appeard with their horses, and about 80 horse, with servants, whose names are register'd; the Prince is captaine, and Sir Jno. Byron is lieutenant.

Sir John Bankes's letter shows the uncertainties and divisions amongst those who were with the King. He writes with the caution of experience, but it is evident that the King was in no humour to bear honest advice; nay, that he was "extremely offended" with even the best of his friends who ac

knowledged the constitutional authority of the parliament. It is also evident that he was surrounded by counsellors who verified to the full the adage of "many men, many minds." At this very time, unknown to Bankes, unknown to all the world, his Majesty was acting under the secret advice of Hyde, who held neither office nor authority which entitled him to counsel his sovereign, or which made him responsible for the results of his advice. Turn we now from the one party to the other, from York to Westminster. The following are letters all written in that very same month of May 1642, by men of the highest station amongst those opposed to the King. The first is from the Earl of Northumberland, the head of the Percies, the Lord High Admiral, a man whose feelings were as essentially aristocratical as his po

sition. Thus he writes:

EARL OF NORTHUMBERLAND TO SIR
JOHN BANKES.

My Lord,-You being in a place where I hope your wise and moderate councells may contribute towards the composure of our unhappie differences, makes me desirous a little to expresse my sense unto your LoP. It is too apparent that neither King nor Parlament are without fears and jealousies; the one of having his authoritie and just rights invaded, the other of looseing that libertie which free borne subjects ought to enjoy, and the laws of the land do allow us. The alteration of govern ment is apprehended on both sides; we believe that those persons who are most powerful with the King do endevor to bring Parlaments to such a condition that they shall only be made instruments to execute the commands of the King, who were established for his greatest and most supreame councel. I dare say it is farre from our thoughts to change the forme of government, to invade upon the King's just prerogative, or to leave him unprovided of as plentifull a revenue as either he or any of his predecessors have ever GENT. MAG. VOL. XL.

injoyed. This, I am confident, will be made manifest if the King please but to grant some few humble desires of ours, weh had beene long since presented to him, had we not receaved so many interruptions by the harshe messages sent from his Maty to his Parlament; God forbid that either King or Parlament should by power and force goe about to cure the present distempers, for that course can produce nothing but miserie, if not ruine, both to King and people. We are very sensible of that high breache of priviledge in refusing the members of our owne house to come when we send for them, which is an indignitie not suffered by any inferior Court, and for this contempt we have orderd that the Lord Savill shall be excluded from voting or sitting in our house dureing this session.

shall therefore end this letter wth assurI have too long troubled your Lop, and

ance of my being

Your Lops faithfull freind and servant, A. NORTHUMBERLAND.

London, May 19, 1642.

It would be difficult to state the position of the two opposing parties more accurately or more clearly than is here done by Lord Northumberland. Each is full of jealousy. The king fears that if he submits to the parliament, his authority and just prerogatives will be diminished; the parliament, reading the future in the history of the past, is apprehensive that, without good securities from the king, they will lose "that liberty which free-born subjects ought to enjoy, and the laws of the land allow." Never was the solemn point in dispute more plainly stated. Furthermore, the parliament, observing the conduct of the king and the character of his advisers, infers that those persons who are most powerful with him seek to make parliaments, not what the constitution prescribes, the king's greatest and most supreme council," but what Charles had throughout his reign evidently wished them to be, and dissolved them as soon as they took upon them to be anything else-“" instruments to execute the commands of the king." Such is the Earl of Northumberland's opinion of the state of things which had brought the machinery of government almost to a deadlock.

66

The next person who writes is Denzil Holles, Strafford's brother-in-law, unquestionably a moderate man, but a lover of liberty; what says he? 3 A

To my honourable frend S JOHN BANKES, KN1., Lord Chief Justice of the Common Pleas. This letter was written on the table of the House of Commons whilst a debate was in progress there.*

