In the price of the autographs of sovereigns of minor importance there has been no striking rise since 1880. Indeed, I note that on December 17th, 1909, letters and documents signed by Ferdinand, Grand Duke of Tuscany, Louis XVIII. of France, Mathias de Medicis, also of Tuscany, and Rudolph II., Emperor of Germany, were knocked down in one lot at Sotheby's for five shillings. But letters of the Tudor and Stuart sovereigns are fetching as many pounds in 1910 as they did shillings eighty years ago. A pardon granted by James II. to Edward Strode, of Downside, "on account of his entertaining the Duke of Monmouth for one night immediately after his defeat at Sedgemoor," sold on December 17, 1909, for £57. Mr. Waller in 1876 would assuredly have catalogued it at 57s. or less. Four years ago I purchased for Sir George White, Bart., of Bristol, an order, signed by the same sovereign, enjoining the Duke of Beaufort to burn Keynsham Bridge on the approach of Monmouth and his followers, at the modest price of 42s. Amongst other letters or documents belonging to this category figuring in the last sale of 1909 may be mentioned a letter signed by Cromwell addressed to the Genevan Senate on the recent Protestant massacres in the Alps (July 28, 1655), for which Mr. Sabin gave £31, and two A.L.S.—one of George IV. and one of William IV., which went to Mr. W. V. Daniell for 12s. To what indignation would this startling fall in value have moved the righteous soul of the chronicler of the sale-prices of 1827! MSS. of "The First Gentleman in Europe" rank no longer amongst the high-priced autographs, but I shall have more to say of them presently. Experience has taught me to look in Munich and Paris for bargains in the matter of seventeenth-century Stuart letters. At Munich I quite lately came across a fine A.L.S. of Charles I. for £10, and a delightful L.S. of his eldest son while in exile to the Elector Palatine, with seals and silken cords intact, for 50s. Good William III. letters now average £10, but I obtained the following characteristic letter written from the Camp before Namur for less than half that sum:—
Au Camp devand Namur, 13 de juillet, 1695.
A neuf heures du soir.
J'ay receu ce matin vostre lettre de hier du matin a neuf eures, j'ay donne les ordres pour faire marcher demain a la pointe du jour le Brigadier St. Paul avec cinq batt; selon la route que Dopp vous envoyerez pour les Dragons je vous en ay ecrit hier et attendres vostre reponse. Si vous trouves que vous n'avez pas besoin de ces batt: vous les pouvez faire halte en chemain et me les renvoyer. Jusque a present je n'ay point de nouvelle que Precontal a marche vers le Haynaut aussi tot que je le sauroi je vous en advertires, ce qui se passeray Dopp vous le mendra je suis tres touche du malheur du povre fagel qui nous faira grand faute je ne scai ... s'il en ecchapera, je suis toujours a vous.
William R.
AUTOGRAPH OF HENRY VII., KING OF ENGLAND (1456-1509).
(In the collection of Messrs. Maggs.)
Letters of the Electress Sophia of Hanover very rarely turn up, and I consider the following quaint epistle addressed to that astute "trimmer," the Duke of Leeds, when she was over eighty, a great bargain at 30s.:—
Hanover le 19 Decbre 1710.