that,' said the other with a laugh, but provide me with a couple of bondmen, to go afoot as guides to the way.'

And it came to pass that when they had proceeded two miles, one and all lost all knowledge of the way, owing to the darkness; only the horses, by natural instinct, picked out the hard road. While they were thus separated from each other, the esquires took the right road; [but] he, at length (that I may make a long story short), fell from his horse, and bade farewell to his kingdom in the sleep of Sisara. To him Solomon's proverb applies: Wo unto him who, when he falls, has no man to raise him up.' He lies at Dunfermline alone in the south aisle, buried near the presbytery. Whence [comes it] that, while we may see the populace bewailing his sudden death as deeply as the desolation of the realm, those only who adhered to him most closely in life for his friendship and favours, wet not their cheeks with tears?

But, whereas a chronicle which which strews its course with extinguished cinders will be deemed too dry, I shall here relate, to the praise of the incorrupt Virgin, what befel on the Annunciation immediately after this event. In that kingdom there is a village called Stanehouse 2 on this side of the burgh of Stirling, wherein a farmer, not sufficiently respecting the feast of the Conception of the Son of God,3 went to the plough, yoked his team, and, having set his own son to drive the animals, began to plough the turf. But as the oxen did not go fast enough, and by avoiding [the yoke] drew a crooked furrow, the obstinate fellow cried to his son to goad them, and shouted curses on the beasts. At length, wrought into a fury, he seized a plough staff, and, meaning to deal a heavy blow on the restive one of the oxen, he aimed amiss, and struck the head of his own son, who fell dead. Thus he became the murderer of his own offspring, an outlaw from his own people, obnoxious to the Author of Salvation, and the betrayer of his own [cause].*

125th March.

Probably Stonehouse in Lanarkshire.

3 I.e. the Annunciation. Father Stevenson, confusing it with the Conception of the Virgin, noted it as 8th December.

4 It was by tales like these, diligently circulated, that the clergy terrified their flocks into due observance of holy days; but in this instance the moral had been more apparent if the punishment had fallen upon the impious father instead of the innocent son.

(To be continued.)

Reviews of Books

HENRY STUART, CARDINAL OF YORK, AND HIS TIMES. By Alice Shield. With an introduction by Andrew Lang. Pp. xvi, 335, and sixteen illustrations. 8vo. London: Longmans, Green & Co. 1908. 12s. 6d. nett.

THIS work, which follows that written by the authoress in conjunction with Mr. Andrew Lang, The King over the Water, might fitly be entitled 'The Last Stuarts.' It is indeed the story of the exiled James and his two sons, and during the period of their lives there is much more about James and his elder son, Charles Edward, than about the less known Henry of York.

It was perhaps fitting that the last of the Stuarts should adopt the career of a Cardinal Prince of the Roman Church. It was the Church to which all his ancestors had adhered, either openly or in secret, except during the Anglican interlude covered by the reigns of James VI. and his son Charles I. For its sake both his father and grandfather may be said to have forfeited their crowns, and the religious enthusiasm which they had manifested was to some extent inherited by Henry of York. He at least obtained a title which could be recognised by every one without compromise of political convictions. His life was fairly worthy of his sacred and dignified profession, a profession which rendered impossible the continuance of a line upon which fortune persistently refused to smile. 'Henry,' to quote Mrs. Oliphant, 'set his red hat as a seal to the tomb of the Stuarts.' At the outset of his life he had relied upon his brother, to whom he was deeply attached, to retrieve the family fortunes, and he had chosen his own career before that brother had proved an utter failure. It would be perhaps well for the enthusiastic admirers of bonnie Prince Charlie not to read this book. Let the mists fall upon him as he sails away in the French ship from the western shores of Scotland. The Scottish episode is not only the most picturesque, but it is the most worthy in his fairly lengthy career. The young man who, whether shining in all the tinsel of Holyrood, or riding at the head of his victorious clans, or hiding in Highland caves, never ceased to call forth admiration, ere he approached old age had fallen a victim not only to bitter chagrin and foolish pride, but to that vice which so often successfully tempts the unfortunate in all walks of life. Intemperate habits are not only charged against him by his enemies or such scandal-mongers as Sir Horace Mann. Writing in 1767, when Charles was still in the prime of life, the Cardinal says,

'I am persuaded we should gain ground as to everything were it not for the nasty bottle, that goes on but too much, and certainly must at last kill him.' There is evidence, however, that towards the end of his life his habits improved. He was impossible' says his latest biographer, Mr. Andrew Lang, and all must concur in the verdict.

