230 MONTHLY REVIEW OF LITERATURE. 



THE TRIALS OF CHARLES I. AND OF SOME OF THE REGICIDES. FAMILY 

 LIBRARY, No. XXXI. LONDON : JOHN MURRAY. 1832. 



HOWEVER trite the observation, daily experience almost justifies the repetition 

 of it, that treason is definable only with reference to its success. A successful 

 Catiline would now, probably, be considered as one of the mos: devoted patriots : 

 the result having been otherwise, he has been handed down to us as the leader 

 of a sanguinary conspiracy. 



In the disputes of partisans, truth ever lies deeply buried and the historian 

 who sits down to investigate what are even regarded as undoubted truths, will 

 find himself in a labyrinth of doubt and difficulty before he has long passed the 

 entrance of his task. He comes imbued too often with early and -deep-rooted 

 prejudices, which, in spite of his reason, exercise a baneful influence over his 

 judgment of the events and persons that come under his notice. 



The compiler of the above volume is of this class. He appears to be one of 

 the thread-bare party, almost worn out with anility a high Tory; and although 

 the truth does occasionally, in spite of himself, flash before him, yet is he unable 

 to suppress his party feelings. Too much reliance has been placed in the narra- 

 tives of the opponents of the republicans. Admitting, for a moment, that the 

 execution of Charles 1. was a crime of the blackest dye, still his judges did not 

 destroy him for the sake of plunder, or because they delighted in blood. They 

 acted from a principle, although some may conceive it to have been a mistaken 

 one, and severely did they pay the penalty of it. Those who escaped, wandered 

 for years in foreign lands, in hourly dang'er of assassination by the agents of 

 Charles II. ; and to the many who suffered, little has been yet awarded but 

 contempt. Their courage on the scaffold has been designated as obstinacy 

 their resignation to the divine disposer as fanaticism. 



Some of the notes breathe a spirit of candour which is sometimes at variance 

 with other parts of the work. 



A few errors will at times intrude themselves into works of this nature ; but 

 in this we learn, for the first time, that the Sir John Harrington who died in the 

 reign of James I., was an attendant on Charles I. in 1647; and, moreover, that 

 he was the author of " Oceana," or, if this be not what the compiler of the 

 book means, that James Harrington, the real author, and celebrated repub- 

 lican, was knighted ; which he ought to know was not the case. 



FIGARO IN LONDON. HALF-YEARLY PART. STRANGE. 

 THIS publication is similar in spirit to its Parisian namesake. The jocose 

 editor affords " the lieges" much innocent pastime, by belabouring the Tories 

 with a cat of twenty-one tail power. His lashes are keen so are his cuts. 

 Indeed we know not which may be said to merit the most praise his own good 

 intentions, or the patriotic designs of his artist. From its principles, and the 

 pungency of its political pasquinades, the work certainly deserves the high popu- 

 larity which it has attained. 



THE BEGGAR'S DAUGHTER OF BEDNALL GREEN. JENNINGS & CHAPLIN. 



THIS is a beautiful reprint of Dr. Percy's version of the old ballad, with an 

 original preface, apparently from the pen of Mr. Hone. It is illustrated with 

 eight wood-cuts, from capital designs by Harvey, engraved by the great Thomp- 

 son ; the veteran Nesbitt ; the brothers, Williams ; Branston, and Wright ; and 

 Jackson. They are perfect gems of the arts of wood-engraving and woodcut- 

 printing; which, indeed, have never been carried to such perfection, as in these 

 delightful specimens. 



THE STORY-TELLER. 



THE idea of this publication is good. It is intended to comprise the best 

 stories of the best writers of the day, and to form a sort of album-gallery of 

 embossed medallion portraits of the most eminent authors. Among other good 

 things, one of the numbers already printed contains a capital sketch from Three 

 Courses and a Dessert. 



