testimony. On entering into or- ders, he obtained the living of Sutton. He married in 1741, and, soon after, was made a prebendary of York. In 1762, he went to France, and two years after to Italy, for the re- covery of his health. His admired Sentimental Journey was the fruit of the former excursion. He died in 1768. Thomas Chatterton^ the ingenious author of poems pub- lished under the name of Rowley, was first an attorney's clerk, and afterwards a literary labourer for booksellers. Being involved in great distress, he committed suicide, in 1770. If Horace Walpole, the romance- writer, virtuoso^ and antiquary, who derived a large income from his father's public services, had possessed an atom of liberality, this un- fortunate youth, who applied to him for temporary succour, might have been saved from ruin. Thomas Gray^ an eminent poet, resided chiefly at Cam- bridge, where he was appointed professor of modern his- tory. He was one of the most learned men in Europe, being equally acquainted with the elegant and profound parts of science. His Elegy in a Country Church-yard abounds v^ith images which find a mirror in every mind, and with senti- ments to which every bosom returns an echo. After the death of Colley Cibber, Mr. Gray had the honour of re- fusing the laurel, which was bestowed on Mr. William Whitehead. He died in 1771. Dr. Tobias Smollett^ a novelist and miscellaneous writer, was born in Scotland, in 1720. He served as a surgeon's mate in the navy, in the unfortunate expedition to Cartha- gena ; and, after his return to Britain, endeavoured to es- tablish himself in the capacity of a physician; but, being discounnged by the difficulty of forcing himself into extensive practice, he had recourse to his pen for subsistence. He soon found patronage among the booksellers; but, not being distinguished by rigid oeconomy, he did not elevate himself to a state of opulence. His best novel is that which he first produced — the Adventures of Roderic Random : but all his works of that description possess great merit. His History of England was written in haste, without reference to ori- ginal authorities : yet it met with great success. He attempted dramatic composition, without shining in it ; and in poetry he did not particularly excel, though his Ode to Independence is not contemptible. Philip Dormer Stanhope^ earl of Chesterfield^ an eminent statesnmDj and au elegant writer, was a paxticular farounte of George II., who made him high-steward of the household, and afterwards lord-lieutenant of Ireland. In 1768 he lost his son, which, with his own infirmities, rendered the re- mainder of his life very unpleasant. Infidelity could not support him in the time of trial, and he sank into a state of wretched despondency. His celebrated Letters to his Son display a brilliancy of talent, and much knowledge of the world, but shew him to have been destitute of principle^ and defective in judgement. With his lordship, the art of pleas- ing is every thing. But let young people ever remember, that a man of polished manners, and mere external accom- plishments, without a good heart and virtuous conduct, ii no better than a painted sepulchre. He died in 1773. George, lord Lyttelton, an ingenious and good man, dis- tinguished himself in parliament as one of the warmest oppo- nents of sir Robert Walpole. In 1737, he became secretary to the prince of Wales, who, being driven from St. James's, kept a separate court, and openly countenanced the oppo- sition. When Walpole retired, Lyttelton was made one of the lords of the treasury. In 1747, he published his 06- servations on the Conversion of St. Paul; — a treatise to which infidelity has never been able to fabricate a specious answer. His last literary work was the History of Henry ILj which does honour to. his judgement and candour. His lordship married Miss Lucy Fortescue, of Devonshire, with whom he lived in the highest degree of connubial felicity. But human pleasures are short. She died in child-bed about five years afterwards; when, after bewailing her loss in aa elegant monody, he was content to seek happiness in a se- cond marriage ; but the experiment was unsuccessful. He died the death of a Christian, in 1773; of which event his physician gave a very aflfecting and instructive account. " Doctor," said he, " you shall be my confessor. When I first set out in the world, attempts were made to shake my belief in Christianity. I saw difficulties which staggered me; but I kept my mind open to conviction. The evidences and doctrines of it, studied with attention, made me a most firm believer of the Christian religion. I have made it the rule of my life, and it is the ground of my future hopes. I have erred and sinned, but have repented, and never indulged any vicious habits." Oliver Goldsmith, a pleasing poet and historian, was born in Ireland, and educated at the university of Dublin. He took the degree of bachelor of physic, but, like Dr. Smollett, I 330 HISTORY OF GREAT- BRITAIN. BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES. 331 preferred writing to medical practice. He Tisited France, Germany, and other parts of the continent, enjoying the scenes of nature, and studying the human passions. He sub- sisted chiefly by a little skill in music, which made him ac- ceptable to the peasantry; but he often met with a kind re- ception at the religious houses, where his genius and learning were much esteemed. He afterwards settled in London, and rose by degrees into fame, from his poems, plays, and other writings. He might have acquired a competency, had he not been too generous and prodigal. He died in 1774. His Vicar of Wakefield^ Traveller^ and Deserted Village^ have great merit; and his Histories of Rome, Greece, and England, are not contemptible. His last work, the History of the Earth and Animated Nature, is stiU popular. Dartd Hume^ a profound and sagacious historian, died in 1776. His Historic of England is the best extant. In his other writings, he often loses himself in the mazes of scep- ticism. The young and inexperienced, therefore, ought not to enter the labyrinth, as they may not easily find their way out. This celebrated writer was born, in 1711, of a resjMJCt- able family in North-Britain. Having passed through the ordinary course of education, he officiated as clerk to a merchant at Bristol : but he was soon disgusted with a com- mercial life; and, having some property, he retired to France, to pursue his studies in privacy. After his return to his native country, he lived for some time as preceptor to the marquis of Annandale, In 1752, he was appointed li. brarian to the college of advocates at Edinburgh ;— an em- ployment which first inspired him with the idea of writing the History of England. In 1763, he acted as secretary to the earl of Hertford, who was sent to France in a diplomatic capacity; and, when his lordship left Paris, the historian was for some time the chief representative of his sovereign. WiUiam Pitt, the illustrious earl of Chatham, first distin- guished himself in parliament by his powerful eloquence in opposition to Sir Robert Walpole. For this, the duchess of Marlborough left him, in