This Charles Bertie, who, as stated before, was the son of the Earl of Lindsey, and therefore brother-in-law to the Earl of Danby, was Secretary to the Treasury when the latter Earl was Lord Treasurer; and he appears to have been fully in Danby's confidence and in possession of all his secrets.

In his old age the Earl, then Duke of Leeds, published a volume of letters written to and by himself in the years 1676, 1677, and 1678, which was intended as a defence of his conduct in relation to the dealings with France which went on at that time, and also in relation to William III., or, as he then was, the Prince of Orange. Amongst others, he published letters to himself from Mr. Brisbane, whom he describes as a gentleman employed at the Court of France about marine matters. It is true that Brisbane writes home about marine matters, but he writes about so much else that it is not unfair to assume that his business was not confined to any one subject, and that he was instructed to report upon everything that went on. He seems to have had access to many of the great men of the day in Paris, and his correspondence shows how well informed they were kept, or kept themselves, on English parliamentary affairs. The Earl, however, only published such part of the correspondence as he thought would serve his immediate purpose, and, as his book may not be easily accessible, it has been considered best to print the whole of those letters, so far as they have been found at Uffington, without regard to whether they have or have not appeared before.

There is a curious postscript to a letter from the Earl to the Countess of Danby, written on 23 September, 1677, giving her directions for her conduct to Nell Gwynn, and her son, Lord Burford, who was then an infant. He says, "Remember to send "to see my Lord Burford without any message to Nelly, and "when Mrs. Turner is with you bid her tell Nelly you wonder "shee should be your Lord's enemy that has alwaies been so kind "to her." Charles Bertie writes an interesting letter on April 26, 1679, to the Earl after his impeachment, giving an account of his examination before the secret committee, when they hoped to obtain admissions from him, damaging both to himself and to his chief. He seems, however, to have got out of the difficulty, and as they were perhaps afraid to press him too hard he was

ultimately left in peace. An attempt was also made to get the King to use his power to stop the proceedings against Lord Danby by bringing to bear the influence of Lord Plymouth, who was a son of the King and son-in-law of Lord Danby. It does not seem to have been successful, though Lady Plymouth received minute directions from her father how she should proceed. Notwithstanding his imprisonment, the Earl seems to have remained on good terms with the King, as we find him frequently asking favours for friends. Moreover, as he had his family to live with him in the Tower, the imprisonment cannot have been of a very rigorous or painful description. In February 1684, he was released on bail.

There are several letters written at the time of the Revolution of 1688 by the Earl and Charles Bertie. The former seems to have been in a great state of anxiety as to what interpretation would be put upon his attitude, and he writes letter after letter to the Prince of Orange professing his devotion to his cause and to the principles which he represented.

The correspondence ends with some private letters from the Duchess of Leeds, as she then was, to her daughter-in-law, Lady Carmarthen. They are full of allusion to family differences, for which Lord Carmarthen seems to have been largely responsible. The very last letter, which is dated September 1696, is an attempt on the part of the Duchess to reconcile her husband and

son.

The Earl of Onslow was unable to find any family manuscripts of historical interest at Clandon Park, but he kindly forwarded to the Commissioners for inspection a handsome large quarto volume, into which had been copied sundry " Anecdotes and other Miscellaneous Pieces," left by Arthur Onslow, the famous Speaker of the House of Commons. The early part of this volume, selections from which have been made by the Secretary to the Commission, is made up of an essay on the functions of an Opposition in Parliament, especially illustrated by the writer's own reminiscences of parliamentary warfare, which date back to the time of Walpole's eminent and effectual exertions against the Bill to restrain the making of peers, the management of which, after its passage

through the House of Lords in November 1719, was entrusted to the younger Craggs, then a Secretary of State. The eloquence and tact with which these two leaders played their respective parts are described in glowing terms; and Craggs's vigorous support of the measure was the more amazing to Onslow, as he had undoubted authority for saying that no one was privately more opposed to the measure than the young secretary. The morality of thus defending and supporting in public what Craggs was really against and opposed in private, which Onslow avers to be a common practice among ministers, is then discussed at considerable length; he concludes his remarks with this advice, "Be therefore of the first Duke of Ormonde's opinion, who used "to say, 'However ill I may stand at Court, I am resolved to lye well in the Chronicle.'

