gard to the fidelity of his eldest fon; and during the latter years of his life, he had excluded that Prince from all fhare in public bufinefs, and was even displeased to see him at the head of armies, where his martial talents, though useful to the fupport of government, acquired him a renown, which, he thought, might prove dangerous to his own authority. The active fpirit of young Henry, reftrained from its proper exercife, broke out in extravagancies of every kind; and the riot of pleasure, the frolics of debauchery, the outrage of wine, filled the vacancies of a mind, better adapted to the purfuits of ambition, and the cares of government. This courfe of life threw him among companions, whose disorders, if accompanied with fpirit and humour, he feconded and indulged; and he was detected in many fallies, which, to feverer eyes, appeared totally unworthy of his rank and ftation. There even remains a tradition, that, when heated with liquor and jollity, he fcrupled not to accompany them in attacking the passengers on the ftrects and highways, and defpoiling them of their goods; and he found an amusement in the incidents, which the terror and regret of these defencelefs people produced on fuch occafions. This extreme of diffölutenefs proved equally difagreeable to his father, as that eager application to bufinefs, which had at firft given him occafion of jealoufy; and he faw in his fon's behaviour the fame neglect of decency, the fame attachment to low company, which had deftroyed the perfonal character of Richard, and which, more than all his errors in government, had tended to overturn his throne. But the nation in general confidered the young prince with more indulgence; and obferved fo many gleams of generofity, fpirit, and magnanimity, breaking continually through the cloud, which a wild conduct threw over his character, that they never ceafed hoping for his amendment, and afcribed all the weeds, which thot up in that rich foil, to the want of proper culture and attention in the King and his minifters. There paffed an event which encouraged thefe agreeable views, and gave much occafion for favourable reflections to all men of fenfe and candor. A riotous companion of the prince's had been indicted before Gafcoigne, the chief juftice, for fome diforders; and Henry was not afhamed to appear at the bar with the criminal, in order to give him countenance and protection. Finding, that his prefence had not over-awed the chief juftice, he proceeded to infult that magiftrate on his tribunal; but Gafcoigne, mindful of the character which he then bore, and the majefty of the fovereign and of the laws, which he fuf4

tained,

tained, ordered the Prince to be carried to prifon for his rude behaviour. The fpectators were agreeably difappointed, when they faw the heir of the crown fubmit peaceably to this fentence, make reparation for his error by acknowleging it, and check his impetuous nature in the midst of its entravagant career.

These sentiments may, to fome, appear overftrained and too refined but they who have accurately examined the human heart, who can make allowances for the frailties of mortality, and who know how nearly the greatest virtues border on the oppofite vices, will withhold their cenfure of this apology for the Prince's ftrange irregularities. As it is effentially neceffary for an hiftorian, among other requifites, to be a philofopher; fo philofophers only are capable of forming a right judgment of hiftory.

The character of this Prince, who died in the flower of his age, is painted in the following ftrong and glowing colours.

"This Prince poffeffed many eminent virtues; and if we give indulgence to ambition in a monarch, or rank it, as the vulgar are inclined to do, among his virtues, they were unstained by any confiderable blemish. His abilities appeared equally in the cabinet and in the field; the boldness of his enterprizes was no lefs remarkable than his perfonal valour in conducting them. He had the talent of attaching his friends by affability, and of gaining his enemies by address and clemency. The English, dazzled by the luftre of his character, ftill more than by that of his victories, were reconciled to the defects of his title: the French almost forgot that he was an enemy: and his care of maintaining justice in his civil adminiftration, and preferving difcipline in his armies, made fome amends to both nations for the calamities infeparable from those wars, in which his short reign was almost entirely occupied. That he could forgive the earl of Marche, who had a better right to the throne than himself, is a fure proof of his magnanimity; and that the earl relied fo entirely on his friendship is no less a proof of his established character for candor and fincerity. There remain in history few inftances of fuch mutual trust; and ftill fewer where neither party found reason to repent it."

After all however, it must be confeffed, that he owed the fplendor of his military character to a fortunate rashness, and the most deftructive and fatal confequences might reason

ably have been expected from his daring and indiscreet enterprizes. Indeed Mr. Hume acknowleges, that "nothing in appearance could be more unequal than the battle of Azincourt, upon which all his fafety and his fortunes depended. His fituation was exactly fimilar to that of Edward at Creffy, and that of the Black Prince at Poitiers; and the French confidence, notwithstanding past experience, in like manner proved their ruin; fo that in the end, their enemies, by their misconduct, derived immortal glory from a temerity which portended inevitable deftruction."

The reign of Henry VI. is a farther proof, that every weak Prince will, in a limited and mixed government, be unhappy. This King had the misfortune to lose most of the territories which his father had conquered from France, and had the farther mortification to have them, in fact, ravifhed from him by a General in petticoats, that is, the famous Joan d'Arc, known by the name of the Maid of Orleans. Of this wonderful girl, our Historian gives the most accurate account we remember to have met with.

