THE HISTORY OF ENGLAND: FROM THE EARLIEST PERIOD то THE DEATH OF ELIZABETH. BY SHARON TURNER, ESQ., F.S. A. & R.A.S.L. IN TWELVE VOLUME S. VOL. I. COMPRISING THE HISTORY OF THE ANGLO-SAXONS, FROM LONDON: PRINTED FOR LONGMAN, ORME, BROWN, GREEN, AND LONGMANS. PREFACE ΤΟ THE SIXTH EDITION. THE increasing prosperity of the British nation, and the expansion of its empire by the new colonies which are issuing from it, and are forming, as they settle and enlarge, new branches of dominion to it in the distant regions of our globe, make its first rudiments and humble beginnings more interesting to us. To represent these faithfully, and to collect from the perishing or neglected memorials of former times every circumstance that could exhibit them, before it became impossible to do so from the disappearance of the ancient documents, and from the overwhelming flood of modern events, revolutions, and diversified knowlege, which have made the last fifty years so memorable, was the favourite object of the author, when in his youthful days he conceived the idea and attempted to execute it in the following work. THAT he should have lived to revise its sixth edition was more than he expected: for it is now thirty-seven years since he published its first volume. This is pleasing; but it is still a greater |