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For Arthur's Magazine.

RICHARD THE THIRD.

BY JOHN FROST, L. L. D.

N noticing Dr. Morton's and establishes his claim to respect and sympa
Crania Ægyptiaca, we had thy.
occasion to remark on The book, although written in a very diffuse
the thorough and searching style is intensely interesting; and if the author
manner in which historical throughout appears more in the character of a
inquiries are conducted at special pleader than a judge, it cannot be denied
the present time. Nothing that she has fairly cited the authorities on both
could more forcibly illus-sides, and has sifted the motives of the writers
trate this fact than the light with as much impartiality as shrewdness and
which has recently been discrimination. After showing the state of the
thrown upon the real charac-kingdom with respect to society, politics and the
attitude of parties previous to Richard's time,
she takes up the narrative from his birth, and
examines every action of his life, so far as exhi-
bited by existing histories, chronicles and
documents, heaping authority upon authority
and citing chapter and verse to prove every
thing which she asserts. She shows conclu-
sively that, up to the moment when he became
protector, with the charge of Edward the Fourth's
children, no imputation rested upon his charac-
ter; but that, on the contrary he was not only
the ablest statesman but the most popular man
in the kingdom; that the revolution which
placed him on the throne was with respect to
the mode of its accomplishment precisely analo-
gous with that which is called the "glorious
revolution" of 1688, which gave the sovereignty
to William and Mary; and that his administra-
tion of the government was just and enlightened
to a degree that was far in advance of the age
in which he lived.

ter of Richard the Third of England. Horace
Walpole's veneration for royalty and all that
appertains to it, had led him into such a scru-
tiny of old regal documents as conducted him to
his "Historic Doubts" respecting Richard's
unmitigated depravity; but his indolence pre-
vented his arriving at the full conviction to
which a later, and more industrious and patient
inquirer has arrived, viz: that Richard the
Third was not a usurper, nor an unnatural
monster, but a legitimate sovereign acquiring
the throne by means justified by the position in
which he was placed, and the political maxims
of his age; and exercising his power, when
acquired, with justice, public spirit, magnanimity
and enlightened devotion to the interests of the
kingdom. The author, who has had the courage
to defend so remarkable a paradox as this, is
Caroline A. Halsted, in a work recently
reprinted from the London edition by Messrs.
Carey and Hart of this city, entitled "Richard
III. as Duke of Gloucester and King of Eng-
land." By consulting all the chronicles extant
which were written in the reign of Richard III.
and examining the public archives and private
letters of contemporaries, and carefully compar-
ing them with the histories compiled under the
direct influence of the Tudor dynasty, whose
interest it was to defame the deceased king,
she has been enabled to bring forward a mass
of evidence which completely exculpates Richard
from most of the crimes, laid to his charge;

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If we were to yield implicit belief to the representations of the Tudor historians, we should suppose that Richard was a deformed wretch both physically and morally, and the object of detestation through his whole life; and should recognize the propriety of Shakspeare's assigning this circumstance as his motive for deliberately resolving to be a villain." But this is all shewn to be pure romance. Richard was not deformed. The portraits taken during his life time all represent him as straight in

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men to break the direct line of succession, and to be invested with the sovereign power.

"But such political changes, when brought about by the voice of the country, and without having recource to arms, by no means imply the elevation of a tyrant, although it may denote incapacity in the monarch deposed. If Richard erred in yielding to the evil counsels of those who knew that ambition was inherent in his race, and formed the predominant feature in his character he at least proved himself, when called upon to exercise the regal power, a patriotic and enterprising monarch, distinguished for wisdom in the senate and for prowess in the field. "His reign was signally advantageous to the

figure and of a handsome countenance. He and ability for government, they could not have received more numerous and unqualified testi-acquired sufficient ascendency over their fellowmonials of personal affection and public approbation, than any other sovereign of England ever received in the same space of time, not even excepting Elizabeth; and it is undoubtedly true that the introduction of that dynasty which sought to repair its own defective title by systematically calumniating the last of the Plantagenet kings, was one of the greatest misfortunes which England has ever suffered. How much English history may be falsified by political motives we may easily perceive by reading any of their narratives of the revolutionary war in this country, or any of their accounts of the naval contests in which they were so dreadfully { beaten during the war of 1812. The same system was practised by Henry VII. and his descend-realm; and he gave earnest of being disposed ants, with reference to Richard the Third; and it is only by a most laborious, and thorough examination of contemporary records that Mrs. Halsted has been enabled to unravel the tissue of falsehood, and present the world with the unvarnished truth.

