1827.] [ 81 ] 



MONTHLY REVIEW OF LITERATURE, DOMESTIC AND FOREIGN. 



Histnry of the Commonwealth of England, 

 from /,<? Commencement to the Restoration of 

 'Charles I I, Vd. //, by W. Godwin; 1826. 

 Godwin write a History of the Common- 

 wealthof a period f political conflict, 

 when the principles of monarchy and re- 

 publicanism were in fierce encounter when 

 presbyterians and independents, though not 

 united in opposition, were both opposed, 

 the one to an episcopal hierarchy, the other 

 to hierarchies of every kind ; lie write a 

 history of any period, whose hostility to 

 the institutions of society, both civil and 

 religious, are on record 1 Why not ? His 

 readers will he his judges, and closely will 

 they scrutinize his performance. This he 

 knows, and his knowledge of this is almost 

 a guarantee for the exercise of a rare qua- 

 lity in historians, common-honesty. Nor 

 is this the only presumption in his favour : 

 more than thirty years have rolled over his 

 head since the memorable period of his 

 early publications years spent in retreat 

 in close study and indefatigable industry. 

 Time, which brings with it a succession of 

 less turbulent fancies, and more acquain- 

 tance with realities, has dispersed his visions 

 of perfectibility without bereaving him of 

 all anticipations of progressive amendment. 

 He has, at all events, not suffered his ta- 

 lents to rust by disuse ; and the task he has 

 undertaken is one eminently calculated to 

 check the tendency of his younger days to- 

 wards theoretical conclusions. At every 

 turn he has evidence to weigh, and his 

 " Age of Chaucer," and " Lives of the 

 Phillips," prove him to possess a spirit of 

 research, and a patience of judgment, qua- 

 lified to weigh that evidence, and entitle 

 him to the respect of his cotemporaries. 



The present volume extends to the death 

 of Charles, and completing the personal 

 history of that luckless monarch, embraces 

 his full conclusions on the character of 

 Charles. Those conclusions are very de- 

 cidedly unfavourable ; but the judgment he 

 pronounces is carefully built upon the best 

 existing evidence. In the course of our 

 reading, we never met with a book where 

 less is hazarded ; every event is backed by 

 authorities ; and the deductions of the 

 writer are such as every unbiassed person 

 must draw from the same premises. The 

 Journals of the House are constantly be- 

 fore him a source of information which 

 has been hitherto singularly neglected. 

 The volume is not one of controversy ; it is 

 a new narrative, resulting from the study 

 of the original materials. Plume's narra- 

 tive has been well sifted by Brodie ; but 

 Godwin has nothing to do with either 

 Hume or Brodie. Vou would not know 

 that he had read either one or the other. 



We will very briefly sketch Glamorgan's 

 case, as it is represented in Hume and 

 Godwin. Every body knows Hume's 



M.M. New Series.- VOL. 1 1 1. No. 13. 



story ; but every body will not read God- 

 win's, deserving as it is of being read by 

 every lover of truth. Glamorgan (after- 

 wards Marquis of Worcester, and better 

 known by his " Century of Arts") was a 

 Catholic, and a person of considerable in- 

 fluence in Ireland. He was a favourite 

 with Charles ; and, after the battle of 

 Naseby, when Charles turned his last 

 thoughts to Ireland for aid, employed by 

 him. According to Hume's version, Or- 

 mond, the lord-lieutenant of Ireland,- was 

 directed to conclude a peace with the Ca- 

 tholics, and Glamorgan was to make a kind 

 of supplementary treaty conceding to the 

 Catholics such conditions as it might not 

 be prudent for Ormond's name to appear 

 in. Glamorgan was, however, to act in 

 subordination to Ormond; he was to con- 

 sult him to do nothing, in short, without 

 his advice and consent. Glamorgan, a hot- 

 headed fellow, suffered his zeal to outstrip 

 his commission ; and he finally concluded a 

 treaty with the Catholics at Kilkenny, on 

 terms which neither Charles nor Ormond 

 could sanction. The treaty and its terms 

 became public ; and Ormond, with the 

 concurrence of Digby, secretary of state, 

 threw Glamorgan into prison. The cla- 

 mour of the English parliament about the 

 treaty was great, and the King was charged 

 with a design to deliver up the Protestants 

 to the Catholics^ Charles assured them, 

 that Glamorgan's commission extended only 

 to the raising of troops ; and that in every 

 thing which he had stipulated for the re- 

 ligion or property of the Catholics, he had 

 exceeded his orders, &c. Though this de- 

 claration, says Hume, seems agreeable to 

 truth, some historians represent this inno- 

 cent transaction as a stain on the memory 

 of the unfortunate prince. 



Hume, however, must have felt his own 

 representation to be somewhat unsatisfac- 

 tory ; for in a note he says, Dr. Birch lias 

 written a treatise on this matter ; but it is 

 not my business to oppose any facts in that 

 gentleman's performance. It was, how- 

 ever, his business to consult the authentic 

 documents of that gentleman's publication, 

 and to make a fair use of them. Hume's 

 note is a very elaborate one, attempting to 

 invalidate Birch's story full of evasion 

 never once coming to the essential point. 



Now what is Godwin's account? That 

 Ormond was empowered to negotiate a 

 treaty one that miuht be published with 

 the Catholics, on condition of their fur- 

 nishing 10,000 men. That Glamorgan was 

 privately commissioned with the most 

 ample powers to command by sea and 

 land with blank patents of nobility, from 

 marquises to baronetcies with a promise 

 of the King's daughter, <3GO,000, and a 

 dukedom to make large concessions to the 

 Catholics, any thing indeed to secure their 



