men of letters. It is the earliest substantial life of a poet whose reputation rested on his poetry. Fulke Greville's life of Sir Philip Sidney was the life of a soldier and a statesman of promise; and to Izaak Walton, Donne was not so much a poet as a great Churchman. In the edition of 1668 the life of Cowley runs to twenty-four folio pages. The passage here selected deals directly with his character. Page 203, ll. 25-7. It is evidently the impression of a stranger at first sight that Aubrey gives in his short note: 'A.C. discoursed very ill and with hesitation' (ed. A. Clark, vol. i, p. 190). 62. A Character of King Charles the Second: And Political, Moral and Miscellaneous Thoughts and Reflections. By George Savile, Marquis of Halifax. London: MDCCL. Halifax's elaborate and searching account of Charles II was first published in 1750 'from his original Manuscripts, in the Possession of his Grand-daughter Dorothy Countess of Burlington'. It consists of seven parts: I. Of his Religion; II. His Dissimulation; III. His Amours, Mistresses, &c.; IV. His Conduct to his Ministers; V. Of his Wit and Conversation; VI. His Talents, Temper, Habits, &c.; VII. Conclusion. Only the second, fifth, and sixth are given here. The complete text is reprinted in Sir Walter Raleigh's _Works of Halifax_, 1912, pp. 187-208. For other characters of Charles, in addition to the two by Burnet which follow, see Evelyn's _Diary_, February 4, 1685; Dryden's dedication of _King Arthur_, 1691; 'A Short Character of King Charles the II' by John Sheffield, Earl of Mulgrave, Duke of Buckingham, 'Printed from the Original Copy' in _Miscellaneous Works Written by George, late Duke of Buckingham_, ed. Tho. Brown, vol. ii, 1705, pp. 153-60, and with Pope's emendations in _Works_, 1723, vol. ii, pp. 57-65; and James Welwood's _Memoirs Of the Most Material Transactions in England, for the Last Hundred Years, Preceding the Revolution_, 1700, pp. 148-53. For Halifax himself, see No. 72. Page 208, l. 12. An allusion to the Quarrel of the Ancients and Moderns, which assumed prominence in England with the publication in 1690 of Sir William Temple's _Essay upon the Ancient and Modern Learning_. Compare Burnet, p. 223, l. 11 and note. PAGE 209, l. 29. _Ruelle_. Under Louis XIV it was the custom for ladies of fashion to receive morning visitors in their bedrooms; hence _ruelle_, the passage by the side of a bed, came to mean a ladies' chamber. Compare _The Spectator_, Nos. 45 and 530. Page 211, l. 2. _Tiendro cuydado_, evidently an imperfect recollection of the phrase _se tendrá cuydado_, 'care will be taken', 'the matter will have attention': compare _Cortes de Madrid_, 1573, Peticion 96,... 'se tendrá cuidado de proueher en ello lo que conuiniere'.