of the leather of the covers at each side torn away, seemingly for the
purpose of removing some name on a coat of arms with which it had been
once marked; and this he accounted for by the belief that at the period
of the French Revolution the persons in whose custody they were, being
fearful of the suspicions likely to arise from their possession of books
with royal arms on them, tore off the covers, and sent the books to St.
Omer's. The after-fate of the larger books was, that they were burned;
some small ones, we are distinctly told, were saved from this fate, but
seem to have been disregarded, and all trace of them lost. The Abbé
Waters--a collateral descendant of Lucy Waters, the Duke of Monmouth's
mother--was the person with whom George IV. negotiated for the Stuart
papers, and from whom the volumes which have since appeared as Clark's
_Life of James the Second_ were obtained; and it is from the Abbé Waters
we have the account of the destruction of King James's autograph papers.
Dr. Anster showed, written on the inner cover of this volume, the words,
"Baron Watiers" or "Watrers."

As to the identity of the book, Dr. Anster quoted several passages from
contemporary authors to test their account of the contents of the
"album" with those of the book he was describing. In the _Harleian
Miscellany_, vol. vi. p.323., it is stated in Sir John Reresby's
memoirs, that "out of his [Monmouth's] pocket were taken books, in his
own handwriting, containing charms or spells to open the doors of a
prison, to obviate the danger of being wounded in battle, together with
songs and prayers." Barillon describes the book in what is nearly a
translation of this--"Il y avoit des secrets de magie et d'enchantment,
avec des chansons des recettes pour des maladies et des prieres." Again,
in a note by Lord Dartmouth to the modern editions of _Burnet's Own
Times_, we have the following statement:--