Editor's Preface xxv 



So, forgetting statecraft for a moment, the mind of the 

 exile reverted to the England he had known before the civil 

 war began — to the country of which we catch a glimpse in 

 Milton's V Allegro and Herrick's Hesperides. The England 

 to which Newcastle came back in 1660 was a different and a 

 graver country, sobered by suffering as well as embittered 

 by strife. He found his parks wasted, his woods cut down, 

 and his houses dismantled. He had to set to work to restock 

 his farms, rebuild his houses, and repay his debts, and to do 

 all these with a diminished income. ' It may be concluded ', 

 says the Duchess, after computing his losses, ' that although 

 my Lord's estate was very great before the wars, yet now 

 it is shrunk into a very narrow compass, that it puts his pru- 

 dence and wisdom to the proof to serve his necessities.' For 

 this reason, and also no doubt on account of his advanced age, 

 Newcastle after his return to England lived entirely in the 

 country. He made no attempt to press his advice upon his 

 royal pupil either in court or council. The Advice was his 

 political testament. 



Though the Duke of Newcastle's contribution to literature 

 is by no means insignificant, his works are far surpassed in 

 number by those of the Duchess. Poems and Plays, Letters, 

 Orations, and Stories, combined with a whole series of works 

 on Natural Philosophy, flowed from her facile pen. It was 

 during her exile, more especially during her visit to England 

 with Sir Charles Cavendish, that she published her earliest 

 works. The volume of Poems and Fancies was first printed 

 in 1653 ; a second edition followed in 1664, and a third in 

 1668 ; all three were published at London and in folio form. 

 This volume contains some of her best work : The Pastime 

 and Recreation of the Queen of the Fairies in Fairyland, and 

 The Dialogue between Melancholy and Mirth, both of which 

 will be found in the little volume of selections published by 

 Mr. Jenkins. Other poems are scattered through the volume 

 entitled Nature's Pictures by Fancy's Pencil. The first edition 

 of the last-named book was published in 1656, and the second 

 in 1 67 1. It contains the autobiography of the Duchess, and 

 several poems by the Duke, in addition to the tales in verse 

 and prose which form the bulk of her volume. There should 

 be a frontispiece representing the Duchess seated with her 

 husband and his children telling them stories, but this is 



