of unrelaxed attention, he gained some addition to his own regal authority, or effected some diminution of those by whom it was counterbalanced.

Still the king of France was surrounded by doubt and danger. The members of the league "for the public weal," though not in unison, were in existence, and that scotched snake might reunite and become dangerous again. But a

worse danger was the increasing power of the duke of Burgundy, then one of the greatest princes of Europe, and little diminished in rank by the very precarious dependence of his duchy upon the crown of France.

Charles, surnamed the Bold, or rather the Audacious, for his courage was allied to rashness and frenzy, then wore the ducal coronet of Burgundy, which he burned to convert into a royal and independent regal crown. The character of this duke was in every respect the direct contrast to that of Louis XI.

The former was calm, deliberate, and crafty, never prosecuting a desperate enterprise, and never abandoning a probable one, however distant the prospect of success. The genius of the duke was entirely different: he rushed on danger because he loved it, and on difficulties because he despised them. As Louis never sacrificed his interest to his passion, so Charles, on the other hand, never sacrificed his passions or even his humour to any other considerations. Notwithstanding the near relation that existed between them, and the support which the duke and his father had afforded to Louis in his exile when Dauphin, there was mutual contempt and hatred betwixt them. The duke of Burgundy despised

be has been teling it. Well," said Dodingtox, and yet I did not hear a word of it; but I went to sleep because I knew that about this time of day you would tell that story."

HORACE WALPOLE.

THE HON. GERARD HAMILTON. HAMILTON, Who in the English Parliament got the nickname of Single Speech, spoke well, but not often, an the Irish House of Commons. He has a promptitude of thought, and a rapid flow of wel: concerved matter, with many other requisites that only seemed waiting for opportunities to establish this reputation as an orator. He had a striking countenance, a graceful carriage, great selipossession and personal courage he was not essit put out of his way by any of those unac commodating repugnanes that men of weaker nerves or more tender consciences might have stumblec at, or been checked by; he could mask the passions that were natural to him, and assume those that did not belong to him: he was indearabic, meditative, mysterious; his opinions were the result of long labour and much reflec

ba: he had the art of setting them forth as if were the starts of ready genins and a quick : he had as much seeming steadiness sa passa could stand in need of, and all the billy that could suit his purpose or abs mterest.

CONSENLAND.

the cautious policy of the king, and imputed to the faintness of his courage, that he sought by leagues, purchases, and other indirect means, those advantages which, in his place, he would have snatched with an armed hand; and he hated him, not only for the ingratitude he had manifested for former kindness, and for personal injuries and imputations which the ambassadors of Louis had cast upon him, when his father was yet alive; but also, and especially, because of the support which he afforded in secret to the discontented citizens of Ghent, Liege, and other great towns in Flanders. These turbulent cities, jealous of their privileges, and proud of their wealth, frequently were in a state of insurrection against their liege lords the dukes of Burgundy, and never failed to find underhand countenance at the court of Louis, who embraced every opportunity of fomenting disturbance within the dominions of his overgrown vassal.

It

The contempt and hatred of the duke were retaliated by Louis with equal energy, though he used a thicker veil to conceal his sentiments. was impossible for a man of his profound sagacity not to despise the stubborn obstinacy which never resigned its purpose, however fatal perseverance might prove, and the headlong impetuosity, which commenced its career, without allowing a moment's consideration for the obstacles to be encountered. Yet the king hated Charles even more than he contemned him; and his scorn and hatred were the more intense, that they were mingled with fear; for he knew that the onset of the mad bull, to whom he likened the duke of Burgundy, must ever be formidable,

though the animal makes it with shut eyes. It was not alone the wealth of the Burgundian provinces, the discipline of the warlike inhabitants, and the mass of their crowded population, which the king dreaded, for the personal qualities of their leaders had also much in them that was dangerous. The very soul of bravery, which he pushed to the verge of rashness, and beyond itprofuse in expenditure-splendid in his court, his person, and his retinue-in all which he displayed his hereditary magnificence of the house of Burgundy. Charles the Bold drew into his service almost all the fiery spirits of the age whose temper was congenial; and Louis saw too clearly what might be attempted and executed by such a train of desperate resolutes, following a leader of a character as ungovernable as their own.

There was yet another circumstance which increased the animosity of Louis towards his overgrown vassal; for he owed him favours which he never meant to repay, and was under the frequent necessity of temporizing with him, and even of enduring bursts of petulant insolence, injurious to the regal dignity, without being able to treat him as other than his " fair cousin of Burgundy."

SIR WALTER SCOTT.

HENRY IV. OF FRANCE.

THE province of the historian may be said in some measure to stop with the narration of the circumstances attending the death of Henry IV. His character stands little in need of elucidation,