Not  to  insert  in  any  one  of  them  "a  single  sentence  written  by,  or
recorded  of,  the  personages  who  are  supposed  to  hold  them.''  had
been  the  pride  of  Landor's  design;  he  adhered  to  it  inflexibly;  it
helped  him  to  truth  of  character  where  least  careful  as  to  truth  of
circumstance  ;  and,  when  he  makes  Sidney  talk  of  the  difficulty  of
writing  as  the  ancients  have  written  without  borrowing  a  thought  or
an  expression  from  them,  we  see  the  personal  reference.  But  with
what  Brooke  says  of  the  spot  amid  Pcnshurst  woods  in  which  he  had
found  his  friend,  I  must  quit  the  dialogue,  of  which  Julius  Hare  said
well  that  it  was  calm  and  serene  as  a  summer  evening.  Among  its
many  wise  and  noble  things  there  may  he  finer  than  this,  hut  there
is  none  that  more  clings  to  the  memory.  "What  a  pleasant  spot,
Sidney,  have  you  chosen  here  for  meditation!  A  solitude  is  the
audience-chamber  of  God."

Another  English  subject  he  took  for  his  third  dialogue  from  the
supposed  talk  of  Henry  the  Fourth  with  Sir  Arnold  Savage,  the  first
recorded  Speaker  of  the  House  of  Commons;  and  here  were  strokes
of  character  that  are  excellent,  as  well  as  touches  that  exhibit  in  a
lifelike  way  the  place  and  the  significance  in  history  of  both  the
sovereign  and  subject  who  are  talking  before  us.  Henry,  bent  upon
completing  the  conquest  of  France,  makes  rough  recital  of  what  his
Commons  will  have  to  provide  him  with:  is  warned  by  Savage  of
things  he  will  require  far  more  than  any  he  has  enumerated  ;  and,  to
much  eager  questioning  of  what  these  can  he,  is  reminded  of  the
hearts  of  his  subjects.  "  Your  horse  will  not  gallop  far  without  them,
though  you  empty  into  his  manger  all  the  garners  of  Surrey.  .  ..
