The circumstances of the present series forbid that constant citation of authorities in notes, which might otherwise be desirable but the fact that the narrative has in the main been compiled from the writings of contemporary historians, will, it is hoped, have given it some merit of freshness, even though the conclu sions arrived at may often not differ materially from those of other writers. Whatever claim of originality is thus put forward for the present volume, is made in no spirit of detraction from the advantage, which has in places been derived from freely consulting previous workers in the same field.