MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE OF COLONEL HUTCHINSON GOVERNOR OF NOTTINGHAM CASTLE AND TOWN. WRITTEN BY HIS WIDOW LUCY. EDITED FROM THE ORIGINAL MANUSCRIPT BY THE REV. JULIUS HUTCHINSON. TO WHICH IS PREFIXED THE LIFE OF MRS. HUTCHINSON WRITTEN BY HERSELF. ALSO AN ACCOUNT OF THE SIEGE OF LATHOM HOUSE DEFENDED BY THE COUNTESS OF DERBY AGAINST LONDON GEORGE BELL AND SONS ADVERTISEMENT. THE LIFE OF COLONEL HUTCHINSON embraces the history of a period which, whether considered in a literary or in a political point of view, is unquestionably one of the most remarkable in the British annals. It relates the transactions of an age when Cromwell and Hampden acted, and when Laud and Strafford suffered. The circumstances of this eventful era of our domestic history could not fail to rouse into strong and continued action the respective leaders of the monarchal and republican parties, and to inspire men with qualities proportioned to the gigantic interests which surrounded them, as well as to the momentous principles then at stake. Of the course of policy pursued, and the character of those who took part in this b political and religious conflict, there will, however, continue to prevail decided and lasting divisions of opinion. In no work that has come down the stream of time will be found such a vivid and distinct picture of the antagonism and mortal strife of the Civil Wars of the seventeenth century, as in the Memoir of the Governor of Nottingham Castle. It is the biography of an unpledged politician and independent man-a man of sterling integrity and steady enthusiasm, carried forward by an excess of Lonourable and lofty principle, and presenting to future ages a great and noble manifestation of human character in a time of political commotion and danger. That such a work as the Life of Colonel Hutchinson should have excited so much attention and interest, as to have passed rapidly through three editions within four years after its first appearance in 1806, can be no matter of surprise. The amiable authoress, from being a personal witness of the scenes she so vividly describes, was enabled to trace the true springs and motives of the actions of the leading characters of this stormy period, and to give them the animation, the individuality, and the distinctness of real life. Possessing a taste of the purest and most elevated order, this affectionate tribute of respect to the memory of her husband and her own genius, is written with all the spirit and raciness of our native idiom, and with all the flexibility and felicitous ease which remind us of her amiable contemporary-the venerable Isaak Walton. The present volume contains the whole of the valuable notes and additions of the Rev. Julius Hutchiron, the original editor, and is now presented to the public at about one-sixth of its original price. The orthography and punctuation, which, as the former editor justly complains, were at the period when Mrs. Hutchinson wrote, in a most unsettled state, have in the present edition been carefully revised. A few obsolete words and minor defects of phraseology have been sparingly altered for those of modern usage, and to render the work more complete and useful to the reader, chronological dates and references, with a General Index, have been added. These improvements were suggested by the writer of an able article in the Edinburgh Review (vol. xiii.), in a notice of the first edition, and have been made with scrupulous attention to retain, in all its vigour, the antique simplicity and delightful quaintness of the style of the authoress, which forms one of the greatest charms of the work. THE SIEGE OF LATHOM HOUSE will be found a fit sequel and accompaniment to the foregoing work, being |