her eager eyes on the diftant pond, and walked more nimbly than before, to rid herself of her agouifing fenfe!

Juft as fhe had nearly reached the wifhed-for brink, fhe heard a footfiep, and faw, by the glimmering of a clouded moon, a man approaching. She turned out of her path for fear her intentions should be guefied at and thwarted; but ftill, as fhe walked another way, her eye was wishfully bent towards the water that was to obliterate her love and her remorfe-obliterate for ever William and his child.

"It was now that Henry, who, to prevent scandal, had stolen at that ftill hour of the night to rid the curate of the incumbrance fo irk fome to him, and take the foundling to a woman whom he had hired for the charge: it was now that Henry came up with the child of Hannah in his arms, carefully covered all over from the night's dew.

"Hannah; is it you ?" (cried Henry, at a little distance)" Where are you going thus late?"

"Home, fir," faid fhe, and rushed among the trees.

Stop, Hannah," he cried, "I want to bid you farewell; tomorrow I am going to leave this part of the country for a long time. So God bless you, Hannah!" Saying this, he ftretched out his ar to fhake her by the hand.

"Her poor heart, trufting that his bleffing, for want of more potent offerings, might perhaps at this tremendous crifis, afcend to heaven in her behalf, fhe ftopt, returned, and put out her hand to take his.

Softly," faid he, "dont wake my child; this fpot has been a place of danger for him; for underneath this very ivy bush it was that I found him."

"Found what?" cried Hannah, with a voice elevated to a tremulous fcream.

"I will not tell you," replied Henry, "for no one I have ever told of it would believe me.'

"I will believe you; I will believe you;" the repeated with tones yet more impreffive.

Why then," faid Henry, "only five weeks ago?"

"Ah!" fhrieked Hannah.

"What do you mean?" faid Henry.

"Go on," the articulated in the fame voice.

"Why then, as I was paffing this very place, I wish I may never fpeak truth again, if I did not find"-here he pulled afide the rug in which the infant was wrapt-" this beautiful child.”

"With a cord ?"

"A cord was round its neck."

""Tis mine! the child is mine! 'tis mine! my child! I am the mother and the murderer! I fixed the cord, while the ground fhook under me! while flashes of fire darted before my eyes! while my heart was burfling with defpair and horror. But I flopt fhort. I did not draw the noofe. I had a moment of ftrength, and I ran away. I left him living-he is living now-efcaped from my hands— and I am no longer afhamed, but overcome with joy that he is mine! I blefs

I blefs you, my dear, for faving his life, for giving him to me again, for preferving my life as well as my child's."

"Here he took her infant, preffed it to her lips and to her bofom, then bent to the ground, clafped Henry's knees, and wept upon his feet.

"He could not for a moment doubt the truth of what the faid; her powerful, yet broken accents, her convulfive ftarts, even more, her declaration convinced him."

ART. IX. Nichols's Leicestershire.

(Concluded from page 101.)

WE before informed our readers that the first part of this la

borious and very important work would extend to four volumes. The first part of the fecond volume contains the Hiftory of the Hundred of Framland. That of Gartre will form the fecond part of this volume; and, the other four hundreds of the county will be divided in the two remaining volumes, which may yet be expected; the plates to the whole of which, to the number of FOUR HUNDRED, are nearly engraved. From the fpecimens of the execution given in our preceding number, there fhould feem but little occafion for the teftimony of our praise, either to excite the editor to the vigilant profecution of his undertaking, or to perfuade thofe, whofe curiofity is directed to this branch of literature, that no topographical work has yet appeared, which has been commenced with greater ardour, conducted with more diligence, or been more diftinguifhed by all the talents effential to its fuccefsful and honourable termination. We cannot, however, reject the opportunity which is here placed before us, of contributing as well to the general entertainment of our readers, as to the circulation of the honeft fame of the author, by means alike honourable to him, and confiftent with our undertaking.