her will, 10,000/. During his own administration, bis eye ran through every department of the state; and, therefore, as he was yigilant, all was activity and promptitude. Thus the designs of the enemy were baffled, and his own were executed before they were sus- pected. When the important question of general warrants was discussed in parliament, his love of rational liberty broke forth in the most animated strains. He declared them to be repugnant to every principle of freedom. *' By the British constitution," said this eloquent statesman, »' every man^s house is his castle : not that it is surroundtd by walls and battlements; it may be a straw-built shed; every wind of heaven may whistle round it; all the elements of heaven may enter it; but the king cannot, the king dares not." From the beginning of the American war, the earl set himself vigorously in opposition to the mad measures of an infatuated ministry. His eloquence shook the senate, and echoed through the kingdom. He warned the nation against an unnatural and fruitless contest; and his last e£fort in public was in speaking on the question of American inde- pendence. In the midst of his speech he was seized with a convulsive fit, and died on the 11th of May, 1778. Dr. John Armstrong, an eminent physician and poet, died in 1779. The Art of preserving Health will transmit his name to posterity as an ingenious and able writer. The classical correctness and closeness of style, in this piece, arc truly admirable ; and the subject is raised and adorned by a multiplicity of poetical images. Dr. Mackenzie, in his History of Health, has this beautiful eulogium of it: "To give every charming description and beautiful passage of this poem, one must transcribe the whole. We cannot, how- ever, expect new rules, where the principal design was to raise and warm the heart into a compliance with the solid precepts of the ancients, which he has enforced with great strength and elegance. And, upon the whole, he has con- vinced us, by his own example, that we are not to blam.e antiquity for acknowledging " One power of physic, melody, and song." Another poetical physician, in the same period, was Dr. Mark Akenside, whose Pleasures of Imagination will gratify every reader of taste. Dr. William Warburton, who died in 1779, was a learned divine and an acute controversialist. By.securing the regard and friendship of Mr. Pope, he increased that consequence which he derived from his abilities, and recommended himself to more general notice. From an inferior department in the law, he transferred himself to the clerical profession, and was at length elevated to the bishopric of Glocester. His Divine Legation of Moses is founded on an extraordinary position, which he did not eflectually establish — the omission of all mention of a future state among the doctrines which were y-i 332 HISTORY OF GREAT. BRITAiN. imparted to the Jews. By his imposing talents and arrogant dogmatism, he erected a kind of school of theological criti. cism, to which, among other divines, bishop Kurd, a more elegant scholar than Warburton, belonged. David Garrick, who also died in 1779, was di prodigy of theatrical accomplishments; for he could, without the least preparation, transform himself into any character, tragic or comic, and seize instantaneously any passion of the human mind. The public often wished to see the celebrated Quia and this great actor fairly matched in two characters of equal importance. The Fair Penitent presented an opportunity of displaying the ir several merits, when it was observed that Quin changed colour, and Garrick seemed to be embarrassed. Theformerwastoo proud to own his feelings on the occasion; but Garrick was heard to say, "I believe Quin was as much frighrened as myself." Quin had been strongly patronised by Frederic prince of Wales, and was employed to instruct the royal children in a correct pronunciation. The kin§»s first speech being praised for its delivery, Quin exclaimed, "I taught the boy to speak." James Harris^ father of the earl of Malmsbury, after being appointed commissioner of the admiralty, was made secretary to the queen in 1774. Bishop Lowth says, that his Hermes^ or Philosophical Enquiry concerning Universal Grammar, " is the most beautiful and perfect example of analysis that has been exhibited since the days of Aristotle '» He died in 1780. Sir William Blackstone^ a learned lawyer, whose name is immortalised by his Commentaries on the Laws of England^ obtained Mr. Benson's prize-medal for the best verses on Milton. At the age of twenty he composed a treatise on the elements of architecture, for his own use. The study of the law put an end to these amusing pursuits. As a pleader, however, he made little progress, having no ready flow of eloquence or graceful delivt ry. In 1770, he was made one of the judges in the court of King's Bench, and shortly after he removed to the Common Pleas. He died in 1780. Henry Home, usually styled lord Kames, was an able lawyer, logician, moralist, and critic. His Elements of Lnttasm, and his Sketches of the History of Man, evince acuteness, taste, and learning. He died in 1782, in his eighty-seventh year. Dr. William Hunter, who died in 1 783, was the son of a Scottish farmer, who wished him to enter into holy orders 5 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES. 333 but the youth preferred the medical profession ; and, when he had studied for some years at Edinburgh, he came to Juondon, where he not only acted as an anatomical assistant to Dr. James Douglas, but also officiated as tutor to his son. He afterwards enjoyed great practice, particularly in mid- wifery. In 1762, he was appointed physician to the queen. His Medical Commentaries are esteemed ; and his Anatomy of the Gravid Uterus is a splendid and useful work. While lie thus flourished, his brother John was distinguished as a very able surgeon. Dr. Johnson, who died in 1784, was one of the greatest writers of whom this country can boast. In his Dictionary and periodical publications, he has fixed our language, and regulated our morality. Though he was seventy-two years pf age when he began his Lives of the English Poets, we perceive no decay of intellect, no abatement of his wonted vigour. On the contrary, it is a treasure of sound criticism, and a model of literary biography. Soon after the com- pletion of this work, nature gave symptoms of failure, and warned him of his dissolution. This was an event, to which he had always looked with dread. But the last days of this excellent man were sun-shine. His gloomy apprehensions vanished; he saw the ground of his confidence, and departed in strong faith and lively hope. He liad a noble independ- ence of mind, and could never bear to stoop to any man, however exalted, or disguise his sentiments to flatter another. His judgement was uncommonly acute and sound, his ima. gination quick and ready, and his conversation brilliant and instructive. Dr. Robert Lozcth, bishop of London, when professor at Oxford, delivered those admirable lectures on the Sacred Poetry of the Hebrews, which have immortalised his name. He published likewise an excellent Grammar of the