INTRODUCTION . . . . . . . vii I. A SQUIRE IN THE DAYS OF THE STUARTS . . I 11. A KINGS TARDY RECOGNITION . . . . . 21 111. CHARLES 11. AND HIS PARLIAMENT .. . . jj 1V. CHRONICLES OF THE COURT . . . . . s2 V. ROUGH MANNERS AND BARBAROUS DEEDS . . 72 VI. RELIGIOUS BIGOTRY AND PERSECUTION . . . 88 VII. THE TERRORS OF THE PILLORY . . . . 1 0 1 VIII. SIR RICHARD NEWDIGATES DIARY . . . . I I 4 IX. SIR RICHARDS FIRST PARLIAMENTARY EXPERIEWCE 129 X. THE LADY OGLES MATRIhlONIAL ADVENTURES . 145 XI. AMBASSADORS AND THEIR ECCENTRICITIES . . 165 XII. SOME DARING WOOERS . . . . . . 178 XIII. A FAMILY INTERLUDE . . . . . . 197 CAVALIER AND PURITAN CHAP. PAGE XIV. SEARCH FOR ARMS AT ARBURY . . . . 208 . XV. WIG AND GOWN . . . . . . . . 222 XVII. SUNDRY ITEMS OF NEWS . 243 XVIII. THE LAST OF THE STUART KINGS . . 254 XIX. THE STRUGGLE FOR THE CROWN . . . 27 I XX. AN AUTOCRAT AT HOME . - 290 XXI. A TOUR IN FRANCE . . . . . . 312 XXII. HOMEWARD BOUND . - 329 XXIII. END OF THE DIARY AND THE DIARIST . . . 343 . INDEX . . . . . . . . 361 INTRODUCTION IN the following pages will be found some echoes of the past, tending to illustrate the lighter side of public, private, and social life in the days of the S tuarts. The original and contemporary sources from which extracts have been made are twofold I. A collection of manuscript news-letters written from London to Sir Richard Newdigate, 2nd Bart., of Arbury, Warwickshire. 2. The remains of a private diary kept by Sir Richard during many years of his life, and some letters of interest addressed to him, which help to illustrate the Stuart period. The writers of the news-letters, sometimes called intelligencers, were employed professionally by those living at a distance from London, INTRODUCTION xv of the newsmen and of Sir Richards private correspondents, have been compressed as much as possible. They have been intended to act merely as reminlrs of the history of the past, whilst avoiding a wearisome repetition of wellknown details. It will be necessary in the first instance to give a short sketch of the antecedents of the man to whom the news-letters are addressed, and with whose character, habits, and manner of thought we shall become acquainted, directly and indirectly, from the extracts which follow. --This text refers to the Paperback edition.