Gaining insight into the darkest passions from associating with
Cardinal1 Beaufort.—II. His passage about London in the Fourteenth
Book of the Annals examined.—And III. About the Parliament of
England in the Fourth Book.
I. In the autumn of 1418, after the breaking up of the Council of Constance, Bracciolini left Italy and accompanied to England a member of the Plantagenet family, the second son of John of Gaunt, Duke of Lancaster, Henry Beaufort, whose placid2 and beardless face the great Florentine seems to have first seen at the Ecumenical Council which that princely prelate had turned aside to visit in the course of a pilgrimage he was making to Jerusalem. Henry Beaufort was then Bishop3 of Winchester, but afterwards a Cardinal, and though there was another Prince of the Roman Church, Kemp, Archbishop of York and subsequently of Canterbury, Beaufort was always styled by the popular voice and in public acts "The Cardinal of England," on account, perhaps, of his Royal parentage and large wealth, more enormous than had been known since the days of the De Spencers: he had lands in manors4, farms, chaces, parks and warrens in seven counties, Berkshire, Buckinghamshire, Oxfordshire, Wiltshire, Somersetshire, Hampshire and Surrey, besides having the Customs of England mortgaged to him, and the cocket of the Port of Southampton with its dependencies,—an indebtedness of the State which is so far interesting as being the foundation of our National Debt.
Bracciolini had now an opportunity of watching and unravelling6 the wiles7 of this august prelate and patron of his; he thus gained still more insight into the ways of the worldly and the feelings of the ambitious; acquired a masterly knowledge of the dark passions and became versed8 in the crooked9 policy of court intrigue10. He had quitted provinces at home laid waste by hostile invasions and cities agitated11 by the discord12 of contending parties; Genoa sending warships13 to ravage14 in the Mediterranean15, Venice reducing to subjection the smaller States along the Adriatic, and Florence warring with Pisa, still to fix his eyes on darkness and the degradation16 of humanity; for he was visiting a country,—as England was in the fifteenth century,—buried in the gloom of barbarism, and forlorn in its literary condition, with writers, unworthy the name of scholars, Walsingham and Whethamstede, Otterbourne and Elmham, inditing18 bald chronicles; students applying their minds to scholastic19 philosophy; divines confounding their wits with theological mysteries; and men with inclinations20 to science, as Thomas Northfield, losing themselves in witchcraft21, divination22 and the barbarous jargon23 of astrology, while rendering24 themselves, at any moment, liable to be apprehended25 by order of the doctors and notaries26 who formed the Board of Commissioners28 for the discovery of magicians, enchanters and sorcerers; for it was the age when invention framed the lie of the day, the marvellous military leadership of Joan of Arc, and credulity stood as ready to receive it as little boys in nurseries the wondrous29 tale of Jack30 and the Beanstalk. Through this mist the figure of Cardinal Beaufort loomed31 largest, unsociable, disdainful, avaricious32, immeasurably high-stomached (for he deemed himself on an equality with the king); and, in spite of immoderate riches, inordinately33 mean: along with these unamiable qualities, he upheld the policy of Martin V., which was to destroy the independence of the National Church of England: he was treacherous34 to his associates, and murderous thoughts were not strangers to his bosom35.
Bishop Milner, in his History of Winchester under the Plantagenets (Vol. I. p. 301), denies that there is solid ground in history for representing Beaufort as depraved, and condemns36 Shakespeare for having endowed Humphry, Duke of Gloucester, with merit of which he deprived the memory of Cardinal Beaufort. The late Dean Hook, too, in his elegantly written life of Archbishop Chicheley (p. 97) is of opinion that Beaufort "has appeared in history with his character drawn37 in darker colours than it deserves." Those two distinguished38 dignitaries, one of the Roman Catholic and the other of the English Church, do not then seem to have heard of the anecdote39 related by Agnes Strickland, in her Life of Katherine of Valois (p. 114), that Henry V., when Prince of Wales, was narrowly saved from murder by the fidelity40 of his little spaniel, whose restlessness caused the discovery of a man who was concealed41 behind the arras near the bed where the Prince was sleeping in the Green Chamber42 in the Palace at Westminster, and a dagger43 being found on the person of the intruder, he confessed that he was there by the order of Beaufort to kill the Prince in the night, showing that the Cardinal was guilty of a double treachery, for he was setting on the heir-apparent at the time to seize his father's crown; nor do Milner and Hook seem to have known that the death of the Duke of Gloucester was principally contrived44 by Wykeham's successor in the See of Winchester, and that, whether poisoned or not, the Duke was hurried out of the world in a very suspicious manner, one of the first acts of Margaret of Anjou after her coronation being, in conjunction with the Wintonian diocesan to bring about the death of that Prince after arresting him in a Parliament called for the purpose at St. Edmund's Bury; Shakespeare, accordingly, had historic truth with him, when he represented the Cardinal suffering on his death-bed the tortures of a murderer's guilty conscience, from being implicated45 in taking away by violence the life of Humphry, Duke of Gloucester:—
"Alive again! Then show me where he is,
I'll give a thousand pound to look upon him.
He hath no eyes, the dust hath blinded them.
Comb down his hair. Look, look! it stands upright
Like lime twigs46 set to catch my winged soul.
Give me some drink; and bid the apothecary47
Bring the strong poison that I bought of him":—
to which a looker-on observes:—
"O! thou Eternal Mover of the Heavens,
Look with a gentle eye upon this wretch48."
It could have been with no gentle eye that Bracciolini looked on
Cardinal Beaufort, whose "bad death," as Shakespeare makes the
Earl of Warwick observe, "argued a monstrous49 life."
