PREFACE.

FOR the First and Second Volumes of this Work I am answerable as an Author; for the last, as little more than Editor. I have undertaken the responsibility of introducing therein a large Collection of Original Papers relating to the Civil Wars.

This Collection is derived from Colonel Benett, Prince Rupert's Secretary. It contains upwards of a thousand letters, written by the leading Cavaliers to their young Chief during the war, together with many of a later date. Besides such letters, there are considerable materials, in various stages of preparation, for a formal biography of the Prince; of these some are fragments, each containing an episode of their hero's life, apparently ready for publication, and corrected by Rupert himself. His biography was of more importance to this Prince than to most men: no person, perhaps, except his Royal Master, was ever more exposed to calumny, or less defended. He seems to have

superintended the preparation of his Memoirs about the year 1657, in order to meet the misconstructions of his actions which he apprehended in England, the country of his adoption. On the Restoration he found that his popularity was already restored, in the same hour with that of his Royal kinsman; and from this time the preparations for his biography appear to have ceased. The extraordinary vicissitudes of his career were then nearly terminated. At all events, from this period I am obliged to seek in other sources for biographical materials.

Besides the notices of Rupert in the general history and the memoirs of the time, I have been so fortunate as to obtain through the Earl of Dartmouth's kindness many letters written by the Prince to his Lordship's ancestor: Evelyn's Diary, Bromley's Royal Letters, and Sir Henry Ellis's Collection, furnish some others. The Prince's "Declarations " relating to his naval expeditions, with a few very brief autographs are the only remaining productions of his pen that I have been able to procure.

The Benett Collection' consists of the following documents:

1 This Collection has been transmitted from generation to generation, by Prince Rupert's Secretary to his descendant, Mr. Benett, of Pyt House, in Wiltshire, M.P. for the Southern Division of that County. This gentleman naturally placed a high value on such records, and it was by a very spirited speculation on Mr. Bentley's part that he became their proprietor and publisher.

First.-Upwards of One Thousand Original Letters from the leading Cavaliers. Of these I have only been able to use a comparatively small proportion, but an alphabetical index and abstract of them all will be found at the end of this Volume,' which I trust will prove of some importance to the historian and to the student of history. Among them are numerous letters from Kings Charles I. and II, the Dukes of York, Richmond, and Buckingham; Lords Worcester, Hertford, Newcastle, Clarendon, Goring, Digby, Langdale, Culpepper, Hopton; from Will. Legge, Ashburnham, Berkeley, and many other

persons.

Secondly.-A MS. relating to Prince Rupert's early life. This is imperfect and fragmentary, I have, therefore, only quoted from it.

Thirdly. A MS. of some length recording Prince Rupert's adventures as Admiral of the Royal fleet, and his Corsair expedition among the Western Islands and on the Spanish Main. With this is a sort of "log," or journal of the cruise from September 1651 to March 1653, which will be found in the Appendix to the Third Volume.

Fourthly. Another MS., which I have called in the references to it, "Prince Rupert's Diary." It is not an autograph of his, however, but a some

1 The long table of Contents at the end of the Third Volume has obliged me to place this abstract thus. There are some unavoidable inaccuracies in the arrangement, which was a work of considerable difficulty.

what vague chronological collection of anecdotes relating to the Prince; it appears to have been written at different times, on the authority of different eye-witnesses of the actions or other circumstances that it relates.

In addition to these original sources, I have availed myself of the Lansdowne, Harleian, Bodleian, Ashmolean, Sloane, and other MSS. open to the public, together with the vast collection in the State Paper Office, which last, I regret to say, were very imperfectly explored.

From private collections, I have gratefully to acknowledge very generous contributions. The scarcity of Royalist correspondence during the Civil Wars is not surprising, when we consider the devastations to which Cavalier property was subjected by the conquering Roundheads; and the careful suppression of such documents on the part of those who had to fear the vengeance of their enemy. I have sought amongst many of the descendants of the leading Cavaliers for such letters, but in very few instances with success. I am, therefore, the more deeply indebted for those which I have obtained through the kind liberality of the Duke of Beaufort, the Duke of Somerset, Lord Denbigh, Lord Lord Dartmouth, Lord Craven, Lord John Fitzroy, Lord Wrottesley, Lord Hastings, Mr. Ormsby Gore; and of others, who have assisted me by their local knowledge and information.

Nor must I here forget to mention my obligation to the excellent library of Mr. Halliday of Glenthorne, the stores of which were ever hospitably open to me, when debarred from almost all others, in the seclusion of the loveliest but loneliest part of Devonshire.

I am far from professing to offer any result proportionate to such materials. To assimilate so vast and varied a mass into pure historical substance would require far more time and talent than I am able to command: I have, therefore, made the best selection in my power from these materials, and present the result to the reader. I hope that in most instances the letters I have introduced may be found to justify the deductions drawn from them.

I thought it necessary to say thus much for the authorities I have consulted. As the permanent value of these Volumes must depend upon the Original Documents that they contain, it seemed necessary to give some account of them.

I also wish to make the following observations on some other points. The first Volumes had passed through the Printers' hands before the appearance of Mr. Macaulay's great Work, which, I hope, will exculpate me from the charge of unacknowledged plagiarism in one or two instances, especially in the sketch I have endeavoured to make of Old London: my work was in autumn interrupted for some months, and ultimately very rapidly