THE present volume treats of the Common-
wealth, strictly so called, the subject for the
sake of which the work was undertaken. Its
earlier portions are in a certain sense preli-
minary matter, though indispensible to the
understanding of the whole. It is this sub-
ject which has uniformly furnished a theme
for scurrility to the advocates of prerogative
and despotism. One hundred and seventy-
four years have now passed over it; and it is
time that it should be made the province of
genuine history, of patient enquiry and sober
judgment. Party annalists have skimmed its
surface, and passed away, as if poison lurked
among its ingredients. An attempt is here
made to analyse its contents, to assign the
motives of the actors, and to trace up effects
to the causes from which they sprung.
Till the period at which this volume com-
mences, the
great leaders among the Com-