Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1840, by HARPER & BROTHERS,

In the Clerk's Office of the Southern District of New-York,

ADVERTISEMENT.

NEXT to the history of their own country, that of England, the land of their forefathers, is incomparably the most interesting to the American people. Indeed, considering that, for more than a century and a half, we were united to the mother country as colonies, and that, in consequence of this long political and social connexion, our character, institutions, and laws have been largely derived from her, the study of English history would seem indispensable to a proper knowledge and understanding of our own. This study is furthermore recommended to us by community of literature and language; by many kindred sympathies and associations; and, not least, by the vastly important political and commercial relations existing between the two countries, and which are daily becoming of greater consequence.

English history, therefore, has peculiar claims upon American readers; and the publishers have consequently been led to believe that they could in no way render to them a more acceptable service than by issuing from their press these cheap and popular volumes. The reputation of Mr. Keightley as an able and learned historian is well established; and the English periodicals have spoken of the pres