Short History of England

"e;It will be very reasonably asked why I should consent, though upon a sort of challenge, to write even a popular essay in English history, who make no pretence to particular scholarship and am merely a member of the public.

The answer is that I know just enough to know one thing: that a history from the standpoint of a member of the public has not been written.

What we call the popular histories should rather be called the anti-popular histories.

They are all, nearly without exception, written against the people; and in them the populace is either ignored or elaborately proved to have been wrong."e;