enforce reluctant service; my crown was won by the hearts of my people' Girded by those hearts let me reign, or, mourned by them, let me fall. So God and St. George favour me as I speak the truth.

And as the king ceased he uncovered his head, and kissed the cross of his sword. A thrill went through the audience. Many were there disaffected to his person, and whom Warwick's influence alone could have roused to arms; but at the close of an address, spirited and royal in itself, and borrowing thousand-fold effect by the voice and mien of the speaker, no feeling but that of enthusiastic royalty, of almost tearful admiration, was left in those steel-clad breasts.

As the king lifted on high the cross of his sword, every blade leapt from its scabbard and glittered in the air; and the dusty banners in the hall waved, as to a mighty blast, when, amidst the rattle of armour, burst forth the univesal cry-"Long live Edward the Fourth! long live the king!"

The sweet countess, ever amidst the excitement, kept her eyes anxiously fixed on Warwick, whose countenance, however, shaded by the black plumes of his casque, though the visor was raised, revealed nothing of his mind. Her daughters were more powerfully affected; for Isabel's intellect was not so blinded by ambition but that the kingliness of Edward forced itself upon her mind with a might and solemn weight which crushed for a moment her aspiring hopes. Was this the man unfit to reign-this the man voluntarily to resign a crown-this the man whom George of Clarence, without fratricide could succeed? No! there spoke the soul of the First and of the Third Edward; there shook the mane, and there glowed the eye of the indomitable lion of the august Plantagenets. And the same conviction, rousing softer and holier sorrow, sat on the heart of Anne. She saw, as for the first time clearly before her, the awful foe with whom her ill-omened and beloved prince had to struggle for his throne. In contrast beside that form in the prime of manly youth-a giant in its strength, a God in its beautyrose the delicate shape of the melancholy boy who, afar in exile, coupled in his dreams the sceptre and the bride. By one of those mysteries magnetism seeks to explain, in the strong intensity of her emotions, in the tremor of her shaken nerves, fear seemed to grow prophetic. A stream as of blood rose up from the dizzy floors; the image of her young prince, bound and friendless, stood before the throne of that warrior-king. In the waving glitter of the countless swords raised on high, she saw the murderous blade against the boy-heir of Lancaster descend-descend! Her passion, her terror, at the spectre which fancy thus evoked, seized and overcame her; and ere the last hurrah rent its hollow echo to the raftered roof, she sank from her chair to the ground, hueless and insensible as the dead.

The king had not without design permitted the unwonted presence of the women in this warlike audience, partly because he was not unaware of the ambitious spirit of Isabel, partly because he counted on the affection shown to his boyhood by the countess, who was said to have singular influence over her lord; but principally because, in such a presence, he trusted to avoid all discussion and all questioning, and to leave the effect of his eloquence, in which he excelled all his contemporaries, Gloucester alone excepted, single and uinmpaired; and, therefore, as he rose, and returned with a majestic bend the acclamation of the warriors, his eye now turned VOL. I. (1843) No. III.

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towards the chairs where the ladies sat, and he was the first to perceive the swoon of the fair Anne.

With the tender grace that always characterised his service to women, he descended promptly from his throne, and raised the lifeless form in his stalwart arms; and Anne as he bent over her, looked so strangely lovely in her marble whiteness, that even in that hour a sudden thrill shot through a heart always susceptible to beauty, as the harp string to the breeze.

"It is but the heat, lady," said he to the alarmed countess," and let me hope that interest which my fair kinswoman may take in the fortunes of Warwick and of York, hitherto linked together

"May they ever be so!" said Warwick; who, on seeing his daughter's state, had advanced hastily to the dais, and, moved by the king's words, his late speech, the evils that surrounded his throne, the gentleness shown to the beloved Anne, forgetting resentment and ceremony alike, he held out his mailed hand. The king, as he resigned Anne to her mother's arms, grasped with soldierly frankness, and with ready wit of the cold intellect which reigned beneath the warm manner, the hand thus extended, and holding still that iron gauntlet in his own ungloved and jewelled fingers, he advanced to the verge of the dais, to which, in the confusion occasioned by Anne's swoon, the principal officers had crowded, and cried aloud :—

"Behold Warwick and Edward, thus hand in hand, as they stood when the clarions sounded the charge at Tonton; and that link, what swords forged on mortal's anvil can rend or sever?

