Marrin's Bookshop

Synopsis

A study of the english republican movement in the seventeenth century.

Item Description

8vo. 9 x 6 inches. 318 + [1] pp. Bound in original blue cloth, gilt, in unclipped dust wrapper with edge wear at head and tail of spine, which is sunned. A little wear to extremities with slight sunning and some foxing largely confined to page edges, flyleaves and a few margins; otherwise a very good copy. 1950 signature on first free endpaper. Illustrated by 4 portrait plates, including frontispiece. Decorated by publisher's device on title page. Account of John Wildman (c.1621-1693) who, in the Civil War, served briefly in the army of Parliament, but as a Leveller he intrigued against Cromwell. An inveterate plotter, he was in contact with the exiled Royalist party before the Restoration, but was soon imprisoned again for allegedly conspiring against the King. Later in the reign, Wildman's complicity in the Rye House Plot and the Monmouth Rebellion, led to further brief spells in prison. Finally in the Glorious Revolution of 1688, he backed the winning side and was rewarded with the office of Postmaster General, 1689-91 by William III, only to be dismissed for further intriguing. In spite of his chequered career, he enjoyed a considerable amount of worldly success, going back to his purchase of Royalist land during the Commonwealth period. By seventeenth century historian, Maurice Ashley (1907-94), editor of The Listener after the war.