paing of more lead than I feare we can posseble make. This is the day there of Dr. Denton's hearing; how he will come off as yett I know nott. . . . One Satterday last a great many compounded. My Lord of Dorset paid £5,000, and he presently overed the comittee his whole estate for £6,000, they paing his depts. . . . All the fear here now is betweene the Presbeteriens and the Independants; they beginn allready to come to the House in tumults. Upon Friday there was a thowsand came downe to the House to demand sixe of their owne men which were comitted, and they were presently released. . . I am most extreamly weary of this place for hear is noething of frendship left, but all the falceness that can be imagined. Except Sir R. Burgoyne here hath not been any of that syde, onely once Frank Drake, whoe is soe fearfull and timerous, that he dares nott look upon those he hath heretofore professed freindship toe. The greatest freyndshipp one can expect from most here is nott to be one's enymie.' (Vol. ii. pp. 248, 249.)

At length, in April 1647, the certificate was obtained. 'It is for noe thing but absence. . . They tell me it must 'be referred to the House before I can come off cleare.' All this time Lady Verney was in delicate health, and in June her youngest son was born. Exactly three weeks later she writes: For myselfe I am soe very weake that ontell yesterday I have neaver been able to sitt upp an hour at a time.' On July 4 we find a letter from Dr. Denton, a faithful friend and sagacious man of the world, which, whilst it tells us of Lady Verney, shows how obscure the political situation appeared to a competent observer.

...

...

'Landlady,' writes the doctor, using a playful name, which he was accustomed to give to Lady Verney, 'is churcht & well, but lookes ill enough. . . . The differences betweene army and parliament are yett a riddle to most. . . . I cannot divine what will be the issue; you may give some ghesse by the books I send you. . . . As far as I can looke into a milstone, I guesse that the Independants tooke it ill that they could not sway the House, & now they take this course to purge it of the cheefe Presbeterians, that they may reigne againe; which when done I believe the army and parliament will quickly shake hands (except a Cavalier party in the army crosse the designe), and happily they may court the kinge by invitinge his returne, settlinge his revenew, etc., and in such things make him a glorious kinge. But if eyther party can prevaile without makinge use of the king's interest, I beleeve they will clipp his power.' (Vol. ii. p. 272.)

We have not the space to follow Lady Verney into the country to recruit her health. But sorrows were awaiting her, for in October she not only lost her baby, but her little daughter Peg, with her father in France, was also taken from her. Since I writt this,' is the postscript to one of her letters, 'I have receaved ye sad nues of toe of our deare

'children's death, which affiction joyned with being absent 'from thee is-without god's great marcy to me, a heavier burthen than can be borne by thine owne unhapy M.' But the courageous woman did not let physical weakness, or personal sorrow, stay her from her appointed task, and at length, on December 17, the petition of Lady Verney on behalf of her husband was referred to the Committee of Sequestrations. How it occurred is told in the following letter from Lady Verney :

'Our petition is granted and I trust as God hath wonderfully pleased us in itt, soe he will continue his marcye still and bless our endeavors thatt wee may suddenly dispatch thy busenes which hath cost me many a sadd and tedious hower. Our frends caried in the house to every creatures greate amazement, for twas a mighty full House and att the very same time they had buseness came in of very high concernment, Mr. Selden and Mr. Pierpoint did much discourage us in itt, and sayd twas not posseble to gett itt don, butt yett Mr. Pierpoint did you very good sarvis in itt, and truly Mr. Trevor hath bin hugely much your frend, and soe hath Mr. Knightly and many others that I canott have time to name. They toe dine with me toe day and some others which y° doctor sent me word he would bring that wee are much obleged toe. I took up £40 and payed itt the same day, you may Imagion for what and truly I was neavor better contented to pay any money in my life then I was to pay that. . . . I beginn to have a huge content within me to think how sudenly I shall be with thee, and yet beleeve me this toe months I have still to stay heare will appeare to me seavon yeares. Everybody tells me that there is noe question but thou wilt be cleared att ye comittee of Lords and Comons. In the afternoone we goe aboute making of nue frends; ... they all tell me we need nott feare a deniall; but itt may be if we doe not make freinds, we may be delayed.' (Vol. ii. pp. 304, 305.)

In January, 1648, came the final act.

'Thy buseness was yesterday donn according to thy hartes desire, and I have this day onely time to tell thee soe. Lady Warwick hath at last in some measure playd her parte, butt I putt her soundly to itt for I have bin 4 or 5 times with her this week; her husband was there and brought others with him whoos pressence did much good; I went Imediattly from the Comittee to give her thanks last night, where her hus: was gott home before me soe I gave them both thanks together.' (Vol. ii. p. 307.)

