the war for him in France, in Poitou, Champagne, Ponthieu, Vimeu, Valgueffin*, in Normandy, and throughout the whole kingdom of France, except in those cities and towns which had voluntarily fubmitted to him.

"The Duke of Normandy was at this time at Paris with his two brothers, their uncle the Duke of Orleans, and all the principal counfellors of ftate, who, well aware of the courage of the King of England, and how he pillaged and impoverished the whole realm of France, knew also that this fituation could not laft, for the rents, both of the nobles and clergy, were generally unpaid. At this period, a very wife and valiant man was Chancellor of France, whofe name was William+ de Montague, Bishop of Therouenne: by his advice the kingdom was governed: every part of it profited from his good and loyal counfel. Attached to him were two clerks of great prodence; one was the Abbot of Clugny, the other Friar Symon de Langres, Principal of the Predicant Monks, and Doctor in Divinity. These two clerks just named, at the request and command of the Duke of Normandy and his brothers, the Duke of Orleans their uncle, and of the whole of the great council, fet out from Paris, with certain articles of peace. Sir Hugh de Geneve, Lord of Autun, was also their companion. They went to the King of England, who was overrunning Beauce, near to Gallardont.

These two prelates and the Knight had a parley with the King of England, when they began to open a treaty of peace with him and his allies. To this treaty the Duke of Lancaster, the Prince of Wales, the Earl of March, and many other Barons, were fummoned. However, this treaty was not concluded, though it was difcuffed for a long time, The King of England kept advancing into the country, feeking for thofe parts where was the greateft abundance. The commiffioners, like wife men, never quitted the King, nor fuffered their proposals to drop; for they faw the kingdom in fuch a miferable fituation, that the greatest danger was to be apprehended if they fhould fuffer another fummer to pafs without peace.

"On the other hand, the King of England infifted on fuch conditions as would have been fo very grievous and prejudicial to France, that the commiffioners, in honour, could not affent to them; fo that their treaties and conferences lafted feventeen days, the two prelates, and the Lord of Autun, conftantly following the King of England: this laft was much liftened to at the court of the King. They fent every day, or every other day, their treaties and minutes to the Duke

"Moft probably Vexin. Vexin Normand is bounded on one fide by the Seine.

The Prefident Henault calls him Gille Ayeelin de Montagu, Cardinal and Bishop of Thérouenne, vol. i. 4to. p. 263.

tres.

Gallardon, a town in Beauce, diocese and election of Char

§ This is a mistake; for the Earl of March was killed a month prior to this treaty, the 26th of February, at Rouvray, in Burgundy.

Barnes."

of

of Normandy and his brothers at Paris, that they might fee what ftate they were in, and have anfwers thereto; as well as to know in what manner they were to act. All thefe papers were attentively examined, and confidered privately, in the apartments of the Duke of Normandy; and then the full intentions of the Duke were written down, with the opinions of his council to these commiffioners; by which means, nothing paffed on either fide without being fully fpecified, and examined mot cautiously. Thefe aforefaid Frenchmen were in the King's apartments, or in his lodgings, as it happened, in the different places he halted at, as well on his march towards Chartres as other, wife; and they made great offers to bring the war to a conclufion; but the King was very hard to treat with; for his intention was to be, in fact, King of France, although he had never been fo; to die with that rank; and alfo to put Brittany, Blois, and Touraine in the fame fituation as those other provinces where he had garrifons. If his cou fin, the Duke of Lancaster, whom he much loved and confided in, had not perfuaded him to give up fuch ideas, and advised him to listen to the offers of peace, he never would have come to any terms. He very wifely remonftrated with him, and faid, " My Lord, this war which you are carrying on in the kingdom of France is wonderful to all men, and not fo favourable to you. Your people are the only real gainers by it, for you are wafting your time. Confidering every thing, if you perfift in continuing the war, it may laft you your life; and it appears to me doubtful, if you will eyer fucceed to the extent of your wishes. I would recommend, therefore, whilft you have the power of clofing it honourably, to accept the proposals which have been offered to you; for, my Lord, we may lofe more in one day than we have gained in twenty years."

