PREFACE.
Circumstances have led me to follow the course of modern history into somewhat unfrequented channels, and in the pursuit of my main object it is occasionally my good fortune to come across a piece of unused or unfamiliar contemporary information—some faded manuscript or forgotten newsletter—which seems to throw fresh light upon an important period or an interesting personality of the past. It is true that in some cases the matters recounted are not of any great historical significance, but even then there is generally some quaint glimpse to be caught of bygone manners or events which redeems the document from worthlessness. From such treasure-trove as this, and from other sources which have generally been overlooked or neglected by English historians, the studies contained in the present book have been drawn; and it is hoped that some fresh knowledge as well as amusement may be gained from them.
If the reader is only half as much interested in perusing as I have been in writing them, I shall consider myself very fortunate.
Some of the studies have already appeared in Magazines, but the principal portion of the book is now printed for the first time.
MARTIN A. S. HUME.
LONDON, September, 1896.
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CONTENTS.
[THE COMING OF PHILIP THE PRUDENT]
[THE EVOLUTION OF THE SPANISH ARMADA]
[THE EXORCISM OF CHARLES THE BEWITCHED]
[A SPRIG OF THE HOUSE OF AUSTRIA]
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LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.
[THE EARL OF ESSEX] . . . Frontispiece
(After a contemporary portrait in the collection
of the Earl of Verulam.)
[PHILIP AND MARY]
(After the painting by Antonio Mor.)
[QUEVEDO]
(After the portrait by Velasquez, at Apsley House.)
[CHARLES II. OF SPAIN]
(After the portrait by Claudio Coello,
at the Madrid Musco.)
[PHILIP IV. OF SPAIN]
(After the portrait by Velasquez, in the National Gallery.)
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