His father, the old Pretender, appears in a much more favourable light. His attempt to recover the ancient kingdom may have been even a greater failure than that of his son, and his contribution to Scottish history so small as to have been almost forgotten, but he remained to the end of his life an upright, temperate, and religious man. The Faith, with which Charles was inclined to play fast and loose, was to him a reality, and we may feel sure that not even to gain the crown of England would he have abandoned or even concealed his beliefs. He might, however, have led a happier existence had he possessed less pride and a more equal temper. It is sad to find how the harmony of these three lives was marred by trifling causes, and one can only attribute it to the deterioration of character which a hopeless exile and the worries of a petty court were sure to bring about.

It is perhaps somewhat difficult to form a proper estimate of Henry's character from this book. He is constantly cropping up in its pages just to disappear again. Now he manifests affection and generosity, again temper and pride. He seems to have been a respectable ecclesiastic, but not popular, and to have bored at least one Pope with his talk. He had had but a scanty preparation for his sacred profession, and more natural piety than acquired learning. But he was faithful to his duties, and endeavoured to maintain a strict discipline. Probably his brethren were inclined to envy him as one who hardly deserved all the rich gifts of the Church so liberally heaped upon him, and as one who owed much to his royal rank.

He was attractive in childhood and youth. Reports bear out the impression given by Largillière's charming portrait in the National Portrait Gallery. The Earl Marischal writes in 1731, 'I never saw any child comparable to him.' A later writer describes him as much liked on account of his handsome face and pretty manners.' There were no indications in these childish days of the peaceful profession he was subsequently to adopt. When his brother set off to see war at the siege of Gaeta, Henry, then aged nine, was impatient to accompany him, and is said to have thrown away his toy sword in disgust when, not unnaturally, refused permission. He was still a mere boy when offered the cardinal's hat. His acceptance of this offer is said to have filled his brother with rage. His prospects of recovering England were not likely to be improved by the step which Henry was about to take. It was even said that the Hanoverian government had a hand in the business. Yet Charles was, in after life, greatly to benefit by the pecuniary assistance which his richly endowed brother was able to afford. But the Prince, who had just returned from Scotland, was still hopeful of further attempts, and it was convenient to keep the family religion in the background. One Jacobite wrote that the duke's change of state was looked upon by

everybody as of much worse consequence than Culloden. Even the Scots College stood aghast.

Ordained a sub-deacon upon August 18, 1748, he was a priest by September 1. Various nations gave, or at least promised, benefices. From this date forward his private life for many years was that of a dignified prelate living in his palace, developing the musical services in his cathedral, and collecting jewels and works of art. Before the end came, and in the weakness of old age, he had to flee before the great storm of the Revolution, which showed no respect for princes either secular or sacred. But he survived to regain something like his old position, and died in dignity and peace. Although they had bitter quarrels, and were separated for long, the brothers maintained throughout life the mutual affection of their early years. When Charles died, Henry gave him a royal burial in his Cathedral of Frascati, and erected a monument to his memory. As everyone knows, they now sleep side by side in St. Peter's. While inclined to discourage Charles' demands for recognition as a king, Henry, after his brother's death, protested his own right to the throne of England, and accepted kingly honours from those who surrounded him. Of any attempt to recover that throne there is no evidence, yet it has been said that he was implicated in the Irish Rebellion of 1798. The Irish would have probably welcomed any claimant in their rage against England, and there was the great bond of a common faith between them and the Cardinal, but it is a mere tradition which rests upon no solid foundation.

