No. 1066.-5 November, 1864. CONTENTS. 1. William the Conqueror, British Quarterly Review, PAGE. 243 Part 4, 2. Clever Woman of the Family. 6. Concluding Remarks by the Editor, Author of Heir of Redclyffe, 265 275 283 289 320 POETRY.-In the Garden, 242. Under the Leaves, 242. Form and Substance, 242. Bonnie Dundee, 264. To Alfred Tennyson, 264. SHORT ARTICLES.-The First Turnpike in England, 61. Religion and Science, a Declara-* tion by English Savans, 61. Periodical Press of England, 288. Lord Brougham, 288. The Hour of Death, 288. NEW BOOKS. BROKEN LIGHTS: an Inquiry into the present condition and future prospects of Religious Faith. By Frances Power Cobbe. Boston: J. E. Tilton & Co. NEW TERMS OF "THE LIVING AGE." The Publishers have resisted as long as they could the growing necessity of advancing the price of this work. 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The History of Normandy and of England. and a very long dissertation on the First Crusade, we shall confine our review to the more important subject,—the life of William, first slightly glancing at the previous history of Normandy. Glorious and prosperous as was the reign THE name of Sir Francis Palgrave deserv- of Charlemagne, yet "thick and lowering edly holds high place among our writers of were the tempests gathering on the horizon, English history. In his own especial depart- while the sun shone bright and cheerful on ment,-inquiry into the rise and progress of the vaulted roofs of Aix-la-Chapelle." Not our legal and political institutions during the only were the Sclavonian tribes pressing onearlier portion of the Middle Ages, there ward, and the Saracen power slowly and are few, indeed, who could be compared with steadily advancing, but the dark sails of the him, either for wide range of historical Northmen already loomed on the Belgic knowledge, or for careful discrimination in coasts, and already had these fierce pirates selecting his authorities and deducing his sought a landing on the fertile plains of views. Like all independent writers, he oc- France. This sad beginning of future woe to casionally indulges in paradox, and his nar- his race was, however, spared to the great rative-mostly so lucid and pictorial-some- ruler of the tenth century; and, weighed times becomes perplexing by its discursive- down as were his last days with family trouness; but with these slight drawbacks, his bles, Charlemagne never witnessed their acworks are a most valuable addition to the tual invasion. He died "right royally," library of English history. surrounded by all his great officers of state; The very pleasant little volume of Anglo- and then, clad in imperial robes, with jewSaxon history, published in 1830, first intro-elled diadem on his brow, his ivory horn duced Sir Francis Palgrave as an historical slung in his baldric, his good sword Joyeuse writer, while his subsequent admirable work, | by his side, he was borne to his chair of state "The Rise and Progress of the English Com- in the vault beneath his throne in the Basilmonwealth during the Anglo-Saxon Peri-ica of Aix, and there, with Gospel book open od,” placed him at once in the foremost rank. on his knees, his golden shield and sceptre It is to this that we owe his largest and most pendent before him, sat in ghastly state,important work, unfortunately left unfinished emperor even in the grave; while Louis le by his death, "The History of Normandy and of England ;" for, as he remarks in his preface to the first volume," English history is the joint graft of Anglo-Saxon and Norman history," and therefore it is necessary to trace the annals of Normandy from the beginning, in order to understand more clearly the relative position of the two peoples. The first volume, published in 1851, comprises a history of the Carlovingian dynasty from the death of Charlemagne to the reign of Charles le Simple, together with the incursions of the Northmen and the settlement of Rollo in Neustria. The second volume, published in 1857, carries on the history of the three first dukes of Normandy, while the third volume, now before us, relates the history of the three last dukes, and, more at length, of the greatest of them all, William the Conqueror. As he occupies the larger portion of the third volume, and the beginning of the fourth, while the remainder of that is devoted to the reign of the Red King, Debonnaire succeeded to an inheritance of sorrow. Charlemagne breathed his last beneath the gilded roof of the palace of Aix-laChapelle; Louis, heart-broken, in a leafy hut close beside the Rhine, soothed by the pleasant ripple of its cooling streams, leaving to Charles le Chauve an empire more weakened and a future still darker; for the Northmen, already victorious along the eastern coast of England, now hovered on the shores of Neustria; and ere long, invited