Repeatedly in letters to his friend Niccoli, during two years and more of anxiety and discontent passed by him from 1420 to 1422 in the Palace of the Prince Prelate, Bracciolini complained bitterly of the magnificent promises not being fulfilled that the Cardinal had held forth50 to him on condition of his accompanying him to England. In vain he looked forward to considerable emolument51; day after day he found himself doomed52 to the common lot of those who depend on the patronage53 of the great;—"in suing long to bide":—
"To lose good days that might be better spent;
To waste long nights in pensive54 discontent;
To speed to-day, to be put back to-morrow;
To feed on hope; to pine on fear and sorrow;
To fret55 the soul with crosses and with cares;
To eat the heart through comfortless despairs;
To fawn56, to crouch57, to wait, to ride, to run,
To spend, to give, to want, to be undone58."
And, really, Bracciolini may be said to have been "undone"; for when he got what he had bargained to purchase, the frivolous59 goodwill60 of his master, it was, as he expressed it, "the birth of the mouse after the labour of the mountain": he obtained a benefice of 120 florins a year, with what he did not anticipate would be attached to it,—hard work.
In order to have a precise and not a vague and confused idea of the galling62 effect produced on his feelings by this offer, it is necessary to turn to two paragraphs (37, 38), in the Second Book of the Annals;—for I cannot divest63 myself of the suspicion that this incident in his life is there indirectly64 referred to, where an account is given that has no historical basis of the "nobilis juvenis, in paupertate manifesta," Marcus Hortalus, whose noble parentage and straightened circumstances closely corresponded to the birth and means of Bracciolini. When seeking recompense from Tiberius for his four sons, he calls on the Emperor to behold66 in them "the scions67 and offspring of what a multitude of consuls69! what a multitude of dictators! which he says not to mortify70, but to excite commiseration71."—"En! stirps et progenies tot consulum! tot dictatorum! nec ad invidiam ista, sed conciliandae misericordiae refero;" commenting on which Justus Lipsius bursts into the angry exclamation72: "What a braggart73, lying speech on this man's part! For where was this multitude of consuls, this multitude of dictators? Why, I can find only one dictator and one consul68 in the Hortensian family; the dictator in the year of Rome, 467, when the Commons revolted; and the Consul, Quintus Hortensius, the grandfather of the speaker,—who, perhaps, however, reckoned in the ancestors also in his mother's line": —"Vaniloqua hominis oratio et falsa! Ubi enim isti tot consules, tot dictatores? Certe ego74 in Hortensia gente unum, dictatorem reperio, et Consulem unum; dictatorem anno urbis 467 secessione plebis; consulem, Q. Hortensium hujus avum. Sed intellegit fortasse majores suos etiam ex gente materna."
Lipsius would have spared himself the trouble of inditing this indignant note and throwing out this useless suggestion had he known that Bracciolini forged the Annals, and playfully interspersed76 his fabrication occasionally with fanciful characters and fictitious77 events. The picture of Marcus Hortalus, who had received from Augustus the munificent78 gift of a million sesterces, being in the days of Tiberius once more poor, married, with children, and seeking aid from the State for his four sons, seems to be all purely79 imaginary, introduced merely as a photograph from life, the feelings and conduct of Hortalus, after the treatment of his sons by Tiberius, being such a faithful reflex, as far as can be judged from his own confessions80, of the feelings and conduct of Bracciolini himself after the way in which his hopes of preferment were blasted by Cardinal Beaufort. Just as Hortalus, if he had been left to himself, would have remained a bachelor, and only from pressure on the part of Augustus, became a husband, and, while incapable81 of supporting children, a father, so Bracciolini would have remained in Italy and never visited this country, had it not been for the importunities of the Cardinal, and never turned his thoughts to preferment in the Church, which he is invariably telling us he disliked, had not Beaufort given assurance that he would put him in the way of holding some high and lucrative82 post in England; and then when he received a paltry83 benefice, instead of expressing thanks like the other dependents on the Prince Prelate, he was silent, from fear of the power possessed84 by Beaufort, or from retaining even in his contracted fortunes the politeness which he had inherited from his noble forefathers85:—"egere alii grates; siluit Hortalus, pavore, an avitae nobilitatis, etiam inter5 angustias fortunae, retinens" (An. II. 38).
II. We are indebted to Bracciolini's stay among us for one or two matters that are interesting about our country. His two years' residence here filled him with a marked admiration86 of London as well as with the most confused ideas of the antiquity87 and greatness of its commerce; and though comments have already been made on his description of it as eminently88 absurd, the passage is too curious not to be examined again; the more so as it has misled good historians of London, who believing that the account actually proceeded from Tacitus, have taken it to be incontrovertibly true, whereas it is only true, if it be applied89, as it is applicable only to the advanced state of society and the large commercial town of which Bracciolini was the eye witness towards the close of the reign90 of Henry V., and the commencement of that of his infant son and successor. The slightest investigation91 will carry conviction of this.
