Of the private life of Edward the Third, but little has descended to us, save what has been gathered indirectly from the copious public transactions of his reign. He was called early both to battle and to the throne; but he was found at once equal to the duties of either station. In person, he was of the middle size; well-formed; wellknit; possessing great bodily strength. His visage was comely; his eye bright and sparkling; the expression of his countenance pleasant, but majestic. He was a proficient in all the manly exercises of his time: and had added a steady foot, busy hand, and watchful eye, to the bold resolute heart that he had received from nature. He could deal what Piers Ploughman calls "the knock of a king, and incurable the wound." His temper was warm, but placable; terrible, when provoked, but easily appeased; fierce, upon the least sign of opposition from an enemy, but very tolerant even of the unpalatable counsel of his friends; merciful, when his power was unquestionable; severe, even to cruelty, when it was seriously endangered. Philip of Valois in early youth, before the imperial diet a few years later, he boldly asserted his questioned rights; and in both cases he gained his end. Like Cromwell, he was jealous of the dignity of the country that he governed; like Cromwell also, though not cruel, a mere consideration of humanity would probably not have led him to forego any serious political advantage. There was no petty tyranny about him; he knew how to strike boldly, fearlessly, unsparingly, and at the right moment; but he knew also how to pardon. In battle he was invariably calm and collected; setting peril at nought; despising death; courageous as the lions upon his shield; fighting, as though defeat were impossible. Before Edward's natural abilities were of a high order; his learning was not inconsiderable; his knowledge of languages was various; extending, it is said, to Latin, English, French, Italian, Spanish, and Dutch. Like his grandfather, he spoke effectively, especially to his soldiers. His devotion was solemn; the time of its display well chosen it always appears in prayer before battle, and in thanksgiving after victory. The ecclesiastical writers of his reign speak of his respect for the ministers of religion. Though fond of luxury, he was not habitually intemperate; his pleasures were of a manly character; his public displays magnificent, but not wasteful. When necessary, he could be munificent in his gifts, but he was a man who ordered his own expenses. His predecessor had been lavish: he was on the whole just. In deliberation he was cautious, slow, silent; in action prompt and decisive, tempering boldness with prudence, but never vacillating, never infirm of purpose. In prosperity and adversity he bore an equal mind. As a politician, Edward was a subtle negociator-by no means above dissimulation. He was, however, on the whole, faithful to his plighted word; although his subjects certainly felt not a few inVOL. I. (1843) No. II. X stances to the contrary. In his domestic affairs he was far happier than was common with his race. He placed confidence and affection in his wife; and she deserved it. His firmness prevented those domestic broils that broke out after his death; and between the prince his heir, and himself, there existed a rare and beautiful attachment. Edward succeeded to a throne, shaken to its fall by the weakness and vices of his parents; his prudence and valour gradually unfolded themselves under no common difficulties, and at last gave him success. His Scottish wars, although we should consider them unjust, were, to a certain extent, necessary for the security of his northern provinces. The war with France, even supposing his claim to have been a just one, was sure, whether successful or the reverse, to be injurious to England; but the repeated victories dazzled and flattered the nation. The armies returned rich with foreign plunder; and the lands of not a few of our old English families were purchased in this reign by some fortunate soldier. No English king before him ever attained to so much real European power; and none knew better how to employ it. Although his own, and a very close counsellor, Edward had the wisdom to call his people to his assistance, to lay his difficulties before them, to make his cause theirs, and their purses therefore his. His taxes were very great; but he balanced them by his victories. The money, moreover, was, on the whole, applied to the purposes for which it was raised; not diverted aside upon unworthy objects. The king enriched no Spenser, no Gaveston; made no prodigal donations, lavished no wealth upon purely selfish pleasures. As was said, with perhaps less truth, of Henry the Seventh, he matched Jupiter with Metis,tempered strength and justice; he seldom diverted the course of justice between man and man; he extended the power of the common, at the expense of the canon law; and the boon to his people by which he marked the jubilee of his reign, was the introduction of their native language into the law courts of the realm. Although almost always himself engaged in war, Edward secured perfect peace to his dominions at home. Abroad he was feared, even dreaded; at home he was respected and beloved. His victories gave him the knee, his home-government the hearts of his subjects. The Anglo-Norman monarchs of England however, and Edward amongst them, bore two sides to their character. Richard Coeur-de-Lion, who is known in England by his chivalrous generosity, is remembered in Normandy as a blood-thirsty and rapacious tyrant. And Edward's subjects of Aquitaine or Ponthieu, would have given a different account of his character from the men of Yorkshire or Middlesex. Edward's last days yielded to his first. In the solemn language of the Evangelist, "He had left his first love." Philippa was dead. The son in whom his hopes were centered had preceeded him to an untimely