THE HISTORY OF ENGLAND, FROM THE EARLIEST TIMES TO THE DEATH OF GEORGE THE SECOND, BY OLIVER GOLDSMITH, M.B. Tenth Edition, corrected. WITH A CONTINUATION TO THE TREATY OF AMIENS, BY CHARLES COOTE, LL.D. IN FOUR VOLUMES. VOL. I. LONDON: PRINTED FOR J. JOHNSON; R. BALDWIN; F. AND C. RIVINGTON; PREFACE. FROM the favourable reception given to my Abridgement of Roman History, published some time since, several friends, and others, whose business leads them to consult the wants of the public, have been induced to suppose that an English History written on the same plan would be acceptable. It was their opinion, that we still wanted a work of this kind, where the narrative, though very concise, is not totally without interest, and the facts, though crowded, are yet distinctly seen. The business of abridging the works of others has hitherto fallen to the lot of very dull men ; and the art of blotting, which an eminent critic calls the most difficult of all others, has been |