A hundred years before the birth of Tacitus, Britain was so monstrously92 barbarous and obscure, that Julius Caesar, when wanting to invade it and wishing for information of its state and circumstances, could not gain that knowledge, because, as he tells us, "scarcely anybody but merchants visited Britain in those times, and no part of it, except the seacoast and the provinces opposite Gaul": ("neque enim temere praeter mercatores illo adiit quisquam, neque iis ipsis quidquam, praeter oram maritimam, atque eas regiones, quae sunt contra Gallias." (Caesar De Bell. Gall61. IV. 20). From this we see that, in the middle of the century before the Christian93 era, the only trade with Britain was then confined to the shores, and the southern parts, from Kent to Cornwall: it is then, against every probability that, in a period extending over no more than about a hundred years, this trade should have extended up the navigable rivers and have reached London enough for it to have risen up, by the year 60 of our era, into an immense emporium and be known all over the world for its enormous commerce. That this was not the case we know from Strabo, who lived in the time of Augustus, and who, though saying a great deal about our island and its trade, has not a word about London, howbeit that the author of the Annals does record in his work that it was exceedingly famous for the number of the merchants who frequented it and the extent of its commerce; but it is not likely that it was so, if the whole island did no more trade than Strabo informs us, the articles exported from all Britain being insignificant94 and few;—corn and cattle; such metals as gold, silver, tin, lead and iron; slaves and hunting dogs (Strabo III. 2. 9.—ib. 5. 11.—IV. 5. 2), which Oppian says were beagles. Musgrave, in his Belgicum Britannicum adds "cheese," from some wretched authority, for Strabo says that the natives at that time were as ignorant of the art of making cheese, as of gardening and every kind of husbandry:—[Greek: "Mae turopoiein dia taen apeirian, apeirous d'einai kai kaepeias kai allon georgikon."] (IV. 5. 2).
The statement, then, that London had the very greatest reputation for the number of its merchants and commodities of trade in Nero's time is utterly95 unfounded—nothing more nor less than outrageously96 absurd; the picture, however, is quite true if London be considered at the time when Bracciolini was here. Its merchants then carried on a considerable trade with a number of foreign countries, to an extent far greater, and protected by commercial treaties much more numerous than previous to investigation I could have been led to suppose. The foreign merchants who principally came to the Port of London were those of Majorca, Sicily, and the other islands in the Mediterranean; the western parts of Morocco; Venice, Genoa, Florence and the other cities of Italy; Spain and Portugal; the subjects of the Duke of Brabant, Lorraine and Luxemburgh; of the Duke of Brittany, and of the Duke of Holland, Zealand, Hanneau and Friesland; the traders of the great manufacturing towns of Flanders; of the Hanse Towns of Germany, 64 in number, situated97 on the shores of the Baltic, the banks of the Rhine, and the other navigable rivers of Germany; the people of the great seaport98 towns of Prussia and Livonia, then subject to the Grand Master of the Teutonic Order of Knights99, along with the traders of Sweden, Denmark, Norway and Iceland.
In addition to these bringing their goods here in their own bottoms, a great number of other foreign merchants were established in London for managing the trade of their respective States and Cities, performing, in fact, the duties now attached to the office of Consul, first instituted by the maligned100 but enlightened Richard III. These foreign merchants being as powerful as they were numerous, formed themselves into Companies: independently of the German merchants of the Steel Yard, there were the Companies of the Lombards; the Caursini of Rome; the Peruchi, Scaldi, Friscobaldi and Bardi of Florence, and the Ballardi and Reisardi of Lucca. The Government protected them, and, as they were viewed with intense jealousy101 by the native traders, they were judged, in all disputes, not by the common law, but the merchant law, which was administered by the Mayor and Constables102; and of the mediators in these disputes, two only were native, four being foreigners, two Germans and two Italians.
The Londoners had made prodigious103 advances upon their forefathers in the commodities of merchandize in which they dealt. Their most valuable articles of exportation were wool and woollen clothes in great varieties and great quantity; corn; metals, particularly lead and tin; herrings from Yarmouth and Norfolk; salmon104, salt, cheese, honey, wax, tallow, and several articles of smaller value. But their great trade was in foreign imports and that was entirely105 in the hands of foreign merchants who came here in shoals, bringing with them their gold and silver, in coin and bullion106; different kinds of wines from the finest provinces in the south of France, and from Spain and Portugal; also from the two last countries (to enter into a nomenclature that's like the catalogue of an auctioneer for monotony of names and unconnectedness of things), figs107, raisins108, dates, oils, soap, wax, wool, liquorice, iron, wadmote, goat-fell, red-fell, saffron and quicksilver; wine, salt, linen109 and canvas from Brittany; corn, hemp110, flax, tar27, pitch, wax, osmond, iron, steel, copper111, pelfry, thread, fustian112, buckram, canvas, boards, bow-staves and wool-cards from Germany and Prussia; coffee, silk, oil, woad, black pepper, rock alum, gold and cloth of gold from Genoa; spices of all kinds, sweet wines and grocery wares113, sugar and drugs, from Venice, Florence and the other Italian States; gold and other precious stones from Egypt and Arabia; oil of palm from the countries about Babylon; frankincense from Arabia; spiceries, drugs, aromatics114 of various kinds, silks and other fine fabrics115 from Turkey, India and other Oriental lands; silks from the manufactories established in Sicily, Spain, Majorca and Ivica; linen and woollen cloths of the finest texture116 and the most delicate colours from the looms117 of Flanders for the use of persons of high rank; the tapestries118 of Arras; and furs of various kinds and in great quantities from Russia, Norway and other northern countries. The native merchants of London, the Anglo-Saxons and Anglo-Normans, carried on an enormous inland trade. They supplied all parts of the kingdom with corn from the many granaries which filled the City of London. There was a constant buying and selling of live horned cattle and sheep. Trade was great among goldsmiths, jewellers, gilders, embroiderers, illuminators and painters; and makers119 of all kinds of commodities sent their goods from every part of the provinces, knowing that they were wanted and would meet with immediate120 purchasers.
