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"Upon these authorities, which in many points are most singularly contradictory, all our subsequent chroniclers, with one exception, which will be noticed hereafter, have based their statements. Rastell abridges Fabyan; Hall translates Polydore Vergil and Philip de Comines; Stowe transcribes the Chronicle quoted by Leland; and the rest follow some one author and some another. The present narrative has higher claims to authority than any of those I have noticed. It was written upon the spot, immediately after the events to which it relates, by some person possessed of full means of knowledge; and it will be seen that it was adopted by Edward IV. as an accurate relation of his achievements."

To those who feel very curious about Yorkist testimonials in opposition to such as favour the Lancasterian faction, we recommend Mr. Bruce's authentication of the present document; and pass on to notice two or three of its several contents. It is well known that Edward threw himself upon the English coast with few followers, and when his prospects were far from certain or apparently hopeful. The fact is, that he met with formidable opposition, and was glad to disguise his utmost intent by merely at first claiming the duchy of York. When he got to this province, however, he took advantage in a most characteristic manner, as regarded the superstitions and customs of the age, of whatever circumstances as were most likely to promote his interest and views.

"On the Satarday, the Kynge, with all his hooste, cam to a towne called Daventre, where the Kynge, with greate devocion, hard all divine service upon the morne, Palme-Sonday, in the parishe churche, wher God, and Seint Anne, shewyd a fayre miracle; a goode pronostique of good aventure that aftar shuld befall unto the Kynge by the hand of God, and mediation of that holy matron, Seynt Anne. For, so it was that, afore that tyme, the Kynge, beinge out of his realme, in great trowble, thowght, and hevines, for the infortwne and adversitie that was fallen bym, full often, and, specially upon the sea, he prayed to God, owr Lady, and Seint George, and, amonges othar saynts, he specially prayed Seint Anne to helpe hym where that he promysed, that, at the next tyme that it shuld hape hym to se any ymage of Seint Anne, he shuld therto make his prayers, and gyve his offeringe, in the honor and worshipe of that blessed Saynte. So it fell, the same Palme Sonday, the Kynge went in procession, and all the people aftar, in goode devotion, as the service of that daye askethe, and, whan the processyon was comen into the churche, and, by ordar of the service, were comen to that place where the vale shulbe drawne up afore the Roode, that all the people shall honor the Roode with the anthem Ave, three tymes begon, in a pillar of the churche, directly aforne the place where Kynge knelyd, and devowtly honoryd the Roode, was a lytle ymage of Seint Anne, made of alleblastar, standynge fixed to the piller, closed and clasped togethars with four borders, small, payntyd, and gowynge rownd abowt the image, in manar of a compas, lyke as it is to see comonly, and all abowt, where as suche ymages be wonte to be made for to be solde and set up in churches, chapells, crosses, and oratories, in many placis. And this ymage was thus shett, closed, and clasped, accordynge to the

rulles that, in all the churchis of England, be observyd, all ymages to be hid from Ashe Wednesday to Estarday in the mornynge. And so the sayd ymage had bene from Ashwensday to that tyme. And even sodaynly, at that season of the service, the boards compassynge the ymage about gave a great crak, and a little openyd, whiche Kynge well perceyveyd and all the people about hym. And anon, aftar, the bords drewe and closed togethars agayne, withowt any mans hand, or touchinge, and, as thowghe it had bene a thinge done with a violence, with a gretar might it openyd all abrod, and so the ymage stode, open and discovert, in syght of all the people there beynge. The Kynge, this seinge, thanked and honoryd God, and Seint Anne, takynge it for a good signe, and token of good and prosperous aventure that God wold send hym in that he had to do, and, remembringe his promyse, he honoryd God and Seint Anne, in that same place, and gave his offrings. All thos, also, that were present and sawe this, worshippyd and thanked God and Seint Anne there, and many offered; takyng of this signe, shewed by the power of God, good hope of theyr good spede for to come."

