lord chancellor, in which he says to Dr. Gauden, "the particular, you mention, has indeed been imparted to me as a secret: I am sorry that I ever knew it; and when it ceases to be a secret it will please none but Mr. Milton."

To this power of testimony, sufficient as one would imagine to force the most impregnable infidelity, the unyielding spirit of party prejudice has attempted an opposition. Against the assertion of the two sons of Charles, against the letters of the lord chancellor, Hyde and of Dr. Gauden, against the explicit and specific depositions of the confidential friend and of the widow of Dr. Gauden have been thrown into the scale the inconsistent or the inconclusive testimonies of persons, who have affirmed either that the manuscript in dispute was found among the King's papers at Naseby and had been restored to him by Fairfax; or that it had been seen, and even partly read in the King's own hand upon his table in the Isle of Wight; or that it had been quoted by the King, or that it contained things similar to what the King had been heard to say.

My readers probably would not thank me if I were to lengthen this digression, al ready too far extended, by entering fully

into the examination of all the evidence which has been adduced, and of all the ingenuity which has been exhibited on this much controverted question. What I have said however may enable them to form their decision upon the subject; and may perhaps unite their wonder with mine at the strange disingenuousness of Mr. Hume. "The proofs brought," says this historian, "that this work (the Icon) is or is not the King's, are so convincing that if an impartial reader peruse any one side apart, he will think it impossible that arguments could be produced sufficient to counterbalance so strong an evidence; and, when he compares both sides, he will be some time at a loss to fix any determination. Should an absolute suspense of judgment be found difficult or disagreeable in so interesting a question, I must confess that I much incline to give the preference to the arguments of the royalists." Admirable! but let us proceed. "The testimonies, which prove that performance to be the King's, are more numerous, more certain and direct," (what! than the testimonies of Dr. Walker and of Mrs. Gauden?) "than those on the other side. This is the case even if we consider the external evidence; but when we weigh the internal, derived from the style and com

position, there is no comparison. These meditations resemble in elegance, purity, neatness and simplicity the genius of those performances, which we know with certainty to have flowed from the royal pen; but are so unlike the bombast, perplexed, rhetorical and corrupt style of Dr. Gauden, to whom they are ascribed, that no human testimony seems sufficient to convince us that he was the author." This certainly is excellent; affecting to exhibit the most exact poise with one greatly preponderating scale, the most delicate and tremulous reserve with the most determined preference, the most specious ostentation of candour with the most injurious exertion of prejudice.

On the internal evidence from the style and composition of this contested work, the opinion, which is here so authoritatively given, is at direct variance with that of Milton: but we might safely refer the cause at issue, together with the credit of our author's judgment, to the sentence of any reader of common taste and erudition. Having passed, as it is said, through fifty editions in the

e Forty-seven impressions of the Icon were circulated in England alone; and 48,500 copies sold. In the very year of its publication it was translated into Latin and French.

Lord Clarendon's silence respecting this work is admitted

space of one year, the Icon must still be in many hands; and we must consequently stand under the correction of numbers when we affirm, in opposition to the northern historian, that the composition of this little volume is radically different from that of the writings which unquestionably came from the pen of Charles; that its pages are sometimes strewn with false flowers and the glitter of fanciful conceits; that its style is antithetical and artificially constructed, and that it is, to avail myself of the words of the acute and spirited Toland, infinitely more like to that of a doctor than to that of a king. Its authenticity indeed was questioned by many, before the production of those testimonies which we have noticed against it, in consequence alone of that internal evidence, adduced by Mr. Hume, with so much sanguine assurance, in its support.

by Mr. Hume as an argument against its authenticity. The duke of York declared to bishop Burnet, in 1673, that it was written by Dr. Gauden and not by the King. Bishop Burnet's Life, p. 51.

f The acute and able Laing, whom I have already had more than one occasion to cite, has drawn up the evidence on this subject with a very masterly hand. I had written my account of the literary imposture in question, before I read his; and it gave me particular satisfaction to find my opinions precisely the same with those which he has so powerfully supported. He refers the reader for a specimen of Gauden's style, and for a proof of its

In this short pause of the principal ac

resemblance to that of the Icon, to that prelate's Life of Hooker and the preceding dedication. The dedication, with which I am acquainted, fully justifies this reference, and flatly contradicts the testimony of Hume respecting the perplexed and bombast composition which he imputes to Dr. Gauden. Laing's Hist. of Scot. iii. 405, &c.--That my readers may form some judgment for themselves on this point of taste, I will present them with an extract from the Icon Basilikè, and with one of Charles's papers written in reply to Mr. Henderson.

"But here honour and justice, due to my successors, forbid me to yield to such a total alienation of that power from them, which civillity and duty (no less than justice and honour) should have forbad them to have asked of me. For, although I can be content to eclipse my owne beams to satisfy their fears, who think that they must needs be scorched or blinded if I should shine in the full lustre of kingly power, wherewith God and the laws have invested me; yet I will never consent to put out the sun of sovereignty to all posterity and succeeding kings; whose just recovery of their rights from unjust usurpations and extortions shall never be prejudiced or obstructed by any act of mine; which indeed would not be more injurious to succeeding kings than to my subjects; whom I desire to leave in a condition not wholly desperate for the future; so as by law to be ever subjected to those many factious distractions which must needs follow the many-headed Hydra of government; which, as it makes a show to the people to have more eyes to foresee, so they will find it hath more mouths too which must be satisfied: and (at best) it hath rather a monstrosity than any thing of perfection beyond that of right monarchy; where counsel may be in many as the senses, but the supreme power can be but in one as the head.

"Happily, when men have tried the horrors and malignant influence which will certainly follow my inforced darkness and eclipse, (occasioned by the interposition and shadow of that, body, which as the moon receiveth its chiefest light from me) they will at length more esteem and welcome the restored glory and blessing of the sun's light." Icon Bas. p. 63, 64.