mense fatigue, braved extraordinary dangers, and exerted herself with the most unwearied assiduity in efforts, fruitless after all at that time, to negotiate for her brother's liberty. Little wonder that a sister, who had deserved so well of him, retained ever a considerable influence over his vacillating mind.

It was soon after the return of Francis to his throne that his sister formed her second marriage with the young king Henry of Navarre, who had been for a while his fellow-prisoner, and who was a gallant and accomplished prince. The only surviving offspring of this marriage was a daughter, whose history is our author's closing narrative.

He draws a happy picture of this royal pair, when settled in their little territory in the south of France. The Spanish province of Navarre, though formerly under the sway of the Albret family, had ceased to be any part of their dominions, having been wrested from them by the king of Spain; and the petty province of French Navarre, including the principality of Bearn and the county of Foix, formed the whole circuit of their realm. Here, however, all the blessings which result from a wise and a benignant government were to be seen on a small scale; and the reckless splendour of the court of Francis, attended with so much misrule, and with the cruel persecution of his Protestant subjects, is strikingly contrasted with that humbler court of Bearn, where his sister was a mother to her subjects, where justice was administered to a loyal and a grateful people, and where the religion of the gospel found a sanctuary and a home.

Marguerite never openly forsook the court of Rome, and she maintained some notions and opinions to the last little consonant with scripture truth. Her affection to her mother and her brother led her to look with too gentle an eye upon their vices, though she carefully avoided them herself; and she seems still to have been so far Romish in her views, as to deem their submission to the church's rites some amends for their transgressions. She adopted, however, a liturgy considerably purified from that of Rome, read the Scriptures diligently, prized the company of godly persons, and died, as there is every reason to hope, in the true faith of her Redeemer. If there was the wood, and hay, and stubble in her superstructure, yet there was Christ for her Founda

tion.

The character of Jeanne d'Albret, the only surviving issue of Margaret and Henry king of Navarre, and the last of our author's four lives, was in some respects superior to her mother's. She possessed a firmness and decision in which Marguerite was lacking. As being the heiress of a crown, she had many suitors for her hand when she advanced to riper years. She was married eventually to Antoine duke de Vendôme, a connection little. pleasing to her mother, and little, as it proved in after-years, for her own domestic peace. The fruit of this union was a prince,

who obtained, in the progress of events, the throne of Francethe far-famed Henry IV. Jeanne's father dying in 1554, she succeeded to his sovereignty, and made her husband partner of her kingdom-a title which, but for her prudent management, would have been lost as soon as gained, through the intrigues of the French monarch. The reformed opinions were, at that time, pushing their way through France with wonderful rapidity, and the flames of persecution were vainly lighted to oppose them. The press, especially in Paris, under the able hands of the learned printer Etienne, was their powerful auxiliary, multiplying copies of the Scriptures and religious tracts to a marvellous extent. Not only men of humbler birth, but many of the senators and nobles, embraced, with more or less of consistency and firmness, the religion of the gospel. Of these, among the most distinguished was the senator Du Bourg, the prince of Condé, and two brothers of the noble house of Chatillon, Francis and Gaspard de Coligny. The first of these great men, by the righteous intrepidity with which he pleaded for the Huguenots in the parliament of Paris, soon brought upon himself the martyr's death. The three latter, whose history, full of romantic interest, is recorded with an ani

ated pen in the work under our review, took a well-known part in the long struggle which ensued. Of Gaspard, better known as admiral Coligny, we give the author's animated picture to our readers :

"He was rather short of stature, and slightly built. In his early life, his elegance of manner and becoming dress had made him a model for gay courtiers. His countenance was pleasant, and few could resist the low, sweet voice, courteous manner, and winning smile. He perceived quickly, and judged with a prompt judgment; but his words came from him slowly; and he had a habit of keeping a toothpick in his mouth, which made his speech in conversation still more impeded. So that when men contrasted his slow words with his rapidity of thought, they ima gined that the slowness was the effect of caution, and arose from a wish to draw out the thoughts of others, before he expressed his own. His attentive courtesy gratified the nobility who had joined the ranks of reform; while his composure in battle, and the promptitude which made him turn to use every incident in the fight, inspired his soldiers with

unbounded confidence.

"The life, indeed, on which he had entered was not a congenial one. His constitution was by nature indolent, and fond of quiet. His life, on the contrary, was involved in troubles, which came as much from his friends as from his enemies. He longed for peace, yet he lived in war; and a temper of rare sincerity was tried by constant dissembling, and exposed to the arts either of implacable enemies or hollow allies. He resisted, almost single-handed, the vices and frivolities of his associates; and he bore, as equally as he could, the bitter hatred of his opponents and the insidious stratagems of the court. A vast correspondencemissives seeking or arranging supplies, letters arriving at all hours from Germany, Holland, and England-couriers bearing important despatches

to be answered on the moment-momentous decisions to be instantly taken-resources for war to be found in an exhausted kingdom-sieges and marches, nights spent on horseback, days of incessant labourpeace with a sovereign to whom he was devotedly loyal, earnestly sought, hardly gained, and, when got, brittle and precarious-these were the incidents and trials of this remarkable life. When the physician, who saw the strain upon his health, remonstrated with him, 'What would you have,' he said; 'I belong not to myself, but to my brethren; and if God judges that I can be of use, He will not fail to preserve me.'" (pp. 529, 530.)

