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without, feels himself under the awkward judged of by the three following speciand imperative obligation of joining in the mens:homage universally rendered to an individ- 'He usually divided his time into three porual, holding a proud and eminent station in tions: one was employed in sleep and the reEnglish history, but of whom it must be fection of his body by diet and exercise; anothmost truly said, that' superstition' was the er, in the despatch of business; a third, in study ruling passion. The materials for the biog-bution of his time, though he often laboured and devotion... and by such a regular distriraphy of this bigot, are peculiarly ample. under great bodily infirmities, this martial hero, Not merely do the contemporary historians who fought in person fifty-six battles by sea abound with minute details of his life and and land, was able, during a life of no extraactions, but we possess also his own dec-ordinary length, to acquire more knowledge larations of his sentiments, for he happens and even to compose more books than most to have been an author, as well as a patron studious men, though blessed with the greatest of literature. Moreover, as a royal author, labour and application, have, in more fortunate he speaks in the public documents dictated ages, made the object of their uninterrupted industry.' by his own heart and mind. From these materials, so unusually trustworthy and Without containing anything which is ababundant, and which form the sources of solutely false, the above passages contain this sovereign's history, we can collect that nothing which is true. Alfred's mind and he received every word uttered by the exertions, according to the impression proclergy as the most sacred oracles,' and 'ad- duced by Hume, were all but wholly enmitted all their pretensions to superior sanc-grossed by his temporal concerns: the regtity.' 'Stupidly debased,' he was wholly ular distribution of his time was solely ingiven up to an abject and illiberal devotion.' tended to enable him to combine the charIn every trial, every emergency, this weak acter of an active warrior and a vigilant and superstitious prince trusted to super- sovereign with that of a literary student. natural assistance: 'his whole mind was Whereas the whole end and intent of Alsunk into the lowest submission and abase- fred's course of life, of which one half was ment, and devoted to the monkish virtues given to God, was to combine the active of mortification, penance, and humility.' duties of a sovereign with the strict devoIf there was any individual in whom, more tion of the recluse; to keep his heart out than another, all the miserable absurdity of of the world, in which he was compelled, superstition is thus exemplified, it is in this by God's appointment, to converse-to bear prince. Yet, in spite of all this ignorance the crown as his cross; so that the performand folly, it was needful that Hume, if he ance of his duties towards God might not wished to reserve the favour of his read- be rendered a temptation for shrinking from ers, sho sent him-and it is Alfred those labours and responsibilities which of whom speaking-as 'the model God had imposed. of that perfect haracter, which, under the denomination of a or wise man, philososage phers have been fond of delineating, rather as a fiction of their imagination than in hopes of ever seeing it really existing;' and as the wisest and best prince that had ever adorned the annals of any nation.'

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What, therefore, was to be done in this dilemma? How was Alfred to be rendered such a sage, such a wise man, as the philosopher could applaud? The process was quite easy. In Hume's very elaborate life of Alfred, which occupies one-fourth of the History of England' up to that period, he has concealed every passage, every fact, every incident, every transaction, displaying that active belief in Christianity, which governed the whole tenor and course of Alfred's life. The sedulous care which Hume has bestowed, in obscuring and deleting the memorials of Alfred's Christianity, may be

'Alfred set apart a seventh portion of his own revenue for maintaining a number of working the ruined cities, castles, palaces, and monmen, whom he constantly employed in rebuildasteries. Even the elegancies of life were brought to him from the Mediterranean and the Indies; and his subjects, by seeing those productions of the peaceful arts, were taught to respect the virtues of justice and indus from which alone they could arise.'

Who, in this narrative, could discover that Alfred set apart one-half of his entire revenue for pious purposes, in order that, so far as his station admitted, he might fulfil the obligation of poverty ?***

*Stinted as we are for space, we cannot, as we should wish, bring before the reader the passages from the original writers, which would show how entirely all trustworthiness must be denied to Hume. In the following extracts, relating to the employment of Alfred's revenues, besides sup

'Sensible that the people at all times, espec- | Alfred endeavoured to convey his morality ially when their understandings are obstruct- by apologues, parables, stories, apophthegms, ed by ignorance and bad education, are not couched in poetry; and besides propagating much susceptible of speculative instruction, amongst his subjects former compositions of that kind which he found in the Saxon tongue, pressing the application of one-half to religious he exercised his genius in inventing works of purposes, he has falsified the portion relating to like nature, as well as in translating from the the expenditure upon the workmen. Asser says Greek the elegant fables of Esop. He also nothing whatever of monasteries, in his account gave Saxon translations of Orosius and Bede's of the appropriation of the building-third of the histories; and of Boethius, concerning the secular portion of Alfred's revenue (being one-Consolations of Philosophy.' sixth of the whole revenue, and not one-seventh). This sixth was employed upon secular buildings, probably fortresses or bridges, or other public works; but as Hume might apprehend that some of his readers would recollect Alfred did found two monasteries of great celebrity, and repair many others, he has artfully introduced them as an incidental item in the general estimates of the expenditure.

