The Historical Nights' Entertainment

The Historical Nights' Entertainment is a collection of historical stories by Rafael Sabatini, published in 1917. It includes the stories of The Night Of Holyrood (The Murder Of David Rizzio), The Night Of Kirk O' Field (The Murder Of Darnley), The Night Of Betrayal (Antonio Perez And Philip II Of Spain), The Night Of Charity (The Case Of The Lady Alice Lisle), The Night Of Massacre (The Story Of The Saint Bartholomew), The Night Of Witchcraft (Louis XIV And Madame De Montespan), The Night Of Gems (The Affaire Of The Queen's Necklace), The Night Of Terror (The Drownings At Nantes Under Carrier), The Night Of Nuptials (Charles The Bold And Sapphira Danvelt), The Night Of Stranglers (Giovanna Of Naples And Andreas Of Hungary), The Night Of Hate (The Murder Of The Duke Of Gandia), The Night Of Escape (Casanova's Escape From The Piombi), and The Night Of Masquerade (The Assassination Of Gustavus III Of Sweden). “In approaching "The Historical Nights' Entertainment" I set myself the task of reconstructing, in the fullest possible detail and with all the colour available from surviving records, a group of more or less famous events. I would select for my purpose those which were in themselves bizarre and resulting from the interplay of human passions, and whilst relating each of these events in the form of a story, I would compel that story scrupulously to follow the actual, recorded facts without owing anything to fiction, and I would draw upon my imagination, if at all, merely as one might employ colour to fill in the outlines which history leaves grey, taking care that my colour should be as true to nature as possible. For dialogue I would depend upon such scraps of actual speech as were chronicled in each case, amplifying it by translating into terms of speech the paraphrases of contemporary chroniclers.” According to Wikipedia, "Rafael Sabatini (April 29, 1875 - February 13, 1950) was an Italian/British writer of novels of and adventure. Rafael Sabatini was born in Jesi Italy, to an English mother and Italian father. His parents were singers who became teachers....he was the master of five languages. He quickly added a sixth language - English - to his linguistic collection. He consciously chose to write in his adopted language, because, he said, "all the best stories are written in English." After a brief stint in the business world, Sabatini went to work as a writer. He wrote short stories in the 1890s, and his first novel came out in 1902. It took Sabatini roughly a quarter of a century of hard work before he attained success with Scaramouche in 1921. The novel, a historical romantic set during the French Revolution, became an international best-seller. It was followed by the equally successful Captain Blood in 1922. All of his earlier books were rushed into reprints, the most popular of which was The Sea Hawk from 1915. Sabatini was a prolific writer; he produced a new book approximately every year, and maintained a great deal of popularity with the reading public through the decades that followed."