cured, even if it could have been purchased at any price; for some of them have been reprinted from unique originals. The Editor has done little besides giving an accurate text, and prefixing a few remarks, chiefly of a bibliographical nature; but his observations are always sensible, and he evidently brings to his task much information and zeal. Shall we be accused of absolute heresy if we suggest to Mr. Thoms, that he would have rendered the reprint infinitely more pleasing, if he had so far deviated from the originals as to have altered the u into v, and vice versa, a change, by the by, warranted by the strongest reasons; and what we are sure will weigh much more in his opinion, by the example of our profoundest black-letter antiquaries. To retain this absurdity borders much on foolish pedantry, and is seldom done in the present day by those whose taste and judgment are deserving of respect. It is not every person who will recognise "Robert the Devil," as "Robert the Deuyll;" or at once understand seuen, moued, &c., in a work abounding in obsolete words.

Historical Index of the Principal Battles in England and Wales, 8vo. pp.32.-If this tract had been compiled from the best sources of information it would be a most useful companion to historical and antiquarian researches; but its value cannot be very great, when all the statements in it are derived from Rapin, Hume, and Goldsmith. The plan is not a bad one; and if the compiler will carefully revise his book, throw Rapin, Hume, and Goldsmith aside, and consult every writer contemporary with the respective periods, the "Fœdera" and other undoubted sources of information; if, after copying what is said respecting the date of each battle by the different authorities to which we allude, he will then examine conflicting assertions, and adopt those which he can prove to be correct, he will render a most acceptable service to antiquarian literature. At present we cannot rely upon his pages, because we do not place any confidence in either of the works from which they are taken. The editor's acquaintance with the names of the distinguished personages he mentions is sadly imperfect, for he often attributes a baptismal name to a man, which was, in fact, the surname of another person; and thus confounds two individuals with one; for example, p. 9, " Arundel Comyn," who were clearly separate persons, the one called Arundel, and the other Comyn; and we not unfrequently meet with names which never existed, as the Duke de Tany for Luke de Tany, p. 10. The use of such an Index is most stupidly lessened, by its omitting to notice those battles fought by the English in France, as Cressy, Poictiers, &c. But we have already bestowed too much attention on this tract, which, in its present form, is of no other use than as a sort of index to the volumes from which it was compiled.

CREATIONS OF HONOURS, APPOINTMENTS, &c.

From the London Gazettes, from the 4th to the 18th September.

September 4.-At the Court at Windsor, 3rd September, 1827, the Right Honourable William Huskisson was sworn one of His Majesty's Principal Secretaries of State; and the Right Honourable Charles Grant was appointed President of the Council relating to Trade and Foreign Plantations.

September 7-September 5, Letters Patent were directed to be passed appointing the Right Honourable Frederick John Viscount Goderich; the Right Honourable John Charles Herries; Francis Nathaniel Conyngham, Esquire, commonly called Earl of MountCharles; Edward Granville Eliot, Esquire, commonly called Lord Eliot; the Right Honourable Maurice Fitz-Gerald, and Edmund Alexander M'Naghten, Esquire, Commissioners of the Treasury. Also, for appointing the Right Honourable John Charles Herries Chancellor and Under Treasurer of the Exchequer. Also, for granting to the Right Honourable Charles Grant the Office of Treasurer of the Navy.

September 3, James, Earl of Fife, and Francis, Earl of Moray, nominated Knights of the Thistle.

September 18.--September 17, Robert Cotton St. John, Lord Clinton, appointed one of the Lords of His Majesty's Bedchamber, in the room of Lord Graves, resigned.

September 17, Letters Patent were directed to be passed under the Great Seal granting the dignity of a Marquess of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland unto the Right Honourable William Harry, Earl of Darlington, and the heirs male of his body, lawfully begotten, by the name, style, and title of Marquess of Cleve land*.

