Excerpt from The Early and Middle Ages of England In the present volume I have tried to give the last results of enquiry into the early history of England. Perhaps no period has been more profoundly studied, or less generally understood. The true explanation of this apparent anomaly is, I believe, that the great works of Sir F. Palgrave, Mr. Kemble, and their followers, have suffered in popular estimation from the elaborate treatment and profuse illustration which make their writings invaluable to scholars. I have condensed the history of twelve hundred years into a single volume, with a view to the large class who want time or inclination to pursue English history as an exclusive study. I think, too, that the labours of antiquarians, essayists, and philologists require from time to time to be reduced to order, for the mere purpose of comparison. An imperfect, even a false, theory of the connection and interdependence of events, is better than none at all. Without regard to the powers of arrangement, and vivid narrative style that make M. Thierry's "Conquest of England" a work of genius, I am sure the theory of races which it developes, however unsound it may be in its principles and application, has had results of the last importance in stimulating enquiry. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.