English Language, and a Translation of Isaiah, the suj^limest poetry in the world. He died in 1787. His successor was Dr. Beil~ by Porteus, an estimable man and an elegant scholar, whose sermons were admired in the delivery, and are interesting in the perusal. John Whitehurst, having settled at Derby as a watch- maker, made the clock and chimes of the beautiful tower of All-Saints church, in that city, iiy his vicinity to the stu- pendous /)AflPwo/7iewa of Derbyshire, constantly presented to his observation, he was excited to investigate their causes. Being appointed stamper of the money-weights in 1775, he •.h i ; it: I I!! \m'r S34 HISTORY OF GREAT -BRITAIN. removed to London, where he soon after published his En^ quiry into the Original State and Formation of the Earth, He died in 1788, with the reputation of an acute philosopher and mechanist. Thomas Day^ who died in 1789, published, during the American war, several poems and pamphlets, reprobating the conduct of Britain in that contest. His fame, however, would not have been secured by the merit of tiiese publica- tions. His Sandford and Merton, a book purposely intend, ed for the use of children, does him the greatest credit. This excellent work, as well as Robinson Crusoe, and Bunyan's Pilgrim's Progress^ ought to be in eyery young gentleman's library. Dr. Henry, an eminent Scottish divine and historian, who died in 1790, is well known as the author of a history of Great-Britain, on a new plan, which has been highly ap- proved. This abridgement is, in a great measure, written on the same plan. In the same year, died the celebrated physician, Dr. tViU Ham Cullen, He was born in Lanerkshire ; and, after h« had acted at Glasgow as a surgeon, he began in 1740 to pre. scribe as a physician. In 1756, he was chosen to fill the chair of chemistry at Edinburgh ; and he at length acquired the chief object of his ambition, being appointed professor of medicine at that university. He endeavoured to form a new school, by broaching a theory which is thus described by an historian : " He derogated from the supposed importance of the circulation of the blood, referred health and disease to the state of the solid moving powers, and represented the brain as the chief organ that influenced the bodily predica- ment, not only in fevers, but in other disorders." This theory has still many partisans and defenders : but these are points which our limited capacity, perhaps, will never be able to ascertain. John HoKard, the philanthropist, visited all Europe, "not to survey the sumptuousness of palaces, or the stateliness of temples," says Mr. Burke, " not to make accurate measure- ments of the remains of ancient grandeur, nor io form a scale of the curiosity of modern art; not to collect medals, or collate manuscripts: — but to dive into the depths of dun- geons; to plunge into the infection of hospitals; to survey the mansions of sorrow and pain ; to take the gauge and di- mensions of misery, depression, and contempt ; to remember the forgotten, to attend to the neglected, to visit the for- ^ \\\' ^ MR. HOWARD RELIEVING A BRITISH PRISOJ^E^ IN TUllKEY. !l l« S34 HISTORY OF GREAT. BRITAIN. removed to London, uhere he soon after published his E/;- quiry into the Original State and Formation of the Earth. He died in 1788, with the reputation of an acute philosopher and mechanist. Thomas Dai/^ who died in 1789, published, during the American war, several poems and pamphlets, reprobating the conduct of Britain in that contest. His fame, however, would not have been secured by the merit of tijese publica- tions. His Sanciford and Merton^ a book purposely intend, ed for the use of children, does him the greatest credit. This excellent work, as well as Robinson Crusoe, and Bunyan's Pilgrim's Progress^ ought to be in eyery young gentleman's library. Dr. Henri/^ an eminent Scottish divine and historian, who died in 1790, is well known as the author of a history of Great-Britain, on a new plan, which has been highly ap- proved. This abridgement is, in a great measure, written on the same plan. In the same year, died the celebrated physician, Dr. fViU Ham Cullen, He was born in Lanerkshire; and, after h« had acted at Glasgow as a surgeon, he began in 1740 to pre- scribe as a physician, in 1756, he was chosen to fill the chair of chemistry at Edinburgh ; and he at length acquired the chief object of his ambition, being appointed professor of mcdiciiif^ yt that university. He endeavoured to form a new school, by broaching a theory which is thus described by an historian :" " He derogated from the supposed importance of the circulation of the blood, referred health and disease to the state of the solid moving powers^ and represented the brain as the chief organ that influenced the bodily predica- ment, not only in fevers, but in other disorders.'* This theory has stlil many partisans and defenders : but these are points which our limited capacity, perhaps, will never be able to ascertain. John lloKard, the philanthropist, visited all Europe, "not to survey the sumptuousness of palaces, or the stateliness of temples," says Mr. Burke, " not to make accurate measure- ments of the remains of ancient grandeur, nor to form a scale of tlie curiosity of modern art; not to colUct medals, or collate manuscripts: — but to dive into the depths of dun- geons; to pluuire into the infection of hospitals; to survey the mansions of sorrow and pain; to take the gauge and di. mensions of misery, depression, and contempt; to remember the forgotten, to attend to the neglected, to visit the for- i I MR. HOWARD RELIEVING A BRITISH PRISO^'El^ IN TURKEV. :^ Ij' , * : 'II) it BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES. 835 laken, and compare and collate the distresses of all men in all countries." In 1789, he published an account of the prin- cipal lazarettos in Europe, in which he signified his intention of re-visiting Russia and Turkey, and of extending his route into the East. Before he left England, when a friend ex- prt^ssed his concern at parting with him, from an apprehen- sion that they should never meet again, he cheerfully replied, " VVe shall soon meet in heaven ;" and, as he rather expected to die of the plague in Egypt, he added, " the way to heaven from Grand Cairo is as near as from London." This good man did actually fall a sacrifice to his humanity ; for, ia visiting a sick patient at Cherson, who had a malignant fever, he caught the infection, and died in the beginning of the year 1790. Sir Joshua Rt^inolds^ a most eminent painter, who died in 1792, was the soa of a clergyman, and was born at Plympton in Devonshire. He was intended for his father's profession; but his inclination for the pictorial art proved irresistible. He studied drawing and portrait.painting with such zeal, that he made a rapid proficiency ; and, having passed two years in a survey of those works of art which Italy exhibits in pro- fusion, he commenced in his native country the exercise of his favourite pursuit, and soon acquired fame and fortune. His Discourses on Paintings delivered before the Royal Aca- demy, over which he presided, reflect honour on his talents, taste, and