The Popular History of England

CONTENTS.

CHAPTER I.—A.D. 1694 to A.D. 1696.

Extreme grief of William.-Parliamentary Corruption.-War in the Netherlands.-Siege

of Namur by the Allies.-Namur taken.-William's reception in England.-State of

the Currency.-A new Parliament.-Measures for a new Coinage.-Trials for Trea-

son regulated by Law.-The Assassination Plot.

Page 13-32

CHAPTER II.-A.D. 1696 to A.D. 1698.

William in the Netherlands.-His Financial Embarrassments.-Great Crisis of Com-

mercial Difficulty.-Revival of Credit.-The New Currency established.-Attainder

of Sir John Fenwick.-Negotiations for Peace.-The Peace of Ryswick.-Opening

of St. Paul's Cathedral.-Parliament. - Reduction of the Army.-Dangers of an

insufficient Force.-The East India Company.-Statute against Socinians.-Reforma-

tion of Manners.-Societies for Promoting Christian Knowledge and for the Propa-

gation of the Gospel.-Licentiousness of the Stage.-Embassy to France.-French

Embassy to England.-Czar of Muscovy in England.
· 33-54

CHAPTER III.-A.D. 1698 to A.D. 1700.

Commercial Policy of England.-System of Prohibition.-Restrictions upon the trade of

Ireland.-Restrictions upon the trade of Scotland.-Scotch spirit of Commercial

Adventure.-African and Indian Company.-Scotch Colony at Darien.

CHAPTER IV.-A.D. 1698 to A.D. 1699.

• 55-70

Question of the Succession to the Crown of Spain.-The Partition Treaties.-Negotia-

tions at Loo.-Correspondence of the king with his ministers.-First Partition Treaty

signed. The new Parliament.-The troops disbanded.-William's mortification.-A

rash resolve, and a calmer judgment.-The Dutch guards dismissed.-Penal law

against Catholics.-Portland and Albemarle.-Admiral Rooke in the Baltic.-Policy

of Louis the Fourteenth.

71-87

CHAPTER V.-A.D. 1700 to A.D. 1702.

A Tory administration.-Death of the duke of Gloucester.-The electress Sophia of

Hanover.-Death of the king of Spain.-Will of Charles, which Louis accepts.-

The new Parliament.-The king asks assistance for the States.-The Act of Settle-

ment.-Impeachment of Somers and other Whigs.-The Kentish Petition.--The

Legion Memorial.-The Great Alliance formed by William.-Death of king James.

-Louis declares the son of James king of England.--William opens his last Parlia-

ment. His accident.--His message on the Union.--Death of William the Third.-

Note: The Act of Settlement.

Page 88-110

CHAPTER VI.-A.D. 1702 to A.D. 1703.

Accession of queen Anne.-Her declaration to the Privy Council.-Parliament continues

sitting. Preponderance of Tories.-Marlborough sent as envoy to the States-Gen-

eral.-War declared.-Marlborough's first Campaign.-Expedition to Cadiz.-Vigo.

-New Parliament.-Tory majority.-Bill against Occasional Conformity.-Defoe's

Shortest Way with the Dissenters.-Marlborough created a Duke.-Revolt in the

Cévennes.-Marlborough's second Campaign.-The Methuen Treaty with Portugal.

-Occasional Conformity Bill again rejected by the Lords.-Aylesbury Election Case.

-The Great Storm.-Oaths of Witnesses.-Queen Anne's Bounty.-Touching for

the Evil.-May-Poles.

CHAPTER VII.-A.D. 1704.

111-130

Difficulties of recruiting the English army.-The Campaign of 1704.-Marlborough's

secret plan of operations.-His march along the Rhine.-Arrives at the Danube.—

Battle of the Schellenberg.-Devastation of Bavaria.-Junction of the French and

Bavarian armies.-The battle of Blenheim.-Results of the victory.-Subsequent

operations of the Campaign.-Marlborough returns to England.-Honours and

Rewards.-Party Conflicts.-Parliament dissolved.
131-150

CHAPTER VIII.-A.D. 1704 to A.D. 1706.

The War in Spain.-Expedition to Catalonia.-Gibraltar taken by Sir George Rooke and

the Prince of Darmstadt.-Sea-fight off Malaga.-Siege of Gibraltar by the Spaniards.

-Expedition to Spain under Peterborough.-Siege of Barcelona.-Peterborough sur-

prises Montjouich.-Barceloan taken.-Peterborough's rapid successes in Valencia.—

Philip V. besieges Barcelona.-It is relieved.-The Allies enter Madrid.-Supineness

of the Austrian king.-Disgust of Peterborough-He leaves Spain.-Prince Eugene

drives the French out of Italy.
151-163

CHAPTER IX.-A.D. 1705 to A.D. 1706.

Marlborough's Campaign of 1705.-His disappointment and anxieties.-He forces the

French lines.-Retreat of the French under Villeroy.-New Parliament.-State of

Parties.-The Regency Bill.-Cry of the Church in danger.-Marlborough's Cam-

paign of 1706 in the Netherlands.-The French and Bavarian armies under Villeroy

pass the Dyle.-The battle of Ramilies.-Results of the Victory.
. 164-175

CONTENTS.

