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THE MEMORY OF

THOMAS, LORD

LORD MACAULAY,

THIS VOLUME IS DEDICATED.

PREFACE.

THE reign which the following pages purpose to illustrate, was in many respects a remarkable one. A momentous transition of modern society was progressing during the period in which it was cast. Western Europe was passing from feudalism to the adoption of monarchical systems. The conflict between these ideas had been raging for more than a century before, and continued to rage with equal violence for nearly a century after. The vigor and popularity of the reign of Henry the Fifth accelerated the march toward the idea of monarchy.

In that reign, too, the military glory of England reached its zenith. The military taste and habit had arrived at their full ripeness. The conquest of France was completed. England became the first of warlike powers.

Henry the Fifth, the second sovereign of the Lancastrian line, and but one degree removed from usurp ation, occupied a firmer throne, and received a more unanimous loyalty, than any preceding King.

The reformation of John Wickliffe, which had begun just before he ascended the throne, was, during his reign, preparing the way for religious revolutions in the future. At an era so remote, the doctrines of liberty of conscience and popular rights had begun to be discussed.

The personal character of Henry is full of interest. It was a union of chivalric traits with rare mental qualities. The beauty of his person, his youth, his manners, his various talents, his great heart, and his spirit of lofty purpose, lend a charm to his history which is found in the history of no other English King.

It is attempted to present a truthful narrative of his character and career. There is no reliable history of him extant. The sources from which the narrative is derived are principally the old chroniclers-Froissart, Monstrelet, Hall, Holinshed, Fuller, Baker, Fabyan, Speed, Rapin, Chronicler A, St. Remy, Livius, Elmham, Walsingham, Des Ursins, Otterbourne, Hardyng, Laboureur, and Capgrave; various historians of more or less authority-Hume, Turner, Lingard, Camden, Carte, Guthrie, Michelet, Sir Harris Nicholas, Lord Brougham, Tyler, Redmayne; manuscripts in the British Museum-Fœdera, Harleian MS., records of Parliament, State papers; and Halliwell's Letters of the Kings of England. Some facts in the account of Queen Katharine of Valois are taken from Miss Strickland's Queens of England.

BOSTON, August, 1865.

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