DR, VAUGHAN ' S HISTORIC OF ENGLAND UNDER

THE STUARTS.

DR. Vitt:must has justly observed in his preface, that " the con- elition of England under the House of Stuart exhibits that point in our progress as a nation, toward which all the previous changes in English history converged, and from which the leading events of subsequent times have derived their complexion." The entire period from the accession of JAMES the First to the expulsion of his grandson JAMES the Second was one of transition. A state of freedom, well enough defined by law, and deeply-rooted its the minds of the people, but liable to encroachments or arbitrary interferences from the rude condition of society which rendered the "exercise of a vigour beyond the law" by the Executive +necessary to the protection of the weak from the lawlessness of the strong, was at last succeeded by a regular system, not merely defined by express laws, but protected by various safeguards, the best of which was the growing intelligence and power of the people. Under the old state of things, the evil to be dreaded was the irregular violence of the Crown and its Ministers ; under the new system, the danger was much less from them than front the classes upon whose power their influence rested. Under the first, the arbitrary conduct, and sometimes the cruelty of men, were the things to be feared ; under the second, the grinding operation of laws was likely to be the predominating evil. The power of kings and ministers falls more upon individuals, and, being frequently embodied in some striking form, comes home to every mind : that of class government operates upon large bodies of men, and, silently and slowly degrading them, finds at last in the evils it induces an argument for the continuance of its wrongdoing. In religion, for example, the burnings of Smithfield VMS a cruelty which every one could apprehend; but the Test Acts and the penal enact- ments against the Catholics were too abstract to impress the public mind sufficiently to effect their repeal in less time than a century and a half. In politics, the resistance of' II/implies; to the King's demand for ship-money, was an embodied • nobleness which at- tracted the immediate admiration and respect even of opponents ; but the exclusion of a large class of men from the right of voting, with the neglect of their interests which that exclusion implies, is an evil lost in a hazy generality. From the squabbles of JAMES the First with his Parliament, till the crown was fixed upon the head of WILLIAM of Orange, nearly a century elapsed; and the length of time which the struggle occu- pied may be regarded as a type of the vital strength of the con- ' stitution, and is pregnant with a lesson to rulers. When RICHE- LIEU commenced and Louts the Fourteenth destroyed the power of the French nobility and of the burghers, they fancied they were aggrandizing the crown and securing the stability of the govern- ment. The day of trial came, and in a few years, and with scarcely a struggle, the monarch and his family perished ; the nobility were hunted like beasts, those who escaped with their lives being for ever deprived of their possessions ; whilst proscrip- tions reduced society to such a dead level, that government in France seems altogether dependent upon the capacity of its ruler. In England, where the rights of the different orders of society were left untouched, and their powers only affected by the gradual progress of things, the contest was conducted with far more of pru- dence and of a moral sense of an opponent's claims. It took nearly fifty years to effect the first revolution, which ended in the execu- tion of CHARLES; whereas five years sufficed to overturn the vaunted structure of RICHELIEU and Louis. On the Restoration, the fabric

of English society was unchanged: Royalists might have become

poor and Commonwealth men rich, but the different classes and degrees of Englishmen were all existing. On the restoration of the BouitnoNs, every thing was to seek : representatives, classes, cor- porate bodies—all that eontributes to form government, legislature, Institutions, and society—was only existent on paper ; the French people had little more varieties than what must always be produced in large numbers by the different pursuits of men. From the' English

Restoration to the Revolution, was a period of' nearly thirty years, distinguished by continued contests between the Court and the Country : when resistance was at last determined on, an appeal was made by various orders of men to the next person in succession ; an army was put in motion ; and the change was made slowly, consider- ately, and by compromise of opinion. In the Revolution of the Bar- ricades, a riot took place in the streets of the capital, and a dynasty was overturned : but the facility with which the deed was done ex- hibited time weakness of the government for purposes of rule as well as fbr purposes of tyranny ; nor can that constitution be of' a very stable or well-secured kind, which can be shaken by the ordinance of a feeble-minded old king, and find no other protection than the success of a mob.

