BOOKS.,

MOTLEY'S 1TNITEH NETHERLANDS.. MOTLEY'S 1TNITEH NETHERLANDS..

AMONG the historians of the age, Dr. Motley °maples a distin- guished and permanent position. Extensive and minute research, unwearied diligence, moral and artistic sympathy, vigorous pre-

sentment and picturesque language, give such a value and inte-

rest to his historical elaborations, as we recognize only in the works of the most eminent writers of national biography. The reputation already acquired will, we think, be enhanced by the publication of the first instalment of his History of the United Netherlands ; two volumes alone, out of the four which are pro- jected, being now issued. These two volumes contain the history of the events of six years only, or indeed of less than six years. Commencing in 1584, immediately after the death of William the Silent, they -terminate early in the year 1590 with the restoration of English security, and the thorough organization of the Dutch Commonwealth. The dedication of eleven hundred pages to a narrative ranging over a period of little more than five years, im- plies the insertion of a considerable amount of detail, and possibly of detail that might sometimes be omitted, to the improvement of the work, which would thus gain in unity, concentration, and sus- tained interest. If the charge of occasional prolixity, however, can be substantiated against Dr. Motley, it is almost the only charge that can be adduced. We believe his statements to be made, and his conclusions to be drawn, with the most entire conscientiousness, even when we incline, as we do in one or two instances, to (141- lenge their accuracy. Thus we refuse to believe in the hypocrisy ascribed to Elizabeth ; we refuse to believe, also, in the sugges- tion of assassination fathered on that great Queen. The letters which would thus blacken her fame, are pronounced in Mr. Hep- worth Dixon's recent work to be "odious and clumsy literary forgeries," the evident "inventions of a later time;" and even if they were genuine, we should be slow to receive allegations that, to use the words of Mr. Folkstone Williams, "rest exclusively on statements made by a discarded servant under the bitterest feelings of disappointment."-f Again, as regards the ill-fated Mary Stuart, we are by no means sure that her long imprison- ment in England wasnot an inevitable political necessity, or that English statesmen and an English queen did violate "all justice and all humanity," When they determined to keep that beautiful hapless "Daughter of Debate," out of as much mischief as they possibly could.

As regards diction and style, we have almost unqualified praise

-la offer to the author of the history before us. We take excep- tion, it is true, to an occasional phrase or epithet, such as glut- tonous of work, gluttonous of time, 'meridional physiognomy, a life brimful of noble deeds, and some others perhaps ; but these expressions are of rare occurrence, and Dr. Motley's-language is in general as pure as it is energetic and animated.

Th the composition of this new work, the author has " care-

fully. studied all the leading contemporary chronicles and pam- phlets of Holland, Flanders, Spain-, France, Germany, and Eng- land," drawing largely "from those mines of historical wealth, the State, Paper Office and the MS. department of the British Museum." He has "further enjoyed an inestimable advantage hr the perusal of' the whole correspondence between Philip II., his ministers and- governors, relating to the affairs of the Netherlands, from the epoch at which the work commences down to that mo- narch's death."

The subject of Dr. Motley's prose-epic is " the deep-laid con- spiracy of Spain and Rome against human rights," and its frus- tration by England and Holland, whose history and fate were, after the death of William the Silent, for a season almost identi- cal Among the principal heroes and heroines of this period, we find Philip of Spain, Catherine ef France, Henry of Navarre, Elizabeth of England, Pope Sixtus, Philip de Marnix, Alex- ander Farnese, Leicester, Sidney, Barneveld, Drake, Burleigh, Walsingham, and others of less note. Dr. Motley's wonderful skill in sketching the physical and mental characteristics of these personages must prove an attraction to even the most careless reader. The portraits, which he suspends in his historical pic- ture gallery, bring you face to face with the great or little origi- nals, so that you almost feel as if you had grasped their hands, or rubbed clothes with them as they passed you by, in the bustle Lit jostle of this age of conflict, of peril, and extraordinary per- and national excitement. Among these 'portraits we find

that of the small, dal, elderly, patient, plodding invalid, with white hair, protruding under jaw, and dreamy -visage, the old man of the Esoorisl, Philip II. ; that of Sainte Aldegonde, scholar, theologian, diplomatist, swordsman, orator, poet, pamphleteer, with crisp curling hair, expansive forehead, broad, brown, melan- choly, tender eyes, lean cheeks, and flexible mouth ; that of Henry III., with silken flounces, jewelled stomacher, painted- face, satin-slippered feet, and with pearls of great price—adorning Ins bared neck and breast, a broken man and contemptible King ; that of Henry with the Scar, Duke of Guise, with dark martial face and dangerous eyes, a cheek damaged by an arquebus-shot, slow and heavy in character, idnl of grocers and market-men, defender of the good old religion, and god of fishwomern ; that of the, third Henry, the Huguenot King. of Navarre, instinct with

