MISS COSTELLO'S MEMOIRS OF MARY DUCHESS OF BURGUNDY. * THE life

of Mary Duchess of Burgundy, the young daughter of Charles le Temeraire, occupies but a very small space in this vo- lume, and when the heroine is introduced the events connected with her fortunes are rather historical than biographical. This substitution of the times for the life would have been of little consequence bad Miss Costello been equal to her true subject, which is the life of Charles of Burgundy, or rather of the history of Western Europe—France, Flanders, and Austria—during his reign. The leading persons were remarkable, the times well worthy of depiction, and the epoch was a turning-point in the his- tory of Europe. In addition to the usual chroniclers of the middle ages, who require to be read with much critical caution, on ac- count of their habit of dramatizing and of infusing their own no- tions into their narrative of facts, the period has occupied the pens of more than one memoir-writer who was a man of the world, en- gaged in the affairs, and acquainted with the persons he describe d,— as the celebrated Philip de Comines.

The Duke of Burgundy, though not the last, was by far the greatest of those feudal princes who so often beardcd their sove- reigns in the middle ages, especially the Kings of France. The possession of Flanders in addition to his French provinces gave him a greater power over that indispensable article to the ambitious, ready money, than any ruler on this side the Alps could attain. Had his policy been equal to his means, or had he not been op- posed by that master of statecraft Louis the Eleventh of France, the territorial character of Europe might have been changed. But his vanity rendered him a dupe to the flatteries of Louis ; his rashness and headstrong passion, which appear at last to have ap- proached madness, prevented him from steadily carrying out any great system of policy, if he could have formed one, and drove him recklessly upon those Swiss wars which ended in his disgrace, his ruin, and his death. Instead of increasing his power by the dismemberment of the French monarchy, or perhaps of mounting the throne with the Rhine for the boundary of his empire, he perished in a contest his pride and passion provoked, and enabled his politic rival to consolidate the power of France at the expense of the hereditary estates of Burgundy. More curious than historical persons and events, though not perhaps so easily delineated from the paucity of trustworthy author- ities, are the commercial and artistical characteristics of Flanders— using art in the larger sense of its applicability to the purposes of comfort and domestic life. In manufactures, active commerce, mercantile marine, and a general diffusion of money competence, the cities of Flanders. equalled those of Italy, in some things sur- passed then. They may perhaps be said to have originated the house in contradistinction to the hovel and the mansion ; for it is very questionable whether a decent domicile for a family with moderate means was known to antiquity or to other countries than Flanders before the sixteenth century. In like manner, the Flem- ings were among the originators of the furniture which formed a mean between the stately magnificence of the palace and the almost savage bareness of the yeoman elsewhere. Combined with this wealth and these signs of advancing civilization, was an alleged ignorance of political matters, which if true naturally exposed them to the contempt of nobles and princes ; with a mutinous and insurrectionary spirit, rarely the concomitant of trade in modern times. The rashness which is attributed to democracy, and the impatience of a trading community to anything that checked business, were fully displayed by the citizens of Flanders. Con- nected with the subject by the three battles which destroyed the Duke of Burgundy, is the rise of the Swiss, whom their conquest of that prince first made formidable. If Miss Costello has seen these capabilities of her subject, she has not displayed them in her work. The Memoirs of Mary Duchess of Burgundy and her Contemporaries is a careful and clever but not a very critical compilation, from authorities who are all placed pretty much upon the same level, while the subjects of which they treat are looked at with a feminine eye. Politics and politicians are not disregarded, but they are subordinate to a procession with rich dresses and other external matters. If the

• Memoirs of Mary, the Young Duchess of Burgundy, and her Contemporaries. By Louisa Stuart Costello, Author of "A Sunnier amongst the Bocages and the Ymes," &c. Published by Bentley.

battle of Granson, the first failure of Charles the Rash, and the first proof of the strength of the Swiss infantry on a large scale, is not very clearly told, there is a most elaborate account of the rich plunder which the victors got possession of. The critical state

of Europe, and its singular condition in the very midst of a transition from mediceval to modern life, are not philosophically apprehended ; but there is no want of apocryphal discourses or sentiments elegantly fanciful upon the actions and the actors.

The character of Burgundy, at all times remarkable from the strength of his feelings, his affections, or his passions, partook towards its close of that tragic fitfulness and gloom, alternately reckless and desponding, which seems to accompany the approach- ing downfall of greatness, from the Macbeth of poetry to the Na- poleon of history. His temper, always violent, became ungovern- able ; his self-will turned to contemptuous obstinacy, regardless of advice. His iron temperament and dauntless courage, unsub- dued by illness or misfortune, attended him to the last ; and pro- bably, in his despair, he sought death as a refuge from disgrace and self-tormenting thoughts, reckless of the condition in which he was leaving his states and his daughter. He fell at Nancy; the siege of which he persisted in continuing, before a young rival, Rene of Lorraine, whom the Swiss assisted with an army. The style of Miss Costello in her narrative of the Duke's death cannot be praised ; the facts regarding the discovery of his body are interesting.

