England

Derek W. Lawrence portrays 1769 as a fateful year for the world: Napoleon and Wellington were both born in it; and James Watt took out a patent for his momentous steam-engine.

David J. Jeremy writes that from the moment of Beau Nash’s quitting the scene of his power and pride, corruptions and relaxations crept, insensibly, into his formal and elaborate system of public punctilio.

Of the seventeenth-century Earl of Shaftesbury, writes K.H.D. Haley, Ranke observed that he seized upon the ideas which had the greatest future.

One of the most extraordinary impostors ever to appear in Europe, writes James R. Knowlson, afterwards became the devout and dignified old gentleman whose friendship Samuel Johnson valued.

David Mitchell describes the life of Selina, Countess of Huntingdon. In the history of the Methodist revolution an important part was played by this rich and enthusiastic lady, who devoted fifty years and much of her great fortune to the conversion of the upper classes.

A.L. Rowse introduces the legendary spirit whom generations of Cornish people heard roaring in the storm-winds. Jan Tregagle proves to have originated as an unscrupulous seventeenth-century steward.

Charles Carrington studies some of the men of state who held high office in succession, back to the sealing of the Charter at Runnymede in 1215.

In the Elizabethan Age feminine extravagance was often satirised by English dramatists and poets. During the seventeenth century, writes Brenda Gourgey, it rose to even more fantastic heights.

During the 17th century commercial and colonial interests embittered Anglo-Dutch relations. In both camps, writes C.R. Boxer, journalists and pamphleteers helped to keep the feud alive.

During the troublous reign that began when he dethroned his cousin Richard, Henry IV encountered a long series of exhausting crises. He met his troubles, writes A.L. Rowse, with resilience and courage.