| | | | | In historical literature, Scotland, since the middle of the last | century, has taken the lead of every other country. This makes it | not a little remarkable, that no continuous and complete national | history had been attempted until very recently. The contributions | of Robertson, Pinkerton, Laing, Hume, and we may add to the list | McCrie, Cook, and others, refer chiefly to insulated periods, more | or less interesting; and allowing for the prejudices and | predilections of some of the writers, they all form either valuable | portions, or amusing fragments of the Scottish annals. A great | whole, resting on sure foundations, complete in all its parts, and | harmonious in its proportions, remained the national want, and a | desideratum to the students of history, which Mr. Tytler has | formed the laudable ambition of supplying. He has now advanced | so far, and prosperously, in this great work, that his persevering | and able labours are become more the subject of congratulation | than criticism. | Historical writers may be divided into three great classes: First, | those who, like Froissart and the old chroniclers, present the reader | with freshly-coloured, vivid, and glowing pictures of contemporary | events; second, those who, like Hume or Gibbon, are endowed | with comprehensive views, great intellectual sagacity and power of | philosophic reflexion; and a third class who, like Mr. Tytler, are | distinguished by that instinctive or intuitive inclination for the | discovery of historical truth which almost amounts to a passion, | and that keen discrimination into conflicting evidence, and obscure | or mystified facts, which forms one of the most valuable elements | in the mental constitution of the historian. Without failing in the | qualities of the first two classes of historians, Mr. Tytler is | memorably distinguished by the possession of the latter gift. In this | passion for investigation, ~~ for we will not misname what | amounts to pleasure, mere patience of research, ~~ lies his | characteristic strength; and, as in most cases, his besetting | weakness is not far off. His acuteness and penetration do not at all | times prevent his being hurried too far by the impulse of original | discovery, and the desire of squaring historical characters anew, | according to the deficient premises which an enlarged but still a | partial knowledge of facts enables him to lay down. Truth is no | doubt the great object of history, but all truths are not of like value. | When Mr. Tytler, heated with the animated enjoyment of the | chase, has hunted some obscure point, through all the labyrinths | and jungle of the British Museum and the State Paper Office, and | fairly run it down at last, he is like other sportsmen, occasionally | apt to overvalue his game. At the present time he is, however, | entitled to take full credit for the merit of the important discovery | with which his diligence has been rewarded. He says, in the | preface to volume V., They establish, in | brief, the important fact that a conspiracy had been projected, if not | entered into, for the assassination of Cardinal Beaton, among the | Protestant part of the aristocracy and gentry, in connexion with | England, two years before the merited death of that ambitious, | cruel, traitorous, and profligate priest; and also, that George | Wishart, the Martyr Wishart, was a party implicated, or an agent in | this plot. We shall have occasion to notice this affair again. In the | meanwhile we may state, that Mr. Tytler would seem to view, in | nearly the same moral light, a conspiracy formed three centuries | ago, to take off a man, loaded with public and private crime, the | enemy of his country and of truth, and a plot to assassinate the | Primate of England in 1834. But we must first briefly notice the | work at large; as it so happens that, although the most important of | its kind now in progress, and though the earlier volumes have been | for some time before the world, we have never yet had an | opportunity of speaking of it. | Mr. Tytler has judiciously avoided the early, fabulous, and obscure | annals of Scotland, ~~ the history of | His work commences with the | accession of Alexander the Third, a period of our annals from | which the history of Scotland becomes of interest to the general | reader. The First volume embraces the ever-interesting narrative of | the patriotic struggle maintained by Wallace for national existence, | until the independence of Scotland was conquered by Bruce. It | closes with the death of Bruce. | The second volume reaches from the death of Bruce to that of | David the Second. But the mere annals of this half century occupy | only a portion of the volume. The latter, and by far the most | valuable part, (what would indeed make a most interesting separate | work,) is devoted to a Historical Inquiry into the Ancient State of | Scotland; its laws, manners, social institutions, resources, and | moral and religious condition. Though our present business is | properly with the fifth volume only, this portion presents the | strongest temptations to the spirit of nationality, and to the lover of | picturesque antiquarianism; nor can we forbear one illustrative | specimen of Mr. Tytler's brilliant description of the days of old: ~~ | | | | The third volume of Mr. Tytler's work is of more historic | importance than the second: for, besides the period of Robert the | Second and Third, it comprehends the reign of James the I., which, | from the energetic character of the monarch, forms so memorable | an epoch in Scottish annals. The historical remarks on the death of | Richard II., which occur in this volume, though original and | curious, are perhaps drawn out to too great length, although Mr. | Tytler had been able conclusively to establish the fact he | ingeniously argues, ~~ namely that Richard, supposed to have died | in Pontefract Castle, really escaped to the Hebrides, and survived | for nineteen years in honourable captivity at the Scottish Court. | The fourth volume comprehends the reigns of James the Second | and Third, and a part of the reign of James the Fourth. In it the | peculiar qualifications which we have attributed to Mr. Tytler, as a | passionate inquirer, are largely conspicuous. In his earlier volumes, | he had examined a variety of documents, with which former | historians had not troubled themselves; and, in composing the | narrative of the reign of James the Second, he was so fortunate as | to find a mass of rich materials already accumulated to his hand, | by Mr. Thomson, the depute-clerk register of Scotland. Other | original sources