1831.] Monihlij Review of Liln-aturc. 207 



Which Mr. Merle makes no difficulty in understanding. He has no dou!)t the 

 words are those of the gaoler, touched to softness ; and he feels a happiness in 

 believing (that is, in persuading himself to believe,) that ho possesses the glass 

 which had been pressed by the loveliest lips that ever spoke — meaning sipped — 

 and does not wish to be undeceived. The circumstances are worth recording, 

 and the glass of being preserved. 



Memohials of the Stuart Dyxastv, &c., ixct^udixg the Coxstitutional 

 AND Ecclesiastical History of England, from the Decease of 

 Elizabeth to the Abdication of James H., hy Robert Vaughan. 

 2 vols. 8vo. 



Mr. Vaughan is the author of the Life and Opinions of Wicliffe — a work 

 published two or three years ago, remarkable for the qualities, which will be 

 found to distinguish the present performance — research, clearness, and candour. 

 The publication before us is one of a more arduous and complicated character : 

 it embraces the History, constitutional and ecclesiastical, of England, during the 

 troubled reigns of the Stuarts, in all its leading points. It is, though a con- 

 tinuous narrative, not one of details — they are for the most part passed over, 

 and the principles only of events are discussed, together v;ith the conduct and 

 the motives of the leading actors of the times. Mr. Vaughan is himself a non- 

 conformist — of wtiich class of dissenters we do not precisely know — the cast 

 of his sentiments relative to the " Independents" seems to betray his personal 

 ones. 



The revolution of 16S8 — the acknowledged epoch of our civil and religious 

 liberties — was the result of a protracted struggle in favour of popular rights — 

 a struggle maintained chiefly by religious men. In its earlier stages, the Puri- 

 tans were the instruments, undoubtedly the main instruments, and, to the last, 

 when others, even the Establishment, v\rere in effective activity, their efforts were 

 steadily exerted. We agree vnih. Mr. Vaughan, that there can be no hazard iti 

 affirming, that it was the weight of the Nonconformists which turned the scale 

 to the better side. The influence of these parties, and especially of the Puritans 

 and their descendants, on the great questions of civil and religious freedom, 

 though often alluded to, often even acknowledged, and never quite forgotten, 

 has never been fairly and adequately appreciated. For the most part, the wri- 

 ters of British history have sympathised little with these men ;. and with many, 

 the object has been to exhibit their conduct in colours of ridicule. No Non- 

 conformist, in fact, has ever attempted that separate and continuous investiga- 

 tion of the subject which its interest and importance clearly demand. To supply 

 this deficiency is the author's leading design, and he has done it in a manly 

 spirit and a temperate tone. 



It is not to be expected, nor does he expect, that he will give satisfaction to 

 the Establishment — his exhibitions of Bancroft, Laud, and others, whose object 

 was the ascendancy of a party, and the suppression of all opponents by almost 

 any means, must preclude all hopes of that kind. Neither, on the other hand, 

 will he be thought by the ultras among Nonconformists to have extended his cen- 

 sures far enough, or with severity enough. But there exists a large party in the 

 country, and one whose ranks, happily, are increasing every day, who care little 

 about the interests of mere parlies, or sects, or establishments — who are dis- 

 posed to judge of things by their utilities, and of persons by their conduct, and, 

 so that truth be got at, and justice prevail, are indifferent who it is that are 

 censured, or eulogized. Among these Mr. Vaughan will find some who will 

 think he has done the state some service. 



It is ])robably D'Israeli's recent book to which we are indebted for Mr. 

 Vaughan's. D'lsraeli has little of the historian in him — he is fond of an epi- 

 gram, and to tell a good thing is an object of more importance than the fair 

 estimate of facts. Mr. Vaughan is a grave man, and does not understand jest- 

 ing with grave matters. But, though indignation may have spurred him to his 

 undertaking, there are no symptoms that he has permitted that feeling to guide 

 his pen. The contempt he entertains for misrepresentation is too cool to hurry 



