MODERN ENGLAND FROM THE ACCESSION OF JAMES I. TO THE PRESENT TIME. HISTORICAL READER No. IV. WITH 100 MAPS AND ILLUSTRATIONS, Boston, Mass.: BOSTON SCHOOL SUPPLY COMPANY, 15 BROMFIELD STREET. N this book, the aim has been to preserve the excellences which distinguish the preceding volumes of Philips' Historical Readers. While it possesses a marked individuality of its own, the lines of thought which prevailed in the earlier periods of English history have been carried on unbroken to the days in which we live; and, where the final result of any movement has not yet manifested itself, clear indications have been given of the direction in which the national life is developing. In this way, it is hoped the reader may be taught that the country's past represents a steady process of organic growth, watched over by Divine Providence, and governed by unchanging and beneficent law. No better way could have been devised for educating the young to that continuity of thinking which is so vital an element in all real intellectual culture. The greatest possible care has been bestowed upon the literary style of this and the preceding volumes, and every sentence has been moulded with a view to its pronunciability as well as to its correctness. It is hoped that the result will be found most valuable in promoting the higher qualities of elocution-intelligence, expressiveness, and fluency. α Attention is again called to the admirable vignettes, all of which have been specially prepared for this series and are genuine historical portraits. Further, the general illustration of the volume has received scrupulous care; only engravings of artistic merit and educative value have been admitted, while the excellent maps help to make the book a small historical library within itself. An element of no less importance will be found in the notes, which contain a great mass of information it would have been impossible otherwise to present within the limits of the book. α |