The Complete Works of Oliver Goldsmith (Volume 9); History of England (Paperback)

Book may have numerous typos, missing text, images, or index. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. 1825. Excerpt: ... CHAPTER I. George in. (continued.} A. D. 1789--1792. REVIEW OF THE STATE OF PUBLIC AFFAIRS IN FRANCE. In reading the history of every country, there are certain periods at which the mind naturally pauses, to meditate upon and consider them, with reference, not only to their immediate effects, but to their remote consequences; and precisely such is the epoch at which we are now arrived in the history of George the Third. In the preceding volume, I have continued the narrative of its internal and domestic policy, with scarcely any relation to its concerns in the affairs of the continent, till the moment arrived when Great Britain became involved in a long, expensive, and most disastrous war, and in which she had to sustain a prominent and most distinguished character on the theatre of Europe. From this period it is Vol. v. A 892154 ... quite impossible to detail the history of England ' " detached from that of France; in fact, they be .; .cdmesp entwined and entangled with each other, that neither of them can be unfolded without a perpetual recurrence to the affairs of the other. Experienced politicians had long predicted a great revolution, which must inevitably take place sooner or later in the state of France; but it was impossible to foresee to what extent it would be carried, or what would be the result. Some conjecture, however, might have been formed of the disasters with which its progress would be marked, by an attentive consideration of the principles, manners, and views of the different classes of its inhabitants at this singular epoch. The court was involved in intrigues, and immersed in voluptuousness. The courtiers, enervated with luxury and abandoned to dissipation and vice, secure of promotion without labour, unskilled in the military art, and unaccustomed to fa...