• History of the United Netherlands, front the Death of William the Silent to the Synod of Dort, Sze., &a. By John. Lothrop Motley, D.C.L., Correspondinr Member of the Institute of Franco, Authar_nt" ThaBiso of the Dutch Republic." Volumes I. and 11. Published by John Murray. t See Bpectator, June 23, 1860.

ruddy, vigorous life, with face browned by exposure, small, mirth- ful, commanding blue eyes, thick brown curly beard, a man that " sets all hearts around him on fire, when the trumpet sounds to battle ;" that of Queen Elizabeth in her fifty-third year, in satin and velvet garments, with fringes of pearls as big as beans, a small gold crown on her head, red hair blazing with diamonds and emeralds, tall forehead, long face, fair complexion, small dark glittering eyes, &c., speaking French with purity, but with a drawling accent, " Pear maa lot, paar le Dieen vivant :" that of monastic-looking Wasinghatu, with long, grave, melancholy face and Spanish eyes ; that of the Lord High Treasurer Burleigh, then sixty-five years of age, with serene blue eye, large smooth, pale, scarce-wrinkled face and forehead ; and, lastly, that of Lei- .cester, once renowned for his gipsey beauty, but now, when his summer solstice has passed, figuring as a big bulky man with a long red face, bald head, defiant eye, with a little torrent of foam- white curly beard, rustling in satin and feathers, with jewels in his ears, and velvet toque stuck airily as ever on the side of his head.

This last personage was, Dr. Motley tells us, the most abused man in Europe. In addition to the charge of participation in Amy Robsares death, he was accused of poisoning Alice Drayton, Lady Lennox Lord Sussex, Sir Nicholas Throgmorton,_ Lord Sheffield, Lady Sheffield (whom he had married), Lord Essex;* and further, he is said to have murdered or contrived the murder of various Other persons, French and English. "Fortunately for his fame," remarks our historian, "many of these charges' were proved to be false." One of the picturesque lies (the "high art." fictions shall we call them ?) which struggle hard for life, that which makes Leicester responsible for Amy Robsares "fall down stairs," has, we are happy to say, been kicked after her, at least, once before, and now again receives similar contemptuous treat- ment from the dexterous foot of Dr. Motley- " A Jury [he tells us] was impannelled—every man of there a stranger to him (Leicester) and some of them enemies. Antony Forster, Apple- yard, and Arthur Robsart, brother-in-law and brother of the lady, were pre- sent, according to Dudley's special request ; 'and if more of her friends could have been sent,' said he, 'I would have sent them ;' but with all their minuteness of inquiry they could find,' wrote Blount, `no presumptions of evil,' although he expressed a suspicion that some of the jurymen were sorry that they could not.' That the unfortunate lady was killed by a fall down stairs was all that could be made of it by a coroner's inquest, rather hostile than otherwise, and urged to rigorous investigation by the supposed culprit himself?'

The stirring narrative of Dr. Motley, contained in these two volumes, is susceptible of a threefold division. The first section opens with a notice of the death of the Prince of Orange, and ter- minates with the siege and capitulation of Antwerp ; the second includes the entrance of the English and Leicester's administration in the Netherlands ; and the third describes the preparations for the great attack upon England, by the "old man of the Escorial." The details of the siege of Antwerp, characterized by Dr. Motley as one of the most brilliant military operations of the age, and one of the most memorable in the results—form a connected whole; which will be read with profound interest ; while the invasion of England in the third section is a little epic in itself; that will make the eyes brighten and the heart leap as men read. This invasion had long been projected.

"Philip [says Dr. Motley] stood enfeoffed, by divine decree; of all Ame- rica, the East Indies, the whole Spanish Peninsula, the better portion of Italy, the Seventeen Netherlands, and many other possessions far and. near ; and he contemplated annexing to this extensive property the.king- dome of France of England, and Ireland. The Holy League, maintained by the sword of,Guize, the Pope's ban, Spanish ducats, Italian condottieri, and German mercenaries, was to exterminate heresy and establish the Spa- nish dominion in -France. The same machinery, aided by the pistol and poniard of the assassin, was to substitute for English Protestantism and England's Queen, the Roman Catholic religion and a foreign sovereign."

How, after the failure of long peace negotiations, in which Philip meant to cheat and Elizabeth to be true, "the little nation of four millions, the merry England of the sixteenth century, went forward to the death-grapple with its gigantic antagonist, as Cheerfully as to a long expected holiday," is told by Dr. Motley: in glowing and eloquent language, and with a clearness, prem.... don' colour, and individuality, thatenable us to realize the heroic resistance which the island kingdom offered to the insolent empire that overshadowed the world.

