the Biscayners and Catalans loyalty to the King of Castille has been always a subordinate passion, in comparison with their devoted attachment to their own local privileges and immunities.

6

He is mistaken in saying that the office of guardian of the realm and lieutenant had been unknown in England since the days of the Black Prince* He is, in the first place, wrong in supposing that these two offices are one and the same; and in the second place, he will find examples of both for a century at least later than the time he mentions. The greatest and most learned House of Commons that ever sat in England, stated in a free conference with the Lords in 1641, that by all precedents it 'doth appear, that when a parliament was sitting in the King's 'absence, there was a custos regni or locum tenens.'

Attention has been recently drawn to the date of Bolingbroke's celebrated 'Letter to Sir William Wyndham.' The letter purports to have been written in 1717, but no edition of it has been discovered prior to the one published in 1753, rather more than a twelvemonth after the death of Lord Bolingbroke; and it has been inferred, that it was purposely kept back by the noble author, till all the actors in the scenes it describes, and who alone could have confirmed or refuted the statements it contains, had departed this life. Little inclined as we are to think favourably of Lord Bolingbroke, we were unwilling to acquiesce in this fresh imputation on his character, and were therefore glad to see a declaration from Lord Mahon that the greater part of the state'ments in the letter to Wyndham are very remarkably confirmed by the correspondence in the Stuart papers.' † With respect to the origin and history of the Letter, his lordship is of opinion that ' it was written about the time it purposes to be, privately printed, ' and circulated amongst a few persons;' and he refers to a passage in Coxe's Sir Robert Walpole, which appears to indicate ' that in 1744 it had not been recently printed.' We have made some enquiries on the subject, and find, that from accidental causes wholly unconnected with Lrod Bolingbroke, there is nothing left among the papers of Sir William Wyndham that can throw light on the date or history of this remarkable letter. But in Warburton's corresponden ce with Hurd, we have met with a passage which clearly proves that Warburton had seen and read it before it was published in 1753; though whether in print or manuscript he does not say. In April, 1753, Warburton writes to Hurd,--' I have just got Bolingbroke's three tracts. The

* P. 316.

† P. 205.

P. 179.

'letter to Mr Pope is a kind of commonplace (and a poor one) ' of free-thinking objections and disingenuity-if it were not for 'the very curious and well written letter to Sir William Wyndham, the letter to Pope would be received with great neglect. 'P.S.-I have looked over the letter to Sir William Wyndham. 'It is castrated of one of its most curious anecdotes."* This last remark shows that Warburton had read the letter with attention before it was published in 1753, and so far vindicates Bolingbroke from the malignant insinuation, that having left to his executor the task of publishing it, he suppressed the letter during his lifetime, from a consciousness that the charges it contained against his political friends and colleagues were devoid of truth, and, while they were alive, could not stand the test of critical examination. It is some confirmation of the opinion expressed by Lord Mahon, that the letter had been privately printed and circulated before 1753, that Lord Chesterfield does not allude to its appearance in htat year; though, in other parts of his correspondence, he mentions the publication of the Patriot King,' and other works of Lord Bolingbroke, when they first appeared, and praises them beyond measure. His admiration of Bolingbroke was such that it seems incredible he should not have noticed the Letter to Wyndham, after its publication in 1753, if it had not been known to him before that period. If printed and privately circulated before Bolingbroke's death, no one was more likely to have had a copy of it than Lord Chesterfield, who had lived for many years in the closest intimacy with the author.

It is a further proof that, when the letter to Wyndham was published in 1753, it was not an entirely new and unheard-of work which had till then been withheld from the world, that Horace Walpole, in writing to Conway in May 1753, says to him, 'There is another volume published of Lord Bolingbroke's. It 'contains his famous letter to Sir William Wyndham, with an 'admirable description of the Pretender and his court, and a 'very poor justification of his treachery to that party.' The injustice of the last remark shows how deep was still the resentment felt by Walpole against the ancient enemy and rival of his father; and his thinking it necessary to give to his correspondent some account of the contents of the letter seems to imply that neither he nor Conway had ever seen it. But the designation of it as 'Bolingbroke's famous letter to Sir William Wyndham,' shows that it had been seen by others, and had already obtained that celebrity which its wit and spirit so justly entitle it to.

* Letters from a late eminent Prelate, Svo, 1809, p. 185.

