to desert those principles at the instigation of groundless fears and prejudices, and that the Prussian Customs League, strengthened by those states and free cities of Germany which have hitherto declined to join it, should enact a Navigation Law, declaring, like our own, that its ports shall be sealed against the admission of the produce of Asia, Africa, and America, from any place in Europe, and prohibiting the importation of such produce in any ships other than those under the flag of the Union, or those belonging to the places whence the goods are imported-what then becomes of our carrying trade? and what becomes of all that large amount of exports from the United Kingdom, reaching to sixteen millions annually, consisting of foreign and colonial merchandise? On the value of that trade to our ship-owners, it would be useless to enlarge. It is a trade which year by year has been increasing, and which must continue to increase still more rapidly under a system of freedom for reasons which have been already stated, and which it is unnecessary to repeat. Already has the change in our sugar duties, though only a twelvemonth old, raised up a new branch of business in our ports. Cargoes, which previously went direct to the Continent, are now attracted here by the intervention of British capital; and the merchants of the Continent have already found the advantage of resorting to our markets to make their purchases, which, for the most part, are conveyed away afterwards in our steamers.

If we are unjust enough, and insane enough, to allow a combination for retaliatory measures of this description to be once formed, there is no knowing to what purposes it may not be afterwards applied. One of our greatest perils is the universal jealousy of our commercial power. We would piously hope that our legislators may be just, and fear not. But we must be just. Retaliation, once entered upon, will not be confined to Europe. The United States of America are never backward in pressing their supposed interests, and in extorting privileges from others. We now export to those States large quantities of the produce of every region. Our trade with America involves a hundred interests, of which, if our cotton manufactures are the greatest, they are but one. Let the legislature of Washington pass a Na vigation Law, in all respects the counterpart of our own! We need say no more. But we are shocked to think into what a condition the following out of our example would bring the world.

ART. II.-1. An Introduction to English Antiquities, intended as a Companion to the History of England. By JAMES ECCLESTON, B.A. 8vo. London: 1847.

2. An Archæological Index to Remains of Antiquity of the Celtic, Romano-British, and Anglo-Saxon periods. By JOHN YONGE AKERMAN, F.S.A., &c. &c. 8vo. London: 1847.

3. Archæologia: or, Miscellaneous Tracts relating to Antiquity, published by the Society of Antiquaries of London. Vol. XXXII. Part 1. 4to: 1847.

4. The Journal of the British Archæological Association, established 1843, for the Encouragement and Prosecution of Researches into the Arts and Monuments of the Early and Middle Ages. Vol. II. 8vo: 1847.

5. The Archæological Journal, published under the direction of the Central Committee of the Archæological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland. Vol. III. 8vo: 1847.

IT

T is now just three centuries since John Bale bitterly complained, that among all the nacions in whome I have wan'dered, for the knowledge of thynges, I have founde none so 'negligent and untoward, as I have found England, in the due 'serch of theyr auncyent hystoryes, to the syngulare fame and 'bewtye therof. Thys have I (as it were) wyth a wofulnesse of hert, sens my tendre youthe bewayled; and so muche the more, for that I have not, accordinge to the naturall zele whyche 'I beare to my contreye, ben able to redresse it, for ungentyll poverte.'

Thus spake one of the most zealous of our early religious reformers. The same complaint has been often repeated: but it was in that instance suggested by a great political change, which was overthrowing old institutions and old systems, and which sought in the investigation of the past that truth which it is the particular province of history to exhibit. A long period had elapsed, during which the materials for this investigation had been rapidly disappearing; and the little which remained was scattered abroad in every nook and corner; and when brought forth in the piecemeal form in which it was found, it required profound study, and comparison, and discrimination, before it could be rendered of any real utility.

There was a decided spirit of antiquarian research attendant upon the Reformation, arising from the new liberty of thought, and the love of critical discussion, which accompanied it; and which was not a little encouraged by the progress of classical learning in the sixteenth century. But, antiquarianism, as a science allied to history, belongs to a more advanced state of

intellectual refinement. For history has many forms. In its first development, it partakes largely of the character of poetry-it is an exaggerated, and highly painted picture, drawn and coloured, touched and retouched, by the flattering pencil of bards and minstrels. At the time, few or none question the fidelity of such pictures of the past, however questionable. The first change takes place, and its poetical character in great measure disappears, without history becoming much more true, or at all more critical: At this period, the chronicler of recent transactions is either monk or follower, and represents little more than the ignorance, or passions of the writer; while he constructs his narrative of the remoter past either out of what first comes to hand, or from the contradictory statements of contemporaries, with no more trustworthy criterion than prejudice or fancy. When at length historians did begin to look at history critically, and were willing to call in the assistance of the antiquary, the task of their new ally was far from being an easy one; in many instances, the means of correcting error had long perished; in others, they lay hid in old parchments difficult to decipher, in the confusion of neglected libraries, in the dust of record-houses-mixed up with lumber and rubbish, or buried beneath the soil. To bring his means together, and to arrange and make them intelligible, has been the work of the English historical antiquary for the last three centuries. If less has been accomplished than might have been expected, this is, in a great degree, owing to the defective method in which our operations have been too often carried on.

