Extracts from letters, papers, and diaries of the three centuries up to the year 1900, with the aim of giving color and life to history. The personalities become real and definite. By such writings we are initiated as by no other possible means into the spirit of the time. Witness the execution of the Queen of Scots through the eyes of the person who was appointed to tell Lord Burleigh all about it; follow the parliaments of Charles I and of Cromwell at the hand of men who served in them. Often the chief actors are our chief informants. These are voices that speak to us directly; the rest is merely commentary.