The attitude which Henry assumed towards his sister-in-law, the Countess Albany, is just an illustration of the way in which an unprincipled woman may deceive a good and honourable man. More pleasing is the fact that, although at first opposed to her legitimation, he afterwards became attached to, and fully recognised the merits of, his niece, the devoted daughter who attended so nobly to Charles in his declining years.

Miss Shield has an interesting style, and has evidently bestowed great labour upon this book, and made a really valuable contribution to the history of the Stuart family, of which it may be said to form the last chapter. We note one slip. Charles was not forty-nine years old in 1766. It may be pointed out that the Lord Sempil frequently mentioned in these pages is not the bearer of the Scottish title who fought under Cumberland at Culloden, but a creation made over the Water.'

Mr. Andrew Lang has contributed a short but most attractive preface, and the illustrations, nearly all portraits, are excellent.

W. G. SCOTT MONCRIEFF.

THE GOVERNMENT OF ENGLAND. Two Vols. By A. Lawrence Lowell, Professor of the Science of Government in Harvard University, U.S.A. Vol. I. pp. xv, 570; Vol. II. pp. viii, 563. Demy 8vo. London: Macmillan & Co., Ltd. 1908. 17. nett. SOBRIETY of judgment, a keen sense of proportion, and absolute lucidity of exposition are the outstanding qualities of these admirable volumes. If the work appears somewhat colourless in places, this is merely because

the author has deliberately restrained himself, preferring usefulness to brilliancy. If he has added to our knowledge comparatively little that is new, it is because he prefers, in treating of well-worn themes, to adopt and improve the conclusions of recognized authorities rather than to confuse his readers by the invention of subtle paradoxes, or to lead them astray by straining after an appearance of originality. As a consequence, he has produced a work of solid merit, equally thorough and reliable in every one of its numerous and well-proportioned sections, a book to which Englishmen and foreigners alike may confidently appeal, without anxiety that its conclusions are vitiated by the intrusion of any personal factor into the equation.

It seems natural to compare what this transatlantic writer has now done for the English Constitution with the similar service rendered many years ago to the American Commonwealth by Mr. Bryce. The two treatises, indeed, have much in common. Each of them maintains throughout a dead level of somewhat monotonous excellence, and each of them is likely to remain for long the standard authority on the system of government it describes. Considered as a whole, Mr. Bryce's treatise has a wider range, embracing the social, racial, and even physical aspects of the American Commonwealth, and not merely the political institutions, to which Prof. Lowell confines his attention. Mr. Lowell's work, again, is the more compact, more concrete, and terser of the two; while Mr. Bryce is richer in suggestive and germinating ideas for the student of political science in the abstract. Mr. Lowell, however, has many shrewd observations on English politics and institutions, as, for example, that the Frenchman has tended in the past to draw logical conclusions from correct premises, and that his results have often been wrong, while the Englishman draws illogical conclusions from incorrect premises, and his results are commonly right' (vol. i. p. 14).

A catalogue even of the important topics handled by Prof. Lowell would occupy too much space. While dealing adequately with the main features of the central and the local government respectively, he gives lucid information on many special topics not usually treated by writers on constitutional law. There are admirable chapters, for example, on private bill legislation, on imperial federation, on the benefits and dangers of municipal trading, on the legislation that has gradually built up the present system of national education, on the part played by official experts in the government of boroughs, and on many allied themes. On the permanent civil service, and its value to Great Britain, he has some illuminating remarks: "The nation has been saved from a bureaucracy, such as prevails over the greater part of Europe, on the one hand, and from the American spoils system on the other, by the sharp distinction between political and non-political officials' (i. 145).

Such themes, important as they are, are merely subsidiary. The subject of which Mr. Lowell, author of Governments and Parties in Continental Europe, may claim to speak with special authority-what he himself calls the central conception' of his treatise-is contained in fourteen chapters on 'The Party System.' He uses his description of