Guthrie, author of the

History of England,' was another person who had become the possessor of some of the Clarendon MSS., but no account is given of the means through which he obtained them. Mr. William Man Godschall, of Aldbury, co. Surrey, had two hundred and twenty letters, all in the Chancellor Clarendon's own handwriting, consisting principally of his confidential correspondence with Sir Edward Nicholas from the years 1649 to 1657: these, being originals and not copies of his own letters, probably came to Mr. Godschall through the means of Sir Edward Nicholas's family. Lady Middleton was also the owner of fiftyfour letters, which had passed between her husband's ancestor, Mr. Brodrick (afterwards Sir Allen), and the Chancellor Clarendon before the Restoration.

Thus much for the scattering of materials so valuable to history; and but for their subsequent reunion, many events on which they have thrown light would have remained comparatively obscure. The dispersion of papers, however, is never unaccompanied by loss or destruction, and it is greatly to be regretted that, when Lord Hyde bequeathed his great-grandfather's writings and papers to the University of Oxford, he had not been able to do so in their entire state, together with those of his grandfather and greatuncle, of whom he had become the representative.

It is to be feared that a further loss of valuable papers may have been sustained by the fire at the Earl of Rochester's house, New Park, Petershamn, which

occurred on the 1st of October, 1721, being ten years after the death of his father (Lawrence).

The reuniting of the various portions that had survived the perils of fire and dispersion into a form which should render them available to the public was mainly the work of Dr. Douglas, Bishop of Salisbury. It was by his unwearied zeal, and at some personal expense, that he secured to the University of Oxford those stores which they were able to join with such as were presented to them also by the family. In 1757 Mr. Richards transferred to Richard Powney, LL.D., a collection of MSS., consisting of the copies of letters written by Henry second Earl of Clarendon, his Diaries for the years 1687, 88, 89, and 90, and also some thousands of letters belonging to the Chancellor. The fact of these papers being in Mr. Powney's possession became known to Dr. Douglas, and in 1763 he obtained the power of publishing from them Henry Lord Clarendon's Letters and Diaries, with a short preface of his own. He was afterwards the means of securing all the Powney Papers being put into the hands of the University, as also of a purchase being effected by Dr. Radcliffe's trustees, from the executors of Mr. Joseph Radcliffe, of what are termed the Radcliffe Papers He was himself the purchaser of the MSS. belonging to Dr. Guthrie, obtained from Lady Middleton the letters

The Diary for 1688 was printed from a copy. Mr. Richards, of Wokington, lent the original MS. to one Mr. Carlton twenty years before, who never returned it.

in her possession, and gave both these collections to the University. He discovered that a portion of the MSS. parted with by Mr. Richards to Mr. Powney had been accidentally separated from the mass, and were in the possession of Mr. Richards's son; and these were then purchased also by Dr. Radcliffe's trustees, to be added to the accumulating stores of the University; it was through information furnished by him that Mr. Godschall's collection of original papers was discovered, and that his consent was obtained to give the use of them to the University. To these various contributions were added such papers as had remained in the possession of the Chancellor Clarendon's family; and in 1767 the first volume, in 1773 the second volume, and in 1786 the third volume of the Clarendon State Papers' were published. For the publication, in 1826,

1 The first and second volumes were edited by Richard Scrope, Magdalen College, Oxford; the third volume by Dr. Monkhouse.

A large number of unpublished MSS. still remain untouched in the repositories of the University. Dr. Monkhouse announces "a vast pro"fusion of MSS. during the seven years after the Restoration, while Lord "Clarendon guided the operation of the Cabinet;""numerous documents "in every department of business;" " applications from Cavaliers, claim"ing reward for old services, and from Covenanters praying forgiveness "of old offences;" "accounts of public revenues and expenditure ;" "arti"cles about the settlement of Ireland and the regulation of the colonies;" "heads of bills depending in Parliament;" and "a variety of similar "papers." Also there remains to be published "the correspondence of English ministers at foreign courts with Lord Clarendon during his administration, including letters from Lord Carlisle, from Henry Coventry, Sir Gilbert Talbot, Sir William Temple, Sir George Downing, Sir "Richard Fanshawe, and Lord Sandwich; and from other public persons in "various courts, with many of Lord Clarendon's letters written to them."

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of Lord Rochester's papers in the possession of “ a lady," the public was indebted to Mr. William Upcott. In the preface to the second volume of the 'State Papers,' the Archbishop of York, Lord Mansfield, and the Bishop of Chester, are specified as Lord Hyde's trustees, and as having authority to give a power of selection of the papers to the editors. Lord Hyde's trustees could, however, only have acted by courtesy, as, the Court of Chancery having decided that the property of the Clarendon MSS. "had never "become vested in Lord Hyde, his bequest to Oxford

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was void;" but the Duchess of Queensberry, Charlotte Lady Clarendon, and Lady Mary Forbes, as next akin to Henry Lord Clarendon and Rochester, in whom the property in the MSS. was declared to have resided, gave effect by gift to the wishes of their brother and uncle Lord Hyde, and framed the terms in which their gift was made upon those of his will, which were as follows:

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"I, Henry Lord Hyde, do publish and declare this "to be a codicil to my last will and testament. I "desire that all historical or other writings of my greatgrandfather, Edward Earl of Clarendon, and all public papers, and all valuable letters or other writings whatsoever, which shall be or ought to be in my custody at the time of my death, may be given, " and I do hereby give and bequeath all such papers,

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It was edited by Samuel Weller Singer, F.S.A., and published in 1827.

"letters, or other writings, to the Right Reverend Dr.

Secker, now Lord Bishop of Oxford; to the Honour"able Thomas Villiers, brother to the Earl of Jersey; "and to the Honourable Mr. William Murray, his Majesty's Solicitor-General,—in trust for the Uni"versity of Oxford. And I hereby desire the said "trustees to revise the said papers, and at a proper "time to cause to be printed and published such of "them as they the said trustees shall judge proper ; "and then, or before if they judge proper, to lodge in

the Bodleian Library the original manuscripts of "such papers as they shall judge fit to be made public; "the advantage or profit whereof, arising from such

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publication or sale of such papers so printed or published, I desire may be given for the use of the Uni

versity of Oxford, to be applied as a beginning for a "fund for supporting a manage or academy for riding "and other useful exercises in Oxford, if the University "shall approve, under proper restrictions, of such an "institution as they the said trustees shall propose to "that purpose, upon mature consideration and full "information from persons skilled in those matters in

foreign countries as well as in England; in which I "recommend to them to have chiefly in their view to "guard against such provision becoming a sinecure, "whether by fixing the profit to the master of such aca

demy, to arise proportionably to the number of horses "he shall maintain for that purpose, or in such other "manner as they the said trustees shall judge proper."