creased the admiration of Edward's holiness,' p. 284. - One extract more, and we have done; and it relates to so singular a phænomenon in natural history, that we well may be excused for its insertion: the rather, indeed, as the story which causes the reflection was related to Malmesbury by a person ' of the utmost veracity. ‹ I deem this the less wonderful, because it is well known, in Asia, that if a leopard bite any person, a party of mice approach directly, to discharge their urine on the wounded man; and, that a filthy deluge of their water attends his death; but if, by the care of servants, driving them off, the destruction can be avoided during nine days; then medical assistance, if called in, may be of service. My informant had seen a person wounded after this manner, who despairing of safety on shore, proceeded to sea, and lay at anchor; when immediately more than a thousand mice swam out, wonderful to relate, in the rinds of pomegranates, the insides of which they had eaten; but they were drowned through the loud din of the sailors. "For the Creator of all things has left nothing he has made destitute of sagacity; nor any pest without its remedy."" Our readers have now had the opportunity of forming for themselves an opinion on the style of the translation. As the original is not very common, and we have already made some observations on it, one quotation from it seems likely to be no improper supplement to this article: but it shall be altogether of a different character from those which we have hitherto adduced: viz. the account of the battle of Hastings, with a brief view of the conduct of the leaders of the respective armies, Harold and William the First, on that memorable occasion. " Ita utrinque animosi duces disponunt acies, patrio quisque ritu : Angli, ut accepimus, totam noctem insomnem cantibus potibusque ducentes, manè incunctanter in hostem procedunt: pedites omnes cum bipennibus, conserta ante se scutorum testudine, impenetrabilem cuneum faciunt: quod profectò illis eâ die saluti fuisset, nisi Normanni, simulatâ fuga, more suo consertos manipulos laxassent. Rex* ipse pedes juxta vexillum stabat cum fratribus, ut, in commune periculo æquato, nemo de fugâ cogitaret. Vexillum illud post victoriam Papæ misit Willielmus, quod erat in hominis pugnantis figurâ, auro et lapidibus, arte sumptuosa contextum. "Contrà, Normanni tota nocte confessioni peccatorum vacantes, manè Dominico corpore communicarunt. Pedites cum arcubus et sagittis primam frontem muniunt, equites retrò divisis alis consistunt. Comest * Harold. + William. He is generally distinguished by this title, answering to our Earl or Count, previously to the Conquest, and not by the appellation of Duke, by which modern historians have uniformly described him. vultu serenus (severus), et clara (durâ) voce, suæ parti utpote justiori Deum affuturum pronuncians* arma poposcit: moxque ministrorum tumultu loricam inversam indutus, casum risu correxit; vertetur, inquiens, fortitudo ducatûs mei in regnum. Tunc cantilena Rollandi inchoatâ, ut martium viri exemplum pugnaturos accenderet; inclamatoque Dei auxilio, prælium utrinque consertum, bellatumque acriter, neutris in multam diei horam cedentibus. Quo comperto, Willielmus innuit suis, ut, fictâ fugá, campo se substraherent. Hoc commento, Anglorum cuneus solutus, quasi palantes hostes à tergo cæsurus, exitium sibi maturavit. Normanni enim conversis ordinibus reversi dispersos adoriuntur, et in fugam cogunt. Ita ingenio circumventi pulchram mortem pro patriæ ultione meruere: nec tamen ultioni suæ defuere, quin crebrò consistentes, de insequentibus insignes cladis acervos face» rent. Nam occupato cumulo (qu. tumulo?) Normannos calore succensos, acriter ad superiora nitentes in vallum dejiciunt, levique negotio in subjectos tela torquentes, lapides rotantes, omnes ad unum fundunt. Item fossatum quoddam præruptum compendiario et noto sibi transitu evadentes, tot ibi inimicorum conculcavere, ut cadaverum cumulo planitiem campi æquarent. Valuit hæc vicissitudo, modo illis, modo istis vincentibus, quantum Haroldi vita moram fecit. At ubi jactu sagittæ violato cerebro procubuit †, fuga Anglorum perennis in noctem fuit. Emicuit ibi virtus amborum ducum. "Haroldus non contentus munere imperatorio, ut hortaretur alios, militis officium sedulo exsequebatur. Sæpe hostem cominus venientem ferire, ut nullus impunè accederet, quin statim uno ictu eques et equus prociderent. Quapropter, ut dixi, eminus letati arundine ictus mortem implevit. Jacentis femur unus militum gladio proscidit, unde à Willielmo ignominicæ notatus, quòd rem ignavam et pudendam fecisset, militia pulsus est. "Item Willielmus suos clamore, et præsentiâ hortari, ipse primus procurrere, confertos hostes invadere. Ideo dum ubique sævit, ubique infrendet, tres equos electissimos, sub se confossos, co die amisit. Perstitit tamen magnanimi ducis et corpus et animus, quamvis familiari susurro à custodibus corporis revocaretur; perstitit, inquam, dones victoriam plenam superveniens nox infunderet. Et procul dubio divina illum manus protexit, ut nihil sanguinis ex ejus corpore hostis hauriret, quamvis illum tot jaculis impeteret. "Illa dies fuit fatalis Anglis, funestum excidium dulcis patriæ, pro novorum dominorum commutatione," &c. Lib. 3. ‡ This * Henry of Huntingdon, in his annals, puts a long speech into the mouth of William, before the action: probably more with a view of imitating classical history, than from having ascertained that any oration was delivered. † According to Huntingdon, the arrow went through the eye into the head. ‡ Vide "Rerum Anglicarum Scriptores post Bedam præcipui," P. 56, 57. Roger Hoveden passes over the battle of Hastings with great rapidity, and more like a chronicler than an historian: but he agrees with Malmesbury in recounting some partial successes of the This extract has not been chosen from any peculiar excellence compared with other parts of the work: but it affords a very fair specimen of the writer's style; which will, we imagine, be allowed by all scholars not only to be perspicuous, but to contain fewer traces of barbarous Latin, or indeed of a semi-barbarous æra, than might fairly be expected in the author's age and country. It does not in fact exhibit many constructions to which even the fastidious critic of