The Chronicles of England. (Fifteenth Century.) Executed for Edward IV. This illustration gives a good example of the general characteristics of this period. Loss or other causes have reduced the original series of seven noble volumes, mentioned by the author, to three or four, now carefully preserved in the British Museum. The work was probably written in the early part of the reign of King Edward IV., and with the especial view of defending and flattering the King and the House of York. The first part of these Chronicles contains a strange compound of traditional history mingled with the fable and romance of the early portion of the middle ages, not omitting the slaying of giants and marine monsters, with singular copiousness of detail. The portion from the accession of Edward III. to the death of Richard II. would appear to have been principally taken from the Chronicles of Froissart. |