plishments, to the bright age of patriotism,-of mingled trial and prosperity,―of business and of sentiment, in which they had the fortunate lot to be born. Acting in a very different way on the public mind, but not unbeneficially, was the mingled sentiment of indignation and horror with which it beheld the conduct of France towards the unfortunate protestants of that country. Sympathy for those who suffer in defending principles for which we ourselves contend is of a quite different nature to the ordinary emotion of compassion which goes by the same name. Nor can a nation receive a more powerful impulse in its moral advancement and capacities. Corruptions of truth are never so palpable to the unpractised eye as when conjoined with violations of justice and humanity. They compel reason and passion to labour under the same yoke; and, situated as England was at the time of the Bartholomew massacre, there can be little doubt but that the feelings which it inspired contributed in a high degree to animate multitudes with a deeper and more ardent gratitude for the light they enjoyed. Nor were the numerous precautions which it was found necessary to take against the attempts of the Catholic princes and their emissaries without their influence in another point of view. The tone of society was thereby prevented from degenerating into tameness,-pleasure was enjoyed with a richer zest,—a full and warm colouring of natural sentiment diffused itself over the common customs of life,—and the picturesqueness of the age, delighting in masques and revelries, was easily made to furnish types of true poetical force and beauty. We might greatly extend our observations on the circumstances which were combined in rendering the age of Elizabeth so glorious a period of English history. It might be added, that the intercourse which now took place with the most distant countries was in no slight measure favourable to improvement, and that the writers of the day had the advantage of that importation of Spanish literature and historical traditions which had occurred in the preceding reign. But the brief view we have taken is sufficient to point out the main incentives to exertion which the great men of the age received from without; and, while the names of Shakspeare, Spenser, and the rest who formed the splendid galaxy of which they were the centre stars, afford us more than a remembrance of that memorable era, may we look with pleasure, and not without instruction, at even the probable causes which tended to the developement of their genius. I. POLITICAL SERIES. Henry VIX. BORN A. D. 1457.-DIED A. D. 1509. THIS prince was born in 1457. His father was Edmund, earl of Richmond, son of Sir Owen Tudor, by Catherine of France. His mother was Margaret, daughter of John, duke of Somerset, who was grandson, by a spurious branch, of John of Gaunt, the son of Edward III. By the death of his father, he succeeded to the earldom at an early age, and by his birth, he belonged of course to the house of Lancaster, whose claims to the English crown were so zealously disputed with the rival family of York. When, in May, 1471, the adherents of the former line were defeated at the battle of Tewksbury, the earl of Pembroke, young Richmond's uncle, conveyed his nephew, now about fourteen years of age, to Britanny. But political jealousy may gather strength from the absence of its object; nor, probably, was it without reason that Edward IV., the reigning king of England, and of the family of York, felt suspicious of the youthful exile, to whom— although the very act which rendered his relation to the royal house of Lancaster legitimate, made an exception of his particular branch in respect of the succession to the crown-the eyes of the Lancastrian party, in their extremity, appear to have been turned. Edward sought to induce the duke of Britanny to deliver up the earl. This proposal the duke rejected, but, being an ally of Edward, agreed to retain him in custody. The king, however, again applied for the person of Richmond to be given up into his hands, professing an intention that the earl should receive his daughter Elizabeth in marriage. Richmond, accordingly, was about to proceed on his return to the English shore, but, owing, it seems, to a suspicion of the king's intentions timeously occurring to the mind of the duke, the latter still reserved his noble visitor in his own hands. But, after the death of Edward and the usurpation of Richard III. in 1483, the very matrimonial scheme which, with no friendly intention towards the earl perhaps, the former had proposed, was suggested to the duke of Britanny by Bishop Morton, an active supporter of the house of Lancaster. This union, by which the family of York, represented by Elizabeth, could be brought into such intimate connection with that of Lancaster, was agreed to not only by the duke, but also by the queen-dowager, mother of Elizabeth, and the countess of Richmond, mother of the earl, the former of whom made provision for his return, and advised him to levy forces against King Richard-to whose sway she had so much reason to be hostile'—and, on his arrival in England to enter into the intended marriage with her daughter. Accordingly, he set sail on that expedition, the fortunes of which we have already noticed in our sketch of Richard III. In the battle of Bosworth, Richmond was at last victorious; he was hailed, ere he left the field, with shouts of "Long live Henry VII !" and