but we confess we have not succeeded in our wish to identify, by that evidence, the individual commemorated. There was doubtless some connexion between the families of Sutton and Revers or Redvers, or that of Fortibus. Isabella de Redvers, Countess of Devon, who died in 1293, the wife of William de Fortibus, third Earl of Albemarle, possessed the marriage of the Sir John Sutton first mentioned, and granted it to Sir William de Hamelton, Knight, for cxx marks, in the 20th Edw. I.; the lordship of Holderness, which belonged to the Earls of Albemarle, became the property of the Suttons ; and the descendants of Richard de Lucie were found to be the heirs of Aveline, daughter and co-heiress of the last earl, in the 9th Edw. II.1 These facts tend to explain why the arms of Lucy and Redvers should occur on that monument; but neither the pedigree of Lucy, Neville, nor Deincourt contain any alliance which accounts for the ensigns of those families being placed on Sutton's tomb. It will, we hope, be inferred from what we have said of Mr. Frost's work, that we appreciate the labour and research which it displays; and though we have not always been able to admit the correctness of his deductions, there can be no question that he has established the fact for which he has so strenuously and ably contended. No other complaint can with justice be made than that he should have "limited his ambition to the humble office of assistant to the future historian ;" and though, in our eagerness to possess valuable works on topography, we are not selfish enough to wish him to abandon his professional engagements for the scarcely less dry, but far less profitable, pursuit of antiquarian literature, we sincerely hope that he will resume a task for which he has shown himself to possess every requisite; and that he will, by writing a general history of Hull to the present time, soon possess new claims to the esteem of his townsmen. He acknowledges with gratitude the liberal manner in which the keepers of some of the national records have assisted him in his investigations; and though we hope one day to see access to public documents no longer depend on mere personal favour, but become a matter of right, we cheerfully echo the praise which he bestows on Mr. Cayley, Mr. Petrie, and Mr. Bayley: the flourish of trumpets, however, by which his eulogies are accompanied almost renders the objects of it ridiculous. By such conduct, these gentlemen may be assured that they are infinitely more benefited than they would be in a pecuniary sense by the rigid exaction of their fees. They are men who have themselves conferred benefits on historical and antiquarian literature; and by facilitating the efforts of others they not only contribute, in a powerful degree, to the exten Rot. Parl. vol. i. pp. 347-9. sion of similar information, but they derive a permanent and honourable reputation for themselves. Much as the celebrated Augustine Vincent did on those subjects, he is as well known, and equally respected, for the assistance which he rendered to other writers, whilst keeper of the Records in the Tower, as by his own researches. Until a better system prevails with respect to the muniments of the kingdom, this is a point of so much importance that we make no apology for the digression; and in every instance when free access is given to records for literary purposes, they who thus benefit the public shall receive our warmest acknowledgments. A Collection of State Papers relating to Affairs in the Reigns of King Henry VIII., King Edward VI., Queen Mary, and Queen Elizabeth, from the Year 1542 to 1570; transcribed from original Letters and other authentic Memorials, never before published, left by William Cecill, Lord Burghley, and now remaining at Hatfield House, in the Library of the Right Honourable the present Earl of Salisbury.-By Samuel Haynes, M.A., Rector of Hatfield, in Hertfordshire. London, 1740, folio, pp. 624. THE period to which this collection of state papers refers is one of the most important in British history; and there can be no difficulty in believing that the official correspondence of a man who was connected with the events which it describes, must be of more than ordinary value to the historian, and of more than common interest to all who prefer deriving information from pure and unadulterated sources, to receiving it filtered through the minds of the writers who have made the epoch in question the subject of their labours. Nor is this the only motive for preferring to obtain historical facts from evidence. It is impossible for the general or indeed for the local historian, unless the time to which his work is confined be extremely limited, to detail those minute circumstances with which the original documents abound; and it is still less in his power to preserve the expressions of his witnesses. Thus the faithfullest and most careful writer must fail in conveying the vivid colouring and verisimilitude of the paintings which he sketches. All he can hope to attain is a certain degree of resemblance, a greater or less accuracy in reducing the various portraits into one comprehensive picture. So rapidly is a distrust of any but contemporary documents advancing in the present age, that works of the nature of this volume will, before long, be rescued from the shelves on which they have been suffered to moulder; the early ohronicles of our country will be rendered into the vernacular language; and works which are now sealed books to all but writers will supersede those maudlin compilations which have been thrust upon the world, even in the hands of those for whom such trash was chiefly designed. Though sensible that collections of original letters and official documents are at this moment unpopular, we predict with confidence, that the day is not far distant when they will bear a very different character, unless, which it is impossible to believe, the spirit of rational inquiry which so peculiarly distinguishes the times in which we live on every other subject, does not extend itself to the history of England. In describing the contents of the book before us, we are more desirous of noticing the points of history or of biography which are illustrated than of writing disquisitions on them. Our selections will be made from letters which are of general interest, but which are not so intimately connected with any particular event as to require that a long essay should be introduced to explain in what way they derive their importance. The editor has confessed how little he has done to the volume. He says, he is in no otherwise concerned in its contents than as a compiler, "in selecting, arranging, and preparing them for the press, in which he has endeavoured to make