HE popular narratives embodied in this volume are brief but complete descriptions of the most important events in the history of our own and other countries in later times. No hard and fast line has been followed in the arrangement of these sketches, which are of uniform length and of a most catholic character. The EPOCHS OF HISTORY include many stirring scenes and peace ful records. The successes of arms, the records of political events, the triumphs of industry in the lives of warriors and statesmen of modern times, will be found faithfully recorded and picturesquely treated. Each event has been treated completely in connection with its causes and its consequences, the long succession of word-pictures being studied from separate standpoints, until the best combination of the collected series has been attained. Thus it will be perceived that the Editor has not arrived at producing a volume of history of any particular period, nor has he followed any sequence of events, while each episode will be found linked with its predecessors and followers by an almost imperceptible thread of narrative, which completes the value of the collection. From Free Trade to the Temperance Movement-from the Forty-five to the struggle in the Crimea -from the Elizabethan Age to the era of Penny Newspapers and the Penny Post, the various events of European and American history will be easily traced amid the varied episodes narrated in this volume. The usefulness of such a work as this can scarcely be over-estimated as a book of reference and a historical record of most of the great events in the history of the civilized world in later times. Written in a cheerful narrative form, with careful references to recognized authorities, and without any of the dry character of mere historical compilation, the Epochs and Episodes which follow will, in their collected form, no doubt find favour with the public. The illustrations and portraits have been carefully selected, so as to add to the attraction and usefulness of the volume. THE EDITOR. |