were open. says Mr. | Tytler, | | | This brings us to the present volume, which is devoted to the | stirring and brilliant age of James the Fourth and Fifth, and the | minority of Mary. The gallantry and misfortunes of these princes, | ~~ the many domestic broils, battles, sieges, and memorable events | crowded into the period, but especially the commencement of a | new era, of a period of transition, ~~ the gradual evolution of the | principles of the reformed faith, and the growth of regulated civil | liberty, renders this the most important volume of the series. In | composing this part of his history, Mr. Tytler has derived, as we | noticed above, much new information from | The | latter portion of the volume is drawn from those original and | hitherto untouched sources almost exclusively. The personal | character, and the unprincipled policy of Henry VIII., almost defies | darkening from the discovery of new atrocities; but the contents of | these papers certainly affix a stigma upon individuals among the | Scottish aristocracy, of whom we have been accustomed to judge | better. Cassillis, Lennox, and Glencairn may require a champion; | though we cannot see that the cause of the Reformation is at all | identified with those, who, from chance, policy, or selfishness, | became for a time its prominent leaders. They must have studied | history very slightly, who are not aware that the general conduct of | the aristocracy of every country, at every epoch, has been the | same. From the Scottish nobility of the age of Wallace, to that of | the recreant grandees of Spain and Italy, truckling to Napoleon, the | "Order" as such, ~~ for there have | been many splendid individual | exceptions, ~~ has only been distinguished by deadness of national | spirit, selfishness, rapacity, and the basest ingratitude or perfidy. | Nor need we travel abroad, or into past times for instances. Yet the | ingratitude and duplicity of Sunderland and Churchill, do not | vindicate the tyranny and folly of James II. Nor should their | conduct lead us to impugn a good deed accomplished by base | means, or wicked instruments. We shall no more enter the lists for | the defence of the Protestant Lords of the Reformation epoch, than | those of the Revolution. We are, however, constrained to remark, | that thought always temperate and candid, Mr. Tytler, in treating of | the events in which those of the nobility of Scotland, who are | considered rallying points for the adherents of the Reformed | doctrines, are concerned, manifests the desire of being impartial, | without always succeeding in his aim. Nor are we certain that, in | the case of Wishart, what he must have intended as delicacy or | lenity, may escape the charge, unmerited we admit, of | insidiousness. Mr. Tytler, no doubt, believes the Martyr deeply | implicated in the plot against the life of Beaton. He, at least, leaves | not a doubt of his own belief in the minds of his readers; and it | might have been as well to have stated his conviction roundly. | Both Wishart and Beaton were, it appears, aware of personal | danger from each other; and the Cardinal would seem to have this | palliation for the deliberate murder of the Martyr, that he destroyed | an enemy long privy to designs against his own life. We have not | space to enter upon the discussion. But though Mr. Tytler presses | hard upon the Protestant Lords and gentry, he does full justice to | the righteous cause which their bad conduct could not taint. If he | has a leaning to the Catholic clergy, it is as | civilizers, as the men possesses, till the Reformation, of all | the knowledge and wisdom of the age; and not as intriguing | ecclesiastics. From their superior acquirements, he vindicates the | fatal confidence placed in them by different princes of the Stuart | dynasty. They alone possessed the capacity requisite to | government in troubled times; and their influence was needed as a | counterpoise to the power of the turbulent nobility. | says Mr. Tytler, If the | excuse is good, it may be assumed as equally applicable to all | times. | The clergy had already immolated many victims; and towards the | unhappy close of his life, they had gained an ascendancy over the | King which they employed to the most pernicious ends. We shall | borrow from Mr. Tytler a picture of the state of Scotland at the | time the conspiracy against the Cardinal was first formed in idea. | | | | We can only notice the death of the King, the attempt of the | ambitious Primate to usurp the Regency by a forged instrument; | his circumvention of the Douglasses, and of all the nobles, who, | jealous of himself and of France, favoured the scheme of an | alliance with England, by a marriage between the infant Princess | and the Prince of Wales; and his prevailing with the Regent Arran | to abjure the Reformed doctrines, which he had professed. By the | friends of the Reformation the cardinal was justly feared and hated. | Their existence was incompatible. To fill up the measure of | detestation entertained for him, the following remarkable | circumstance was scarcely wanting: ~~ | | | This is but a partial view of the state of Scotland, when | conspiracies were concerted against Beaton. Are they wonderful, | when we look to the age and the date of their formation, and the | character and position of the parties? The cardinal, however, found | a long respite, and room to fill up the heaped measure of his | crimes. In April 1643, was dispatched | by Crichton, the Laird of Brunston, to the Earl of Hereford, with | the particulars of the plot to assassinate Beaton. | | It is to be noted that Mr. Tytler does not directly state that the | "Scottish gentleman," named Wishart; | sent to Henry, was George | Wishart the Martyr; but there is abundant room to infer it. He, | however, calls attention to the return of Wishart in July of the same | year, in company with the Scottish commissioners sent to England, | to negotiate the marriage treaty between the infant Queen and | Prince Edward. What follows we cite as a specimen of Mr. Tytler's | narrative style. We might have chosen some one of his able | summaries of the characters of Kings, or his general retrospects, or | his accounts of battles, which are clear, succinct and spirited; but | we adopt this as more entire. It also possesses a powerful interest. | | | | | We shall look with impatience for the succeeding volume of Mr. | Tytler's work. The same ability and diligence of research, which he | has hitherto evinced, cannot fail to throw many new and striking | lights upon the most interesting and important portion of our | national history.