THE POPULAR HISTORY OF ENGLAND: &n IHuiStrateti Jjtstorg OF SOCIETY AND GOVERNMENT FROM THE EARLIEST BY CHARLES KNIGHT. "The harvest gathered in the fields of the Past is to be brought home for the use of VOLUME VIII. FROM THE PEACE WITH THE UNITED STATES, 1815, TO THE FINAL EXTINCTION AN APPENDIX OF ANNALS, 1849-1861. LONDON •. 1862. TO HIS ROYAL HIGHNESS &c., &c., &c. Sir, My attempt to write a History of England more in unison with the requirements of the present age than the Histories, still in common use, which were published in the last century, has reached its close, after a continuous labour of long duration. My work is concluded at the period when your Royal Highness is about to complete your twenty-first year. On this auspicious Birth-day I present this History to your Royal Highness, dedicating it to you with profound respect. The History of our country thus soliciting your Royal Highness's gracious reception was entitled "Popular," as being intended to form a History of the People as well as a History of the State. In tracing the gradual advance of this People out of slavery, feudal oppression, and regal despotism, to the attainment of equal justice and well-guarded rights, my duty has been to show how the union of Liberty with Order has at length made the British Throne the securest in the world, reposing upon deep-rooted institutions, possessing that capacity for safe because gradual |