judgement. It was supposed that Dr. Johnson had assisted him in these compositions; but the idea appears to be unfounded. Sir Joshua was the first promoter of th« literary club, of which Johnson, Burke, and other great men, were members. Sir Richard Arkzzright^ a celebrated manufacturer, was originally a barber, a,t Wirks worth in Derbyshire. In con- cert with one Kay, a clock-maker, he projected a machine for the spinning of cotton. He afterwards erected works at Cromford, and acquired a princely fortune. His system of machinery, to which he gave the name of a " Spinning Jenny," *has given employment to thousands of families, and been productive of great commercial advantage to his country. He died in 1792. — David Daie, an enterprising North.Bri- ton, profited by the instructions of Sir Richard, and esta- blished cotton-mills near the Clyde, by which he likewise acquired great opulence; and this branch of manufacture hus since been carried on with increasing skill and success. iii ■I 1 I II 33C HISTORY OF GREAT -BRITAIN. William Murrai/^ earl of Mansfield, held the office of chief-justice of the King's-Bench for more than thirty years, with unparalleled splendour and reputation. The benevo- lence of his private life was equal to the excellence of his public character. Of his disinterestedness let it be observed, that he thrice refused the office of lord-chancellor, and never took any grant or emolument from the late king, for himself or any person belonging to him ; and when the sufferers by the dreadful riots, in 1780, were to be reimbursed by the public, his lordship, in conjunction with the late great and good sir George Saville, nobly refused any compensation whatever, though his house in Bloomsbury-square was de. stroyed, with his fine library, manuscripts, and other valu- able effects. He died in 1793. Dr. fVilliam Robertson, an elegant and able writer, was educated at the university of Edinburgh, and became a dis- tinguished minister of the kirk. His History of Scotland was compared by the earl of Chesterfield, for its interesting style and manner, to the celebrated work of Davila; and his His. tory of Charles the Fifth established his fame over Europe. He died in 1793, at an advanced age. Edward Gibbon, the historian, was born at Putney, in 1737, being the grandson of one of those speculators whom the house of commons punished with pecuniary forfeiture for the iniquity of the South-Sea scheme. He studied at Oxford, or rather kt pt a few terms in idleness. At Lausanne, he was more attentive to the improvement of his mind; and, while he lingered near the lake of Geneva, he was on the point of marrying an accomplished young lady, who after- ward became the wife of the minister Necker, and the mother of the celebrated Madame de Stael : but his father prohibited an alliance with portionless beauty and merit. His first work was an Essay on Literature, composed in the French language. It displayed taste and cultivation, and was well received on the continent. In 1774, he was chosen member for Leskeard ; and, while be remained a silent senator, he established his fame as an author by publishint; the first part of his History of the Decline and Fall, of the Roman Empire. On the recommendation of Mr. Wedderburnt-, afterward lord Loukhborough, he was appointed one of the lords of trade: but he had only enjoyed the place for three years, when the board was abolished by the spirit of the opposition. He finished bis work at Lausanne, after he had retired from BIOGRAPHICAL SKV^TCHES. 337 public life. For the latter half of it, he is said to have re- ceived fonr thousand guineas. It exhibits philosophical acute, ness and great learning : but the style is afftcted, and too florid for the sober dignity of history; and the author's free- doui of animadversion, in relating the progress of Christianity, has subjected him to the severity of censure. He died ia 1794. Sir William Jones, an able orientalist, a general scholary a learned and upright judge, was born at London in 1748. At Oxford, he became tutor to lord Althorp, now earl Spen- cer. He was in due time called to the bar; but he rarely- practised in the courts at Westminster. In 1 783, he was raised to the judicial bench in India, where his multifarious erudition and private virtues secured to him general esteem and regardv He did not live to return to this country, dying at Calcutta in 1794. His Commentaries on Asiatic Poetry, written in elegant Latin, evince his acquaintance with that pleasing subject. His accurate knowledge of the Persian language may be inferred from his Grammar, and his French translation of the History of Nadir Shah. He principally contributed to the formation of a society for the investigation of Asiatic antiquities and literature; and his discourses and essays, published in the successive volumes of its transac- tions, are particularly valuable. Robert Burns, a Scottish poet of extraordinary genius died in 1796. This pupil of nature was only a ploughman in Ayrshire, being (as he says) "born a very poor man's son." He was early inspired with a poetic talent; and, when he had with -difficulty procured a few books, his vade^ mecum was a collection of songs. He at length produced some pieces which excited the admiration of his countrymen, and visited the Scottish capital to receive the homage which his genius claimed. When his poems had so far enriched him, that he was able to take a farm, he was too intempe- rate, and too fond of pleasure, to conduct business with prudence or steadiness. He obtained a small place in the excise-department ; but, for speaking too freely of public affairs, he was threatened with dismission. This treatment made a deep impression upon the irritable disposition of the bard ; and it perhaps concurred with his excesses to hasten hit death. He was a man of extraordinary sensibility, sincere, friendly, and humane; but proud, supercilious, overbear- ing, and, when he thought himself injured, resentful and vindictive. His conversation was uncommonly pleasing and m il: It ' 338 HISTORY OF GREAT-BRITAIN. attractive ; and, when he delivered his opinions, after mature deliberation, he was candid and just; but his hasty senti- ments were sometimes as erroneous and ill-founded as those of the most unenlightened and misjudging men. Edmund Burke, who died in 1797, was one of the most eloquent men of his age; perhaps second to none in any age. He m as also an elegant and forcible writer. His essay on thcSul)linie and Deautifulis a composition of great taste. The Findication of Natural Society is a happy imitation of Bolingbroke; and, in fact, it deceived for a time the great- est admirers of that writer. He was born at Dublin, in 1730, and educated at Trinity-college in that city, where, it is said, he did not distinguish himself. Having in vain so- licited the professorship of logic at Glasgow, he repaired to the British metropolis, and began to write for subsistence and for fame. By the interest of his friend, William Gerard Hamilton, he obtained a pension from the crown ; but, when his talents had recommended him to the marquis of Rock* ingham, who gave him a country-house