Excerpt from The History of England, Vol. 1: From the d104 of Hume and Smollett to the Reign of George the Third; And Thence Continued to Include the Restoration of the Empire in France, the Great Exhibition of Industry of All Nations, and the Death of the Duke of Wellington

The lapse of ages renders everything obsolete and new histories of old events, in the progress of human affairs, become absolutely necessary. It would be a great mistake to suppose that the narratives of those who were contemporary with the facts they relate must necessarily be the best that could be written, and to be preferred for ever. Bacon, Milton, and other great authorities, are opposed to this; and, without going back to Gildas Brittannicus, to Nenm'us, or the venerable Bede, and without insisting on the impossibility of rendering the works of the learned monks, from the year ad. 493 downwards, as originally written, available. To the English reader of the nineteenth century, it is obvious, to every reflecting mind, that contemporary writers are not invariably to be relied upon. If they can gain access to the actors in the scenes they describe, _ they cannot always guard against being imposed upon by dissimulation and their own predilections often render it impossible for them to be impartial. Many circumstances may disqualify them from furnishing such a relation as ought to satisfy posterity. The author of Paradise Lost has assured us that Wise men, and of best ability, have forborne to write the acts of their own days. By the arrangement here to be adopted, as will be subsequently explained, it must be seen, that every precaution is intended to be used to avoid justifying the bitter remark of Gibbon that The voice of history is little more than the organ of hatred or flattery.

It is in the nature of things that many political transactions of moment should be but imperfectly explained to that generation whose welfare they most immediately affect. They, indeed, are acutely felt but the springs of action are concealed. The march of time slowly unveils what was long merely suspected, or wholly unknown. Within the last century, vast additions have been made to our historical treasures, of which no industry, no talent, could enable former annahsts to possess themselves. It is not to detract from the merit of those who have gone before to say that their labours are incomplete, because particular interests withheld from them matters since revealed by death or accident; Annomm series at fuga temporum.

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