Of the Earls of Leicester an excellent account is given, particularly of the Montforts, for which Mr. Nichols in his preface ftrongly acknowledges his obligations to the Rev. Sambrook Nicholas Ruffel, who had employed, he fays, a large portion of an active life in the ftudy of the early conftitution of this kingdom. The opinions of Mr. Ruffel are frequently fingular, and oppofed to thofe of Lord Lyttelton and other modern writers on the fame times, but fupported with great diligence. The following extract will afford fome knowledge

both

both of the opinions of this learned coadjutor, and of his method of digesting his information.

"The year 1258 prefents to us one of the most remarkable epochs of the English hiftory. The executive department had dared to violate the conftitution by arbitrary and illegal exactions of money from the free orders of the community, by perfevering in and multiplying this fpecies of tyranny without end, and in making itself the fole judge of political meafures and projects, in difregard of the council of the baronage, that is, the great landed intereft of the realm. That age was not advanced to fuch an affectation of political science, as to oppofe the crown on the ground of rights of man. They faid only, let the nation be preferved in glory and profperity, and let the king govern the realm according to the customs and ftatutes of England. Henry of Winchester is called a weak prince; certainly he was far from fplendid in natural capacity. But his greatest weaknefs confifted in lofing the affections of his people, and not availing himself of the fecurity which he might have derived from the nature of the English government; namely, by adhering fcrupuloufly to the laws which at his election he had fworn to obferve, and in all arduous affairs acting as the conftitution directed, by the advice and control of his grandees affembled in parliament.

"To the glory of William the Firft, that legitimate monarch had, by advice of the grandees of the realm, iffued commiffions through the feveral counties of England, ordering ftrict inquifitions to be made by the community of each county affembled in county courts, to collect and inrol the ancient ufages of their refpective counties; which inrolments were prefented to the king, who, by the affent of his grandees affembled in his parliament, therefrom made a digeft of national or common law, ftyled the laws of Edward the Confeffor, that is, the Anglo-faxon cuftoms and conftitutions; which digeft the Conqueror (a term of vulgar invention, in no refpect applicable to this king, who, like the illuftrious houfe of Brunswick, acquired the crown by regular and lawful entail) ratified by his own, and general adjuration, and bound upon his own people under the feverest penalties.

"This conftitution the English were zealous to uphold, and made it the bafis, when they elected their kings, of their elevation. Feeble, however, were the huge, but ill cemented, buttresses which the common univerfity of the realm had provided against the attacks of tyranny. Henry II., a prince always ready to invoke God or devil, as beft fuited his luft of money or dominion, had, by the vast reach of his territories, and the joint influence of his ferocity and fubtilty, contrived to render himself the completeft defpot of Europe. Richard Cœur de Lion had very little of the ftatefman; to flay men, break their bones, flash their flesh, knock out their teeth and eyes, if opportunity offered in war, otherwife in a tilt, were the delight and paftime of this prince of chivalry. But his difpofition was not lefs arbitrary than his father's; and to compafs his ends, either ambition, vain-glory, or revenge, he never cared about the means.