If' from the difference of political effects in England and France we turn to difference of conduct, we shall have Still greater cause for national pride. The bloody massacres of the French Revolu-

tion, and the cruelties perpetrated by individuals when society was too disorganized for authority to act, are obvious features on which it is needless to dwell. lint there is a less palpable though cha- racteristic difference between the civil wars of England and the comtnotions of other nations, which shows itself in the respect that was paid to the rights of an opponent both as a man and an Englishman. The Revolution of France, the civil contests of Spain, and foreign disputes in America, exhibit these nations as virtually assuming that the laws of justice and motality are suspended in their litvour, and that with them the cause justifies the MIMS. In England, individual atrocities might occasionally be committed, as there will be in all wars : but throughout the contest, the broad principles of' national and natural equity were never obliterated ; the laws were administered amid the clash of arms; and partisans, even under the excitement of failure and despair, scrupulously refrained from those lawless outrages which even now seem to be things of course in foreign countries. When Sir JOSEM WAGSTAFF, exasperated by his ill SUCCCS3 during the Protectorate, seized two judges at Salisbury, and ordered them to be hanged in the marketsplace, Isis own followers were so shocked at the order that they obliged him to release the judges and return them to their lodgings. Compare this and runny similar proceedings with the massacres during the French Revolution, the late nmrders in Spain, and even the violence and outrage in America for mere differences of opinion. This sense of Englishmen's rights, or of a " judgment according to law," existed in minds totally destitute of all idea of morality, and was one great difficulty which the STUARTS encountered in finding tools for their tyranny who would " go the whole hog." When JoNns, who had seemed sufficiently unscrupulous as a Crown lawyer, was raised to the bench, he denied the dispensing power of the Crown. JAMES the Second dims placed him in anger, telling him that he would find twelve lawyers to acknowledge his prerogative. " Twelve judges, Sire," was the reply of JONES, " but not twelve lawyers." In stating that the history of the STUARTS, " if well understood, leaves little to be explained in relation either to the past or the present," Dr. VAUGHAN makes an assertion which requires so many explanations and limitations before it can be assented to, that its truth may reasonably be denied. But there is no question that " the interval from 1603 to 1688 was marked by the appear- ance of great men and great events." The debates during the reigns of' JAMES and CIIARLES the First exhibit a degree of elo- quence, a civil courage, and a determined perseverance in despite of threats and blandishments of power, which is without an example in history, and is only approached by the earlier contests of the plebeians and patricians at Rome. The trials of STRAFFORD and of CHARLES the First are unparalleled ; time one for its display of in- tellect and character, the other for the originality and moral daring of the act. The military exploits of BLAKE on sea and CROMWELL on land—time spirit with which he upheld the character of the country abroad, in despite of the difficulties that beset him at home—the vigour, sagacity, and skill with which he carried on his ins ternal government, and the little bloodshed or oppression which he exercised—exhibit him not only as the "sagest of usurpers," bat the most merciful. The age of CHARLES and JAMES the Second was an age of smaller men; where dexterity served instead of strength, and intrigue or management was the substitute for comprehensive sagacity : but of their kind they are sui generis ; and as the drama hurries to its close, it exhibits some scenes of striking effect—as in the trial of the Bishops ; and amid the mixed motives and ques- tionable morality of • the actors who brought about the catastro- phe, it is interesting to note how the national character, in- grained in their minds, compelled them to establish time Revolution and its principles almost in personal despite. It is also well remarked by Dr. VAUGHAN, that the disgust of' the reader at the profligacy and corruption of CnAnsEs the Second and his courtiers, may be diminished by tracing out their uses. So great was the feeling of loyal joy on the Restoration, that had Cotes's; pos- sessed the private virtues and grave decorum of his father, it is possible that his father's arbitrary maxims of government might have been established, lint had he been a sovereign with the sagacity and caution of IIENEy the Seventh, there was great risk that a Grand Monarque might have reigned in England as well as in France.

Such are some of the general points of the period which Dr. VAuonAm has undertaken to describe, in a work of great industry, fulness, and impartiality. Its moderation of tone and impartiality of judgment arc indeed its most obvious merits, as they are merits of the rarest kind. We do not mean that Dr. VAuctiAs has no political opinions to bias him, or that his conclusions are always indisputable, but that he brings a penetrating perception and judge- like mind to the consideration of every person or event, and that his narrative taken altogether is the justest account of the period that has appeared. Its literary merit is also greats, especially in the record of civil and ecclesiastical matters, to which Dr. VAUGHAN chiefly confines himself. Ile has read his authorities with attention, and skilffilly seized those prominent points which gave their character to actions ; his style is always clear and vigorous, aud sometimes his nar- rative rises to eloquence. The rtillieSti, however, with which he felt called upon to treat his subject, may render parts rather tiresome to general readers. The habit of the lecturer and the preacher is sometimes visible, in a commentary rather than alter- naive ; and those who are fluniliar with the original authorities, will think that sometimes the pith of' the matter might be more distinctly and briefly told ; the author assuming the reader to be as well acquainted with the facts as himself, and to require a judgment, not a statement. An example of what we mean will be found in his discussion upon the settlement of property after the Restora- tion. It was eventually determined that conveyances made by private persons could not be opened up, but that those made by public authority were invalid : hence the Crown and Church pro- perty was nearly all restored to its original owners ; but the Ca- valiers who had, no matter under what pressure of circumstances, sacrificed their estates by their own "Lièt and deed," (as the legal phraseology expresses it,) lost their property. The subject is dis- cussed by Dr. VAUGHAN throughout nearly two of his ample pages; and he decides that the course adopted wap perhaps the best that could have been chosen ; but the reader will not learn from him what that course was.