the present day could make just exceptions. - The author's description of the personal appearance of William, concise as it is, places the man exactly before our eyes, and is drawn, we doubt not, with much fidelity. "Justæ fuit staturæ, immensæ corpulentiæ, facie ferâ, fronte capillis nuda, roboris ingentis in lacertis, ut magno sæpè spectaculo fuerit, quod nemo ejus arcum tenderet, quem ipse admisso equo, pedibus nervo extento, sinuaret: magnæ dignitatis, sedens et stans, quanquam obesitas ventris nimis protensa regium corpus deformaret. P. 63. Script. post Bedam. He was of just stature, extraordinary corpulence, fierce countenance; his forehead bare of hair: of such great strength of arm, that it was often matter of surprize that no one was able to draw his bow, which himself could bend when his horse was in full gallop. He was majestic whether sitting or standing, although the protuberance of his belly deformed his royal person.' Translation, p. 351. We have quoted the translation of this passage because, by the just and ready conception of one or two words in the original, here introduced with rather peculiar usage, the translator has shewn his intimacy with the nicer idioms of the Latin tongue: but we would observe to him that he has neglected to render the words, 'pedibus nervo extento, which in some measure describe the means by which this act of William was performed. It cannot be said of him as of the hero of old, Ὡς ἂρ ̓ ἀτερ σπουδῆς τάνυσε μέγα τόξον. ΙΙ. xix. Mr. Sharpe has rendered the account of the battle of Hastings not only with very minute accuracy, but at the same time with considerable spirit of language; and we might instance it as one of those passages in which he has been occasionally tempted to break through the trammels of style that he had imposed on the English. Ingulph, the historian, describes the force which Harold brought into the field as consisting mostly of raw recruits. Harold was suddenly recalled from Yorkshire without his army, on the news of William's landing; and, in the words of Ingulph, "collectâ popularium aliquali turba, confectaque ex iis acie, adhuc rudi nimis et tenera, exercitum non expectat." REV. DEC. 1816. Aa himself. himself. - In conclusion, we must acknowlege that we feel ourselves greatly indebted to the person who has made so very valuable an addition to the English library, and we most sincerely wish him success in the farther prosecution of his plan: whether in his projected version of William of Newburgh, the continuator of Malmesbury to the close of the twelfth century, in which labour he announces that he has already made considerable progress, or in translating any other of the more eminent monkish historians with whom his peculiar line of study has made him conversant. ART. II. Margaret of Anjou: A Poem. In Ten Cantos. By Miss Holford, Author of "Wallace, or the Fight of Falkirk." 4to. pp. 474. 21. 2s. Boards. Murray. 1816. We felt considerable pleasure, a few seasons ago, in offering our meed of approbation to Miss Holford's "Wallace." (Rev. Vol. lxii. N. S. p. 26.) At the time, indeed, when that poem appeared, the popularity of its prototypes, the metrical romances of Mr. Scott, was ascending to its zenith; and any performance that bere an affinity to those highly favoured productions claimed attention and excited interest. We have, however, more reason every day to suspect that this ardent passion of the public has somewhat cooled; and, as is often the case in these ague-fits of literary enthusiasm, the shiver begins to threaten that it may become proportional to the glow. It cannot be denied that much of injustice and frivolity belongs to this fickleness: but all such works will have their vacillations; and it will most certainly happen that, wherever constant and violent infractions of the established rules of composition occur, the praise which any publications so offending may obtain will prove to a certain degree ephemeral. The great and vigorous genius of the founder of the modern school of metrical romance will for ever preserve his poems from absolute neglect and oblivion: but his numerous imitators, "whose salt is not strong enough to season their corruptions," must expect gradually to descend into the abyss of silence or contempt. We are far from being so unjust to Miss Holford, or so inconsistent with our former opinions of this lady's poetical powers, as to conceive that her "Wallace' will, in any moderate lapse of time at least, share so ignominious a fate: but we are deceived indeed if Margaret of Anjou will long survive George Colman's Cognate-Battle of Hexham; or, in other words, will obtain a place of distinction in any but the curious and rare libraries of the twentieth century. Having allotted so handsome a period for the possible existence of this truly "metrical" quarto, we shall exhibit specimens of its contents with the less forbearance, and criticize them with the less tendernesss. We need not trouble our readers with any analysis of a story which, in the outline, is true to history; nor with a delineation of characters so well known: but we shall select some passages either of natural or moral description, point out a few of their blemishes, and leave the rest to general discovery. Oh, I do feel thee now! oh, once again I feel thee glowing in my soul, I feel thy beam upon my brow, I feel thee thro' each artery roll Tumultuous, fierce and bright - impatient of controul! • Lead on, my Muse! For many a day, She, whose benign and generous glow Pour'd warmth into my heart even in those realms of snow.' We by no means allow (as we have intimated above) that the muse of Margaret of Anjou' is the same with the muse of Wallace, - is she ' who led Miss Holford forth, Whether the tuneful fair caught a cold in that northern excursion from which she never recovered, or whatever may be the cause, we think that her present effort is tame and insipid when contrasted with the former; very little improved as to correctness, and essentially deteriorated and dendened in spirit. The vehement and self-raised vigour of this exordium is unpleasing to our taste; and we cannot help in some measure comparing it to the lofty passage in one of Fielding's burlesque tragedies, in which a frantic heroine is made to say of her head, "It aches - like any mad!"- |