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sailles, canons and doctors" which had been previously forwarded to the Charter House, and proceed to answer the objections which had been raised against them. The second is as follows,

causes.

"And though yt seme to youe that his Grace dothe in the spiritualte that other princes dyd not before, yete the trouth ys, that in this doing he dothe not breke the lawe of God. For docters do graunte that the bysshop of Rome may dyspence and lycence a lay-man to be iuge in a spiritual cause, which yf he maye, then yt ys not against the lawe of God that our prince so dothe as iudge directe spiritual For, yf yt were agaynst the lawe of God, the bysshop of Rome might not dispence in it: this knowen unto youe I thinke wil ease your consciences moche; but, to fortefye this, the Scripture of tholde testament dothe shew of Davyd, Josyas, Josaphat, Ezechias, that were of the most perfect Kynges, what ordres and ordynaunces that [they?] set amonge the prestes and the levytes. And Cryste, in the newe testament, dyd nothyng imbrige the autoryte, nor depresse, nor mynyshe the power of Kynges. But warned his apostles, that they shuld not looke for suche domynyon, nor auctorite (vos autem non sic), but to be ministers and servantes to all personnes. And Anthonye dothe graunte Kinges to be vicarii Christi, and, namely, Saull and David; and the Scripture grauntithe Saull the hede of the peple

and churche of God."

They conclude by an appeal which will not easily be surpassed for the simplicity and effectiveness of its manly, nervous English.

"Looke the xxxv. chapter of the canons of the Apostles; looke the counsayl of Nicene; looke the VIth of Carthage; looke the 99 dist. of the decrees; looke

Crysostom, Jerome, Ambrose, Augustyne, Gregorye; and ye shall see, that, from the begynning whas no suche pontificalytie geven to the bysshop of Rome, and so ye shalle welle lerne, that it growythe not of lawe and Scripture of God that such prelacye belongithe vnto hym, nor yet of no antique counsayll, nor counsayll receyved as a counsayll. Therefor dye not for the cause; salve yourselfes and your house; lyve long and lyve welle, to the honor of God, welthe, [?] by your prayer, and edyfying, by your lyf, to the people. Submitte your selfes to your noble prynce; gette his gracyous favor by your dewtey-doyng to his Grace; and so brynge your selfes oute of troble and ruine, to the quyet of your selfes, and

prouffyt of soulles, and godly pease to be in the Realme: hoc facite et vincitis, in Christo Jhesu, domino nostro. Pray for vs as we doo, have doon, and wyl doo, for youe to oure lord Jhesu, who blesse vs alle. Amen."

But the axe was already laid at the root of the tree, and submission, whether feigned or conscientious, was too late. Syon was one of the first of the large monasteries which fell before the destroyer; seventy-three religious, who were its inhabitants at the time of suppression, were turned adrift, and the crown acquired its revenue of 17311. per annum, at the easy cost of paying annuities to the amount of 6571. to persons whose ages may be inferred from the circumstance that only twenty-six of them were alive at the end of thirteen years. (Aungier, 89.)

Agnes Jordan, the Abbess of the dissolved monastery, who was, probably, an aged woman, retired to Denham, in Buckinghamshire, where she soon after died (ibid.); but the rest of the sisters passed into Flanders, where they were received into a house of their own order, at Dermond. They were there found by Cardinal Pole on his route to England in the reign of Queen Mary, and, upon his arrival in this country, he suggested their restoration to their ancient residence, which had escaped the common destruction by being granted to the Duke of Somerset, who converted it into a residence. Upon his death it passed to the Duke of Northumberland, who also occupied it in the same manner.

The restoration of the monastery lasted, comparatively, but for a mothe nuns were again dispossessed, and, ment. Upon the death of Queen Mary continuing united in a body, returned

to their former residence in Flanders. Pursued in some places by poverty, and, in others, by the progress of the Reformation, they migrated successively from Dermond, to Zurichzee in Zealand, to Meshagan, to Antwerp, to Mechlin, back again to Antwerp, and thence to Rouen. There they remained about seven years, exposed occasionally to considerable ill-will on the part of the populace, and, ultimately, on the predominance of the faction of the League, they once more set sail in search of a home, and ar