One of the most successful parts of Dr. VAUGHAN'S undertaking is his drawing of characters. CHARLES the Second has often sat to historical portrait-painters ; but we question whether he has ever been more truly limited than in the elaborate portrait of this author.

CHARACTER OP CHARLES THE SECOND.

Charles was now in his thirtieth year ; and it soon became manifest that his character was of such a complexion, and so thoroughly formed, as to afford small promise of the felicity so generally expected from his accession to the throne of his ancestors. In consequence of the unsettled circumstances aids early life, his education had been imperfectly conducted ; and he never disco- vered the slightest disposition to supisly its deficiencies by study or reading. But his judgment was naturally good, his manners were pleasing, and his ap- pearance, on the whole, dignified and agreeable. An intimate acquaintance with all the varieties of life, which he had acquired during, his exile, enabled hint to adapt his notices of persons to their particular tastes or condition, with so much felicity as to fascinate all who approached him. But the individuals in whom this mode of address served to raise much hope, 1verc not long in disco- vering that the same apparently marked tone of recognition Inul been conferred. on multitudes besides ; and expectation being followed by disappointment, ad- miration of his Majesty's condescension and cordiality soon gave place to dis- trust °Ibis sincerity. It must be added also, that the suspicion in this case proved, in the issue, to be much more justifiable than the confidence which preceded it. The duplicity of Charles the Second, indulged with less necessity than in the ease of his father, and with more discernment than in the ease of his grandfather, was deeply fixed, and habitual; thougba it should be remarked, that it was not accompanied in Isis instance with the aggravation of high religious pretension. 'With regard to religion, the new Monarch, so for as he may be said to have had any formed opinion on the subject, was a Catholic; partly, we may believe, from a disgust of Protestantism as it had been forced upon him while in Scotland, but principally from the greater convenience of the rival creed to one so impatient of thought and so completely governed by a

love of ease and ass appetite for pleasure. On that subject, as well as on every other, his conclusions were the result of temperament and circumstances, its-

fluenced in some degree by a faculty of observation, which was restless and acute rather than disciplined or comprehensive. In politics, it was his fixed sentiment that the king whose ministers are liable to be controlled and impeached by a par- liament, ean be such in name only. The government, accordingly, to which

he would have had all others conformed, was the splendid and luxurious des- potism exhibited at that time in France: and it is well known that his fre-

quent observation in favour of the Catholic religion was, that no other system tended so certainly to secure an unreserved obedience to the priest, and, as the consequence, an absolute subjection to the magistrate. But the setting-up of such a government in England, if at all possible, was an object which no prince

could Imes realized except by means of severe and protracted self-denial, aided

by the highest order of talent. Charles, accordingly, was content to govern, in the main, constitutionally, not that he preferred it, but that it was the

course which imposed the least trouble. Business, or exertion of any kind

apart front his pleasures, was his abhorrence. Few things were more agree- able to hint than to saunter front place to place, without any apparent object. He was an almost incessant talker, and exceedingly fond of anecdotes, which he drew with ease from a tenacious memory, and relat ;al with effect. In this last propensity he indulged, influenced by early association, with more fre- quency than became a King ; and sometimes wills " broad allnsi ma," which shocked the little sense of decency retained among the persons generally about hint. In the spirit of the Epicurean sect, he regulated exercise and the pleasures of the table-With a view to other pleasures ; but in his choke of mistresses, in Ids conduct toward them, and in the manner in which he suffered them to conduct ttiemaelves toward him, we have the picture of mere sexual alt och-

ment, with scarcely the least indication of those sentiments which often confer

upon it a speries of grace and dignity even in Fuels connexions. Ilia favourite women were known to be no mums faithful to him than he was to them ; and so insensible did he become, through lung habit, to the value of an appa- rent regard to propriety in suds matters, that he could leave the apartments of his mistresses to kneel at the altar, and was in no way dad urbed by its being known Butt persons who obtained Isis favour were gen7sralle indebted for it to the influeece of females who stood in such relationship to him. It may. we think, be safely affirmed, that Charles the Second had no faith in the ellai4ity of women, or in virtue of any kind among men. Human nature was, in his

