MONTHLY REVIEW OF LITERATURE. 439 



abjured his vows, for the sake of becoming one of the corrupt ministers of 

 William Rufus, and an associate in his dissolute way of life. Neverthe- 

 less, the sight of his miserable master's sufferings and despair alarmed 

 his troubled conscience with the memory of his own guilt and broken 

 vows so fearfully, that he became incapable, through agitation and re- 

 morse, of calling to mind any prayer, excepting the appropriate ejacula- 

 tion to his own state, of 



' Lord be merciful to me a sinner ! ' 



" 'Diable!' cried the king, transported into a sudden fit of fury. 

 ' Art thou wasting my precious time in praying for thyself, false traitor ? 

 O blessed St. Luke ! Holy Evangelist ! whose name I have so often 

 profaned by using it as a ribald oath, send some comfort, and if thou 

 canst, raise up for me a leech, wise and honest as thyself! Will no one 

 give me a rosary ? Here, ye profane men of Belial, Grantmenil, Basset, 

 Fitz-Haymon, and Eustace de Boulogne, come hither, and bend your stub- 

 born knees, and say what prayers ye can muster among ye, for the benefit 

 of my soul/ 



"The warlike Normans looked at each other in dismay at this un- 

 wonted command from their sovereign, whose paroxysm of pain returned 

 on him with redoubled violence, in consequence of his alarm and distraction 

 of spirit. 



** ' Kneel down, I say, ye perverse heretics ! and repeat what prayers 

 ye can/ 



" There was an immediate genuflexion round the royal bed, while 

 Basset, Mortimer, Grantmenil, and the count de Boulonge began to 

 stammer forth disjointed fragments of Aves, Paternosters, Glorias, and 

 Credos in a clamorous confusion of tongues, which greatly afflicted the 

 king's head, though it afforded no relief to his spiritual distress. 



" ' Silence/ he exclaimed, ' ye noisy, untaught varlets ! Silence, I 

 tell ye ! Of what service is Latin gibberish to me, when I wot not one 

 word that it meaneth. Is there any one in my presence who can repeat 

 a whole prayer in English or Norman French ?' 



" The nobles shook their heads, protesting that Latin was the language 

 of holy mother church, and therefore Latin prayers must, doubtless, be 

 more efficacious than any others ; and though they all admitted they did 

 not understand the meaning of a single word that they offered up, yet 

 they said, ' God assuredly did, and that was all-sufficient/ f) 



From the late period at which these volumes have reached us, we are 

 prevented running over the stories seriatim. They abound in truth of 

 character, and in fine and well-drawn pictures of by-gone manners. The 

 experiment of making raconteurs, of individuals whose lives, actions, 

 and sayings, are so decidedly historical, was a hazardous one ; but Miss 

 Strickland came well qualified to the task, and she displays a store of 

 reading and observation highly creditable to her. Neither do we need to 

 say, that there are many sound moral aphorisms and deductions scattered 

 in the work, as it would be impossible for this lady to write without 

 aiming at doing good. 



We consider the " Pilgrims of Walsingham " to be an' honour to the 

 female intellect of the day. Few writers would have dared to take the 

 ground it occupies, and to have used the dramatis persona who figure in it ; 

 and still fewer would have succeeded. It is a work which must win its 

 way to applause by its own intrinsic merits. It has beauty, purity, 

 humour, truth, and a diversity of scenery and description, that cannot 

 fail to please all readers. We thank the intelligent publisher for having 

 given us a work of standard value. In the dearth of excellence, books 

 like these come like spring sun-light. 



