"Ce qu'on aurait voulu retenir de la lecture de l'histoire, ce qu'on VOL. I. London: PRINTED FOR T. & G. UNDERWOOD, 32, FLEET STREET. THE extreme popularity of Mr. Hume's acute and delightful volumes, having almost superseded the perusal of other histories of England, has caused a very general unacquaintedness with those topics connected with our early annals, which that author, either from haste or negligence, has carelessly passed over. It was somewhat in the spirit of supplying these deficiencies that the present work originated. The formality of the orthodox rules of history has been considered by the irreverent spirit of the age as making a near approach to dulness, and consequently nothing is more frequently complained of, than the difficulty of remembering events, and the ennui with which the perusal of the remote period of English, as well as of other, history is apt to be accompanied : whatever noise the sieges, the battles, and the treaties occasioned in their day, nothing has a more extraordinary tendency to produce repose and quiet now. In the present attempt to recal the public attention to many important but almost forgotten particulars, the Author, by combining the stream of authentic narrative with various discursive enquiries into the traditions, the Ե manners, the literature, and the institutions of successive eras, has endeavoured to divest his subject of tediousness without impairing its utility, and to render the progress of events more interesting than is usually found in the severe and unbending style of the professed historian. To effect so desirable a purpose, the author has ventured to choose the medium of Dialogue, as admitting with propriety every variety of digression; and thus perhaps "Conversations on the History and Antiquities of England" would have been the more appropriate title, had not the term, from its late frequent application, been understood to be restricted to publications chiefly elementary. The speakers are distinguished by the initial letters of Author, Friend, and Pupil. An adherence to a rule of the ancients, who fixed a local situation in which the disputants began their converse, has given an opportunity to trace the progress of architecture in England, by an examination of several of its most celebrated structures; which discussion, it is presumed, will justify the assumption of the term 'Antiquities' in the title-page. The prejudices and misrepresentations of party theory the Author disavows, as alike hostile to fairness and to truth. In every doubtful point it has been his endeavour to enquire with diligence, and to judge with candour. In dismissing his work to the indulgence of the public, he gratefully acknowledges the ready access which he has found to the inexhaustible stores of the British Museum, the value of which assistance it is impossible too highly to appreciate, as it has afforded him an ample opportunity to verify his facts by a constant reference to original authorities; nor can he pass over without acknowledgment, the ever open doors of the London Institution, which, by affording him the unrestricted use of a well-chosen collection of historical and topographical volumes, has essentially facilitated his progress. Having originally intended to publish his work by subscription, the thanks of the Author are due to those Noblemen and Gentlemen who favoured him with their patronage, and above all to the condescending kindness of his Majesty, who had graciously permitted that his name should appear at the head of the list of the subscribers. |