grave, War, disease, and old age, had cut down the gallant companions of his early days. His successor was too young and too feeble to grasp the sceptre of the Plantaganets. His conquests were wrested from him, and he was unable to vindicate his right. Unlike the brave Agnes Sorrel, Alice Perrers employed her influ ence to encourage his weakness, lived upon him during his dotage, and deserted him at his latter end. The death of Edward formed, indeed, a painful contrast to his life. But when he was gone, when men had time to remember his essential greatness, when they compared his mature wisdom with the opening follies of his successor, succeeded by the dreadful calamities of a usurped throne and a divided allegiance, then England looked back with regret to the character of her great and wise, though too warlike ruler. The grave has closed over monarchs as brave, as chivalrous, as politic, it may be, as prudent; but in that proud cemetery where Britain's princes moulder into dust, there lies none in whom were combined in so complete a degree, all the qualities of a sovereign and a soldier, who was so emphatically English in his character, upon whose recumbent form the spectator gazes with more respectful awe, or in whose long and brilliant reign the English people feel a keener or more enduring interest. -decus Anglorum, flos regum preteritorum, ART. IX.-Ballads and other Poems. By HENRY WADSWORTH LONGFELLOW, Author of "Voices of the Night," "Hyperion," &c. Fourth Edition. Cambridge (U.S.) John Owen. We need scarcely apprise our readers that the name of the author of this volume has long been associated with those of the highest lustre in the annals of American literature. Indeed, so extensive and confirmed has been the manifestation of popular favour towards the present collection of Professor Longfellow's "Ballads and other Poems," that the enterprizing and judicious publisher has been induced to stereotype the work; while a fourth edition has already justified his well-grounded confidence in the success of the undertaking. We feel happy in adding our testimony to the belief, that the popularity of Professor Longfellow's writings must extend itself wherever a knowledge of the English language prevails; and we doubt not that the exquisite original pieces, which accompany the various translations from the Swedish, German, and other sources of foreign literature, as introduced in the charming volume before us, will receive, at the hands of the several poets whose compositions have been thus favourably laid before the British and the American public, the reciprocal and just compliment of being transferred into their own respective languages. Amongst the contents of the present publication will be found a highly effective and rigidly faithful translation of Bishop Tegnér's singular and most impressive poem, entitled "Nattwardsbernen;" or, according to its designation in our vernacular, "The Children of the Lord's Supper." The author of this piece, we are told in the admirable preface to the work, "stands first among all the poets of Sweden, living or dead. His principal work is Frithiof's Saga;' one of the most remarkable poems of the age. This modern Skald has written his name in immortal runes. He is the glory and boast of Sweden; a prophet, honoured in his own country, and adding one more to the list of great names that adorn her history." We proceed to quote the following eloquent passage, without the slightest attempt at selection, which indeed is rendered unnecessary by the perfect beauty and grace of the entire composition. We have before intimated that the learned professor has eminently succeeded in combining the spirit of a free translation with the closest adherence to the style and character, and, we may now add, even to the idiomatic peculiarities of the original. Love is the creature's welfare, with God; but love among mortals He that does not deeply recognise the glowing hues of though which the venerable Tegnér has spread through this sublime mor: painting, and which have been so happily caught by the kindred spirit of the translator, must indeed be dead to the voice of feeling, and to the loftiest spells of imagination. The remainder of the volume consists of the following ballads: "The Skeleton in Armour;" "the Luck of Edenhall;" "the Wreck of the Hesperus ;" and "the Elected Knight;" all of which afford ample evidence of the peculiar force and originality, as well as impressive beauty, of Professor Longfellow's style. Attached to these, and forming the close of the work, is a collection of "miscellaneous" pieces, which display an infinite variety of bold conceptions and novel imagery, clothed in language remarkable for its noble simplicity and euphonious diction, and animated throughout by that true poetic energy, or vivida vis, which distinguishes the master from the mere copyist,-the imitator, indeed, of sentiments which he neither feels nor communicates to others. The necessarily limited space assigned for our notice, renders it difficult to convey an adequate impression to the reader of the author's high claims on his admiration; yet he will scarcely fail to recognise, in the exhibition of such short extracts as appear from their length most fitted for selection, the marked signs of a vigorous and creative pen rejoicing in the power of its inspiration, and engraving the record of its own strength and beauty in "runes" which are destined, as we truly believe, for immortality. Our first sample, from these most interesting and impressive minor poems, is taken from "The Skeleton in Armour," which, we must premise, conveys the supposed story of a Danish warrior, whose remains, clad in broken and corroded armour, had been dug up at Fall River: I was a Viking old! My deeds, though manifold, No Saga taught thee! Far in the Northern Land, Oft to his frozen lair, Tracked I the grisly bear; While from my path the hare Fled like a shadow; |