We copy the concluding paragraphs of her work as a specimen of her style, and a summary of her views respecting Richard's character.

"This monarch, by striving to suppress the hosts of military retainers, and above all, by his pronibitory enactments against the ancient custom of giving badges, liveries, and family devices to multitudes of armed followers, struck at the root of the evil, which arose from each chieftain having a standing and well disciplined army at command, to overawe the crown and perpetually disturb the peace of the realm. But the odium which attached to this daring measure of abridging a power so dangerous to the throne led to King Richard's ruin; while the merit of carrying out a policy which Richard began, doubtless too precipitately and boldly, has been exclusively apportioned to Henry VII. who, treading in the same steps with his predecessor, although circumspectly and with caution attained the object, and the appellation of the Father of English liberty, from the identical cause, and from pursuing the same measures which laid King Richard in the dust, and pro'cured for him the name and the character of a tyrant!

"How far he merited this epithet must depend upon his acts, and the degree of credit which is due to those who have branded him with it. Many of the greatest, wisest and most powerful monarchs in all countries have been usurpers, or ascended the throne irregularly; and the reason is obvious; without rare talents

to make amends for any imputation of injustice that might be laid to his charge, arising from his irregular accession to the throne.

"The nation were indebted to him for provident statutes of lasting good; and he was alike a firm protector of the church, and strict in the administration of justice to the laity. He was a generous enemy, notwithstanding that he was an ill-requited friend; and that this his clemency and forbearance did not arise from personal fear, is evidenced by the intrepid bravery, undaunted courage, and contempt of danger, which even his enemies have perpetuated

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"A close examination into the earliest records connected with his career will prove that, among all the heavy and fearful charges which are brought against him, few, if any, originate with his cotemporaries, but that the dark deeds which have rendered his name so odious were first promulgated as rumor, and admitted as such by Fabyan, Polydore Virgil, and Sir Thomas More, in the reign of his successor; that they were multiplied in number, and less unhesitatingly fixed upon him by Graston, Hall, and Hollinshed, during the ensuing reign; and that towards the close of the Tudor dynasty every modification being cast aside, they were recorded as historical truths by Lord Bacon, Sir

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"Here leave his dust incorporate with mould: He was a king, that challengeth respect."

Richard Baker, and many others, and rendered; puted but unsubstantiated crimes, must respond yet more appalling by the moral and personal to the sentiments of the old poet,deformity with which King Richard was by that time invested by the aid of the drama. however, by a retrogade movement, these calumnies are found gradually to lessen one by one, and that the progress can be traced to no more copious sources than the evil fortune which overwhelmed King Richard at Bosworth, and gave the palm of victory to his rival,-if his administration, though brief, affords evidence of the sound views which influenced his conduct, and if, apart from fear and from jealousy of the baronial power, he resolutely pursued that system of domestic policy which he felt would ameliorate the condition of his people, and contribute to the prosperity of the country at large, then surely, as was observed at the opening of this memoir, it is time that justice was done him as a monarch, and that the strictest inquiry should be made into the measure of his guilt as a man. Time, indeed, as was further remarked, may not have softened the asperity with which a hostile faction delighted to magnify his evil deeds; but time, and the publication of cotemporary documents, have made known many redeeming qualities, have furnished proof of eminent virtue, and certified to such noble exemplary deeds as already suffice to rescue King Richard's memory from at least a portion of the aggravated crimes which have so long rendered his name odious, and inspired { great doubts as to the truth of other accusations which rest on no more stable authority.

