MRS. GREEN'S LIVES OF THE PRINCESSES OF

ENGLAND.* Tim first two volumes of this work were published some years ago : a main reason for the delay that has attended the appearance of the third volume has been, the necessity of consulting foreign books, sometimes not easily procured, and the research which has been instituted among records and manuscripts. The wide and patiently-borne antiquarian drudgery which distinguishes several female archezologists is a rather remarkable feature of the age, when its opposite habits in all other pursuits is considered. It must, however, be admitted that the result of their researches is mostly of a feminine kind. Nursery incidents, wardrobe particu- lars, processions, fetes, and ceremonies, are the things that chiefly excite their attention, or at least reward their labours ; while only females could make such extensive use of the materials. In mas- culine hands, the facts that form the staple of Miss Strickland's and Mrs. Green's works would be rejected or condensed: if used at all in extenso, the effect would be so stiff and dry, that the book would be dull if not altogether unreadable. The bon'a fide import- ance attached by the ladies to the matters they are narrating, gives a certain kind of life to their narrative, which if it does not carry the reader along, enables him to get along. The idea of Mrs. Green's Lives of the Princesses of England was probably suggested by the success of Miss Strickland's Queens. In one sense the subject is less favourable. A queen is more con- spicuous than a princess ; she has not only greater power, and is engaged in greater affairs, but what she does, says, or suffers, is more fully recorded. With a princess, there is less interest in the events and less detail in the circumstances. This inherent obstacle cannot be overcome ; but it is surprising how many facts Mrs. Green has collected in reference to individuals about whom so little was known, that historians and even antiquarians have fallen into great errors respecting them. She has searched the various record publications edited within the last fifty years, as well as the records themselves ; she has waded through manuscripts in public and private repositories ; and besides books generally accessible, or the rare publications of different arclneological societies, she has consulted many foreign works, and many old foreign chroniclers, for particulars respecting English princesses betrothed or married to foreign princes. The result has been to fill a volume with matter closely relating to persons on whoni many writers, and those well informed, could not have filled a sheet. The matter in itself, indeed, is frequently slight, and sometimes passes from biography into history—from the life to the times. In the main, however, Mrs. Green keeps close to her subject. She has less aptitude for antiquarian gossip than Miss Strickland, but she keeps a tighter rein upon her fancy and displays a sounder judg- ment.

The biographies which form the subjects of the present vo- lume commence with the year 1282, when the eighth daughter of Edward the First was born, and close in 1507, when Cecilia, the third daughter of Edward the Fourth, died, after she had meanly matched herself in marriage, on the death of her first husband Lord Wells, with Thomas Kymbe, a man who was of so poor a character and condition that nothing whatever is known about him, only late research discovering his Christian name in a petition, and the chroniclers speaking of him as "one Kyme." The greater portion of the book, however, relates to the children of the first three Ed- wards ; neither Richard the Second nor Henry the Fifth or Sixth having daughters. Between 1365, when the last survivor of the daughters of Edward the Third died, and 1463, when the first daughter of Edward the Fourth was born, the two female children of Henry the Fourth were the sole princesses at the English court, and they were not born princesses. In a literary sense, the lives of all these ladies depend greatly

upon their rr The courtship, the rank, and the career of their husbands, creates matter, incident, record, and deve- lopment of character ; their trousseau, with sundry other entries of expense, depends upon their wedding; while the marriage itself, and very often the fetes and journies that follow it, give rise to much authentic though formal description. Of the eleven grown-up princesses whose lives are recorded in this volume, three only were actually married to crowned heads or heirs to crowns; but two died while regal marriages were tinder negotiation. Two

• Lives of the Princesses of England, from the Norman Conquest. By Mary Anne Everett Green, Editor of "Letters of Royal and Illustrious Ladies." Volume

Published by Colburn.

were wedded to Dutch or Flemish nobles; who, however, were more powerful princes than the petty German potentates of a past or present age. One became the wife of a Duke of Bretayne ; another, of one of the celebrated Coney family-

" Jo ne suis roi, no du; prince, no comte aussie,

Je suis le Sire de Coucy."

Two were married to English noblemen. The student of history may trace in these marriages the state of political power and pub- lic opinion at the time. Mrs. Green attributes some of them to paternal kindness for the feelings of a daughter : and such might have their influence ; but in one sense royalty was lower and no- bility higher then than now. The haughty Barons of the Norman and 'Plantagenet times, while they admitted the feudal " supe- riority " of the King, might not have so readily allowed the dif- ference of the "blood royal?' The houses of Bohun and Neville had bearded Kings of England ; at an early period, the Dukes of Brittany, the Sieurs of Coney, or any great vassal of the Crown, could trouble the King of France. The marriage, indeed, of the third daughter of Edward the Fourth to Lord Wells, in the reign of Henry the Seventh, might not have been approved of by the first Tudor in the case of his own relation, but he was very willing to depress the sisters of his wife.

