WORKS OF SIR WILLIAM STIRLING-MAXWELL.* THE last two volumes that
have lately appeared, and that complete the new edition of Sir William Stirling-Maxwell's works, are The Cloister-Life of the Emperor Charles E, and a volume of Miscellaneous Essays and Addresses, a collection of the smaller contributions which the author made to literature from time to time, and the addresses that he delivered before the three Scotch Universities of which he was respectively Chancellor and Rector. Both of these volumes, as in the case of the four that have already been published, show ample signs of the care and good taste that have been spent upon their reproduction, and the whole edition not only reflects great credit upon its publishers, but might even have satisfied Sir William Stirling-Maxwell himself, who was wont to lavish almost as much thought upon the outward appearance of his works as upon their contents. The volume that deals with the cloister-life of the Emperor Charles V. is too well known, and has been too frequently reviewed already, to need much comment now. It is perhaps the best known and the most popular of Sir William's writings, and, moreover, fully deserved the favour with which it was received. The story of the abdication and retirement of Charles V. at the height of his power, and almost in the prime of his life, is one that might well interest the world, and it is one that loses nothing in the telling of Sir William Maxwell. He certainly possessed the rare gift of seeing distant events in their proper pro- portion, and of getting his readers to see them with his eyes. As a historian, he was infinitely painstaking in collecting and sifting evidence ; and as an author, he was most successful in putting the results of his investigations into a readable form. In his hands, the character of Charles V. becomes almost a reasonable and probable one, and his abdication and subsequent life, so far from being one of the most curious anomalies in the history of the world, seem to be the only logical and rational course that the great Sovereign could have pursued. It is fairly evident that his retirement into the cloister had but little effect upon the political events of Europe. It is within the bounds of possibility that, bad he still remained at the head of affairs, we might not have lost • Hiscellansous Essays and Addresses, By Sir William 8tirling•Maxwell, Bart. London; John C, Nimmo.
. Calais as we did ; but it cannot well be supposed that either
• that loss or the other blows that were dealt to Spain during the short interval that elapsed between the abdication and his death were really due to the change of ruler, especially as both his son, Philip II., and his daughter, the Regent Juana, still looked to him for advice and direction from his monastic retreat at Yuste. Sir William Stirling-Maxwell draws an entertaining picture of that monastic life, and of those who shared it. The bluff and honest Don Luis Quixada, old soldier and perfect hidalgo of Old Castile, who acted as major-domo, and vainly tried to stand between his Royal master and his besetting sin of gormandising; William Van Male, the Flemish scholar, who turned the Emperor's prayers into the best and most elegant Latin, enabling him to pray in a more polished fashion, and whose unwelcome task it was to read and sing with the sleepless recluse at the most unseasonable hours of the night; the many visitors, royal, official, and clerical, who came to pay their court; and the monks of the monastery themselves, with their perpetual gossip and quarrels,—all are brought before the reader's eyes with a most real and lifelike effect. We should add that this edition is exceedingly well illustrated with numerous woodcuts and coloured reproductions of water-colour drawings.
The sixth volume opens with an essay upon the proverbial philosophy of Scotland. The author is not satisfied with Lord John Russell's definition of a proverb as "the wisdom of many, and the wit of one," and suggests another, rather more cumbrous, "the thought of many, spoken by one and echoed by all." Possibly that definition is nearer the mark, for the wit and wisdom of a good many proverbs are rather far to seek. Nor, in that matter, were the Scotch proverbs much better than those of other nations, judging from some of the specimens quoted. Of more interest are the short bio- graphical notices of William Prescott the historian, of Richard Ford, and of Sir Robert Strange. The account of Prescott is written in a spirit of the fullest sym- pathy with the man, and with a very fine appreciation of the author and historian. Richard Ford, whose name is so well known in connection with Spain, was also a man after Sir William's own heart, and perhaps the rather too enthu- siastic notice that he gives of Ford's writings may be traced to a strong similarity of tastes and feelings. Best of all is the short Life of Sir Robert Strange, the first great English engraver, of whose wife, as fierce a Jacobite as himself, some excellent stories are told. The essay on the Dukes of Urbino is rather a review of Mr. Dennistoun's book on the same sub- ject. Sir William Maxwell is somewhat too contemptuous with regard to the incessant condottiere warfare that made up the his- tory of Italy in those days. The Italian sword was not always a leaden blade in a golden sheath, and not only was some of the fighting attended with considerable slaughter, but many of the finest soldiers of the day first learnt the art of war in that school. On the subject of Spanish bull-fights, the author, like most Englishmen who have witnessed that barbarous sport, is tempted to urge extenuating circumstances ; and though he evidently does not wish to deny or palliate the brutality and cruelty of the whole proceeding, he draws a comparison between it and the field-sports of England which is far from favourable to the latter. However much a foreigner may hate the callous indifference to suffering that underlies the national sport of Spain, he is generally carried away by the excitement and brilliance of the scene, and betrayed into displaying a warm interest of which in his cooler moments he is heartily ashamed. But that is hardly a reason for feeling any obligation to defend it. An essay on some
varieties of historical style is illustrated by the accounts of four historians of their own times, Bernal Diaz, John Knox, Parata the Venetian, and Auguste de Thou. Those of John Knox and Bernal Diaz are extremely interesting and appre- ciative. It is curious that the great charm of both those historians, and one that Sir William Stirling-Maxwell was quick to recognise, is also one that was almost entirely lacking in himself. Both in the case of the rough soldier of fortune, and the equally rude and rough divine, the style was the man himself, and their strong individualities were as strongly stamped upon every line that they wrote. Sir William's own style is perfectly correct, polished, dispassionate, and scholarly, and at the same time perfectly colourless, and therefore rather fiat.
His addresses as Rector of Edinburgh and Chancellor of Glasgow are not particularly striking, but are characterised by much good sense and a keen love of literature. Taken altogether, one may say of his works that they possessed all the virtues of dilettantism, together with a good many of the faults. He never seemed to be quite sure of his effects, and doubting his own sleight-of-hand, he considered and polished until the thought that he wished to express was nearly rubbed out altogether. Both in art and literature he was essentially the amateur; he loved them dearly, but his respect for them was even greater than his love,—too great to allow him to ever get on familiar terms with them.
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