CHARLES XII. OF SWEDEN.
[To THE EDITOR OF THE "SPECTeTOF.."]
SIR,—In your sympathetic notice of my "Charles XII. of Sweden" in the Spectator of Jane 24th, for which you deserve my best thanks, you complain that not a word is said of "materials." I should be glad if you would allow me space for a few words on the subject. I deliberately determined, with the approval of my publishers, that the book should have no preface or introduction or citation of authorities. But it did not occur to me that the conclusion would be drawn that the work is not based on adequate authorities, or that it contains no "original research." I was the first to use the Robinson papers in the British Museum for the early life of C harl es, before they were accessible to the general public. The account of Charles given by George Stepney to Lord Raby is. I believe, printed by me in English for the first time. I have read all the papers in the Record Office which I could find bearing on Charles XII, and all the contemporary printed accounts in the British Museum to which I was directed by the catalogue or by friends. I made a journey along the south coast of the Baltic from Holstein to the frontiers of Russia for the purpose of verifying sites and obtaining new information. Riigen and Stralsund were especially interest- ing in this connection. Fryaell and the principal Swedish historians were never out of my hands, but for the military operations I preferred the authority of Sarauw, who is more accurate than the Swedes. I neglected no source of inforum-
tion that I could hear of, and the general history of the period was familiar to me before I planned the work.—I am, Sir, &c., King's College, Cambridge, June 2Gth.
OSCAR BROWNING,
Previous page
