THE CHARACTER OF KING CHARLES I. From the Declaration of Mr. Alexander Henderson . Upon his Death-Bed: with A Further Defence of the King's Holy Book. To which is annex'd Some Short Remarks upon a Vile Book, call'd Ludlow no Lyar: With A Defebnce of the KING from the Irish Rebellion.

Quarto in later blue sugar-paper wrapper. Titlepage within ruled borders with Licensed page on back +[10]pp dedication +28pp. First and last leaf damaged and dust soiled. There is no loss of text but 1" of ruled framing lost and edges tatty with repairs on blank parts of versos. The last page with some ink spatters, one now making a 2mm hole with loss of 2 or three letters without loss of sense, another over part of a word. *A scarce pamphlet though not in good condition, in which Hollingworth defends the King's character, and includes an abridgement of Henderson's death-bed declaration, which the Dictionary of National Biography says seems to be authentic though immediately denounced as a forgery. However the interpretations & accretions seem to be later spurious. The reply to Bethel's pamplet "Ludlow no Liar" accused Hollingworth of misrepresenting the Ludlow case to substantiate his defence of Charles. Several pamphlets followed and this controversy, especially on the authorship of Eikon Basilike (which is also defended by Hollingworth, but most likely written by Gauden although it included the sentiments, and probably some actual writings, of the King) (WING H2500). 1 volume.…