In an instant every knee there knelt; and Edward exultingly beheld that what before had been allegiance to the earl was now only homage to the king.

NOTICE.

ART. XV. - Memoirs of the Life of the Rev. John Williams.

EBENEZER PROUT.

By

A painstaking and minute biography of the "Martyr of Erromanga," whose services and fate in the South Seas will long maintain a hold of the mind of the religious world. Mr. Williams was a remarkable man, even when measured along with the more distinguished and laborious champions who have gone forth to the ends of the earth, and to the isles, to shed the light of the gospel among the benighted nations. His parentage, his youth, his conversion, and his " Missionary Enterprises," abound with incidents and lessons of an exciting description; while his violent death has the interest of tragedy. But to the work before us the curious as well as serious reader will resort, even should he happen to know nothing more of its subject than what is communicated in the following passages relative to the manner of his murder, by the captain of the vessel.

"On reaching the head of the bay, we saw several natives standing at a distance we made signs to them to come towards us, but they made signs for us to go away. We threw them some beads on shore; which they

eagerly picked up, and came a little closer, and received from us some fishhooks and beads, and a small looking-glass. On coming to a beautiful valley between the mountains, having a small run of water, we wished to ascertain if it was fresh; and we gave the chief a boat-bucket to fetch us some; and in about half an hour he returned running with the water; which, I think, gave Mr. Williams and myself more confidence in the natives. They ran and brought us some cocoa-nuts, but were still extremely shy. Mr. Williams drank of the water the native brought, and I held his hat to screen him from the sun. He seemed pleased with the natives, and attributed their shyness to the ill-treatment they must have received from foreigners visiting the island on some former occasion. Mr. Cunningham asked him if he thought of going on shore. I think he said he should not have the slightest fear; and then remarked to me, 'Captain, you know we like to take possession of the land; and if we can only leave good impressions on the minds of the natives, we can come again and leave teachers: we must be content to do a little; you know Babel was not built in a day.' He did not intend to leave a teacher this time. Mr. Harris asked him if he might go on shore, or if he had any objection: he said, 'No, not any,' Mr. Harris then waded on shore: as soon as he landed, the natives ran from him; but Mr. Williams told him to sit down; he did so, and the natives came close to him, and brought him some cocoa-nuts, and opened them for him to drink.

"Mr. Williams remarked he saw a number of native boys playing, and thought it a good sign, as implying that the natives had no bad intentions: I said, I thought so too, but I would rather see some women also; because when the natives resolve on mischief they send the women out of the way; there were no women on the beach. At last he got up, went forward in the boat, and landed. He presented his hand to the natives; which they were unwilling to take he then called to me to hand some cloth out of the boat; and he sat down and divided it among them, endeavouring to win their confidence. All three walked up the beach; Mr. Harris first; Mr. Williams and Mr. Cunningham followed."

Mr. Cunningham tells the remainder.

"Mr. Williams called for a few pieces of print; which he divided in small pieces to throw around him. Mr. Harris said he wished to have a stroll inland; which was not objected to; and he walked on, followed by a party of the natives. Mr. Williams and I followed, directing our course up the side of the brook. The looks and manners of the savages I much distrusted, and remarked to Mr. Williams, that probably we had to dread the revenge of the natives in consequence of their former quarrel with strangers, wherein perhaps some of their friends had been killed. Mr. Williams, I think, did not return me an answer; being engaged at the instant repeating the Samoan numerals to a crowd of boys, one of whom was repeating them after him. I was also trying to get the names of a few things around us, and walked onward. Finding a few shells lying on the bank, I picked them up. On noticing they were of a species unknown to me, I was in the act of putting them into my pocket, when I heard a yell, and instantly Mr. Harris rushed out of the bushes about twenty yards before me. I instantly perceived it

was run or die. I shouted to Mr. Williams to run, (he being as far behind me as Mr. Harris was in advance,) and I sprung forward through the natives that were on the banks of the brook, who all gave way. I looked round, and saw Mr. Harris fall in the brook, and the water dash over him; a number of savages beating him with clubs. Mr. Williams did not run at

the instant I called to him, till we heard a shell blow : it was an instant, but too much to lose. I again called to Mr. Williams to run, and sprang forward for the boat, which was out of sight; it was round a point of bush.

