Notes of Me: The Autobiography of Roger North

Louis A. Knafla is a professor of history at the University of Calgary,
the co-editor of Law, Society, and the State: Essays in Modern Legal
History, and the author of Lords of the Western Bench.

Educated at Cambridge University and the Middle Temple, Roger North
(1653–1734) devoted most of his life to note-taking. In addition to
writing more than 2000 pages on music, he produced 10 volumes on his
brother Francis and thousands of pages more on accounting, architecture,
biography, religion, and fishing. A polymath, he was a keen observer of
the political, intellectual, and cultural life of Restoration England.

Notes of Me provides an account and an assessment of the major themes
of North’s life. It reveals the values of his High Church Anglicanism,
his belief in the Trinity and defence of nonjurors and the House of
Stuart, and his devotion to books and music. Along with North’s
intellectual development, we see his anxiety and self-doubt. Influenced
by Bacon and Descartes, he was a Stoic who saw his life as a “theatre
of self-exploration.”

On a broader level, Notes of Me sheds light on the Restoration and
post-Restoration periods. There are interesting observations on Charles
II and James II, Sir Matthew Hale, Descartes and Newton, Judge George
Jeffreys, and Archbishop William Sancroft. There is also considerable
information on the common law, local and central courts, lawyers,
theology, and music and musical instruments. This outstanding edition of
North’s autobiography includes an engaging 70-page introduction, a
clear text of the autobiography, 70 pages of notes, a full bibliography,
and a comprehensive index.