history of the Israelites, of the punishment of death on account of the delinquency set forth in that passage, though unquestionably often chargeable upon multitudes of the people.

The old doctrine, that the compulsory payment of tithes is sanctioned by the Old Testament, is, it seems, given up as indefensible; and it was an occasion of no small delight to our author's coercionist auditory, to find that there was at least one passage which appeared to lend its sanction to their favorite principle, though in the most limited degree imaginable. Even this passage, however, cannot be made to serve them. It is still manifestly true, that compulsory payments for religion are not only without sanction from any part of Divine Revelation, but contrary to its letter and its spirit.

Mr. M'Neile contends that no violence is done to the conscience of the Dissenter by the State, because it appropriates certain portions of the public money to the support of the State Church; inasmuch as the payment made by the Dissenter is in the shape of a general tax to the public treasury, the particular application of that treasure being an act for which the government alone is responsible. We may seek the repeal of laws which we deem unchristian, but all law, so long as it is law, should be obeyed. In this representation of the matter, it seems to be overlooked, that tithes and church-rates are separate payments for certain specified religious purposes. It is to be concluded, from Mr. M'Neile's language, that he would not pay a tax in this shape for the support of the college of Maynooth; but what he would not himself do for the Church of Rome, the Dissenter, it seems, ought to do for the Church of England! The same principle is involved in the two cases; but a manner of proceeding which would be felt in the one instance as a gross violation of conscience, should not, on any account, be so spoken of in the other!

Sir Robert Harry Inglis has spoken out on this subject; and those dissenters who oppose a passive resistance to such exactions of the state, owe him some acknowledgment for having given the sanction of his high authority to their practice. FOR MYSELF,' said the representative of the university of Oxford, 'I WILL NEVER 'CONSENT TO PAY A SIXPENCE FOR TEACHING AS THE WORD OF 'GOD, WHAT I BELIEVE TO BE CONTRARY TO THAT WORD.' We advise our readers of the John Thorogood class to copy this sentence, and to place it in the hands of officious proctors and churchwardens, as the sum of their argument on such questions.

Mr. Binney's sermon is a vigorous exposure of the gross social injustice involved in the schemes of the church-extensionists; and also of the impolicy of the project, considered as the means of advancing real piety. We were not only to be crushed, by the widening ascendency of the Established Church, but the felicity was, we were to pay largely for the privilege of being put

out of existence! We can hardly fail to be grateful for so much good intention on the part of our friends. It must be highly proper, in such a case, to accept the will for the deed.

Dr. Redford's lecture is adapted to more permanent use than that of Mr. Binney, and cannot be too widely circulated. On the whole, we believe that the worst in our world's history has passed, and that the brighter and better day is at hand. We revere the piety of such men as Dr. Chalmers and Mr. M'Neile, we respect their good intentions, but we are confident that the result of their labours will be the reverse of their hopes. They have contributed to give an impulse to the controversy with regard to the true nature of the Saviour's kingdom, which will not soon die away. An important link belongs to them in the chain of causes which are to bring about a great change in our ecclesiastical affairs, such as will render the inconsistencies and follies familiar to us, as much a wonder to the times to come, as are those of bygone ages to ourselves. The tide may have its retreating wave, but its course is still onward. Resistance may be varied, formidable, obstinate, but it is foredoomed; the great Searcher of the heart knoweth that our prayer, hope, and effort, are for the progress of pure Christianity; and that our desire to this end is, the diffusion of intelligence, equal justice, a fair field, and favour

to no man.

Art. II. Lives of the Queens of England from the Norman Conquest; with Anecdotes of their Courts, &c. By AGNES STRICKLAND. 2 vols. 8vo. London: Colburn, 1840.

MORE lives of the Queens of England! We have no objec

tion-the public will always benefit by fair and honest rivalry; and, since ladies must write, we are happy to see them expending their time and talents on instructive and improving works.

The lives of the queens consort of England are so little known to the general reader, that a good work on the subject is a great desideratum. It is one, however, which every lady is not competent to undertake:-the task requires not only patient industry in the collection of materials, but the ability to use them effectively and to the purpose when obtained. The weapons may be efficient, but if the arm that attempts to wield them be powerless or unskilful, the effort must end in disappointment.

The chief requisites in which the majority of ladies would be deficient, are discrimination, conciseness, and the power of coming directly to the point. In proportion as these qualities are found in the mind of any female, in that exact proportion may she claim the somewhat questionable distinction of a masculine understand

ing; and to show her title to it by the production of a vigorous and effective history, might possibly prove (such is the degeneracy of the age) a surer passport to the temple of Fame, than to that of Hymen.

Histories, however, are of different kinds. What may be called philosophical history, as it can be written, so can it be appreciated only by the few-the better few. Mere narrative and entertaining history may be written by and for the many; and may be as useful in its way, as that of a superior order: perhaps more so, as the interests of the many are of more importance than those of the few. The million make up the world, and common things

are their things.

We have made these remarks, because we think, that the distinction which we have attempted to make, is applicable, in some degree, to the rival histories, (we do not use the word in any invidious sense) of Miss Lawrance* and Miss Strickland. In the work of the former lady there is more of original thought and philosophical inquiry; in that of the latter, perhaps a greater copiousness and variety of incident; and a faithful setting forth of circumstances, from which the reader is left to draw, if he pleases, his own conclusions.

The mere lives of many of the queens would lie in a very small compass; but so much of other matter is contained in Miss Strickland's history, that it might with propriety have been called an epitome of the lives of the kings and queens of England. The history of the latter is a thread, which runs indeed throughout the web, but by no means constitutes its substance. We are aware that this could not be altogether avoided.

