I-S27.] [ 73 ] 



MONTHLY REVIEW OF LITERATURE, DOMESTIC AND FOREIGN. 



Memoirs of the Houses of York and 

 Lancaster, by Miss Roberts, 2 vrfs. 8ro. 

 1827. The period which these well-writ- 

 ten volumes embrace iscertainly one of the 

 most eventful and important of English 

 history: eventful, for it presents such 

 thick-springing and surprising changes as 

 almost mock description ; and important, 

 we add, because the results of those 

 changes were of so enduring a character 

 that the advantages of them are still felt 

 by ourselves, and long may they be en- 

 joyed by posterity ! The country for more 

 than a century was split into hostile and 

 heated factions, the alternate and frequent 

 defeats of which broke a power which 

 spell-bound its energies, and, by breaking 

 that spell, developed the strength of the 

 Commons, and drew them forth from ob- 

 scurity. In these tumultuous days it was, 

 when the imperious barons were conflict- 

 ing for pre-eminence among themselves 

 when the maguificos of the land were en- 

 gaged in intrigues and in struggles when 

 their home-concerns were of' secondary 

 consideration whea the great properties 

 of the country were every year changing 

 masters and when every change, by 

 shaking attachments, shook the authority 

 of the possessors ; in these days it was 

 that the Commons suddenly emerged, and 

 rapidly their vigour, left to its native ex- 

 pansion, shot up into strength compara- 

 tively commanding. The newlords,strang- 

 ers to their vassals, were, change after 

 change, shorn of the rights of prescription ; 

 the old retainers lost their respect and de- 

 votion for them; from the wants or weak- 

 ness of the one, the other wrested fresh 

 privileges ; and thus the successive embar- 

 rassments of the lord and the growing im- 

 portance of the vassal enabled that vassal 

 at once to secure his new privileges, and 

 establish an independent power. 



The power which, by the contentions of 

 the great, the Commons thus successfully 

 seized, they were wise enough never to let 

 go again. They felt their importance, and 

 naturally clung to it. The appetite grew 

 by what it fed on , and, from that time 

 forth, the great sunk and the little rose, 

 till universal law spread and confirmed the 

 rights of equality over the whole surface 

 of society. To some we may seem, in our 

 days, to be gradually returning under the 

 sway of baronial dominion; but though it 

 be true enough that the potent families of 

 the country are sufficiently disposed to 

 overawe legitimate authority, they can no 

 longer carry that disposition into public 

 practice. Violence would fail, for none 

 will aid them; even influence, if foreseen, 

 may perhaps be counteracted. A breath 

 MM. New SmW.-rVuL. IV. No. 19. 



has made them, and a breath may unmake 

 them. Nothing but the sword could have 

 cut away the lords of the middle ages, and 

 nothing but the sword of civil war dou- 

 ble-edged, effective either in triumph or 

 defect could have made a clear stage. 



Of these turbulent times, so full of per- 

 plexing events, and many of them for ever 

 inexplicable, has Miss Roberts ventured on 

 the perilous task of giving another narra- 

 tive. It was a task to tax the best powers 

 of the best narrator ; but the lady has not 

 sunk under its dangers and difficulties. 

 She possesses, indeed, the narrative " or- 

 gans" very conspicuously. The tale, di- 

 versified and entangled as it is, she .has 

 unfolded with distinctness and effect. The 

 storyflows equablyand agreeably always 

 full of animation, and occasionally exhibit- 

 ing no inconsiderable vigour. There is no 

 flagging, at all events, from beginning to 

 end ; nor know we of any Memoirs which 

 bid fairer to be read, or better deserve to 

 be read. Though putting herself in direct 

 competition with more than one successful 

 writer of historical memoirs, she will suffer 

 from no comparison. Her's, too, it deserves 

 to be considered, was a task of still greater 

 difficulty than that of any of her predeces- 

 sors. Miss Aikin, Miss Bsnger, Mrs. 

 Thompson, each of them had one indi- 

 vidual s character and reign to illustrate, 

 with whotn every thing and every body 

 were more or less connected. There was th us 

 an unity of object, and consequently more 

 of a dramatic interest could be easily pre-, 

 served. All bore naturally upon one point,, 

 or was with facility made to converge to- 

 wards it. James, or Henry, or Mary were 

 constantly before the writer, and formed 

 the point cTappui of the story, and gave 

 consistence and union to the whole. No 

 such advantage could Miss Roberts, by 

 possibility, possess. Her heroes and he- 

 roines are perpetually changing the 

 scenes incessantly shifting ; she has seven 

 several reigns to contemplate, besides no- 

 bles without number, all greater than their 

 masters. Amidst such crowds, the first 

 was likely to be forgotten before the last 

 could be described. Nor were cotempo- 

 rary materials so abundant, so minute, or 

 so safely to be confided in. Of many once- 

 conspicuous personages with whom she 

 deals, little is known, and less of their mo- 

 tives of action ; and, when effects are bet- 

 ter known than their causes, the narrative 

 is necessarily wrapt in obscuritj', unless 

 the imagination be allowed to fill up the 

 gap; and the character of historical me- 

 moirs refuse that accommodating indul- 

 gence. She has made the best use of her 

 abundant but imperfect materials, and ge- 



