NOW COMPLETE, IN FIVE VOLUMES, POST OCTAVO, WITH PORTRAITS, &C., HANDSOMELY BOUND, PRICE 35s., PEPYS' DIARY AND CORRESPONDENCE, ILLUSTRATIVE OF THE REIGNS OF CHARLES II. AND JAMES II. EDITED BY LORD BRAYBROOKE. This Edition contains ALL THE PASSAGES RESTORED FROM THE ORIGINAL MANUSCRIPT, and all the Additional Notes. CRITICAL OPINIONS. EDINBURGH REVIEW. "We unhesitatingly characterise this journal as the most remarkable production of its kind which has ever been given to the world. Pepys paints the Court, the Monarchs, and the times, in more vivid colours than any one else. His Diary makes us comprehend the great historical events of the age, and the people who bore a part in them, and gives us more clear glimpses into the true English life of the times than all the other memorials of them that have come down to our own." ATHENEUM. "The best book of its kind in the English language. The new matter is extremely curious, and occasionally far more characteristic and entertaining than the old. The writer is seen in a clearer light, and the reader is taken into his inmost soul. 'Pepys' Diary' is the ablest picture of the age in which the writer lived, and a work of standard importance in English literature." QUARTERLY REVIEW. "Pepys' Diary' throws a distinct and vivid light over the picture of England and its government during the period succeeding the Restoration. If, quitting the broad path of history, we look for minute information concerning ancient manners and customs, the progress of arts and sciences, and the various branches of antiquity, we have never seen a mine so rich as these volumes. The variety of Pepys' tastes and pursuits led him into almost every department of life. He was a man of business, a man of information, a man of whim, and, to a certain degree, a man of pleasure. He was a statesman, a bel-esprit, a virtuoso, and a connoisseur. His curiosity made him an unwearied, as well as an universal, learner, and whatever he saw found its way into his tables." THE LIFE AND REIGN OF CHARLES I. By I. DISRAELI. A NEW EDITION. REVISED BY THE AUTHOR, AND EDITED 2 vols., 8vo, uniform with the "Curiosities of Literature," 288. bound. OPINIONS OF THE PRESS. "By far the most important work on the important age of Charles I. that modern times have produced."-Quarterly Review. "Mr. Disraeli has conceived that the republication of his father's 'Commentaries on the Life and Reign of Charles I.' is peculiarly well timed at the present moment; and he indicates the well-known chapters on the Genius of the Papacy, and the critical relations of Protestant sovereigns with Roman Catholic subjects, as reflecting, mirror-like, 'the events, thoughts, passions, and perplexities of the present agitated epoch.' In particular, he observes, that the stories of conversions to the Romish faith, then rife, seem like narratives of the present hour, and that the reader is almost tempted to substitute the names of his personal acquaintances for those of the courtiers of Charles. No apology was needed for reintroducing to the world so instructive and original a work as that of Isaac Disraeli."-Times. "At the end of 250 years, Rome and England are engaged in a controversy having the same object as that in which they were committed at the commencement of the seventeenth century; and no where will the reader find the circumstances of that controversy, its aims, the passions which it evoked, the instruments which it employed, and its results, better described than in this excellent book."-Standard. "The position attained by the late Mr. Disraeli's admirable and learned commentaries on the great events of the Revolution, and the times that led to it, would at any period have warranted its republication. To those, however, to whom the bearing of its remarks, and the effect of the author's researches are known on the religious question of that day, their apt and effective bearing on the most vital topic of our present religio-political existence, will give the reappearance of the work an additional value."-Britannia. "The history of Charles I. required a Tacitus, and, in our opinion, this work ought to have that standard character."-Gentleman's Magazine. LIVES OF THE PRINCESSES OF ENGLAND. By MRS EVERETT GREEN, EDITOR OF THE "LETTERS OF ROYAL AND ILLUSTRIOUS LADIES." 3 vols., post 8vo, with Illustrations, 10s. 6d. each, bound. OPINIONS OF THE PRESS. "A most agreeable book, forming a meet companion for the work of Miss Strickland, to which, indeed, it is an indispensable addition. The authoress, already favourably known to the learned world by her excellent collection of 'Letters of Royal and Illustrious Ladies, has executed her task with great skill and fidelity. Every page displays careful research and accuracy. There is a graceful combination of sound, historical erudition, with an air of romance and adventure that is highly pleasing, and renders the work at once an agreeable companion of the boudoir, and a valuable addition to the historical library. Mrs. Green has entered upon an untrodden path, and gives to her biographies an air of freshness and novelty very alluring. The first two volumes (including the Lives of twenty-five Princesses) carry us from the daughters of the Conqueror to the family of Edward I.—a highly interesting period, replete with curious illustrations of the genius and manners of the Middle Ages. Such works, from the truthfulness of their spirit, furnish a more lively picture of the times than even the graphic, though delusive, pencil of Scott and James.”—Britannia. "The vast utility of the task undertaken by the gifted author of this interesting book can only be equalled by the skill, ingenuity, and research displayed in its accomplishment. The field Mrs. Green has selected is an untrodden one. Mrs. Green, on giving to the world a work which will enable us to arrive at a correct idea of the private histories and personal characters of the royal ladies of England, has done sufficient to entitle her to the respect and gratitude of the country. The labour of her task was exceedingly great, involving researches, not only into English records and chronicles, but into those of almost every civilised country in Europe. The style of Mrs. Green is admirable. She has a fine perception of character and manners, a penetrating spirit of observation, and singular exactness of judgment. The memoirs are richly fraught with the spirit of romantic adventure.”