Side - Lights on the Stuarts. By F. A. Inderwick, M.A. (Sampson
Low and Co.)—This volume contains eight essays dealing with various subjects and personages of the seventeenth century. "That High and Mighty Prince, King James," is the subject of the first ; "Monmouth's Rebellion," of the last. The second of the eight is perhaps the most important, as bringing before the reader what will probably be more novel than the other contents of the book. Few readers have anything beyond a vague sympathy for Arabella Stuart, as an unlucky lady who suffered for her dangerous proximity to the throne. Mr. Inderwick has taken much pains to bring out her figure in a definite way, and has certainly succeeded. He enables us to see her as she was, and the result is, what does not always follow in such efforts, that our liking for her is greatly increased. Her letters, printed in full, show us a woman of both sense and sensibility. In " Witchcraft" and " The King's Healing," we have interesting glimpses into two strange by-ways of the human mind. "The Regicides" is a discreditable chapter in English history. In " Monmouth's Rebellion," illustrated by an analysis of " The Western Circuit Gaol-Book (1685)," we find that even Jeffreys was not quite so black as he was painted.
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