A history of English antiquarianism is consequently not only interesting as showing what has been done down to our own times in this particular: It shows us further what might have been done, and what may and must be done still, if our present archæological ardour is destined to leave behind it memorials worthy of our zeal. At the same time, we must not be unjust to our contemporaries. Much more has been latterly accomplished, both here and in Germany, towards verifying the early histories of Greece and Rome, than was ever done for them by any writers of their own. And what we have achieved for classical antiquity, has also in some degree been secured at home. A powerful light has been already thrown upon the AngloSaxon periods of our history by Sharon Turner, Palgrave, and John Allen; while it appears from the more recent labours of Kemble, Thorpe, Wright and others, and from a Danish work by Worsaac, now under translation, that ample employment is likely to be provided for the sagacity and learning of our children. John Leland may justly be considered the father of English antiquarianism. The attention of inquirers was naturally first arrested by that class of materials, which offered itself in the most

accessible and most intelligible form. Mediæval manuscripts, in his days, were still scattered over the country; and the accidental circumstances of the time gave a peculiar importance to them. When the English reformers sought historical arguments in their controversy with Popery and Monachism, they found that the ancient literature of their own country was full of evidence in their favour-that the voice of reason had never been entirely silenced by the power of superstition, but had made itself heard in almost every form, in prose and verse, in Latin and English, by Saxon and Norman-that the errors of the mediæval church had been preached against, and reasoned against, and satirized so that they had a long-continued protest to produce in proof of the justice of the cause in which they were engaged. In consequence of this, several of the most learned men of the age of the Reformation, threw themselves with avidity upon the study of the historical and literary remains of our forefathers. Repeated editions of Chaucer and Piers Ploughman laid the foundation of a taste for early English literature; the publication of Anglo-Saxon homilies and the Anglo-Saxon version of the Gospels, which favoured some of the doctrines of the reformers, and proved that the Scriptures had been once read in the vulgar tongue, paved the way for a careful study of the Anglo-Saxon language; while, from the fact, that the most important of the Latin poems on the corrupt state of the Romish church, which were printed on the Continent by Flaccus Illyricus, had been obtained from manuscripts in England, it appears that the Anglo-Latin poetry of the Middle Ages had already begun to attract attention.

But it was in an historical point of view that the importance of these monuments was felt most deeply; and the complaint of John Bale, in the passage quoted above, is an accurate description of the feelings which drew Leland to the study of English antiquities. Leland held the post of librarian to Henry VIII. and, before the dissolution of monasteries had been decreed, or perhaps contemplated-as early as the year 1533, he obtained a commission from that monarch to visit the monastic libraries in search of historical documents. It is evident, from his own account, that he found these repositories in a state or general neglect and dilapidation: He arrived in time, however, to secure an extensive and valuable collection, much of which is preserved in the old King's Library,' in the British Museum. From his rough notes, since published under the title of his 'Collectanea," we have the satisfaction of believing that he did not meet with many historical manuscripts of value that are not still extant. His labours were abruptly closed by a cruel malady,

6

which rendered useless the latter part of his life: but not until he had brought together a far greater quantity of materials for English history than had ever been collected before. With the one great object at heart, of illustrating the history and antiquities of his country, he had also travelled over every part of England and Wales, to collect local information; and had already begun the project, which was afterwards executed by Camden in his Britannia.' His notes of these travels, or all that remained of them, were long after printed by Hearne, under the title of Leland's Itinerary.' The only one of his treatises on English antiquities of any consequence that has come down to us, that De Scriptoribus Britannicis,' proves him to have been an accomplished scholar, and a man of sound judgment and careful discrimination. In this respect it presents a remarkable contrast to the larger but confused and blundering book on the same subject by Bale-who laments over Leland's turn for poetry, as being derogatory to his character as an antiquary.

During the reign of Queen Elizabeth, and under the fostering care of Archbishop Parker, the taste for the study of English historical antiquities became so general, as to give a character even to the ballad poetry that was hawked about the streets. Historical garlands' were frequently reprinted, and found more purchasers than the other classes of popular literature. Parker himself, in the earlier part of this reign, and Sir Robert Cotton at the end of it, gathered together large collections of manuscripts, which are still preserved at Cambridge and in the British Museum. The choice of the prelate, influenced by the previous partialities of the reformers, was directed chiefly to theological history, and especially to Anglo-Saxon documents; while that of the knight leaned more to legal and constitutional history. The dawn of approaching day, which was now breaking upon every department of science, only made men more desirous of penetrating into the darkness of former times. Some, like the celebrated Dr Dee, occupied themselves with the scientific manuscripts of the Middle Ages; others laboured at uncovering and explaining the still lower strata of our national formation. In accordance with the taste for legal antiquities which was now gradually taking place of the older preference for theology, the homilies (which had been printed chiefly in fragments) were followed in 1568 by the Anglo-Saxon Laws, printed by William Lambarde, the antiquary of Kent. Collections of coins, and of other antiquities found in the country, began to be made during this period; made, however, only to be eventually dispersed, and most of them lost. For, unfortunately, antiquarian excavations were still left to superstitious treasure-seekers: and