THE POLITICAL HISTORY OF ENGLAND

Seventy-five years have passed since Lingard completedhis History of England, which ends with the Revolutionof 1688. During that period historical study hasmade a great advance. Year after year the mass ofmaterials for a new History of England has increased;new lights have been thrown on events and characters,and old errors have been corrected. Many notableworks have been written on various periods of ourhistory; some of them at such length as to appealalmost exclusively to professed historical students. Itis believed that the time has come when the advancewhich has been made in the knowledge of Englishhistory as a whole should be laid before the public ina single work of fairly adequate size. Such a bookshould be founded on independent thought and research,but should at the same time be written with a fullknowledge of the works of the best modern historiansand with a desire to take advantage of their teachingwherever it appears sound.

The vast number of authorities, printed and inmanuscript, on which a History of England should bebased, if it is to represent the existing state of knowledge,renders co-operation almost necessary and certainlyadvisable. The History, of which this volume is an instalment,is an attempt to set forth in a readable formthe results at present attained by research. It will consistof twelve volumes by twelve different writers, eachiiof them chosen as being specially capable of dealing withthe period which he undertakes, and the editors, whileleaving to each author as free a hand as possible, hopeto insure a general similarity in method of treatment, sothat the twelve volumes may in their contents, as well asin their outward appearance, form one History.

As its title imports, this History will primarilydeal with politics, with the History of England and,after the date of the union with Scotland, Great Britain,as a state or body politic; but as the life of a nation iscomplex, and its condition at any given time cannot beunderstood without taking into account the various forcesacting upon it, notices of religious matters and of intellectual,social, and economic progress will also findplace in these volumes. The footnotes will, so far asis possible, be confined to references to authorities, andreferences will not be appended to statements whichappear to be matters of common knowledge and donot call for support. Each volume will have an Appendixgiving some account of the chief authorities,original and secondary, which the author has used.This account will be compiled with a view of helpingstudents rather than of making long lists of books withoutany notes as to their contents or value. That theHistory will have faults both of its own and such aswill always in some measure attend co-operative work,must be expected, but no pains have been spared to makeit, so far as may be, not wholly unworthy of the greatnessof its subject.

Each volume, while forming part of a completeHistory, will also in itself be a separate an