That same discrimination, of which we have spoken, appears to us to be rather wanting in Miss Strickland's work. Her deep research,'t has brought forward many persons as historical authorities, who surely never figured in that character before; yet, if they are not flagrantly at variance with those of greater weight, and the internal evidence of their stories, is not in itself sufficient to confute them, we confess we know not who can controvert their evidence. It is useless, however, to load a history with the impedimenta of numerous authorities who can add no weight to those already known. In one sense, it may be favorable to the author: it shows that she has neglected no source of information to which she could have access-which is greatly to her credit.

We proceed to give some specimens of the work; and that we may not repeat ourselves, we shall select those lives which are not given by Miss Lawrance; or from which, in noticing her work, we did not quote.

We must be understood as speaking of Miss Lawrance's first volume only; the second we have not seen. + Her own words,

First in order is Matilda of Flanders, queen of William the conqueror a lovely woman, if her portrait is indeed a likeness of herself; with finely moulded features, and glorious eyes; a compound of graceful majesty and stately sweetness. Probably our tastes are not like those of the conqueror-right royal; but, if the two lines of conquest were proposed to us, we should undoubtedly prefer to the reduction of a kingdom, the conquest of the heart of such a woman.

As we are morally certain that no civilized person could guess the process by which this peerless lady was wooed and won by William of Normandy, we will take compassion on the reader, and describe it. The lady's heart, it seems, was pre-occupied ; but,

'It was in vain that his foes and jealous kinsmen intrigued against him in the Flemish court; that the parents of the lady objected to his illegitimate birth and doubtful title to the duchy of Normandy; that the church of Rome interdicted the marriage between parties within the forbidden degrees of consanguinity; and, worse than all, the lady herself treated him with coldness and hauteur. After seven years, delay, William appears to have become desperate; and if* we may trust the evidence of the chronicle of Inger, he, in the year 1047, waylaid Matilda in the streets of Bruges as she was returning from mass, seized her, rolled her in the dirt, spoiled her rich array, and, not content with these outrages, struck her repeatedly, and rode off at full speed. This Teutonic method of courtship, according to our author, brought the affair to a crisis, for Matilda, either convinced of the strength of William's passion by the violence of his behaviour, or afraid of encountering a second beating, consented to become his wife. The marriage between the royal cousins took place in 1052.'-vol. i. p. 6.

Perhaps she thought that the only way to escape from the violence of her boisterous lover would be to place herself under his protection; for some inscrutable reason or other she married him; and, stranger still, this rough wooing was the prelude to happy matrimony; for which, indeed, a sufficient reason appears to be given in the assurance, that William was the most devoted of husbands, and always allowed her to take the ascendunt in the ' matrimonial scale.' She appears to have been a woman of considerable talents, and excelling in the learning and accomplishments of her age. She presented her husband, when about to sail for the invasion of England, with a 'splendid vessel of war, 'called the Mora, which she had caused to be built unknown to him, and adorned in the most royal style of magnificence for his 'acceptance;' and when he had achieved the conquest of this country, she recorded his exploits with her needle, in the celebrated Bayeux Tapestry, which exists to the present day. During the

If, indeed!

absence of the Duke, she governed Normandy as Regent with great prudence and address; and perfectly preserved the peace of his dominions. One only difference is said to have arisen between them; and to this we attach but little credit.

"The Norman ladies were exceedingly malcontent at the long 'protracted absence of their lords' in England; and the lady of Hugh Grantmesnil, governor of Winchester-one of those goodnatured people, who, in the words of Lord Bacon, would set their neighbour's house on fire for the sake of roasting their own eggs -had amused herself by circulating reports of the infidelities of their husbands.

Githa, the mother of Harold, eagerly caught at these reports, which she is said to have taken great pleasure in circulating. (We do not wonder much at that.) She communicated them to Sweno, king of Denmark, and added, that the reason why Marleswent, a Kentish noble of some importance, had joined the late revolt in England, was because the Norman tyrant had dishonored his fair niece, the daughter of one of the canons of Canterbury. This tale, whether true or false, came in due course to Matilda's ears, and caused the first conjugal difference that had ever arisen between her and her lord. She was by no means of a temper to take any affront of the kind patiently, and it is said she caused the unfortunate damsel to be put to death with circumstances of great cruelty.'-p. 81.

Another act is charged on Queen Matilda which we place in the same category. Before she had been beaten into a liking for her husband, she had been strongly attached to Brihtric Meaw (a Saxon) the lord of the honor of Gloucester, who resided at her Father's court as ambassador from Edward the confessor. This person, however, declined to meet her advances, and it is said, that in the first year of William the conqueror, Matilda obtained 'from her lord the grant of all Brihtric's lands and honors, and 'that she then caused the unfortunate Saxon to be seized at his 'manor of Hanelye, and conveyed to Winchester, where he died in 'prison, and was privately buried.' And the author thinks that a post mortem examination would have disclosed the reason why his burial was private.

Yet of the woman to whom this deed is imputed Ordericus Vitalis speaks as follows. She derived her descent from kings of France, and emperors of Germany; but was even more distinguished for purity of mind and manners than for illustrious lineage. She was munificent and liberal, uniting beauty with gentle breeding, and all the graces of Christian holiness. She was indefatigable in alleviating distress in every shape, and won the love of all hearts. vol. i. p. 57.

Could such a woman be guilty of such crimes? If she could, we can only say in addition, that her face belied her-that the