The chief privilege enjoyed by the lord of the Isle o Wight, as the hiftorian remarks, was that of holding a judicial tribunal, called the Knighten Court, properly the Knight's Court, the nature of which is afterwards diftinctly delineated in the work.

We shall delay the farther prosecution of this History till our next Review; observing only at present that it is distinguished by fuch accuracy as might be expected in a work which has been digefted with fo much deliberation and care. It is impoffible to discriminate the materials collected by the father and fon; but from obfervations of recent date, we may ascribe no fmall fhare of the researches, as well as the arrangement, to the right honourable editor, who appears to be every way well qualified for the difcharge of the filial duty which he has fo piously fulfilled,

[To be continued.]

The Hiftory of Great Britain, from the firft Invafion of it by the Romans under Julius Cæfar. By Robert Henry, D. D. Vol. IV. 4to. l. 1s. in boards. Cadell,

DR.

R. Henry feems to profecute, with unabating ardour, the extenfive plan of this work. The prefent volume comprifes the period of hiftory from the death of king John to the acceffion of Henry the Fourth; an interval of more than a hundred and eighty years. The authorities on which the narrative is founded have been fo often cited by preceding writers, that few remarks are to be made on the detail of tranfactions. It is chiefly the ftyle, and the defcription of characters, which can, in so late an age, render an author of English history confpicuous for originality in the manner of treating his fubject. We fhall therefore lay before our readers Dr. Henry's character of the earl of Leicester, who was killed in a battle near Evesham, in the year 1265.

Thus fell Simon de Montfort, the great earl of Leicester, who raifed himself to a degree of greatnefs hardly inferior to royalty, and of wealth fuperior to that of fome of our monarchs, Nothing is more difficult than to form a juft idea of the real character of this illuftrious perfon, who was abhorred as a devil by one half of England, and adored as a faint and guardian angel by the other. He was unquestionably one of the greatest generals and politicians of his age; bold, ambitious, and enterprifing ever confidered, both by friends and enemies, as the very foul of the party which he efpoufed. He was fierce and clamorous in the caufe of liberty, till he arrived at power, which he employed in aggrandifing and enriching his own family. But whe

ther

ther he did this in order to enable him to establish the liberties of his country on a felid foundation, or only to gratify his own avarice and ambition, is perhaps impoffible to be determined.'

In this paffage, the antithefis of devil and faint appears to be an unneceffary amplification; at leaft, the former of thofe epithets might, we think, have been omitted with propriety.

The following is the character which he draws of Henry the Third.

Henry III. furnamed of Winchefter, was in his perfon of middle stature, of a robust constitution, but unpleafing countenance; his left eye-brow hanging down and almoft covering his eye. This prince was certainly not poffeffed of great intellectual abilities, much lefs of true wifdom, and the right art of governing; yet his understanding, does not feem to have been remarkably defective, but had unhappily taken a turn towards low difhoneft cunning. As the ends which he had in view were often bad, and fuch as could not be openly avowed, he endeavoured to attain them by the winding ways of treachery and deceit. Some of Henry's repartees are preferved in hiftory, which do not befpeak him to have been that fimple fool he is often reprefented. When the archbishop of Canterbury, with the bishops of Winchester, Salisbury, and Carlifle, were fent by parliament, in 1253, to prefent a very strong remonftrance against uncanonical and forced elections to vacant fees: "It is true, replied he, I have been fomewhat faulty in that particular: I obtruded you, my lord of Canterbury, upon your fee: I was obliged to employ both entreaties and menaces, my lord of Winchester, to get you elected, when you should have been rather fent to school: my proceedings were indeed very irregular and violent, my lords of Salisbury and Carlifle, when I raised you from the lowest ftations to your prefent dignities. It will become you therefore, my lords, to fet an example of reformation, by refigning your prefent benefices, and try to obtain preferment in a more regular manner." But this prince was much more defective in perfonal courage than in understanding; and, as appears from the whole courfe of his hiftory, as well as from many anecdotes, was of a very cowardly and timorous nature. In the year 1258, when the royal authority was much eclipfed, and the earl of Leicester was in his glory, the king, in going to the lower by water, was overtaken in a storm of thunder and lightning, with which he was greatly terrified, and ordered his barge to be put a fhore at the first landing place. But being met by the earl of Leicester at his landing, his terrors redoubled, and he exhibited all the marks of the greatest confternation in his countenance, which made the earl obferve, that the storm was now over, and he had no further reafon to be afraid; to which the king replied, "I am indeed be. yond measure afraid of thunder and lightning; but, by God's