CHAPTER X.-A.D. 1703 to A.D. 1707.

Scotland.-New Parliament assembled in 1703.-Irritation against England.-Proposal for

a Treaty of Union.-Meeting of Commissioners of each nation.-Articles agreed upon

by the Commissioners.-Charges of Corruption.-Demonstrations against the Union.

-Debates in the Scottish Parliament.-Lord Belhaven's oration.-Material interests

of Scotland.-Views of the Union by Seton of Pitmedden.-Provision for the

Church of Scotland.-Riots.-Demonstration of the Cameronians.-The Act of

Union passed in Scotland.-The Act passed in England.
Page 176-195

CHAPTER XI.-A.D. 1707 to A.D. 1709.

Warlike Addresses of Parliament.-Reverses.-Battle of Almanza.-Marlborough's visit

to Charles XII. of Sweden.-Indecisive Campaign of 1707.--Siege of Toulon.-Wreck

of Sir Cloudesley Shovel.-Naval miscarriages.--Complaints in Parliament.--Dis-

contents in Scotland.-Jacobite Plots.--Attempted invasion. -Dismissal of Harley

and St. John from the ministry.--Campaign of 1708.-Ghent surrendered to the

French.--Battle of Oudenarde.--Sardinia and Minorca surrendered to the Allies.-

Death of the Prince of Denmark.-Surrender of Lille.-Proposals of France for

Peace.--Campaign of 1709.—Surrender of Tournay.-Battle of Malplaquet. 196-215

CHAPTER XII.-A.D. 1709 to A.D. 1710.

Impeachment of Dr. Sacheverel.-Proceedings in Westminster Hall. -Articles of the

Impeachment.-Passages from the Speeches of the Managers.-Popular Manifesta.

tions.-Sentence upon Sacheverel.-Sentence regarded as a triumph of the High

Church.-Prosecutions of Rioters for High Treason.-Trials of Rioters.-Progress of-

Sacheverel.-His character.
216-232

CHAPTER XIII.-A.D. 1710 to A.D. 1712.

Conferences at Gertruydenberg.-Negotiations for peace broken off.-Despotism and

Limited Monarchy.-The Whigs dismissed from office.-New Parliament.-Duchess

of Marlborough dismissed from her offices.-Disasters in Spain.-Surrender of Gen-

eral Stanhope.-Hostility to Marlborough.-Party use of the Press.-Swift, the

great party writer.-Property qualification for members of Parliament. -Harley stab-

bed by Guiscard.-Marlborough's last campaign.-Parliament.-Prospect of Peace.-

The ministry defeated in the House of Lords.-Marlborough dismissed from all his

offices.-New peers created.-Negotiations at Utrecht.-Note to Chapter xxiv.-Table

of Treaties.

233-265

CHAPTER XIV.-A.D. 1712 to A.D. 1714.

Prince Eugene in London.-Opening of the Campaign under Ormond and Eugene.-Or-

mond's Secret Instructions.-The Allied army deserted by the British forces

Subsequent disasters of the Allies.-The Lords' Protest published.-Laws proposed

against the Press. -The first Stamp duty on Periodical Works.-Terms of peace an-

nounced to Parliament.-Bolingbroke's embassy to Paris.-Treaty of Utrecht com-

pleted.-Treaty of Commerce with France rejected by Parliament.-Dissolution of

Parliament.-Jacobite Intrigues.-The new Parliament.-Libels.-Swift.-Steele.-

Death of the Princess Sophia of Hanover.-The Schism Act.-Oxford dismissed from

office.-Death of the Queen.
266-278

CHAPTER XV.-A.D. 1709 to A.D. 1742.

Literature and Manners of the earlier part of the eighteenth century.-The Tatler.→

News-writers and Pamphleteers.-Dunton's "Athenian Gazette."-Defoe's Review.

-The Spectator and the Guardian.-Influence and objects of the Essayists.-Low

state of education.-The Essayists diffusers of knowledge.-Joint labours of Steele

and Addison.-The Spectator's Club.-Fiction.-Reading for females. - Literary

Piracy. Copyright Act.-Literature as a Profession.-The Poets.- Alexander

Pope.
Page 279-297

CHAPTER XVI.-A.D. 1709 to A.D. 1742.

Female Politicians.-Female Employments.-Dress.-The Hoop-Petticoat.-Literary

estimate of the Female Character.-The Stage estimate.-Congreve.-Swift's Polite

Conversation.-Pope.-The Rape of the Lock.-Prúde and Coquette.-Puppet

Plays.-The Opera.—The Masquerade.-Young.-Fashionable Vices.-Drinking.—

Extravagant dinners.-Duelling.-The Club Life of London.-Gaming.-The Bear-

Sports.-National taste for Music gone out.-The Small-Coal Man.

CHAPTER XVII.-A.D. 1709 to A.D. 1742.

