employed for the benefit both of his own country and of England. With such
assistance, I flatter myself that I have been enabled to secure whatever
can materially conduce to the illustration of the period in question,
whether in the form of chronicle, memoir, private correspondence, legal
codes, or official documents. Among these are various contemporary
manuscripts, covering the whole ground of the narrative, none of which
have been printed, and some of them but little known to Spanish scholars.
In obtaining copies of these from the public libraries, I must add, that I
have found facilities under the present liberal government, which were
denied me under the preceding. In addition to these sources of
information, I have availed myself, in the part of the work occupied with
literary criticism and history, of the library of my friend, Mr. George
Ticknor, who during a visit to Spain, some years since, collected whatever
was rare and valuable in the literature of the Peninsula. I must further
acknowledge my obligations to the library of Harvard University, in
Cambridge, from whose rich repository of books relating to our own country
I have derived material aid. And, lastly, I must not omit to notice the
favors of another kind for which I am indebted to my friend, Mr. William
H. Gardiner, whose judicious counsels have been of essential benefit to me
in the revision of my labors.

In the plan of the work, I have not limited myself to a strict
chronological narrative of passing events, but have occasionally paused,
at the expense, perhaps, of some interest in the story, to seek such
collateral information as might bring these events into a clearer view. I
have devoted a liberal portion of the work to the literary progress of the
nation, conceiving this quite as essential a part of its history as civil
and military details. I have occasionally introduced, at the close of the
chapters, a critical notice of the authorities used, that the reader may
form some estimate of their comparative value and credibility. Finally, I