My Lord,-Though the messenger be very hasty, I must make him stay to carry along my most affectionate thancks for your noble care of me, letting me know what interpretation some words spoken by me here receive in the North, concerning my dislike of an accommodation; of wch I shall give your LoP a satisfactory account, letting you know in what sense and upon what occasion such an expression fell from me, which was this :-When we were to send ye Committees into Yorkshire, I moved they might first addresse themselves to the Ks, wch was strongly opposed by some, and with violence, who a little too bitterly glanced at me, as if I intended some underhand accomodation; whereupon I stood up and said that I knew not what they meant by such an accomodation, if it was a complying and a goeing lesse, and a departing from our grounds, as if wee had done something that wee could not justify, I abhorred the thought of it; but if it was a good understanding betweene the Ks and the Parlament, it was that which myself and every good man did desire more than his own life; and this I doe assure yo' Lop was the substance of what I said, and I thinck the very words, of wch I give you this account because I will satisfy you as my noble frend, otherwise it is ordinary to me, nor doth it at all trouble me to be misreported. By what I send here enclosed yor Lop sees upon what termes wee stand, how far from what you wish in your letter, yet am I confident the Parlament will most readily cast itself at the Kgs feet with all faithfull and loyall submission, upon the first appearance of change in his May, that he will forsake those counsells which carry him on to so high a dislike and opposition to their proceedings by mispossessing himself of them. Believe it, my Lord, wee shall ever be faithfull and affectionate to his royal person, though wee follow that dictate of nature which makes us provide for our safety, and of our duty to take care of the common wealth, wch hath entrusted us, and this but against the common enemies of Kg and Parlament and people, who, by insinuating into his Maty, would divide him from his Parlament and people, and make them destroy one another. I besech your LoP pardon this hasty scribble, written upon y clercks desk, not

to lose this opportunity, which shall onely tell you one truth more, that I am and ever will be,

Your LP faithfull and most affectionate servant,

DENZELL HOLLES.
Westminster, 21st May, 1642.

The tone of Holles is entirely in harmony with that of Lord Northumberland. All notion of "accommodation" founded upon submission is scouted. The parliament has done nothing but what it can justify. If the king will not discard his false advisers, nature dictates that the parliament should provide for their own safety, and duty that they should take care of the commonwealth.

The third letter is from the Earl of Essex, the subsequent parliamentary general. Essex was a bad letter-writer, and a man of retired habits, totally unfit to arbitrate between king and parliament at such a juncture, but he was "the darling of the swordmen," and the only man of rank in the party who had had any experience in warlike affairs. His opinion was therefore of weight, and thus he states it in his rude blunt way :—

For my honorable frend Sr JOHN BANCK, LORD CHEIF JUSTIS of the Common Pleas, and one of his Majtis most hourable prive Concel.

My Lo,-What expressions at any tyme I shall mack, I hope I shall never want an honnest hart to mack goud, espetially to you, whow I am confident is soe full of honor and justis. The great misfortunes that threaten this kingdom none looks upon it with a sadder hart than I; for my perticuler my conscience assurs mee I have noe ends of my owne, but what may tend to the publick good of the King and kingdom, which shall bee my dayly prayers, and whensoever that happy day shall appeare, the world may judg of mee by my actions, for the height of my ambition and desires is, to lead a quiet and retired lyf. I know none but must abhor this difference between his Matie and the Parlement, but delinquents, papists, and men that desiar to mack their fortuns by the troubles of the land. My lo. my desier is that you will judge him by his actions, that is,

Your Loips faythfull frend to be commanded,

ESSEX. Essex hous, this 31th of May, 1642.

Sir John Bankes answered the letter of Lord Northumberland which we have quoted, but the answer is not published! It is amongst the letters written in the ancient short-hand before alluded to. Without that answer how is it possible to form a judgment upon Lord Northumberland's rejoinder? It is here printed, but, of course, without seeing the letter to which it distinctly alludes, and on which it is founded, all judgment upon it is useless and would be unfair. One passage in it was evidently written with an accurate prescience of what would be the results of a civil war :-" If our fortunes be to fall to troubles, I am sure few-EXCEPTING THE KING HIMSELFwill suffer more than I shall do."

Another letter of Sir John Bankes, which is not printed, was followed by a third letter from the Earl of Northumberland, which deserves notice on many grounds, but cannot be fully understood without seeing the letter to which it is an answer.

