the characteristic excellence of these volumes-their light and vigorous narrative is to be ascribed. There are no more discussions or observations than are strictly necessary, by way of general hints, or hand-book for the sights we are to see. It is a kind of merit which we have lately been much in want of; and it is the one which, above all others, has made these Lives so very welcome to so many different kinds of readers. We have found people of all classes reading them as a Story-Book. But there is a still greater praise to which Lord Campbell is entitled—a praise beyond any compliment which mere composition can deserve. His judgments upon individuals are candid, just, and generous. His views excellent upon public affairs, and on the duties of public men. He may have weak passages to strengthen, and careless passages to correct; but he will have nothing in principle to recall.

6

I hold every man a debtor to his profession,' are the first words of Bacon's Maxims of the Law.' Sir Edward Coke accounts for the publication of his Reports by a quaint comparison, as poetical almost as his more figurative rival would have ventured on. 'As naturalists say, that there is no kind of fowl ' of the wood or of the plain, that doth not bring somewhat to the building of the eagle's nest; some, cinnamon or things of price; some, juniper or things of lesser value; so ought every man, according to his power, place, and capacity, to bring something 'to the adorning of our great eagle's nest, our own dear country.' In this at least, if in nothing else, the wisest of Chancellors and the most learned of Chief-Justices, were agreed. Of the present race of Lawyers, there is not one more resolute in paying his professional debts, and in bringing in his contribution to the eagle's nest,' than Lord Campbell. He has kept his ground for many years in the front rank of zealous and intelligent Law Reformers. Out of office, while drawing neither pay nor pension, he has worked hard to keep up the judicial character and efficiency of those two anomalous Tribunals, the Privy Council and the House of Lords. And now, the volumes, of which we have given this imperfect notice, are a most unexpected addition to his services. The way was not quite untrodden. One or two deserving writers had gone before him upon favourite portions of the road. Yet not so far, but that his Lives of the Chancellors may be honestly described, not only as an agreeable contribution: They look like a good beginning towards the systematic cultivation of a longneglected province, the Literature of the English Law.

ART. II.—The Spanish Lady's Love.
DALMENY. Folio.
Folio. London: 1846.

Illustrated by LADY

THE HE beautiful Ballad, which the pencil of Lady Dalmeny has here graced with a series of Illustrations of kindred beauty, has long been a favourite with all admirers of poetry. Well known to the collectors of our national ballads, it has been reprinted with expressions of admiration by Percy; and it has inspired the great muse of Wordsworth to imitation of its purity of sentiment, its expressive transitions of dialogue, and its peculiar melody of versification, in his Armenian Lady's Love.'

Of its authorship nothing appears to be known. But some traditions remain with regard to the supposed actors in its scene, of which the substance is thus given by Percy: * It was a 'tradition in the west of England, that the person admired by 'the Spanish lady was a gentleman of the Popham family, and that her picture, with the pearl necklace mentioned in the ballad, was not many years ago preserved at Littlecot, near Hungerford, Wilts, the seat of that respectable family

Another tradition hath pointed out Sir Richard Levison of Trentham, in Staffordshire, as the subject of the ballad, who 'married Margaret daughter of Charles Earl of Nottingham, and was eminently distinguished as a naval officer and com'mander, in all the expeditions against the Spaniards in the latter ' end of Queen Elizabeth's reign-particularly in that to Cadiz in 1596, when he was aged twenty-seven. He died in 1605, ' and has a monument with his effigy in brass in Wolverhampton 'Church.' The effigy, judging of it from the engraving in Shaw's History of Staffordshire,' † is a creditable performance as a work of art; representing a man of middle age, armed, and with a truncheon in his hand-the countenance gentle and prepossessing. Shaw mentions that some of the Committee men of Stafford, during the time of the Commonwealth, had cast an eye of longing on this brazen statue of the Admiral, which they had intended, not inappropriately, to convert into a piece of ordnance. The effigy, however, was somehow rescued from their hands by the Lady Levison of Trentham, and for some time preserved for safety in the church of Littleshull in Salop, from which it was removed to the recess it afterwards occupied in Wolverhampton.

There is such a pleasing uncertainty about both the traditions as given by Percy, that the reader may adopt that which best

* Reliques of Ancient English Poetry, Vol. ii. † Vol. ii. p. 157.

accords with his own fancy. Had the necklace been still extant, the preference would have been due to Littlecot; but, as that piece of evidence had disappeared before Percy's time, we own we incline to prefer the claim of the Admiral to that of the gentleman of the Popham family.'

In order to render intelligible the remarks we have to make upon this fine old poem, and on Lady Dalmeny's Illustrations, we shall take the liberty of reprinting it entire,-confident that no one will regret having his recollections of it thus revived.

Will you hear a Spanish lady,

How she wooed an English man?
Garments gay as rich as may be
Decked with jewels she had on.

