PREFACE.*

How highly the writings of wise and good men concerning government have been esteemed in all ages, the testimony of history, and the preservation of so many books composed by the ancients on that subject, do sufficiently manifest. And it may be truly said, that unless men have utterly abandoned themselves to all that is detestable, they have seldom attempted to detract from the worth of the assertors of liberty, though ambition and other passions have influenced them to act in opposition to it. When Augustus had surprised a young Roman, who was related to him, reading a political discourse of Cicero, he commended his judgment in that choice. The history of France, written by the president De Thou, with a spirit of freedom that might have been worthy of those who had lived before the violation of

By JOHN TOLAND. Besides the "Discourses concerning Government," he also collected, and first published, Milton's prose-works; and Harrington's works....some of them from the original manuscripts.

ine. And here I shall not need to say, that they were put into the hands of a person of eminent quality and integrity, by the author himself; and that the original is, in the judgment of those who knew him best, all written by his own hand: his inimitable manner of treating this noble subject, is instead of a thousand demonstrations, that the work can belong to no other than the great man whose name it bears.

Life and Memoirs

OF

ALGERNON SYDNEY.

THOUGH there is nothing more useful and entertaining than the lives of great and excellent men, yet it often happens, that through the neglect of their friends and contemporaries, proper materials are wanting; and thus it is in the present case. One cannot but wonder, that the life of our author, who was a man of such excellent abilities, such a lover of liberty, and who died for the glorious cause, was never attempted by any of his intimate friends, and such as were acquainted with the most remarkable passages concerning him. To retrieve this error as much as we can, we shall lay together in one view what can now be gathered from various authors, who occasionally mention the name and actions of Colonel Sydney: and it is to be hoped, that this short account, though very imperfect, may do some justice to the memory of that noble person, and give some instruction to the reader.

ALGERNON SYDNEY, descended from a very ancient and honourable family, was second son of Robert, Earl of Leicester, by Dorothy, eldest daughter of Henry Piercy, Earl of Northumberland; to whom his lordship was married in the year 1618. The exact year when our author was born is not certain, but it was probably about the year 1622. His noble father was careful to give him a good education; and in the year 1632, when he went ambassador to Denmark, took his son with him; as also, when he was ambassador to the king of France in 1636; and the Countess, his mother, † in a letter to the Earl then at Paris, acquaints his lordship, that she hears her son much commended by all that came from thence; and that one who spake very well of few, said "he had a huge deal of wit, and ‡ much sweetness of nature." Upon the breaking out of the rebellion in Ireland, the latter end of the year 1641, he had a commission for a troop of horse in the regiment of his father, who was then lord-lieutenant of that kingdom; and he went over thither with his eldest brother Philip, Lord Viscount Lisle, distinguishing himself upon all occasions with great gallantry against the rebels. In the year 1643, he had the king's permission to return to England; for which

* Collins' Peerage of England, and Memoirs of the lives and actions of the Sydneys.

+ Collins' Letters and Memorials of State, vol. ii. p. 445.

This sweetness of nature (with a huge deal of wit) appears remarkably in the portrait of him, which was painted at Brusels in the year 1663, yet at Penshurst; and made, whatever some have thought, an essential part of his noble disposition.

purpose the Earl his father gave him likewise a licence, dated at Oxford, June 22, that year; but landing in Lancashire August following, he was, by order of Parliament, brought up in custody to London, where he was prevailed on to take a command under them: and on the 10th of May, 1644, the Earl of Manchester, major-general of several counties, constituted him captain of a troop of horse in his own regiment. His brother, the Lord Viscount Lisle, being soon after appointed lieutenant-general of Ireland, and general of the forces there, gave him the command of a regiment of horse, to serve in the expedition thither: and it appears by the *MS. journal of the Earl, his father, that he was likewise lieutenant-general of the horse in Ireland, and governor of Dublin; and that before he went into that kingdom, he had the government of Chichester, and † was in the battle at York, and several other engagements. In the same journal the Earl writes as follows....“ On the 8th of April, 1647, early in the morning, the House of Commons being then thin, and few of my son's friends present, it was moved by Mr. Glyn, the recorder, that Colonel Jones should be made Governor of Dublin in chief, and not deputy-gov. ernor to Algernon Sydney; pretending that Jones

Collins' Memoirs, p. 150.

+ Colonel Sydney also, son to the Earl of Leicester, charged with much gallantry, at the head of my Lord of Manchester's regiment of horse, and came off with much honour, though with many wounds, the true badges of his honour; and was sent away afterward to London for cure of his wounds.

The Parliamentary Chronicle, part 3. p. 273.