THE EARLY AND MIDDLE AGES OF ENGLAND. BY CHARLES H. PEARSON, M.A., FELLOW OF ORIEL COLLEGE, oxford, AND PROFESSOR OF MODERN HISTORY, KING'S COLLEGE, LONDON. τὰ τῆς τύχης οὐκ ἄνευ φύσεως, ἢ συγκλώσεως και ἐπιπλοκῆς τῶν προνοίᾳ διοικουμένων· MARCUS AURELIUS. Wir tragen die Lasten unserer Väter, wie wir ihr Gutes empfangen haben, und so leben NOVALIS. LONDON: BELL AND DALDY, 186, FLEET STREET. 1861. [THE RIGHT OF TRANSLATION IS RESERVED.] PREFACE. In the present volume I have tried to give the last results of enquiry into the early history of England. Perhaps no period has been more profoundly studied, or less generally understood. The true explanation of this apparent anomaly is, I believe, that the great works of Sir F. Palgrave, Mr. Kemble, and their followers, have suffered in popular estimation from the elaborate treatment and profuse illustration which make their writings invaluable to scholars. I have condensed the history of twelve hundred years into a single volume, with a view to the large class who want time or inclination to pursue English history as an exclusive study. I think, too, that the labours of antiquarians, essayists, and philologists require from time to time to be reduced to order, for the mere purpose of comparison. An imperfect, even a false, theory of the connection and interdependence of events, is better than none at all. Without regard to the powers of arrangement, and vivid narrative style that make M. Thierry's "Conquest of England" a work of genius, I am sure the theory of races which it developes, however unsound it may be in its principles and application, has had results of the last importance in stimulating enquiry. |