and a seat in par- liament, he resigned the fee of ministerial subserviency, and became a strenuous opposer of the court. He vehemently and justly declaimed against the American war; and per- severed in his zealous counteraction, till the house of com- mons, shaking off the courtly yoke, put an end to that im- politic contest. He then became paymaster of the army; but he resigned his post, in concert with Mr. Fox ; with whom, on the expulsion of lord Shelburne from the helm, he re. turned, in 1783, to a ministerial station. No senator more ably supported the India bill than Mr. Burke; and he was therefore dismissed from power with his popular friend. He afterwards distinguished himself as the accuser of Warren Hastings, formerly governor of Bengal. When the French revolution broke out, he viewed it with suspicion and dis- trust ; and its progress*so alarmed him, that he published his celebrated Rejlections, with a view of preventing, in this country, any imitation of such a pernicious example. He pretended to be still as fond of liberty as he had ever been : but he dreaded the licentiousness of democracy. By his Anti.Gallican zeal, he so highly pleased Mr. Pitt and the court, that a large pension was granted to him. If he had acted solely from motives of patriotism, hewouid have reject- ed this offer, the more particularly as he had loudly con- demned, and had contributed to check, the lavish grant of peiv- «!ons: but he was disposed to think, that his own was fully BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES. 339 merited: and, when the duke of Bedford presumed to question the propriety of the grant, he reviled that nobleman and his ancestors in an intemperate pamphlet. Notwithstanding this and other instances of irritability, his private character was amiable and respectable. James Burnet, commonly called lord Monhoddo, the learned and ingenious author of the Origin of Language, died in 1799, at the advanced age of eighty-five. A constitution of body naturally framed to wear well and last long, was strengthened to his lordship by exercise, guarded by tem- perance, and by a tenor of mind too firm to be deeply broken in upon by those passions which consume the prin- ciples of life. He used to walk much in the open air. It is said, that he even found the use of wliat he called the AiVm Bath, or the practice of occasionally walking about, for some minutes, naked, in a room filled with fresh and cool air, to be highly salutary. The Rev. Dr. Hugh Blair, professor of Rhetoric and the Belles Lettres in the university of Edinburgh, who died in 1800, was a man of taste and judi;ement,and a very pleasin<» writer. In his Sermo?is, he is sometimes sublime, more fre- quently tender and softly pleasing, sometimes meltingly pa- thetic. Such a regard for correctness was never before united with a fire so pure and vivid. These discourses recommended him to the notice of her majesty, who rewarded his merit with a pension. It is supposed that he received nearly 4000/. at different times, for his literary productions. His Lectures on Rhetoric afford the best system of the principles of tast« and the laws of literary composition, which has been offered to the world since the age of Quintilian. William Cowper, who died in 1800, was an ingenious poet, whose Task is admired by every reader of taste. His translation of Homer does not abound with poetic fire* but it is more correct and faithful than Pope's version. In the Adventures of John Gilpin, simplicity, pleasantry, and hu. mour, are apparent. He was an amiable and worthy man esteemed by all who were acquainted with him ; but his deli' cacy of nerves, and invincible timidity, rendered him unfit for public life, and prevented him from undertaking some important employments which were offered to him. Dr. Erasmus Darzcin, a native of Newark, began to prac- tise the healing art at Lichfield in 1756, at the age of twenty- four years, and soon acquired high reputation. He was en. dowed with a poetic imagination; but he would not suffer q2 f ^'. I i I Li 340 HISTORY OF GREAT- BRITAIN. \i his love for the Muses to seduce him from his professional studies, before he had attained the age of forty-seven. His genius then broke forth with splendor ; and his Botanic Gar^ den established his fame as a pleasing and elegant poet, while the notes with which it was accompanied strongly excited and amply rewarded the attention of the philosophic reader. His poetry, however, is rather highly imaginative and splen- didly descriptive, than morally interesting or deeply impres- sive. In his Zoonomia^ he ingeniously, if not always satis- factorily, developed the laws of organic life ; and, in his Phyiologia^ he ably illustrated the philosophy of agriculture and gardening. He died at Derby, in 1802. Dr. James Deaitie^ the son of a farmer of Kincardine- shire, was for some time a schoolmaster at Alloa, and after- wards became professor of moral philosophy and logic in the university of Aberdeen. ^\s Essay on the Nature and ImmutaMUty of Truth had sufficient merit to procure him a pension ; and his poem of the Minstrel is greatly admired. IJe died in 1803. Dr. Joseph Priestley^ a welUknown dissenting minister, was born near Leeds, in 1734. He displayed, at an early age, a strong inclination for literature, and a high regard both for religious and political freedom. After having acted as the pastor of Tarious congregations, he lived for seven years in the house of the earl of Shelburne, as his friend and philosophical companion. At Birmingham, he officiated as a minister for eleven years ; and he would not have left a town in which he had many esteemed friends, if his house had not been destroyed, in 1791, by the fury of a set of rioters, who thought htm a fair object of attack, because he was supposed to be an admirer of the French revolution, of which, at that ikne, many worthy and respectable men entertained a favourable opinion. As Dr. Price, the politi- cal calculator, and the able champion of liberty, died in that year, Dr. Priestley succeeded him as the Unitarian minister at Hackney : but, in 1794, he emigrated to North-America. His survey of electricity, and his experiments and observa- tions on different kinds of air, procured him the reputation of a philosopher: but his theological and metaphysical writings are less valuable. He died in 1804. Dr. IVUliam Paley was celebrated as an academical tutor, before he distinguished himself as an erudite and able writer. He obtained various preferments in the north of England; jiod^ if he had courted the favour of ministerial patrons^ ht BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES. 341 might have risen to the dignity of a prelate. His Evidences of Christianity entitled him to that honour. His Elements of Moral and Political Philosophy^ and his Natural Theology^ are also highly esteemed. He died in 1805. Elizabeth Carter^ who died in 1806, in the eighty-ninth year of her age, was admired for her talents and learning, and esteemed for her piety and virtue. She was indebted for her classical knowledge to the instructions of her father, who was rector of Deal. A translation of Eptctetus