not, if differently directed, have rendered him an able and a natural actor.—Having occasion to hold a private interview with the Count of Crevecoeur (ambassador from Charles of Burgundy) and his own minister, Balue, both of whom he suspected of treachery to his person, he thought fit, by way of precaution, to place Durward in the chamber, concealed behind a beaufet, with a lighted matchlock, and with orders, that when he should hear the king exclaim, Ecosse, en avant! he should instantly shoot Crevecœur through the head. Having planted this ambuscade, the king patiently waits the arrival of his visitors, and, we are told,

"welcomed them with a degree of cordiality which Quentin had "the utmost difficulty to reconcile with the directions which he "had previously received, and the purpose for which he stood "behind the beaufet with his deadly weapon in readiness. Not "only did Louis appear totally free from apprehension of any kind, "but one would have supposed that these guests whom he had "done the high honour to admit to his table were the very persons "in whom he could most unreservedly confide, and whom he was "most willing to honour. Nothing could be more dignified, and "at the same time more courteous, than his demeanour. While "all around him, including even his own dress, was far beneath "what the petty princes of the kingdom displayed in their festivi"ties, his own language and manners were those of a mighty sove"reign in his most condescending mood. Quentin was tempted to suppose, either that the whole of his previous conversation with "Louis had been a dream, or that the dutiful demeanour of the "cardinal, and the frank, open, and gallant bearing of the Burgundian noble, had entirely erased the king's suspicions.

"But whilst the guests, in obedience to the king, were in the "act of placing themselves at the table, his majesty darted one keen glance on them, and then instantly directed his look to Quentin's "post. This was done in an instant, but the glance conveyed so

much doubt and hatred towards his guests, such a peremptory "injunction on Quentin to be watchful in attendance, and prompt "in execution, that no room was left for doubting that the senti'ments of Louis continued unaltered, and his apprehensions unabated. He was therefore more than ever astonished at the deep "veil under which that monarch was able to conceal the movements "of his jealous disposition."—" So soon as all, even Oliver, had "retired, he called Quentin from his place of concealment, but "with a voice so faint, that the youth could scarce believe it to be "the same which had so lately given animation to the jest and zest "to the tale. As he approached, he saw an equal change in his "countenance. The light of assumed vivacity had left his eyes,

"the smile had deserted his face, and he exhibited all the fatigue of "a celebrated ACTOR, when he has finished the exhausting repre"sentation of some favourite character."

We shall next turn to the contrast afforded to the character of Louis by that of Charles the Bold, duke of Burgundy, at one time his potent rival, but whose dominions, latterly, Louis found means to annex to his own: so much does craft and policy prevail over inconsiderate violence.

"The character of this duke," the author observes, 66 was in "every respect a direct contrast to that of Louis XI. The latter "was calm, deliberate, and crafty, never prosecuting a desperate enterprise, and never abandoning a probable one, however dis"tant the prospect of success. The genius of the duke was entirely "different. He rushed on danger because he loved it,* and diffi"culties because he despised them + As Louis never sacrificed his "interest to his passion, so Charles, on the other hand, never "sacrificed his passion, or even his humour, to any other consider"ation. Notwithstanding the near relationship that existed be"tween them, and the support which the duke and his father had "afforded to Louis in his exile while dauphin, there was mutual " contempt and hatred betwixt them.§ The Duke of Burgundy "despised the cautious policy of the king, and imputed to the "faintness of his courage, that he sought by leagues, purchases, "and other indirect means, those advantages which, in his place, " he would have snatched with an armed hand; and he hated him, "not only for the ingratitude he had manifested for former kind"nesses, and for personal injuries and imputations which the am"bassadors of Louis had cast upon him when his father was yet "alive, but also and especially because of the support which he "afforded in secret to the discontented citizens of Ghent, Liege, " and other great towns in Flanders.

66

"The contempt and hatred of the duke were retaliated by Louis "with equal energy, though he used a thicker veil to conceal his "sentiments. It was impossible for a man of his profound sagacity "not to despise the stubborn obstinacy which never resigned its purpose, however fatal perseverance might prove, and the headlong impetuosity which commenced its career without allowing a "moment's consideration for the obstacles to be encountered. Yet "the king hated Charles even more than he contemned him, and "his scorn and hatred were the more intense that they were Imingled with fear; for he knew that the onset of a mad bull, to "whom he likened the Duke of Burgundy, must ever be formi

Combativeness, very large.