— Morning Post. "This work is a worthy companion to Miss Strickland's admirable 'Queens of England.' In one respect the subject-matter of these volumes is more interesting, because it is more diversified than that of the 'Queens of England.' That celebrated work, although its heroines were, for the most part, foreign Princesses, related almost entirely to the history of this country. The Princesses of England, on the contrary, are themselves English, but their lives are nearly all connected with foreign nations. Their biographies, consequently, afford us a glimpse of the manners and customs of the chief European kingdoms, a circumstance which not only gives to the work the charm of variety, but which is likely to render it peculiarly useful to the general reader, as it links together by association the contemporaneous history of various nations. The histories are related with an earnest simplicity and copious explicitness. The reader is informed without being wearied, and alternately enlivened by some spirited description, or touched by some pathetic or tender episode. We cordially commend Mrs. Everett Green's production to general attention; it is (necessarily) as useful as history, and fully as entertaining as romance."-Sun. MADAME PULSZKY'S MEMOIRS. Comprising Full and Interesting Details of THE LATE EVENTS IN HUNGARY. With an Historical Introduction by FRANCIS PULSZKY, Late Under. 2 vols., post 8vo, 21s. bound. OPINIONS OF THE PRESS. "The nationality of the people, their martial prowess, and present unhappy fate, have invested Hungary with the interest of a second Poland, and Western Europe must be naturally desirous to learn something of their civil and social life. These volumes are the joint production of M. and Madame Pulszky. While the latter records her impres sions and recollections of Hungarian life, we have to thank M. Pulszky for a very able summary of the history of Hungary, from the days of Arpad to the reign of Ferdinand the First, and the reform movement a history which abounds in interesting incidents and useful lessons for the statesman and the philosophic historian. Madame Pulszky's narrative of her wanderings and dangers is agreeably diversified with sketches and anecdotes from Magyar life, as well as with ancient legends from Hungarian history and modern passages in the late war of independence. It cannot fail to excite an interest in all classes of readers-in those who open a book only for amusement, as well as in those who look for something more enduring."-Edinburgh Review. "We need hardly inform our readers that the authoress of this work is the accomplished wife of the gentleman who was originally accredited to the English cabinet by the provisional government of Hungary. The private interest attaching to the recital of events which have become so famous would insure a wide popularity for Madame Pulszky's book. But we should very much under-estimate its value if we so limited our praise. The memoirs, indeed, contain sketches of social life which are worthy of a place by the side of Madame de Staël de Launay and Madame Campan. But they are also rich in political and topographical information of the first character. Madame Pulszky was in the habit of direct intercourse with the foremost and most distinguished of the Hungarian generals and statesmen, and has given a complete summary of the political events in Hungary, from the arrival of the Hungarian deputation in 1848, to the treason of General Gorgey on the 13th of August, 1849. M. Pulszky has also prefixed a valuable introduction, which gives the most complete history of Hungary that has ever issued from the English press."- Globe. "With all the charms of romance, these volumes possess the graver interest of history. Full of personal anecdotes, historical reminiscences, and legendary associations; teeming with interesting adventures, rich in social illustration and topographical description, the memoirs present to all classes of readers an attraction quite independent of the recent important events, of which they give so clear and connected a narrative."-Morning Post. "In this most interesting book we have revealed in the characteristic memoirs of an eye-witness the whole story of Hungary and its revolution. The intrigues of Latour with Jellachich, the treachery of the court, the part taken by Kossuth and other eminent characters, the Hungarian deputation to the Emperor, and the final breach between Hungary and Austria, are told as forcibly as simply."-Daily News. "It is impossible that the great Hungarian struggle for freedom can ever find a historian more honest in point of narrative, more sincere in conviction, or more anxious to do full justice to the truth than Madame Pulszky.”— Observer. DIARY AND CORRESPONDENCE OF JOHN EVELYN, F.R.S., Author of "Sylva," &c. A NEW EDITION, REVISED AND ENLARGED, WITH NUMEROUS ADDITIONAL NOTES. UNIFORM WITH THE NEW EDITION OF PEPYS' DIARY. In 4 vols., post 8vo, price 10s, 6d. each, with Illustrations.. N.B.-The First Two Volumes, comprising "The Diary," are now ready. The Diary and Correspondence of John Evelyn has long been regarded as an invaluable record of opinions and events, as well as the most interesting exposition we possess of the manners, taste, learning, and religion of this country, during the latter half of the seventeenth century. The Diary comprises observations on the politics, literature, and science of his age, during his travels in France and Italy; his residence in England towards the latter part of the Protectorate, and his connexion with the Courts of Charles II. and the two subsequent reigns, interspersed with a vast number of original anecdotes of the most celebrated persons of that period. To the Diary is subjoined the Correspondence of Evelyn with many of his distinguished contemporaries; also Original Letters from Sir Edward Nicholas, private secretary to King Charles I., during some important periods of that reign, with the King's answers; and numerous letters from Sir Edward Hyde (Lord Clarendon) to Sir Edward Nicholas, and to Sir Richard Brown, Ambassador to France, during the exile of the British Court. A New Edition of this interesting work having been long demanded, the greatest pains have been taken to render it as complete as possible, by a careful re-examination of the original Manuscript, and by illustrating it with such annotations as will make the reader more conversant with the numerous subjects referred to by the Diarist. "It has been justly observed that as long as Virtue and Science hold their abode in this island, the memory of Evelyn will be held in the utmost veneration. Indeed, no change of fashion, no alteration of taste, no revolution of science, have impaired, or can impair, his celebrity. The youth who looks forward to an inheritance which he is under no temptation to increase, will do well to bear the example of Evelyn in his mind, as containing nothing but what is imitable, and nothing but what is good. All persons, indeed, may find in his character something for imitation, but for an English gentleman he is the perfect model."-Quarterly Review. |