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In Two Volumes, 8vo. with 9 Coloured Maps and Plans, 8 Plates, and 16 Woodcut Illustrations, price 288.

HISTORY

OF THE

LIFE AND TIMES OF EDWARD THE THIRD.

By WILLIAM LONGMAN, Author of 'Lectures on the History of England from the Earliest Times to the Death of Edward the Second.'

'A reign more full of interest and importance-and yet more strangely neglected by the student-could scarcely be better reduced to history than in the work to which we now would draw attention. It was a difficult task to create a living picture of an age so remote in time and character from our own; so dependent for its adequate manifestation on a thorough knowledge of the collateral history of all the continental kingdoms of the day; and requiring, at almost every turn, the happiest admixture of the social elements with the political and the religious. Mr. LONGMAN has carefully reflected the spirit of the times of which he writes, while exhibiting always the research of the historian, and the justness and discrimination of the critic.' EXAMINER, February 27, 1869.

In Mr. LONGMAN's work, which combines the requisite characteristics of history and biography to an extent and with an amount of skill rare among the writers of the period, we acknowledge with much gratitude a solid boon to English literature, a valuable contribution to our knowledge of the past and its illustrious dead. The Author's endeavour to make his readers feel personally acquainted with the King, to realize him as a man, to remove him from the category of phantoms to which the far-distant actors in history belong, into the rank of those concerning whom we have distinct views and impressions, is singularly successful. The great soldier, the chivalrous prince, the man of marked character, and resolute if sometimes erring action, the splendid veteran, is made to live and move in these pages, no longer indistinctly picturesque, like the figures in ancient tapestry, but clear and individual like the modern photograph. While this book has all the strict and categorical accuracy of detail necessary to its authority as history, it is remarkably free from the fault of dryness. The picturesque, the illustrative elements, are never overlooked or omitted; and the Author has gathered from all contemporary quarters materials for the enriching, the adorning, and the completion of his picture. The wars with Scotland and France in which England was involved, the relations of England with the Holy See, the history of trade and of commercial legislation which received so much impetus and development under EDWARD the THIRD; the characteristics and mutations of social manners and customs are set before the reader with such plainness of statement, and such ease, as few historical writers can boast. Round the central figure of the gallant, knightly King, are grouped the brave and romantic figures of the times, of which Mr. LONGMAN gives a sketch, curiously vivid for its

Life and Times of EDWARD the THIRD.

OPINIONS of the PRESS-continued.

brevity, in a few lines of his preface........A thorough examination of the serious effect on the political and private life of the nation produced by the Black Death, and an eloquent exposition of the influence of the institution of chivalry in time of war, are among the most remarkable features of this work, which can hardly be too highly commended for the width of its scope and the completeness of its finish. Mr. LONGMAN has handled the difficult and complicated subject of the external affairs of England under EDWARD the THIRD, as thoroughly and as well as he has treated the domestic history of the period. He gives an account of the condition of all the component States of Europe, their mutual relations, the origin of the various sovereignties and dominions, and their influence on EDWARD'S wars and alliances. The sketch of the condition of Spain when the Black Prince undertook his fatal expedition in aid of PETER the CRUEL, is perhaps the most remarkable of those descriptions for its vigour and conciseness. The Author regards EDWARD's reign as representing, in the political life of the English nation, that period in the life of man when he first arrives at manhood, begins to feel his strength, and dares to use it. Since the reign of King JOHN, and his unsuccessful struggle with the Barons, the people, by a continued opposition to attempted irresponsible power, which culminated in the establishment of a representative system of government, had been forging constitutional weapons for future use, and slowly learning their possible application. But it was not until this reign that they availed themselves of their knowledge and turned it to practical account. There is so much of the brilliant, the romantic, the picturesque, so much of war and chivalry, of pomp, and poetry, in the life of EDWARD and that of his gallant, wrong-headed, reckless, famous son, that it must have been a sore temptation to dwell rather upon the features of the time than upon its political and commercial developments, to follow the King and the Prince to the stricken field, rather than to linger with the Parliament, and watch the action of the burgesses and the corporations. But Mr. LONGMAN is a strictly just historian. "Cloth of gold" does not lord it over "cloth of frieze" with him. Another point deserving of notice is his manner of delineating the character and influence of the Queen, the due importance he assigns to PHILIPPA of HAINAULT, and his recognition of the public calamity inflicted by her death on England........It is not too much to say of Mr. LONGMAN's work that it stands alone in its treatment of this subject (Ireland); that the student of history who would know how the case of Ireland really stood in those old times will resort to this book. The warlike episodes of EDWARD'S reign are selected with striking effect, and with a sympathetic spirit which lends them a strong attraction; and the concluding chapters in which the Author sums up the incidents of the King's reign, which rose in splendour, attained supreme glory, and declined in shame and failure-a reign which may be compared with that of SOLOMON for its promise, its performance, and its melancholy decadence-are remarkable for their power, their conciseness, and their judicial calmness of tone.' DUBLIN REVIEW, April 1869.

By the same Author, in 8vo. with Maps, &c. price 15s. LECTURES on the HISTORY of ENGLAND, from the Earliest Times to the Death of Edward II.

London: LONGMANS and CO. Paternoster Row.

CHESS OPENINGS.

LONDON: PRINTED BY

SPOTTISWOODE AND CO., NEW-STREET SQUARE AND PARLIAMENT STREET

BY

F. W. LONGMAN,

BALL. COLL. OXFORD.

LONDON:

LONGMANS, GREEN, AND CO.

1870.

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