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rived at Lisbon on the 2nd May 1594. There a new trouble awaited them. They who had suffered almost to martyrdom in defence of their faith, were suspected to be in some respects heterodox. Their own protests, and the confirmations they had formerly received from Rome, were disregarded; but an appeal to the Pope, and the friendly interference in their behalf of Cardinal Allen, Father Parsons, and other English emigrants, were ultimately successful. Upon their arrival at Lisbon they were sheltered by some Franciscans, until the charity of several Portuguese ladies, aided by that of Philip II. enabled them to build a monastery of their own, and, in process of time, they procured endowments of lands and houses. But it seemed as if they were doomed to experience every description of mischance that can befall humanity. In 1651 their church and monastery, which could not have been many years completed, were burnt to the ground. After another few years' sojourn with the friendly Franciscans, they succeeded in again rearing a home for themselves, but it stood only until the next great misfortune which visited Lisbon-the fatal earthquake of 1755. In that frightful disaster the English nunnery -for so it was termed because no one was admitted who was not a bornsubject of England-was involved in total destruction, and the Franciscans and all their other friends being this time sharers in the common misery, the nuns were reduced to a want even

of the very necessaries of life. In their destitution they looked towards the land of their fathers, and subscriptions were solicited for their relief. Whether by that means or by some other, it does not appear, but a few years afterwards we find them again established in a new erection at Lisbon, although in diminished numbers. Calamity, however, still pursued them. Urged, either by poverty, or by the oppressions and license incident to a military rule, during the French occupation of Portugal, at the commencement of the present century, they separated into two bodies.

A portion of them, with the Abbess at their head, sought refuge in England, and underwent pressing difficulties, from which the charity of the govern

ment, aided by many benevolent and influential individuals, was not able entirely to release them. The nuns who remained behind at Lisbon were not less unfortunate. In the confusion of those disturbed times, their property was taken away from them, and their monastery converted into an hospital for the English troops under the Duke of Wellington; but upon the restoration of peace, they regained some portion of their effects, together with their residence, and, being rejoined by the sisters who had fled to England, their little community was once more reestablished. It still exists, and is now in comparatively easy circumstances, although the number of the inmates is reduced to thirteen, of whom three are lay-sisters.

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Mr. Aungier has been enabled to give the facts of this interesting tale of misfortune with considerable minuteness, having been favoured by the present community with the loan of a narrative of the earlier portion of their wanderings, compiled, if we understand correctly, (p. 100, n.) by one of the chaplains of the house from information collected by Father Parsons. It forms a singular and striking portion of the present work, and together with the constitutions of the order of St. Bridget, which he has printed at length from a MS. in the British Museum, with additions of the parts relating to the brethren of the order, derived from another MS. lately recovered at St. Paul's, must give his book a value in the estimation of all persons interested in the history and fortunes of those magnificent structures with which our land was at one time so thickly studded.

We have devoted so much attention to Syon that we have little space to bestow upon the remainder of Mr. Aungier's volume. The monastery is now the princely residence of the Duke of Northumberland. It is distinguished by its well-known gateway, designed by Robert Adam; a magnificent vestibule, which is the admiration of every one who has seen it; gardens, originally laid out under the superintendence of Turner, the author of the Herbal, and, from time to time, remodelled by Brown, and other men of eminence; and cedars, cypresses, pines, and a conservatory, which are the

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wonder and delight of our botanical friends. Information upon all these subjects is to be found in Mr. Aungier's volume. He then passes to the parish of Isleworth; is full upon the monuments, the descent of property, and other objects which claim the attention of the topographer. Then follows an account of the Chapelry of Hounslow, where a hospital for friars of the order of the Holy Trinity, the family of the Bulstrodes, and Spring Grove, formerly the residence of Sir Joseph Banks, and now of Henry Pownall, esq. all receive due attention. We have not left ourselves space for extracts from these portions of the work, but what we have said will, we hope, attract attention to it. It seems to have been compiled with an anxious desire to bring forward everything relating to the subjects of which it treats, and is setoff with many illustrative engravings.

Montrose and the Covenanters, their Character and Conduct, illustrated from private letters and other original documents hitherto unpublished. By Mark Napier, esq. 8vo. 2 vols. Montrose and his Times, illustrated from original MSS. By Mark Napier, esq. With portraits and autographs, 1 vol. post 8vo. pp. 537.

THESE volumes are valuable repositories of documents, facts, and inferences. That they should now be noticed in connexion, is rather singular, but may be easily explained. The former work had been under our consideration, and a review of it was waiting its turn for insertion, when our attention was suddenly drawn to the announcement of the latter. On opening it, we find,

that some modifications we had meant to advise, have actually been made already, so that the remarks we were about to offer are partly anticipated.

