TTTLER ' S HISTORY OF SCOT - LAND.
Tins ninth volume, which concludes Mr. TYTLER's History of Scotland, commences with the effects of ELIzABETH'S execution of MARY, and ends with the death of the English Queen and the ac- cession of shuns to the crown of Great Britain. The intermedi- ate topics involve the attempts of the different factions of the Scottish nobles to overrule the King, the disordered state of the kingdom in consequence of its feudal brawls, the contests of JAMES with the Kirk, the persecutions for witchcraft, and the Gowrie Conspiracy. In the present, as in his previous volumes, Mr. TYT- LER has availed himself of the ample materials relating to the TUDOR period to be found in the State Paper Office, as well as the manuscript authorities discovered of late years in other deposi- tories. By this means, be exhibits a fuller narrative of many things, and throws more light upon many minute or questionable points, than is was possible for the older historians to do, besides depicting the social condition of the country more fully than they attempted. On the other band, the narrative sometimes tends to unnecessary minuteness, and the exposition of doubtful points rather too closely approaches disquisition ; so that altogether the work will be found not free from the faults of modern historians—a sacrifice of breadth and impressiveness of effect to characteristic details, and an ill- judged plan, in which events common to the age are shown upon the same scale as those actions which mark its history. Many of these kind of incidents are interesting enough in themselves, and are told with spirit; but they belong to the romance of topo- graphy rather than to history. More space is occupied by Mr. TTTLER in narrating the eiploit of some Border gentry break- ing open a gaol to carry off a Border thief, than Hama Oval( to the battle of Flodden. And this objection is not merely critical:'; the fault lessens the historical utility of the work. Instead of the leading features being vividly impressed upon the mind, their dis- tinctness is diminished by being mixed up with curious accessories.' This evil was long since perceived by VOLTAIRE, when he harshly observed that the moderns wrote more like gazetteers than his- torians. It should, however, be remarked, that Mr. TYTLER has avoided any thing like heaviness of effect, at all events in single volumes. He selects with judgment the circumstances that mark the character of the incident he describes; his mode of treatment is interesting; and his style easy, sustained, and forcible, without straining or inflated rhetoric. The episode of Scotch witchcraft is an exception to the remarks we have made respecting the main fault of the plan : for it was a strange delirium of the human mind, worthy of a more searching inquiry than it has yet received at the hands of the philosopher; it was common, it may be said, to the whole nation ; unlike many other superstitions, it operated directly upon jurisprudence arid politics; and, though the power of bewitching had been believed in from a very early period, it received a new and original shape un- der JAMEs in Scotland. Yet here, where a full exposition was desirable, Mr. TYTLER is a brief chronicler—rapid, terse, and comprehensive, but neither full nor satisfying, and it may be with's& shade of credulity himself. " The King found leisure to become exceedingly active and agitated upon a subject which forms a melancholy and mysterious chapter in the history. of the; human mind—that of witchcraft. That many unfortunate and miserable beings, driven by poverty and want, by suspicion and .persecution, by the desire of vengeance, the love of power, or a daring curiosity after forbidden know- ledge, had renounced their baptismal vows, and entered, as they believed, into a compact with the Author of all Evil, cannot be doubted. The difficulty is, to discover whether they were the victims of their own imagination, the dupes of impostors, or, which is not to be rejected as impossible or incredible, the saljects and recipients of diabolic influence and agency." The Gowrie Conspiracy is such a strange historical mystery, that Mr. TYTLER was fully justified in devoting an ent;re chapter to its development ; and he has brought together with industry and judgment the facts relating to this strange, and, as it stands recorded, incredible affair. The speculation or theory of the histo- rian is, that the plot was instigated by the English Government,— of which there is not a shadow of proof; that its object was to carry JAMES forcibly by sea to an island fastness belonging to a Border ruffian of good family called LOGAN of Restalrig,—allu- sions to which plan may be said to occur in letters preserved in the General Register House at Edinburgh, and which have been re- printed by Mr. PITCAIRN in his Criminal Trials; that the purpose of GOWRIE was to seize the government, and, supported by the power of ELIZABETH, rule Scotland in the name of JAMES,—an inference but slenderly supported by some passages in these letters ; whilst the moving-power of the whole conspiracy was the desire of GOWRIR and his fellows to revenge his father's death, coupled with the insti- gation of ELIZABETH'S blandishments and the ambition of ruling. On the other hand, it is known that, in the opinion of experienced men, JAMES had determined to destroy GOWRIE ; the plot, in the alleged letters of the conspirators, has no means of beginning, and indeed could have none, for, in all the accounts that have come down to us, the means of setting to work were entirely dependent upon accident and caprice ; and when the clumsy scheme (that no rational person, much less so accomplished a politician as GOWRIE, could have relied upon as offering a chance of success) succeeded the plot failed from the weakness of its agents in a most unlikely point. Scotland for ages had abounded with murderous conspiracies against monarchs and nobles, which rarely or never failed through any weakness in the agents : yet in the Gowrie Conspiracy, the two prime actors turned out to be respectively fool and coward, when their prey was actually within their gripe. We see no evidence that any preparation for the water-transport had been made ; and the character of JAMES the Sixth of Scotland—profound in perfidy's without conscience or natural feeling, and unrestrained either by honour or by moral comprehension—renders credible any extent or complexity of treachery and crime. We state these things, not as gainsaying Mr. TyTLER'S theory, but as difficulties to be overcome ; for there are some slight incidental circumstances, difficult to in- vent, which seem to point (if therare true) to a wider plot. Yet, after all, the Gowrie Conspiracy must rank among the mysterious historical problems, whose solution gets more difficult with each, succeeding age ; or must be ranked in the class of events indicated by the cautious Frenchman, " C'est impossible, mais je l'ai vu." The two great incidents of the catastrophe of the volume ave. the death of ELIZABETH and the departure of JAMES. The death- bed of the Queen we have lately quoted from Miss STEWART'S Daore of Giislami ; and as the romance was as correct as the history, bating the dramatic forms of fiction, we will not repeat it, but take the last act of the drama which established the kingdom of Great Britain.