298-316

Intellectual activity in every department of knowledge.-A Reading Public.-Poetical

translations of classical authors.-Pope's Homer.-The popular element shown in

the attacks of the wits upon some pursuits of learning.-Battle of the Books.-Pope's

ridicule of Dennis.- Martinus Scriblerus.- Small Poets.- The Dunciad.-Com-

mentators.-Public Schools.- Universities.-Travelling.-Entomologists and Flor-

ists. The abuses of knowledge only deserving the poet's ridicule,-The popular

element in the mental philosophy of the age.-Locke.-Character of Swift's genius.-

Tale of a Tub.-Gulliver's Travels.-Robinson Crusoe.-Defoe.
• 317-330

CHAPTER XVIII.-A.D. 1709 to A.D. 1742.

View of the State of the Arts from the Revolution of 1688 to the Accession of the House

of Brunswick.-Architecture.-Wren.-Rebuilding of London.-St. Paul's.-Wren's

Parish Churches.-Wren's Miscellaneous Buildings.-Vanbrugh.-Character as an

Architect.-Hawksmoor and Gibbs.-Burlington.-Sculpture.-Gibbons.-Cibber.-

Roubiliac.-Painting.-Portrait Painting in England. -Kneller.-Jervas.-Verrio and

Laguerre.-Thornhill.-Other Painters.-Hogarth.

331-350

CHAPTER XIX.-A.D. 1709 to A.D. 1742.

Hogarth as the historian of manners in the transition-time between Anne and George

III.-His art essentially dramatic.--Society, in Hogarth's pictures, appears a sort of

chaos.-The life of the streets.-The anarchy out-doors a type of the disorder in houses

of public resort.--Genteel debauchery.-Low profligacy and crime.-The Cockpit.

The Gaming-House.-The prison.-Bedlam. -The Rake's Levee. The lady's

public toilette.-Marriage à-la-mode.-The Election Prints.-The sleeping Congrega-

351-359

tion.-Fanaticism.

CONTENTS.

CHAPTER XX.-A.D. 1714 to A.D. 1716.

Proceedings on the death of queen Anne-George I. proclaimed king.-His arrival in

England.-Sophia, princess of Zell.-Ministerial arrangements.-Parliament.-Im-

peachments of queen Anne's late ministers.-Riots in England.-Insurrection in Scot-

land.-Insurrection in England.—The march to Preston.-Surrender of the rebels at

Preston.- Battle of Sheriffmuir.-The Pretender in Scotland.-His flight to France.

-Impeachments of the rebel lords.-Executions and escapes of leaders.-Fate of the

humbler insurgents.
Page 360-385

CHAPTER XXI.-A.D. 1716 to A.D. 1719.

The Pretender in Paris.-He discards Bolingbroke.-The Septennial Act.-The king

leaves for Germany.-His foreign predilections.-Negotiations at Hanover for a

French alliance.-The king's jealousy of the prince of Wales.-Lord Townshend dis-

missed from his office of Secretary of State.-Arrest of the Swedish ambassador.-

Schism in the ministry.-Stanhope prime minister.-Trial of the earl of Oxford.-

The Quadruple Alliance.-Open quarrel between the king and the prince of Wales.

-Byng's destruction of the Spanish fleet.-Measures of toleration proposed by

Stanhope.-Spanish expedition to Scotland.-Successes of France and England in

Spain. Alberoni disgraced.-Spain accedes to the Quadruple Alliance.-The Peer-

age Bill.
386-405

CHAPTER XXII.-A.D. 1719 to A.D. 1727.

The South Sea scheme.-Public infatuation.-The bubble bursts.-Parliamentary meas-

ures.-Session of 1722.-Plot for Invasion and Insurrection-Trial of Atterbury, bishop

of Rochester. His banishment.-Wood's Patent for a Copper Coinage in Ireland.

-The Drapier's Letters.-The Ale-duty in Scotland.-Riot at Glasgow.-Impeach-

ment of Lord-Chancellor Macclesfield.-Foreign Affairs.-Treaty of Hanover.—

Siege of Gibraltar.-Peace.-Death of George I.

CHAPTER XXIII.-A.D. 1727 to A.D. 1734.

406-428

Accession of George II.-Walpole confirmed in power.-Frederick, the heir-apparent.-

Course of foreign policy.-The Stuarts.-Arrival in England of prince Frederick.—

Townshend leaves office.-What is History? The Dissenters.-Inquiry into the

state of the Gaols.-Law proceedings in English.-Party Quarrels and Libels.-

Parliamentary Opposition.-The Salt-tax.-The Excise Scheme.-Wars in Europe.—

Neutrality of Great Britain,-Motion for the Repeal of the Septennial Act.-Wynd-

ham's character of Walpole.-Walpole's character of Bolingbroke.-Bolingbroke

quits England.

CHAPTER XXIV.-A.D. 1735 to A.D. 1737.

429-451

New Parliament of 1735.-Peace of Vienna.-The Gin-Act.-The Porteous Riots.-

Parliamentary proceedings on these Riots.-Unpopularity of the king.-Marriage of the

prince of Wales.-Royal animosities.-Birth of a princess.-Illness of queen Caroline.

-Death of queen Caroline.

452-465

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