The noble Earl probably selected the title of " Cleveland" in consequence of his representing the extinct Dukes of Cleveland. King Charles the Second, on the 3rd August, 1670, created his mistress, Barbara Villiers, the daughter and heiress of William, second Viscount Grandison in Ireland, and wife of Roger Palmer, Earl of Castlemaine, Baroness Nonsuch, in the county of Surrey, Countess of Southampton, and Duchess of Cleveland, with remainder to two of her natural sons by the King, Charles Fitz Roy, and George Fitz Roy, who was created Duke of Northumberland in 1674, but died s. P., and to the heirs male of their bodies lawfully begotten, respectively. The Duchess died in 1709, and was succeeded by her eldest son, Charles, who had been before created Duke of Southampton. He had issue, three sons: William, his successor in his honours, Charles, and Henry, who both died s. P.; and three daughters, Barbara, who died unmarried; Grace; and Ann, who was the wife of Francis Paddy, Esquire, and had issue.

Grace, the Duke's second daughter, married Henry, first Earl of

September 17, a Congé d'Elire, ordered for the election of a Bishop of Carlisle, void by the death of Dr. Samuel Goodenough, late Bishop of that See: and his Majesty recommends the Honourable Doctor Hugh Percy, now bishop of Rochester, to be elected Bishop of the said See of Carlisle.

*

Darlington; and on the death of her brother William, second and last Duke of Cleveland, s. P., in 1774, her son, Henry, second Earl of Darlington, the father of the present Marquess of Cleveland, became one of the representatives of that family. It is an extraordinary fact, that the attainder of the celebrated Sir Henry Vane should never have been reversed, though his son was created a Baron, his great-grandson a Viscount and Earl, and his great-great-great-grandson a Marquess. The only individual on whom the title of Cleveland has been conferred, besides Barbara Villiers and her descendants, was Thomas, fourth Lord Wentworth, who was created Earl of Cleveland in February, 1626; but it became extinct on his death, S. P. M., in 1667.

* If any where, it would be expected that titles should be properly applied in the "London Gazette;" but even these official papers are not free from blunders. The title of " Honourable" ought never to precede that which is derived from a situation: thus, Dr. Percy's correct description is "Doctor the Honourable Hugh Percy;" for that prelate is not an " Honourable Doctor," though, as the son of an Earl, he is the Honourable Hugh Percy.

Works in the Press or preparing for Publication.

"No. XI. of the late Mr. C. STOTHARD's Monumental Effigies, consisting of Plates faithfully etched by an able artist after his Original Drawings, is at length completed, and will be published by his Sister [query, widow] Mrs. BRAY, early in the ensuing Spring."--We are sincerely glad of this announcement, because we are anxious that one of the most beautiful and useful antiquarian works which have ever appeared in this country should be completed; and because we are spared the painful task of inserting some very severe, but just, remarks which have been sent to us by "A Subscriber," complaining of the delay which has occurred. We entreat those with whom the power rests to take care that this important publication be completed in a manner worthy of its lamented author, of whose great talents and indefatigable zeal it will form an imperishable monument. With the utmost respect for Mrs. Bray, we flatter ourselves we may be forgiven for expressing our hope that the words "published by" do not imply that that, or any other, lady purposes editing the remaining parts. Not one quarter of the letter-press has yet been supplied to the numbers which are published; and to do justice to the plates, antiquarian knowledge of a far higher degree is required than any which we can with truth attribute to the fair authoress in question. Our anxiety that so valuable a work may not be utterly ruined has alone prompted this ungallant remark.

Nearly ready, a new edition of The Life of Sir Thomas More, Knight, by his Grandson, Cresacre More. Edited by the Rev. JOSEPH HUNTER, F.S.A.

Historical Tablets and Medallions, illustrative of an improved System of Artificial Memory, for the more easy Remembrance of Remarkable Events and Dates, designed and arranged by J. H. TODD.

Illustrations of Bedfordshire, grounded on LYSONS, with a more extensive and general reference to original authoritics.

