THE HISTORY OF EIGLAID 



EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. 



By W. E. H. LECKY, 



Author of " History of the Rise and Influence of the Spirit of Rationalism in 

 Europe," etc. 



Volumes III and IV. exieadino: from the accesi^ion of George III to 1784. tlie 

 opening year of Pitt's first ministry, and covering the period of the American 

 Revolution. Published by arrangement with the author. 



Large 12»»io. Uniform with Vols. I and II, of which new editions are 

 now ready. 



The 4 Tols., cloth, $2.25 each. 



" This section of tlie work covers the first twenty-two years of the reign of 

 George III, a period whicli, in its bearing on constitutional, political, and social 

 problems, was the most pregnant in the modem history ot Great Britain. It 

 was during these momentous years that the relation of the Crown to a Ministry 

 representing the House of Commons was definitely fixed, that the necessity of 

 parliamentary reform and the expediency of abolishing Catholic disabilities wt;o 

 distinctly recognized, and that the influence of the newspaper press acquired 

 unprecedented weight among political agencies, and called for new guarantees 

 of freedom by changes in the law of libel. This was the period of Burke's most 

 potent and exemplary activity, of the Midiilesex election in which Wilkes played 

 a part analogous to that taken by Bradlaueh in our own day, of the ministries of 

 Bute, Grenville, Rockingham, Chatham, Shelbunie, and the younger Pitt. 



" At home and abroad this quarter of a century was memorable for conquests 

 and revolutions. The afi'airs of the East India Company were administered by 

 Clive, and the vast accessions of territory in Bengal were supplemented by those 

 resulting from the war with Hyder All. In America the discontent of tlie thirteen 

 colonies had ripened into open revolt, and all the phases of the contest are ex- 

 hibited in these volumes, up to the last year of exhaustion and inaction which 

 preceded the final peace. Simultaneous with this movement on the other side of 

 the .\tlantic was the growth of political discontent in Ireland, which culminated 

 in the demand for legislative independence. All of these topics are carefully 

 discussed by Mr. LecUy. and the spirit which he evinces is so candid and impartial 

 tliat his conclusions will be listened to with attention and respect, even where 

 they run counter to the reader's individual opinions and predilections."— iV^fW 

 York Sun. 



" The directness and lucidity of style, the copiousness of information, and the 

 manifest endeavor to be strictly accurate and impartial, which were strongly 

 marked characteristics of the earlier volumes, are dominant features also in these. 

 His work, so far as it has proizressed, will be by common consent avrarded its 

 place as the most important and impartial history of the period." — Boston Journal. 



" The two new volumes of Lecky's ' History of England ' will prove of special 

 interest to Americans, as they cover the period of the American Revolution, and 

 treat of statesmen, soldiers, authors, and philosophers, whose memories are 

 enshrined in the hearts of the American people. His history of this period will 

 present many points of interest when compared with that of the American his- 

 torian Baiicrolt, whose latest. work, by a happy coincidence, is simultaneously 

 published with Mr. Lecky's." — C^icaj/o Jb?<7'«a7. 



For mle by all booksellers ; or sent by mail, post-paid, on receipt of price. 

 New York: D. APPLETON & CO., 1, 3, k 5 Bond Street. 