Of a comely countenance and grace was she,
And by birth and parentage of high degree.

As his prisoner there he kept her,
In his hands her life did lye;
Cupid's bands did tye them faster
By the liking of an eye.

In his courteous company was all her joy,
To favour him in any thing she was not coy.

But at last there came commandment
For to set the ladies free,
With their jewels still adorned,

None to do them injury.

Then said this lady mild, "Full woe is me;
O let me still sustain this kind captivity!

"Gallant captain, shew some pity
To a ladye in distresse ;
Leave me not within this city,
For to dye in heavinesse :

But

Thou has set this present day my body free,
my heart in prison still remains with thee."
"How should'st thou, fair lady, love me,

Whom thou knowst thy country's foe?
Thy fair wordes make me suspect thee:
Serpents lie where flowers grow."-

"All the harm I wishe to thee, most courteous knight,
God grant the same upon my head may fully light.

"Blessed be the time and season,

That you came on Spanish ground;
If our foes you may be termed,

Gentle foes we have you found :

With our city, you have won our hearts eche one,
Then to your country bear away, that is your owne."

"Rest you still, most gallant lady;

Rest you still, and weep no more;
Of fair lovers there is plenty,

Spain doth yield a wonderous store."—

"Spaniards fraught with jealousy we often find,

But Englishmen through all the world are counted kind. "Leave me not unto a Spaniard,

You alone enjoy my heart;

I am lovely, young, and tender,
Love is likewise my desert:

Still to serve thee day and night my mind is prest;
The wife of every Englishman is counted blest."

"It would be a shame, fair lady,
For to bear a woman hence;
English soldiers never carry

Any such without offence.”—

"I'll quickly change myself, if it be so,

And like a page Ile follow thee, where'er thou go."

"I have neither gold nor silver
To maintain thee in this case,
And to travel is great charges,
As you know in every place."-

"My chains and jewels every one shal be thy own,
And eke five hundred pounds in gold that lies unknown."

"On the seas are many dangers,

Many storms do there arise,

Which wil be to ladies dreadful,

And force tears from watery eyes.".

"Well in troth I shall endure extremity,

For I could find in heart to lose my life for thee." "Courteous ladye, leave this fancy,

Here comes all that breeds the strife;

I in England have already

A sweet woman to my wife :

I will not falsify my vow for gold nor gain,

Nor yet for all the fairest dames that live in Spain."

"Oh how happy is that woman
That enjoys so true a friend!
Many happy days God send her;

Of my suit I make an end:

On my knees I pardon crave for my offence,

Which did from love and true affection first commence.

"Commend me to thy lovely lady,

Bear to her this chain of gold;
And these bracelets for a token;
Grieving that I was so bold:

All my jewels in like sort take thou with thee,
For they are fitting for thy wife, but not for me.

To

"I will spend my days in prayer,

Love and all her laws defye;
In a nunnery will I shroud mee,

Far from any companye:

But ere my prayers have an end, be sure of this,
pray for thee and for thy love I will not miss.
"Thus farewell, most gallant captain!

Farewell to my heart's content!
Count not Spanish ladies wanton,

Though to thee my love was bent:

Joy and true prosperity goe still with thee!".
"The like fall ever to thy share, most fair ladie."

That this striking ballad should have been a favourite wherever it was known, we do not wonder. Whether viewed as a picture of human emotion, under circumstances applicable to all times, or as a noble and discriminating tribute to the English national character of the seventeenth century, it is, to our minds, one of the most remarkable and perfect compositions of its class. We see embodied in it the characteristic features, and the dominant influences, of the country and the time. Here, as in a miniature, we have portrayed the love of adventure, the spirit of honour and bravery; that respect for engagements, that deeprooted feeling of religion, those high thoughts seated in hearts of courtesy,' (to borrow an expression from Sydney,) which the imagination delights to associate with this glorious period of our annals. We can trace in every line the pride of country naturally springing from the dignified position then occupied by England, and stamping a feeling of power and self-respect on every heart conscious of belonging to

'The inviolate island of the sage and free,

The beautiful, the brave, the lords of earth and sea.'

But this pride does not betray itself in vain boasting, in vulgar triumph, or unfair depreciation of opponents. It does ample justice to the high qualities of its rivals ;-satisfied that England does not require to lower the qualities of hostile nations, in order to elevate her own. We see it here tempered by a gentleness of manners, a forbearance and sympathy for others, which Chivalry had indeed theoretically advocated; but which the progress of literature, the general advance of intelligence, and the increasing stability of settled government, had for the first time reduced to practice,-so far, at least, as regarded the humbler classes of society; and all this deepened and adorned by a devotional spirit of humility towards God, contrasting beautifully with the lofty attitude which man maintains towards his fellow-men. In the earlier and ruder days of Chivalry, we have instances enough where a