Retrospect of Domestic Literature—History. 
ness of her situation made it necssary to 
return to Portugal; perhaps she had some 
intimation, that her jointure would be 
faithfully and punctually paid to her 
there. Jeaving England cn March 3, 
1092, she passed through France and 
Spain in her way to Lisbon: she was re- 
ceived by the French aud Spanish courts 
with every honour that could be paid her. 
Mer majesty survived this reign, dying at . 
Lisbon, on December 30, 1705; greatly 
courted and caressed by Pedro II. her 
brother, whom she left heir to the vast 
fortune she had saved; which the clergy 
had with an eager eye viewed as their 
own, Catharine displeased Charles II. 
by what he called prudery; but relaxing 
to the other extreme, in courting the fh- 
vour of his mistresses, she sunk into con- 
tempt. She was too much a Portugueze 
to be popular in England; and when she 
returned, too much English to be happy 
m Portugal. A woman without vices, a 
queen without virtues,” 
In the account of Lord Chancellor So- 
mers, as well in those of many other cha- 
racters, the materials seem not suificient- 
ly compressed. ‘Lhe sketch of Sir isaac 
Newton’s Life occupies near seven 
pages: and there are many others as dis- 
proportionately long. By the collectors 
of Portraits, these volumes will no doubt 
be deemed a curious accession. 
The publication of the first volune of 
“ The Chronicles of Holinshed” bespeaks 
a feature in our Domestic Literature, on 
which we cannot but bestow commenda-. 
tion. It has long been a reproach to the 
literary character of this country, that its 
old historians have been fated to slumber 
in obscurity: confined either to manu- 
script or black letter. ‘There now ap- 
pears a chance that we shall one day see 
an uniform edition of our old chroniclers. 
To begin with Nolinshed however is ex-: 
traordinary ; as both he and his coadju- 
tor Harrison were for the greater part 
compilers. Holinshed himself, says Dr. 
Farmer in his Essay on the Learning of 
Shakespeare, has been usually represent- 
ed by his biographers as a clergyman: 
and bisliop Tanner goes stll farther, in 
representing him not only as having been 
educated at Cambridge, but as having 
taken the degree of M.A. in 1544. The 
graduate, however, was one Ottiwell Hol- 
lingshed, who was atterwards named by 
the founder one of the first fellows of 
Trinity college: and from the will of the 
historian, printed by Herne, it appears 
that even at the end of life he was only 
a stéward, or a servant in some capacity 
623 
or other, to Thomas Burdet, esq. of 
Bromcote, in Warwickshire. In the pre- © 
sent edition, we are informed, the cas- 
trations which were pripcipally made in 
the third volume of the original work will 
he restored to their places. The defi- 
_ciencies of this nature in the generality 
of the copies are accurately explained 
by bishop Tanner in his Bibhotheca Bri- 
tannico-llibernica. They principally re- 
late to the history of lord Cobham and 
the earl of Leicester, during the time of 
queen Khzabeth; and consist of facts and 
observations which were thought, after . 
the printing of the work, unseasonable 
to be published. The Description of 
England prefixed to the Chronicles, is 
one of the most curious and authentic me- 
morials of the manners and domestic his- 
tory of the sixteenth century that can be 
produced. The whole is proposed to be 
completed in six quarto ¥oluimes, at the 
price of two guineas each. 
Here also may be noticed, the new edi- 
tion of Lorp CLanenpon’s “ History of 
the Rebellion,” published under the di 
rection of the university of Oxford, in: 
three volumes large octavo. 
In “ The Ancient and Modern History 
of Nice,” by Dr. Davis, we have a full 
detail. of the different revolutions which 
that fertile territory has experienced. 
The manners of the inhabitants also are 
not only faithfully but pleasingly delinea- 
ted. onr 
Nor have we a less important work to 
mention, in the “ HMistora Anglicana. 
circa tempus Conquestus Anglia a Gu- 
lielno Notho Normannorum Duce, Se-. 
lecta Monumenta:’ edited by Baron 
Masrres, from the more copious collec- 
tion of the Norman writers, by Duchesne, 
published at Paris in 1619, ‘The tracts 
here given, are principally such as relate: 
either to the conguest of England by the 
Normans, or to the state ot the country: 
for a few years before and aiter that nn= _ ; 
portant change in its, condition. The” 
first of them is entitled, Eonme, Angfo-. 
rum reging, Richardi prim, ducts Nor- 
mannorum, filie, Encomium. . Incerto 
auctore, sed co-etuneo: comprising the 
history of twenty-seven years from A. D. 
1013 to 1040. The second tract is in- 
titled Gesta Guillelmi, Ducis Norman- 
norum, et Regis Anglorum; a Gulielmo 
Pictavensi, scripta. The third, contains, 
the Hyxcerpta, from. the Ecclesastical 
History of Ordericus Vitalis. The fourth 
historical tract is a short yearly chroni-. 
cle of public events, from the year 633 
to the year 1293, from a manuscript 
L2 fount 