"Thefe prudent and fenfible words, which the Duke of Lancaster uttered loyally, and with the beft intentions, to advife the King of England to his good, converted the King to his opinion, through the grace of the Holy Spirit, who alfo worked to the fame effect; for an accident befel him, and all his army, who were then before Chartres, that much humbled him, and bent his courage.

"During the time that the French commiffioners were paffing backwards and forwards from the King to his council, and unable to obtain any favourable answer to their offers, there happened fuch a form, and violent tempeft of thunder and hail, which fell on the Englifh army, that it feemed as if the world was come to an end. The hail-ftones were fo large as to kill men and beafts, and the boldest were frightened.

"The King turned himfelf towards the church of our Lady at Chartres, and religiously vowed to the Virgin, as he has fince confeffed, that he would accept of terms of peace. He was at this time lodged in a small village, near Chartres, called Bretigny; and there were then committed to writing, certain rules and ordinances for peace, upon which the following articles were drawn out. To follow up this, and more completely to treat of it, the counsellors and lawyers of the King of England drew up a paper, called the Charter of Peace, with great deliberation and muchp rudence, the tenor of which was as follows."

This first volume is ornamented with various engravings, which are faithfully copied from the beautiful manufcripts of Froiffart in the British Museum. Mr. Johnes has occafionally made use of these literary treasures; but he alfo poffeffes many valuable manuscripts of his own. There is alfo a curious manuscript at Breslau, which Mr. Johnes has employed a perfon to collate. The variations and additions, if of importance, will be added to the fucceeding volume. This book was printed under Mr. Johnes's immediate inspection, at a private prefs of his own, and at a remote part of the kingdom. There is, however, on this score, but little occafion or opportunity for complaint. We are happy to learn that the work is in continuation, with our cordial approbation thus far, and with our earnest wishes for its final fuccefs.

ART. II. The Life and Pofihumous Writings of William Cowper, Efq. with an Introductory Letter to the Right Honourable Earl Cowper. By William Hayley, Efq Vol. III. 4to. 447 PP. 11. 1s. Johnfon. 1804.

THOUGH this is marked as the third volume of Cowper's

Life, it contains no biography at all; but fimply an additional collection of Letters. It contains indeed what is much better than biography, except fuch as flows from the pen of a Johnfon, a very interefting and characteristic fucceffion of Letters; fo interefting indeed, that few readers of taste will have finished them, without regretting the termination of a fpecies of entertainment, no lefs rare than exquifite. In this refpect, the present volume far exceeds the two former, in which were feveral Letters of little interest, and some that a found judgment must have wifhed omitted*.

That he might not be quite excluded from the fociety of a friend with whom he is fo proud to appear, Mr. Hayley has prefixed 31 pages, of what he calls "Defultory Remarks, on the Letters of eminent Perfons, particularly those of Pope and Cowper". The remarks are indeed defultory, for the writer feems to have an inability to reftrain himself to their proper fubject. From Anne Boleyn he makes a rapid tranfition to Mad. de Sevigné, who naturally conducting him

See our twenty-fecond volume, p. 56, in our review of the preeeding volumes.

to Lady M. W. Montagu, he digreffes again and again upon her quarrel with Pope. Thrice does he call himself to attend to the Letters of that poet, and as often does he find himself unable to keep his attention to the fubject. Even the third time, he is not fuccefsful, but is gone immediately to Lord Bacon, and various other perfonages. On a fudden, by the aid of a quotation from Bolingbroke, we are carried back to all the ancient writers of Letters, but not to meet with any very new or valuable observations. The ineftimable Letters of Cicero, the most curious illuftrations of history remaining in the world, are paft by with much too flight a notice. If Mr. H. meant either to inftruct his readers, or to gain much credit to himself, he fhould have produced fomething more elaborate than thefe too Defultory Remarks; among which, however, there are fome worthy of notice, particularly the comparison, which ought to have formed the conclusion, between the Letters of Gellert and thofe of Cowper. The account of Bishop Hall's Letters should have been introduced much earlier. The true account of the Remarks is, that they contain much that does not belong to the fubject, want much that does belong to it, and give nothing in its proper place.