'His ita definitis, solito suo more, intra semetipsum cogitabat, quid adhuc addere potuisset, quod plus placeret ad piam meditationem; non inaniter incepta, utiliter inventa, utilius servata est: nam jamdudum in lege scriptum audierat, Dominum decimam sibi multipliciter redditurum promisisse; atque fideliter servasse, decimamque sibi multipliciter redditurum fuisse. Hoc exemplo instigatus, et antecessorum morem volens transcendere, dimidiam servitii sui partem, diurni scilicet, et nocturni temporis; nec non etiam dimidiam partem omnium divitiarum, quæ annualiter ad eum cum justitia moderanter acquisitæ pervenire consueverant, Deo devote et fideliter toto cordis affectu, pius meditator se daturum spondit; quod et quantum potest humana discretio discernere et servare, subtiliter ac sapienter adimplere studuit. Sed ut solito suo more cautus evitaret, quod in alio divinæ Scripturæ loco cautum est; si recte efferas, recte autem non dividas, peccas: quod Deo libenter devoverat, quo modo recte dividere posset, cogitavit: et, ut dixit Salomon, Cor regis in manu Domini, id est, consilium; consilio divinitus invento omnium unius cujusque anni censuum successum bifarie, primitus ministros suos dividere æqua lance imperavit.'

A very interesting account of the application of the first third of the half amongst his soldiery and household being given, the coeval historian pro

ceeds :

Talibus itaque primam de tribus prædictus par

tibus partem, unicuique tamen secundum propriam dignitatem, et etiam secundum proprium ministerium largiebatur: secundam autem operatoribus, quos ex multis gentibus collectos et comparatos propemodum innumerabiles habebat in omni terreno ædificio edoctos; tertiam autem ejusdem partem advenis ex omni gente ad eum advenientibus, longe propeque positis, et pecuniam ab illo exigentibus, etiam et non exigentibus, unicuique secundum propriam dignitatem mirabili dispensatione laudabiliter, et (sicut scriptum est, Hilarem datorem diligit Deus) bilariter impendebat.

In this enumeration of the works produced by Alfred, or under his direction, Hume, extracting from Spelman's Life, in which the catalogue is complete, quietly leaves out all such as are contaminated by Christianity. All Alfred's translations of the Pastoral of St. Gregory-the Dialogues of the same Pope-the Soliloquies of St. Augustine-the Psalms-several other portions of the Bible—and his 'Hand Book'. (selections from the Scriptures, with commentaries and reflections), constantly borne about him-and to which he added at every interval of leisure, even in the midst of his secular employments. The whole object of Alfred's instruction was intended for the diffusion, not of literature in its modern sense, but of such portions of human knowledge as might be rendered subservient to faith. Hume, by repainting Alfred's portrait in coarse and gaudy colors, has thus daubed out all the characteristics of Alfred's individuality - his religious foundations, his devotional charity-his labors for the diffusion of the Scriptures-his constant seeking comfort and support from divine truth—his bodily penances and mortifications—and, above all, that, as king and legislator, Alfred entirely based his laws upon the Bible, declaring to his people that immutable truth which no other king or legislator has been sufficiently enlightened to proclaim, that if they obeyed the pre

humana discretio custodire poterat, illius sancti Papæ Gregorii observandam esse sententiam, qua discretam mentionem dividendæ eleemosynæ ita dicens agebat: Nec parvum cui multum : nec multum cui parvum : nec nihil cui aliquid, nec aliquid cui nihil. Secundam autem duobus monasteriis, quæ ipse fieri imperaverat, et servientibus in his Deo (de quibus paulo ante latius disseruimus); tertiam scholæ (Oxford University?) quam ex • Secundam vero partem omnium divitiarum multis suæ propriæ gentis nobilibus studiossissime suarum, quæ annualiter ad eum ex omni censu congregaverat; quartam circum finitimis in omni perveniebant, et in fisco reputabantur (sicut jam Saxonia et Mercia monasteriis, et etiam quibuspaulo ante commemoravimus) plena voluntate Deodam annis per vicis in Britannia et Cornubia, devovit, et in quatuor partibus etiam curiose suos ministros illam dividere imperavit; ea conditione, ut prima pars illius divisionis pauperibus uniuscujusque gentis, qui ad eum veniebant, discretissme erogaretur: memorabat etiam in hoc, quantum

Gallia, Armorica, Northymbria, et aliquando etiam in Hybernia, ecclesiis et servis Dei inhabitantibus secundum possibilitatem suam aut ante distribuit, aut sequenti tempore erogare proposuit, vita sibi et prosperitate salva,'—Asser, 64—67.

cepts of Almighty God, no other law would an infant: the princess, notwithstanding her be required. Read Alfred's character as it tender years, showed an advanced judgment; is presented by Hume to the reader, partic- and the calamities of her family had made a ularly to the youthful reader, and the 'sov-consolations and advices, the king gave her in deep impression upon her. After many pious ereign, the warrior, the politician, and the charge to tell the queen, that, during the whole patron of literature,' becomes the counter-course of his life, he had never once, even in part of Frederick of Prussia, whose epithet of the Great' is the very curse of the kingdom over which he ruled.

thought, failed in his fidelity towards her; and that his conjugal tenderness and his life should have an equal duration.

