The Life of James, First Duke of Ormonde, 1610-1688, Vol. 1 of 2

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Excerpt from The Life of James First Duke of Ormonde, Vol. 1 of 2: 1610-1688, With Portraits and Illustrations It is now almost one hundred and fifty years since Dr Johnson expressed a desire for an abridgment of that "book of authority" Carte's "Life of Ormonde." With all respect, however, to so great a critic, an abridgment is rarely grateful either to an author or his public, and in attempting to retrace a career, which is already the theme of one of the most elaborate biographies in the language, I cannot claim to have fulfilled the Doctor's wishes, nor indeed have I been able to compress my work within the limits of the two duodecimo volumes he recommended. It may, however, be accounted to me for righteousness that my volumes are not "in folio", for, since 1736, when Carte published the results of his labours, much new material has come to light, and much that the eminent non-juror considered below the dignity of history appeals to the wider and more humane sympathies of a modern student. The value of Carte's contribution to our knowledge of the seventeenth century cannot be gainsaid, even in these days of meticulous research. But a book which seemed "diffuse" in the generation of "Clarissa Harlowe" is not likely to find favour with an age of haste, and, perhaps, to the majority of readers the prolixity of his biographer has been a veil between Ormonde and the light. Truly may we regret such an unmerited eclipse, since for ten years he was the strongest link in the much tested chain that bound our two islands together, and during close on thirty he was in his own person the Government of Ireland itself. Ormonde was essentially a man of affairs. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully, any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.