SPECTATOR'S LIBRARY.
Therony, History of Scotland. By Patrick Fraser Tytler, Esq. Volume VIII.
Tait, Edinburgh.
TRAVELS,
Greece Revisited, and Sketches in Lower Egypt in 1840. with Thirty-six Hours of a Campaign in Greece in 1825. By Edgar Garston, Knight of the R. M. Greek Order of the Saviour;Eze. In two volumes Saunders and Otley. Thornesenr,
Poems. By Robert Nicoll. Second edition, with numerous Additions, and a Me-
moir of the Author Tait, Edinburgh. FicrroX,
Tails Qualls, or Tales of the Jury-room. By Gerald Griffin, Esq., Author of " Gi-
sippuo," " The Collegians," &c. In three volumes. Maxwell sad Co.
HERALDRY,
The Heraldry of-Fish-Notices of the Principal Families bearing Fish in their Arms.
By Thomas Houle. Illustrated by engravings on wood Van Voorst.
TYTLER'S HISTORY OF SCOTLAND.
Tars eighth volume embraces a period of only fourteen years, from 1573 to 1587. The subjects it treats of are the distracted state of Scotland during the youth of JAMES the Sixth, arising from the ambition of the Regent MORTON, the lawless violence of the nobility, the moral weakness of the King, and the religious dissen- sions of the period—the intrigues of England and France, espe- cially of England, in order to obtain an ascendancy in the govern- ment of Scotland—the conspiracies against ELIZABETH, to which the detention of MARY Queen of Scots gave rise, with the trial and execution of that unfortunate but guilty person. The-public acts and the character of the actors of this period are all common enough ; they may be read in any history of Scot- land. But Mr. TITLES'S researches in the State Paper Office have enabled him to throw a strong light upon what DISRAELI would call the secret history of the period, by a perusal of the confi- dential instructions to the Ambassadors and the letters of the different agents employed. This is especially the case with the Babington conspiracy, which led to the trial and execution of MARY. The secret workings of WALSINGHAM, and the exten- sive system of espionage he adopted, till every letter to and from MARY was deciphered and copied by his agents and pe- rused by himself before it reached its destination—the fears of ELIZABETH, that prompted her to aim at private assassination, and the ready manner in which her Ministers lent themselves to the proposal, which was only foiled by the refusal of PAULET, the harsh and puritanical keeper of Maar—with many other points in connexion with her catastrophe—are evolved at length in the volume before us. At the same time, it may be questioned whether these original documents may not have led Mr. TYTLER into a style of composition which is somewhat too prolix and minute for history. A man who treats of a particular subject, part of which has fallen under his own observation, and respecting the whole of which he drew his information from living authori- ties—as CLARENDON'S history of the Rebellion or Sezzusz's of the Catiline Conspiracy—may properly' write with fulness, for each person and each event are to him an original and contemporary chapter. But the author who undertakes to narrate the story of a country, and must derive his materials from the dead letter, should confine himself tb leading events, and present the spirit of his authorities, not their details, though they happen to be curi- ous, or he has them in exclusive possession. There is little or nothing more remarkable in the fourteen years narrated in the present volume than in any other period of British history since the accession of the house of TuDos. ; yet if history were written at this rate, it would degenerate into a mass of printed paper, whose bulk would daunt the reader, though any part taken singly should be readable in itself,—which is the case with the volume before us. An historian, we hold, is entitled in his text to assume his own knowledge, his own logic, and his own honesty; he is to give the essence of the story, the characters of the persons, with the causes of events and the motives of the actors, as things on which his opinion is the right one to the extent that he gives it. Any rea- soning in support of his views, any evidence to prove them, any ex- hibition of interesting matter, or any narrative of a subordinate part on a fuller scale than his history permits, should appear as separate productions—as illustrations of history—in appendixes : and we think Mr. TITLES would have acted with better judgment had he given the results of his reading among the State Papers in his text, and the more interesting part of the papers in his notes. The step-by-step manner in which he traces the conspiracy of BABINGTON, (though clear, curious, and readable,) is rather the report of a case than an historical narrative. Nor after all is much added to our main knowledge, except that the public men of those days are proved to be greater rogues than was supposed. The palpable events in all cases show themselves ; secret motives and purposes are often pretty correctly surmised by contemporary observers ; and ample materials have long been before the public in the case of MARY. Very few have doubted that she was privy to the projected Spanish invasion ; indeed she admitted it on her trial. The question is, was she cognizant and approving of the plot to assassinate ELIZABETH ? This Mr. TYTLER leaves undecided. His facts point one way, his feelings urge him another. But such reasons as his feelings prompt him to adduce are worth little. MARY, says he, denied the knowledge on her trial; and only copies of her letters were produced, not the originals. The mere denial of an accused is certainly worth little, especially of an artful and unprincipled woman like the Queen of Scots ; nor is it pos- sible to read her defence on her trial without feeling that it is "too cunning by half"—that it is not based upon the truthful consist- ency of innocence, but is adapted to meet circumstances as they rise, shifting as her opponents adduce their facts and she learns how much they are in possession of. The original letters, it seems to us, could not have been produced, for the all-sufficient reason that they were not in existence. The manner in which WALSINGBANt and his agents conducted the business was this : the letters were brought to the decipherer, who copied and translated them; one GREGORY replaced the broken seals with such nicety that none could suspect the fracture ; they were then sent to their destina- tion ; and from various expressions it appears that they were to be burned as soon as they were read. So regularly was this done that no trace could be found among MARY'S papers of this correspondence even with regard to letters which she admitted ; and as the last letter was delivered to BenracToN with a view of getting an answer, it was utterly impossible to produce it, since it had doubtless, in their own phraseology, been "made a heretic of." Beyond the author's style of composition, and a fuller use of contemporary writers, the novelty of the work is derived from his new materials > and this novelty exhibits itself in two ways,—a more elaborate narrative of events, which sometimes rather flattens the story already told in a more artistical way by his great predecessors ; or a fuller exhibition of secondary matters, and a more striking picture of subordinate persons. Of this latter nature is the follow- ing sketch of RING LAMES AND THE MINISTERS OF THE KIRK.
