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pus-Christi College, but whether he took a university degree or not is uncertain. A restless curiosity to visit foreign countries induced him to leave England for this purpose, and in August, 1610, he embarked for the continent. He travelled through the northern European states, thence down to Constantinople and Greece, and from the latter he visited Egypt and Palestine. Returning by the way of Italy, he passed thence through France to his native country, where he was received with strong demonstrations of approbation. King James soon after took him into his confidence, and Charles the First made him one of the members of his privy chamber. Sandys died in March, 1643, at Boxley-Abbey, in Kent, the seat of his niece, Lady Margaret Wyat.

In 1615, Sandys published an account of his travels, entitled A Relation of a Journey began Anno Domino, 1610, Four Books Containing a Description of the Turkish Empire of Egypt, of the Holy Land, of the Remote Parts of Italy, and Islands adjoining. This work was so popular as to reach a seventh edition in 1673-a distinction not undeserved, since as Kerr in his Catalogue of Voyages and Travels, has remarked, 'Sandys was an accomplished gentleman, well prepared by previous study, for his travels; which are distinguished by erudition, sagacity, and a love of truth, and are written in a pleasant style.' He devoted particular attention to the allusions of the ancient poets to the various localities through which he passed; and in his dedication to Prince Charles he thus refers to this subject:—

MODERN STATE OF ANCIENT COUNTRIES.

:

The parts I speak of are the most renowned countries and kingdoms: once the seats of most glorious and triumphant empires; the theatres of valour and heroical actions; the soils enriched with all earthly felicities; the places where Nature hath produced her wonderful works; where arts and sciences have been invented and perfected; where wisdom, virtue, policy, and civility, have been planted, have flourished; and, lastly, where God himself did place his own commonwealth, gave laws nd oracles, inspired his prophets, sent angels to converse with men; above all, where the Son of God descended to become man; where he honored the earth with his beautiful steps, wrought the works of our redemption, triumphed over death, and ascended into glory which countries, once so glorious and famous for their happy estate, are now, through vice and ingratitude, become the most deplored spectacles of extreme misery; the wild beasts of mankind having broken in upon them, and rooted out all civility, and the pride of a stern and barbarous tyrant possessing the thrones of ancient and just dominions. Who, aiming only at the height of greatness and sensuality, hath in tract of time reduced so great and goodly a part of the world to that lamentable distress and servitude, under which (to the astonishment of the understanding beholder) it now faints and groaneth. Those rich lands, at this present remain waste and overgrown with bushes, receptacles of wild beasts, of thieves and murderers; large territories dispeopled, or thinly inhabited; goodly cities made desolate; sumptuous buildings become ruins; glorious temples either subverted, or prostituted to impiety; true religion discountenanced and oppressed; all nobility extinguished; no light of learning permitted, nor virtue cherished; violence and rapine insulting over all, and leaving no security except to an abject mind, and unlooked-on poverty; which calamities of theirs, so great and deserved, are to the rest of the world as threatening instructions. For assistance wherein, I have

not only related what I saw of their present condition, but so far as convenience might permit, presented a brief view of the former estates and first antiquities of those people and countries: thence to draw a right image of the frailty of man, the mutability of whatsoever is worldly, and assurance that, as there is nothing unchangeable saving God, so nothing stable but by his grace and protection.

WILLIAM LITHGOW, a Scotchman, and contemorary with Sandys, traversed on foot, many European, Asiatic, and African countries. He was one of those tourists, now so numerous, who travel from a love of adventure, without having any scientific or literary object in view. According to his own statements, he walked more than thirty-six thousand miles; and so decidedly did he prefer this mode of travelling, that, even when the use of a carriage was offered to him, he declined to avail himself of the accommodation. His narrative was published in London, in 1640, and one of the principal adventures which it contains, occurred at Malaga, in Spain, where he was arrested as an English spy, and committed to prison. The details which he gives of his sufferings while in confinement, and the tortures applied to him in view of exacting a confession, are such as to cause humanity to sicken. Having been at length released by some English residents at Malaga, to whom his situation accidentally became known, he was sent to London by sea, and afterward sent, at the expense of king James, to Bath, where he remained, for more than six months, endeavoring to recruit his shattered frame. Lithgow died in 1640, having previously made several fruitless attempts, through the House of Lords, to obtain redress for his sufferings. As an extract from this writer's travels would not present, in a literary view, any variety, we shall not offer one.

Lecture the Eighteenth.

