HISTORY

OF THE

BRITISH EMPIRE,

FROM THE ACCESSION OF

CHARLES I. TO THE RESTORATION;

WITH AN INTRODUCTION,

TRACING THE PROGRESS OF SOCIETY, AND OF THE CONSTITUTION, FROM
THE FEUDAL TIMES TO THE OPENING OF THE HISTORY;

AND INCLUDING A

PARTICULAR EXAMINATION OF MR. HUME'S STATEMENTS

RELATIVE TO THE

CHARACTER OF THE ENGLISH GOVERNMENT.

BY GEORGE BRODIE, ESQ.

ADVOCATE.

IN FOUR VOLUMES.

VOL. I.

EDINBURGH:

PRINTED FOR BELL & BRADFUTE, EDINBURGH :

AND LONGMAN, HURST, REES, ORME, & BROWN,

LONDON.

1822.

SEMINARIE VOOR
ENGELSE UITERATUUR

Nr 45 90

DATUM -10 -73

PREFACE. IL
hortus

FROM the celebrity of Mr. HUME's Work, it may be thought to have been equally presumptuous and hopeless to enter the field which he is supposed to have so fully preoccupied. The portion of British History, however, embraced by the following volumes, is so important—the picture there presented so different from the one drawn by that elegant writer, that, if it shall be found to be sufficiently supported by authority, I flatter myself that I shall be absolved from the charge of either presumption or rashness.

For the task of an historian, Mr. Hume was, in many respects, most eminently qualified; but, having embarked in his undertaking with a pre-disposition unfavourable to a

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