e pains. Indeed, we incline to think the contrary, and
would have been willing to accept a result somewhat less labored than
that given us. We confess, for example, that it is a matter of small
interest to us to know that the Duke of Lancaster's wife is the "fair
Blanche"; that, when Katharine consented to wed Henry, "a blush mounted
her clear temple"; that over every part of her wedding dress "glittered
the rarest gems of Golconda"; that Henry's heart "ever beat
affectionately for his beloved isle" of England; that at a certain
moment of the battle of Agincourt a large body of the French forces
"shook in their shoes"; that the crossbow was "an object of wonder and
delight to the children of olden chivalry"; that Shakespeare "caressed
the fame of the hero-king with the richest coruscations of his
genius";--not to name a multitude of other facts stated with equal cost
of thought and splendor of diction. But Mr. Towle spares us nothing, and
sometimes leaves as little to the opinion of his readers as to their
imagination. Having to tell us that Henry learned, in his boyhood, to
play upon the harp, he will not poorly say as much, but will lavishly
declare, "He learned, with surprising quickness, to play upon that
noblest of instruments, the harp"; which is, indeed, a finer turn of
language, but, at the same time, an invasion of the secret preference
which some of us may feel for the bass-viol or the accordion.

The same excellent faculty for characterization serves our historian on
great occasions as well as small ones. Of an intriguing nobleman like
the Duke of Norfolk, he is as prompt to speak as of the harp itself: "He
was one of those politicians who are never contented; who plot and
counterplot incessantly; who are always running their heads fearlessly,
to be sure, but indiscreetly, into danger of decapitation." This fine
analytic power appears throughout the book. Describing the enthusiasm of
the Londoners for Henry of Bolingbroke, and their coldness towards the
captive King Richard, the historian acutely observes: "Ever thus, from
the beginning of the world, have those been insulted who have fallen
from a high estate. The multitude follows successful usurpation, but
never offers a shield to fallen dignity." The bashfulness and silence of
Prince Henry an ordinary writer would perhaps have called by those
names; but Mr. Towle says: "He was neither loud nor forward in giving
his views; he apparently felt that one so youn