This harsh attack upon his favourite justly and deeply offended the. King; and Lawson, the author of the calumny, having been commanded to appear at Court, he and a small company of his brother ministers repaired to Dunferm- line, and were carried into the presence-chamber. Here, owing to the recent changes, they found themselves surrounded with the strange faces of a new court. Soon after the King entered; and while they rose and made their obei- sance, James, to their astonishment, took not the slightest notice, but passing the throne, which all expected that he was to occupy, sat down familiarly upon a little coffer, and "eyed them all marvellously gravely, and they him, for the space of a quarter of an hour, none speaking a word ; to the admiration of all the beholders." The scene, intended to have been tragic and awful, was sin- gularly comic ; and this was increased when the Monarch, without uttering a syllable, jumped up from his coffer, and "gloaming" upon them, walked out of the room. It was now difficult to say what should be done. The ministers had come with a determination to remonstrate with their Sovereign against the recent changes; and he, it was evident, enraged at their late conduct, had re- solved to dismiss them unheard ; but while they debated in perplexity, he re- lented in the cabinet, to which he had retired, and called them in. Pont then said they had come to warn him against alterations. " I see none," quickly rejoined the King ; "but there were some this time twelvemonth, (alluding to his seizure at Ruthven,) where were your warnings then ? " ",Did we not admonish you at St. Johnston ? " answered Pont ; and were it not for our love to your Grace," interrupted Mr. David Ferguson, "could we not easily have found another place to have spoken our minds than here ? " This allusion to their licence in the pulpit made the King bite his lip ; and the storm was about to break out, when the same speaker threw oil upon the waters by casting in some merry speeches. His wit was of a homely and peculiar character. James, be said, ought to hear him, if any; for he had dcnutted the crown in his fa- vour. Was he not Ferguson, the son of Fergus, the first Scottish King? and bad he not cheerfully resigned his title to his Grace, as he was an honest man and had possession ? " Well," said James, "no other King in Europe would have borne at your hands what I have." " God forbid you should be like other European Kings!" was the reply ; "what are they but murderers of the saints ? ye have had another sort of upbringing : but beware whom you choose to be about you; for, helpless as ye were in your cradle, you are in deeper danger now?' "Iam a Catholic King," replied the Monarch, "and may choose my own advisers. The word Catholic was more than some of the minis- ters could digest, and would have led to an angry altercation, had not Fergu- son again adroitly allayed their excited feelings. " Yee, brethren," said he,turning to them, "he is a Catholic, that is a universal king ; and may choose his company as King David did, in the Hundred-and-first Psalm." This was a master-stroke; for the King had very recently translated this psalm into English metre, and Ferguson took occasion to commend his verses in the highest terms. They then again warned him against his present counsellors ; and one of the ministers, stooping down, had the boldness to whisper in his ear, that there was no great wisdom in keeping his father's murderers or their posterity so near his person. Their last words were stern and solemn. "Think not lightly, Sir,' said they, "of our commission ; and look well that your deeds agree with your promises, for we must damn sin in whoever it be found : nor is that face upon flesh that we may spare in case we find rebellion to our God, whose ambassadors we are. Disregard not our threatening ; for there was never one yet in this realm, in the place where your Grace is, who prospered after the ministers began to threaten him." At this the King was observed to smile, probably ironically ; but he said nothing; and as they took their leave, he laid his hand familiarly on each.
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