If those were the days when Florence had its Cosmo de' Medici, who spent millions of florins in building palaces, churches and charitable foundations to beautify his native town; and when Bourges had its Jean Coeur who was rich enough to furnish Lewis VII. with sufficient gold crowns to support the armies with which that monarch121 recovered his possessions from the English, London, too, had its Hende, Whittington and Norbury affluent122 and magnificent enough to lend their sovereign immense sums of money, and adorn123 the city in which they had amassed124 their stupendous fortunes with useful and ornamental125 buildings—Bridewells, Colleges, Hospitals, Guildhalls and Public Libraries. Well might Bracciolini, without the slightest particle of exaggeration, say of London, as he saw it, that it was "COPIA negotiatorum et commeatuum MAXIME CELEBRE" (An. XIV. 33).
In leaving this passage I cannot help remarking that the expression, "copia negotiatorum et commeatuum," has a turn that is frequently found in the Annals; it is a cast of phrase not affected126 by Tacitus; but it is exactly the manner of arranging words in a sentence to which Sallust is partial: "frequentiam negotiatorum et commeatuum," he says in his "Jugurtha" (47); it is obvious that in this passage Sallust means by "commeatuus," "supplies of corn and provisions," as it is equally obvious that Bracciolini (though following the phraseology of his favourite Latin author,) gives it, in the sentence quoted from the Fourteenth Book of the Annals, a wider meaning, "commodities of merchandize."
III. If Bracciolini erred65 with respect to London, in magnifying it into a town of superlative commercial splendour in the days of Nero, which, I repeat, is wildly ridiculous, he more grossly erred with respect to our form of government; for when he decried127 it, and prophesied128 its decadence129 and downfall, his sagacity and judgment130 were impugned131.
When he was here our country was in the infancy132 of its example as a land ruled by the most admirable political arrangements. It can readily be believed with what interest and surprise the proud Italian, who had seen nothing of the kind in his own land of high civilization, must have witnessed our parliaments regularly meeting, as had been the case for generations, since the reign of Edward I. in 1293, knights and burgesses popularly elected by the inhabitants of the counties and boroughs134 sitting in council with the king, surrounded by his barons135 and bishops136, priors who were peers and abbots who had mitres. With an outspoken137 contempt of England, and an overweening admiration of Italy, he avails himself of an opportunity of sneering138 covertly139 at our harmonious140 combination of the three forms of government, the monarchy141, the oligarchy142 and the republic.
It is scarcely necessary to say that, as reference is made to the English Parliament, the editors of Tacitus have all been puzzled as to the meaning of the phrase, "delecta ex his et consociata," in the following passage, where the author of the Annals speaks of "the commonalty, or the aristocracy, or a monarch ruling every nation and community"; and that "a form of government based on a SELECTION AND CONJUNCTION OF THESE is easier praised than realised; or if it is realized, cannot last":—"cunctas nationes et urbes populus, aut primores, aut singuli regunt: DELECTA EX HIS ET CONSOCIATA reipublicae forma laudari facilius, quam evenire; vel si evenit, haud diuturna esse potest" (IV. 33). Now the phrase, "delecta ex his," selected from these, that is, the monarchy, the oligarchy and the republic, and meaning that the selections were of all the excellences143 and none of the faults of each, is in every way applicable to only one form of government,— our Parliamentary government, which is at once legislative144 and executive, and, as it is now, it almost was in the days when Bracciolini was on a visit to us in the opening days of the infant king, Henry VI. Then not only was the "populus," or "commonalty," represented by knights, citizens and burgesses of their own choosing; but the "primores," or "aristocracy," had their representatives also in the larger barons, bishops, priors who were peers and mitred abbots; priors who were not peers, and abbots who had not mitres, as well as many of the smaller barons, not receiving writs145 of summons: the king himself, being an infant at the breast, had his representative, the "selection" being from his own family, in the person of his uncle Humphry, Duke of Gloucester, who was his substitute in the Parliament as the Protector or Regent; and even when the king was an adult, and absent in wars, as Edward I. when engaged in the conquest of Wales, he was represented in Parliament by Commissioners, as our sovereign is to this day.
But Bracciolini not only said that the selections were from the monarchic146, aristocratic and popular elements, but that they were "associated" or "conjoined"—"consociata." Here all the editors of Tacitus by their silence or otherwise fairly admit that the passage is utterly beyond their comprehension,—"one of those things," in fact, "which," in the words of Lord Dundreary, "no fellow is supposed to understand." As for the word, "consociata," James Gronovius was of opinion that Tacitus must have written "concinnata"; but not having the boldness, after the fashion of Justus Lipsius of making alterations147, according to his own sweet pleasure, without the authority of manuscript or edition, he followed Beroaldi, who, as much puzzled as any of the subsequent editors, had substituted "constituta" for the nonsensical word in the blundering MS. "consciata," though common sense should have told him that "consociata" was meant, it being evident that the transcriber148, infinitely149 more puzzled than the editors, for he could not have had the remotest conception of what he was doing, had merely omitted a vowel150 in his usual careless way. It was not till Ernesti's time, 1772, that the proper word was restored. Ernesti, too, fancied that he had discovered something in the Roman government, according to the description by Polybius, which justified151 the language in the Annals. "I have no doubt," he says, "but that Tacitus had in his mind (along with other historians) Polybius, who, in the 9th and following chapters of the 6th book of his History, praises the Roman Republic for combining the excellences of all the three forms of government, while avoiding the faults of each, and he speaks of that system of government as being alone perfect which is compounded of these three." "Neque dubito, Tacitum in animo habuisse cum alios historicos, tum Polybium qui 6. 9 sqq. rempublicam romanam laudat hoc nomine, quod omnium illarum trium formarum commoda complexa sit, vitatis singularum vitiis, eamque solam rempublicam perfectam esse dicit, quae sit e tribus istis temperata."
