variety and importance of the matter which it contains, I believe that, as it was not the least difficult part of my undertaking, that volume will be regarded as not the least valuable. On religion-a subject on which the celebrated historian alluded to seems to me no less unhappy than in his ideas of the government-I have been particularly copious. Endeavouring to keep steadily in view the principles of toleration, I have yet made it my study to present such a faithful picture of the sentiments of the times as may enable the reader to form a just estimate of transactions which flowed from a more contracted policy. In recording civil events, it has ever been my object to abstain from all unnecessary indulgence in abstract speculations, and to appreciate men and things, in relation to the state of the government, of society, and of public opinion, as the only standard by which they ought to be tried. A HISTORY OF THE ENGLISH CONSTITUTION, AND PROGRESS OF SOCIETY IN ENGLAND, FROM THE FEUDAL TIMES TILL THE CLOSE OF THE REIGN CONTAINING A PARTICULAR ACCOUNT OF THE VARIOUS INSTITUTIONS AND USAGES UNDER THE TUDORS AND THEIR PREDECESSORS, WHICH EITHER WERE PREJUDICIAL TO FREEDOM, OR ARE SUPPOSED TO HAVE BEEN SO; TOGETHER WITH AN EXAMINATION OF MR. HUME'S STATEMENTS IN HIS THIRD APPENDIX, UPON WHICH HE CONCLUDES THAT THE ENGLISH TRACING THE PROGRESS OF SOCIETY, AND INVESTIGATING THE VARIOUS CIRCUMSTANCES WHICH AFFECTED THE CONSTITUTION OF ENGLAND DURING PRESENTING A PICTURE OF THE STATE OF SCOTLAND, TOGETHER WITH AN ACCOUNT OF THE GOVERNMENT OF THAT COUNTRY. 283 CONTAINING A RAPID SKETCH OF SOME LEADING TRANSACTIONS AT THE CLOSE OF THE PRECEDING REIGN-AS THE BOHEMIAN WAR, WITH THE RUIN OF THE ELECTOR PALATINE AND HIS FAMILY-THE PROJECTED SPANISH MATCH, AND RUPTURE OF THE TREATIES, ETC., WITH THE CHARACTER OF BUCKINGHAM -DEATH OF JAMES, AND ACCESSION OF CHARLES-RELIGION — MARRIAGE WITH HENRIETTA OF FRANCE THE PROCEEDINGS OF HIS FIRST PARLIAMENT-THE ADJOURNMENT-LOAN OF SHIPS TO FRANCE TO BE USED AGAINST THE PROTESTANTS OF ROCHELLE FROM THE DISSOLUTION OF THE FIRST PARLIAMENT OF CHARLES I. TO THE CALLING OF THE THIRD: CONTAINING AN ACCOUNT OF THE EXPEDITION AGAINST SPAIN - THE SECOND PARLIAMENT - THE MISUNDERSTANDING BETWEEN THE KING AND QUEEN; AND THE FRENCH WAR-WITH THE FROM THE ASSEMBLING OF THE THIRD PARLIAMENT TO ITS DISSOLUTION; INCLUDING THE VARIOUS TRANSACTIONS OF THAT PARLIAMENT, AS THE PETITION OF RIGHTS, ETC. THE ASSASSINATION OF BUCKINGHAM BY FELTON DURING THE PROROGATION, ETC.; THE FATE OF ROCHELLE; THE RE-MEETING OF PARLIAMENT, AND DISSOLUTION, WITH THE IMPRISONMENT CONSTITUTIONAL HISTORY OF THE BRITISH EMPIRE. INTRODUCTION. CHAPTER I. A HISTORY OF THE ENGLISH CONSTITUTION, AND PROGRESS OF I. THOUGH the fundamental principles of the English Con- CHAP. stitution were laid at a very early period, and have been traced back by ingenious men even to the woods of Germany, its benefits were long restricted to a small portion of the community. It requires no uncommon share of sagacity to discover that, if the land of a country be appropriated by a few, and the many have no manufactures to exchange for the produce of the soil, the lot of the latter must, under any form of government, be slavery and wretchedness. Without an equivalent to purchase the means of subsistence, they have only the melancholy alternative of starving, or of submitting to the conditions which the owners of the soil choose to impose. Such was the feudal system, under which every large estate was |