54 



Zf^t (fEolte papers at mcltJournc |^aU. 



HE large and valuable collection of MSS. at Melbourne 

 Hall, that accumulated there during the period that it 

 was tenanted by the Coke family, from which tantalis- 

 ing extracts have from time to time reached the outer 

 world, are now being printed by the Historical Manuscripts 

 Commission, with exceptional fulness, from the transcripts and 

 abstracts made by Mr. W. D. Fane, the present tenant of 

 Melbourne Hall. The ability and long-continued labours that 

 Mr. Fane has devoted to this toil of love are beyond all praise. 

 Derbyshire men, of any degree of literary instinct, cannot fail to 

 be grateful to him ; and so large a proportion of that which is 

 already printed is of direct bearing upon our national history that 

 historical students are sure to find much fresh light thrown in 

 these pages upon the court history of the earlier Stuart kings. 



The first volume of the Coke Papers was issued in November, 

 1888, the second will probably come out in the summer of 1889, 

 and the third, with index, about the end of the present year. 



The first volume begins with a few papers of the time of 

 Elizabeth ; but its chief contents refer to the reigns of James I. 

 and Charles I., ending with the year 1632. From the confidential 

 position occupied by Sir John Coke, a large number of the 

 letters are of great value, and we must refer readers of the 

 Journal to the volume itself; but we have Mr. Fane's kind per- 

 mission to extract a few of the principal passages relative to the 

 county of Derbyshire. For the brief notes, and for the preliminary 

 remarks about Sir John Coke (the first of the family who resided 

 at Melbourne Hall), the Editor is responsible. 



Sir John Coke, of Melbourne, was second son of Richard Coke, 