by the withdrawal of the Frankish squadron, entered the mouth of the Seine, rowed up the tempting river, and plundered and burned "Gallo-Roman Rothomagus." It was not often that pirates obtained spoil so abundant and so precious. They hurried back to summon their brethren, and stout Regner Lodbrok, with his hundred and twenty "dragons of the sea," ploughed cheerily through the crashing icc, on the following bleak Eastertide, right onward to Paris. The inhabitants fled in dismay, having buried Guillaume Longue-épée fell a victim to foul assassination ere his middle age, and Richard Sans-peur, the bright-eyed golden their treasures; but to the Northmen, the | More than fourscore years of active life were huge beams of the church roofs and the iron-allotted to this illustrious viking, and when work of the gates were tempting spoils, and infirmity at length warned him to retire from with these they loaded their barks. Seven the world, his chieftains took the oath of thousand pounds of silver were offered by fealty to his son, and soon after the great Charles as a subsidy, and the Northmen founder of the duchy of Normandy was laid sailed back well satisfied. Arrived in Den-" in the Metropolitan Basilica of Notre mark, Regner repaired to Eric the Red, and Dame of Rouen." related his good fortune; the king refused to believe him. Again Regner sought the presence of his sovereign, not with the silver, but followed by gangs of his crew, some car-haired boy,—so lovingly celebrated both by rying the long beams pulled from the church roofs, and others laden with the huge iron bar of the Paris gate. These trophies were irresistible; Eric the Red headed the next expedition, and invasion followed invasion, until the fairest provinces were subjected to their sway. were formed; for his sister Emma was married to Ethelred, and her subsequent return with her two sons, Edward and Alfred, and their education in Normandy, were important links in the chain of events which led to the conquest. chronicler and trouvere,—succeeded to an inheritance of strife and bloodshed. Many were the perils of his minority; but he sur mounted them all, and from the day he reentered Rouen, after his proud triumph over Louis d'Outremer, to when-a full halfcentury later-he was placed in the stone Of Rollo, the founder of the dukedom of chest in the pathway expressly hollowed out Normandy, little can be known. He seems for him, Richard Sans-peur was a name of fear to have been a warlike youth, compelled by a to his enemies, of fond remembrance to his quarrel with their "over king," to flee away subjects,-emphatically the ruler" by whose with his brother to England. Here he be- deeds and doings the duchy was fashioned came a viking chief, and after many success- and framed." Richard Sans-peur was sucful voyages, he sailed up the Seine to Ju-ceeded by his eldest son, Richard, on whom mieges. The inhabitants, worn out with in- was bestowed the title of" Le Bon,” apparcessant attacks, now sought to capitulate, ently not so unsuitable a title as those usuand invited Rollo " to a peaceful occupationally bestowed upon rulers. In his reign the of Rouen, terra firma and islands." To first relations of England with Normandy this he consented, and a danegeld of five thousand pounds having ratified the contract, the bold viking and his hardy followers took possession of their lands. But ere long Rollo enlarged his boundaries. The empire under Charles le Chauve's successors was too feeble to offer resistance, and, at length, not Rouen Ethelred subsequently followed Emma to and its appendages alone, but "Haute Nor-Normandy. He seems to have been kindly mandie," became the fief of the Danish ro-received; and from thence he returned to ver. A noble barbarian does Rollo seem to England, where, shortly after, he died, and have been. Although a pirate from his was succeeded by Edmund Ironside. During youth, he had the wisdom to recognize the this time, Emma appears to have continued benefits of civilization, and in his new terri-in Normandy, and here her children were tory he encouraged both arts and learning. educated, "their hearts thoroughly alienated He became a Christian, too, in his grim old from England, and the Normans and Norage, and holy church rejoiced when he mandy became as their kindred and their wrapped the white chrismal vestment around home." him, for right royal were the gifts he bestowed Duke Richard le Bon died in middle age, on her ministers, the unlettered warrior leaving two sons, Richard, to whom he bedoubtless looking up with wondering admira- queathed the duchy, and Robert, to whom he tion to the book-learned priests, to whom he left the county of Hiesmes. But Robert committed the education of his only son, Guil-felt himself aggrieved that Falaise, which laume Longue-épée. Singular was it, too, "that