Memoirs and Travels of Sir John Reresby. (Kegan Paul, Trench,
and Co. 3s. 6d. net.)—This is a volume of the "Dryden House Memoirs." Sir John Reresby (1634-89) left England on his travels in April, 1654. He visited France, Switzerland, Italy (being prevented from seeing Rome by reports of the plague), Germany, and the Low Countries, returning to this country on May 20th, 1658. From that time up to within a few days of his death he kept the record which is described by the word "Memoirs." It need hardly be said that the book is full of interest. The account of the financial condition of France is especially important. More than a century before the Revolution an observer who was not in the least democratically inclined speaks of the peasants as compelled to sell their beds to pay the taxes. In politics Sir John was. a strong Royalist;, the twenty-four years between the Restoration and Charles II.'s death did not prevent him from writing : " two days afterwards, Feb. 7, came news that may great and good master was departed this life." "Great and good"! Is it possible that he knew what we know,—the Treaty of Dover, the French pension? But the papistri of King James iniecit scruptaum. He was still loyal, but he was greatly troubled. It was not absolutism that terrified him. On the contrary, he was quite willing to accept it. At the King's request he offered himself as a candidate to represent York, though on religious grounds he did not like the business. The Corporation were the electors, and Sir John demanded that the Corporation should be " purged." The Lord Mayor was to be dismissed ; a likely rival made Lord Mayor, and so disqualified ; two friends to be made Aldermen, and-he himself made a Justice for the city: This is an interesting glimpse into the inner mind of a seven- teenth-century Tory.
NEW EDITIONS AND REPRINTS,—In the " Oakleaf " Series (Astolat Press, Guildford, ls. net each) we have The Book' of. Sir
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