the copy a true representation of the original, without taking any other liberty than that of supplying a proper title where it was wanting." Hence, not a note of any kind occurs beyond a marginal reference, stating whence the article was copied; and his editorial labours only extended to giving a correct text, a table of contents, and an imperfect index. The series is properly arranged in chronological order, and commences with a letter from the Lieutenant-General and council in the north, to the Earl of Hertford, dated at Durham, on the 5th of November, 1542; and the letters during the reign of Henry, which extend to sixty pages, relate almost exclusively to the wars and other affairs of Scotland. This correspondence is material, as it throws light upon the proceedings towards that country, and affords many useful facts for the historian; but it contains little that would justify a more particular notice. Henry appears to have adopted rather a curious mode of impressing the Scots with the cause of the invasion of their country. Sir William Paget tells Lord Hertford, that it was the king's opinion, it would be advisable that a notice to the following purport should be affixed to the church-doors of all places which the English might lay waste: "Youe may thank your cardinal of this: for if he had not bene, youe myght have bene in quiet and rest; for the contrary whereof he hath tra vailed as muche as can be to bring you to sorow and trowble1." The result of the wars in Scotland, from July to November, 1544, is evinced by the following summary: "Towns, towers, stedes, barnekyns, paryshe churches, bastell houses, 192; Scotts slain, 403; prisoners taken, 816; nolt [black cattle, but more properly oxen], 10,386; shepe, 12,492; nags and geldings, 1296; gayt [goats], 200; bolls of corn, 850; insight geare, ; and 287 fortresses, abbeys, walled towns, villages, &c. were burent, razed, and cast downe, between the 8th and 23d September, 1545, of which 7 were monasteries and frear houses, 16 castles, towres, and piles, 5 market towns, 243 villagies, 13 mylnes, and 3 spytells or hospitals "." This statement is followed by one of the few interesting articles which occur in that part of the volume. Viscount Lisle, the Lord High Admiral, informed the King of a stratagem which he had devised for inducing the French fleet to put to sea, under circumstances which were likely to produce its destruction; and after saying that he would not presume to undertake such an enterprise without "being fyrst well instructyd from your Highnes," he concludes with this piece of flattery: "For yf I have any knowledge how to serve you in any kinde of thing, I have received the same frome your silffe; and being so nere the fontayne, and wold dye for thirste yt were little joye of my liffe." Of the other papers of that reign, the only one to which we shall refer is entitled, " Answers to be made by the King's Majestie's Commissioners to the Cardinal;" for it is a memorable specimen of the boldness and spirit with which Henry could treat proposals that were offensive to him. To an observation of the Cardinal's, he ordered the Commissioners to reply, that "Yf they come not of otherwise now than hitherto they have, his Majestie purposeth no longer to herken to those wayes, not doubting, with God's grace, or long tyme, to here them sing another song." But he reserved it to the last article to taunt the French with the defeats they had received from him; and perhaps the annals of diplomacy cannot furnish a more insolent communication : "To the Cardinall's private talke with Mr. Paget, touching the French king's forces, &c. you shall aunswer, as touching his forces by land, his Majestie doubteth not, but that it is knowen, how shamfully they ran their way from their enterprizes, both of Base-Bulloyn, and Guysnes, and yet with no small losse both of many gentlemen and other, whose weapons and bodies remayn with his Majestie. And as for the seas, though they stale on his Majestie, or his Highnes wer aware, and thereby took some pore sick men and horses, his Majestie doubteth not by Godd's grace, yf they dare abyde it, to make them spynne as fast away with sayles, as by land they did with horse and heelys; and yet when they wer in their chief pride on the see, his Majestie's poor fyshermen tooke up a hundred tonne of their wynes for Monstrell, and his Majestie hath vittayled both Bulloyn and Calleys; and this is all their gayn they had hitherto, thanked be God." -P. 60. The letters and other documents of the reign of Edward the Sixth occupy nearly one hundred pages, and are beyond comparison the most curious articles in this or any similar collection: from these the greater part of our extracts will consequently be taken. Few require to be told that Thomas Lord Seymour of Sudley, the Lord High Admiral of England, brother of the Lord Protector Somerset, and uncle of Edward the Sixth, married Katherine Parr, who retained the title of Queen Dowager; and it is scarcely more needful to observe, that the utmost jealousy subsisted between the brothers. Of the manner in which that jealousy was evinced, and of its effect upon one of the parties, we shall have occasion to speak. The first two letters in the reign of Edward are from Queen Katherine Parr to her husband the Lord Admiral, and which we shall copy at length, since any abridgment would destroy their characteristic traits. The Protector, whom the Queen describes as "my Lord your brother," had given her offence in withholding some jewels which Henry had presented to her, upon the pretence that they were only lent for a special occasion; and her enmity to the Duchess arose from a dispute about precedence. THE QUEEN DOWAGER TO THE LORD ADMIRALL1. Thys schalbe to advertysche yow, that my lord your brother hathe thys afternone a lyttell made me warme. Yt was fortunate we war so muche dystant; for I suppose els I schulde have bytten hym. What cause have they to feare havyng suche a wyff? Yt is requysyte for them contynually to pray for a schorte dyspatche of that hell. To morowe, or els apon Satterday at afternone about thre a clocke I wyll se the Kyng, wher I intend to utter all my coler to my lord your brother, yf yow schall not gyve me advyse to the contrary; for I wold be lothe to do any thyng to hynder your mater. I wyll declare unto yow, how my lord hathe used me concernyng Fausterne, and after I schall most humbly desyre yow to dyrecte myne answer to hym in that behalf. Yt lyketh hym to day to send my chancelour to me, wyllyng hym to declare to me, that he had brought Master Longes lese, and that he douted not but I wold lett hym injoye the same to hys comodyte, wheryn I schuld do to hys successyon no 1 From the originals. |