There is a minute detail of Falconbridge's attack upon London, which was placed in the utmost jeopardy by the attempt, Edward, though victorious and in turn crushing his enemies in the various provinces, being absent and at a distance, so that he could not throw in prompt protection against the slaughter of the citizens, burnings, sackings, and devastation of every sort that then prevailed according to all the ferocity of a barbarous age. We are told,

Ovar came from London freshe tydyngs to the Kynge, from the Lords, and the citizens, which, with right grete instance, moved the Kinge, in all possible haste, to approche and com to the citie, to the defence of the Qwene, than being in the Tower of London, my Lorde Prince, and my Ladies, his doghtars, and of the Lords, and of the citie, whiche, as they all wrote, was likly to stand in the grettest ioperdy that evar they stode. In consideration had for that gret nombar of the persones within the citie were rather disposyd to have helped to have suche mischiefe wroght than to defend it; some, for they were maliciowsly disposed, and were, in theyr harts perciall to th'Erle of Warwickes qwarell, and to the party of Henry, wherefore were many; some, for they were powre; some, mens servaunts, mens prentises, which would have bene right glade of a comon robery, to th' entent they might largely have put theyr hands in riche mens coffres. Thes manar of writings moved the Kynge greatly to haste hym thethar. wards; but it was behovefull, or that he came there, he were furnesshyd of as great, or gretar, hooste than he had had at any tyme sithe his comynge into the land; natheles, for that suche armye might nat be prepared so sonne as he woulde, the sayd xiiij. day of May."

The battle of Barnet and the " fatal fight of Tewkesbury," furnish subjects for highly interesting and indeed picturesque description as given in the present "Historie," but still the blood-thirstiness and revengeful character of the York faction are in regard to these and other occasions fully attested. In fact the assassination of Henry

the Sixth in the Tower, at the instigation of Edward, is covertly acknowledged, the reader may perhaps suppose, in the following statement, guarded and bolstered though it be.

"Here it is to be remembred, that, from the tyme of Tewkesbery fielde, where Edward, called Prince, was slayne, thanne, and sonne aftar, war taken, and slayne, and at the Kyngs wylle, all the noblemen that came from beyond the see with the sayde Edward, called Prince, and othar also theyr parte-takers as many as were of eny might or puisaunce. Qwene Margaret, hirself, taken, and browght to the Kynge; and, in every party of England, where any commotion was begonne for Kynge Henry's party, anone they were rebuked, so that it appered to every mann at eye the sayde partie was extincte and repressed for evar, without any mannar hope. of agayne quikkening; utterly despaired of any maner of hoope or releve. The certaintie of all whiche came to the knowledge of the sayd Henry, late called Kyng, being in the Tower of London; not havynge, afore that, knowledge of the saide matars, he toke it to so great dispite, ire, and indingnation, that, of pure displeasure, and melencoly, he dyed the xxiij. day of the monithe of May. Whom the Kynge dyd to be browght to the friers prechars at London, and there, his funerall service donne, to be caried, by watar, to an Abbey upon Thamys syd, xvj myles from Londen, called Chartsey, and there honorably enteryd.'

Mr. Tyler's work comes before us in the regular form of a recent publication, of a carefully compiled history, and an elaborate memoir. He, in short, grapples with a subject where all the higher requisites of the historian and the biographer may find scope. We suspect, however, that the conjectures of the antiquary rather than the resistless discoveries and satisfactory balancings afforded by the industrious investigator, where evidence is abundant though confused and often contradictory, as at first presented, are his characeristics.

Mr. Tyler's great efforts are to free Henry the Fifth's name from the charge of irregularity during his youth, to which Shakspeare has given such currency; and from what is a more sericus, and, we believe, better authenticated accusation, that which says he was guilty of religious, inquisitorial persecution, such as never disgraced and stained the character of any other English monarch, unless it have been Mary of "bloody" memory, and her gross tyrannical father. There is another feature in the history of Henry of Monmouth,> which, like the last mentioned, may be said to have been according to the modes of thinking and acting which the age countenanced,we mean a passion for war, vain conquest, unprincipled aggression, and all sorts of idle pageantry which in any way flattered for the time the barons and the monarch. Blood and treasure were alike wasted with reckless profusion. It seemed to be regarded as a sufficient cause for declaring war that the mock sovereignty of some province in France was contemplated and longed for; it seemed to warrant all the horrors of war when unoffending Frenchmen, their

fertile land, and their quiet homes were the objects of destruction. Oh! but these were chivalrous darings and exploits which brought renown to the English name! Yes, and produced a canting murderous phrase that France and England were natural enemies,-a phrase which never appears to have been questioned till of late Then, think of the taxes and the half-famishing multitude at home, which such fruitless efforts occasioned, and we may come much? nearer to a just estimate of the sudden but brief triumphs of our Henries and Edwards, than is to be found in romances or many publications falsely called histories.