view, a mass of selfishness. all1

wao were ahent him were believed to he go. verned by laelings of that 'Wore, varaing, much, it mussy la., in their modiaea- tions, but alike in their substance. {lows he Lever Veit the weight of an olsli- gation, and was scarcely susceptible of gratitude. The vie,: of his career in this country lug ms with the first night of Isis arrival in its capital; and nearly all writers agree with Bishop Burnet in speaking of " the mad range of pleasure" to which he abandoned himself immediately on his accession, as the main cause of those embarrassments and ffisgract a Which attended him to the close of his reign. We sometimes hear indeed of the " good nature" nr th;s. :Monarch ; but we suspect that his clemency toward his enemies often proe,c.led from the same cause wills his neelect of Isis friends—a conseiousne,s that to ',tussle a diffirent course would require forethought, aml oecashm necessity for exertion. The nuns Whose great enneorn is to di ell tit ease, Will accilst of peace on almost any terms. Charles was too shrewd it person not to know that it is wise to conciliate enemies, whet :int are not prepared to intim the espenditure of time and effort taxi ssary to watch their movements and ti provide against them. As some extenuation of Isis degrading views concerniug human nature, and of the Intuit of' life to which he surremlered himself, we are required to lsi:av in mind his experience of the selfishness of mankind during his exile, and the peculiar dreuntstances of Isis situation :it the Restoration, when he Iseeame the object du) muils interested adulation on the one hand, and the witness of so much low craving and contention between rival parties on the other. But it is sushi not ha' difficult to show that the picture hick thus paased before the view of this Monarch, both during Isis exile and after his restotation, WaS 110t 100V0 re- Makable Its disclosing the less honourable points of human nature, than mis de- Inonstrating its susceptibility id' the highest sentiments both of virtue and. reli- gam. The better elutes of his admirers had manifestly concluded that the discipliue of his early days most have taught him wisdom ; and their bitter dieappoiutmeot was, in flushing a polibLed, clever, light-hearted sensualist, and a mocker at all pretension to piety or principle, in the place of the devout, in- telligent, and magnanimous Prince who had been present to the eye of their fond imagination. In short, unless we elevate the politeness and the facility of temper which distinguished this " great king and dread sovereign," into the rank of virtues, the only quality of that nature we can attribute to bins was his affection for his children and for others related to him by the tics of blood. We hesitate to speak of his kindness toward his mistresses as entitled to such a designation ; though, as evinced by him in his solicitude for their future comfort on his deathbed, it must he regarded as having some comics:lea with gratitude and disinterestedness.

SHAFTESBERY AS CHANCELLOR.

On the character of Shaftesbury as Lord Chancellor, it may be proper to observe, in this place, that no man, since priests and courtiers ceased to be

Chancellors, had held that office with less of the peculiar qualifications neces- sary to a discharge of its duties. He began his career with a disregard of pre. cedent or usage, anxious only to get at the substantial justice of each case. But finding that there were technical principles which better served to administer justice, his extraordinary abilities soon made him conform to these, and he ended in becoming the most steady follower of prior decisions. When he passed in procession to 'Westminster, on the first day of term, he chose to proceed on horseback, and not in a carriage, to the great annoyance of the pro- fessional persons who were obliged by courtesy to conform to his eccentricity in that particular. Mr. Justice Twisden, one of the Judges, was thrown from his horse, and resumed his place in the train covered with the dirt into which he had fallen. Even upon the bench Shaftesbury betrayed the usual mixture of shrewdness and folly. its made his appearance in Court in a dress more becoming a gallant in a ball-room, than a person at the head of a learned pro- fession. He wore an ash-coloured gown, bedecked with silver lace, and pantaloons ornamented with a display of ribbons. But these particulars, col- lected by the gossiping biographer of Lord Keeper Guildford, are immaterial to the question of Shaftesbury's merit. It may be doubted if any other unpro- fessional man could have performed the truly extraordinary task of giving general satisfaction for a considerable time to tile suitors of that court. The unsuspected testimony of his implacable enemy is well known. Dryden admita, in the famous satire of which Lord Shaftesbury is the hero, that Ilia canduct on the bench was upright and pure in a corrupt age; and that he possesand some of the greatest qualities of a judge ; and the house of Lords has recently had reason to admire his great quickness and sagacity in rightly decaling a very difficult question, on which the authoritiea had at one time been eontlieting ; butt, before he set them right, the Judges immediately preeeding him had Men into a great mistake of the law.