The circumstances that marked the intervening period, the policy of Elizabeth and England, loyal but dilatory and ex- pectant, the Queen's ultimate determination to take part with Holland in its struggle for liberty, the fortunes of war in the Netherlands, the conduct of Leieester, as commander and an Governor-General, the siege of Zutphen, the death of Sidney at Arnheim, the victories of Drake, and the imperious, parsime-- thous, hesitating action of Elizabeth, before she broke away from the delusions of diplomacy, are represented, in the second section, with distinctness, precision, and animation. , Sometimes, a passage stands out in the narrative with splendid colouring, and with something of poetic beauty, as in the episode of Sir Ph• • Sidney, the young Governor of Flushing) with. " delicately ohiselleil Anglo-Norman features, smooth -fair cheek, a faint moustache, blue eyes, and a mass of amber-coloured hair," a representative of ancient race come back to the home of his ancestors.$

In--a short general reviesieof the policy of this period, Dr. Met- ley condemns the administration of Leicester in the Netherlands ; he censures also the States for their premature appointment of: Leicester to the Governor-Generalship, and Elizabeth's animosity

, Bat see what Ben jonson says of Sidney in Emerson's Conduct.of Life;

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to him and indignation with the States, after the offer and accep- tance of that authority.

The Republic of the Netherlands, however, continued during this period to acquire consistency and permanent form. The fol- lowing extract wilT show the resources and characteristics of a country that would willingly have become a dependency of the English crown, had not Elizabeth refused to accept the sove- reignty— " Notwithstanding the war which, had been raging for a terrible quarter of a century without any interruption, population was increasing, property rapidly advancing in value, labour in active demand. Famine was im- possible to a State which commanded the ocean. No corn grew in Holland and Zealand, but their ports were the granary of the world. The fisheries were a mine of wealth almost equal to the famous Potosi, with which the commercial world was then ringing. Their commerce with the Baltic na- tions was enormous. In one mouth eight hundred vessels left their havens for the Eastern ports alone. ¶Fhere was also no doubt whatever . . . . that the rebellious provinces were driving a most profitable trade with Spain, and the Spanish possessions, in spite of their revolutionary war. The mines of Peru and Mexico were as fertile for the Hollanders and Zea- landers, as for the Spaniards themselves. The war paid for the war ; one hundred large frigates were constantly cruising along the coasts, to protect the fast-growing traffic, and an army of twenty thousand foot-soldiers, and two thousand cavalry were maintained on land. There were more ships and sailors at that moment in Holland and Zealand, than in the whole kingdom of England."

This prosperity was not confined to the seaports. "The towns in the interior were advancing as steadily. The woollen manufac- ture, the tapestry, the embroideries of Guelderland and Friesland and Overyssel, were becoming as famous as had been those of Tournay, Ypres, Brussels, and Valenciennes." Such, with its million-and-a-half of souls was Holland, one of the two com- panions in arms that fought in the "great combat between des- potism, sacerdotal and regal, and the spirit of rational human li- berty." The other champion of individual and national freedom, that threw "down the gauntlet to the greatest powers on earth," was England.

" What now was that England ? Its population was perhaps not greater than the numbers which dwell today within its capital, and immediate suburbs. Its revenue *as perhaps equal to the sixtieth part of the annual interest on the present national debt. Single, highly-favoured individuals, not only in England, but in other countries, cis and trans-Atlantic, enjoy incomes equal to more than half the amount of Elizabeth's annual budget. London, then containing perhaps 150,000 inhabitants, was hardly so im- posing a town as Antwerp, and was inferior in most material respects to Paris and Lisbon ; 4200 children were born every year within its precincts, and the deaths were nearly as many. In plague years, which were only too frequent, as many as 20,000, and even 30,000 had been annually swept away. At the present epoch, there are 1700 births every week, and about 1000 deaths."

Dr. Motley continues his description, citing two very interest- ing notices of our ancestors from Emmanuel van Meteren and Paul Henzuer." But we must forbear to report their circumstan- tial delineations.

With the defeat and destruotion of the Invincible Armada, the present game of despotism was played out in England and Hol- land. In coming years it was to be resumed on the soil of France. When we meet Dr. Motley again, we shall find that many of the personages who have figured in these volumes have passed away. Henry III. and Catherine de Medieis, Moeurs and Martin Schenk, are dead. Leicester, too, died just after the defeat of the Armada, and the thrifty Queen, as our historian touchingly observes " while dropping a tear upon the grave of sweet Robin, sold all his goods at auction to defray his debts to herself ; " which was a very poor sentiment but very good sense ! This parsimonious, imperious Elizabeth we shall see once again, as also Philip the Prudent, Henry of Navarre, and John of Olden-Barneveld ; with. yet "another personage, a very young man still, but a deep- thinking, hard-working student,"—Prince Maurice, with the dark, blue eyes, symmetrical, features, and red lips, the son of William .the Silent ; the sapling springing from the root of the aged oak, that by his after career shall nobly justify his assump- tion of the motto, Tandem fit annulus arbor.