The former work was suggested, by some attacks which had lately been made on the character of Montrose, by democratic historians. Their statements might have been left to the gradual confutation of time, or discussed in a pamphlet; but Mr. Napier, with the ardent feeling of a relation, has undertaken a more laborious task. Having previously had occasion to examine the Napier charter-chest, when employed on a life of the inventor of

logarithims, he discovered several papers illustrative of the biography of Montrose. Archibald. first Lord Napier, married Montrose's sister; they were connected by politics as well as by marriage, for both joined the movement called the Covenant, and both retraced their steps as conservative adherents of the tottering monarchy: and in his archives are preserved the papers which belong to the history of them both.

As,

There was previously no life of Montrose, except the Latin history (since translated) by his chaplain Wishart, which was hung about his neck at his execution,-a decoration which no insignia of any order could equal in real value. The last edition was published in 1819, and though much less copious than Mr. Napier's volumes, it may accompany them with advantage, on account of its conciseness and vividness of narrative. however, it commences only with Montrose's change of sentiments, Mr. Napier begins earlier, with the confict of parties in the reign of James I. Here the Napier papers are very valuable. Lord Napier was some time Treasurer Depute to Charles I. and whether in or out of office, deserves the character of "Statesman, yet stowed on Craggs. A storm was friend to Truth," which Pope has beraised against him, which he has described in "A True Relation," privately printed in 1793 by Francis, little known as manuscript, from its seventh Lord Napier, but almost as rarity. The extracts form an excellent introduction to the history of the pier's words, it discloses a curiCovenant, for, to quote Mr. Naous tale of " petty, but distracting factions." And as evidence is continually coming to light, that raises the character of the unfortunate Charles, so he appears most estimably in this narrative. When the Earl of Mar fell on his knees, with his missal, the King answered, crutches, to intreat Lord Napier's dis"my Lord, I would do you any favour, but I cannot do injustice for you." (vol. i. p. 40.) And there is something very noble in the King's act, on a paper being presented to him, tending to ex

clude his honest minister from his

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presence, for he threw it away, saying, this man hath suffered enough already. (p. 56.)

Lord Napier seems to have had a mind politically prophetic, and to have clearly seen the sources of future evil. Some of the papers which he drew up on public matters, and tendered to the King in the way of advice, are remarkably luminous. We much regret that we have not room for the quotations we would gladly insert. The author had been gentleman of the bedchamber to James I. by whom he was commended on his death-bed to his son, and accordingly he was the first Scotsman whom Charles raised to the peerage. We have dwelt the longer on his character, because in fact he was Montrose's political preceptor. "Montrose (says Wishart) when he was a boy, looked upon this nobleman as a most tender father; when he was a youth, as a most sage admonitor; when he was a man, as a most faithful friend; and now that he died [in 1645] was no otherwise affected with his death, than as if it had been his father's." This circumstance is of great importance in estimating Montrose's conduct. What might have been inferred from Wishart, is now clearly established in these volumes that as long as Lord Napier lived, Montrose acted in concert with that upright and experienced statesman. Those writers, therefore, who accuse him of inconstancy or treachery, should bring the charge against the Mentor instead of the pupil. Many of Montrose's generous impulses were doubtless his own, but the broad line of his conduct appears to have been marked out by Napier, in whose handwriting are most of the papers which express their concurrent sentiments. Indeed the introduction of this nobleman into Montrose's history affords it a light which it has hitherto wanted.

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Mr. Napier rejects the current story, that Montrose received a commission in the royal guard of Louis XIII. He has carefully traced his hero's course, during the early part of the civil wars, when to a superficial or a prejudiced observer, his conduct appears unsteady. It is evident, however, that although he joined the movement, he did not commit himself to the de

signs of the agitators. As his eyes were opened to their real intentions, he receded, not indeed so quickly, as to extricate himself at once from the fatal connexion, but the crisis was hastened by their violence in treating a conscientious hesitator as an apostate. How fully convinced he became, in favour of the royal cause, is clear from his encountering warfare, exile, and death, in its service. If modern writers condemn him for changing sides, it may be answered, that Capel, Falkland, and Clarendon, began by opposing the king, yet became his devoted followers, without their integrity being impeached. If his temporary irresolution be blamed, the Earl of Bedford pursued an equally wavering

course.

Even the celebrated Baxter, in his Life and Times, mentions it as the general opinion, that the King had the best cause; and if he thought it worth recording, is Montrose to be denied a share in the conviction, however gradually acquired?