"In the village of Domremi, near Vaucouleurs, on the borders of Lorraine, there lived a country girl of twentyfeven years of age, called Joan d'Arc, who was fervant in a fmall inn, and who in that station had been accustomed to tend the horses of the guests, to ride them without a faddle to the watering-place, and to perform other offices, which, in well-frequented inns, commonly fall to the fhare of the men fervants. This girl was of an irreproachable life, and had not hitherto been remarked for any fingularity; whether that she had met with no occafion to excite her genius, or that the unfkilful eyes of thofe, who converfed with her, had not been able to difcern her uncommon merit. It is easy to imagine, that the present fituation of France was an interesting object even to perfons of the lowest rank, and would become the frequent fubject of their converfation: a young Prince, expelled his native throne, by the fedition of fubjects and by the arms of ftrangers, could not fail to move the compaffion of all his people, whofe hearts were uncorrupted by faction; and the peculiar character of Charles, fo ftrongly inclined to friendship and the tender paffions, naturally Fendered him the hero of that fex, whofe generous minds knew no bounds in their affections. The fiege of Orleans, the progrefs of the English before that place, the great diftrefs of the garifon and inhabitants, the importance of saving the city and its brave defenders, had turned thither the eyes

of

of all the world; and Joan, inflamed by the general fentiment, was feized with a wild defire of bringing relief to her fovereign in his prefent diftreffes. Her unexperienced mind, working day and night on this favourite object, miftook the impulses of her paffion for heavenly infpirations; and the fancied, that fhe faw vifions and heard voices, exhorting her to re-establish the throne of France, and to expel the foreign invaders. An uncommon intrepidity of temper made her overlook all the dangers, which might attend her in fuch a path; and thinking herfelf deftined by heaven to this office, the threw afide that bashfulness and timidity, which would naturally adhere to her fex, her years, and her low ftation. She went to Boudricourt, governor of Vacouleurs; procured admiffion to him; informed him of her infpirations and intentions; and conjured him not to neglect the voice of God, who spoke thro' her, but to fecond thofe heavenly revelations, which impelled her to this glorious enterprize. Baudricourt treated her at firft with fome neglect; but on her, frequent returns to him, and importunate follicitations, he began to remark fomething extraordinary in the maid, and was inclined, at all hazards, to make fo eafy an experiment. It is uncertain, whether this gentleman had discernment enough to perceive, that great ufe might be made with the vulgar of fo uncommon an engine; or, what is more likely in that credulous age, was himfelfa convert to this visionary": but he adopted at laft the fcheme of Joan; and he gave her fome attendants, who conducted her to the French court, which at that time refided at Chinon,

"It is the bufinefs of history to diftinguish between the miraculous and the marvellous; to reject the first in all narrations merely profane and human; to fcruple the fecond; and when obliged by undoubted teftimony, as in the present cafe, to admit of fomething extraordinary, to receive as little of it as is confiftent with the known facts and circumftances, It is pretended, that Joan, immediately on her admiffion, knew the King, tho' fhe had never feen his face before, and tho' he purposely kept himself in the crowd of courtiers, and had laid afide every thing in his drefs and apparel, which might distinguish him; that the offered him, in the name of the fupreme Creator, to raise the fiege of Orleans, and conduct him to Rheims to be there crowned and anointed; and on his expreffing fome doubts of her miffion, revealed to him, before fome fworn confidents, a fecret, which was unknown to all the world but himself, and which nothing but a heavenly infpiration could difcover to her; and that the demand

ed,

ed, as the inftrument of her future victories, a particular fword, which was kept in the church of St. Catharine de Fierbois, and which, tho' she had never seen it, fhe defcribed by all its marks, and by the place in which it had long been laid and neglected. This is certain, that all these miraculous ftories were fpread abroad, in order to catch the vulgar. The more the King and his minifters were determined to give into the illufion, the more fcruples they pretended. An affembly of grave doctors and theologians cautiously examined Joan's miffion, and pronounced it undoubted and fupernatural. She was fent to the parliament, then refiding at Poitiers; and was interrogated before that affembly the prefidents, the counfellors, who came perfuaded of her impofture, went away convinced of her infpiration. A ray of hope began to break thro' that defpair, in which the minds of all men were before enveloped. Heaven had now declared itself in favour of France, and had laid bare its outftretched arm to take vengeance on her invaders. Few could diftinguish between the impulfe of inclination and the force of conviction; and none would submit to the trouble of fo difagreeable a scrutiny.”

The merit of thefe reflections must be acknowleged by every reader, who has the leaft portion of that manly and liberal fpirit which diftinguishes our author. An Historian above all others, fhould never be a dupe to credulity and he ought not only to reject incredibilities himself, but it is his duty likewife to warn his readers against crediting phantaftic relations, which often give a wrong bias to enthufiaftic minds, and render them ridiculous to the wife, and dangerous to the weak.

Henry's loffes and misfortunes abroad, naturally produced difcontents at home, which at length broke out into open rebellion, and made way for the line of York in the perfon of Edward IV. His throne however tottered for fome time, but the victory over Henry's forces at the battle of Hexham, feemed to have extinguifhed the hopes of the Lancastrian family. The confequences of this battle are defcribed in a very affecting manner.

"The fate of the unfortunate royal family, after this defeat, was very fingular. Margaret, flying with her fon into a foreft, where the endeavoured to conceal herself, was befet, during the darknefs of the night, by robbers, who either ignorant or regardlefs of her quality, defpoiled her of her rings and jewels, and treated her with the utmost indignity.

The