VI.-THE SEVENTEENTHCENTURY, A.D., 1603-1714.

A Jacobean Letter Writer : The Life and Times of John ChamberlaiPz, by G. D. Statham (Kegan Paul ; 12s. 6d. net). Chamberlain’s letters have long been known and used by historians as an important source of informationfor the last years of Elizabeth, the whole reign of James I. and the opening of the reign of Charles I. Those relating to Elizabeth were transcribed by Sarah Williams; those relating to James by Thomas Birch, and both have been printed. But Birch was a careless and arbitrary editor. Commander Statham has sketched Chamber- lain’s life, which was singularly uneventful, and has interwoven ample extracts from the letters, choosing those which relate to the less familiar events of the time and adding such historical information as seemed advisable. He has thus produced a book interesting and full of matter. The Irish Rebellion of 1641, by Lord Ernest Hamilton (Murray; 21s. net), adds yet another to the many narratives of one of the most tragic episodes of Irish history. Lord Ernest Hamilton writes from the Protestant, the Ulster point of view. He builds on contemporary documents, especially on the depositions taken by the Parliamentary commissioners. The difficulty in cases of this kind is to know how far the contemporary evidence can be trusted. Lord Ernest Hamilton rates the depositions high, while some of his predecessors have thought them little worthy of trust. The process of appraising evidence is one which cannot be reduced to rules and which no two persons perform alike, so that there is little chance of historians agreeing about the Rebellion of 1641. The Great Fire of Londolz in 1666, by Walter George Bell, F.R.A.S., with forty-one illustrations (John Lane; 25s. net,), is the fist ex- haustive account of the Fire based upon careful examination of all the available sources. It is also eminently readable. Mr. Bell has cor- rected many errors and filled up many voids. He does fuller justice than previous writers to the energy in combating the fire displayed by the King and his brother. Charles, who had a taste for architecture, also concerned himself warmly in the rebuilding of the City, and Mr. Bell goes so far as to say that his share of the work was in a sense larger than Wren’s. Mr. Bell reproduces with interesting criticisms both Wren’s and Evelyn’s plans for the new City. He also proves that the rebuilding was by no means completcd within three years. Under the Turk in Coastantinople: A Record of Sir John Finch’s E&~assy, 1674-1681, by G. F. Abbott, with a Foreword by Viscount Bryce (London : Macmillan & Co., Ltd. ; 13s. net), is a book of great and various interest. It is also authentic. “ Every bit of the story here related is the result of careful research among original and, for the most part, hitherto unexploited documents, chiefly the manu- scripts preserved at the Public Record O5ce and the Coventry papers in the possession of the Marquis of Bath.” At the time of Finch’s embassy the Ottoman Empire had suffered no loss of territory and was still an object of dread to its neigbbours. Diplomatic intercourse with the Sublime Porte was attended with peculiar difficulties and even dangers. These are admirably illustrated here. Finch had to do business with the famous Ahmed Kiuprili and Kara Mustapha, perhaps the best and the worst of Turkish Grand Viziers in the seventeenth century. Incidentally much light is thrown upon the condition of the Ottoman Empire and upon the maladministration, the tyranny and the corruption which were undermining its strength. English Political Parties and Leaders during the Reign of Queen Anne, 1702-1710, by W. T. Morgan (London : H. Milrord ; 12s. net), seeks to prove that Queen Anne was not SO much the slave of her personal affection nor so entirely a puppet in political affairs as some historians have said. He adduces evidence to show that the influence of the Duchess of Marlborough over Anne has been grossly exaggerated. Further, he maintains that the power of the Crown was far less diminished by the Revolution of 1688 than is commonly supposed, and that Anne was still a real sovereign. “ Throughout the long list of statesmen, not one had offended her who did not live to repent of his actions.” Mr. Morgan also considers that Harley was far abler, both as a statesman and as a party manager, than former historians have allowed. These conclusions are founded upon careful research among contemporary documents. Thoughts on the Union between England and Scotland, by A. V. Dicey and R. S. Rait (London : Macinillan ; 16s. net). This is a valuable and suggestive study of the causes and effects of the Parliamentary Union of England with Scotland. Stress is laid upon the fact that Parliament had never meant as much to Scotsmen as to Englishmen. Down to the Revolution of 1688, the power of Parliament had been exercised chiefly by the Lords of Articles, a committee virtually nominated by the King. After the Revolution the Lords of Articles were abolished. But the General Assembly of the Kirk was revived. In Scotland Church and State confronted each other as independent and equal powers. The General Assembly was a national organ com- parable to Parliament, and the General Assembly remained after the Parliament had disappeared. The authors of this book account for the passing of the Union against the wish of most Scotsmen, not by cor- ruption, but by the discord or even mutual hatred of its opponents. The Union itself they describe as at once a most revolutionary and a most conservative statute. It created a United Kingdom while preserving two distinct nations. The Life and Works of Sir Henry Mainwaring. Edited by G. E. Manwaring, Vol. I, (Navy Records Society). Sir Henry Mainwaring was one of those gentlemen adventurers of the time of Elizabeth and James I., who saw something of piracy and a good deal of service in the Royal Navy. He also wrote upon naval subjects. The present volume contains his Life, together with much incidental information about the navy of that period, especially about the ship-money