PREFACE. THE présent volumes are intended to form, together with the History of England from the accession of James I. to the disgrace of Chief Justice Coke,' and 'Prince Charles and the Spanish Marriage,' a connected history which now extends from the death of Elizabeth in 1603 to the assassination of Buckingham in 1628. I believe that much is gained for the understanding of the events of which I am now treating by telling the story of the last year of James's reign in close connection with the first years of his son. To make the division at the accession of Charles is to separate effect: from cause, and to account for the reaping of the whirlwind without taking into consideration the sowing of the wind. The five years, too, which followed the return of Charles from Madrid stand apart from those before and after them as a war period; for if peace with France and Spain was not at once concluded when Rochelle was taken, hostilities practically came to an end when Lindsey's fleet returned from the French coast without accomplishing anything. These years of war bear specially the impress of Buckingham's activity. Writers not unfrequently speak of Buckingham's ascen HISTORY TEACHING IN SCHOOLS. In course of publication, each volume in fep. 8vo. complete in itself, EPOCHS OF HISTORY: A SERIES OF BOOKS TREATING OF THE HISTORY OF ENGLAND AND EUROPE At Successive Epochs Subsequent to the Christian Era. EDITED BY EDWARD E. MORRIS, M.A. of Lincoln College, Oxford. Late Master of the Bedfordshire Middle-Class Public School. THE 'HE conviction has long been growing that for schools in general small and cheap books, if carefully prepared, are better than those which are larger and more costly. The difficulty in applying this idea to books of history is the risk of spoiling the interest by diminishing the detail. But it is generally allowed that the complete picture of any short period is of more value, in an educational point of view, than a mere outline of the history of a nation; and the practice, dictated by the course of many public examinations, of reading periods of history, seems to suggest a way in which it may be possible to secure in handy and cheap volumes that fulness without which history is unprofitable. For schools the study of elaborate histories is, and must remain, an impossibility; and generally, it may be safely said that in school routine time cannot be found for going through the complete continuous history of more than one or two countries at most. But it is not possible to understand thoroughly the history of even one country, if it be studied alone. A knowledge of the condition of surrounding countries is of at least equal importance with its own previous history. It is, so to speak, a horizontal rather than a vertical study of history. It is proposed, therefore, by publishing a series of books relating only to definite periods of history, to meet a want which cannot be met by continuous histories of any one country. The series will by no means be confined to the history of England, but will deal also with European history; and where the course of events in England may give to the epoch its name and character, care will be taken to trace the connexion of English history with that of the continental nations, and with the progress of ideas at work among them. Great as the improvement has been in the histories prepared of late years for the use of schools, much still remains to be done before we can have manuals thoroughly adapted for boys and girls, whose memories cannot retain mere names, or retain them at the cost of efforts which weaken their powers in other directions. In school histories no reference should be made to events of which some clear idea London, LONGMANS & CO. cannot be laid before the reader, and no names mentioned of actors in the history, unless enough can be said to exhibit them as living men. To this rule the contributors to the present series will, so far as practicable, strictly adhere. In short, it will be their object, not to recount all the events of any given epoch, but to bring out in the clearest light those incidents and features on which the mind of the young most readily fastens, and all those characteristics which exhibit the life of a people as well as the policy of their rulers, special attention being paid to the literature, manners, and state of knowledge during each epoch. With each volume a Map or Maps will be given, one, if necessary, representing the state of Europe during the period of which it treats; and a Chronological Analysis, shewing the relation of English and foreign events. Lists of authorities consulted and of books suitable for further study will be given in a Preface. Footnotes will be avoided. Lastly, the first volume of the series will have an introductory chapter, sketching the previous history of Europe so far as may be requisite to make the succeeding chapters intelligible. In the other volumes an introductory chapter, when it seems necessary, will be inserted in order to connect the book with earlier epochs treated n the series. The work, when complete, will thus form a series of consecutive olumes, which will give the reader, it is hoped, a full and accurate view of the history of England and Europe from the days of Charles the Great and Alfred to the present time. 1. Epochs selected, and Authors:- The Era of the Protestant Revolution. By F. SEEBOHM, Author of 'The Oxford Reformers-Colet, Erasmus, More.' With 4 Coloured Maps and 12 Diagrams on Wood. Price 2s. 6d. II. The Crusades. By the Rev. G. W. Cox, M.A. late Scholar of Trinity College, Oxford; Author of the Aryan Mythology' &c. With a Coloured Map. Price 2s. 6d. III. The Thirty Years' War, 1618-1648. By SAMUEL RAWSON GARDINER, late Student of Ch. Ch. Author of " History of England from the Accession of James I. to the Disgrace of Chief Justice Coke' &c. With a Coloured Map. Price 2s. 6d. IV. The Houses of Lancaster and York; with the Conquest and Loss of France. By JAMES GAIRDNER, of the Public Record Office; Editor of The Paston Letters' and of Letters and Papers illustrative of the Reigns of Richard III. and Henry VII.' in the Rolls Series. With 5 Coloured Maps. Price 2s. 6d. V. Edward III. By the Rev. W. WARBURTON, M.A. late Fellow of All Souls College, Oxford; Her Majesty's Senior Inspector of Schools. With Coloured Map. Price 2s. 6d. The Beginning of the Middle Ages; Charles the Great and Alfred; the History of England in its connexion with that of Europe in the Ninth Century. By the Very Rev. R. W. CHURCH, M.A. Dean of St. Paul's. The Norman Kings and the Feudal System. By the Rev. A. H. JOHNSON, M.A. Fellow of All Souls College, Oxford. The Early Plantagenets and their relation to the History of Europe; the foundation and growth of Constitutional Government. By the Rev. WILLIAM STUBBS, M.A. &c. Regius Professor of Modern History in the University of Oxford; Editor of Select Charters of English Constitutional History from the Earliest Times to the Reign of Edward I.' and of several Chronicles and Memorials of this period in the Rolls Series. The Age of Elizabeth. By the Rev. M. CREIGHTON, M.A. Fellow of Merton College, Oxford. The Fall of the Stuarts; and Western Europe from 1678 to 1697. By the Rev. Epward HALE, The Age of Anne. By EDWARD E. MORRIS, M.A. Editor of the Series. Frederick the Great and the Seven Years' War. By F. W. LONGMAN, of Balliol College, Oxford. The War of American Independence. By JOHN MALCOLM LUDLOW, Barrister-at-Law, Author of 'A Sketch of the History of the United States from Independence to Secession,' &c. London, LONGMANS & CO. |