putrid fever. The campaigns of 1637, and 8, had been destructive to the Austrian armies opposed to Banier, and in 1639, he defeated them completely near Chemnitz, in Saxony, burst into Bohemia, and appeared before Prague, where he again routed the Imperialists under a new general, who was taken prisoner. The conduct of Banier in Bohemia, has deeply sullied the brightness of his fame. So atrocious was the licence in which he indulged his soldiers, that Mr. N. supposes that some unrecorded circumstance must have occurred to inflame 'his indignation to the highest pitch.' The successes of the Swedish army roused the Emperor to unwonted exertion, and strong armies under able commanders began to press upon the thinned and exhausted divisions of Banier.

Such was the situation of the Swedish army at the conclusion of the campaign of 1639; that of the ensuing year did not open with much better prospects. But it was amid the storms and convulsions of an agitated world, that Banier's abilities shone forth in all their natural lustre. Surrounded on every side by powerful armies, if he attempted to advance, he had to contend against the aggregate strength of Austria, marshalled under her ablest commanders; and, if he wished to retreat, all Saxony and Prussia were assembled in his rear, animated by every feeling that can inspire resolution, the love of independence, the thirst of glory, and the insatiate desire of revenge. In this desperate crisis he contrived to reach a favourite position near Melnik, where he hoped to remain till the arrival of Konigsmark, who was hastening with considerable reinforcements from Westphalia.

Konigsmark was an officer of the highest promise, and had been greatly distinguished at the head of the Westphalian army. Popularity of manners combined with intrepid courage, had attracted the love and admiration of the soldiers, who were ready to follow him through every danger. Notwithstanding the comparative weakness of his force, his march through Franconia and Thuringia was signalized by a rapid succession of triumphs; so that, in spite of all the obstacles which he had to contend with, he arrived safely on the confines of Bohemia.' Vol. II. pp. 324-325.

In 1641, Banier died, and was succeeded in his command by Tostenson, perhaps the ablest officer in the school of Gustavus. Tortured and rendered helpless by gout, the activity of his mind supplied his bodily incapacity. He advanced from victory to victory, ruined the army of Gallas, defeated the Austrians at Leipsic and Yankowitz, and threatened Vienna itself. Soon after this he resigned the command. The succeeding campaigns were admirably conducted by Wrangel and Königsmark, and the surprise of Prague by the latter officer, had a strong influence in determining Austria to agree to the treaty of Westphalia. In this sketch of the Swedish campaigns, we have not thought it necessary to advert to the

series of operations which were carried on under the auspices of France in the countries adjacent to the Upper Rhine. These are much more generally known, and the names of Turenné, Condé, Guébriant, are familiar to an English ear.

It has rarely happened that two such men as Oxenstiern and Richelieu, have appeared on the political arena together; and it has occurred yet more rarely, that such men have been induced to make common cause against an individual enemy, and it was calamitous to Austria that they were united against the Imperial policy. It was however fortunate for Germany, and the result was a gigantic stride towards the liberation of Europe from the thraldom of tyranny and bigotry. As a specimen of Mr. Naylor's talent in the delineation of character, we shall subjoin his estimate of Richelieu. It is perhaps sufficiently just on the whole, but it is very deficient in those finer touches on which the effect of literary portraits essentially depends.

In order justly to appreciate the abilities of Richelieu, we ought to compare the situation of France when he was first entrusted with the direction of affairs, with that in which he left it at his death. He found the kingdom distracted by domestic dissensions, and the royal prerogative curtailed and fettered by the turbulent ambition of a haughty aristocracy. Before he quitted the world, he had stripped the nobility of all those dangerous privileges, which are incompatible with the good of society; and which, though frequently exercised for their private aggrandisement, were hardly ever employed for the benefit of the people Till the cardinal was invested with absolute authority-and authority more absolute was never trusted to the hands of a subject-Europe had been accustomed to contemplate, with hopeless dismay, the overwhelming power of Austria, sweeping progressively away every feeble barrier that checked for a moment her ambitious career; but, while he ruled in the name of a contemptible bigot, he not only raised an insurmountable barrier against her future encroachments, but laid the foundations of that extensive glory, to which his country attained during the following reign. Assuming success as the criterion of merit, and, when a proper field is opened for the display of genius it may fairly be taken as such, Richelieu unquestionably deserves an eminent station among the most illustrious statesmen, who ever excited the applause or the execration of mankind