There is also a letter from Lord Wharton, plain and sensible, and strongly negativing any private ends in the course taken by the parliament. But the letter which, most of all, one would have liked to have seen properly published, is from Lord Say and Sele. Many are the charges levelled against him, what has he to say in his defence? The letter is in Mr. Bankes's possession, and is professedly printed in the book before us, but with so many blanks for words and lines omitted, on the score of their being illegible, that the letter is altogether worthless. Sense cannot be made of it. That the passages omitted are really illegible, we must say we cannot conclude upon the mere authority of Mr. Bankes. He should lose no time in handing over the papers to some competent person accustomed to the work of publishing old documents. As a modern lawyer such publication is not at all in his way, and he may be excused for not being up to work of the kind. But let him remember that these papers are a public trust. The characters of historical men, and the history of the nation, depend upon the accuracy with which they are published. Having put them forth he is bound to see them printed

accurately, not disfigured and rendered valueless by long hiatuses, which we will venture to say persons practised in the perusal of old writings would find little difficulty in filling up. At any event Lord Say and Sele did not write in an ancient unknown short hand.

Mr. Bankes does not attempt to give us any character of his ancestor Sir John; and all that he can tell us about the first Siege of Corfe is comprised in an extract from what he terms "the well-known diurnal of the day, “The Mercurius Rusticus,'" which we beg to assure him was no "diurnal of the day" or of any day, but a violent subsequent party publication of little credit when unsupported by other testimony. Of the second siege we learn still less. Some few curious particulars occur of the property lost on the plunder of the castle and the endeavours made after the restoration for its recovery, but the facts are all huddled together in a way which is far from being satisfactory.

We regret to be obliged to speak so disparagingly of a book of this kind. But in proportion to our acute sense of the value of the papers of Sir John Bankes is our disappointment in finding them thrown away by such imperfect editorship. It is said of Sir John Bankes that, though ready without his books on the bench, yet he always resolved cases out of them in his chamber. His descendant should bear the observation in mind. He may be as ready and offhand as he pleases on the hustings, at county meetings, or in the House of Commons; but when he takes upon him to deal with a matter which depends upon research and knowledge of authorities, he must turn to his books and "resolve the case out of them." If he shews himself to be imperfectly acquainted with the use of the necessary materials; if he throws together extracts from mere common-place writers without criticism and without research; if he deals improperly with valuable documents which the accident of his position has thrown into his hands, he can never produce a satisfactory book. In any case, it is our business to let the public know the truth.

THE engraving now submitted to our readers, as a fitting illustration of the following Memorials, presents a view, it is believed for the first time, of the "stormy Ruberslaw," famous in Scotish song and Scotish story; and for ever classic, as the source whence the author of "The Seasons" drew his earliest inspiration. This swarthy hill, which reaches an elevation of 1420 feet, is situated partly in the parish of Hobkirk and partly in Cavers and Kirkton. Itself remarkable, it is all the more so, from being the centre of many lustrous scenes. On its right is Denholm dean, celebrated by Leyden (who was born at its base); and on its left is the vale of the winding Rule. Behind it to the north are seen the Eildon hills, the Blackhill, and the "Cowdenknowes:" and more remotely Smailholm Tower, Hume Castle, and the low dark skyline of the Lammermoors. From a peculiarity of climate, Ruberslaw often assumes a very grand and even startling appearance. Viewed in autumn from the south side of the Eildons, the

whole surface of Teviotdale seems one continuous sheet of fog, above which rises the gleaming top of the hill, the blinding sunlight of the sky meanwhile smiting through and rolling away,

in many a fantastic shape, the gathered mists.

We have said that Ruberslaw is memorable in Scotish story. It is so in one of its bloodiest and saddest pages. Its hollow dells and rocky recesses were the "hiding-places" of the persecuted Covenanters; and upon its weird summit tradition still points out the stone upon which the martyr-preacher, Alexander Peden, laid his Bible when he poured forth his dauntless and fiery "message" to our eager-listening and right-hearted forefathers. We find the following incident of the dread "killing-time" in connection with Ruberslaw in the quaint Memoirs of George Brysson, published by the late Dr. M'Crie:

1

On a time (says the pious autobiographer) Mr. John Welsh was preaching in our country on a week-day. There were several of us conveyed him into Teviotdale, where we were to hear sermon on Sabbath after, at a hill called Rouberslaw, where we were beset by the enemy,

in time of sermon, there coming a company of horse and a company of foot, commanded by the Earls of Dalhousie and Airly, who surrounded the mount, and sent in word to dismiss or they would fall upon us. We told them we were met for the worship of God in the fields, being