Yet one proof more must be given of (III. IV.)-To the young duke, too, he Hume's falsification of history, resulting could not forbear giving some advice, in order from his inveterate hostility against religion.alty and obedience towards his brother, who to season his mind with early principles of loyRelating not to the 'dark ages,' but to a was so soon to be his sovereign. Holding him period near and familiar, it will best enable on his knee, he said, "Now they will cut off the readers of Hume to comprehend and thy father's head." At these words the child abhor the deceptions practised upon them looked very stedfastly upon him. "Mark, by their philosopher and guide. As the child! what I say: they will cut off my head! moral fraud-for to call it a literary fraud and perhaps make thee a king: but mark what would be far too lenient a designation-brothers Charles and James are alive. They I say, thou must not be a king, as long as thy which he has perpetrated in his narrative of will cut off thy brothers' heads when they can the death of Charles I., possesses singular catch them! and thy head too they will cut off interest, and has been wholly unnoticed and undetected, we shall lay the evidence before our readers as fully as the limits of this publication will admit, in order that they may judge for themselves.

Hume quotes, as his groundwork, Herbert's Memoirs,' which he consulted carefully; the copy he used being in the Advocates' library, and containing his pencil marks; and Walker's History of Independency.'—But he does not quote Lloyd's 'History,' Whitelocke's 'Memorials,' and Warwick's Memoirs,' from whence he derived the most important passages relating to the king's interview with his children, and his conduct upon the scaffold, including his dying speech; and we cannot think that this suppression of references is the result of accident. We give the whole of Humes narrative in continuity; and request our readers will take the trouble to read it attentively, and then to read the authorities, to which we have made reference in Hume's text, with equal attention. From the latter we have extracted all the most important passages.

HUME'S NARRATIVE.

(I.)-'Three days were allowed the king between his sentence and his execution. This interval he passed with great tranquillity, chiefly in reading and devotion.

(II.) All his family that remained in England, were allowed access to him. It consisted only of the Princess Elizabeth and the Duke of Gloucester; for the Duke of York had made his escape. Gloucester was little more than

at last! therefore, I charge thee, do not be made a king by them!" The duke, sighing, replied, "I will be torn in pieces first!" So determined an answer from one of such tender years, filled the king's eyes with tears of joy and admiration.

(V. VI.)—' Every night, during this interval, the king slept sound as usual; though the noise of workmen, employed in framing the scaffold, and other preparations for his execu tion, continually resounded in his ears. The morning of the fatal day (30th Jan.) he rose early; and calling Herbert, one of his attendants, he bade him employ more than usual care in dressing him, and preparing him for so great and joyful a solemnity. Bishop Juxon, a man endowed with the same mild and steady virtues by which the king himself was so much distinguished, assisted him in his devotions, and paid the last melancholy duties to his friend and sovereign.

(VII. VIII.)—The street before Whitehall was the place destined for the execution; for it was intended, by choosing that very place, in sight of his own palace, to display more evidently the triumph of popular justice over royal majesty. When the king came upon the diers that he could not expect to be heard by scaffold, he found it so surrounded with solany of the people: he addressed, therefore, his discourse to the few persons who were about him; particularly Colonel Tomlinson, to whose care he had lately been committed, and upon whom, as upon many others, his amiable deportment had wrought an entire conversion. He justified his own innocence in the late fatal wars, and observed that he had not taken arms till after the Parliament had enlisted forces; nor had he any other object in his warlike operations than to preserve that authority entire, which his predecessors had transmitted to him. He threw not, however, the blame upon the Parliament; but was more inclined to think

ghostly comfort to his soul, suitable to his present condition), he would have none other. These ministers were no sooner gone, but Mr. John Goodwyn (minister in Coleman-street) came likewise upon the same account, to tender his service, which the king also thank'd him for, and dismiss'd him with the like friendly answer...

