was still unknown, than that with which we greet the narrative of a Stanley or a Nansen. Hakluyt's Voyages were still fresh, having been published in 1600, and were continually being followed by accounts of travels in the New World or the Old. In 1625 appeared Purchas His Pilgrims, giving an account of the experiences of various travellers, and adorned with woodcuts and maps, and about the same time Sir Kenelm Digby published a description of his buccaneering adventures in the Bay of Scanderoon and elsewhere, which was, to say the least, highly coloured. Some time in this century a remarkable book of travels in the interior of Thibet appeared, written by a Jesuit missionary. A very curious book (which, however, was not published till a little later) was written about this time in Latin by one George Hornius, giving a full account of the embassy of Nieuhoff from the Low Countries to the great Khan of Tartary, describing his sojourn in that region, with pictures of cities, streets, and temples, of customs and costumes, of flora and fauna that are most curious, and must have filled untravelled folk with amazement. The map, if less accurate than a modern Ordnance Survey, is far more suggestive, giving not only mountains and rivers in a pictorial style, but depicting the ships, trees, and wild beasts that the traveller might expect to encounter in the various localities he came to.

In the Diary of John Rous, incumbent of Stanton Downham, Suffolk, there is a most interesting account of a book which he appears to have read with great attention, as he gives a complete résumé of it; it was printed in 1631, and was called 'God's Power and Providence in preserving 8 Englishmen, left by mischance in Greenland, 1630, 9 Months and 12 Days, reported by Edward Pelham.' 'The booke contayned a mappe of Greenland, lying from 77 N. L. to 80; with it a whale described '(which is ordinarily 60 foote long); his fashion somewhat like a gogeon. Also the manner of taking, killing, 'cutting, and boiling of him; a description of a sea-morce,

as big as an oxe, etc.' Mr. Rous gives at some length the description of the country and the adventures of the crew of the Salutation, who, by some accident, got left behind at Bell's Sound from August until May, and endured great hardships by the excessive cold.

The Essay was another form of writing which had a great vogue at this time; it was brought into fashion by Bacon, who found it an appropriate vehicle for his lighter thoughts, and suited to a variety of subjects, being capable of expansion to suit a discursive theme such as his most charming dissertation on Gardens, or of contraction to an almost epigrammatic brevity to convey some didactic reflections on Friendship, Religion, or the like. Dr. Earle made use of the same form for his clever satirical little character sketches in his Microcosmography, for which it was equally well suited. Sir Thomas Browne's Religio Medici is really a series of essays, though in the shape of numbered sections of a long treatise. His dissertation upon Urn Burial, called Hydriotaphia, appeared in pamphlet form, as did most antiquarian papers or articles on kindred subjects, for the day of the magazines was not yet.

The Verneys do not appear to have been great readers; Sir Ralph's anxious inquiries as to the welfare of Turkeywork cushions and armour which he fears might have fallen a prey to moth and rust, include but slight mention to books; a casual inquiry about 'The Booke of Martirs and other bookes in the withdrawingroom' comprises his anxiety on that head; but in the unoccupied leisure and dulness of a French country town, he turned to reading as a resource and wrote to Dr. Denton to send him books. His taste leaned to politics and religion; he asks for no poetry and no romances, though Mary had a weakness for the latter for which Uncle Denton rebukes her. Ralph's request was for 'Milton's Iconoclastes; the Levellers 'vindicated; Prynne's Historical Collection of ancient 'Parliaments; an Impeachment against Cromwell and 'Ireton; Ascham; Bishop Andrews 2 manuals; Hooker

his 6 and 8 books; History of Independency; 2 Sclaters.' In answering Dr. Denton 'heartily recommends Sclater to landlady's reading.' This was one of his pet names for Mary. 'It treats or rather indeed mencions AntiXt . . . tell her it is now time to leave her romanz; to please me it is one of the best books I ever read; he is strangely piquante and short and strangely convincing.'

Sir Ralph, though he never attained much fluency in speaking French, had a competent knowledge of it for reading and writing, and Dr. Denton, anxious no doubt to suggest a wholesome occupation to him that should keep him from brooding on his troubles, suggests, 'If you would do a good worke indeed you should translate Canterbury and Chillingworth their books into French, ' for certainly never any books gave a greater blow to 'papacy than those two.' 'Canterbury's' book is probably the one written by Laud in answer to Fisher the Jesuit : a book which King Charles thought very highly of and bequeathed to his little daughter Elizabeth 'to ground ' her against Popery.' After the execution of the Archbishop Henry Verney sent to his brother his last sermon and prayer, 'it is, I assure you,' he wrote, 'a true book and a good one.'

The King was a great reader, and the list of his books which he had with him in captivity, and which were in Mr. Herbert's charge, show what were his tastes; they comprised a Bible, Bishop Andrews' Sermons, Hooker's 'Ecclesiastical Polity, Dr. Hammond's works, Villapandus upon Ezekiel, Sands's Paraphrase upon King David's 'Psalms, Herbert's Divine Poems; and also Godfrey of Bulloigne, writ in Italian by Torquato Tasso, and done ' into English Heroick verse by Mr. Fairfax, a poem his 'Majesty much commended, as he did also Ariosto by Sir John Harrington, a facetious poet much esteemed 'by Prince Henry his master; Spenser's Fairy Queen ' and the like for alleviating his spirits after serious studies.' 'In many of his books,' continues Mr. Herbert, 'he

' delighted himself with the motto Dum spiro spero which 'he wrote frequently. He understood authors in the 'original, whether Greek, Latin, French, Spanish, or 'Italian, which three last he spoke perfectly and none better read in histories of all sorts, which rendered him 'accomplisht and also would discourse well in Arts and 'Sciences, and indeed not unfitted for any subject.'1

In these lists of books, whether of royal or private readers fiction appears to take the lowest place, the middle region is occupied by travels, essays, and history, while the highest honours are accorded to Poetry and Divinity. A classification which, it must be owned, has much to recommend it.

1 Memorials of the Last Days of King Charles, by Sir Thomas Herbert.

CHAPTER X

NEWS

WITH what eager interest must news have been looked for during the stirring years of the second quarter of the century. Long before the war actually broke out the ferment was working, and thoughtful men were looking anxiously for developments of a strained situation. Clarendon speaks of the opening years of the reign of Charles I. as a time of great peace and prosperity, but from the very beginning the fires of discontent were smouldering, and from the moment of the meeting of the Long Parliament no man could tell what a day might bring forth. And as yet there were no daily papers, no morning news of the debates overnight; men had to wait with what patience they might for the weekly newsletter, and perhaps for several days after it had arrived in the neighbourhood for their turn for a sight of it.

Though by the time the war began an immense number of Diurnalls and Correntes were in circulation, they did not for long supplant the private newsletter which was such a feature of the time, and upon which most country dwellers depended for reliable information of what was passing. And this for obvious reasons: the Censor was then a power beyond the privilege of the Press. Not Lord Kitchener himself could be more strict about war correspondents than were those in power on either side, and no news was permitted to pass which had not been authorised. But the news-letter was a private