fleets. The Sovereignty ot the British Seas, written in the year 1633, by Sir John Boroughs. Edited with Introductory Essay and Notes by Thomas Callander Wade, M.B.E. (Edinburgh : W. Green & Son ; 7s. 6d. net). Sir John Boroughs was Keeper of the Records in the Tower, and he wrote this book to justify the claim of the Crown to sovereignty over the British seas. It was drawn upon by Selden when he wrote his Mare Clausum. The introduction traces the growth of the idea or the freedom of the sea. Samuel Pepys and the Royal Navy, by J. R. Tanner, Litt.D. (Cam- bridge : University Press ; 6s. 6d. net), is a reprint of the Lees Knowlev Lectures delivered at Trinity College, Cambridge, in November, 1919. The object of the lecturer was to present in a convenient form the general conclusions about the administration of the Royal Navy from the Restoration to the Revolution arrived at in the introductory volume of his Catalogue of Pepysian Manuscripts. His work is of small bulk and great value, condensing as it does into about eighty pages the results of long and careful investigation. In particular it confirms the reputation of Pepys as a capable and zealous pdblic servant. The Life of Sir John Leah, Rear-Admiral of Great Britain, by Stephen Martin-Leake, F.R.S., B.S.A., Garter King of Arms, edited by Geoffrey Callender, 2 vols. (printed for the Navy Records Society), is a well-edited and useful reprint of a book which had become scarce and difffcult to obtain. Sir John Lcake was a distinguished commander under William 111. and Anne, whose Life must always have a certain importance for students of naval history. The Household Account Book of Sara Fell, of Swarthmoor Hall, edited by Norman Penny, F.S.A. (Cambridge : University Press ; $2 2s. net), is of interest, both for the abundant information which it affords respecting domestic economy in the North of England in the second half of the seventeenth century and for its connection with the early history of the Society of Friends. Sarah Fell was a stepdaughter of George Fox and herself a devout Quaker as well as a keen woman of business. Extracts from the Newcastle-upon-Tyne Council Minute Book, 1639- 1656 (for the Newcastle-upon-Tyne Records Committee ; The North- umberland Press), is the first of a series of annual volumes dealing with the records of Durham, Northumberland and Newcastle to be published by the Society of Antiquaries of Newcastle-upon-Tyne. The Assembly Books of Southampton, edited by J. W. Horrocb, Vol. II., 1609-1610 (Southampton : for the Southampton Record 32

Society ; Cox & Sharland ; 21s. net), should also be noticed. They throw much light on the social conditions of the age. The Early Life and Education of John Evelyn, 1620-1641, with a Commentary by H. Maynard Smith (Oxford Historical and Literary Studkn ; Oxford : at the Clarendon Press ; 12s. 6d. net). The account which Evelyn has given of his early years, itself interesting, gives occa- sion to a commentary which adds much curious matter. British Beginnings in Western India, 1579-1657, by H. G. Rawlinson, M.A. (Oxford: at the Clarendon Press; 10s. 6d. net), treats of the least known portion of the history of the English in India. It is primarily an account of the early days of the English factory at Surat. But this draws with it many other interesting topics, such as the adventures of the first English travellers in India, the warfare of English with Portuguese and Sir Thomas Roe's embassy to the Great Mogul. John Robinson, Pastor of the Pilgiim Pathers: A Study of his Life and Times, by Walter H. Burgess (Williams & Norgate ; 12s. 6d. net), is a painstaking account of a remarkable man. Robinson did not live to take part in the emigration to America, dying at Leyden in 1625. But his influence over the little congregation which was to found New England will always make him of consequence for students of American history. New LigAt on the Pilgrim Story, by the Rev. Thomas M. Mason and the Rev. B. Nightingale, D.D. (Congregational Union of England and Wales ; 7s. 6d. net), will be read with interest by many people, although containing rather too much that can hardly be termed new. The Pilgrim Fathers : Their Story and their Connection with South- ampton, 1620-1629 (Southanipton : Hants Advertising Company ; 2s. 6d.), may be mentioned as a handy sketch with local side lights. The Finding of the Muyjower, by Rendel Harris (Longmans, Green &, Co. ; 4s. 6d.), traces the timbers of the historic ship to their final resting-place as part of a barn in Bucks. Cardinal de Retz: Supple'ment ic la Correspondance, par Claude Cochin (Paris: Hachette; 30 fr.). This volume contains 170 letters discovered by M. Claude Cochin between 1907 and 1914, mostly in the Vatican or in the archives of Florence and Modena. The majority are in Italian, the rest are in Latin or French. They relate almost entirely to political affairs, but do not appreciably modify the received view of the Cardinal's character. Saint-Simon. La France de Louis XIV., par Ren6Doumic (Paris : Hachette ; 5 fr.), is rather a literary criticism of St. Simon, and an attempt to understand his treatment of human character, than an inquiry into the historical value of the Memoirs. The Seventeenth Century, by Jacques Boulenger (The National History of Frame ; Translated from the French ; Heinemann ; 12s. 6d. net), 33 is a well-informed, well-proportioned and agreeable sketch of this important period of French history. The Day of the Crescent, by G. E. Hubbard (Cambridge: Uiiiversity Press ; 15s. net), aims at depicting the government, institutions and general life of the Ottoman Empire at the time when it had reached the height of power and splendour and had not yet given manifest symptoms of decay. The book is not the outcome of deep original research, but rather a compilation from authorities already in print, chiefly belonging to the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. In spite of a few errors, it is a good and readable compilation, containing much that will be new to the average educated man. F. C. MONTAGUE.