Such are the rude outlines of the character of a minister, whose vigorous counsels gave strength and stability to a government, which civil dissensions and a disputed succession had rendered the seat of anarchy and confusion. The portrait of Richelieu, like every figure of colossal proportions, appears to greatest advantage when viewed at a distance; but, when minutely inspected, presents to the eye of the judicious critic many striking defects. The same haughty spirit, which, invested with the splendid form of ambition, impelled him to undertake the humiliation of Austria, when influencing his actions

in private life, assumed the less dignified character of vanity. Not content with excelling the greater part of his contemporaries in valour, and wisdom, and enterprise, he had the weakness to aspire to equa celebrity for his skill in managing a horse, or turning an epigram; though, in all probability, he was much inferior in horsemanship to a common dragoon, and was indebted for the praises bestowed on his literary productions, to the borrowed pen of a poetical flatterer.' Vol. II. pp. 479–480.

At length, all parties were exhausted by this long and ruinous contest, and entered in good faith on the work of pacification. We have not thought it expedient, in this rapid statement, to notice the various diplomatic manœuvres resorted to by the different cabinets; they were too numerous and too complicated for brief detail, and too obviously faithless to have any influence upon military arrangements. Bnt in 1645, on the 10th of April, the Congresses of Westphalia were opened; on the first of June, the projets of the respective courts were tendered; and on the 19th of November, 1645, 'they began," in the words of Pütter, "to act with vigour.' The negotiations were conducted under the mediation of the Pope and the Venetians; and in consequence of the difficulties occasioned by this, and other circumstances, were carried on simultaneously at two different places, Munster, and Osnabruck. At the latter town, the most important of these negotiations, was in discussion between the Swedes and the Protestant States on the one side, and the Emperor on the other, while the transactions at Munster principally regarded France and Austria. The particulars of this important treaty, which was afterwards registered among the fundamental laws of the Empire, would afford little satisfaction to our readers in any abstract which we might be able to give. It may suffice to remark, that beside the usual scramble for indemnifications and cessions of territory, the rights and liberties of conscience were not disregarded, and if they were not recognised and established on that large and liberal ground which they claim on the broad principles of equity and reason, they were at least settled on a foundation more solid and secure than had ever been sanctioned before. In fact, the treaty of Westphalia materially changed the constitutions of the Empire. It finally settled the question respecting the degree of power vested in the Emperor, and the relation in which the German princes stood towards him as their federal head. It moreover regulated, in many important particulars, the system of government in the inferior states. A considerable alteration was introduced into the general habits of living, by the circumstances of the times; and in order to illustrate the manners of a former age, we shall here introduce an extract from a

very able writer, to whom Mr. Naylor has had frequent re

course.

