The Correspondence of the Right Honourable William Wickham, from the year 1794. Edited, with Notes, by his Grandson, William Wickham, M.A. Two vols. 8vo. London. 1870.
These volumes are another contribution to the still increasing store of material for the history of the great French Revolution; the first act of that great drama of which another is now being played amid sympathies and antipathies, hopes and fears, perhaps as intense, certainly more widely felt, than those which accompanied the first lifting of the curtain. Now, however, the Revolution and the ancien régime have become accustomed to each other, and know that though it be but as cat and dog, they must awhile lead some sort of life together; and they have modified their reciprocal attitude accordingly. Then each startled by the first apparition of the other, glared at it with the hate, not of prolonged antagonism, but of instant death-grapple. Free England, guided by great and noble-minded men—Pitt, Lord Grenville, and Burke—not only joined in, but led the resistance of the Continental sovereigns, and we have no need to blush for the conduct of our grandsires. Whether, looking from our present coign of vantage, we may judge England's course then wise or imprudent, the evidence afforded by these volumes is enough to show—admitting the hostile prejudice which an established and aristocratic government must needs have against a mushroom democracy—that our statesmen descended to the fray with an honesty of purpose, and an elevated sense of national duty on which we may reflect with grateful and patriotic pride.
Mr. Wickham was twice sent by Lord Grenville as minister to Switzerland; to the comparatively slight duties of which office was added the onerous task of concerting, in correspondence with the Royalists in France, with the Prince of Condé, the Court of Vienna, Marshal Suwarrow, General Pichegru, and many others, the measures to be taken against their common foe—the Directory in Paris. At the time of Mr. Wickham's earlier mission, Bonaparte had not yet risen to power, and if Mr. Wickham could have inspired with his own zeal and prudence the selfish and blind potentates whom he was aiding with English counsel and treasure, the glittering series of Napoleonic phenomena might never have appeared. Mr. Wickham was regarded with the most perfect confidence by his own Government. How dangerous he proved to their foes may be judged from the fact that when at a later period he was named to represent his country at the courts, first of Berlin and then of Vienna, his appointment was objected to because it would be displeasing to the French Government.
By those who are either well acquainted with, or are studying the history of the French Revolution, these volumes will be highly prized, while general readers will find much of great interest in a correspondence which comprises letters from George III., Louis XVIII., the Prince de Condé, and the Duc d'Enghien, the Archduke Charles, Marshal Suwarrow, and many others, besides the despatches and other communications which passed between Mr. Wickham and his chief, Lord Grenville. The present Mr. Wickham has added succinct biographical notes concerning the several correspondents and persons named, some introductory remarks to the several groups of despatches, and a slight sketch of his grandfather's career, written with grace and modest pride. The first volume is embellished with a portrait of the diplomatist; and the second with a very interesting one of the most eccentric of great men—Suwarrow.
Nearly all the letters now published relate to Mr. Wickham's foreign missions. He afterwards served as Secretary for Ireland, and while he held that office Emmet's rebellion occurred. He was also a member of the ministry of 'All the Talents.' If he has left as interesting memorials of his later services as of his earlier ones, we hope that his grandson may at a future time let his present good work be followed by a publication of Mr. Wickham's later correspondence.
Cicero. Select Letters. With English Introductions, Notes, and Appendices. By Albert Watson, M. A. Macmillan and Co. Clarendon Press Series.