that ill instruments had interposed, and raised all other his good subjects, would, in their adin them fears and jealousies with regard to his dresses to God, be mindful of him. But in reintentions. Though innocent towards his peo-gard he had made choice of Dr. Juxon (whom ple, he acknowledged the equity of his execu- for many years he had known to be a pious tion in the eyes of his Maker; and observed, and learned divine, and able to administer that an unjust sentence which he had suffered to take effect, was now punished by an unjust sentence upon himself. He forgave all his enemies, even the chief instruments of his death; but exhorted them and the whole nation to return to the ways of peace, by paying obedience to their lawful sovereign, his son and successor. When he was preparing himself for the block, Bishop Juxon called to him, "There is, sir, but one stage more, which, though turbulent and troublesome, is yet a very short one. Consider, it will soon carry you a great way; it will carry you from earth to heaven: and there you shall find, to your great joy, the prize to which you hasten, a crown of glory."-"I go," replied the king, "from a corruptible to an incorruptible crown, where no disturbance can have place." At one blow was his head severed from his body. A man in a vizor performed the office of executioner: another, in a like disguise, held up to the spectators the head streaming with blood, and cried aloud, This is the head of a traitor!

HUME'S AUTHORITIES.

(I.) The king, at the rising of the Court, was with a guard of halberdiers returned to White-hall in a close chair, through Kingstreet, both sides whereof had a guard of footsoldiers, who were silent as his majesty pass'd. But shop-stalls and windows were full of people, many of which shed tears, and some of them with audible voices pray'd for the king, who through the privy-garden was carried to his bed-chamber; whence, after two hours space, he was removed to St. James's.

'The king now bidding farewell to the world, his whole business was a serious preparation for death, which opens the door unto eternity; in order thereunto, he laid aside all other thoughts, and spent the remainder of his time in prayer and other pious exercises of devotion, and in conference with that meek and learned Bishop Dr. Juxon, who, under God, was a great support to him in that his afflicted condition; and resolving to sequester himself so, as he might have no disturbance to his mind, nor interruption to his meditations, he order'd Mr. Herbert to excuse it to any that might have the desire to visit him. . . .

'At this time also came to St. James's Mr. Calamy, Mr. Vines, Mr. Carryl, Mr. Dell, and some other London-Ministers, who presented their duty to the king, with their humble desires to pray with him, and perform other offices of service, if his Majesty pleas'd to accept of 'em. The king return'd them thanks for their love to his soul, hoping that they, and

That evening, Mr. Seamour (a gentleman then attending the Prince of Wales in his bedchamber), by Colonel Hacker's permission, came to his Majesty's bed-chamber door, desiring to speak with the King from the Prince of Wales; being admitted, he presented his Majesty with a letter from his Highness the Prince of Wales, bearing date from the Hague the 23d day of January -48. (Old Stile.) Mr. Seamour, at his entrance, fell into a passion, having formerly seen his Majesty in a glorious state, and now in a dolorous; and having kiss'd the king's hand, clasp'd about his legs, lamentably mourning. Hacker came in with the gentleman and was abash'd. But so soon as his Majesty had read his son's sorrowing letter, and heard what his servant had to say, and imparted to him what his Majesty thought fit in return, the Prince's servant took his leave, and was no sooner gone but the king went to his devotion, Dr. Juxon praying with him, and reading some select chapters out of sacred Scripture.'—Herbert, p. 117.

(II.) 'Morning being come, the Bishop was early with the king, and after prayers his Majesty broke the seals open, and shew'd them what was contain'd in it; there were diamonds and jewels, most part broken Georges and Garters. You see (said he) all the wealth now in my power to give my two children. Next day Princess Elizabeth, and the Duke of Gloucester, her brother, came to take their sad farewel of the king their father, and to ask his blessing. This was the 29th of Jan. The princess being the elder, was the most sensible of her royal father's condition, as appear'd by her sorrowful look and excessive weeping; and her little brother seeing his sister weep, he took the like impression, though by reason of his tender age, he could not have the like apprehension. The king rais'd them both from off their knees; he kiss'd them, gave them his blessing, and setting them on his knees, admonish'd them concerning their duty and loyal observance to the queen their mother, the prince that was his successor, love to the Duke of York, and his other relations. The king then gave them all his jewels, save the George he wore, which was cut in an onyx with great curiosity, and set about with 21 fair diamonds, and the reverse set with the like number; and again kissing his children, had such pretty and perti[nent answers from them both, as drew tears of

joy and love from his eyes; and then praying j feared their cruelty was such as that they God Almighty to bless 'em, he turned about, would not have permitted him to write to me. expressing a tender and fatherly affection. He wished me not to grieve and torment myMost sorrowful was this parting, the young self for him, for that it would be a glorious princess shedding tears and crying lamentably, death that he should dye, it being for the laws so as mov❜d others to pity, that formerly were and liberties of this land and for maintaining hard-hearted; and at opening the bed-chamber the true Protestant Religion. He bid me read door, the king return'd hastily from the win-"Bishop Andrews' Sermons," "Hooker's Ecdow, and kiss'd 'em and bless'd 'em; so parted.