the reputation of Rollo the legislator vied with the reputation of Rollo the conqueror." had formed a portion of that county, was withheld. He went to war with his brother soon after his father's death, and seized and cence. ously, the fleet was dispersed, and long afterwards were the decaying hulks to be seen rotting at Rouen. But the main portion escaped, and the Athelings continued on board, lingering for the opportunity of presenting themselves; but no opening ensued. The scheme became abortive, and the conquest of England was postponed. This incident is important; for it shows the strong interest Robert felt in his cousins, and how naturally Edward, after he had become by right of succession king of England, would still look to Normandy rather than elsewhere for council and aid. held Falaise. The brothers were now at deadly strife, when friends interposed, and effected a reconciliation. Merrily they returned to Rouen; a splendid banquet was prepared; but "the young and flourishing Richard was suddenly stricken, and he passed from the hall to his death-bed." Many of the party shared the same fate, and no one doubted that poison had done its work. "Never was Robert exonerated from the imputation of fratricide; never was the dark stain effaced; never was the obscure suspición dispelled." Robert succeeded to the duchy, of course; there was no claimant to contest his right, and whatever might be the But Robert, although wealthy and prospergeneral opinion, he soon won golden opinions ous, and holding á station of higher political from his subjects by his extravagant munifi- importance than any preceding duke, was ill This well supplies the reason for his at ease. He had one child on whom he seems more favorable title, Robert le Magnifique: to have doated with a more than mother's -for that less complimentary one, by which fondness, and whom, notwithstanding the illehe is more generally known, Robert le Dia-gitimacy of his birth, he determined to make ble, it is more difficult to ascertain its origin, his heir. Of little consequence was mere illesince, "whatever may have been his secret gitimacy. Some of the dukes had not been crimes, he never manifested any open tenden- clear of that stain; nor, although Arletta's cy to outrage or cruelty." A wild, rollicking general character was disreputable, was that life did Robert lead at Falaise, his favorite insuperable. But of all the working classes, residence; and here he met Arletta, and here the skinners were viewed-both by the was born his only son,-the dreaded William French and Germans-as the most degraded the Conqueror. But Robert, although pleas- of men, and her father was one. "Those ure-loving to the utmost excess, had talents who pursued the useful, albeit disgusting, for government, and he interfered successfully trade of skinning beasts were stigmatized as in the affairs of Flanders, and, on King Rob- a distinct and depraved caste,―ranked among ert's decease, in those of France. During the races maudites of France, holding a place this time, the English Athelings, Edward and somewhat between a mesel and a gypsy, coAlfred, had remained at their cousin's court, habiting or marrying only among themtheir mother, Emma, now wearing, a sec-selves; and, here, the sole offspring of ond time, the crown of England as the wife Robert the Magnificent was grandchild to old of Canute. Robert was their sole protector, Hulbert the tanner, whom the meanest burand, with chivalrous feeling, he availed him- gess of Rouen would cross the way to avoid! self of a short interval of tranquillity to open No wonder that the very thought of a child negotiations with Canute for "an equitable of such base parentage inheriting the proud division between the representatives of the duchy of Rollo was gall and wormwood to two dynasties; " and a precedent was already the nobles; no wonder that the lowest of the familiar in the case of the partition between people heaped epithets of obloquy on the boy Canute and Ironside. But Canute's reply until "William the Conqueror could never was a defiance, "Let them hold what they rid himself of the contumelious appellation, can win." Robert generously accepted the which bore indelible record of his father's challenge. He fitted out a noble fleet for the sin." Keenly did Robert feel this hostility conquest of England, even while that son towards his darling child,-an hostility was in his cradle who was so direfully to which, naturally enough, increased when the achieve it. But the time was not yet. Al old tanner was elevated to the incongruous though the cloudless sky and the prospering office of court chamberlain, and his daughter gale greeted the departing armament, the flaunted in almost royal state as the duke's storm soon arose, the north wind blew furi-publicly recognized mistress. "The boy, |