A 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 AND LONGMAN, HURST, REES, ORME, & BROWN, PREFACE. 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 calm inquiry after truth, and being impatient of that unwearied research which,-never satisfied while any source of information remains unexplored, or probability not duly weighed,—with unremitting industry sifts and collates authorities, he allowed his narrative to be directed by his predilections, and overlooked the materials from which it ought to have been constructed. Many documents of essential consequence have, since his time, enriched the public stock; but it may appear, from the following pages, that he either did not avail himself, or make the proper use, of those open to his inspection. From the short period, indeed, devoted by him to that portion of British History, I conceive it to have been morally impossible for him to have become master of the necessary materials. The Work which I now submit to the Public has occupied my leisure hours for many years; and though, to my regret, I perceive that in some respects, particularly in certain expressions which had escaped me, it might still be improved, I trust that it will be found deficient neither in research nor ac |