As specimens of Dr. VAUGHAN's narrative style, we will take two passages.

THE CLOSE or TI1E arum: Or TI1E BISHOPS. The trial commenced at nine o'clock in the morning, and lasted until seven in the evessing. The Jury then retired to consider of their verdict. Some hours pass,d, and they did not return. At midnight, and at three o'clock, per- sons who stood in anxious suspense steer the door of the retiring-roam heard them in loud debate. This delay was occasioned by the opposition of a man named Arnold, who was brewer to the King's household. His obstinacy how- ever, use at length sstbdued by the firmness of the rest, and at six o'clock in the morning the Judges were apprised that the Jury were agreed. At nine o'clock the Court assembled; the benches were covered with the nobility and gentry ; the people crowded every avenue, filling, in immense concourse, the great hall adjoining, aud pressing in multitudes towards its entrance from the public streets. The foreman of the Jury, Sir Hobert Langley, on the question being put whether the accused were guilty or not guilty, pronounced the verdict—not guilty. These worda were no sooner littered, than the deep silence of the Court was followed by a loud shout of triumph, in which pens :.os of every rank seemed to joist to the utmost ; the verdict was echoed from the Court within to the adjoining ball, and fled with rapidity from man to Irian in the streets beyond. The aeclamation frost) the populace was descril:esi at the time as a yea) rebellion in noise," and compared to a falling of the massy and wide-spreail roof of the structure from which it proc sided. Iut a less minutes the news and shouting reached to the Temple, and in no long time spread to the 'loyal camp at Hounslow, ten miles distance. James, on heazing the acclamations of the soldiery, inquired what it meant ; and being told by reversham that it seas nothing but the sawn shouting because new..? come that the Bishops were acquitted, his countenance instantly fell, as:ii in the confi,sion of his thoughts and emotions, he replied " Call yoa tl-•st not Lissg ? but la eer mind, it will be so much the worse fos them." When t1.2 .1sir.e 'aft the Court they were hailed a. :tit the isms: entlaisiass:c 5. as the. defenders of Protestantism and the ildiverers of their coantry ; wl•S"e upon 13isInsp Cad iv rigli t, and W 11111ns tlee So: Ci eneral, the en sed In aped every explession of reproach and derision. In the City, all business n as sus- pended tor some hours, and men seesmd to exist bat to congrat..late each other with tears or delight on what had happened. la the evening the hells , Were ruug, and bonfires kindled in all parts of the metropolis. Heaose the ' windows of the Royal palace the Pops' was burnt hi effigy. and the ts,a-t every- ' where went round—Ilealth to the Bishops and the Jure and cee.fasioa to Cho Pephats. The principal loss-us through the country vied with C,e caatal in these ,..xpressions of feeling ; tise proudest Churchmen and es....ry suse of Disseisters seemed to be of one mind ; and the parties who had ii (us' most , towards urging the King, to prosecute Isis obnoxious measures, Isegais to express their utter disspair of seeing a people whOSe Is :rosy partook of S.3 M:leh " sancour and malignity " ever brought within the fold of the Church.

PROTESTANTISM IN THE ARMY AND NAVY.

! During the short interval since his accession, James had severed hinss, lf the Church of Elsglasul and from the P.:is:est ant Nonconformists. II. remaining dependence was on the Navy and .1.rsny. both of wide!, 1 s given alanning inslicatioas of participation in the popular feeling. T .:e 5- slots of several monks asel Catholic priests into the fleet at the N ere, e stroll, signs of insubordination among tile seamen. which even and ;liabilities of the King did not sittlii:e to allay lust lithe ''• were ordered sits shore, lint the A.rnis WaS regarded by the • ' grand instrument. Ile Isa,1 taken great pains to place it in stash lest Seel:re it to Isis service, and he sometimes boasted of t:,." Catholic to be found in that body. not only :1111027, Ihe . ' rooks. The Royal condescension displaa ed. at thc'Nore was it ellailesi in the camp at Houuslow. At lengths. to pla•se the :id, • great stay of his power beyond doubt. James ventured to issee required both officers and men to pledge their :issistanee for i.:

these strangers were to be incorporated with each company, but the five Captains and the Lieutenant-Colonel openly refused to receive them; these officers were summoned to Windsor and cashiered, but with such manifest reluctant'', and trepidation, as rendered the proceeding a display of the weak- ness more than of the strength of the Government.