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Oft as his plaintive looks I see,
A brother's bowels yearn in me.
What rocks and tempests yet await
Both him and me, we leave to fate:
We know, by past experience taught,
That innocence availeth naught:
1 feel, and 'tis my proudest boast,
That conscience is itself an host;
While this inspires my swelling breast,
Let all forsake me-I'm at rest;
Ten thousand deaths, in every nerve,
I'd rather SUFFER than DESERVE.

But yonder comes the victim's wife,
A dappled doe, all fire and life;
She trips along with gallant pace,
Her limbs alert, her motion grace;
Soft as the moonlight fairies bound,
Her footsteps scarcely kiss the ground;
Gently she lifts her fair brown head,
And licks my hand, and begs for bread:
I pat her forehead, stroke her neck,
She starts and gives a timid squeak.

Then, while her eye with brilliance burns,
The fawning animal returns,

Pricks her bobtail, and waves her ears,

And happier than a queen appears:
-Poor beast! from fell ambition free;
And all the wOES of LIBERTY;
Born in a jail, a prisoner bred,

No dreams of hunting rack thine head;
Ah! mayst thou never pass these bounds,
To see the world-and feel the hounds!-

Still all her beauty, all her art,

Have failed to win her husband's heart;

Her lambent eyes, and lovely chest;

Her swan-white neck, and ermine breast;

Her taper legs, and spotty hide,

So softly, delicately pied,

In vain their fond allurements spread,
To love and joy her spouse is dead.

But, lo! the evening shadows fall
Broader and browner from the wall;

A warning voice, like curfew bell,
Commands each captive to his cell;
My faithful dog and I retire,

To play and chatter by the fire:

Soon comes a turnkey with "good night, sir!"
And bolts the door with all his might, sir:
Then leisurely to bed I creep,

And sometimes wake-and sometimes sleep.
These are the joys that reign in prison,
And if I'm happy 'tis with reason.
Yet still this prospect o'er the rest
Makes every blessing doubly blest;
That soon these pleasures will be vanished
And I, from all these comforts, banished!

FOR THE PORT FOLIO.—WALPOLE'S RICHARD THE THIRD.

THE superiority of poetry over history, in producing permanent and general impressions, is in no instance more strikingly illustrated than with regard to Richard the third. His contemporaries, and the early historians of his reign, seem disposed to regard him as a prince of equivocal and mingled qualities, which was, probably, his true character; or to misrepresent him as the factious passions of the times dictated their applause or resentment. But when Shakspeare, in order to give a more dramatic effect to his immortal scenes, and not, perhaps, without some view of gratifying the enmity of Elizabeth towards the family of Richard, chose to portray only the darker shades of his character, ail the kindly doubts and the apologies for his vices, which the spirit of his age afforded, disappeared at once; and Richard the third now recalis to popular imagination no image but of the "crooked back tyrant;" the monster, "bloody, bold, and resolute;" who waded to the throne through the blood of his nearest kinsmen. The harshness of this indiscriminate condemnation, has at last excited the zeal of a generous defender, Horace Walpole, whose "historic doubts" are intended as a vindication of Richard's character. As is usual and natural on such occasions, the love of sustaining a kind of paradox has, perhaps, led the champion of Richard too far; but his defence is al

ways ingenious, and often conclusive; and if he does not succeed in completely refuting all the charges against Richard, he certainly proves that many of them are unfounded, and that others are only the exaggerations of party malevolence. In reading lately the Historic Doubts, we were sufficiently interested to sketch a sort of abstract of Mr. Walpole's argument, which, as it may, perhaps, satisfy those who have not access to his work, and tempt others to the perusal of it, we shall here copy.

The crimes imputed to Richard are:

First. His murder of Edward, prince of Wales, son of Henry the sixth;

Second. His murder of Henry the sixth;

Third. The murder of his brother George, duke of Clarence;
Fourth. The execution of Rivers, Gray, and Vaughan;

Fifth. The execution of lord Hastings;

Sixth. The murder of Edward the fifth, and his brother;

Seventh. The murder of his own queen.

To which may be added, as they are thrown into the list to blacken him, his intended match with his own niece, Elizabeth, the penance of Jane Shore, and his own personal deformities.

The truth of these accusations will be best conjectured by ta king into view the character and circumstances of the times.

