Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 40.djvu/36

 Neve's 'Fasti Anglicani' iii. 75, in Bentham's 'Ely' p. 262, and in Willis's 'Cathedrals,' p. 388. His will is given in Chester Waters's 'Chesters of Chicheley,' i. 320.

Nalson married Alice Peyton, who married, after his death, John Cremer (d. 1703), of a Norfolk family, and was buried in Ely Cathedral in 1717. By Nalson she had ten children, seven of whom survived their father. The eldest son, Valentine (1683-1723), was a graduate of St. John's College, Cambridge (B.A. 1702 and M. A. 1711); vicar of St. Martin's, Conyng Street, York; prebendary of Ripon from 1713; and author of 'Twenty Sermons preached in the Cathedral of York,' ed. Francis Hildyard (London, 1724, 8vo; 2nd edit. 1737). Nalson's daughter Elizabeth married, in 1687, Peter Williams, her father's successor in the rectory of Doddington (cf., iv. 865).

Nalson's only important work is the 'Impartial Collection of the Great Affairs of State, from the beginning of the Scotch Rebellion in the year 1639 to the murder of King Charles I.' The first volume was published in 1682, and the second in 1683, but the collection ends in January 1642. Its avowed object was to serve as an antidote to the similar collection of Rushworth, whom Nalson accuses of misrepresentations and suppressions intended to blacken the memory and the government of Charles I. Some letters addressed to Nalson on the subject of Rushworth's demerits are printed in the 'Old Parliamentary History,' which contains also Nalson's scheme for the next volume of his work (xxiii. 219-42). As the work was undertaken under the special patronage of Charles II, the compiler was allowed free access to various repositories of state papers. From the documents in the office of the clerk of the parliament he was apparently allowed to take almost anything he pleased, although in June 1684 the clerk of the house wrote for a list of the books in his possession belonging to the office. He also had access to the Paper Office, though there he was apparently allowed only to take copies' (Report on the MSS. of the Duke of Portland, Preface, p. i). Finding that the paper office contained very few documents on the Irish rebellion he applied to the Duke of Ormonde, and obtained permission to copy some of the papers (Tanner MSS. xxxv. 56; Report on the Carte and Carew Papers, 1864, p. 9). Lord Guilford communicated to him extracts from the memoirs of the Earl of Manchester, and he hoped to obtain help from the Earl of Macclesfield, one of the last survivors of the king's generals (Old Parliamentary History, xxiii. 232; Collections, ii. 206). By these means Nalson brought together a great body of manuscripts illustrating the history of the period between 1638 and 1660, to form the basis of the documentary history which he proposed to write. Had it been completed it would have been a work of the greatest value, in spite of the prejudices of the editor and the partiality of his narrative. On the death of Nalson both the manuscripts which should have been returned to the clerk of the parliament and the transcripts which he had made himself remained in the possession of his family. The collection was gradually broken up, and passed into various hands. Its history is traced in Mr. Blackburne Daniel's preface to the manuscripts of the Duke of Portland (Hist. MSS. Comm. 13th Rep. pt. i.) Some of the Irish transcripts came into the hands of Thomas Carte, and a considerable number of the parliamentary papers were abstracted by Dr. Tanner. These portions of the collection are in the Bodleian Library. Of the rest twenty-two volumes are in the possession of the Duke of Portland, were discovered at Welbeck Abbey by Mr. Maxwell Lyte in 1885, and are calendared in the report mentioned above. Four volumes were purchased by the British Museum in 1846, and four others are still missing. Some documents from Nalson's collection were printed by Dr. Zachary Grey in his answer to Neal's 'History of the Puritans' (1737-9), and others by Francis Peck [q. v.] in his 'Desiderata Curiosa' (1735). Nalson's only other historical work was 'A True Copy of the Journal of the High Court of Justice for the Trial of K. Charles I ... with a large Introduction, by J. Nalson, D.D.,' folio, 1684.

He was also the author of the following pamphlets : 1. 'The Countermine, or a short but true Discovery of the Dangerous Principles and Secret Practices of the Dissenting Party, especially the Presbyterians, showing that Religion is pretended, but Rebellion intended,' 1677, 8vo. 2. 'The Common Interest of King and People, showing the Original, Antiquity, and Excellency of Monarchy, compared with Aristocracy, and Democracy, and particularly of our English Monarchy,' &c., 1677, 8vo. 3. 'The True Liberty and Dominion of Conscience vindicated from the Usurpations and Abuses of Opinion and Persuasion,' 1677, 8vo. 4. ' A Letter from a Jesuit in Paris,'1678. 5. 'The Project of Peace, or Unity of Faith and Government the only expedient to procure Peace, both Foreign and Domestic, by the Author of "The Countermine," ' 1678, 8vo. 6. 'Foxes and Firebrands, or a Specimen of the Danger and Harmony of Popery and 