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to get on in life, it is clear that without some certain chances in his favour he would not take to ecclesiastical duties, though were he sure of a deanery or a bishopric his views might change. On the other hand, not only law, but even the then young profession of physic were ready to spread their arms to keep him; nor could he quite forget that what "merchant adventurers" had done before he could do again, and that the names and careers of Frobisher, Hawkins, Drake, Humphrey, Gilbert, Sebastian Cabot, and others like them, were not to him mere themes at school." Valentine may be fairly supposed to express the feelings of the young gallants of his day when he says, "These reasons may, methinks, move you to hope well of industry; but to confirm you I will recite the names of some few whose industry hath not only gained themselves glory, but also their country infinite good. How say you to Columbus and Vesputius, whose industry discovered the west part of the world; from whence the King of Spain fetcheth yearly great treasure? Also, what do you think of Magellanus, that sailed about the world? Yea, to come nearer to your knowledge, do you not think that Master Frobisher, by his industry and late travel, shall profit his country and honour himself? Yes, surely; and a number of others, who, though they have not performed such notable matters, yet have they won themselves reputation, and mean to live, some more and some less, according to their virtue and fortune."

Another curious thing we notice is the extent to which waiting on or serving those a little superior in rank was carried out in these centuries. The footman of to-day was the footman of Henry VIII.'s time; the only difference being, though this was indeed a most marked one, that the latter did all sorts of menial services for his lord without deeming himself, or being thought by others, one whit the less a gentleman. "Amongst what sort of people," says the author of the "Serving-man's Comfort," "should this serving-man be sought for? Even the Duke's son preferred page to the Prince, the Earl's eldest son attendant on the Duke, the Knight's second son the Earl's servant, the Esquire's son to wear the Knight's livery, and the gentlemen's son the Esquire's serving-man. Yes; I know, at this day, gentlemen younger brothers that wear their elder brother's blue coat and badge, attending him with as reverend regard and dutiful obedience as if he were their prince or sovereign."

Messrs. Brewer and Buller have done good service in their work on the "Calendar of the Carew Manuscripts, preserved in the Archiepiscopal Library at Lambeth," which comprehends the period between 1589 and 1600. They have added, also, an admirable introductory preface, from which much may be learnt and unlearnt of the actual state of Ireland in the reign of Elizabeth, from which, among other things, it is clear that the recognition of the Supremacy of the Crown in the place of that of the Pope was never a cause of any trouble in Irelanda fact which, probably, few of the 700 Bishops at the Ecumenical Council would believe. The reason, perhaps, was that the preaching friars were those of the clergy who really influenced the people for good or evil, the Bishops being in great measure nominated by the Pope, and therefore independent of the people. Moreover, we know that Mary, Catholic as she was, had as little idea of giving up her supremacy as had her father or her sister. All three were in this respect alike, and Tudors to the back-bone.

Mrs. Green has continued her valuable labours on the "State Papers, Domestic Series, Reign of Elizabeth, A.D. 1595-1601," a period which is chiefly occupied with Essex and his troubles. Thus we find him making a birthday

device with which to please the Queen; then stirring up the foolish attempt to relieve Calais, the Spaniards having actually taken it before Essex started; and then at Cadiz, the result of which expedition was more satisfactory. The account of the quantity and character of the plunder secured is very curious. Among it were some thirty chests of armour, twenty-three of which were delivered to Sir Giles Merrick, at Plymouth, and may not impossibly form part of the Meyrick Collection so long preserved at Goderich Castle, and recently, in part, exhibited at South Kensington. On his return from Spain, in 1597, we find Essex sulking in the country, and refusing to come to the Court without an express command from the Queen, and which the Queen would not give. A little later Essex is sick at Wanstead, but gets well, and dances with the Queen; and, lastly, we get a full account of the wretched Irish expedition, which practically cost him his life. There is perhaps not much that is absolutely new in the historical portion of these volumes, but there are a great many curious facts, and abundant details, which render them exceedingly well worthy perusal. We need hardly add, that, like all the works to which Mrs. Green has paid attention, these exhibit to the full the same careful and conscientious editing. The nation may well be proud of the staff of editors whom the good sense and able judgment of the Master of the Rolls has enabled him to secure for the illustration of our national records.

To that most laborious student and antiquary, Joseph Stevenson, we owe a "Calendar of State Papers, Foreign Series, of the Reign of Elizabeth, 1563," and comprehending, for one year only, be it remembered, nearly 1600 separate documents, for the most part referring to our intercourse with the French, and giving account of many interesting facts in connexion with the religious warfare then raging in that country, such as the defeat and capture of Condé, who commanded the Huguenots at the battle of Dreux, the murder of the Duke of Guise by Poltrot, and the surrender of Havre by the Earl of Warwick. It will be remembered that Queen Elizabeth had seized upon the town of Havre, partly with a view of aiding the Huguenots, but perhaps more truly from an insane notion of holding it till the French restored to England Calais, which had been recovered by them from the feeble grasp of Mary. The commander of the English garrison was Ambrose Dudley, Earl of Warwick, the brother of Guildford Dudley, the husband of the unfortunate Lady Jane Grey, and of the famous Earl of Leicester. We find in these papers a singular account of the extraordinary gallantry with which Warwick and his garrison held out, from May, when they were invested, till the 2nd of July, when plague and famine did work that French guns could not accomplish. During the time they were thus shut up they seem to have been in want of almost every thing needful to make a successful defence. More than this, though they were in constant communication with England, either they did not receive what they asked for, or what was sent them proved useless. Warwick writes touchingly when he speaks of " the despair that is conceived of them in England by stopping from them of men, money, and victuals." Inter alia, it appears that they had scarcely any cannon, while those sent from the tower were dangerous to use from their rottenness; they had muskets without ramrods, bows without strings or arrows-nor could they even get fresh meat, though the sea was open, and England not 100 miles off. It was like the commencement of the Crimean campaign, 300 years later.