JAMES HOWELL-THOMAS HERBERT-WILLIAM CAMDEN-JOHN SPEED-SIR HENRY SPELMAN-ROBERT COLTON-THOMAS MAY-JOHN HEYWARD-RICHARD KNOLLES -ARTHUR WILSON-RICHARD BAKER-THOMAS HOBBES-EDWARD HERBERT.

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RAVELLERS' narratives, and descriptions of voyages and other adventures, form so important a part of the literature of the period at present under consideration, that to them we devoted most of the last lecture. To this class of writers Howell and Herbert also, the next authors to be noticed, belong.

JAMES HOWELL, one of the most intelligent travellers and pleasing miscellaneous writers of the early part of the seventeenth century, was the son of the Reverend Thomas Howell, and was born at Abernaut, Carmarthenshire, in 1596. He commenced his education at the free school in Hereford, and after thorough preparation, passed thence to Jesus College, Oxford, where he remained until 1613, when he took his bachelor's degree. Howell's circumstances being now such as to require him to depend upon his own future exertions for success in life, he repaired to London in search of employment. He had not been in London long before Sir Robert Mansel obtained for him the appointment of steward to a patent-glass manufactory, in which capacity he went abroad in 1619, to procure materials, and engage new and skillful workmen. In the course of his travels, which lasted till 1621, he visited many commercial towns in Holland, Flanders, France, Spain, and Italy; and, being of an acute and inquiring mind, laid up a great store of useful observations on men and manners, besides acquiring so extensive a knowledge of modern languages that it was henceforth his boast, 'that he could offer each successive daily prayer during the week in a different language, and on Sunday, pray in seven.' His connection with the glass company ceased soon after his return to England, and he visited France again, in the following year, as travelling companion of a young nobleman.

In the latter part of the year 1622, Howell was sent to Spain, as agent for the recovery of an English vessel which had been seized at Sardinia, on a

charge of smuggling; but all hope of obtaining redress being destroyed by the breaking off of the proposed marriage of Prince Charles with the Infanta, he, after two years' absence, returned to England. In 1623, while Howell was abroad on this mission, he was chosen fellow of Jesus College, Oxford, upon the new foundation of Sir Eubule Theloal; and in his letter of thanks to that gentleman, he remarks that he will reserve his fellowship, and lay it by as a good warm garment against rough weather, if any fall on him.' Howell's next appointment was that of secretary to lord Scrope, afterward earl of Sunderland, who had been made president of the north. This position brought him to York; and while he resided there, the corporation of Richmond, without any solicitation on his part, and against several competitors, chose him one of their representatives in the parliament of 1627. He next attached himself to the Earl of Leicester, and when that nobleman was sent, in 1632, as English ambassador to the court of Denmark, he accompanied him to Copenhagen as his secretary. After this, Howell's situation was, for some years, uncertain and embarrassed. At length, however, having meantime complimented Charles the First in two small poems, he obtained, in 1640, the clerkship of the council-an important appointment, but of brief continuance, as, three years afterward, he was imprisoned in the Fleet, by order of a committee of parliament. Here he remained till after the king's death, supporting himself by translating some works, and composing others. At the Restoration he became historiographerroyal, being the first who ever enjoyed that title; and continued his literary avocations till his death, which occurred in the month of November, 1666.

This lively and sensible writer was the author of more than forty publica tions; none of which, however, are now generally read, excepting his Familiar Letters, first published in 1643, and considered to be the earliest specimen of epistolary literature in the language. The letters are dated from various places at home and abroad; and though some of them are supposed to have been compiled from memory while the author was in the Fleet prison, yet the greater number seem to bear sufficient internal evidence of having been written at the times and places indicated. His remarks upon the leading events and characters of that period, as well as the animating accounts given of what he saw in foreign countries, contribute to render the work one of permanent interest and value. Of these letters we present the following specimen :

TO CAPTAIN THOMAS B.

Noble Captain,-Yours of the 1st of March was delivered me by Sir Richard Scot, and I hold it no profanation of this Sunday evening, considering the quality of my subject, and having (I thank God for it) performed all church duties, to employ some hours to meditate on you, and send you this friendly salute, though I confess in an unusual monitory way. My dear Captain, I love you perfectly well; I love both your person and parts, which are not vulgar; I am in love with your disposition, which is generous, and I verily think that you were never guilty of any pusillanimous act in your life. Nor is this love of mine conferred upon you gratis, but you may

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