Clarendon and His Friends - Hardcover

Political architect of the Restoration, chief minister and loyal servant to Charles II, Sir Edward Hyde, Earl of Clarendon, weathered long years of exile and swung between extremes of wealth and dire poverty. In this verbose but richly textured biography, English historian Ollard (Pepys) argues that Clarendon, who actively supported plots to assassinate Oliver Cromwell, was motivated by an insistence that the rule of law must undergird the Royalist cause. The author makes us feel sympathy for this extremely vain, overbearing, witty and ambitious politician. Clarendon's friends included Ben Jonson and Thomas Hobbes, whose Leviathan he despised. A prolific historian, he much preferred domestic comfort to the intrigues of court. Ollard's compelling portrayal of this self-professed Christian sinner unintentionally shows the danger of a morality rooted in the assumption that God will work out His purposes in the political arena. Illustrations.
Copyright 1987 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Biographers Stephen B. Oates and Paul Murray Kendall distinguish between pure biography and "author-dominated lectures." Ollard's Clarendon is a classic example of the latter. While well researched and gracefully written, it lacks those elements that make a biography lively and exciting: colorful portraits, vivid scene painting, and a smooth narrative flow. Ollard cannot resist intruding at inappropriate moments with personal reactions, and long block quotes and footnotes get in the way of the action. Readers do obtain a wealth of information about the Earl of Clarendon and the Stuart age but are not treated to a complete view of the man or his era. John M. Derge, Univ. of Wisconsin-Milwaukee
Copyright 1988 Reed Business Information, Inc.