OF THE HISTORY OF ENGLAND, FROM THE INVASION OF JULIUS CÆSAR TO THE DEATH WITH A CONTINUATION TO THE ACCESSION OF QUEEN VICTORIA; TO WHICH IS ADDED, AN OUTLINE OF THE BRITISH CONSTITUTION. WITH QUESTIONS FOR EXAMINATION AT THE END OF EACH SECTION; FOR The Use of Schools and of Private Students. BY ROBERT SIMPSON, THIRTEENTH EDITION, GREATLY IMPROVED AND ENLARGED. EDINBURGH: PUBLISHED BY OLIVER & BOYD, TWEEDDALE COURT; AND SIMPKIN, MARSHALL, & CO., LONDON. 1840. [Price Three Shillings and Sixpence Bound.] PREFACE TO THE THIRTEENTH EDITION. THE value of Dr Goldsmith's Abridgment of the History of England, as a class-book for the use of schools, has been long known and universally acknowledged; on which account the proprietors and publishers of this volume have retained the title, though the work is almost entirely new. Several important sources of information have been opened up since the days when Goldsmith wrote, more especially as regards the early annals of the kingdom; for which reason that portion of his narrative which embodied the transactions of the Romans, Britons, and Saxons, has been withdrawn, to make way for a more correct and authentic account of the settlements of those ancient nations in the southern parts of this island. Besides, the original author concluded his labours at the death of George the Second; and as some of the most interesting occurrences in the history of England have taken place since that period, the proprietors, in order to render this publication as complete as possible, have brought down the record of events to the accession of Queen Victoria. With the same view, they have had the text so thoroughly revised, that every page has been partially rewritten. The errors which had crept into former editions are removed; the exercises have been carefully compared with the portions of the narrative to which they refer; and the chapter on the British Constitution has been recomposed by an able lawyer. To make this historical abridgment still better fitted for the use of Schools, the paragraphs in every section are so divided that each contains some important fact, and are so numbered as to correspond with the exercises, which bear a direct and special reference to the incidents recorded in the history. This arrangement enables the pupil to acquire a distinct knowledge of the successive events to which his attention is directed, and thereby to fix them more deeply in his memory, than could be accomplished by perusing a work in which such a systematic method is not observed. As the exercises contain a summary review of the whole history in the interrogatory form, and as the proper answers to them can only be found by consulting the paragraphs in every chapter or section, the reader is necessarily led to examine with greater minuteness the different parts of the narrative, which will thus be so indelibly impressed upon his mind, that they are not likely to be soon effaced. Such being the nature of the improvements which have been introduced into this edition, the publishers hope that the work will be found better calculated than it has hitherto been for facilitating to students of all ages the acquisition of a competent knowledge of English history. The proprietors regret that the several changes now noticed, valuable and indispensable as they must appear, could not be made without occasioning some inconvenience to teachers. But to compensate for this evil, and to prevent the recurrence of any similar one in future, they have stereotyped the volume, and thereby secured the uniformity of all subsequent editions. EDINBURGH, January 1, 1840. |