• A comparison of the times previous and subsequent to the peace of Westphalia, may afford us instructive information, how much not only the style of living, but the manners and way of thinking at our German courts, are changed. A steward in the service of one of our Dukes, wrote once in his diary- To day our Duke went with all his young nobles to a tavern, and feasted there the whole day long, for which I had to pay eight dollars (Dat het Schlampampen)-There's living for you!" Another Duke sent his son to travel, and wrote a letter by him to an Elector, Now that our son is grown up, and rather an awkward lad, we have thought it necessary to send him abroad, and particularly to your highness's court, that he may learn good manners; we have provided him likewise with a servant to travel with him.' The Landgrave Philip, of Hesse Rheinfels, who was born in the year 1541, and died in 1588, at a time when he expected some princes of the Palatine House to visit him, heard that a private man had got some fine large turkeys. That he might treat the Counts Palatine handsomely, he ordered the man to bring him one or two of them for a proper price, which the steward of his household should pay immediately. This Landgrave Philip. likewise sent his brother William the Fourth, Landgrave of Hesse Cassell, on the 14th of March, 1575, a long letter, with a lively description of the decline among the Princes, which he said he dreaded would be the consequence of the great increase of expences, which were even then complained of. Among other things, says he, "Your father, Philip the magnanimous, notwithstanding he was in pos'session of the whole country, which is now divided into four parts, ' and had the management of all the concerns of the Schmalcaldic League, had only one chancellor, a doctor, and a secretary. The 'first of these served him twenty years for eighty florins, the second for fifty, and the third without any salary at all. Now every one of you have more doctors, secretaries, and clerks, for yourselves, and at very high salaries; besides this, each of you has such a number of huntsmen, cooks, and other servants, that there is a huntsman for every hill, a cook for every pot, and a butler to every cask. Then comes your itch for play, gadding about to dances, and visiting foreign Princes, which, says he, is the only way to drain 'your purses. He complains too of the Italian luxury in dress, which was the fashion then, such as wearing velvet and silk, and decorating the horses with feathers and velvet cloths,-just as if we were Italian civet cats, which does not suit this country at all. Italian and German luxuries don't agree. The Italians are stately in their dress, but they eat the worse for it, and are sparing in.. their tables. A dish, consisting of a few eggs and a salad, is enough for them; but Germans must have good eating and their bellies full.'-Pütter's Historical Developement of the Constitution of the Germanic Empire, by Dornford.-Vol. II. p. 197.

The same Author has elucidated the conduct and consequences of the treaty of Westphalia, with considerable ability;

and some important documents and illustrations relating to the same event may be found in Heiss-Histoire de l'Empire. It is to be regretted that there is not, in these volumes, a more frequent insertion of dates. The errors of press are numerous, and not unfrequently injurious to the meaning.

Art. VI. Manfred; a Dramatic Poem. By Lord Byron. 8vo. pp. 80. Price 5s. 6d. Murray. London. 1817.

WE have taken some pains to point out what we conceive to be the peculiarities of Lord Byron's genius, and to enable our readers to form a discriminating judgement of his productions. If we have at all succeeded in the attempt, they will not, we think, he wholly unprepared to find in the present production a verification of our remark, that the noble Author does not possess the power of imbodying in poetry a purely dramatic conception; that he is not capable of that effort of abstraction which is requisite to the imagining and delineating of an individualized portion of our common nature, distinct and different in character from himself. They will not expect, therefore, to discover in Manfred a being of any other species or genus than that to which the Childe, the Giaour, Conrad, and Alp, may be referred. They will anticipate alike the hero and the object of the present tale, and will feel assured, that this dramatic poem has very little more of the drama about it, than the mere form of dialogue.

Lord Byron has made a mistake, which, in the case of a poet of inferior genius, would be fatal. This perpetual sameness of sentiment would be insupportably wearisome, were it not for the exquisite and exhaustless beauties of expression by which it is enlivened. There is absolutely nothing of novelty in this poem, except the mysticism and the immaterial machinery; and the latter, although invested with all the charms of song, is of too flimsy and shadowy a nature to interest. The drama is without plot and without purpose; Manfred is one of those unintelligible and impossible beings which we meet with only in the regions of sentimental romance; a most interesting and amiable wicked rascal, who glories in not having been the dupe of demons, but claims to be his own destroyer. He is a magian,' and deals in spells and adjurations, professes to have no sympathy with breathing flesh,' and breathing flesh can therefore have little sympathy with him. He holds converse with destinies, and elements, and witches; is addicted to study, and penance, and solitary vigils; is an astrologer; and quotes Roman history and the Apocalypse. His crimes and his miseries are alike ineffable, and only to be guessed at from the character of his despair. He is, in fact, a very terrible-looking personage, but harmless withal. Had he been one of us,' says one of the demons, he would have made An awful spirit.'

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