BOOKS.

THE CIVIL WAR IN HEREFORDSHIRE.* THHEE-FOURTIIS of these Memorials of the Civil War, as it .Afectecl Herefordshire and the Adjacent Counties, are from the pen of the Rev. John Webb, late Rector of Tretire. This gentleman, although he lived to be nearly ninety-three, left his work unfinished. It has been edited and completed by his son, the present Vicar of Hardwick, and lies before us in two well illustrated and beautifully printed volumes, for which the pub- lishers ask two guineas. The class of readers whom such a book is likely to interest most will not grudge the price. It deserves all the honours of the best typography, and is a most valuable contribution to a very important branch of our national literature. The continuation is unequal rather than dissimilar to the original work, and the appreciative reader will be amused rather than annoyed by the filial " echoes " of the Rev. T. W. Webb. They resemble the fraternal " echoes " which we meet with in the poetry of Mr. F. Tennyson and in the prose of Dr. J. A. Carlyle, and are signs of inferiority, but by no means of incapacity. The workmanship of the venerable author himself is of the highest description of merit. He candidly admits that the petty disputes which he records may appear to the general reader, as compared with public transactions of greater magni- tude and interest to be but as "the combats of kites and crows ;"

• Manorials of the Mil War between King Charles 1. and the Parliament of England, as it Affected Her.fordeltire and the Adjacent Counties. By the late Rev. John Webb. London: Longman; Green, and Co. 1879.

but he justly reminds us that " the provincial historian has set himself within a circle, from which, though he should occasion- ally make excursions, he may not too frequently or widely depart." It is only fair to the elder Mr. Webb to say that when he does make these excursions, his tread is as firm and as sure beyond the circle as within it. The pungent rhetoric of Macaulay, and the poignant enthusiasm of Carlyle, have com- pletely turned the tide which once flowed so strongly against

Puritanism. There is no reason for doubting the sincerity of either of these gifted writers, but celui qui s' impose a soi-meme impose a d'autres, and Charles and his adherents are treated with almost as much injustice now as their opponents were

formerly. Mr. Webb's sympathies are unquestionably with the King. Our own are as strongly with the Parliament. But we quote with pleasure the following passage, not merely as a specimen of

Mr. Webb's historical style, but as a fair and judicious criticism of the side to which we adhere. Fas est of al) hosts doe,eri,—

though "enemy," we may add, is the last word which we should think of applying seriously to Mr. Webb :—

" We can discover little of what passed in the Privy Chamber of Charles and his counsellors, so as to distinguish the tone and temper of their discussions ; but while to outward appearance their muster in general maintained a dignified composure, those by whom he was surrounded too often carried themselves with fierce hostility, unbe- coming coutempt, or daring defiance, whenever they came into contact with their adversaries. The defect of admittance into the details of Royalist consultations is more than balanced, on the other hand, by Journals of the Houses of Lords and Commons. The latter in par- ticular about this period (1642) exhibit a melancholy want of that true dignity of spirit,—perhaps oftener a theoretical rather than an actual attribute of such assemblies,—that just and balanced pitch of soul that ought to animate the senate of a nation whose existence is at stake. It may not be fair to sit too severely in judgment on those whose passions were so intensely heated ; yet the eager suspicion with which they listened to idle tales, grossly fabricated plots, and base surmises, their captions, quick, and vindictive disposition, trem- blingly alive to censure or punish all those who differed from them ; and their unwillingness to modify one iota of demand once propounded, can recommend their conduct to none but their too indulgent partisans of posterity. Many of them, in their private capacity, are known to have been amiable in all the relations of life ; numbers of them put forth serious pretensions to a strict observance of that religion whose practical essence consists in charity, reconciliation, and peace. But after all allowances that can be made, dismissing as calumny the secret arts of which their conductors have been gravely accused, and setting aside the question of their motives, which might variously be construed, it cannot fairly be disputed, since their open deal- ings are sufficient to confirm the belief, that they turned their backs upon more than one opportunity of bringing matters to a better, if not a bloodless, termination."

Some significant details are here interposed, and the passage concludes as follows :— "In this way, while they increased the terror of their power, they gave encoaragement to informers, and scope to private pique and revenge. Such their own records show them to have been, and if their conduct Las still its unqualified admirers, prejudice in such a case has much to overlook. No enemy could have more glaringly traduced them in some points, than by their own existing and faithful minutes of proceedings they have exposed themselves."

It is, however, within the circle which he has traced for him- self that Mr. Webb's merits are best displayed. But before glancing at him with his foot, so to speak, upon his native heath, we must remark that the anecdote which he twice refers to of Cromwell's cowardice at Edgehill is supremely ridiculous. This is, we think, the only instance where we have found him distinctly tripping, unless we may mention as another the slip of the pen by which he makes Northumberland as well as Hotspur fall at Battlefield. But these are trifles which we should not notice, unless it were our vocation to do so. As a provincial historian, Mr. Webb challenges our warmest praise, and we have ventured to say that provincial history—though the expression is not a happy one—is one of the most important departments of our national literature. England, from causes which may be regretted, but cannot be averted, is fast becoming one vast county. We see this in her sports and pastimes, as well as in matters of more importance. All the more thank-