Let us then see exactly what it is that Polybius does say. After speaking of a balance between the three forms of government in the Roman administration being so fine that it was no easy matter to decide whether the government was aristocratic, democratic or monarchical152 (VI. 11), he proceeds to point out the several powers appropriated to each branch of the constitution;—the apparently153 regal rule of the Consuls, the aristocratic authority of the Senate, and the share taken by the people in the administration of affairs (ibid. 12, 13, 14). This done, his endeavour is to show not that there was any "selection and conjunction" as stated in the Annals, of the several forms, but quite on the contrary, "counteraction155 and co-operation": to this he devotes an entire chapter, with these remarks by way of preface:—"With respect, then, to the several parts into which the government is divided, the nature of every one of them has been shown; and it now remains156 to be pointed157 out how each of these forms is enabled to COUNTERACT154 the others, and how, on the other hand, it can CO-OPERATE with them:—[Greek: "Tina men oun tropon diaergaetai ta taes politeias eis ekaston eidos, eirgaetai tina de tropon ANTIPRATTEIN boulaethenta, kai SYNERGEIN allaelois palin hekasta ton mergan dunatai, nun158 phaethaesetai."] (VI. 15.)
After this, it cannot be supposed that reference is made to the Commonwealth159 of Rome. Still less so, when, in the very next sentence the author of the Annals attempts to show that an equally blended administration cannot endure, because of the example afforded by Rome (proving how well he knew that the Romans had mixed together in their government the elements of the three forms); he says, that when the Plebeians160 had the principal power, there was submission161 to the will of the populace; when the Patricians162 held the sway, the wishes of the aristocratic section of the community were consulted; and when Rome had her emperors, the people fared no better than during the reign of the kings: here are his words:—"Therefore as in the olden time" (during the Republic), "when the plebeians were paramount163, or when the patricians were superior in power," (in the first instance) "the whim164 of the populace was ascertained165 and the way in which their humour was to be dealt with, and" (in the second instance) "those persons were accounted astute166 in their generation and wise who made themselves thoroughly167 conversant168 with the disposition169 of the Senate and the aristocracy; then when a change took place in the Government" (from the Republic to the Empire), "there was the same state of things as when a King was the ruler":—"Igitur, ut olim, plebe valida, vel cum patres pollerent, noscenda vulgi natura et quibus modis temperanter haberetur, senatusque et optimatium ingenia qui maxime perdidicerant, callidi temporum et sapientes credebantur; sic, converso statu, neque alia rerum quam si unus imperitet." (l.c.)
What he is striving in his usual dark way to establish is this:— Here was the failure of the Roman form of administration; the Romans were the most accomplished170 people in the art of government; the English, who are semi-barbarous, can know nothing about government; it is then idle on their part to imagine that they are endowed with such a vast amount of political knowledge as to be qualified171 by their own reflections alone to build up a new and magnificent form of government; when, too, that form of government is essentially172 different from our superb oligarchies173 in Italy, the most civilized174 and cultivated part of the world in everything, especially politics; the English style of government is, also, strictly175 based on the old Roman mode of administration, and when that failed, how can any sensible man deem that the English method of administration will ever work successfully. Hence his remarks: "raking up and relating this," (namely, how the Roman government never worked well at any time,) "will be of benefit," (to whom? forsooth, the English,) "because few" (in matters of statesmanship), "by their own sagacity distinguish the good from the very bad, the practicable from the pernicious; the many gain their wisdom from the acts of others; yet as examples bring benefit so do they meet least with a probation176." If that be not the meaning of his words, then they must remain, as in all translations, without meaning. Yet the Latin, crabbed177 as it is, (and it is always crabbed in the Annals), seems to me to be simple enough:—"haec conquiri tradique in rem fuerit; quia pauci prudentia honesta ab deterioribus, utilia ab noxiis, discernunt; plures aliorum eventis docentur; ceterum ut profutura ita minimum oblectationis adferunt" (l.c.).
That he does not mean the Roman form of government is further seen by his remark that the kind of administration spoken of is "easier to be commended than realized"—"laudari facilius, quam evenire"; just as it is easy to see from his language that he has before him an instance of some government framed like that which he says will not exist for any length of time; for whenever he employs the hypothetical particle, "si" about anything that is absolute and beyond doubt, he always uses it with the indicative and not the conditional178. As he then writes, "si evenit," (not "si eveniat"), "if it is realized," (not "if it be realized,") he really has in his mind some State constituted according to his description.
It should now be borne in mind that he was in this country before he forged the Annals, and was in the household of Cardinal Beaufort, who had repeatedly filled the office of Chancellor179, on whom devolved the duty of issuing the writs to the members of the Parliament, Commoners as well as Peers; for that great officer the Speaker, was not yet invested with the authority so to do with respect to the Lower House; not only, then, had Bracciolini heard of the English Parliament, but the precise nature of it must have come frequently under his cognizance. In fact, it was no other than the English Parliament to which he refers.
