OF ILLUSTRIOUS

BRITISH CHILDREN.

BY

AGNES STRICKLAND,

AUTHORESS OF THE RIVAL CRUSOES," &c, &

LONDON:

HAMILTON AND CO., SIMPKIN AND CO.,

AND WHITTAKER AND CO.

NORWICH: JARROLD AND SONS.

1547

PREFACE.

HISTORY, which may be regarded as an inexhaustible treasury of entertainment and information, containing as it does the records of past ages, and of every important event connected with the rise and fall of nations, and abounding with incidents of such extraordinary interest, that the pages of few works of fiction can offer any thing so attractive, is seldom presented to the youthful reader in an agreeable form.

A barren chronology of monarchical successions, bloody wars, and political intrigues, comprise, generally speaking, the contents of the historical works prepared for the use of schools, from which the reluctant student turns with weariness and distaste.

Such volumes resemble the charts in which navigators delineate the barren ranges of hills that form the leading features of a country, while the soft undulations of the fertile valleys, the verdant