was a bold attempt for a lady; but it was executed by Miss Carter with distinguished ability; and her introduction and notes enhance the value of the performance. Her Ode to Wisdom, and other poems, are ingenious and pleasing : and her coir- tributions to the Rambler do not discredit that estimable work Anna Seward^ who died in 1809, cultivated the poetic art with success. She was the daughter of a respectable clergyman, resident at Lichfield, whose judicious iustructions improved her rising talents. She had opportunities of mar- rying to advantage ; but she preferred a life of celibacy. Her Elegy on the Death of Captain Cook, and her Monody on Major Andre, without being faultless, possess consider, able merit. To elegiac composition she gave the appearance of epic dignity. Louisa, a poetical novel, Llangollen-Vale^ sonnets, and other pieces, contributed to the preservation of the fame which she had acquired. Since her decease, several volumes of her letters have been published, many of which are interesting, while some betray false criticism, vanity, and petulance, Richard Cumberland, who died in 1811, was an author of great and diversified merit. He was grand -son of the cele- brated critic Dr. Bentley; and his great-grand father was bishop Cumberland, the learned illustrator of the laws of nature. He studied at Trinity-college, Cambridge, with a view to the clerical profession; but, being requested by the earl of Halifax to become his secretary, he relinquished his original intention. He went to Ireland in the train of his patron, by whose favor he had the good fortune io obtain for his father the dignity of a prelate. It is not often that a son has such an opportunity of serving a parent. Having a strong inclination for the drama, he wrote several pieces before his West-Indian appeared. This comedy displays aa agreeable combination of pleasantry and sentiment ; and the characters of Belcour and Major O'Flaherty are admirably: q3 342 IirSTORY OF GREAT.BRITAIIV. drawn. His Fashionable Lover pleaspd the author more and the public loss. The Wheel of Fortune and the Jew were favourably receiFed ; but his tragedy of the Carmelite, though an interesthig piece, soon ceased to be performed. In the Observer, a collection of essays, he evinced learning and taste; and, in his novels, he imitated, not without suc- cess, the humour of Fielding. His epic poem of Calvary, though sometimes dull, reflects credit on his genius. In 1780, the author was sent to Madrid, with a view of ascer- taining the inclination of the Spanish court for peace. He was ill-treated by the ministry on this occasion, not having a proper allowance for the debts which he thought himself obliged to contract : but, when a place which he had for some years enjoyed was suppressed, he was gratified with a pension for life. Dr. Joh7i Coakley Leitsom may be introduced in this ca- talogue of distinguished persons, not merely as a physician, but because, to that skill which enabled him to prolong life, he added the most generous philanthropy and the most sin. cere desire of benefiting mankind. He was born in a small VVestJndian island called Vandyke; and, after studying the medical art in England, practised it in Tortola. He com. menced his career of benevolence by emancipating the negroes who belonged to his paternal estate. Being encouraged to exercise his skill in London, he met with great success, and continued his practice to an advanced age. He fre- quently relieved a poor patient with his purse, and made a liberal use of the produce of his medical experience. He promoted the establishment of dispensaries, and encouraged every useful and beneficent institution. His publications, which are numerous, are not only subservient to the cultl- Tation of medicine and natural history, but have also a strong tendency to the propagation of every moral virtue. He died in 1815, in the seventy-first year of his age. COMMERCE. 343 CHAP. VII. COMMERCE AND MANUFACTURES. A.D. 1688 1815. 4 Fl'ER the revocation of the edict of Nantes, the per- -^^^ secutedprotestants of France, to the number of almost a million, who had been chiefly employed in the French ma- nufactures, took refuge in England, Holland, and other countries, where they could enjoy the free exercise of their religion; carrying along with them their arts and ingenuity, and%ven the fruits of their industry, to a very great amount, in gold and silver. They were much caressed in England, where they improved or introduced the manufacture of hats^ of silk, and of linen. The importation of those articles from France was soon prohibited, as inconsistent with national interest; the culture of flax was encouraged ; raw silk was imported from Italy and China ; beaver-skins were procured from Hudson's Bay, where settlements had been established, and where all sorts of furs were found in the greatest plenty, and of the most excellent quality. Watch-work was ex- ecuted in England with the utmost elegance and exactness, as well as all other kinds of machinery, cutlery, and jewelry; the cotton-manufacture, now so highly perfected, was intro- duced ; and toys of every species were at length finished with so much taste and facility, as to become an article of ex. portation, even to the European continent, and privately io France itself, the birth-place of fashion, and the nursery of splendid bagatelles. In the mean time, the colonies in North-America enlarged their boundaries, and increased in wealth and population. New England furnished masts and yards for the royal navy, as well as timber for other uses ; New York and New Jersey (formerly known by the name of Nova Uelgia) con- quered from the Dutch, and Pennsylvania, settled under the direction of the quaker Penn, produced abundant crops of corn, and a variety of other articles for the European mar- kets, as well as for the supply of the English islands in the West-Indies; the tobacco of Virginia and Maryland became a staple commodity, in high request, and a great source of revenue ; and the two Carolinas, by the culture of rice and indigo, and the manufacture of tar, pitch, and turpentine, so necessary io a naval and commercial people, soon became of vast importance. But the most beneficial trade arose from the colonies in the West-Indian islands. Their rich produce, which was chiefly intended for exportation, and all carried in the ships of the mother-country, afl'orded employment to a great num- ber of seamen ; and, as the inhabitants were supplied with clothing of all kinds, household furniture, tools, and even the luxuries of the table, from Britain and Ireland, the in- tercourse was active, and productive of mutual prosperity. Of the British commerce, that portion which we enjoyed q4 M n ) 344 HISTORY OF GREAT- BRITAIN. exclusively, viz. the colonial commerce, was long regarded as the most advantageous. Yet, since the separation of the American states from Great-Britain, the trade, industry, and manufactures, of the latter have very considerably increased. -ISew markets have been opened, the returns from which are more certain and less tedious than those from America. Uy supplying a great variety of markets, the skill