of England." Macaulay was one of the most versatile men of his
time. His easy and graceful style was the vehicle of
extraordinary acquisitions, his learning being prodigious and
his memory phenomenal.


_England in Earlier Times_


I purpose to write the History of England from the accession of King
James II. down to a time within the memory of men still living. I shall
recount the errors which, in a few months, alienated a loyal gentry and
priesthood from the House of Stuart. I shall trace the course of that
revolution which terminated the long struggle between our sovereigns and
their parliaments, and bound up together the rights of the people and
the title of the reigning dynasty.

Unless I greatly deceive myself, the general effect of this chequered
narrative, faithfully recording disasters mingled with triumphs, will be
to excite thankfulness in all religious minds, and hope in the breasts
of all patriots. For the history of our country during the period
concerned is eminently the history of physical, of moral, and of
intellectual improvement.

Nothing in the early existence of Britain indicated the greatness she
was destined to attain. Of the western provinces which obeyed the
Caesars, she was the last conquered, and the first flung away. Though
she had been subjugated by the Roman arms, she received only a faint
tincture of Roman arts and letters. No magnificent remains of Roman
porches and aqueducts are to be found in Britain, and the scanty and