The civil wars of that period were marked by a fierce and bloody spirit of persecution, as well as a faithless treachery in all parties. The origin of the controversy between the rival houses of York and Lancaster was briefly this: On the deposition of Richard the second, his uncle, the duke of Lancaster, advanced a claim, which, though it might not have been just, was assented to by parliament, and he became Henry the fourth. His son, Henry the fifth, succeeded him; and he was succeeded, in turn, by his son, Henry the sixth, who was married to Margaret of Anjou. During his reign, however, his title to the throne was disputed by the duke of York, who claimed, as being the descendant, by the mother's side, from a duke of Clarence, second son of Edward the third; whereas Henry the sixth derived his title through a duke of Lancaster, a third, and therefore a younger son of the same Edward. In their contests the duke of York was killed; but his son succeeded to and retrieved his fortunes; beat Henry the sixth, and was crowned EdVOL. III.

T

ward the fourth. Henry the sixth was taken and imprisoned, and Margaret was obliged to flee to the continent; but after repairing her losses, she landed, with her son Edward, to attack Edward the fourth; but they were beaten, and taken prisoners at Tewksbury. This Edward the fourth was the brother of Richard.

On Edward the fourth's death, Richard got possession of the throne to the exclusion of his nephew, Edward the fifth; but being opposed, and defeated by the earl of Richmond, the surviving male of the Lancaster party, the latter married Elizabeth, daughter of Edward the fourth; and thus uniting, the two houses, came to the throne as Henry the seventh.

It is therefore evident that Richard was overwhelmed and succeeded by a rival party, whose interest it was to represent him in the worst possible light; and whose very safety on the throne depended on the belief of his crimes. With these general impressions we shall proceed to examine the evidence of,

First: His murder of Edward.

Fabian, the oldest historian who gives an account of this transaction, says, that after the battle of Tewksbury, young Edward, son of Henry the sixth, was brought prisoner to the presence of Edward the fourth, and "after the king had questioned with the said sir Edwarde, and he had answered unto him contrary his pleasure, he then strake him with his gauntlet on his face, after which stroke so by him received, he was, by the king's servants, incontinently slain." The chronicle of Croyland, of the same date, says, the prince was slain "ultricibus quorundam manibus”—by some avenging hands," without mentioning any names. Hall, a later historian, adds what had not yet been asserted, that the king "thrust the prince from him; or, as some say, stroke him with the guantlet whom incontinently they that stode about, which were the dukes of Clarence and Gloster, the marquis of Dorset, and lord Hastynges, sodainly murthered and piteously manquelled."

Hollinshed only copies Hall.

66

Stowe reverts to Fabian's story, which, he repeats, as the only one not founded on hearsay. Now Hall lived when the hatred of Richard prevailed in those who had conquered him, and it was desirable to blacken him. Whereas a cotemporary, Fabian, says the murder was committed by servants, a more probable supposition

than that the king's own brother should dip his hands in blood coldly; that brother too a brave man, who, at Tewksbury and Bosworth proved himself possessed of courage much above an as

sassin's.

Second: The murder of Henry the sixth, Edward's father.

On this charge Fabian says, " that divers tales were told, but the most common fame went that he was stricken with a dagger, by the hands of the duke of Gloster."

The chronicle of Croyland says, "that Henry was found lifeless in the tower;" and adds, " may God pardon and give time of repentance to whomsoever dared to lay sacrilegious hands on him;" not speaking positively; but Mr. Walpole seems to allow that he does allude to Richard.

Hall says, "Henry the sixth was now in the tower of London, spoiled of his life by Richard, duke of Gloster, to the intent that his brother, king Edward, should be clear out of all suspicion of secret invasion, as the constant fame ran, which murdered the said king with a dagger."

This charge, however, Mr. Walpole considers as wholly a mob story-a mere Lancastrian falsehood-for what possible interest had Richard to murder an old deposed and childless king, who did not stand in his way at all? It is said he aspired to the throne. He therefore must have wished to preserve the appearance of decorum and purity, and could not commit a superfluous murder for no other reason but to please his brother: besides, if he had done this with such readiness, how came he afterwards to be so much embarrassed to kill his two nephews, whose deaths were much more important to him?

Third: The murder of his brother Clarence.

This charge Mr. Walpole sets aside, without quoting all that the old historians may say, because we have the bill of attainder of Clarence, by Edward the fourth, copied or reported by Stowe. Clarence's crimes are there stated at length; he had joined the cause of Henry the sixth, and was therefore guilty of treason. Hall, Hollinshed, and Stowe, do not say any thing of Richard's share in his execution; on the contrary, they say that he opposed it. But the decisive proof is this: Edward the fourth being urged, on some occasion, to pardon a notorious criminal, exclaimed (alluding to Clarence) "Unhappy brother! for whom no man would intercede;

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