'The Unhappy Civill Warrs'. English, later seventeenth century

'Account of Affaires from the First of K. Cha. I To the Returne of K. Cha. II' (p. I); 'The Unhappy Civill Warrs' on original front cover. A politically-neutral, summarised account of events during the reign of Charles I and during the Interregnum, drawn for the most part from Bulstrode Whitelocke's Memorials, first published in 1682: the first and last entries coincide with Whitelocke's work, but there are variants and discrepancies. This work was originally considered a diary: the donor and Professor Harold Temperley (see enclosed correspondence) both supposed that its author was 'Dr Clarges', that is, Sir Thomas Clarges (d. 1695), Monck's brother-in-law. But there is no conclusive evidence for this, and in fact the attribution seems to hang on a misreading of one entry on p. 176. Clarges is said by Anthony Wood to be the author of the later sections of Sir Richard Baker's Chronicle (1674), but the 'Baker' text bears little relation to the contents of this MS. Arranged chronologically, with a chronological table of contents at the end. Some further notes on affairs in Scotland, 1666-80, have been added to the title page in a smaller hand. At p. 187 there is a short list of sums in connection with one 'Smith', dated 15 June 1737. On p. 102 three undated profile portraits and 'Wm Warry'. Another face sketched at p. 109.