We proceed, with much increase of fatisfaction, to Cowper himself, whofe Letters, in the prefent feries, begin with the year. 1778. They are chiefly addreffed to the Rev. William Unwin or the Rev. John Newton, and contain therefore the effufions of a genuine friendship. Having read them throughout with great delight, we feel that our difficulty will be to reftrain ourselves within any moderate bounds of citation, fo much do they contain, that either characterizes the man, or poffeffes on other accounts intrinfic value. We are caught in the very fourth Letter, by his remarks on Johnson's life of Milton, which are not only full of truth, but full of genuine tafte and poetic feeling; and may ferve befides as a leffon to thofe multitudes, who have not learned, what natural amiablenefs alone fufficiently taught Cowper, how to object to a particular paffage in the writings of an author, without abufing the man.

"I have been well entertained with Johnfon's Biography, for which I thank you: with one exception, and that a fwinging one, I think he has acquitted himself with his ufual good fenfe and fufficiency. His treatment of Milton is unmerciful to the last degree. He has belaboured that great poet's character with the moft induftrious cruelty. As a man, he has hardly left him the fhadow of one good quality. Churlifhnefs in his private life, and a rancorous hatred of every thing royal in his public, are the two colours with which he has fmeared all the canvas, If he had any virtues, they are not to be found in the Doctor's picture of him, and it is well for Milton, that some fourness

in his temper is the only vice with which his memory has been charged; it is evident enough that if his biographer could have discovered more, he would not have spared him. As a poet, he has treated him with feverity enough, and has plucked one or two of the most beautiful feathers out of his Mufe's wing, and trampled them under his great foot, He has paffed fentence of condemnation upon Lycidas, and has taken occafion from that charming poem, to expofe to ridicule (what is indeed ridiculous enough) the childish prattlement of paftoral compofitions, as if Lycidas was the prototype and pattern of them all. The liveliness of the defcription, the sweetness of the numbers, the claffical fpirit of antiquity that prevails in it, go for nothing. I am convinced by the way, that he has no ear for poetical numbers, or that it was ftopped by prejudice against the harmony of Milton's; was there ever. any thing fo delightful as the mufic of the Paradife Loft? It is like that of a fine organ; has the fulleft and the deepest tones of majesty, with all the foftnefs and elegance of the Dorian flute. Variety without end and never equalled, unless perhaps by Virgil. Yet the Doctor has little or nothing to fay upon this copious theme, but talks fomething about the unfitnefs of the English language for blank-verse, and how apt it is, in the mouth of fome readers, to degenerate into decla mation." P. 6.

How can we pafs by, in a different flyle, the following beau tiful fpecimen of the author's poetical ingenuity united with true modefly?

"When I wrote laft I was a little inclined to fend you a copy of Verfes, entitled the Modern Patriot, but was not quite pleafed with a line or two which I found it difficult to mend, therefore did not. At night I read Mr. Burke's fpeech, in the news-paper, and was fo well pleafed with his propofals for a reformation, and with the temper in which he made them, that I began to think better of his caufe, and burnt my Verses. Such is the lot of the man who writes upon the fubject of the day; the afpect of affairs changes in an hour or two, and his opinion with it; what was juft, and well-deferved fatire in the morning, in the evening becomes a libel; the author commences his own judge, and while he condemns, with unrelenting feverity, what he fo lately approved, is forry to find that he has laid his leaf-gold upon touchwood, which crumbled away under his fingers. Alas! What can I do with my wit? I have not enough to do great things with, and these little things are fo fugitive, that while a man catches at the fubject, he is only filling his hand with smoke. I must do with it as I do with my linnet: I keep him for the moft part in a cage, but now and then fet open the door that he may whifk about the room a little, and then shut him up again. My whifking wit has produced the following, the fubject of which is more important than the man. ner in which I have treated it seems to imply, but a fable may fpeak truth, and all truth is fterling; I only premife that in a philofophical tract in the Regifter, I found it afferted that the glow-worm is the nightingale's proper food." P. 10.

"This Letter contained the beautiful Fable of the Nightingale and the Glow-worm."

In