By the preceding Summary it will be seen that out of those Members returned from places with open and fair Election, there is a majority in favor of the Interest of the People of more than 2 to 1-but which majority is borne down by the overwhelming force of the 151 Votes returned by the influence of as few individuals!!! The population of all the Boroughs in Cornwall collectively, is not equal to the popula tion of the Town of Nottingham. Scarlett, James Scott, James... Smith, Samuel... Smith, Hon. R. Smith, Robert Stewart, Wm. (Tyrone). Tavistock, Marquis. Warre, Jas. A...... Webbe, Ed. Western, C. C.... Whitbread, S. C. Wilson, Sir Robert. Wood, Matthew NOW FIRST CORRECTLY PRINTED FROM THE AUTOGRAPHS IN THE LIBRARY OF THE VATICAN PALACE; WITH AN HISTORICAL INTRODUCTION, ILLUSTRATED BY LETTERS OF DISTINGUISHED CONTEMPORARIES, NOTES, AND FAC-SIMILES. BY THE EDITOR OF THE "HISTORIA BRITTONUM." ORIGINAL. LONDON: VOL. XXI. Pam. NO. XLII. Y PREFACE. ORIGINAL letters of eminent persons, whether we consider them as calculated to edify, by the display of sagacity and talent; as illustrating manners; or as delighting by their ease and pleasantry, have ever been highly and deservedly esteemed. As compositions, we may class them among the most faithful records of the human mind; may respect them for their tendency to promote accurate investigation in history, manners, science and civilisation, and, from the virtues they delineate, and the failings they disclose, may derive lessons of practical wisdom; and when no injury is done either to the feelings or interests of the living, the production of them is allied to those honorable pursuits, by which society is enlightened and adorned. Among these, regal letters relating to private life, are rarely to be met with, and though like those now offered to the public, they may at first sight appear more curious, than important, yet curiosity seems to rise with the rank of the writer, and if he has acted a conspicuous part in the public transactions of an eventful period, we are more than commonly anxious to be admitted behind the scenes, where he is viewed without disguise it is in this undress of mind that our Henry VIII. is now to appear before us. Had we to estimate the character of this Potentate by these letters only, his name might have descended to posterity without reproach. At the time they were written, he had not attained those years when, in tempers contumacious by nature and rendered inflexible by indulgence, tenderness and delicacy are supplanted by gross and selfish propensities. To unrestrained passions Henry was not yet the slave; in a more advanced period, when swayed by their despotism, he would not have endured those obstacles which the intrigues of his nephew the Emperor, or the want of firmness in the Roman Pontiff, so perpetually opposed to the completion of his wishes, in which these letters are implicated. That Henry at first sought Anna Boleyn with dishonorable intentions, is a slander clearly disproved by the tenour of this correspondence. If there are a few expressions which happily we cannot tolerate, they are assignable to the defective manners of an age when females were occasionally subjected to humiliating allusions; for mental cultivation and polished reserve had not yet produced that modest and correct demeanor, whose gentle influence has chastised the rude advances of the opposite sex, and secured for themselves that distinguished rank in society they now so deservedly possess. When the editor first saw these letters in the library of the Vatican palace, he was not aware they had ever been published in this country; and regarding them as a literary curiosity, by favor of the Prefect obtained copies of them. How or when they were first there deposited, is still to be ascertained. They make a part of the "Codices Vaticani" (No. 3731) or that division which originally formed the basis of the library, together with the augmentations of successive Pontiffs; independent of those alien additions, introduced during the two last centuries, and to which this stupendous collection owes much of its importance. Among the earliest notices remaining, the following passage has been supposed to refer to them. Cardinal Campeggio," thus dismissed and rewarded, was conducted honor 2 But there was a grossness in the manners of those times, which we must carry along with us in all our inquiries into them. The actions of men were perhaps more restrained than they are now, their tongues were certainly more licentious; and Henry, who had no idea of delicacy himself, was less offended than might be imagined at the gross indelicacy of others. While the affairs of the court of Rome were depending the emissaries of the popish party allowed themselves unbridled licence in England :—we are amazed that such a prince as Henry could bear to be told in his own chapel, that unless he restored religion, dogs should lick his blood, as they had licked the blood of Ahab.' (Gilpin's Life of Cranmer.) Skelton, however, for his buffooneries in the pulpit and his satirical ballads against the Mendicants, was severely censured, and perhaps suspended. (Works, p. 200-and 202.) Neither is this passage intended to convey censure on our fair countrywomen of the 16th century. Females may gradually influence, but unsupported, cannot at once, change the long cstablished system of social manners. And what opinion are we to form of men, even those of high rank, who in private life could accustom their wives and daughters to find amusement in the unchastised licentiousness of the domestic fool-or in public, even in a reign comparatively polished, could allow them to frequent bull and bear baitings, or to attend scenic representations, which in our age would not be endured by the very populace? (For a specimen of the entertainments, of which our maiden queen sat as a spectatress in the earlier part of her reign,' the reader is referred to a note in the introduction to the Taming of a Shrew.' Johnson and Stevens's edition, V.3. p. 406. 1778.) 2 The ground of this quotation from Herbert is taken from Hall : (fol. |