Descendants of the Stuarts

344 OPINIONS OF THE PUESS.
most sincerely praise the execution of the task. Mr. Townend sketches
clearly and vigorously the lives of those Stuarts who were excluded hy
the Act of Succession, tracing their descent through the several branches.
The scene is constantly changing, and the vicissitudes of fortune take us
to half the Courts of Europe, and introduce us to many of the most im-
portant characters of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries As
a comprehensive and luminous record of a noble family, " The Descendants
of the Stuarts" is highly to be praised. For those who sympathize with the
excluded dynasty, the interest will be great and enduring ; whilst for the
majority of readers, whose opinions are in favour of the Great Revolution,
the careful research and animated narrative of Mr. Townend's volume will
compensate for much political heresy.
Globe.
This is a really interesting contribution to what we may term the
private records of history What Mr. Townend has done is full of
curious information. His genealogical tables show all the ramifications
which spring out of the matrimonial alliances of the Descendants of the
Stuarts, and very curious j^ossihilities some of these indicate We
promise our readers that this volume contains much that is worthy of
perusal and recollection, as well as much that is suggestive.
John Bull.
Our readers will find a great deal which is both new and interesting in
•' The Descendants of the Stuarts," The author tells us chiefly of those of
whom we hear little or nothing in general history This book sup-
plies a void place in history, and it supplies it well.
Union.
This volume contains a most minute, precise, and valuable history of the
Descendants of the Stuart family. Neither Hume, Rapin, Mackintosh,
Keightley, Goldsmith, Lingard, or Maeaulay, give even the more promi-
nent facts in connexion with many branches of the House of Stuart ; and
the result has been, that the largest amount of ignorance has almost in-
variably existed on the subject. Now, however, Mr. Townend, with
laborious energy, has given to the public a most valuable and interesting
volume, which will more than supply the deficiency which so many allow
to have hitherto existed in reference to the subject. The many interesting
details which are here carefully chronicled form a most important link
between the history of Great Britain and those foreign nations with which
she is more or less allied ; while those who are specially interested in
genealogical tables and documents will find an amount of information
which we have no hesitation in saying cannot be obtained in any other
volume To those who love the memory of the first Charles, and who
dislike that tyrannical spirit which some of his least fortunate acts evoked,
and which was still more manifest in the Revolution of 1688, we recom-
mend this volume, feeling confident that its perusal will not only give