In addition to his other merits Lord Mahon has rendered useful service to literature by furnishing us with some original materials for future historians. He has selected for publication several important letters from the Stanhope and Hardwicke collection, and printed some valuable extracts from the Stuart Papers, -an immense assemblage of original documents which fell into the hands of the Papal Government after the death of the Cardinal of York, and were presented by the Pope to his late Majesty King George IV. Of the importance of this collection for English history some notion may be formed, if it be true, as has been stated to us by one who had examined its contents with diligence, that the Stuart family, when in exile, appear never to have received a letter which they did not preserve, nor to have written one of which they did not retain a copy. The extensive correspondence they maintained with the Scotch and English Jacobites, the plots and conspiracies continually on foot, and the frequent projects and assurances of assistance from foreign countries, we have understood from the same authority, afford the most complete justification of the occasional acts of severity or precaution used by Sir Robert Walpole's Government; while they place in the most favourable point of view the general mildness and forbearance of his administration. We trust Lord Mahon will be allowed to continue his researches in this repository, and that the hints he has dropped of its want of arrangement will induce those in whose custody it is placed to remedy its present state of disorder, and render it more available for historical enquiries.

No. CXXX. will be published in January.

LIST OF NEW PUBLICATIONS.

From July to October, 1836.

ANTIQUITIES AND ARCHITECTURE.

A Manual of the Political Antiquities of Greece, from the German of C. F. Herman. 8vo. 15s. boards.

A Manual of Roman Antiquities. By T. S. Carr. 12mo. 6s. 6d. The professional Practice of Architecture. By J. Noble. 8vo. 10s. 6d.

Bloxam's Gothic Architecture.

12mo. 4s.

BIOGRAPHY.

History of the Life of Edward the Black Prince. By G. P. R. James, Esq. 2 vols. 8vo. 17. 11s. 6d. cloth.

Memorials of Mrs. Hemans. By H. Chorley. 2 vols. 8vo. 21s. The Confessions of Guido Sorelli to Silvio Pellico. 8vo. 15s. Lives of Eminent Foreign Statesmen. By G. P. R. James. Vol. 3 (forming Vol. 82 of Dr Lardner's Cabinet Cyclopædia). Foolscap 8vo. 6s. cloth.

The Literary Remains of S. T. Coleridge. By H. M. Coleridge. 2 vols. 8vo.

21s.

BOTANY.

The Meadow Queen, or the Young Botanist. 18mo. 2s. 6d. cloth.

The Botanist's Manual. 18mo. 2s. cloth.

CLASSICS.

Select Orations of Cicero, with Notes. By A. Newland. 8vo. 2s. 6d.

A Guide to the Reading of the Greek Tragedians. By the Rev. J. R. Major. 8vo. 7s. 6d.

A Selection of Sacred Epic Poetry, from Milton, Montgomery, Cumberland, Young, Porteous, and Blair, for the use of Sunday Schools. By J. H. Hindmarsh. 18mo. 2s.

Key to Klauer-Klattowski's German Exercises. By Von Bulow. 12mo. 3s. cloth.

The Bromsgrove Latin Grammar. By the Rev. G. A. Jacob. 12mo. 4s. cloth.

VOL. LXIV. NO. CXXIX.

R

The Training System. By David Stow, of the Glasgow Educational Society. 18mo. Ss. cloth.

Short and Plain Grammar of the Spanish Language. 12mo. 3s. 6d. Popular Mathematics, being first Elements of Arithmetic, Algebra and Geometry, in their relation and uses. By Robert Mudie. 9s 6d.

Course of Lectures on Education of Infant Children. By Mrs Thos. Spurr. 18mo. 2s. 6d. cloth.

The Student's Manual of Ancient History. By W. C. Taylor. Post 8vo. 10s. 6d. cloth.

Farker's Progressive Exercises in Rhetorical Reading. 12mo. 2s. 6d. cloth.

The Figures of Euclid. By the Rev. J. Edwards, 12mo. 3s.
First Steps to Latin Writing. By G. F. Graham. 12mo. 2s. 6d.
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Rev. G. Taylor's Latin Grammar. 8vo. 3s. 6d.

1s. 6d.

Popular Songs of the Germans. By W. Klauer Klattowski. 12mo. 5s.

FINE ARTS.

The Violin and its most Eminent Professors. By G. Dubourg. 7s. 6d. cloth.

12mo.

The Chevy Chase illustrated in Twelve Plates. By J. Franklin, Esq. Royal 4to. 21s. cloth.

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GEOGRAPHY.

The Young Geographer, or Narratives of Four Japanese Travellers. By the Rev. W. Fletcher. 18mo. 3s. cloth.

HISTORY.

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The Diary, Correspondence, etc. of Sir H. Slingsby. By the Rev. D. Parsons. 8vo. 14s. boards.

Despatches, Minutes, etc. of Marquis Wellesley. Vol. II. 8vo. 25s. boards.

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