"In

"In John's time the crown of England loft one of its faireft jewels by the return of Normandy into the demefne of France. This efcheat was in the regular order of things; for, although the English pretended that Normandy, being once annexed to the crown of England, became a perpetual and infeparable appendage thereof; yet this reafoning was certainly falfe; for Normandy was a fief of the French crown, liable by the whole tenor of the feudal law to revert to its chief lord for default of heir in the vaffal, or rebellion against his fovereign. The confifcation of Normandy, and the confecutive diminution of power, reduced the king of England to a condition lefs formidable to the people of that country. John refided chiefly in England. Parliaments became more frequent and copious, rights were investigated, and at length infifted on. John was deteftable in his moral character. Deteftation inflamed oppofition. His neceffi ties gave it fresh force; he cozened his fubjects of their money under the colour of loans, which he never paid. He ftrove to make the lands and tenements of the libres hommes, or free men, tributary to his will; he confifcated their fiefs by the illegal fentences of his jufticiars, without the judgment of their lawful judges, viz. their peers. His fhire-reeves and other bailiffs were a worfe fcourge to the nation than plague or famine. The barons of England began to pluck up their courage, and take fide with the knights, whom John could treat, he thought, more freely; imitating the hawk among small birds. John fans terre was at length openly refifted, and foon compelled to recognize the rights of the grandees, and community of the people, by the conceffion of the two charters. He fwore folemnly to allow thofe charters; and then fought with defperate courage against his fubjects to reign like a defpot. From rex, he faid he should be fex, by the reftraints of Magna Charta. He was, however, obliged to fubmit to the law. This formal folemn recognition of rights was a bitter dose to his fucceffor. Henry of Winchester could not obtain the crown, but by fubmitting to this act of difcipline. He first folemnly, at his election, then a boy of nine years, took the oath to allow and maintain both the charters. When arrived at years for affuming into his own hand the helm of government, he publickly declared his intention no longer to regard them; alleging, that the oath he had taken did not bind, it having been impofed on him in his childhood, when he knew not what he did. He was foon, however, forced to recant, and submit again to the fame humiliating ceremony. As foon as the turn was ferved, he committed fresh perjury. Throughout his reign he always declared himfelf the vaffal of the pope for his crown. His Lord and his God (fo he confidered the pope in his double character of feudal and spiritual fovereign) now threatened him with depofition and damnation, unless he paid him without further demur the damages fuftained in the affair of Sicily. Henry, terrified out of his little fenfe, threw himself upon the whole community of England, craving their counfel, their protection, and, above all, their pecuniary aid, to help him out of his difficulty.

The crifis was fingular; the confequences very important with respect to the government of England.

"In detailing this interefting fubject, from a fear of with-holding circumftances which ought to be brought forward to enable the intelligent reader to judge accurately, I feel it a duty to be as copious as is conducive to that end: I fhall, therefore, in close translations, give every thing I find in coeval chronicles and records on the subject. With the fame view to precifion and full information, I fhall not make a falmagundi of the materials, but keep each extract, whether of chronicles or records, feparate and diftinct. The perfons who are likely to perufe a narrative of this fort want only to be furnished with full and exact statements. To fuch my comments would be fuperfluous. Like the officer of a library, I only mean to hand to my intelligent readers the things neceflary for their information and guidance. I will not waste their precious time with my fancies or opinions: they fhall make their own reflections; founded not on the purport of antient authors and records, but the tenor of them. A great deal of fuch reading as the prefent is difpatched in a fhort time. And, if I inform, I fhall not be blamed for being prolix.". P. 143.

Of the parochial defcriptions, which are all fo methodically arranged as to exhibit a useful pattern for future topographers, it is not easy to felect one part in preference to another. Under the Hiftory of Belvoir will be found the belt account that has yet been given of the Dukes of Rutland and their ancestors. A good account is alfo given of the old priory of Belvoir, which, being fituated in the two Counties of Leicester and Lincoln, had not hitherto been well defcribed in either. The neighbouring town of Bottesford affords ample materials to the hiftorian; and particularly the magnificent church, under the chancel of which is the burial-place of the noble family of Manners. "From the minority of the noble duke who owns this princely domain," fays Mr. N. in his preface, "I have hitherto been deprived of an opportunity of foliciting for plates of the elegant tombs of eight fucceffive Earls of Rutland, which grace the church of Bottesford, or of their portraits, which adorn the gallery at Belvoir; but have prepared the way for it, by engraving the tombs, wherever difperfed, of the Lords Ros, predeceffors of the earlieft earl, and have taken fome pains to elucidate the history of the family, from the conqueft to the present day."

The monuments at Bottesford are judiciously deferibed, and every antiquary will hear with pleafure that they are now in fine prefervation, and diligently protected; particularly as that had not been the cafe for fome time back.

"As no attention had been paid to them in the memory of man, they had fuffered feverely by time, but more by ill ufage. The iron rails that guarded them were broken down; and, by an eafy calculation from what remained, more than three hundred weight had been carried off. In confequence of this, trampling upon the monuments

at