"Mr. Williams, instead of making for the boat, ran directly down the beach into the water, and a savage after him. It seemed to me that Mr. Williams's intention was to swim off till the boat picked him up. At the instant I sighted the boat, I heard a yell behind me; and, looking round, found a savage close after me with a club. I stooped, and picking up a stone, struck him so as to stop his further pursuit, The men in the boat had, on seeing Mr. Williams and me running, given the alarm to Captain Morgan, who was on the beach at the time. He and I jumped into the boat at the same instant; several stones were thrown at the boat. Mr. Williams ran into deep water, and the savage close after him. On entering the water, he fell forward, but did not attempt to swim; when he received several blows from the club of the native on the arms and over the head. He twice dashed his head under water to avoid the club, with which the savage stood over him ready to strike the instant he rose. I threw two stones from the boat; which for a moment averted the progress of the other native, who was a few paces behind; but it was only for an instant. The two rushed on our friend, and beat his head, and soon several others joined them. I saw a whole handful of arrows stuck into his body. Though every exertion was used to get up the boat to his assistance, and though only about eighty yards distant, before we got half the distance our friend was dead, and about a dozen savages were dragging the body on the beach, beating it in the most furious manner. A crowd of boys surrounded the body as it lay in the ripple of the beach, and beat it with stones, till the waves dashed red on the shore with the blood of their victim. Alas! that moment of sorrow and agony-I almost shrieked in distress. Several arrows were shot at us ! and one passing under the arm of one of the men, passed through the lining and entered the timber. This alarmed the men; who remonstrated, as, having no fire arms to frighten the savages away, it would be madness to approach them, as Mr. Williams was now dead. To this Captain Morgan reluctantly assented, and pulled off out of the reach of the arrows."

THE

MONTHLY REVIEW.

APRIL 1843.

ART. I.

1. The Mabinogion, from Llyfr Coch o Hergest and other Ancients' Welsh MSS.; with an English Translation and Notes. By Lady CHARLOTTE GUEST. Parts I. II. III. and IV. 1838-42. 2. The Eastern Origin of the Celtic Nations. By J. C. PRICHARD, M.D., F.R.S., M.R.I.A., Corresponding Member of the French Institute. 1831.

"THE Mabinogions," or "Juvenile Legends," four parts of which appear at the head of this page, form a body of romance long known to exist in Wales, and generally supposed capable of throwing much light on the origin of the early metrical romances of Europe. Their interest, derived from this supposition, has probably not been diminished by the mystery in which they have hitherto been wrapped: not only until now have they never, by the aid of a translation, passed the limited pale of Celtic literature; but until now also they have never been printed or collected together in their original Welsh; so that even in Wales itself they are by no means familiarly known.

"The Mabinogion," observes Mr. Southey, in his introduction to the romance of " Mort d'Artur," "are exceedingly curious, nor is there a greater desideratum in British literature than an edition of these tales, with a literal version, and such comments, &c." Mr. Davies, with whose name the paragraph concludes, did not, however, fulfil its recommendation, an omission now the less to be regretted, since the task has been undertaken by a lady, whose position has given her an extensive access to the manuscripts of highest authority, and whose taste has preserved her from that love of baseless hypothesis in which even the most judicious antiquaries of Celtic birth are but too prone to indulge.

Before proceeding to examine into the composition of, or authority for, these tales, or into the nature of their connexion with European romance, we shall pass in brief review what is known of the origin of the singular people, by whom they were invented, and the relation VOL. I. (1843) NO. IV.

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