28 NOVEMBER 1987, Page 36

John Grigg

The 17th century in England, beginning with Shakespeare, ending with Newton, and including a momentous constitutional struggle, was also the age in which the English language was at its glorious peak. Edward Hyde, Earl of Clarendon, was a key figure in the struggle, both as partici- pant and historian. He was also a fine exponent of the language. Richard 011ard has crowned his work on English 17th- century subjects with Clarendon and His Friends (Hamish Hamilton, £15), which brilliantly captures the man, his circle and the age.

A shorter, but equally delightful, book — part autobiography, part biography (of the author's mother, Moura Budberg) — is Tania Alexander's A Little of All These: An Estonian Childhood (Cape, £12.50).