As to the alleged mad-cap pranks of Henry's youth, Mr. Tyler's argument is that contemporary chroniclers, or annalists who succeeded the era in which Henry flourished, do not generally charge. him with intemperance or immorality of any kind. He says,

It is not because we would palliate Henry's vices, if such there be on record, or disguise his follies, or wish his irregularities to be forgotten in the vivid recollections of his conquests, that he would try our immortal bard' by the test of rigid fact. We do so, because he is the authority on which the estimate of Henry's character, as generally entertained, is mainly founded. Mr. Southey, indeed, is speaking only of his own boyhood when he says, 'I had learned all I knew of English history from Shakspere. But very many pass through life without laying aside or correcting those impressions which they caught at the first opening of their minds; and never have any other knowledge of the times of which his dramas speak, than what they have learned from his representations. The great Duke of Marlborough is known to have confessed that all his acquaintance with English history was derived from Shakspere: whilst not unfrequently persons of literary pursuits, who have studied our his. tories for themselves, are to the last under the practical influence of their earliest associations: unknown to their own minds the poet is still their instructor and guide. And this influence Shakspere exercises over the historical literature of his country, though he was born more than one hundred and sixty years after the historical date of that scene in which he first speaks of the royal rake's' strayings and unthriftiness; and though many new sources, not of vague tradition, but of original and undoubted record, which were closed to him, have been opened to students of the present day. It has indeed been alleged that he might have had means of information no longer available by us; that manuscripts are forgotten or lost, which bore testimony to Henry's career of wantonness. But surely such a suggestion only renders it still more imperative to examine with strict and exact scrutiny into the poet's descriptions. If these are at all countenanced by a coincidence with ascertained historical facts, we must admit them as evidence, secondary indeed, but still the best within our reach. But if they prove to be wholly untenable when tested by facts, and irreconcileable with what history places beyond doubt, we have solid grounds of rejecting them as legitimate testimonies. We must consider them either as the fascinating but aëry visions of a poet who lived after the intervention of more than a century and a half, or as inferences built by him on documents false and misleading.”.

When, however, Mr. Tyler proceeds to give us Henry's history during his infancy, boyhood, and youth, after all his research, we have little more than a string of favourable fancies, and fond conjectures. Assumptions are backed by sentimentalisms that possess no historical force, however amiable and charitable they may be on the part of the reverend author. Who, for instance, but an apologist or a speaker at random on the fair side, would have expressed himself in the following manner, regarding one of whose private habits so little is really known?

"To all this, Henry added that quality without which such a combination of moral excellences would not have existed, the believing obedient beart of a true christian, This last quality is not named in words by the Speaker (of the House of Commons); but his immediate reference to the grace of God and his thanks in the name of the people of England to the Almighty Saviour for having imparted these graces to their prince, appear to bring the question of his religious principles before our minds. Whilst in seeking for the solution of that question, we find other pages of his history, equally genuine and authentic, which assure us that he was a sincere and pure Christian."

We form a much more precise opinion of Henry, from Shakspeare's portraiture, and we must add, not one by any means unfavourable. Mr. Tyler is quite mistaken when he alleges that the dramatist's picture is that of a gross profligate and foul reveller in the sinks of vice, in allusion to Henry's youth. It is impossible that the poet should have created such a deep interest in the prince, had he represented him as anything worse that a somewhat hairbrained young man, whose generosities and noble genius are ever proving themselves to hold and guide the reins of his nature. The fact is, we never think so unpleasantly or are so disappointed in regard to Hal as when, after his accession to the throne, he repulses Falstaff, frowns upon him, and in reality despotically and undeservedly punishes him. We feel indeed, that the following letter of the Prince's, quoted by our author, much more deeply and painfully affects his character than anything that William Shakspeare bas ever narrated.

"As to news from these parts, if you wish to hear of what has taken place, we were lately informed that Owyn Glyndower [Oweyn de Glyndourdy] had assembled his forces, and those of other rebels, his adherents, in great numbers, purposing to commit inroads; and, in case of any resistance to his plans on the part of the English, to come to battle with them; and so he boasted to his own people. Wherefore we took our men, and went to a place of the said Owyn, well built, which was his chief mansion, called Saghern, where we thought we should have found him, if hẹ wished to fight, as he said. And, on our arrival there, we found no perSo we caused the whole place to be set on fire, aud many other houses around it, belonging to his own tenants. And then we went

son.