That being accepted, there were several reasons to induce him to doubt the durability180 of our Parliament: the Crown possessed too great power in those assemblies: it was with difficulty that the great barons could be got to attend, their delight being to reside at their castles in the country, and take no part in political affairs; it was also difficult to get the representatives of the counties and boroughs to attend, on account of the long distances that many had to come, and the great expenses of their attendance; sometimes in a county the properly qualified person,—an actual knight,—could not be found, and there was no representative from a county, until upwards181 of twenty years after Bracciolini had left us, when esquires and gentlemen could be returned; sometimes a city or borough133 would not send a member, either by pleading poverty in not being able to pay the wages of the two representatives, or from not finding among their townsmen two burgesses with the qualifications required by the writ17, that is, sufficiently182 hale to bear the fatigue183 of the journey, and sufficiently sensible to discharge the duties of close attendance on Parliament; for every member was then required to be present at the Parliament; hence each small freeholder from a county and each burgess had to find three or four persons of credit to be sureties for him that he would attend; and the constituents184 of each were forced to bear the cost of his attendance.
In addition to these difficulties there were other drawbacks that seemed to threaten a speedy termination to these Parliaments. The session was very short; the business was prepared beforehand, the laws being drawn up by the bishops, earls, barons, justices, and others who formed the king's council; and several statutes185 and laws were thus hastily and ill considered.
In spite of all these excuses for Bracciolini, experience has proved that his observation was shallow; and it is possible that, with his profound insight into the human mind, he might not have made it had he gone deeply into English character; but it seems that he deemed it unworthy of his study, England being "a country, which," as he says, "he did not like at all,"—"hujus patriae, quam parum diligo" (Ep. I. 2). With such an aversion to us it is no wonder that he had no faith in the continuance of our Parliament, for no stronger reason, probably, than that it was an English institution; but had he foreseen its durability he would have been a greater wonder than he was from having his eyes more fully75 opened than were the eyes of any man at that period to the rare qualities possessed by Englishmen; their unpretending magnanimity; their fine talents for business; their keen views in policy; the great things they had done in the arts of peace and war, as well as their capability186 of continuing to accomplish still greater achievements in both; the solidity of their understandings and their reflective spirits, which, when directed and applied to political schemes, devise and consummate187 sound and lasting188 reforms of the State.
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1
cardinal
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| n.(天主教的)红衣主教；adj.首要的，基本的 | |
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placid
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| adj.安静的，平和的 | |
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bishop
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| n.主教，（国际象棋）象 | |
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manors
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| n.庄园（manor的复数形式） | |
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inter
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| v.埋葬 | |
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unravelling
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| 解开，拆散，散开( unravel的现在分词 )； 阐明； 澄清； 弄清楚 | |
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wiles
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| n.（旨在欺骗或吸引人的）诡计，花招；欺骗，欺诈( wile的名词复数 ) | |
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versed
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| adj. 精通，熟练 | |
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crooked
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| adj.弯曲的；不诚实的，狡猾的，不正当的 | |
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intrigue
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| vt.激起兴趣，迷住；vi.耍阴谋；n.阴谋，密谋 | |
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agitated
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| adj.被鼓动的，不安的 | |
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discord
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| n.不和，意见不合，争论，（音乐）不和谐 | |
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warships
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| 军舰，战舰( warship的名词复数 )； 舰只 | |
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ravage
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| vt.使...荒废，破坏...；n.破坏，掠夺，荒废 | |
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Mediterranean
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| adj.地中海的；地中海沿岸的 | |
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degradation
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| n.降级；低落；退化；陵削；降解；衰变 | |
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writ
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| n.命令状，书面命令 | |
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inditing
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| v.写（文章，信等）创作，赋诗，创作( indite的现在分词 ) | |
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scholastic
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| adj.学校的，学院的，学术上的 | |
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inclinations
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| 倾向( inclination的名词复数 )； 倾斜； 爱好； 斜坡 | |
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witchcraft
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| n.魔法，巫术 | |
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divination
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| n.占卜，预测 | |
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jargon
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| n.术语，行话 | |
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rendering
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| n.表现，描写 | |
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apprehended
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| 逮捕，拘押( apprehend的过去式和过去分词 )； 理解 | |
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notaries
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| n.公证人，公证员( notary的名词复数 ) | |
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tar
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| n.柏油，焦油；vt.涂或浇柏油/焦油于 | |
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commissioners
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| n.专员( commissioner的名词复数 )；长官；委员；政府部门的长官 | |
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wondrous
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| adj.令人惊奇的，奇妙的；adv.惊人地；异乎寻常地；令人惊叹地 | |
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30
jack
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| n.插座，千斤顶，男人；v.抬起，提醒，扛举；n.（Jake）杰克 | |
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31
loomed
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| v.隐约出现，阴森地逼近( loom的过去式和过去分词 )；隐约出现，阴森地逼近 | |
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avaricious
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| adj.贪婪的，贪心的 | |
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inordinately
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| adv.无度地，非常地 | |
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treacherous
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| adj.不可靠的，有暗藏的危险的；adj.背叛的，背信弃义的 | |
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bosom
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| n.胸，胸部；胸怀；内心；adj.亲密的 | |
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condemns
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| v.（通常因道义上的原因而）谴责( condemn的第三人称单数 )；宣判；宣布…不能使用；迫使…陷于不幸的境地 | |
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drawn
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| v.拖，拉，拔出；adj.憔悴的，紧张的 | |
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distinguished
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| adj.卓越的，杰出的，著名的 | |
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anecdote
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| n.轶事，趣闻，短故事 | |
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40
fidelity
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| n.忠诚，忠实；精确 | |
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41
concealed
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| a.隐藏的，隐蔽的 | |
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42
chamber
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| n.房间，寝室；会议厅；议院；会所 | |
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dagger
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| n.匕首，短剑，剑号 | |
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44
contrived
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| adj.不自然的，做作的；虚构的 | |
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implicated
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| adj.密切关联的；牵涉其中的 | |
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twigs
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| 细枝，嫩枝( twig的名词复数 ) | |
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apothecary
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| n.药剂师 | |
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48
wretch
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| n.可怜的人，不幸的人；卑鄙的人 | |
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49
monstrous
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| adj.巨大的；恐怖的；可耻的，丢脸的 | |
