princes. Such a censure has only an apparent foundation. As the word of God itself follows this same method in the history of the people of Israel, it cannot in any other case be so faulty as is pretended. From the close mutual connexion that subsists between people and prince, the history of the one is inseparable from that of the other; that of the latter is, as it were, the commentary and echo of the former; and from the premised truth, that "the powers that be are ordained of God," as instruments whereby he blesses or chastises the nations, it is easy to comprehend how the condition of a people can easily be inferred from that of its prince. It might be expected that, under the government of so weak an emperor as Frederic III., things must have gone on in a strangely confused manner. And if such an insecure and, therefore, anxious state of public affairs, which must necessarily have resulted from the many private wrongs of individuals, is to be regarded as, on the one hand, a Divine rebuke of the gross immorality of those times; it may be considered, on the other hand, as a salutary preparative of better times approaching, inasmuch as it exposed the unhappy consequences of general estrangement from God. Thus it served to make men desirous of a remedy, as also glad to avail themselves of the only means of amendment, by returning to God and to his word. These means were soon presented in the glorious Reformation.

Frederic III., who indeed was also poor, his patrimonial possessions consisting of only a part of Austria, and who, therefore, was the less able

to act with influence, had the unhappiness to see his family bereaved of its hereditary kingdoms of Bohemia and Hungary, which had accrued to that family by Albert of Austria, in 1437. He moreover incurred great peril by an invasion of king Matthias Corvinus of Hungary; and it was only the speedy death of this warlike Hungarian prince that delivered him from it. On the other hand, he had the gratification of seeing his son, the bold, active, and worthy Maximilian, prospectively elected as his successor; and by the mar riage of the latter with Mary of Burgundy, the rich possessions of her family devolved to the house of Austria, and compensated for the loss of Hungary and Bohemia.

The commencement of the reign of the chivalrous emperor Maximilian 1., 1493-1519, forms a worthy close to the middle age, and a transition to a better period. He was a zealous promoter of the arts and sciences, and a vigorous ruler. In his youth he showed himself of a very rash and adventurous disposition, for instance, on the Tyrolese Martin's Wall,* where he experienced a most remarkable preservation. The first acts of his government were his abolition of the fist-right, (or law of private warfare,) in 1495, and his instituting the tribunal of the imperial chamber, to which was afterwards added the court of the imperial council. All litigations of importance, even those between

An exceedingly high precipice, to the top of which he had with difficulty climbed, and from which he fell to the bottom of the abyss below, without receiving any serious injury. Such is the report in Germany. --TRANS.

princes and subjects, or among the princes themselves, were settled in these courts without further appeal; and if their dilatory and slovenly way of business afterwards became proverbial, the fault at least does not belong to their first institution. Maximilian likewise introduced more order into the justiciary administration of the empire, by dividing it into ten districts, and issuing general laws of police for all. It was in his reign that the post offices were first introduced into Germany. His appointment of these was soon found of great benefit to the nation. Lewis XI. of France had set him the example of it in the year 1480. Not so successful was Maximilian in his foreign undertakings. To the Swiss, whom he required to accede to the Swabian league, he was obliged to yield their independence, by the peace of Basle; and the exertions he used for acting a decisive part in the wars of France with Italy had no immediate effect, except that pope Julius II. allowed him the title of elected Roman emperor; a title which every successive emperor from that time took at once, as soon as elected by the princes, without first getting leave for it at Rome.

More effectual were the steps he took to enlarge the possessions of the house of Hapsburg. He accomplished the reunion of all its Austrian hereditary dominions; he obtained, by his marriage, the rich possessions of Burgundy; also, by the marriage of his children, he gained to the house of Hapsburg the succession to the throne of Spain; and, by the marriage of his grandchildren, he made hereditary in the same family

the crown of Hungary. These acquisitions were of some benefit to Germany, inasmuch as by the securing of the succession in those kingdoms, there was thus far secured to it tranquillity and order; but they became a source of manifold contentions, wars, and mischief.

XIII.-ENGLAND, FRANCE, SPAIN, AND OTHER
COUNTRIES.

THE history of England in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries is a picture with little light, but much dark and red colouring. Little, either at home or abroad, except war, devastation, cruelties, deadly hate, and a multiplicity of murders. The Scots, in 1314, by a battle with Edward II., gained their independence; and England, during his reign, was rent with intestine divisions. More prosperous was Edward III., who reigned from 1327 to 1377, at least in the first half of his reign; when, by the victories of his son, the Black Prince, he got possession of a large portion of the kingdom of France, which, however, was afterwards regained by that nation. His grandson, Richard 11., lost his crown and life by insurrections at home; and it was not till the reign of Henry v. of England that its sovereign could renew his claims to the French crown; but this Henry died in 1422, before he was in a condition to profit by his victories. These princes took no heed to learn, from the misfortunes of their predecessors, that to endeavour after new conquests is to bring into

danger what they have possessed hitherto; and that it were more prudent to have less, and to govern and enjoy their own right, than to sacrifice all their powers and tranquillity to insatiable covetousness. Henry vi. seemed destined to unite the crowns of France and England, and had already reduced the French to extremities, when great deliverance was unexpectedly brought them; and the English saw themselves compelled again to evacuate all France, save only the single town of Calais. Still the sword of the English was not put up in its scabbard, but was turned about to be thrust into the heart of their own country. Dreadful civil wars raged during the reigns of Henry vi., Edward IV., and Richard III.; occasioned by the contention between the houses of York and Lancaster, (called the red and the white roses,) which might be compared to the discords between the Guelphs and Ghibellines of Germany, only those of England were much more furious and sanguinary. The fields of battle and the scaffolds were deluged with blood; and the most wretched confusion prevailed in all the relations of civil life. Such miseries continued till Henry VII., having united in himself by his marriage the claims of both houses, restored peace to the country.

During the very time such sanguinary proceedings distracted England, those, at least, in England who were of a better mind, and revolted at these cruelties and horrors, those who groaned under their oppression, and longed for consolation, had opened to them, by their countryman, John Wickliff, the way to its true source, by his