Queen Jeanne began life with a Romish bias, and was prejudiced against reform by certain inconsistencies she had seen in its professors; but a thoughtful examination, guided, as there is every reason to believe, by the Great Teacher, altered her opinions, and led her into Protestantism; and from the time that her judgment was thus settled, she threw herself, with all her force of character, into the cause of Christ, and was true to her convictions to the last. Her husband's weak and vacillating course was, for a while indeed, some check on her proceedings; but his death in 1562 left her, uncontroled, to her own stedfast and undeviating course. Many a noble specimen is given us of her heroical adherence to the faith, to the utter disregard of all temporal or political considerations. Thus, when Catherine of France would have gained her, on political grounds, to give attendance to the mass; "Madame," she replied, "if, at this very moment, I held my son and all the kingdoms of the world together in my grasp, I would hurl them to the bottom of the sea, rather than peril the salvation of my soul." A sad contrast to this noble spirit was the course of that distinguished son, who was twice a Protestant and twice a Papist, and who ended his life of inconsistency in the communion which best suited with his earthly interests.

The civil war into which the Huguenots were goaded by their persecutions, and in which Jeanne d'Albret took an active part, is told by Mr. Colquhoun with his usual vigour and vividness of style. But it is impossible to follow him into the details of this long conflict. It was interrupted by negotiations; and, at one time, the governing powers of France, queen Catherine of Medici, and her young son Charles IX., seemed disposed, as a matter of policy, to make large concessions to the Protestants. At length, so ruined was the country by its civil broils, that the government seemed to seek, in right earnest, for a solid peace between the parties, which was to be cemented by a marriage between young Henry of Navarre and the French king's sister. This was no matter of rejoicing to queen Jeanne, who yielded only to what appeared to be a stern necessity, and who was prevailed on, though with sad misgivings, to venture with her son to Paris. It was the prelude to the bloody massacre of St. Bartholomew; but Jeanne was happily called into a better world ere the tragedy commenced.

The 14th, 15th, and 16th of John were her last solace, and her last prayer is given us as follows:

"O my Saviour, hasten to deliver my spirit from the misery of life, and from its prison in this suffering body, so that I may offend thee no more, and enter joyfully into the glorious rest which thou hast promised, and my soul longs for."

Such is but a slight and rapid sketch of the contents of this full volume, which overflows with striking incidents and histories. Those who are fond of the romantic and the marvellous have little need to plunge idly into works of fiction for the gratification of their taste. They may find it (and far more) in such histories as this. The accomplished author of this volume has been much before the public, both on the platforms of religious meetings, and the floor of the House of Commons. He has been known, too, by the vigorous productions of his pen. There is no occasion, then, to speak of the soundness of the principles which pervade the present work. It may be doubted, perhaps, whether, considered as biography, its continuity is not too often broken by matters unconnected with his lives, so that we forget, at times, where we left the subjects of the memoirs ere their story is resumed. But it is a delightful volume, full as it can hold of important and interesting matter, strikingly illustrative of the mighty power of divine grace, and declaring, by the great facts which it records, "Verily there is a God that ruleth in the earth."

III.

PORTRAITURE OF A GREAT ENGLISH KING.

EDWARD ON THE THRONE.

In the month of November, 1272, king Henry III. gave up his sceptre and his life,-" overcome by the cares of government and the infirmities of age," at St. Edmondsbury. The tidings of his death found Edward in Sicily, which island he had reached on his return home from Palestine. It was followed by the intelligence of the death of his infant son; and the greater concern which the young king showed for his father's death, induced the king of Sicily to express surprise. Edward accounted for his feelings by the simple and natural remark,—that a man might hope to have other children, but that he could never have another father. "Edward," says Foxe, "had always been a loving child to his father, whom he had delivered out of prison and captivity; and Almighty God, for his piety shown to his father, rewarded him with great success, felicity, and long reign." The affection which

always subsisted between Henry and his son, is a circumstance in the career of the old king which greatly modifies the mean opinion we are otherwise led to form of him. Edward, long after his death, spoke with respect and veneration of his father; and Edward was a sagacious and a true-hearted man. Of Henry's love for the prince we find many proofs. On one occasion, when Edward's sense of honour and rectitude compelled him to keep his engagements with the barons, and so to oppose his father's course, the king exclaimed, on hearing of his approach, "Do not let him come near me; for if I see him, I shall not be able to help kissing him." There must have been some good points in Henry's character, to preserve alive, for so many years, this mutual affection. between the two.

Edward showed no haste in his return to England; doubtless hearing from his friends that his reputation stood so high as to preclude all doubt or difficulty as to a quiet succession. He took up several affairs of state on his way home, and did not reach England until the summer of 1274. One incident which occurred in his passage through France seems too characteristic to be omitted.

The count of Chalons, a warrior of great strength and stature, proposed to Edward to take part in a grand tournament which he was preparing. Edward, himself fond of arms and of knightly enterprises, was not likely to decline such an invitation. Even a letter from the pope, warning him of evil designs, could not deter him. He entered Chalons at the head of a thousand knights. But the count, a vain-glorious and arrogant man, had assembled twice that number. He seems to have resolved to defeat and humble the king of England, by fair means or by foul. The two leaders naturally encountered each other in the lists. The count's spear failed to disturb Edward in his seat. Desperate and reckless, the count flung away his weapons, and threw his arms round the king, expecting by his great strength and weight to pull him from his horse. But Edward was immovable. Making his charger feel the spur, he sprang forward, and the count was dragged from his saddle. Then, forcing him to unloose his hold, Edward threw him on the ground, and, after punishing him with the staff of his spear, compelled him to give up his sword to a man-at-arms. The like feeling of exasperation had spread among the followers on both sides. "Swords began to walk," and after a real struggle, the English drove the French from the field; and so ended what was called "the little battle of Chalons."

Two special deliverances granted to Edward must not be passed. over. While laying at Acre, in 1272, an assassin, one of the emissaries of the "Old Man of the Mountains," obtained admittance to him, and stabbed him with a poisoned dagger. The prince struck him to the earth with a stool that stood by. But the wound was difficult to heal. The story of the princess