The Comic History of England. Gilbert Abbott À Beckett
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THE NINTH. ELIZABETH (CONTINUED) .
CHAPTER THE TENTH. ELIZABETH (CONCLUDED) .
CHAPTER THE FIRST. JAMES THE FIRST.
CHAPTER THE SECOND. JAMES THE FIRST (CONTINUED) .
CHAPTER THE THIRD. CHARLES THE FIRST.
CHAPTER THE FOURTH. CHARLES THE FIRST (CONTINUED) .
CHAPTER THE FIFTH CHARLES THE FIRST (CONCLUDED) .
CHAPTER THE SIXTH. THE COMMONWEALTH.
CHAPTER THE SEVENTH. RICHARD CROMWELL.
BOOK VII. THE PERIOD FROM THE RESTORATION OF CHARLES THE SECOND TO THE REVOLUTION.
CHAPTER THE FIRST. CHARLES THE SECOND.
CHAPTER THE SECOND. CHARLES THE SECOND (CONTINUED) .
CHAPTER THE THIRD. CHARLES THE SECOND (CONTINUED) .
CHAPTER THE FOURTH. JAMES THE SECOND.
CHAPTER THE FIFTH. LITERATURE, SCIENCE, FINE ARTS, MANNERS, CUSTOMS, AND CONDITION OF THE PEOPLE.
BOOK VIII. THE PERIOD FROM THE REVOLUTION TO THE ACCESSION OF GEORGE THE THIRD.
CHAPTER THE FIRST. WILLIAM AND MARY.
CHAPTER THE SECOND. WILLIAM THE THIRD.
CHAPTER THE THIRD. QUEEN ANNE.
CHAPTER THE FOURTH. GEORGE THE FIRST.
CHAPTER THE FIFTH. GEORGE THE SECOND.
CHAPTER THE SIXTH. GEORGE THE SECOND (CONCLUDED) .
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PREFACE.
IN commencing this work, the object of the Author was, as he stated in the Prospectus, to blend amusement with instruction, by serving up, in as palatable a shape as he could, the facts of English History. He pledged himself not to sacrifice the substance to the seasoning; and though he has certainly been a little free in the use of his sauce, he hopes that he has not produced a mere hash on the present occasion. His object has been to furnish something which may be allowed to take its place as a standing dish at the library table, and which, though light, may not be found devoid of nutriment. That food is certainly not the most wholesome which is the heaviest and the least digestible.
Though the original design of this History was only to place facts in an amusing light, without a sacrifice of fidelity, it is humbly presumed that truth has rather gained than lost by the mode of treatment that has been adopted. Persons and tilings, events and characters, have been deprived of their false colouring, by the plain and matter-of-fact spirit in which they have been approached by the writer of the "Comic History of England." He has never scrupled to take the liberty of tearing off the masks and fancy dresses of all who have hitherto been presented in disguise to the notice of posterity. Motives are treated in these pages as unceremoniously as men; and as the human disposition was much the same in former times as it is in the present day, it has been judged by the rules of common sense, which are alike at every period.
Some, who have been accustomed to look at History as a pageant, may think it a desecration to present it in a homely shape, divested of its gorgeous accessories. Such persons as these will doubtless feel offended at finding the romance of history irreverently demolished, for the sake of mere reality. They will-perhaps honestly though erroneously-accuse the author of a contempt for what is great and good; but the truth is, he has so much real respect for the great and good, that he is desirous of preventing the little and bad from continuing to claim admiration upon false pretences.
THE COMIC HISTORY OF ENGLAND.
BOOK I.
CHAPTER THE FIRST. THE BRITONS—THE ROMANS—INVASION BY JULIUS CÆSAR.
IT has always been the good fortune of the antiquarian who has busied himself upon the subject of our ancestors, that the total darkness by which they are overshadowed, renders it impossible to detect the blunderings of the antiquarian himself, who has thus been allowed to grope about the dim twilight of the past, and entangle himself among its cobwebs, without any light being thrown upon his errors.
But while the antiquarians have experienced no obstruction from others, they have managed to come into collision among themselves, and have knocked their heads together with