I.
LIVES OF THE KINGS OF ENGLAND.
BY THOMAS ROSCOE, ESQ.
Vol. I., comprising WILLIAM THE CONQUEROR. Printed and illustrated uniformly with Miss Strickland’s “Lives of the Queens of England,” in small 8vo., price 10s. 6d. bound. To be completed in about six volumes.
While History is occupied with the public deeds of the great and the mighty of the earth, and with the consequences which result from them, it is the province of Biography to explore the peculiarities of individual disposition, character, and way of thinking; to study the influence of external circumstances upon these; to search out the real motives of actions; to follow its subject into the privacy of domestic and social life; and to draw a faithful picture alike of his virtues and his vices, his excellences and his failings, his passions, propensities, and eccentricities; in short, of every trait by which he is distinguished from the rest of mankind. Hence the sagacious biographer, extending his researches to minute details, may chance to discover truths which elude the eye of the historian, content with the great outlines of general facts. The “Lives of the Kings of England,” written with such impressions, must therefore prove a valuable auxiliary to those readers, who, fond of tracing effects up to their true causes, are desirous of ascertaining the real share contributed by each of the British Sovereigns to those results which have conferred on our country and nation their present proud pre-eminence in power, prosperity, freedom, and glory. To such as seek amusement only, they cannot fail to be equally acceptable, as a connected record of the sayings and doings of personages, many of them ranking foremost as models of chivalry, and most enjoying the highest renown among the politicians and the warriors of their own time.
II.
LIVES OF THE QUEENS OF ENGLAND,
FROM THE NORMAN CONQUEST,
WITH ANECDOTES OF THEIR COURTS;
Now first published from Official Records and other Authentic Documents, private as well as public.
BY AGNES STRICKLAND.
DEDICATED, BY PERMISSION, TO HER MAJESTY.
Now in course of Publication, embellished with Portraits, in elegant volumes, small 8vo., price 10s. 6d. each, bound; either of which may be had separately.
“These volumes have the fascination of a romance united to the integrity of history.”—Times.
“A most valuable and entertaining work.”—Chronicle.
“A valuable contribution to historical knowledge, to young persons especially. It contains a mass of every kind of historical matter of interest, which industry and research could collect. We have derived much entertainment and instruction from the work.”—Athenæum.