Stowe MS 88-89

"SOME ACCOUNT of the affairs of France since the disgrace of the Duc de Choiscul [1771] to the year 1776": a minute narrative of the Court intrigues of the period, with characters of the principal persons concerned, viz. Madame du Barry, the Due de Choiseul, the Due d'Aiguillon, Maupeou the Chancellor, Abbé Terray, the Due d'Orléans, the Due de Richelieu, and several others. Two volumes. The narrative proceeds continuously to the end of 1773 : after that there is, at some interval, an account of the death and character of Louis XV.; a journal of the course of affairs in Paris, written at different times in 1771 ; and memorials on the affairs of France in Oct. 1775 and (on some loose sheets) Dec. 1776. The author's name is not given, but he was evidently an Englishman of high position with extensive French connections; perhaps (from a note in vol. i. f 18) Robert d'Arcy, Earl of Holdernesse, previously Ambassador to Holland and Secretary of State, who died in 1778. The MS. is written in different hands, some parts being in the hands of Thomas Astle and his wife; and the date of the narrative is evidently 1777. Paper; ff. 22, 55. Bound in crimson morocco, richly tooled, the patterns on the two volumes (which differ slightly in measurement) being quite distinct. On the cover of vol. ii. the arms of Tho. Astle have been inserted. Small Quarto.