The sequestration was taken off, and Sir Ralph was again Master of Claydon. In April Lady Verney rejoined her husband. But the anxiety and exertions incident to her task had been too much for her. In May, 1650, she died at Blois of consumption, but was buried at Claydon. Undoubtedly she had never fully recovered the strength which

she lost in England. She was the prototype of many heroic Englishwomen who, in later years, in all parts of the habitable globe, have been an honour to their race, and though Sir Ralph must be respected as an honourable and patriotic gentleman, it must be admitted that in the time of difficulty Lady Verney bore the nobler part. Though in some respects the remainder of Sir Ralph's life does not belong strictly to the period embraced in these volumes, yet a word upon it will give completeness to this story. He returned to England, but only to be the object of Cromwell's suspicion, and was in durance, though not close prison, in St. James' Tennis Court for seventeen weeks, in 1655, 'because he would not give recognisances to the Protector.' After the Restoration he soon became disgusted with the character of the Government, and was again in opposition and again a member of Parliament. In 1688 he was deprived by James II. of his office as a magistrate of Buckinghamshire, thus again bearing witness to the singleminded manner in which with great patriotism he was at all times in his life ready to hold to what he conceived to be his duty as an English citizen. At last, after the accession of William and Mary, he found a Government in which he could have confidence; for many years he was a member of Parliament, but he was more essentially a country gentleman. His long and honourable life came to an end at the ripe age of eighty-three, in the year 1696. His son John succeeded to his title and property, and he it was who was afterwards created Baron Verney and Viscount Fermanagh.

While the main lines of this book follow the fortunes of the Verney family, other men and women of the time are grouped around it. Of some we have but glimpses, of others we see much. Of such is Dr. Denton, uncle to Sir Ralph, though he was but seven years older than his nephew; he was at one time Court physician to Charles I., and, exercising his calling later in London, was able to keep in touch and on friendly terms with both political parties. He was a man overflowing with kindness and good nature, wary and sagacious, trusted by all, and pleased to do a service, great or small, to a friend. If I am not dis' appointed,' he wrote to Sir Ralph after the execution of Charles, you shall have the Kings booke. It hath been hitherto at 8s. to 10s. price.' We have already seen how prudently and persistently he assisted Lady Verney in obtaining the unsequestrating of Claydon. Another figure who lives in these pages is Lady Sussex, as it is best to call

her, though before her second marriage she was Lady Lee, and after the death of her second husband she married the Earl of Warwick. She was a careful and clever woman, who appeared to absorb all the news of her time and to impart it to her friends. With a keen interest in political affairs, she had yet no deep insight beyond the surface of affairs, but her letters reflect with admirable fidelity the impressions of the period as they are formed in the mind of a woman typical of the best ladies of her day. Here, for example, are extracts from some letters written from Gorhambury in February 1643, which indicate vividly the perturbed condition of the country, which caused danger and inconvenience, as well as pecuniary loss, to large numbers of the community :

"Wee have great store of sogers at Sentabornes [St. Albans], the last wike one of the tone sent us worde they did intende to com and plonder us that night; but a thinke God it was not so; i sente presently to ther captans, so they have promisede to have a care of us, and to keepe ther sogers from us: S tomis Chike sent us another protexsyon, so that I hope wee shall bee safe. . . i pray God your hose consent for a sasyon of armes." On February 7, the lords had voted a cessation of arms, and there was in some quarters an earnest desire that the Commons should support them. Lady Sussex continues on the 16th: " i must expect littill or noe rent this our ladyday... Bosby was one that pade beste, and truly the parlyment side hath usede him very hardly; for his religion i thinke; the have kaillede all his kattill uppon the gronde, taken away his hay, so that itt tis likely he most paye ill now." March 8: "i am very sory for the nues of my lorde Broke [his death], ther will be much reioysinge on the other side." (Vol. ii. pp. 153, 154.)

Not one among the men and women whose hopes and 'fears, belief and disbelieving,' have been preserved for us in the Verney manuscripts appears, after the lapse of two centuries, more lifelike than Lady Sussex. Yet she is, after all, but one among many with whom these and similar papers, yielding up their unknown treasures to careful searchers, enable us to people the past-beings not fashioned out of the fancy of the poet, but living and moving much as we ourselves, and actuated by the same passions and motives.

ART. VI.-1. Studies in Statistics. By G. B. LONGSTAFF, M.A., M.D. London: 1891.

2. England's Industrial and Commercial Supremacy. By J. E. THOROLD ROGERS, M.A. London: 1892.

3. The Statesman's Year-Book. Edited by J. ScOTT-KELTIE. London: 1892.

THE

HE increase or decrease of population by natural or artificial causes, and the distribution of mankind over different parts of the globe, are the dominant factors of the history and condition of the human race. The rise and fall of nations and of empires, the progress or decline of civilisation, and the domination of man over the uncultivated parts of the earth, are all due to the waves of population which are driven by various causes to new scenes of existence and new seats of power. These tidal movements of humanity have occurred over and over again at many periods of the world's history, but with great irregularity. There have been times when the increase of population has been slow and its habits sedentary. There have been times when the whole human race seems to have been in motion, driven by some mysterious impulse to seek new lands to cultivate and new homes. If the progress of population had been continuous from the remote periods of antiquity, it is evident that the numbers of mankind would be much greater than they are, and the globe would be already overstocked with human beings. But other causes, not less mysterious in their operation, have checked that progress. Many of the populous countries of antiquity have become depopulated and apparently unable to support life. It is uncertain whether, at the present moment, the population of the globe is greater than it was two or three thousand years ago. There is congestion in Europe, in India, and in China; there are innumerable tribes in Central Africa on whom even the slave-trade makes no perceptible impression. But the vast plains of Asia, which swarmed with men under the Assyrian, Babylonian, and Persian Empires, are deserted. The civilisation of Europe is no longer threatened by the Eastern hordes which swept over the Roman Empire in the earlier centuries of the Christian era. But that prodigious migration laid the foundation of the States of modern Europe.

These are matters which may well deserve the attention of philosophers, and they have not been treated as fully as they ought to be, for they lie at the very bottom of society.