and inge- nuity of our artisans have taken a wider range; the produc- tions of their labour have been adapted to the wants, not of rising colonies, but of nations the most wealthy and refined; and our commercial system, no longer resting on the artificial Dasis of monopoly, has been rendered more solid as well as More liberal. The trade of England to India constitutes one of the most stupendous machines, political as well as commercial, that are to be met with in history. The trade itself was exclu. sive, and lodged in a company, which had a temporary mo- nopoly of It, in consideration of money advanced to th« government. As the great power of this society excited the jealousy of the court, it was debated in the cabinet, in 1767, ^hether it would not be prudent and politic to take the terri- tories under the immediate protection of the crown ; but this measure was deemed too violent; and they were left to the company, in consideration of the annual payment of 400,000/. >Vith these possessions, the corporation had the appearance Of the most formidable commercial body which had beea known m the world since the destruction of Carthage : but It was involved in great difficulties by a series of mismanage, ment, and, instead of regularly paying the annuity, even required a loan from the government. It so far retrieved its aflairs, that, in 1776, the revenue afforded a clear surplus of 1,770,000/.; and the commercial investments were so far augmented, as to produce above three millions. Farther proofs of incompetency, however, for the proper manage- ment of political concerns, occasioned the appointment of a Ijoard of control, in 1784, by which the power and influence of the directors were materially diminished. Some years after this arrangement, the capital of the company was allowed by the parliament to be raised to five millions; and, in 1793, the monopoly was qualified by the allowance of private traffic, under certain restrictions. To shew the progress of the trade, it will be sufficient to state, that the annual sale ot tea, silk, piece-goods, salt-petre, spices, drugs, and other articles, imported from the East, which, for sixteen years COMMERCE. 345 prior to 1757, had scarcely exceeded the average of two millions nearly amounted, in 1805-6, to nine millions, the Sate traSng included. But, as the exports were com- para^^^^^^^^^^^ "luch bullion and n^^ney were re. Se to supply the deficiency. The charges of the th ee ^ov nments,^a7the same time, could not be defrayed by the aggregate reJenue^such was the expensive ^^f-^^f^^^^^ establishment, and so large was the a;<^"™"^^^»°" ;/^;^',^*- In 1812, when application was made for a new charter the trade was opened to all merchants and speculators, with aa exception of that branch which ^^^^^^^.^^^Vtr^rral and the company obtained a prolongation of territorial ^XLtsCcll^^^ may rather b. called a body of national creditors than a commercial corporation but is nrofessed object may now be promoted by the revolt of the sTanisrll^^^^^^^ in Luth.AmVica, and by tl- conseqaent opening of many ports which the jealousy of the court of Madrid had closed against foreign commerce. . To Africa, the trade has long been open notw.thstand ng the continuance of a company charterexl for tha pecuUar purpose. The exports from Great.Br.tain consist of iron, brass fire-arms, gunpowder, lead-shot, swords, knives, glass SarthTn'warf, woollen; cotton, and linen goods; and the returns are various gums, drugs, ivory, gold-dust, os. *'wHrm\^? ., '. A\ .,„f Prnm Russia, we receive iron, low, mats, sheetingisau-cioin, nogs ""■"■"'''"•'„,,„„ exchange for woollen and cotton goods, hats cut ery, porcelain, and even beer. To Turkey, we send t.n, lead, Lon, hard-ware, watches, logwood, cochineal, .ndigo, sugar, rice, West-Indian coffee, and Irish butter: and we receive, b^i'de pecuniary returns, raw silk, cotton, carpets, sk.n , fruit, and drugs for dyeing and for med.c.ne. The Russia and Turkey companies, which were deemed necessary in the Tufancy of these branches of traffic, still subsist ; but he trade is so far laid open, that it is easy to procure by the payment of a small sum to each corporation, a full permis- '■' Wi^Sarlfthe balance of trade is usually in favour of this country, as the Danes import goods of much greater vLue than tU^'r own exports. Their articles of traffic a,. q5 i i 546 HISTORY OF GREAT.BRITAIN. the same with many of those which we have from Russia: and we supply them with broad-cloth, linen, earthen.ware, glass, &c. With the Swedes, we have long had less advan- tage in point of trade; and they are eagerly endeavooring, under the auspices of the crown-prince, to rival our artisans m various branches of manufacture. From Dantzic and other Prussian ports, we receive co- pious supplies of corn, timber, skins, wool, hides, and pot- -ash ; from the United Netherlands, raw and thrown silk, cotton flax, straw-hats, oak.bark, and madder, beside but- ter and chec se; from France, wine, brandy, preserved fruit, oil, liquorice, silk, millinery, kid-skins, and perfumery; Silk and rotton from the Austrian port of Trieste; from bpain and Portugal, wine, oil, fruit, cochineal, barilla, salt, petre, salt, and leather, beside gold, silver, and precious Stones; from Italy, sitk, rags for making paper, colours, oil, wine, pickles, &c. To the three last.mentioned coun- tries we >end, in addition to a lar^e assortment of our ma- nufactured goods, great quantities of dried hsh for the mm'sre days of Catholicism. In the year 1763, the balance of trade was highly favour- able to this country; for the imports only amounted, in ofticial value, to 1^,568,9^7 pounds, while'the exports ex- ceeded 15,578,900 pounds. In 1800, the former branch rosp to thirty millions and a half, and the latter to forty, three millions; and, eight years afterwards, even while the Irench endeavoured to shut all the continental ports against ws, the imports were above twenty.nine millions, in the value stated at the custom-house, and the exports thirty-four and a half : but the real value was far greater. Since the peace of 1815, however, commerce has greatly declined, partly in consequence of that poverty which diminishes the demand for a variety of articles, and partly from the redoubled zeal of foreign artisans. With regard to British commodities and manufactures, we may observe, that Cornwall and Devonshire supply tin and lead, and woollen manufactures are common to almost all the western counties. Dorsetshire affords marble and stone prepares cordage for the navy, and feeds a «reat number of sheep. Somersetshire, besides furnishing lead and copper has large manufactures of bone.lace, stockings, and caps! Bristol long bore the second rank among the commercial towns of Great-Britain ; but it now yields that honour to Liverpool Its inhabitants carry on a laricty of manufac- COMMERCE. 