The rigid parsimony of our ancestors, and the minute regularity with which the accounts of the Crown were kept dining periods of regular government, have accumulated a vast many items of ex- pense, that throw a light upon the manners of the times. One fea- ture is the frequency of offerings, gifts, and presents, which though not proofs either of piety, hospitality, or generosity, argue some general existence of those virtues. Fashions do not last long after all liking for them has ceased, especially the fashion of giving away money. The following items refer to some of the children of Ed- ward the Third.

"To John the bargeman and his companion mariners, rowing in their boats the Ladies Isabella and Joanna, with their attendants, across the Thames, and leading them into the gardens, by their gift with their own hands, September 17th 12.s. "To Richard Crewe, valet of the Countess of Arundel, coming from the parts of Sussex, and bringing to the King's children four beasts of chase, September 24th, gift to him on his departure 3s. 4d. For two coins, engraved on one side with a crucifix and on the other side with an Agnes Dei, bought for the daily offerings of the Ladies Isabella and Joanna 2s "For the offerings of the Ladies Isabella and Joanna, from the 6th of August to the 28th of October, each offering one penny per day, by the

hands of the Lady de in Mote, their governess 14s. "To Gerard de Gay, the minstrel of the King's children, in money given to him by them, and also for a winter coat given him by their own hands, November 4th 6s. 8d. "To the valet of the Bishop of Carlisle, aiming from his master at Horn- castle,. and presenting to the Ladies Isabella and Joanna two young hares,

as their gift on his departure 3s 4d. "To Thomas de Bastenthwaite, valet-de-chambre of the Lady Isabella, for leading her palfrey whenever she rode between London and Westminster,

for a winter coat to be bought for him, as the gift of his mistress 58.

"They presented winter shoes to their clerk of the chapel, their valets- de-ehambre, their water-carrier, candle-bearer, porters, &c. ; and they con- tributed towards the expenses of the funeral of one of their kitchen servants, who was interred at the chapel of Berldng in FAsex."

The state of feebleness into which Edward the Third fell in his old age and after the death of the Black Prince, is well known. An economical Archbishop held up a mirror to him, in which he might see himself and the cost of his horses.

"The state of the English court at this time, the rapacity of the royal purveyors, and the extravagance of the whole establishment, are vividly and severely drawn by the pen of Archbishop Islip, in a work entitled 'Speculum

Regis Edwardi in which the 'mirror' held up to the view of the as- tonished monarch reflected anything but a flattering portrait. The expense of the royal stud particularly excited the indignation of the worthy prelate. 'And now, my Lord King,' says he, 'consider the expenses you incur yearly about one great horse. One great horse must needs have, at the least, one groom to attend to it, who will receive three halfpence per day for his ex- penses. Ile will receive a provision for the horse itself; for the price of hay 2d., straw Id. Thus the expenses for a single day, of horse and groom, will be 41d. ; and thus the expenses of one week 2s. 71d. : enough to support four or:five poor persons. Then, computing the expense of one groom and one horse per annum, the expenses amount to Cl. 16s. And note that commonly it is merely lost. How many and great then are the annual expenses for your grooms and horses. Would it not be good and wholesome counsel to you that you should diminish the number of your horses, to pay your debts and those of your father ; or if the debts were paid, to give to so many reli- gious poor and pilgrims, or to convert to other uses of piety ? ' "

In various collections of original documents published of late years, the English connexion with Germany or Austria has form- ed a principal feature. A morbid or a healthy dread of France might render this connexion desirable as a matter of opinion, or necessary as a matter of interest ; but certain characteristics on the part of our ally have distinguished the whole connexion,—greedi- ness, incapacity, or an inertness which had all the effects of incapacity, an utter indifference to the professed objects of the alliance, a tortuous policy for selfish objects, and a care for nothing English but its money. Malmesbury found it so in his diplomacy ; William the Third and Marlborough in their wars ; Henry the Eighth in his dealings with Maximilian ; and so it was with the Third Edward.

"During this period no pains were spared by King Edward to engage the Emperor to a hearty coalition against France. Large sums were handed over to him by way of loan ; and every member of the Imperial household, from the chancellor and counsellors to the physician, the secretaries, and even the clerks of the chancery, received propitiatory gifts ; whilst magnificent pre- sents in jewellery were lavished upon the Emperor, the Empress, and their son the Marquis of Brandenburg, by the King. The agent employed in these benefactions was Joanna's protector, Lord John de Montgomery. Queen Philippa, interested equally as a queen and a mother in securing the friendly feeling of her sister and brother-in-law, sent secret presents of jewels to the Empress, whose disposition she well knew to be sensitively alive to the potency of such appeals, and paid considerable bribes to Ida, her

lady-secretary. The young Princess herself carried out the design by pre- senting in person rich gifts to the officers of the Emperor and Empress. "Yet this system of extensive bribery proved unavailing to secure either the political cooperation of the Emperor in the war with France, or the ex- ercise of kindly generosity towards the Lady Joanna. Indeed, after the lapse of a few months, so illiberal was the treatment she experienced, that her father was obliged to supply her with money to provide the necessaries of life. The often-quoted wardrobe account records payments, not only for the dress and adornuigs of the Princess, and for the silver services for her table, but also for food purchasPd for herself and her attendants, when they had not sufficient meat and drink allowed by the Emperor and Em- press.' "