A second chapter on the same subject of Parliamentary Opposition is still more remarkable for its comments on public affairs, and the characters of the leading men during Onslow's long service in the House of Commons. He has at first much to say about Atterbury's plot in favour of the Pretender; the bishop he writes of as a man of great parts and of a most restless and turbulent spirit, daring and enterprising though "then very infirm, and capable of any artifice; but proud and passionate, and not of judgment enough for the undertakings "he engaged in." He wanted to be not only the first churchman, but the first man in the State; not less than Wolsey, whom he admired and thought to imitate. Walpole appeared before the Lords as a witness for the Government against him, and the bishop " used all the art his guilt would admit of, to perplex and "make Mr. Walpole contradict himself, but he was too hard for

the bishop upon every turn, although a greater trial of skill "this way scarce ever happened between two such combatants, "the one fighting for his reputation, the other for his acquittal." After further remarks on Sir Robert's career, he concludes that " he was in general a wise and able minister, and the best man "from the goodness of his heart, which was characteristic in him,

to live with, and to live under, of any great man I ever knew." To some of Walpole's famous opponents Onslow gives equal if not higher praise. Sir William Wyndham was " the most made "for a great man of any one that I have known in this age.

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"Everything about him seemed great." "There was much of grace and dignity in his person, and the same in his speaking," and " no man ever contributed more than he did to the dignity "of Parliament." Of another member of the Opposition to Walpole's administration, hardly so well remembered, Sir John Barnard, one of the eminent of City representatives, Onslow gives many interesting traits of character. The impressions made upon him by Bolingbroke, Carteret, and Lord Chesterfield, are also fully set down.

Of much greater length than the essay above quoted is the account drawn up by the Speaker Onslow of his own family, largely based upon papers and correspondence then preserved at Clandon Park, but now, unfortunately, missing. The chief historical interest of the earlier portion of this lies in the narrative of the doings of Sir Richard Onslow under the Commonwealth and Charles II., and more especially of his personal relations with Cromwell. Of Sir Richard's son and his grandson, the first Lord Onslow, who was uncle to the Speaker, we get many interesting personal details, together with much throwing light on the general history of the times. The writer says that he himself was born at Kensington, "in the first house of the left hand as you come into the town from London"; he dwells at some length on the circumstances of his early life and education, his marriage, and entry into Parliament. From the first day on which he set his foot in the House of Commons, he tells us, he "was an early and "most constant attendant to and a most studious observer of

everything that passed there." Onslow entered Parliament just at the memorable time when the affairs of the South Sea Company were undergoing close examination; and he has much to say about the ruin wrought by the Company's collapse, and about the persons implicated in it, including the Earl of Sunderland, Aislabie, and Craggs, whose "characters," after the fashion of the time, are set out at great length. The prosecutions arising out of the Atterbury plot, to which he had previously alluded in these essays, and the impeachment of the Earl of Macclesfield, were historicals occasions on which a prominent part was assigned to Onslow. Unfortunately this record of his parliamentary experiences ends with his election as Speaker in the Parliament elected after the accession of George II. in 1727. Later on in

the volume is, however, a curious note by him of an interview with the King soon after the arrival of the news of Sir John Cope's defeat at Preston Pans. Further particulars of family history down to 1785 are added by Sir Arthur's son, who became Lord Onslow. In conclusion, it must be regretted that the original documents upon which this very interesting volume was based have entirely disappeared, and the Commissioners hope that the attention thus drawn to the matter will be the means of recovering some portion of them, at any rate, for their noble owner.

In sequence to the account of Lord Emly's manuscripts in our Eighth Report Dr. Gilbert has printed the concluding portion of the correspondence of Edmund Sexten Pery, Speaker of the House of Commons in Ireland. In this correspondence, which extends from 1780 to 1789, are to be found communications to and from the following Peers:-Aldborough, Annaly, Athlone, Bristol, Buckinghamshire, Carlisle, Charlemont, Clanricarde, Hawkesbury, Leinster, Lucan, Macartney, Northington, Portland, Riversdale, Sackville, Shannon, Shelburne, Sydney, Temple. There are also here communications from Charles Agar, Protestant Archbishop of Dublin, and James Butler, Roman Catholic Archbishop of Cashel; William Eden, John Foster, W. Ellis, Henry Grattan, Sir Richard Heron, Sir Edward Newenham, Thomas Orde, Thomas Pelham, John Ponsonby, Thomas Pownal, and Richard Rigby.

The collection of Mr. Theodore J. Hare consists chiefly of letters written by his ancestor Francis Hare, who was chaplain-general of the army in Flanders under the Duke of Marlborough, and afterwards Bishop successively of St. Asaph and of Chichester; and by members of his family down to the year 1770. The first letter printed in the selection which has been made from these papers by the Secretary to the Commission, is dated from Hochstadt, the day after the battle of Blenheim, and gives the chaplain's "account of the greatest victory that has been won in "the memory of man," to use the writer's own words. Succeed · ing letters, like this addressed to the future bishop's cousin George