347 tures They make brass, act as iron-founders, prepare white' and red lead, bake and refine sugar, fabricate bottles and glasses, form earthen.ware, work up wool, and exercise other branches of art with skill and dexterity. In the county of York, the woollen branch particularly flourishes. Leeds is not only the chief mart for broad, cloth, but has acquired reputation by its carpets, l.anca. shire contains many manufacturing towns; in consequence of which it has become, next to Middlesex and Yorkshire, the most populous county in the kingdom, ^^^^o]^ which, in 1700, had scarcely 3000 inhabitants, had 77,650 in 1801. That town has an excellent harbour, furnished with a num- ber of very convenient wet and dry docks. In the traffic for slaves, it had the largest share ; and, since the abolition of that odious branch of trade, it has prosecuted general commerce to such an extent, as to command a fourth part of the aggregate foreign trade of Great. Britain. In 1 565, this port had only twelve vessels: in 1793, it possessed six hundred and six; and the present amount is far more con. siderable. Manchester, which exceeds Liverpool m popu- lation, is celebrated for every species of the cotton manu- facture ; and many articles in the linen and woollen branches are produced by the industry of the inhabitants, who also make glass and crockery, and work up iron, brass, and pewter. At Wigan the strongest checks are made ; Bury is famous for fustian articles ; and Bolton sends forth a large stock of dimity and muslin. ^ All varieties of ingenious and useful work are carried on in London and its neighbourhood. The gold and silver manufactures of the metropolis, through the encouragement given by the court and the nobility, equal, if they do not exceed, those of any country in Europe. . ^^ . ^ . . Norwich excels the rest of the kingdom in the fabrication of various stuffs, shawls, and crape. Nottmgham is cele. bratcd for its fine hosiery and cotton lace. Birmingham, though no corporation, is one of the largest and most po- . pulous towns in England, and is distinguished by its excel- lent hard-ware. It is here and in Sheffield, which is famous for cutlery, that the true genius of English art and industry is to be seen ; for such are the ingenious inventions of the arti- sans for fabricating hard.wares, that they can afford them for a fourth part of the price at which other nations can furnish the same of an inferior kind. Q 6 m 348 HISTORY OF GREAT-BRITAIN. I '1 U The porcelain of Worcestershire rivaU the boasted excel- lence of Chiua-ware ; and the Staffordshire pottery, which was highly improved by Wedgwood, affords striking proofs of British skill and industry. Artificial stone is made in Tarious places, particularly near London, in a mode which promises considerable durability. In the manufacture of carpets, Axminster and Wilton take the lead ; and those of Kidderminster are not con- temptible. Many are of opinion, that the English carpets are superior, both in beauty and durability, to those of Turkey : but that idea seems to be the effect of partiality, rather than the result of unprejudiced conviction. We do not wish to detract from the merit of our manufac- turers : but let other artisans receive the praise which they deserve. After the extinction of the rebellion in 1745, Mr. Pelham discovered the true value of Scotland, as to commerce. All the benefits received by that country, for the relief of the people from their feudal tyranny, were effected by that great man. The increase of their shipping, within these fifty years pa5t, has been very considerable. The exports of those ships are composed chiefly of the manufactures of the country. The fisheries of the Scots are not confined to their own coasts; for they have a great concern in the Greenland whale-fishery. The benefits of these and other fisheries are perhaps, equaled by manufactures, particularly that of iron' at Carron, in Stirlingshire. Their linen-manufacture is in a flourishing state. The town of Paisley employs a »7*; T^ comic muse, however, was backward m her favour for a time. From the time of Congreve we had few new come- dlefo any merit, till Hoadly produced the S«,p.c«o«* Hu.- Sflnrf! and Foote those inimitable sketches of real life, which were so long the delight of the town, a»d»iavejusUy gained him the appellation of the English Aristophanes j^^^ Colman, Z the Jealous Wife and ^"" „f^3e • united the humour of Plautus to the elegance of Terence , and Sheridan, in the School for Scandal, followed the same course with a greater display of wit and pleasantry. Thus our comedy seLed to beVVected. But a new species was toDorted from France; in which, as often happens _in the 3 drama o" the world, ludicrous and interesting circum- ftonces are blended, and scenes of humour interchanged with Wse of sentiment.' Kelly's Found. A new Edition of the same Conversations, in French and Italian, Price 4s. bound. Also, a new Edition, in English and Italian, Price 4«. bound. 7. FRENCH DELECTUS; consisting of a Variety of short Sentences, Historical Anecdotes, and GJeographical Descriptions j intei-mixed with Pieces of Poetry j on a Plan similar to that of Dr. Valpy's Latin Delectus. By JAMES Foley, of the University of Paris. 12mo. Price 2«. bound. " The sentences in this selection are short, easy, and instructive, and well adapted to fecilitate the attainment of the language." 8. The FRENCH VERBS, REGULAR and IRRE- GULAR, alphabetically conjugated, with Figui-es and preliminary Observations, in a new, plain, and easy manner. By John Perrin. Pi'ice 1*. 6d. Likewise, the particular and common Terminations of all the French Verbs, engraved on an Octavo Page. By John Perrin. Price GcL LATIJ\r LANGUAGE. 9. LATIN EXERCISES; or, EXEMPLA PRO- PRIA: being English Sentences translated from the best Roman Writers, and adapted to the Rules in Syntax-, to be again translated into the Latin Language. By the Rev. George Whittaker, A.M. late Master of the Grammar-School in Southampton. Sixth Edition, 12mo. Price 3«. bound. *#♦ A KEY to the above. Price 2*. sewed. *' The judicious arrangement and general utility of this volume, have al- ready occasione«l it to Ije adopted in most of the princiital seminaries ; and it requires only to be seen by others, to meet witli similar prefer- ence and distinct ion." 10. A CONCISE INTRODUCTION to the LATIN LANGUAGE, compiled from ancient and modern Writers of approved Authority, for the use of the middle Fonms in Grammar Schools. By the Rev George Whittaker, A.M. Third Edition, 12mo. Price 2*. Qd. bound. 11. PHiEDRI et jESOPl FABUL^, in Usum Scho- larum. Select* Opera et Studio Georgii Whittaker, A.M. OHm Grammatical Scholte Magistri, Southamptoniae. Quarta Edi- tio, aucta atque emendata. 12mo. Price 2*. bound. 12. STEPS to SENSE-VERSES ; or, a Set of Exercises to be rendered into Latin Hexametei-s and Pentameters. For the use of Schools. Price 1*. 6d. bound. A KEY to the above Work has been arranged, for the private use of 3Iastei*s and Teacheis, which may be had gratis of the Publishers, C_/' \ I J COLUMBIA "fj:^U^^.--i' . .„ ?<» due on tnc .,^. the date 01 --^^r.*eV..rary rules or ^^^^ * Pro^i'^-^*''! "to charge. I the UWan^*^^ 0»Te BOB"" *-7nw«>''=° y I"" \* COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY ^;^ 0032216041 Wk if Vp \^ W1 1^ 1 "»w ' *• • ■ ikJB» ■ (■"*:■ '■— 'n," • '^ i» ?•• —- i^^v '^:m^ ilK;n;;;=r ;>■ i* ''•.^'; t^i^]^ Wi f* - / ¥■■ m H .. •'!SI^-^:^ *«• Z^5