LECTURE VIII.

THE REIGN OF HENRY THE SIXTH.

The treaty of Troyes-Its details-The last hours of Henry the Fifth-His intended crusade-Hume's comments-Henry the Sixth an infant-His reign and these "Chronicle-Plays" unpromising subjects-Genuineness of the plays-The Minority -The French wars-State of France-The Regent BedfordThe Siege of Orleans-Joan of Arc-Various criticisms on her character-Her sincerity-Imputed witchcraft-Defective education-Her influence-Relief of Orleans-Coronation of the king at Rheims-Exemption of Domremy-Capture of the Maid-Her trial and examination-Her martyrdom-Cardinal Beaufort and the Bishop of Beauvais-The cardinal's deathStatue of the Maid at Versailles-Death of the Duke of Bedford —His monument—Magnanimity of Louis the Eleventh....Page 245

LECTURE IX.

THE WARS OF THE ROSES.

Closing scenes of the Plantagenet dynasty-Want of interest in the War of the Roses-The question of genealogy-No actuating principle in the contest-Its obscurity-A series of bloody battles-Saintly character of the king-His solitary sadnessLoss of the French conquests-The Duke of Suffolk-Popular tumult-Jack Cade-The Temple Garden-Richard of York and Somerset-The battle of St. Albans-The Earl of Warwick, the king-maker-Henry's captivity-The ParliamentMargaret of Anjou-Her character-King René-Injustice of English writers to her memory-The battle of WakefieldTwo crowned Kings of England-The slaughter at TowtonTewksbury-The queen-Sir Walter Scott's tribute to herPolitical effects of the civil war-Death struggle of the military power of the nobles-The last of the barons-Clifford-No feud among the people or vassals-The separation of the church from the conflict-Education-The foundation of Eton............ 278

LECTURE X.

RICHARD THE THIRD-HENRY THE EIGHTH.

The character of Edward the Fourth-His death-Richard's usurpation Its character of intrigue and violence-The princes in the Tower-Attempted vindications--Their inefficacy -Sir Thomas More-Richard's deformity, mental and physical -Effect of personal deformity-Commanding intellect of the king-Power of will-No sympathy-No repentance-Contrast of Macbeth-Richard's dream-The last of the Plantagenets— The Tudor kings-Henry the Eighth-The progress of society and government-Henry's reign nearly contemporary with Shakspeare-The play of Henry the Eighth history-Wolsey's character-Catharine of Arragon-Wolsey's fall and death— The approaching Reformation-Henry's character the worst in history-His death-Conclusion......

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LECTURES

ON

ENGLISH HISTORY.

LECTURE I.—INTRODUCTORY.*

On the Study of History.

Shakspeare's Chronicle-Plays-Legendary history: King Lear-Roman and Saxon: Cymbeline and Macbeth-Nature of the subject generally-Imaginative history defined-Not historical romancePower of Imagination in historical painting-Archbishop Whateley's analysis-Lord Bacon's idea of dramatic poetry-Milton's Vision of Greece, in Paradise Regained-Sense of reality-Famines as described in history and poetry-Genoa in 1799-Ghent in the fourteenth century-Philip Van Artavelde-Archdeacon HareRemote and obscure legends-Reality too distinct-Images and memories of the dead-Effect of travel in the Holy Land-Volney -Written historical painting-Charles Lamb-Belshazzar's Feast -Washington Allston-Poetical history of the Bible-The reputed philosophy of history-Lingard and Hume-Arnold-Tragic poetry -Sir Walter Scott-Funerals actual and picturesque-HogarthHume's accidental theory-Outline of Shakspeare's historiesNovelty of the subject of this lecture.

Ir is my purpose to explain to you the nature of the course which I have announced, and to present some considerations respecting the study of history.

* Delivered in the College Hall of the University of Pennsylvania, December 8th, 1846.

The subject of these lectures is that portion of modern history which is illustrated by Shakspeare's historical drama. The earliest of the reigns thus illustrated is that of King John; the latest is that of Henry the Eighth : and between these, are Richard the Second, Henry the Fourth, the Fifth, the Sixth, and Richard the Third. This is a series, it will be observed, which carries us back into the agitated turmoil of the Middle Ages, and leads us on to the later form of social and political life in that period of history, which, to distinguish it from the mediæval, has been called the "modern of the modern." In these "Chronicle-Plays," as they are styled, there is comprehended the story of three eventful centuries-the thirteenth, fourteenth, and fifteenth-broken, indeed, by some considerable intervals of time. I will endeavour in the lectures partially to notice those intervals; and I propose to extend my subject into a more remote antiquity, by taking the tragedy of King Lear as illustrative of the legendary times, and Cymbeline and Macbeth, of the Roman and Saxon periods, respectively.

The nature of this subject renders these lectures literary as well as historical; and they must combine the study of those two high departments of human thought, -poetry and history. Now I desire to say, at the outset, that I have sought this combination, not so much as a means of relieving the severity of historical study and making it more attractive, as because I have a deep conviction, that Poetry has a precious power of its own for the preservation of historical truth; that it can so revivify the past-can put such life in it-as to make it imperishable. I have it greatly at heart to carry this deep conviction of mine into your minds, and hope to be

able to show, if not by argument in this lecture, at least by actual evidence in those that follow, how a great poet may be, at the same time, a great historian.

Before going further with the subject of my lecture, let me take two or three minutes to prevent some misapprehensions, which might otherwise occur. While there may be a legitimate and valuable service of the faculty of imagination in the cause of history, there is certainly a great deal that is utterly spurious and deceptive, especially in the shape of historical novels, among which the few excellent stand distinguished from a multitude that are worthless. I have no occasion to refer to them, and wish to be understood as treating my subject altogether apart from them.

Again, when I state that the imagination may minister to the knowledge of history, I certainly do not mean to say, that the poetic or dramatic form is better than any other form of history, or, indeed, to make any kind of comparison between them. There is in each its own peculiar value; and so vast is the range of history, that it needs them all: it gives ample duty to every one who labours to save the memory of the past—whether it be he who zealously collects authentic documents, or pores over time-worn inscriptions, or gathers unwritten traditions— whether it be annalist, or chronicler, or biographer, or historian. I allude to these various functions, not in the way of comparison, but, on the contrary, to show that no disparagement of them is to be understood, when I assert the use of the imagination in the study of history.

Let me premise one other remark-that in employing the term "Imagination," I mean not such a faculty of the mind as gives birth to the common works of