It argues great political ignorance, to expect that all who belong to a party should go the same lengths. From an association to defend religious liberty, the covenanting movement became a virtual abolition of the King's authority, which was reduced to a name at his departure from Scotland in 1641. But as there was a clause in the Covenant, for upholding that authority, a small party, namely, Napier, Montrose, Sir George Stirling of Kein, and Sir Archibald Stewart of Blackall, &c. combined to maintain it, however ineffectually. Their projects, their abortive efforts, and their sufferings in consequence, are fully exhibited from the valuable papers of the Napier charter-chest. The King's visit to Scotland originated with their well-meant proposal, which failed of the expected result. By the time that he arrived, the advisers of his journey were in prison as conspirators; and, unhappily, the incident made matters considerably worse. The subsequent scramble for offices, as our author justly calls it, is one of the most extraordinary chapters in Scotish history, for they were all appropriated by the King's enemies; nor can we read this account with an increased respect and sympathy for the unfortunate Charles.

Montrose's motives and conduct

will best be described in his own words, while in prison, the day before his execution, when he was charged with having broken the covenant.

"The Covenant I took; I own it, and adhere to it. Bishops, I care not for them. I never intended to advance their

interest. But when the King had granted you all your desires, and you were every one sitting under his own vine and under his fig-tree, that then you should have taken a party in England by the hand, and entered into a league and covenant with them against the King-was the thing I judged my duty to oppose to the uttermost. That course of yours ended not but in the King's death, and overturning the whole of the Government." (Vol. ii. pp. 208 and 539.)

According to this explanation, Montrose was a conservative Convenanter. This, observes our author in a note, was precisely the opinion of his friend Lord Napier, who wrote against "Churchmen's greatness,' and yet maintained the divine right of Kings.

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In deferring to another opportunity our further notice of these volumes, we cannot withhold our testimony to Mr. Napier's industry and ability. If the former of his two productions seems overloaded to general readers, it is because the documents he has

discovered scarcely admitted of abridgement, and their novelty is an excuse for the copious use he has made of

them.

Memoirs of the Court of England.

By S. H. Jesse. Vols. 3, 4. THE present volumes differ from those which preceded them, not so much in the manner of execution, as in the nature of the materials; and our own doubt is, whether the greater part of the subject, particularly that which is included in the last volume, was at all worth the trouble which the author has taken towards its illustration. It is not only to be considered whether a work is well done, but whether it was worth doing at all; and we must say, that if instead of reviving the faded bloom and perished graces of the ladies whose images Mr. Jesse has preserved in his museum, they had all been left to perish, and their memory become (at least to the general world) extinct, it

would have spared the author some labour, and his readers some disappointment. Besides, in ordinary cases, and when the subject is of higher interest, we doubt the utility of collecting and republishing vast masses of anecdotes, stories, and obscure memoirs, picked out from contemporary pamphlets, or dusty and oblivious manuscripts, by way of illustrating the character either of persons, or the times in which they lived. In the first place, a great proportion of these may be presumed to be utterly false, like the diurnal lies of our present newspapers; secondly, many of them were misapplied and misunderstood; lastly, they may be referred to if wanted, in their original form. To this we are to add, that one or two circumstances well selected and applied, will illustrate a character, a temper, a disposition, as well as a whole galaxy of them; and, after all, the only rational use that can be made of them is to

draw just reasonings and inferences from them. When enough has been collected for that purpose, the rules of good composition require the author to forbear loading his pages with fresh illustrations. In the annals of a contemporary writer, much may be justly inserted, that would reluctantly find its way into the pages of the later historian; partly, because the object depicted being closer to the eye, what belongs to it is of more importance; and partly, because the writer being too near to his subject to see it distinctly in all its parts, and perhaps in the true light and proportions, does wisely as well as modestly in leaving to future inquirers to examine and arrange the evidence, which he has been content to accumulate, by the clearer light which time has thrown upon it. From what we have said, it would appear that we think Mr. Jesse, whose talents and acquirements and industry we esteem, should have chosen a subject more worthy of him. Who is there in the present day, we would ask, who cares about Barbara Villiers or Louise de Querouaille, or Lucy Walters, or Mary Davis, or Mary Knight's habit of swearing, or Miss Wells's singular mishap; or the intrigues of Miss Warmester, and Lord Taaffe? Or, if they do, would grudge the pleasing toil of referring to the

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