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forth
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| adv.向前；向外，往外 | |
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emolument
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| n.报酬，薪水 | |
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52
doomed
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| 命定的 | |
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patronage
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| n.赞助，支援，援助；光顾，捧场 | |
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pensive
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| a.沉思的,哀思的,忧沉的 | |
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55
fret
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| v.(使)烦恼；(使)焦急；(使)腐蚀，(使)磨损 | |
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56
fawn
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| n.未满周岁的小鹿；v.巴结，奉承 | |
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57
crouch
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| v.蹲伏，蜷缩，低头弯腰；n.蹲伏 | |
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58
undone
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| a.未做完的，未完成的 | |
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59
frivolous
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| adj.轻薄的；轻率的 | |
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60
goodwill
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| n.善意，亲善，信誉，声誉 | |
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61
gall
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| v.使烦恼，使焦躁，难堪；n.磨难 | |
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62
galling
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| adj.难堪的,使烦恼的,使焦躁的 | |
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63
divest
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| v.脱去，剥除 | |
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indirectly
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| adv.间接地，不直接了当地 | |
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erred
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| 犯错误，做错事( err的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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behold
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| v.看，注视，看到 | |
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67
scions
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| n.接穗，幼枝( scion的名词复数 )；（尤指富家）子孙 | |
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consul
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| n.领事；执政官 | |
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consuls
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| 领事( consul的名词复数 )； （古罗马共和国时期）执政官 （古罗马共和国及其军队的最高首长，同时共有两位，每年选举一次） | |
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70
mortify
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| v.克制，禁欲，使受辱 | |
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71
commiseration
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| n.怜悯，同情 | |
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72
exclamation
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| n.感叹号，惊呼，惊叹词 | |
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73
braggart
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| n.吹牛者；adj.吹牛的，自夸的 | |
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ego
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| n.自我，自己，自尊 | |
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75
fully
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| adv.完全地，全部地，彻底地；充分地 | |
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interspersed
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| adj.[医]散开的；点缀的v.intersperse的过去式和过去分词 | |
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fictitious
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| adj.虚构的，假设的；空头的 | |
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munificent
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| adj.慷慨的，大方的 | |
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purely
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| adv.纯粹地，完全地 | |
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confessions
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| n.承认( confession的名词复数 )；自首；声明；（向神父的）忏悔 | |
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81
incapable
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| adj.无能力的，不能做某事的 | |
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82
lucrative
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| adj.赚钱的，可获利的 | |
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paltry
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| adj.无价值的，微不足道的 | |
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84
possessed
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| adj.疯狂的；拥有的，占有的 | |
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85
forefathers
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| n.祖先，先人；祖先，祖宗( forefather的名词复数 )；列祖列宗；前人 | |
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86
admiration
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| n.钦佩，赞美，羡慕 | |
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antiquity
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| n.古老；高龄；古物，古迹 | |
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eminently
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| adv.突出地；显著地；不寻常地 | |
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applied
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| adj.应用的；v.应用，适用 | |
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reign
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| n.统治时期，统治，支配，盛行；v.占优势 | |
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investigation
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| n.调查，调查研究 | |
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monstrously
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Christian
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| adj.基督教徒的；n.基督教徒 | |
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insignificant
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| adj.无关紧要的，可忽略的，无意义的 | |
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utterly
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| adv.完全地，绝对地 | |
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outrageously
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| 凶残地； 肆无忌惮地； 令人不能容忍地； 不寻常地 | |
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situated
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| adj.坐落在...的，处于某种境地的 | |
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seaport
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| n.海港，港口，港市 | |
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knights
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| 骑士； （中古时代的）武士( knight的名词复数 )； 骑士； 爵士； （国际象棋中）马 | |
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maligned
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| vt.污蔑，诽谤（malign的过去式与过去分词形式） | |
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jealousy
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| n.妒忌，嫉妒，猜忌 | |
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102
constables
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| n.警察( constable的名词复数 ) | |
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prodigious
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| adj.惊人的，奇妙的；异常的；巨大的；庞大的 | |
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salmon
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| n.鲑，大马哈鱼，橙红色的 | |
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entirely
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| ad.全部地，完整地；完全地，彻底地 | |
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bullion
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| n.金条，银条 | |
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figs
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| figures 数字，图形，外形 | |
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raisins
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| n.葡萄干( raisin的名词复数 ) | |
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linen
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| n.亚麻布，亚麻线，亚麻制品；adj.亚麻布制的，亚麻的 | |
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hemp
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| n.大麻；纤维 | |
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copper
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| n.铜；铜币；铜器；adj.铜(制)的；(紫)铜色的 | |
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fustian
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| n.浮夸的；厚粗棉布 | |
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wares
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| n. 货物, 商品 | |
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aromatics
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| n.芳香植物( aromatic的名词复数 )；芳香剂，芳香药物 | |
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fabrics
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| 织物( fabric的名词复数 )； 布； 构造； （建筑物的）结构（如墙、地面、屋顶）：质地 | |
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116
texture
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| n.(织物)质地；(材料)构造；结构；肌理 | |
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117
looms
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| n.织布机( loom的名词复数 )v.隐约出现，阴森地逼近( loom的第三人称单数 )；隐约出现，阴森地逼近 | |
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118
tapestries
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| n.挂毯( tapestry的名词复数 )；绣帷，织锦v.用挂毯（或绣帷）装饰( tapestry的第三人称单数 ) | |
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119
makers
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| n.制造者，制造商（maker的复数形式） | |
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120
immediate
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| adj.立即的；直接的，最接近的；紧靠的 | |