THE

Retrospective Review.

NEW SERIES.

VOL. I.-PART II.

A Treatise in old English, containing Counsels to Young Ladies, and other Women, how to govern themselves, by following Virtue and eschewing Vice; made by a Knight, for the Use of his three Daughters. Harleian MSS. No. 1764.

The Booke whiche the Knight of the Towre made to the enseygnement and teching of his Doughtres; translated oute of the Frenssh into our maternall Englisshe tongue, by me William Caxton: which booke was ended and fynysshed the fyrst daye of Juyn, the yere of oure Lorde M.cccc.lxxxiii; and emprynted at Westmynstre, the last day of Januer. the fyrst yere of the regne of Kinge Richard the thyrd.

THE works of which we propose to lay some account before our readers, are translations made at different periods from a treatise, written in the French language by an Angevin gentleman, in the year 1371. His name was Geoffroy Landry, surnamed De la Tour, and, according to La Croix, was of an ancient and noble family in Anjou. It is evident, from various allusions in the work, that he held an honourable station in society, in wealth as well as rank; and it may therefore be inferred, that his sentiments, extraordinary as many of them are, were such as prevailed at the time in the upper circles. The preface prefixed to Caxton's translation. also implies, most unequivocally, that the work, though written by a Frenchman, was applicable to the contemporary state of society in England; of which, indeed, there is abundant evidence from other sources. The truth is, that English and French manners in the upper ranks scarcely differed at the time by any

VOL. 1.-PART II.

N

perceptible features. The fact now appears singular; but it is placed out of doubt by the direct attestation of Chalcondyles'; and, indeed, it is by no means unaccountable, when the Norman origin of our nobility is considered, and the comparatively short time, little more than a century, since the great western provinces of France had been severed from the English crown.

Of the two translations of the work, the MS. of the Harleian Library is unquestionably the earliest; and from internal evidence appears to have been executed in the reign of Henry the Sixth. It is occasionally disfigured by French idioms, but is, upon the whole, a beautiful specimen of the language of the period; and has an ease and fluency which mark a hand practised in composition. The version of Caxton, though probably forty or fifty years later, is in most respects more rude. The venerable typographer confesses, in his preface, that he was but an indifferent translator; "though he had emprysed him heretofore to smattre in such translations;" and his performance occasionally needs this apology. It displays far more frequent instances of harshness and obscurity than the former work; and in some places manifests a total disregard of all grammatical rules. Like many modern authors, however, he pleads the importunity of friends; and especially of a noble lady, who had educated many fair daughters, and was so impressed with the excellence of the work, that she desired to make it generally understood. Of course, Caxton was not aware of the existence of the earlier translation; and indeed, even in these days of bibliography, so little are either works known, that the identity of their origin has, we believe, never before been suspected. The MS. from its greater antiquity and beauty, will chiefly supply the quotations of the following pages.

The occasion which suggested the composition of the treatise is thus related. At the end of the month of April, 1371, the knight was reflecting, under the shadow of some trees m his garden, on various passages of his life, and on the memory of a wife, whose early death had left him to a long widowhood of sorrow; when, in the midst of his reverie, he

De Rebus Turcicis, lib. ii. p. 48. Chalcondyles visited England in 1400.

2 Caxton's work has almost the scarcity of a MS.; not more than three or four perfect copies of it are known to be in existence. One of them, in the dog days of bibliomania, is said (Dibdin's ed. of Ames) to have sold at Mr. Brand's sale for 105 guineas. Volumes purchased at such a price are seldom read by those who buy them; but from professed bibliographers, something more might be expected. The following, however, is a speeimen of their researches. "This singular work," says Mr. Dibdin," from its title, would lead the reader to expect an account of tilts and tournaments, and all the peril and pomp attending chivalrous adventures; but although there may be some amusing and instructive stories in it (none of which, however, it has been my good fortune on a casual glance to discover), it is a didactic work," &c.