The letters of Cicero, on account of the materials they supply for the history of the Roman constitution during its last struggles, the light they throw upon the motives and movements of the partisan leaders, and the insight they afford into the character of Cicero himself, are justly regarded as the most important and instructive of his literary productions. Cicero's correspondence extends over the space of twenty-six years; and of the letters written during this eventful period to a wide circle of literary and political friends and connexions, there are extant upwards of 850, which are undoubtedly genuine. Up to the present time, this portion of Cicero's writings has received but little attention at the hands of English editors. In Germany, excellent editions have been published by Billerbeck, Boot, Frey, Hofman, and Süple; while in England we have only an inferior edition of the letters to Atticus by a Master of Arts, and a selection of 111 letters by E. St. John Parry, intended to illustrate the public life of Cicero, accompanied with notes which are purely historical. The volume before us is also a selection of 148 letters, taken almost exclusively out of the two chief divisions of Cicero's correspondence—the Epistolæ ad Familiares, those ad Diversos, and the Epistolæ ad Atticum—containing together 822 letters. The first letter in this volume is dated July 65 b.c., and the last July 43 b.c. The collection, therefore, covers one of the most momentous periods in Roman history. Mr. Watson, in making the present selection of letters, has been principally guided by considerations of their historical importance, or of their value as illustrating Cicero's character. The collection is divided into parts or groups, each of which is preceded by a lengthy and valuable introduction, furnishing the reader with a digest of the leading public events, and a review of the state of political parties during each period. In this portion of the work, the editor has borrowed largely from the well-known 'History of Rome,' by Professor Mommsen, and from Brückner's 'Life of Cicero.' The works of Zumpt, Drumann, Abeken, and Reen, have also been laid under heavy contributions. In the appendices to those sections, the reader will find discussed with clearness and ability many legal and historical questions, highly important for the right understanding of allusions in the letters—e.g., the legal question at issue between Cæsar and the Senate, the Calendar, the meaning of the terms 'colonia,' 'municipium,' and 'præfectura,' &c. These introductions and appendices add greatly to the value of the volume. The notes are far more numerous, but not so learned and valuable as those of the German editions. Indeed, many are so brief and unimportant that it is difficult to account for their insertion, and seem quite out of place in a work which is evidently not intended for tyros. The only persons qualified to read the letters of Cicero are the highest classes in schools, and students at the Universities, neither of which stand in need of a translation of passages and of words that involve no particular difficulty. The following are taken ad apertram libri:—ὕστερον πρότερον , 'I will answer your last question first;' Ὁμηρικῶς 'after the manner of Homer;' contiones, 'addresses to the populace;' manum, 'crew;' in eo ... erant omnia, 'on that everything depended;' inopiam, 'the neediness;' judicium, 'the trial.' Most of the notes are, in our opinion, too elementary for qualified readers of the correspondence of Cicero. The abundant references to Madvig's Grammar will be found exceedingly useful. On the whole, it is an excellent edition, and cannot be perused without greatly enlarging one's knowledge and deepening one's interest in these unique epistolary writings.
The Life of Richard Deane, Major-General, and General at Sea, in the service of the Commonwealth, and one of the Commissioners of the High Court of Justice appointed for the Trial of King Charles the First. By John Bathurst Deane, M.A., F.S.A., of Pembroke College, Cambridge; Corresponding Member of the New England Historic Genealogical Society; Rector of St. Martin Outwich. Longmans, 1870. 8vo.
Another successful attempt to rescue a great historical reputation from the slanders of the scurrilous pamphleteers of the Restoration, and one of which it is no mean praise to say, that it is not unworthy of a place beside Mr. Markham's recently published noble vindications of Fairfax. The 'Goodman Button (a hoyman of Ipswich), his boy' of the 'Mystery of the Good Old Cause,' which would seem to have been the source from whence Bates, Winstanley, Heath, and the author of the 'Lives of the King-killers,' as well as Clarendon, drew their inspiration, turns out to have been the son of a Gloucestershire gentleman, who was connected both by birth and by marriage with such families as the Wickhams, the Hampdens, and the Mildmays; and the 'Hoyman of Ipswich' to have been a captain in the King's service, who was attached to the Royal Dockyard, at Harwich, and was a kinsman of Sir Thomas Button's, a near relative of the St. Johns and the Cromwells. Mr. Deane having been fortunate enough to discover a copy of the elaborate and elegant Latin inscription which was composed for the tablet erected to the memory of his illustrious ancestor in Westminster Abbey, among the additional MSS. in the British Museum, has been directed by it to the entry of his baptism in the register of the parish of Lower Guyting, near Winchcombe. It is as follows: 'Anno Dni. 1610, ye viii daie of Julie, was baptized Richard Deane, ye