True it is, that from the great distance of time in which he lived, some parts of his history must still rest upon reasoning and conjecture; and mystery will, probably, ever envelope many portions of his career, the destruction of original documents rendering impossible a close examination into several that rest on report alone; yet if so great an advance has already been made as the admission that the "personal monster whom More and Shakespeare exhibited has vanished," and that the restless habits resulting from a nervous temperament, and which have been made to indicate a Nero or Caligula, are shown to have been, not the result of a demoniacal temper, but the usual accompaniment of those impetuous feelings, and of that vivid rapidity of thought, which, seeing all things clearly, could not brook opposition, or, the unmanly subterfuge of double dealing, it is earnestly to be hoped, for the credit of our national history, for the honor of England and of her monarchs, that further discoveries, by throwing yet more light upon the dark and difficult times in which Richard III. flourished, will add to the proofs which already exist of his innocence as regards the great catalogue of crimes so long and so unjustly laid to his charge and that thus his moral, equally with his personal, deformity may vanish under the bright influence of that searching

resolution of separating fact from fiction, which peculiarly characterize the present enlightened period.

If Lord Bacon could panegyrize his whole-examination into historical truth, that firm some laws," and pronounce him jealous for the honor of the English nation,"-if Grafton could so far eulogize his proceedings as to admit that if he had continued lord protector, the realm would have prospered, and he would have been praised and beloved,"-if Polydore Virgil could speak in commendation of his "piety and benevolence," and laud the good works which his sudden death alone rendered incomplete,❞—if cotemporary writers testify to his noble conduct in the field, and the treachery that worked his destruction, and certify that before his accession he was so loved and praised" that many would have « jeoparded life and goods with him,"-if the universities of Oxford and Cambridge perpetuate his love of letters, his patronage of the arts, and his munificence to these seminaries of learing,—and if the register of his public acts abounds in examples of liberality to the church, of equity, charity, beneficence and piety, surely every impartial mind, with reference to his long im

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"These philosophical views having already rescued his memory from one portion of the fabulous tales which have made him a by-word and reproach, to posterity, fair ground is open for belief that the day is not far distant when truth and justice will prevail over prejudice and long received opinion, and unite in discarding mere rumor and tradition for the recognition of facts that can be fully established, so that, the character and conduct of this prince being displayed in its true light, his actions dispassionately considered, and the verified details of his reign balanced against the unworthy motives attributed to him on no ground but surmise, atonement, however tardy, may at length be made to a monarch who, for three centuries and upwards, has been so unsparingly reviled, so bitterly calumniated, as

RICHARD THE Third.

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MOST beautiful engraving of the Bridge of Doon" on the River Ayr, Scotland, is contained in our Magazine for this month. It was to gain the key stone of this bridge that Burns's Tam O'Shanter" urged forward his mare Maggie, after having disturbed the witch revel in Kirk Alloway. The circumstances under which Burns's celebrated poem was written were these. Francis Grose, the Antiquary, having been introduced to Burns, offered, while wine and wit were active, to include old Kirk Alloway in his illustrations of the Antiquities of Scotland, if the Bard of Doon would write a poem to accompany it. Burns consented, and before leaving the table at which he was taking a convivial glass with Grose, all the various traditions connected with the ruin were passing through his mind. One of these was of a farmer, who, on a night wild with wind and rain,

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on passing the old Kirk, was startled by a light glimmering through the walls on drawing near, he saw a cauldron hung over a fire, in which the heads and limbs of children were simmering: there was neither witch nor fiend to guard it, so he unhooked the cauldron, turned out the contents, and carried it home as a trophy. A second tradition was of a man of Kyle, who, having been on a market night detained late in Ayr, on crossing the old bridge of Doon, on his way home, saw a light streaming through the gothic window of Alloway Kirk, and, on riding near, beheld a batch of the district witches, dancing merrily around their master, the devil, who kept them "louping and flinging" to the sound of bag pipes. He knew several of the old crones, and smiled at their gambols; but one of them, and she happened to be young and rosy, particularly attracted his attention. He looked on her for a time highly delighted, and then exclaimed- - Weel luppen Maggie wi' the short sark!" Satan stopped his music, the light was extinguished, and out rushed the hags after the farmer, who started off full gallop for the Bridge of Doon, knowing that they could not cross a stream: he escaped; but Maggie, who

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