" The pursuit was terrible, and the dreadful slaughter complete. " Where was the Duke of Burgundy ? Who had last seen him ? Who knew the route be had taken ? Who bad marked his fall ?

" No one could reply ; and Duke Rene asked these questions eagerly in vain, as he rode triumphantly into rescued Nancy, which the starving in- habitants had illuminated in his honour, crying out his name, and welcoming him as their deliverer.

"A strange sight met his eyes as he rode through the streets—a singular adornment to a fete, but one too well suited to the circumstances. The in- habitants, to prove to him how much they had endured during the siege, had ranged in rows before the door of the house appropriated to the Duke, the skeleton heads of all the horses, mules, dogs, cats, and other animals, on which they had been obliged to subsist during the siege. "Prisoner after prisoner was brought in from the bloody field, and it was soon found that almost every noble and man of note in Burgundy and Flanders was amongst the victims ; but the question was still asked, Where is Duke Charles?' and still remained unanswered.

"Some said he had been heard to cry out, when be saw the rout of his army, To Luxembourg! ' others that he had fallen in the hottest of the fray, struck down by the stroke of a halbert, and that the Sire de Cite had raised him up and replaced him in the stirrups ; that then he had rushed again like a lion into the midst of the fight—but his course could be traced no further.

"It was night when the battle finished, and none could tell his fate, although every one had something to report relative to him. One person had seen him fly towards Luxembourg, and for a time it was believed that he had thrown himself into a strong castle there; others had seen him taken prisoner by a German knight, and asserted that he was held in some un- known fortress on the other side of the Rhine.

"But no one would credit his reported death ; and the general exclamation was, 'Beware what you do ! best act as if he was still living ; for should he return in anger, his vengeance will be terrible." " Campo Basso, however, could probably have cleared up all doubts at once, as none had such good reasons for knowing what was become of the unfortunate prince. Ile allowed conjecture to reach its height, and then brought before Duke Rene a young page of a noble Roman family, Jean Bap- tiste Colonna, who, it was said, had seen his master fall, and would be able to find in what part of the field his body might be. "About three bow-shots from the town lay the small lake of St. Jean, fed by a little stream, half buried in the bank of which, near a chapel dedicated to St. Jean de l'Atre, were discovered about twelve bodies.

"A poor woman who had acted as washerwoman to the Duke was busy amongst the dead, seeking for the corpse of Charles, as others were doing all over the field, when suddenly she observed the light strike on a brilliant ring which adorned the hand of one of the mutilated warriors. She turned the corpse over as it lay on its face, and uttered a cry, Ah, it is my lord !' "Those who were searching hurried to the spot, and from the ice which encrusted the livid form they disengaged it, and looked with horror on the spectacle it presented. Already the wolves and dogs had begun to make their meal of what was once so noble and so high. Part of the face was gone, and a large and deep wound across the head had so disfigured the fea- tures that they could not be recognized.

"But there were those summoned of the Duke's household who could not doubt that what they looked upon were the poor remains of the hero they had served ; and certain marks about his body were equally convincing, with the ring he wore, and which was recognized by all.

"They washed the body with warm water and wine ; and, in spite of the numerous wounds which covered it, there was now no difficulty, it appeared, in identifying it with that of Charles the Bold; and four gentlemen, taking

it on slitter on their shoulders, bore it into the town of Nancy. Alas ! how different an entry from that the proud Duke had anticipated !

"They placed the body at first in a tent of black satin on velvet, and clothed him in white with a crimson satin mantle; a ducal coronet enriched with jewels bound his defaced brow ; his golden spurs and scarlet robes adorned him ; and the young Duke of Lorraine came to throw holy water on his body, saying, in a mournful voice, 'Ah, dear cousin, may God have mercy on your soul ! you have caused us many evils and misfortunes.'

"So saying, he kissed his hand, and remained for some time kneeling in prayer at his feet."

His daughter Mary had been used by the Duke during his life as a card with which to amuse suitors while he played his politi- cal game ; for, notwithstanding his wilfulness, he was by no means above duplicity. Among others to whom Mary was betrothed, was Maximilian afterwards Emperor of Germany ; and, in spite of the intrigues of Louis, who wished to obtain her territories by en- gaging her to the Dauphin, the match took place, under circum- stances partaking of romance. The Duchess was killed by a fall from her horse, in 1482, the twenty-fifth year of her age. Flan- ders, however, descended to her children ; and in the person of her grandson, Charles the Fifth, the glory of her race was carried to its highest pitch, and a more powerful enemy than her father raised up against France notwithstanding the loss of Burgundy.