"On the succeeding Sunday, James attended service in the High Church' of St. Giles; where a sermon was preached, in which the minister enume- rated the many mercies poured out upon their Prince, and described as none of the least his peaceable accession to that mighty kingdom which now awaited' him. The Monarch himself then rose and delivered a valedictory address to the congregation; which, we are told, was often interrupted by the tears of the people. James, who was himself moved by these expressions of regret ma. affection, entreated his subjects not' to be too deeply troubled at his departure;; assured them that thev.should find the fruits of his government as well afar' off as when he bad resided among them ; pleaded that his increase in greatness did in nowise diminish his love; and' promised them a personal visit once every three years, when the meanest as welhis the greatest should have access to his person, and permission to pour tatie complaints into his bosom. "This farewell oration was delivered on the 3d of April 1603. On the 5th of the same month, the King, surrounded by a large and brilliant cavalcade, eomtposeil not only of Scottish bat of English noblemen and gentlemen, who had hurried to his court with the proffers of their homage, took his departure from Edinburgh, amid the lamentations of the citizens. His progress through England, which occupied a month, was one long and brilliant pageant. Triumphs, speeches, masques, buntings, revels, gifts, all that wealth could com- mand and flattery and fancy devise, awaited him at the different cities and castles which he visited ; and on the 6th of May 1603, he entered London, accompanied by a numerous concourse of his nobility and councillors, guarded and ushered by the Lord Mayor and five hundred citizens on horseback, and welcomed by the deafen* shouts of an immense multitude of his new sub- jects. It seemed as if the English people had in this brief period utterly forgotten the mighty Princess, whose reign had been so glorious, and over whose bier they had so lately sorrowed. Not a murmur was heard, not one dissenting voice was raised to break the unanimity of his welcome : and thus, after so many centuries of war and disaster, the proud sceptre of the Tudors was transferred to the house of Stewart, with a tranquillity and universal contentment, which, even considering the justice of the title, was remarkable and unexpected.
"In this memorable consummation, it was perhaps not unallowable, cer- tainly it wasnot unnatural, that the lesser kingdom, which now gave a monarch to the greater, should feel some emotions of national pride : for Scotland had defended her liberty against innumerable assaults; bad been reduced, in the long struggle, to the very verge of despair; had been betrayed by more than one of her kings, and by multitudes of her nobles; had been weakened by internal faction, distracted by fanatic rage; but bad never been overcome, because never deserted by a brave though rude and simple people. Looking back to her still remoter annals, it could be said, with perfect historical truth, that this small kingdom had successfully resisted the Roman arms, and the terrible in- vasions of the Danish Sea-Kings; had maintained her freedom, within her mountains, during the ages of the Saxon Heptareby, and stemmed the tide of Norman, conquest ; bad shaken off the chains attempted to be fixed upon her by the two great Plantagenets, the First and Third Edwards, and, at a later period, by the tyranny of the Tudors ; and if now destined, in the legitimate course of royal succession, to lose her station as a separate and independent kingdom, she yielded neither to hostile force nor to fraud, but willingly con- sented to link her future destinies with those of her mighty neighbour, like a bride, who in the dawning prospect of a happy union is contented to resign but not to forget the house and name of her fathers. Yet, however pleased at this pacific termination of their long struggles, the feelings with which his ancient people beheld the departure of their Prince were of a melancholy na- ture; and an event occurred on the same day on which he set out, that made a deep impression upon a nation naturally thoughtful and superstitious.
"As the Monarch passed the house of Seton, near Musselburgh, he was met by the funeral of Lord Seton, a nobleman of high rank ; which, with its solemn movement and sable trappings, occupied the road, and contrasted strangely and gloomily with the brilliant pageantry of the royal cavalcade. The Setons were ORE of the oldest and proudest families of Scotland; and that lord whose mortal remains now passed by had been a faithful adherent of the King's mother, whose banner be had never deserted, and in whose cause he had saffered exile and proscription. The meeting was thought ominous by the people. It appeared to their excited imaginations as if the moment had arrived when the aristocracy of Scotland was about to merge in that of Great Britain ; as if the Scottish nobles had finished their career of national glory, and this last representative of their race had been arrested on his road to the grave, to'bid farewell to the last of Scotland's Kings. As the mourners moved slowly onward, the Monarch himself, participating in these melancholy feelings, sat down by the wayside, on a stone still pointed out to the historical pilgrim ; nor did be resume his progress till the gloomy procession had completely dis- appeared."
The end of the History of Scotland is accompanied by the follow- ing graceful remarks of Mr. TYTLER on the conclusion of his work ; which, in despite of the fault noticed, belonging rather to the age than the author, must be placed among the foremost classical pro- ductions of the time.
" It is with feelings of gratitude, mingled with regret, that the author now closes this work—the history of his country—the labour of little less than eighteen years : gratitude to the Giver of all Good, that life and health have been spared to complete, however imperfectly, an arduous undertaking; regret that the tranquil pleasures of historical investigation, the happy hours devoted to the pursuit of truth, are at an end, and that he must at last bid farewell to an old and dear companion."
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