284 FOREIGN CRITICAL NOTICES OF NEW PUBLICATIONS. 



character of its predecessors. There is no one better fitted for a task of such 

 maf?nitude and difficulty of execution than Raumer. Imbued, as the cele 

 brated author of the Hohenstauffen must be, with a knowledge of the history 

 of Europe, drawn from original sources, no other than a brilliant success 

 could be expected to attend the labours of such a man. It is difficult to 

 affijrd an analysis of an historical work, embracing such a wide extent ; 

 but we we may, perhaps, succeed in giving some notion of the literary 

 and historical merits of this production by citing a few of those passages 

 which admit of being detached from the body of the history without 

 detriment to the rest. 



This third volume opens with a history of Spain and the Netherlands 

 from the death of Charles V. to the beginning of the 17th century. The 

 commencement of the reign of Philip II. contains the following passage : — 



** Immediately on Philip's arrival ia Spain, the stakes were kindled in Valladolid 

 and Seville, serving at the same time as bon fires and as indications of the kind of 

 brilliancy which would irradiate his reign. People of all degrees, conditions, ages, 

 and sexes, ridiculously attired, mocked and insulted, were tied to the stake. These 

 hymeneal torches the cruel tyrant lighted up on occasion of his marriage with 

 Elizabeth, the daughter of the equally cruel Catherine de Medici. Such sacrifices 

 the superstitious bigot deemed pleasing to the Almighty, and calculated to retain 

 his people in quiet and obedience. That there is an obedience other than that of 

 the slave, another quiet than that of the grave — that it is the duty of a king to call into 

 renewed existence an exhausted people, to moderate feverish enthusiasm, and give 

 it a sanative development, Philip not only refused to admit, but was incapable of 

 conceiving. It seemed to him beyond all doubt, that the despised Netherlander would 

 venture much less than the proud Spaniard, to oppose his royal mandates. But both 

 Belgium and France in those days learnt that at the moment when the tyranny 

 of rulers imagine every thing reduced to subjection, the true spirit of liberty 

 springs up more energetically in magnanimous souls, and that when the madness 

 of the people have torn asunder all the ties which unite society together, the mild 

 hand of a king offers the best cure and renovation." 



The character of Philip's great opponent, William of Orange, is 

 delineated with the hand of a master, and is among the best passages in 

 the book. 



"The calculating and analysing mind of Philip, which dissolved all his works 

 and efforts into nought, was in William a creative and active wisdom ; instead of 

 cunning sagacity, he displayed a penetrating foresight ; instead of self-willed 

 pertinacity, persevering fortitude ; instead of heartless indifference, an imperturbable 

 calmness ; instead of fruitless endeavours, indefatigable activity. His motto, 

 * calm in the midst of stormy seas,' was not adopted to produce an impression, but 

 was the spontaneous exclamation of a magnanimous soul, which was equal to every 

 situation and enterprise. He penetrated alike the present and the future, and 

 never losing his self command, he always remained the master of circumstances. 

 He was serious, for he understood the signs of the times and the destinies to which 

 he was called ; yet he was cheerful, for he felt that he was not unequal to the task 

 which fate had imposed upon him. His condescension and mildness operated like a 

 charm on all hearts, because they proceeded from his heart ; yet did he never forfeit 

 either dignity or respect, and in his brief but energetic discourses, delivered with 

 mildness or with a powerful voice, as occasions required, he made his countrymen 

 sensible that it became them no less to follow, than it did him to offer, advice. His 

 princely fortune was at first employed in a noble hospitality and royal splendour, but 

 subsequently he sacrificed all he had on the altars of his country. All sports and 

 amusements had lost their relish, nor did he require such recreative relaxations. At 

 his hospitable board it was not remarked, what anxieties oppressed the apparently 

 cheerful mind, although many sought in the hour of conviviality to sound and 

 penetrate his views. Few are able to conceive how the most elevated serenity and 

 the noblest seriousness can flow from the same source ; whence it has happened 

 that the harmonious nature of the Prince of Orange has been resolved in an 

 arbitrary and singular manner, and again put together in an odious form. With 

 the same absurdity some have maintained that he was destitute of religion, 

 because he condemned alike the fury of the Calvanistic destroyer of images and 

 the Catholic stakes and scaffolds, declaring as unchristian all persecution for 

 religion. It was not he who introduced the revolution in the Netherlands, but he 