ful, therefore, ought we to be for writings which tend to keep alive that provincial patriotism, if we may use such a school-boy phrase, which often does as much for a county as esprit de comps does for a regiment. Not, indeed, that this was. Mr. Webb's chief or even deliberate aim. His main object, as

he tells us, was to bring "home to men's business and bosoms" the fallacy of supposing that such a dire extremity as civil war is a rough but useful remedy on the whole, without duly con- sidering that it may be in its progress and effects far more cruel and bitter than the disease, or reflecting how frequently it has happened that when men have smarted under such a scourge they are ready to bow their necks to any yoke. He thinks that separate histories of the counties of England agitated by the last Civil War may tend in some measure to revive this salutary lesson, by showing the present generation "where the dwell- ings of their ancestors were rifled and ruined, and their fields stained by the sword; how they were doomed to captivity, or driven from their homes, without knowing where to hide their heads." Now, we do not profess to have Mr. Webb's hopes, or his fears either ; but judging his work from his own point of view, we must pronounce it well-nigh perfect. It is full of interesting, affecting, and well-authenticated details, told with rare candour and sympathy, and so far as Herefordshire is con- cerned, we need look for no further narrative of this portion of its history. We prefer, however, to leave these details untouched. A precis of them would be as intolerable anywhere, as it is luckily here impossible ; and as we have room for only a few specimens of Mr. Webb's skill as a local historian, we shall choose them from the sunnier parts of his often sombre narrative.

It is hard to overrate the charm which a knowledge of their history lends to places. A tourist in Scotland guiltless of read- ing Scott will be blind and deaf, compared with one whose mind is saturated with the lore of the Abbotsford wizard. To those for whom histories are literally books with seven seals, and who have never read Erckmann-Chatrien's masterly Waterloo, the scene of Napoleon's last victory will be a blank as bare as a suburban railway-station. And Epsom Downs, though glorious in themselves, will tell a very different tale to those who have never, and to those who have often, felt their blood course quicker over the story of England's greatest classic race. Taking a line, then, through the kind of men who will read these volumes with most atten- tion, the beneficed clergy and the well-to-do, or even not so well-to.do, scholars and antiquaries who dwell in Herefordshire, or are likely to visit that pleasant county, we may not unfairly say that Mr. Webb has increased the sum of human happiness.

But we may hasten to our quotations, and space pressing, must leave them without the comments which we would otherwise gladly make :—

"The popular and proverbial boast of the inhabitants of Hereford- shire was that they had in eminent perfection and abundance, water, wood, women, wool, and wheat, according to the order in which they are enumerated by a native poet,— * Muds, et Rik& frequens, femina, lana, segos.' "

We must leave, as we said, the wood, wheat, water, and women alone, but we are fain to illustrate the " wool " by an amusing anti-climax from one of the numerous and instructive papers in the appendix :—

" May it therefore please this Honourable House to continue your prudent and pions intentions and endeavours ; to hasten the speedy Reliefe of distressed and gasping Ireland ; to remove evil Counsellors ; to take away tho Votes of Popish Lords ; speedily to disarm') the Papists; to settle a godly and learned Ministery ; and to restrain the -excessive Importation of Spanish Wool."

We had marked several other passages for quotation, and among them the merry game which was played at Raglan Castle with the Parliamentary Commissioners, and Lord Herbert's powerful "water-commanding engine ;" and the curious anecdote, reported by the younger Mr. Webb, about the estate of High Meadow and the great Duke of Wellington. We can readily imagine that his Grace might have objected to scenery which reminded him of " Busaco's ridge of fire," but we are puzzled to guess what unpleasant memories were awakened by the richly-wooded prospect which drew from him the exclamation, "The Pyrenees,—the Pyrenees !" We think, however, that our purpose will be better served by a quotation of an entirely different kind. Our purpose is to induce the readers of this very imperfect notice of a very valuable book to read that book for themselves ; and we feel very strongly that we cannot further that purpose better than by transcribing the noble words which Mr. J. W. Webb thinks, strangely enough, to be no more than a fragmentary sketch of the intended con- clusion :—

"I have done what I could, and commend this story to the thoughts and never-dying remembrance of each as may read it, in humble hope that this feeble attempt to promote the spirit of peace by de- tailing the miseries of discord may not be thrown away. It might be expected that a writer treating of such a subject should enter into the question of principles, and deal out his censure upon these whom he thinks to have been most to blame. I could have descanted upon the guilt of violating the law by rulers, and the sin of rebellion in the governed ; and, as too often has been done, insisted that the fault WWI only on one side. Englishmen will continue to divide in opinion upon this question, and it may be beet that they should

continue to do so while it disturbs not their mutual peace. I have, however, preferred to take up the point which cannot be con- troverted, amidst glaring errors and offences on both sides, the misery brought by dissension upon both rulers and people. It was a political storm, in which discordant elements were confusedly blended to devastate society ; fire, mingled with hail, ran along upon the ground. I have wished to enter little more into the question than to show the consequences, too visible to all, let their opinions of the causes be what they may. Blood and devastation, enmity between brethren, —who were the authors of this calamity, the Day of Account will de- clare. Meanwhile, let this sad story be its own witness. And let none think or speak without abhorrence of a Civil War."