head,

head, I fear thee more than all the thunder in the universe.” Henry was ftill more deftitute of the noble virtues of fincerity in making, and fidelity in obferving his engagements, than he was of courage. Whenever he was hard pushed by the discontented barons, he fubmitted to any terms they thought fit to prescribe, and confirmed them by all the most awful oaths and folemnities they could devife: but the moment he thought he could do it with fafety, he violated all his promifes and oaths without hesitation, fatisfying himself with the abfolution of his good friend the pope, which he eafily obtained. This wicked prevarication was not more odious than it was pernicious to his affairs, and obliged the barons to proceed to much greater extremities than otherwise they would have done, plainly perceiving that nothing could make him keep his promifes, but putting it out of his power to break them. But the most fingular feature in this prince's character was his incorrigible partiality and affection to foreigners, which attended him through his whole life, and occafioned infinite vexations to himself and his fubjects. No fooner was one fet of these foreign favourites driven from the royal prefence, by attacks which fhook the throne itself, than others took their place, and were cherished with equal fondness, and difplaced with equal difficulties and dangers. It is highly probable, that these foreigners, having their fortunes to make, were much more fupple and infinuating, and more ready to comply with all his humours, than the English barons, confcious of their own power and importance. The piety of this prince is much extolled by the monkish writers of thofe times. He was no doubt a very ufeful and liberal fon to his holy father the pope, whom he af fifted with all his might in fleecing his unhappy fubjects. He was alfo a moft devout worshipper of rufty nails and rotten bones, particularly thofe of his favourite St. Edward the Confeffor, which he placed in a fhrine of gold, adorned with precious ftones. One of the most commendable parts of this prince's character is hardly ever mentioned by our hiftorians, his love of the arts; for the encouragement of which he expended great fums of money. It must further be owned, that he was a very warm and generous, though not a very conftant friend, a faithful husband, and an affectionate parent.'

In mentioning the inftances of this king's piety, our author feems to affect the farcaftic ftyle of Voltaire, without the vivacity of that agreeable writer.

In general, Dr. Henry gives a plain and faithful narrative. of tranfactions, in a ftyle which is fometimes careless, but for the most part conducted with a decent attention to mediocrity of embellishment; and where his fubject admits of any ftriking anecdote, he fails not to lay hold of the oppor tunity to introduce it.

The fecond chapter contains the hiftory of religion in Great Britain, during the period which forms the fubject of this

volume. The following anecdote relative to the courage of the bishop of Lincoln, in refifting the imperious dictates of papal defpotifm, affords a memorable inftance of the exertion of religious liberty amidst the general fuperftition of those times.