Self-esteem, very large. Hope, large. Cautiousness, small.

Self-esteem and combativeness.

Self-esteem, great in both, with a complete opposition in other qualities, would produce this mutual hatred,

"dable, though the animal makes it with shut eyes. It was not "alone the wealth of the Burgundian provinces, the discipline of "the warlike inhabitants, and the mass of their crowded population, "which the king dreaded, for the personal qualities of their leader "had also much in them that was dangerous. The very soul of "bravery, which he pushed to the verge of rashness and beyond it, "profuse in his expenditure,* splendid in his court, his person, and "his retinue,t in all which he displayed the hereditary magnificence of the House of Burgundy, Charles the Bold drew into his "service almost all the fiery spirits of the age, whose temper was "congenial; and Louis saw too clearly what might be attempted "and executed by such a train of desperate resolutes, following a "leader of a character as ungovernable as their own.

"There was yet another circumstance which increased the ani"mosity of Louis towards his overgrown vassal; for he owed him "favours which he never meant to repay, and was under the fre"quent necessity of temporizing with him, and even of enduring "bursts of petulant insolence, injurious to the regal dignity, with"out being able to treat him as other than his fair cousin of Bur"gundy.'

As this is a much more open character than that of Louis, and the elements of which it is composed much more obvious, we have not chosen to interrupt the author's statement by a detailed phrenological exposition of the faculties and propensities which the sketch indicates. We prefer, for brevity's sake, as well as for the more distinct exhibition of the contrast intended, to state what we conceive to have been the development of those two princes, as far as the sketches of their character here given afford materials.

• Acquisitiveness, small or moderate.

+ Ideality, full or large; and love of approbation, large.

After considering these two characters separately, it may be interesting to observe how they conduct themselves towards each other when brought into contact, and to see how this conduct agrees with the principles of the phrenological system. The visit which Louis made to Charles at Peronne in 1468, affords us an opportunity for this, as it does to our author, of displaying still farther his knowledge of human nature, as manifesting itself in the collisions of strong and contending passions. It is not easy to conjecture what could induce so prudent a prince as Louis to take a step by which he put himself so completely in the power of an exasperated rival; but it is probable that he did so, trusting to Charles's romantic honour, which he calculated would not allow him to violate the rites of hospitality; and also trusting not a little to his own superior sagacity, skill, and command of temper; and expecting that, in a personal conference, he could not fail to derive, by means of these, some notable advantages. He was disappointed, however, in these expectations; and soon discovered, that, notwithstanding an external appearance of respect and kindness with which he was treated by Charles, he was, in reality, looked upon by him with the greatest degree of jealousy. This repressed state of feeling on the part of Charles was blown into a flame on the arrival of news from Liege, by which it appeared that, in

stigated by Louis's emissaries, the subjects of the Duke of Burgundy in that quarter had risen against their bishop, assaulted him in his castle at Tongres, and put a great part of his retinue to death; and it was even reported that the bishop himself was among the number of the slain. * This being believed by the duke, he fell into a violent passion against the king-charged him with a design of deluding him in coming thither-ordered the gates both of the town and castle to be shut; and caused Louis to be lodged near a certain tower where one of his predecessors had been put to death. All this, of course, threw Louis into the greatest anxiety and alarm, and it required all his courage, coolness, and address, to extricate him from so unpleasant a situation; nor did he accomplish this without making some important sacrifices, and disavowing all that had been done by his emissaries at Liege. The different scenes which are supposed to take place at this time between the rival princes, particularly upon the arrival of the news from Liege, and the first explosion of Charles's wrath on hearing it, are described with a graphic force and effect which few writers could have equalled.

We have first an interview between Louis and Charles, in which the king, in a half-serious half-bantering manner, endeavours to bring round the duke to his purposes, and in which we are told he performed the part of a prudent pilot, and "seemed to sound with the utmost address and preci"sion the depths and shallows of his rival's mind and tem66 per, and manifested neither doubt nor fear when the result "of his experiments discovered much more of sunken rocks "and of dangerous shoals than of safe anchorage." The rivals then retired, after a day wearisome and unsatisfactory to both-the king to ruminate on farther schemes-the duke to visit on his courtiers and attendants that repressed rage

This account, which is given by Comines as a report merely, is assumed as true in the novel, where there is a detail of the actual slaughter of the bishop given in all its horror.