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monarch
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| n.帝王，君主，最高统治者 | |
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122
affluent
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| adj.富裕的，富有的，丰富的，富饶的 | |
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123
adorn
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| vt.使美化，装饰 | |
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amassed
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| v.积累，积聚( amass的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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ornamental
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| adj.装饰的；作装饰用的；n.装饰品；观赏植物 | |
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affected
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| adj.不自然的，假装的 | |
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decried
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| v.公开反对，谴责( decry的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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prophesied
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| v.预告，预言( prophesy的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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129
decadence
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| n.衰落，颓废 | |
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130
judgment
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| n.审判；判断力，识别力，看法，意见 | |
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131
impugned
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| v.非难，指谪( impugn的过去式和过去分词 )；对…有怀疑 | |
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132
infancy
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| n.婴儿期；幼年期；初期 | |
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133
borough
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| n.享有自治权的市镇；(英)自治市镇 | |
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boroughs
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| （尤指大伦敦的）行政区( borough的名词复数 )； 议会中有代表的市镇 | |
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barons
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| 男爵( baron的名词复数 )； 巨头； 大王； 大亨 | |
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bishops
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| （基督教某些教派管辖大教区的）主教( bishop的名词复数 )； （国际象棋的）象 | |
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137
outspoken
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| adj.直言无讳的，坦率的，坦白无隐的 | |
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138
sneering
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| 嘲笑的，轻蔑的 | |
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139
covertly
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| adv.偷偷摸摸地 | |
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140
harmonious
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| adj.和睦的，调和的，和谐的，协调的 | |
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141
monarchy
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| n.君主，最高统治者；君主政体，君主国 | |
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oligarchy
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| n.寡头政治 | |
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143
excellences
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| n.卓越( excellence的名词复数 )；（只用于所修饰的名词后）杰出的；卓越的；出类拔萃的 | |
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legislative
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| n.立法机构，立法权；adj.立法的，有立法权的 | |
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writs
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| n.书面命令，令状( writ的名词复数 ) | |
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monarchic
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| 国王的，君主政体的 | |
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alterations
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| n.改动( alteration的名词复数 )；更改；变化；改变 | |
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transcriber
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| 抄写者 | |
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infinitely
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| adv.无限地，无穷地 | |
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vowel
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| n.元音；元音字母 | |
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justified
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| a.正当的，有理的 | |
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monarchical
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| adj. 国王的，帝王的，君主的，拥护君主制的 =monarchic | |
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apparently
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| adv.显然地；表面上，似乎 | |
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counteract
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| vt.对…起反作用，对抗，抵消 | |
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counteraction
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| 反对的行动，抵抗，反动 | |
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remains
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| n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹 | |
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pointed
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| adj.尖的，直截了当的 | |
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nun
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| n.修女，尼姑 | |
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commonwealth
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| n.共和国，联邦，共同体 | |
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plebeians
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| n.平民( plebeian的名词复数 )；庶民；平民百姓；平庸粗俗的人 | |
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submission
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| n.服从，投降；温顺，谦虚；提出 | |
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patricians
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| n.（古罗马的）统治阶层成员( patrician的名词复数 )；贵族，显贵 | |
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paramount
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| a.最重要的，最高权力的 | |
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whim
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| n.一时的兴致，突然的念头；奇想，幻想 | |
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ascertained
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| v.弄清，确定，查明( ascertain的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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astute
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| adj.机敏的，精明的 | |
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thoroughly
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| adv.完全地，彻底地，十足地 | |
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conversant
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| adj.亲近的，有交情的，熟悉的 | |
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disposition
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| n.性情，性格；意向，倾向；排列，部署 | |
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170
accomplished
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| adj.有才艺的；有造诣的；达到了的 | |
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qualified
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| adj.合格的，有资格的，胜任的，有限制的 | |
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172
essentially
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| adv.本质上，实质上，基本上 | |
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173
oligarchies
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| n.寡头统治的政府( oligarchy的名词复数 )；寡头政治的执政集团；寡头统治的国家 | |
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174
civilized
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| a.有教养的，文雅的 | |
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175
strictly
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| adv.严厉地，严格地；严密地 | |
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probation
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| n.缓刑(期)，(以观后效的)察看；试用(期) | |
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crabbed
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| adj.脾气坏的；易怒的；（指字迹）难辨认的；（字迹等）难辨认的v.捕蟹( crab的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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178
conditional
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| adj.条件的，带有条件的 | |
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179
chancellor
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| n.(英)大臣；法官；(德、奥)总理；大学校长 | |
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180
durability
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| n.经久性，耐用性 | |
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181
upwards
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| adv.向上，在更高处...以上 | |
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182
sufficiently
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| adv.足够地，充分地 | |
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183
fatigue
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| n.疲劳，劳累 | |
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184
constituents
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| n.选民( constituent的名词复数 )；成分；构成部分；要素 | |
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185
statutes
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| 成文法( statute的名词复数 )； 法令； 法规； 章程 | |
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186
capability
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| n.能力；才能；(pl)可发展的能力或特性等 | |
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187
consummate
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| adj.完美的；v.成婚；使完美 [反]baffle | |
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lasting
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| adj.永久的，永恒的；vbl.持续，维持 | |
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