• While the pope was thus trampling upon the church and kingdom of England, a private prelate had the courage to oppofe him; and, which is more wonderful, to oppofe him with fuccefs. This ecclefiaftical hero was Robert Grofted, bishop of Lincoln, a perfon of uncommon learning for the age in which he lived; and of fuch unfeigned piety, untainted probity, and undaunted courage, as would have rendered him an ornament to any age. When this bishop received bulls from Rome, he examined them with great attention; and if he found that they commanded any thing contrary to the precepts of the gospel, and the interests of religion, (which was very often the cafe), he tore them in pieces, inftead of putting them in execution, Innocent IV, one of the most imperious pontiffs that ever filled the papal chair, fent this bishop a bull, which contained in it the Icandalous claufe of Non obftante, so much and so justly exclaimed against in that age; and befides, commanded him to bestow a confiderable living in his gift upon the pope's nephew, who was an infant. The bishop was fo far from complying with this bull, that he fent the pope a letter, in which he expofed the injustice and impiety of it, with the greatest freedom and feverity. With regard to the claufe of Non obftante, lately introduced into the papal bulls, the good bishop ufed thefe expreffions in his letter:

That it brings in a deluge of mifchief upon Christendom, and gives occafion to a great deal of inconftancy and breach of faith; it even Thakes the very foundations of truft and fecurity amongst mankind, and makes language and letters almost infignificant." With refpect to that part of the bull which required him to bestow a benefice upon an infant, he fays," Next to the fins of Lucifer and Antichrift, there cannot be a greater defection, or which carries a more direct oppofition to the doctrine of our Saviour and his apoftles, than to deftroy peoples fouls, by depriving them of the benefits of the paftoral office; and yet thofe perfons are guilty of this fin, who undertake the facerdotal function, and receive the profits, without difcharging the duty. From hence it is evident, that those who bring fuch unqualified perfons into the church, and debauch the hierarchy, are much to blame; and that their crimes rife in proportion to the height of their station." Thefe were ftrains of truth and freedom to which his holiness had not been accustomed. He fell into a furious paffion, and fwore by St. Peter and St. Paul, that he would utterly confound that old, impertinent, deaf, doting fellow, and make him a talk, and astonishment, and example to all the world. "What!" faid he, " is not the king of England, his mafter, our vaffal, or rather our flave? and will he not, at

the

the leaft fign of ours, caft him into prifon ?" When his holiness had a little spent his rage, the cardinals reprefented to him, "That the world began to difcover the truth of many things contained in the bishop's letter; and that if he perfecuted a prelate fo renowned for piety, learning, and holiness of life, it might create the court of Rome a great many enemies." They advised him therefore to let the matter pafs, and make as if he had never feen this provoking letter. What honour is due to the memory of the noble Grofted, who made so bold a stand against the tyranny of the court of Rome, in an age when it trampled upon kings and emperors !'

The third chapter treats of the hiftory of the conftitution, government, and laws of Great Britain, during the period above mentioned. Our author fhews that the common, as well as the statute law of England received confiderable improvements in the reign of Henry the Third. To promote this reformation, feveral circumstances contributed; viz. the establishment of the court of Common Pleas at Westminster ; the retreat of the clergy, who were great enemies to the common law, both from the bench and from the bar, in obedience to a canon made A. D. 1217; the establishment of the inns of court; the decline of trials by ordeals and fingle combat, with fome other regulations. Dr. Henry has traced with great perfpicuity the changes which took place in the conftitution, government, and laws of Great Britain, during the feveral reigns in the period which forms the fubject of the prefent volume; and he has occafionally accompanied the recital with fenfible remarks.

The fourth chapter comprifes the hiftory of learning in Great Britain, during the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, Dr. Henry obferves, that, though the ftate of learning in this period was fluctuating, and fome parts perhaps declined a little; yet, upon the whole, the circle of the sciences was enlarged, and fome of them were confiderably improved. This he endeavours to evince from a view of the fciences that were cultivated; of the most learned men who flourished; and of the most confiderable feminaries of learning that were established in Britain.

In the fifth chapter the author gives a hiftory of the arts in Great Britain, during the period of his prefent enquiry; firft of the neceffary arts, and afterwards of the fine arts. It does not appear that any new operations of great importance in agriculture were introduced in this period; but those which had before been in ufe were now practifed more univerfally, and with greater dexterity than in former times. Dr. Henry remarks, as a curious circumstance, that not only treatifes

com