For the "Domestic Series of the State Papers, Reign of Charles I., 16371638," we have a volume, of course, edited with equal skill and care by John Bruce, whose premature death some months ago is deplored by every sound

archæologist. The papers relate to a very interesting period, the first working up to the surface and upheaving caused by the leaven of Puritanism-now beginning to be felt in a way little anticipated. Then was it that the collecting of the ship-money tax began to create great dissatisfaction, the sheriffs being severe in their exactions, as they had themselves been made responsible for the sums at which their respective counties had been rated. Then was it that the Star Chamber was in the full swing of its unjust justice, that the pillory and the cutting off of ears were deemed humane punishments, and the strange law prevailed which allowed no one of any rank to remain in London at Christmastide. We should add that Mr. Bruce's volume is furnished with a most admirable and complete index.

Another excellent book by Mr. Bruce is "The Diary of John Manningham, of the Middle Temple, A.D. 1602-3," which has been edited for the Camden Society, and from its character may be almost called a national record. It is a work which well repays careful editing-indeed, could hardly be made truly valuable if left to the care of a man who had not either special knowledge or special love for his subject. Such a man was the late John Bruce, one of the most amiable, and, at the same time, one of the most accomplished antiquaries of his time. An additional interest is given to this edition, that it is wholly due to the desire of Mr. Tite, who has lately become President of the Camden Society, to show his sense of the honour done to him by his election on the Council of the Society of Antiquaries. With this object, he appears to have asked Mr. Bruce whether there was any old MS. he could edit and print, at his expense, for the glory of the society; and on Mr. Bruce pointing out this well-known Harleian MS., Mr. Tite requested him to undertake the duties of editor.

This "Diary of John Manningham," who was a barrister of the Middle Temple, has the highest importance for students both of English literature and of English history, and the wonder is that it should have remained so long unpublished among the MSS. stores of the British Museum. Here the reader will find many anecdotes relating to Shakespere, Lord Bacon, Ben Jonson, and John Prynne, with notices not before known of Sir Walter Ralegh, of Lord Mountjoy, of Sir Thomas Overbury, &c., together with the most vivid, and, as far as we can judge, the most true account of the last hours of the life of Queen Elizabeth. The "Diary," though in MS., has, we need not say, been long known and much consulted. Collier and Halliwell have used it for its reminiscences of Shakespere; Mr. Hunter, as an aid to a biographical student. Much, however, remained which had not been utilized, and for the careful exposition of this, as a whole, the public are greatly indebted to Mr. Bruce. Comparatively little is known of Manningham, except what may be gathered from his diary. He was evidently a man of substance, well-educated, and living in chambers in the Temple, and, at the same time, on terms of intimacy with several persons highly connected: hence his opportunities of hearing the truth about many things that had been previously rumoured abroad. Thus, from Dr. Parry, one of the Queen's chaplains, and subsequently Bishop of Worcester, he gleaned several interesting anecdotes; as, for instance, how the Queen had treated himself and another of her chaplains, W. Barlow (in later times successively Bishop of Rochester and Lincoln): he tells us also, merrily, and probably from personal observation, how the Queen jested when she was called upon to make some more serjeants-at-law, and what a queer, fanciful scene was enacted when she was persuaded to pay a visit to Sir Robert Cecil's new house in the Strand, the famous Salisbury House.

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Just before the Queen's death, as is well known, all sorts of stories were spread abroad. She was certainly sick unto death, and there were courtiers at Holyrood who swore that the Queen was already at her rest, but that Cecil had substituted an old lady to represent her. Such things had been done before. Thus, Edward VI. was dead three days before the fact was proclaimed. Manningham, to ascertain the truth, rode down to Richmond, where the Court was then staying, and after hearing his friend Parry preach, dined with him in the Privy Chamber, in company with the Deans of Windsor and Canterbury and the Bishop of Chichester. From one of these divines Manningham heard the tale of her last hours. "For this fortnight," says he, "her Majesty refused to eat any thing, to receive any physic, or admit any rest in the bed. . . . . She hath been in a manner speechless for two days, very pensive and silent, sitting with her eye fixed on one object for hours together; yet she always had her perfect senses and memory. This morning," he adds, "about three o'clock, her Majesty departed this life, mildly, like a lamb-easily, like an apple from a tree. . . . and I doubt not she is among the royal saints in heaven." Most important, too, is his testimony with reference to Elizabeth's choice of a successor, which has been involved in doubt, even by recent writers. We feel no question but that Manningham's story is true, and that what he wrote down at the time is more correct than any other version which has come down. Most likely he heard it directly from Parry's lips. "The Queen," he says, "nominated our King" (James I.) "for her successor; for being demanded whom she would have succeed, her answer was, there should no rascals sit in her seat. 'Who then?' 'A king,' said she. What king?' 'Of Scots,' said she, for he hath the best right, and in the name of God let him have it."" We wish we had room for many more of the very interesting notices of people and things in this short but excellent diary; but we must stop. We will add only an epigram made by Sir W. Ralegh on a man of the name of Noel, and his reply. "Sir W. Rawley," says he, "made this rhyme upon the name of a gallant, one Mr. Noel:

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The word of denial, and the letter of fifty,
Makes the gent's name which will never be thrifty."

And Noel's answer :

"The foe to the stomach, and the word of disgrace,

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[Noe-L]

[Raw-Ly]

Shews the gent's name with the bold face."

Among at least semi-historical documents, we may class what has been called ballad literature, though all the publications are not, strictly speaking, ballads, being editions, by Mr. F. J. Furnivall, of "Ballads from Manuscripts" (vols. i. ii.) : the first relating to the condition of England in the reigns of Henry VIII. and Edward VI., with reference also to Cardinal Wolsey and Anne Boleyn; the second containing "The Poore Man's Pittance," by Richard Williams, a writer of the time of James I. The poems included in the latter are, "The Life and Death of Robert Devereux, Earl of Essex," and the "Story of Anthony Babbington, the Conspirator," and the "Tale of the Powder Plot." As the composition and work of a contemporary, Williams's work has some interest; we should, however, like to know who he is, which Mr. Furnivall has not told us—perhaps because he cannot. Mr. Furnivall has, on the other hand, added a preface to the poem called "Now-a-days," of more than 100 pages length, in which he has drawn out a sketch of English society, in opposition to the picture painted by Mr. Froude, which he considers defective in that the happiness and pleasant life

of the "good old days" has been (he thinks) greatly exaggerated by that otherwise able and conscientious historian. These new views he rests mainly on incidental notices he finds in the Ballads he is editing; and we are inclined to think that he has proved his points. The general result would certainly seem to be that the state of the poor in the reign of Henry VIII. was in every way worse than at the present time. Moreover, slaves—i. e. bondsmen to the land, adstricti gleba-had by no means ceased to exist, as is evident from the well-known action between the Duchess of Buckingham and Richard Moors, in which the former maintained—and succeeded in maintaining by law-that the family of Moors had always been bondsmen to her ducal house :-from the petition of Kett and his rebels, in which he claims "that the bondsmen shall be free," and, above all, from the provisions of that most curious Act of Parliament, 1 Edward VI., c. 3, called "An Act for the punishment of Vagabonds, and for the relief of the Poor." By this Act, a man found "loitering" may be taken before two Justices of the Peace, who can, if they think fit, order him to be burnt on the chest with the letter V (for vagabond), and adjudge him to be, for two years, the slave of the man who has brought the "loiterer" before them. The new master of the slave is ordered to give him bread and water and small drink, and "such refuse meat as he shall think meet," and shall cause "the said slave to work by beating, chaining, or otherwise, in such work and labour, however vile soever it be, that he shall put him unto." Poor women wandering about with children are treated no less harshly: any one finding such a woman and child had power to seize the child, despite the mother's entreaties, and to carry it to the nearest parish constable, and to "two other honest and discreet neighbours," who could adjudge it the finder's servant till the child is twenty years old. Another portion of the same Act empowers the master "to sell, bequeath, or give the service and labour of such slaves," just as he might have done with any of his moveable goods or chattels. So much for English freedom in the times of the Tudors.

Another valuable contribution on a similar, though not on exactly the same, subject, are "The Chaucer Society's Publications "-the difference between these and the Ballad documents being, chiefly, that the latter are rather literary, while the former are mostly historical. The chief subjects published have been “A Sixtext Print of Chaucer's 'Canterbury Tales,' in parallel columns, from the Ellesmere and from the Hengwrt MSS., from the Cambridge MS., from the Corpus Christi College MS., and from the Petworth and the Lansdowne MSS.":—an "Essay on early English Pronunciation," resting mainly on Chaucer and Shakespere, but containing also an examination into the agreement between writing and speech from Anglo-Saxon to modern times-a work edited with great skill and learning by A. J. Ellis, Esq.; and, lastly, Ebert's review of Sandras' "Etude sur Chaucer, consideré comme Imitateur des Trouvères,"-"A Thirteenthcentury Latin Treatise on the Chilindre," and a Preface to the Six-text edition by Mr. Furnivall, in which he points out what he deems to be the true order of the "Canterbury Tales," with the days and stages of the Pilgrims. It is most remarkable to see the extraordinary wealth of England in all documents of this nature; no sooner is research hinted at among early English literature than documents of untold interest turn up-the seed of the Dragon of Cadmus, ready armed for the conflict.

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