the crown, which had been worn by Richard in the battle, was placed on his head." 1 Many of our readers may remember that scene of Shakspeare-Richard III. Act 1V. Scene 4-where an interview between Richard and the queen-dowager, after the loss of her poor princes, Edward V. and the Duke of York, is vividly described. In the course of this scene, wherein the pity and resentment of the bereaved mother are represented, Richard ventures to make proposals to the queen for the hand of her daughter Elizabeth, and at last appears to gain upon her. This incident accords with a historical fact adverted to in the present sketch. This last circumstance and the great historical event with which it is connected, may remind some of our readers of the following prediction respecting Richmond when a boy, put into the mouth of Henry VI.-Shakspeare, Henry VI. Act IV. Scene 6: Come hither, England's hope, if secret powers It seems unlikely that a character such as that of Richard III., and a throne founded as was that of this infamous usurper, would be able to gain the respect or affection of the people; nor does it appear very wonderful that Richmond, now in his hopeful prime, crowned with the laurels of his late decisive victory, and destined to a marriage with the heiress of the house of York, should have easily consummated an accession to the throne, notwithstanding the insufficiency of his own individual claims, and the probable superiority in those of the house of York to the rival ones of that of Lancaster. He seems, however, to have ascended the throne with an undue and impolitic degree of opposition to the family of York. He also ventured to put off his marriage with Elizabeth-the event by which he was to unite the families, and thereby strengthen his claims until he should have been crowned, and had his accession sanctioned by act of parliament. On the 30th of October, the ceremony of coronation was performed by Bourchier, archbishop of Canterbury, who had also crowned the two preceding sovereigns, Edward IV. and Richard III.; and in the parliament which met, November 7th, a majority appeared to be in favour of the new king, who, in addressing them, adverted to the victory he had lately gained, as well as to his hereditary claims. The act of future succession-which is represented by Mr Hume as drawn up "with sufficient reserve and moderation" -without setting aside the claims of the house of York, or enforcing Richmond's independent right, was yet so framed as to fix the succession in the heirs of his own body; and, on his applying, next year, for a papal bull in confirmation of his title, it was readily granted by Pope Innocent VIII. Some of the Yorkists were sentenced by an act of attainder; but the king published a proclamation offering pardon to those who had opposed him in the field, provided they submitted within a certain time, and took the oath of allegiance to the new government.3 He also conferred favours on certain of his own adherents, restoring to his honours the eldest son of the duke of Buckingham—“ the effect,” says Mr Hume, "of his gratitude to the memory of Buckingham, who had first concerted the plan of his elevation, and who, by his own ruin, had made way for that great event." In January 1486, a few months after his accession, Henry, according to the wishes of his parliament, married Elizabeth, the daughter of Edward IV. who was not crowned, however, until November 1487. To this princess he seems to have greatly failed in conjugal affection. A disposition such as that which, afterwards at least, marked the character of Henry,—artful, cold, and avaricious,—seems but little consonant with the amiable performance of the duties of domestic life. His remissness in this respect has also been attributed to violent prejudice against the family of York. Nor can it be denied, that at an early period of his reign, there existed in the northern parts of England— to which he at this time made a journey-considerable opposition to the cause of the Lancastrian king. A hostile attempt, however, against This pretty lad will prove our country's bliss. Likely in time to bless a royal throne. 3 Rot. Parl. the authority of Henry, was put down, and on the 20th of September, a foundation was laid for the continuance of the crown in his family, by the birth of a son, to whom, after the British king, he gave the name of Arthur.1 This year, however, a formidable insurrection against Henry's authority occurred, headed by Lambert Simnel, an intelligent youth, though of low condition, who acted, in this case, under the direction of Richard Simon, a priest at Oxford. But the influence of persons of higher rank has been supposed to have been at work in this conspiracy; and from the circumstance that Henry, on this occasion, committed his mother-in-law to custody, though under another pretext, that, namely, of having submitted to Richard III. contrary to her promise, it has been inferred that the queen-dowager herself was probably an agent in the case. Simnel started forth in Ireland, where the people were attached to the family of York, professing himself to be the earl of Warwick, a young member of that royal house of whom the king appears to have been peculiarly jealous, and the nearest male heir to the throne. Henry had committed young Warwick to the tower, and on this occasion he sought to convince the people that Simnel's attempt was an imposture, by exhibiting the real earl in London. But Simnel, after