John Hutchinson played a pivotal role in the English Revolution - he signed the death warrant for King Charles I. And, for his pains he paid with his life, dying an ignominious death in prison four years after the Restoration. His wife Lucy, determined to restore his reputation, wrote this memoir as a defence against allegations that he was not a "gentleman" and in order "to moderate her woe." An unequalled social document, a startling political analysis, and a moving tribute to a lost husband....