“This charming volume will be the most permanently popular of all Mr. Dixon’s works. Under the treatment of so practised a master of our English tongue the story of the Tower becomes more fascinating than the daintiest of romances.”—Examiner.
VOL. II. OF HER MAJESTY’S TOWER. By W. HEPWORTH DIXON. DEDICATED BY EXPRESS PERMISSION TO THE QUEEN. Sixth Edition. Demy 8vo. 15s.
Contents:—The Anglo-Spanish Plot—Factions at Court—Lord Grey of Wilton-Old English Catholics—The English Jesuits—White Webbs—The Priests’ Plot—Wilton Court—Last of a Noble Line—Powder-Plot Room—Guy Fawkes—Origin of the Plot—Vinegar House—Conspiracy at Large—The Jesuit’s Move—In London—November, 1605—Hunted Down—In the Tower—Search for Garnet—End of the English Jesuits—The Catholic Lords—Harry Percy—The Wizard Earl—A Real Arabella Plot—William Seymour—The Escape—Pursuit—Dead in the Tower—Lady Frances Howard—Robert Carr—Powder Poisoning.
From the Times:—“All the civilized world—English, Continental, and American—takes an interest in the Tower of London. The Tower is the stage upon which has been enacted some of the grandest dramas and saddest tragedies in our national annals. If, in imagination, we take our stand on those time-worn walls, and let century after century flit past us, we shall see in due succession the majority of the most famous men and lovely women of England in the olden time. We shall see them jesting, jousting, love-making, plotting, and then anon, perhaps, commending their souls to God in the presence of a hideous masked figure, bearing an axe in his hands. It is such pictures as these that Mr. Dixon, with considerable skill as an historical limner, has set before us in these volumes. Mr. Dixon dashes off the scenes of Tower history with great spirit. His descriptions are given with such terseness and vigour that we should spoil them by any attempt at condensation. As favourable examples of his narrative powers we may call attention to the story of the beautiful but unpopular Elinor, Queen of Henry III., and the description of Anne Boleyn’s first and second arrivals at the Tower. Then we have the story of the bold Bishop of Durham, who escapes by the aid of a cord hidden in a wine jar; and the tale of Maud Fitzwalter, imprisoned and murdered by the caitiff John. Passing onwards, we meet Charles of Orleans, the poetic French Prince, captured at Agincourt, and detained for five-and-twenty years a prisoner in the Tower. Next we encounter the baleful form of Richard of Gloucester, and are filled with indignation at the blackest of the black Tower deeds. As we draw nearer to modern times, we have the sorrowful story of the Nine Days’ Queen, poor little Lady Jane Grey. The chapter entitled “No Cross, no Crown” is one of the most affecting in the book. A mature man can scarcely read it without feeling the tears ready to trickle from his eyes. No part of the first volume yields in interest to the chapters which are devoted to the story of Sir Walter Raleigh. The greater part of the second volume is occupied with the story of the Gunpowder Plot. The narrative is extremely interesting, and will repay perusal. Another cause celêbre possessed of a perennial interest, is the murder of Sir Thomas Overbury by Lord and Lady Somerset. Mr. Dixon tells the tale skilfully. In conclusion, we may congratulate the author on this, his latest work. Both volumes are decidedly attractive, and throw much light on our national history, but we think the palm of superior interest must be awarded to the second volume.”
From the Athenæum:—“The present volume is superior in sustained interest to that by which it was preceded. The whole details are so picturesquely narrated, that the reader is carried away by the narrative. The stories are told with such knowledge of new facts as to make them like hitherto unwritten chapters in our history.”
From the Morning Post:—“This volume fascinates the reader’s imagination and stimulates his curiosity, whilst throwing floods of pure light on several of the most perplexing matters of James the First’s reign. Not inferior to any of the author’s previous works of history in respect of discernment and logical soundness, it equals them in luminous expression, and surpasses some of them in romantic interest.”
ANNALS OF OXFORD. By J. C. Jeaffreson, B.A., Oxon. Author of “A Book About the Clergy,” &c. Second Edition. 2 vols. 8vo. 30s.
Contents:—The Cross Keys; King Alfred’s Expulsion from Oxford; Chums and Inmates; Classical Schools and Benefactions; Schools and Scholars; On Learning and certain Incentives to it; Colleges and Halls; Structural Newness of Oxford; Arithmetic gone Mad; Reduction of the Estimates; A Happy Family; Town and Gown; Death to the Legate’s Cook; The Great Riot; St. Scholastica; King’s College Chapel used as a Playhouse; St. Mary’s Church; Ladies in Residence; Gownswomen of the 17th Century; The Birch in the Bodleian; Aularian Rigour; Royal Smiles: Tudor, Georgian, Elizabeth and Stuart; Royal Pomps; Oxford in Arms; The Cavaliers in Oxford; Henrietta Maria’s Triumph and Oxford’s Capitulation; The Saints Triumphant; Cromwellian Oxford; Alma Mater in the Days of the Merry Monarch; The Sheldonian Theatre; Gardens and Walks; Oxford Jokes and Sausages; Terræ Filii; The Constitution Club; Nicholas Amhurst; Commemoration; Oxford in the Future.
“The pleasantest and most informing book about Oxford that has ever been written. Whilst these volumes will be eagerly perused by the sons of Alma Mater, they will be read with scarcely less interest by the general reader.”—Post.