Marriage (2 vols., 1869); A History of England under the Duke of Buckingham and Charles I. (2 vols., 1875); and The Personal Government of Charles I. (2 vols. 1877). The design of the author having been to ascertain, as far as possible, the actual truth, this series includes little of the anecdotage and scandal with which the pamphlet literature of the period abounds; but as the volumes have successively appeared, they have been recognised by nearly every section of the critical press, as characterised not only by a thorough mastery of the facts and great clearness of treatment, but as furnishing also that 'impartial narrative' of the times, of which Isaac Disraeli almost despaired. CHAP. VII. For the general history of this and of our next period, and more especially for the relations of English to continental politics, the work of Dr. Ranke, already Ranke. named (supra, p. 325), must be looked upon as superseding all others. Mr. SANFORD'S volume, Studies and Illustrations of Sanford. the Great Rebellion (1858), gives us a series of sketches from the commencement of the Stuart dynasty to the year 1645. It is a work condensing the results of much laborious and original research, ably thought out; the conclusions being, on the whole, favourable to the Puritan party, and especially to Cromwell and his policy. The studies of Strafford, Laud, and Cromwell, in the collected Essays of the late J. B. MOZLEY (2 vols., 1878), Mozley. are singularly powerful contributions to the historical literature of this period, from the pen of a staunch adherent of the Anglican party. The sixth and seventh volumes of BURTON'S History Burton. Of a fifth work by the same writer-The Fall of the Monarchy of Charles I.-the first two volumes, bringing the narrative down to 1642, are in the press. CHAP. Bancroft. Nichols's Lives of Bacon, Milton, Montrose, Prince Fairfax. of Scotland carry us down to the period of the Revolution. In these, the writer pourtrays very clearly the aspect of affairs as it presented itself to the Scotch mind of the period, and his representation of the effects of the suicidal policy of Charles and Laud is especially worthy of note. The first volume of BANCROFT's History of the United States, supplies the necessary outline of our earlier American colonisation and of the several Puritan settlements in Virginia, Maryland, and New England. PALFREY'S History of New England is also a work of acknowledged merit.2 For the reign of James I., NICHOLS's Progresses,3 continue to offer a series of quaint and diverting illustrations in their special field. The Life of Bacon by MR. SPEDDING is an important contribution not only to the political history of the time, but also to that of the progress of philosophical thought; Rupert and while professor MASSON'S Life of Milton is an elaborate and often highly interesting study of all the contemporary movements-religious, political, and social-which may be supposed to have influenced the poet's genius or to have moulded the national history. The Lives of Montrose by MARK NAPIER, of prince Rupert by ELIOT WARBURTON, and of Fairfax by Mr. CLEMENTS MARK 1 A History of the United States, from the Discovery of the American Continent to the present Time. By George Bancroft. 10 vols. 1834-74. 2 A History of New England. By John Gorham Palfrey. New York, 1858. The Progresses, Processions, and Magnificent Festivities of King James I., his royal Consort, Family, and Court, &c. With numerous original Letters, and annotated Lists of the Peers, Baronets, and Knights, who received those honours during the Reign of James I. By John Nichols. 4 vols. 1828. HAM, though representing very different conceptions of the period are each well deserving of perusal. Miss STRICKLAND'S Lives of the last Four Princesses of the Royal House of Stuart (1872) form an interesting supplement to her studies of the Stuart dynasty, and may be compared for their treatment of the subject with the concluding volume of the series by Mrs. EVERETT GREEN (see supra, p. 228). CHAP. VII. 358 СНАР. already described. CHAPTER VIII. FROM THE PROTECTORATE TO THE REVOLUTION. A CONSIDERABLE proportion of the works named in the preceding chapter, e.g., those of Fuller, Collier, Thurloe, Authorities Winwood, Whitelock, Challoner, Harrington, Neal, Lloyd, Welwood, the Lords' and Commons' Journals, the Ormonde Papers, the Sydney, Hatton, and Fairfax Correspondence, are equally useful either for the whole or for a part of the present period. Hardwicke's State Papers contain documents relating to the duke of Monmouth's rebellion. Calendar of State Burnet's The Calendar of State Papers of the reign of Charles II., by Mrs. Everett Green, is published as far as the year 1667. (A.) Contemporary Writers.-BURNET'S History of his Own Times, after a recapitulation of events from the 'beginning of the troubles' to the Restoration, proceeds with a more detailed narrative extending to the year 1713. As a truthful and impartial record, it is of less authority than even his History of the Reformation. For a criticism on its merits, the student should consult that of Ranke in the sixth volume of his History (pp. 45-87), where Burnet's statements are compared with the Dutch Reports, and a collation is also given of the printed text with the original manuscript. Ranke's conclusions, it may be noted, are far less favourable than those of Macaulay to Burnet's claims to be regarded as an accurate historian. The best edition is that in 6 vols. Clarendon Press. 1823. For the two years 1660-62, KENNET'S Register and Chronicle, though scarcely the work of a contemporary, CHAP. VIII. and Lives of Charles II. and is a valuable collection of materials. It was not until Kennet's after the Revolution, when he had embraced the views Register of the Low Church party, that the same writer published Chronicle his Lives of Charles II. and James II.,2 in which the character and policy of both monarchs are candidly, but somewhat severely, dealt with. Kennet's representations of the facts were acrimoniously attacked, a few years after his death, by the well-known Tory writer, ROGER NORTH, in his Examen. James II. layne's Present In the year 1669, appeared the first edition of EDWARD CHAMBERLAYNE'S Angliae Notitia, or Present ChamberState of England, a kind of gazetteer, condensing a large amount of information (now of considerable histo- State, &c. rical and antiquarian interest) on the physical geography, institutions, customs, and social life of the England of those days. The work subsequently passed through thirty-seven editions; and from the edition for 1684 lord Macaulay derived many of the facts which furnished material for his graphic picture of England in 1685. The Memoirs by SIR WILLIAM TEMPLE were originally in three parts. Of these, the first was destroyed by the author, although its place is in some A Register and Chronicle ecclesiastical and civil: containing Matters of Fact, delivered in the Words of the most authentic Books, Papers, ana Records, digested in exact order of Time: with proper Notes and References towards discovering and connecting the true History of England . . . from the MS. Collections of the Lord Bishop of Peterborough, 1728. Vol. i. [The work was left incomplete, owing to Kennet's death, and no second volume appeared.] 2 Published in his Complete History: see supra, pp. 217-8. In later editions (by John Chamberlayne) the treatment of the subject is extended to the whole of Great Britain, and the work is entitled Magnae Britanniae Notitia. 1 |