being actually treated in Dublin as king, joined not only by Irish troops, but by two thousand veterans sent over by the duchess of Burgundy, aunt of the earl of Lincoln--who, being nephew to Richard III., and, it is supposed, intended by the latter as his successor on the throne, in case of his own previous demise without issue, was naturally in opposition to Henry-landed in Lancashire, and advanced to Stoke in Nottingham. There the rebel troops were met by Henry's army, which proved victorious after an obstinate encounter. Lincoln and other leaders were slain on the field; Simnel received a pardon, and became a menial servant of the king, from which situation he was afterwards advanced to that of falconer. After the battle, Henry made a progress in the northern parts of the kingdom, and penalties, especially fines, were imposed on supporters of the late rebellion: the king "making his revenge," says Mr Hume, "subservient to his avarice." Henry was now induced to interfere in foreign politics. The king of France, encouraged by the barons of Britanny, having made a formidable invasion on that country, an embassy from France to the English king arrived soon after the battle of Stoke, and sought to induce the latter to remain neutral in the quarrel, if he could not lend to France his positive assistance in its opposition to a court where he had received protection in his youth-representing the war with Britanny as occasioned by that duchy having given shelter to French rebels and fugitives. Henry, for a considerable time, continued to act as a mediator between the parties rather than as an assistant of either. At length the Bretons were routed by the invaders in the battle of St Aubin, and, on the death of the duke of Britanny shortly after, the French set forth a claim to the government of that duchy. Henry was now induced, though with the calculating spirit for which he was remarkable, to send military aid to Britanny, the violated home of his earlier life; and when Lel. Coll. iv. 201. King Charles of France had at last succeeded in annexing the duchy to his own kingdom by marriage with the duchess, Henry, in addressing his parliament, which met in October, 1491, represented the king of England as having a claim to the throne of France,-referred to the success of their ancestors at the battles of Crecy and Poictiers and Azincourt, and announced his intention to aim at the sovereignty of that country, which, he told them, had refused to pay a stipulated tribute due to the English nation. These have been considered as vaunting words accommodated to the feelings entertained in England respecting France, now that Britanny had been subdued. But a large supply was granted to the king for carrying on a war with that country,-the nobles enthusiastically entered into the prospect of military honour now brightening before them,—and, on the 6th of October, 1492, Henry, in person, sailed for Calais, with a view, according to his own professions, of subduing France. He did lay siege to Boulogne, but in November concluded a peace, respecting which negotiations had previously taken place. By a stipulation in the treaty, not only were the sums expended by England in support of Britanny to be repaid by France, but to Henry, intent on the gratification of his avarice, and to his heirs, an annual pension of twenty-five thousand crowns was to be paid. In the course of these protracted operations on the continent, the attempts to collect a subsidy granted in November, 1487, had excited, in the counties of York and Durham, a violent excitement, such as to induce Henry to send down a force, commanded by the earl of Surrey, against the rioters, who were subdued, and, in general, pardoned by the king. But, before his evacuation of France, there arose another hostile attempt, of which the duchess of Burgundy appears as a principal supporter. This was made by a youth named Perkin Warbeck, who sought to have himself considered as none other than Richard, duke of York, son of Edward IV., who was supposed to have been murdered under the direction of Richard III., and whose hereditary claim to the crown, were he alive, might be considered as prior to any that Henry could advance. Warbeck-who is represented as a beautiful and intelligent youth-after advancing his claim in Ireland, went over to the court of France, invited by the sovereign of that country, whose guest he continued to be when the peace was concluded with England in 1492. Henry, at this time, applied to the French monarch for Perkin to be delivered up into his hands. Charles, who had invited the alleged duke of York to France, declined, but agreed to send the adventurer away. Warbeck betook himself to the duchess of Burgundy, who professed to receive his pretensions with distrust, but, at length, embraced him as her nephew, Richard, duke of York. The claims of Warbeck made considerable impression even in England, but the cautious and considerate Henry not only sought to prove, by surviving witnesses, the death of the actual duke of York, but ascertained, by means of spies and bribes, the secret history of the scheme. Sir Robert Clifford, who had supported the pretensions of Warbeck, was gained over by the king, and received a pardon,—but several other English gentlemen, for the same offence, were accused of high treason and condemned; and, after considerable delay, Sir William Stanley, who had been eminently zealous for the king at the battle of |