As the original 'History' was written when Clarendon's memory of events was freshest, the parts taken from it are much more accurate than those taken from the 'Life.' On the other hand, as the ' Life ' was written simply for his children, it is freer in its criticisms, both of men and events. Most of the characters contained in the 'History of the Rebellion' are extracted from the 'Life.'
The authorities at Clarendon's disposal when the original 'History' was written supply another reason for its superior accuracy. He obtained assistance from many quarters. From Nicholas he received a number of official papers, and from Hopton the narrative of his campaigns, which forms the basis of the account of the western war given in books vi. and vii. At the king's command Sir Edward Walker sent him relations of the campaigns of 1644 and 1645, and many cavaliers of less note supplied occasional help. When the ' Life ' was written Clarendon was separated from his friends and his papers, and relied upon his memory, a memory which recalled persons with great vividness, but confused and misrepresented events. The additions made in 1671 are more trustworthy, because Clarendon had in the interval procured some of the documents left in England. Ranke's 'History of England' (translation, vi. 3-29) contains an estimate of the 'History of the Rebellion,' and Mr. Gardiner criticises Clarendon's general position as an historian (History of the Great Civil War, ii. 499). George Grenville, lord Lansdowne, attempted to vindicate his relative, Sir Richard Grenville, from Clarendon's censures (Lansdowne, Works, 1732, i. 503), and Lord Ashburnham examines minutely Clarendon's account of John Ashburnham (A Narrative by John Ashburnham, 2 vols. 1830). An excellent dissertation by Dr. Ad. Buff deals with parts of book vi. of the 'Rebellion' (Giessen, 1868).
The 'True Historical Narrative of the Rebellion and Civil Wars in England,' generally termed the ' History of the Rebellion,' was first published at Oxford in 1702-4, in three folio volumes, with an introduction and dedications by Laurence, earl of Rochester. The original manuscripts of the work were given to the university at different dates between 1711 and 1753 (Macray, Annals of the Bodl. Lib. p.225). The first edition was printed, not from the originals, but from a transcript of them made under Clarendon's supervision by his secretary, William Shaw. This was copied for the printers under the supervision of the Earl of Rochester, who received some assistance in editing it from Dr. Aldrich, dean of Christ Church, and Sprat, bishop of Rochester. The editors, in accordance with the discretion given them by Clarendon's will, softened and altered a few expressions, but made no material changes in the text. A few years later, however, John Oldmixon published a series of attacks on them, and on the university, for supposed interpolations and omissions (Clarendon and Whitelocke compared, 1727; History of England during the Reigns of the Royal House of Stuart, preface, pp. 9, 227). These charges, based on utterly worthless evidence, were refuted by Dr. John Burton in 'The Genuineness of Lord Clarendon's History vindicated,' 1744, 8vo. Dr. Bandinel's edition, published in 1826, was the first printed from the original manuscripts. It restores the phrases altered by the editors, and adds in the appendix passages omitted by Clarendon in the revision of 1671-2. The most complete and correct text is that edited and annotated by the Rev. W. D. Macray (Oxford, 1888, 6 vols., 8vo). An account of the manuscripts of the 'History of the Rebellion' is given in the prefaces of Dr. Bandinel and Mr. Macray, and in Lewis's ' Lives of the Contemporaries of Lord Clarendon' (vol. i. Introduction, pt. ii.)
A list of editions of the 'History' is given in Bliss's edition of Wood (Athenæ Oxon. iii. 1017). A supplement to the 'History of the Rebellion,' containing eighty-five portraits and illustrative papers, was published in 1717, 8vo. The Sutherland 'Clarendon' presented to the Bodleian Library in 1837 contains many thousand portraits, views, and maps, illustrating the text of Clarendon's historical works. A catalogue of the collection (2 vols. 4to) was published in 1837 (Macray, Annals of the Bodl. Lib. p.331). The work usually known as the 'Life of Clarendon' was originally published in 1759 ('The Life of Edward, Earl of Clarendon. … Being a Continuation of the History of the Grand Rebellion from the Restoration to his Banishment in 1667. Written by Himself,' Oxford, 1759, folio). It consists of two parts: the 'Life' proper, written between 1668 and 1670, dealing with the period before 1660; and the 'Continuation,' commenced in 1672. The first consists of that portion only of the original life which was not incorporated in the 'History of the Rebellion.' The second contains an account of Clarendon's ministry and second exile. The 'History of the Reign of King Charles II, from the Restoration to the end of the year 1667,' 2 vols. 4to, n.d., is a surreptitious edition of the last work, published about 1755 (Lowndes, p. 468).
The minor works of Clarendon are the following:
- 'The Difference and Disparity between the Estate and Condition of George,
