The 15 essays in this volume range from an account of the Jesuit Matteo Ricci's mission to China in the late 16th century to a discussion of the Anglo-Scottish Union in 1707. They include essays on medicine at the early Stuart Court, on the plunder of artistic treasures in Europe during the Thirty Years War, on the plans of Hugo Grotius to create a new universal Church on an Anglican base, on the Glorious Revolution of 1688 and religious toleration thereafter. There are also biographical studies of Archbishop Laud, Matthew Wren, the Earl of Clarendon and Prince Rupert. The author also wrote "Archbishop Laud", "The Last Days of Hitler", "The Philby Affair", "Princes and Artists", "Religion, the Reformation and Social Change", "Renaissance Essays" and "Catholics, Anglicans and Puritans"
- ISBN10 0712657444
- ISBN13 9780712657440
- Publish Date 1 July 1993 (first published 27 April 1992)
- Publish Status Out of Print
- Out of Print 10 August 2021
- Publish Country GB
- Publisher Vintage Publishing
- Imprint Pimlico
- Edition New edition
- Format Paperback
- Pages 331
- Language English