assistance, that from the reign of James II. which concludes Hume's and Rapin's History, the Continuation of the latter by Tindal as far as it goes, is the only one to be relied on. Smollett, who has continued the history of Hume, is far from having succeeded to his accuracy, and seems to have had no other historical documents than the newspapers of the party whose opinions he supported.

More or less commendable historical abridgments, either in letters or other forms, are not wanting; the most inaccurate of all has been published in four volumes under the name of Goldsmith, and principally consists of shreds taken from Hume and Smollett, interspersed with unsupported anecdotes, or democratical bombast; the whole written in a pleasing style, but so carelessly composed, that in the reign of Elizabeth, for instance, the account of the events that occurred from the year 1563 to 1586, which I could not compress in less than seventy-six pages, is reduced by this laconic author to the following words; "During this peaceable and uniform go"vernment, England furnishes but few materials "for history." This pretended history is, how. ever, the most generally diffused in England on account of its conciseness, low price, and perhaps more than all, on account of the justly endeared name of the poet to whom it is ascribed: nay, an abridgment of it in one volume for the use of the schools, has been stereotyped, after having been reprinted thirteen times, and is generally used in almost all the schools of Great Britain; so that the English youth have been hitherto condemned to get no other historical knowledge in their public education than false or mistated facts, anecdotes and principles.

These circumstances frequently recurring to my mind, already engrossed with the most ardent desire of requiting by any means in my power, the obliga

1

tions I owed to this hospitable and generous nation, for the honourable asylum and relief they have so readily afforded to my misfortunes, as well as to those of all the classes of the French emigration; I fondly indulged in the hope, that if I could succeed in composing a useful book for the instruction of the English youth, such a token of my gratitude might further extend the remembrance of it. Irresistibly impressed with these ideas I could think of nothing else till I found a new particular method of teaching history by the easiest exertion of children's reflection and reasoning, so as to prevent its being forgotten though never learned by rote. But the better this method might be, the more it required accurate historical abridgments; and as none of that description existed for the history of England in a form that could be adapted to this method, I resolved to write one myself, and even to compose it in English, in hopes that the difficulty of the task, particularly for a foreigner, would be an additional claim in my favour to the indulgence of the public, and that the advantages of the plan, together with the great facility of improving its execution, would compensate in some measure for the incorrectness of style, and all the defects of language which might slip from my pen.

I was no sooner engaged in this work than the great interest and richness of the subject, induced me to undertake a more enlarged abridgment in the improved form of those of president Henault and Mr. Pfeffel for the histories of France and Germany; as, besides the peculiar utility of such a work, absolutely wanting for the history of Great Britain, it would facilitate and better secure the accuracy of the more compressed abridgment intended for the schools. Both are now complete; but the last cannot be committed to the press before the sale of this

has enabled me to pay the expences of its printing. The subscription will, on that account, remain open till further notice.

As to the flattering reproaches kindly addressed to me for my not having written this work in French rather than in English, as the task might have been infinitely less laborious, and probably better executed, I shall only observe, that besides the motives above mentioned, the following would have decided the question. My situation did not allow me to incur the considerable expence of a good translation, which would have necessarily enhanced the price of the book, and protracted its publication.

N. B. No royal family in any country ever experienced such an accumulation of hereditary misfortunes, as happened to be the lot of the Dynasty of Stuart, both in Scotland and in England. Their original name was Walter. They assumed that of Stuart, or Stewart, from the dignity of Steward of Scotland, possessed by Walter, who married the sister and heiress of David II. the reigning king of Scotland, after whose death Robert II. his nephew, and the son of Walter, ascended the throne. He was succeeded by his son,

Robert III. who died broken-hearted, owing to the captivity of his son, unjustly detained by Henry IV. king of England. Murdered in his bed.

Killed by a cannon ball at the siege of
Roxburgh.

James I.

James II.

James III.

Killed in a civil war by his own subjects.

James V. Dies with grief on aceount of his disas

ters in a war against England.

Mary, Queen Beheaded.

James VI. of Scotland, and Ist of England, who was the right lineal descendant of Malcolm III. king of Scotland, by Margaret, sister and heiress of Edgar Atheling, the only legal heir of the Saxon family to the throne of Great Britain; so that the accession of James I. adding to the claims of Maud of Scotland, married to Henry I. those of the other children of Margaret Atheling and Malcolm III. has revived as much as possible in the Stuart's family, the whole right of the Saxon dynasty. (See the Genealogical Table, vol. i.)

A

CHRONOLOGICAL ABRIDGMENT

OF THE

HISTORY

OF

GREAT BRITAIN.

PERIOD THE EIGHTH.

CHARLES I. twenty-fifth King from the Conquest,

[Second son and successor of James I. born 1600; ascended the throne March 27, 1625; married Henrietta daughter of France on the 13th of June following; crowned February 2, 1626; tried January 20, 1649; condemned the 27th; beheaded at Whitehall the 30th, aged 48, and buried in St. George's chapel, Windsor. An interregnum followed this reign till the restoration of Charles II. 1660.]

Ann. 1625.

CHARLES was very popular at the time of his father's death, and his accession excited as universal a joy among the people as can be imagined. In the mean time, all the powers of Europe being engaged in war were very solicitous for his friendship.