Book Description

Historical fiction of the romance of the real Irish adventurer who attempted to steal The Crown Jewels from The Tower of London.From the author?s preface when the book was originally published in 1903: ''A few years ago the writer found the entry in the Newchurch Parish Registers of the marriage of the notorious Colonel Blood with Maria Holcroft, daughter of Colonel Holcroft, of Holcroft; and being interested in the two characters he began to gather from all sources what information he could about them and their families, and this volume is the result of that search. ''He does not lay claim to any originality in relating the Adventures, for most of them will be found in other works, but he does to the Romance, which is purely imaginary, founded upon the fact of the wedding having actually taken place on June 21st, 1650. ''It was absolutely impossible to write the life of this notorious desperado without entering into the political history of the nation. The writer has, therefore, tried to draw a true picture of the Country from 1648 right on into the restoration as far as 1680; and he has been greatly helped by consulting the works of Gardiner, Bright, Baines, Beaumont, etc.