.THE ...OXINDEN AND PEYTON LETTERS Edited by Dorothy Gardiner This
book (Sheldon Press xis.) is a
-seleCtiOn from the correspondence which -passed, between members of the house of
- Oxintlen in Kent, and their friends , and relations, during the period of the .Ciyil War. It is interesting both as a piece of documentary evidence for the history of the period and also because it reveals how shattering a civil war can be to those whose natural inclinaeons
- w• ould be for a life of quiet comfort,
of study, of Latin versffication of the managing of a big estate—wit all of which, in time of peace, the correspond- , ents had concerned tliemseles. The
b• reak-up of their ordered community
is reflected in such remarks as this of Sir Anthony Percival! to Henry Oxinden : "Some of Kent have dealt with mee as some Christians were dealt withall in the persecution of the primitive church." There is an undercurrent of such unhappiness pervading the letters. But they are valuable too for the insight which they give into the domestic life of country gentlemen of the period. The Civil Wars were not so distracting that the members of this circle had no time to bother about the purchase of a copy of the Talmud, or a watch in a Persian leather case, or a string of pearls as a present for one of the ladies of the household. The book is a sound piece of evidence for the social historian of the seventeenth century.
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