England

J.J.N. McGurk describes how Gerald’s later years were filled with his excellent books on Wales and his unsuccessful struggle for a bishopric.

Diana Orton introduces the lady described by the Prince of Wales as, ‘after my mother, the most remarkable woman in the Kingdom.’

David Lunn explains how, on his death-bed, King Charles II received the sacraments from a priest he had first met some thirty-four years earlier, and at length made his submission to the Roman Catholic Church.

Pamela Vandyke Price offers us a draught of the ‘aromatised wine’ now familiar under the name of Vermouth.

Olwen Hedley visits Windsor Castle; neglected by the first two Hanoverian monarchs, it became a favoured residence of George III and Queen Charlotte.

Stuart D. Goulding introduces the founder of the colony, Roger Williams, who returned to England in 1643 and 1651 and had many friends among the English Parliamentarians.

As a ‘common upholder of unlawful meetings and conventicles’, Monica Furlong remembers, the great preacher was imprisoned for twelve years in 1660.

R.T. Godfrey reflects on the nuances of Faithorne’s large range of prints, which were based both on his own drawings as well as the work of other artists.

Avril Lansdell takes the reader on a visit to Oatlands, founded by Henry VIII and a royal residence until Cromwell’s time.

John Villiers describes the rich exchange of artistic ideas between Europe and the Far East during the seventeenth, eighteenth and early-nineteenth centuries.