From The Athanæum.--"The Duke of Manchester has done a welcome service to the lover of gossip and secret history by publishing these family papers. Persons who like to see greatness without the plumes and mail in which history presents it, will accept these volumes with hearty thanks to their noble editor. In them will be found something new about many men and women in whom the reader can never cease to feel an interest--much about the divorce of Henry the Eighth and Catherine of Arragon--a great deal about the love affairs of Queen Elizabeth--something about Bacon and (indirectly) about Shakspeare--more about Lord Essex and Lady Rich--the very strange story of Walter Montagu, poet, profigate, courtier, pervert, secret agent, abbot--many details of the Civil War and Cromwell's Government, and of the Restoration--much that is new about the Revolution and the Settlement, the exiled Court of St Germains, the wars of William of Orange, the campaigns of Marlborough, the intrigues of Duchess Sarah, and the town life of fine ladies and gentlemen during the days of Anne. With all this is mingled a good deal of gossip about the loves of great poets, the frailties of great beauties, the rivalries of great wits, the quarrels of great peers." From The Times.--"These volumes are sure to excite curiosity. A great deal of interesting matter is here collected, from sources which are not within everybody's reach." From The Morning Post.--"The public are indebted to the noble author for contributing, from the archives of his ancestral seat, many important documents otherwise inaccessible to the historical inquirer, as well as for the lively, picturesque, and piquant sketches of Court and Society, which render his work powerfully attractive to the general reader. The work contains varied information relating to secret Court intrigues, numerous narratives of an exciting nature, and valuable materials for authentic history. Scarcely any personage whose name figured before the world during the long period embraced by the volumes is passed over in silence." From The Morning Herald.--"In commending these volumes to our readers, we can assure them that they will find a great deal of very delightful and very instructive reading." From The Daily News,--"The merits of the Duke of Manchester's work are numerous. The substance of the book is new; it ranges over by far the most interesting and important period of our history; it combines in its notice of men and things infinite variety; and the author has command of a good style, graceful, free, and graphic."