outen ben many scriptures of dy verse langages. And sum men seyn, that thei ben sepultures of grete lordes that weren somtyme; but that is not trewe, for alle the comoun rymour and speche is of alle the peple there, both fer and nere, that thei ben the gerneres of Joseph. And so fynden thei in here scriptures and in here cronycles. On that other partie, gif thei weren sepultures, thei scholden not ben voyd with inne. For gee may well knowe that tombes and sepultures ne ben not made of suche gretuesse, ne of such highnesse. Wherefore it is not to belceve that thei ben tombes or sepultures.

With Mandeville, modern English prose may be said to have had its beginning. But the time for the cultivation of prose literature had not yet come. Men were not yet prepared to discuss the realities of life and the vital issues pending in church and state. Poetry which appealed to their imaginative faculties and to their innate sense of the beautiful found numerous admirers; but dull prose had but few charms to men who had not yet learned to reason for themselves, and who were prohibited by law from publicly expressing their opinions. Hence we shall find that, until the introduction of printing by Caxton, in 1474, English prose continued to languish, and but few works worthy to claim our attention were produced. Indeed, the only prose-writers who contributed anything of value to our literature during the hundred and twenty years succeeding the time of Mandeville were John Wielif, the first translator of the Bible into English; Bishop Pecock, the apologist of the clergy; and Judge Fortescue, the first writer on English law. Of these men and their works we shall have occasion to speak in another chapter.

REFERENCES.

HISTORICAL STUDIES.

Knight's History of England.

Freeman's Norman Conquest.

Thierry's Norman Conquest. Vol. II.

Warton's History of English Poetry.

Morley's English Writers. Vol. II.

Marsh's Origin and History of the English Language.
Corson's Handbook of Anglo-Saxon and Early English.

Wright's Biographia Literaria.

William of Malmesbury's Chronicles, translated by Sir Duffus Hardy (1840). Another translation of the same by Dr. Giles, after that of Rev. John Sharpe, in Bohn's Antiquarian Library.

Ware's Antiquities of Ireland.

Watts's Bibliographia Britannica.

Historical Works of Giraldus Cambrensis, edited by Thomas Wright. Henry of Huntingdon's History of the English. Ingulph's Chronicle of Croyland, edited by H. T. Riley. Matthew Paris's Chronicle, edited by Dr. Giles. Matthew of Westminster's Flowers of History, edited by C. D. Yonge. Roger de Hoveden's Annals, edited by H. T. Riley. Ordericus Vitalis, translated by T. Forester.

CHAPTER III.

HISTORICAL PROSE.

Sir Thomas More's History of Edward V.-Stow's Survay of LondonHolinshed's Chronicles-Hall's Two Noble and Illustre Families of Lancastre and Yorke-Grafton's Chronicles-Camden's Britannia and Annals-Samuel Daniels's History of England-Raleigh's History of the World-Lord Bacon's Historie of King Henry VII.-. Clarendon's History of the Rebellion-May's History of Parliament -Bishop Burnet's History of My Own Times-Hume's History of England-Macaulay-Mackintosh-Sharon Turner-Lingard-FroudeKnight-Freeman-Lecky-Green-Robertson's Works: History of Scotland-Charles V.-Discovery of America-Gibbon's Rome-Mitford's History of Greece-George Grote-Thirlwall-Henry Hallam: Middle Ages-Constitutional History of England-Literature of Europe-Thomas Carlyle: French Revolution-Oliver CromwellFriederich the Great-George Bancroft: History of the United States -Hildreth's History of the United States-Other American Histories -William H. Prescott-Irving's Columbus-John Lothrop MotleyThe Qualifications of the Historian.

ENGLISH history, as we have already observed, had its imperfect beginnings in the Latin Ecclesiastical History of England, by the Venerable Bede, and in the Anglo-Saxon translation of the same work, by King Alfred. We have noticed also how the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, originally a meagre list of kings and bishops, was expanded into a national history of no small value; and how, during the Transition Period, the monastic chroniclers, addressing themselves to the learned, produced volume after volume of Latin records, wherein the truth was sometimes hopelessly intermingled with fable. None of these works, if judged by the standard of modern criticism, would rank high as histories. They are valuable, however, not only as containing the best information to be obtained concern

ing contemporary life and manners, but also as marking the crude beginnings of one of the most important departments of English literature. In the present chapter we shall briefly notice some of those works which, from their faithful records of the life of nations or of the experiences. of humanity, are justly entitled to the name of histories. This department of literature is so broad, embracing, as it does, such a vast number of really valuable works, that our limits will permit us to make but few quotations, nor to speak of any works save those which, either by reason of genuine merit or from other causes, have been accorded a permanent place in our literature.

The first book of history written in modern English is the Historie of the pittieful Life and unfortunate Death of King Edward V. and the Duke of York, his Brother, by Sir Thomas More. This work was written in 1509, but not published until 1557, twenty-two years after More's death. It is, as its title-page indicates, a record of the events of the reigns of Edward V. and Richard III., and is a remarkable model of elegant narration.

"It appears to me," says an an eminent critic, "to be the first example of good English language; pure and perspicuous, well-chosen, without vulgarisms or pedantry." It is not known certainly to be an original work, but is supposed rather to be a translation of a Latin history by Archbishop Morton, the friend and patron of More. At least, there is no doubt but that much of the information, as well as many of the opinions, which it contains, was derived directly from the archbishop, who was a contemporary of Richard III., and an eye-witness of many of the circumstances related in the history. And we also have the authority of a writer who lived in the following century, and who states that "Morton wrote a book in Latin against King Richard, which came afterwards into the hands of Mr. More, sometime his servant." But, be the fact of its authorship as it may, nothing can detract from the purity and the beauty of style for which the book is

characterized. That the student may see what changes had taken place in the language since the time of Sir John Mandeville, we quote More's description of the character of Richard III.:

Richard, the third son, of whom we now entreat, was, in wit and courage, the egal with either of them; little of stature, illfeatured of limbs, crook-backed, his left shoulder much higher than his right, hard-favored of visage. He was malicious, wrathful, envious, and from his birth ever froward. . . . None evil captain was he in the war, as to which his disposition was more meetly than for peace. Sundry victories had he, and sometime overthrows, but never in default for his own person, either of hardiness or politic order. Free was he called of dispense, and somewhat above his power liberal. With large gifts he get him unsteadfast friendship, for which he was fain to pil and spoil in other places, and get him steadfast hatred. He was close and secret; a deep dissimular, lowly of countenance, arrogant of heart; outwardly coumpinable where he was inwardly hated, not letting to kiss whom he thought to kill; dispitious and cruel, not for evil will alway, but oftener for ambition, and either for the surety and increase of his estate. Friend and foe was indifferent, where his advantage grew; he spared no man's death whose life withstood his purpose. He slew with his own hands King Henry VI., being prisoner in the tower.

During the Elizabethan age, several attempts at the writing of history were made; but such works as were produced were, in the main, mere chronicles of no special literary value. The best of these chronicles were those written by Stow and by IIolinshed. John Stow had spent a life-time in collecting legends, traditions, and historical facts relating to the city of London. The results of his researches he embodied in several volumes of chronicles containing a vast amount of information of a character more or less trustworthy. His most important work was entitled A Survay of London, "contayning the Originall, Antiquity, Increase, Moderne Estate, and description of that city, written in the year 1598." This book is