sonne of Edward Deane.' His mother was a Warre, and his grandmother a Wickham, through whom he was connected with the Hampdens and the Cromwells; and his aunt Joan seems to have married Robert Mildmay, of Terling, the grandson of Sir Thomas Mildmay, one of the auditors of the Court of Augmentation in the reign of Henry VIII., and grand-nephew of Sir Walter Mildmay, the founder of Emmanuel College, Cambridge. We have no knowledge of Deane's career up to the year 1642, beyond the fact of his having served under Captain Button, of Harwich, during some part of that period; nor have we any of his private life at all, except that he married Mary Grimsditch, and that at his death he left two daughters by her, Mary and Hannah, the former of whom died unmarried, and the latter married Goodwin Swift, attorney-general of Tipperary, and uncle to the well-known Dean of St. Patrick's, Jonathan Swift. From the year 1642 to that of his death, however, few names are more frequently mentioned in the annals of his day than that of Richard Deane. He early and heartily espoused the cause of the Parliament in the great civil war, under a conviction that in no other way could the religion and the liberties of the country be saved; and soon proved himself to be 'one of those extraordinary men, produced by revolutionary times, who by the innate force of an energetic character, surmount the difficulties of birth and station, and, rising to authority, seem as if they had been born and educated for it; no one wondering either at their elevation, or at the ease with which they discharge the duties of the highest offices.' His biographer has related his great services to the cause which he espoused with singular impartiality, which renders his work a valuable contribution to the general history of his times. After the trial and execution of the King, in which, as is well known, Deane took a very prominent part, he was appointed, 'in connection with Colonels Edward Popham and Robert Blake, as one of the three generals at sea,' with 'co-ordinate powers.' In 1651, he assumed the chief command in Scotland, where he was the principal means of bringing about the 'eight years' tranquillity' which Bishop Barnet 'so commends and attributes to the (happy) usurpation.' War now breaking out with the Dutch, Deane was hastily summoned to rejoin the fleet. It was in action with the Dutch that he met with his death, June 2, 1653. 'He fell at the moment of victory, sword in hand, in the bow of his ship, as he was waving his sword and encouraging his men to follow him in boarding 'the Dutch Admiral,' Van Tromp. Deane was buried with all honour in the chapel of Henry VII., at Westminster Abbey, on the 24th of February following. 'The corpse,' the authors of the 'Parliamentary History of England' inform us, 'was brought from Greenwich to Westminster Bridge by water, attended by thirty barges in mourning. The procession was saluted in their passage by all the ships in the river, and the Tower guns. In the evening, the body was interred in the Abbey with great pomp; the lord-general and his council, with all the officers of the navy and army then in town, attending the funeral.' After the Restoration, his body, together with those of twenty others of his contemporaries, was removed and re-interred in the adjoining churchyard. The sympathies of his biographer may be inferred from the following comments on this act of Charles II. and his advisers. 'If their bodies had been decently removed from the church to the churchyard, no blame can justly attach to the King for the removal, for he naturally desired to clear his own family vaults of those whom he might undoubtedly regard as intruders. But it is not quite so certain that the removal and re-interment were so decorously conducted as tradition says they were. The present Dean of Westminster, with the laudable desire of ascertaining not only the place, but also the manner of re-burial, caused, in November, 1869, the ground to be opened on the spot supposed to be the grave of the removed, but found no evidence of a decent and careful interment, such as fragments of coffins, and skeletons lying side by side in the order of deposit, but only a confused mass of bones, so mixed together as to suggest an irreverent emptying of coffins into a large common pit. The Dean, and other members of the Chapter who accompanied him, went away, and still remain in the charitable hope that they have failed in discovering the deposit which they sought, but have fallen in with some other not unusual spectacle in crowded churchyards, where the callous sexton of one generation shovels away the coffinless bones of the preceding, to make room for the bodies of his own contemporaries who may have occasion for his services. It is earnestly to be hoped that such was the case here, and that the only indignity to which Richard Deane and Robert Blake were exposed, was the removal of their remains from the burial place of kings to that of ordinary Christians, with no other memorial of their names than that of their deathless renown. Be the case as it may, these facts are certain, they fought on the same deck, died in the same cause, and were buried in the same pit. They had been loving and pleasant in their lives, and in their graves they were not divided.' We congratulate Mr. Deane on the ability, the fairness, and the diligence which he has brought to his praiseworthy undertaking. He has rendered the historical student admirable service.
John Wesley and the Evangelical Reaction of the Eighteenth Century. By Julia Wedgewood. Macmillan and Co.