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The History of the Kings of England and the Modern History, Tr. by J. Sharpe. Revised With Notes by J. Stevenson
The History of the Kings of England and the Modern History Tr by J Sharpe Revised With Notes by J Stevenson Author:William General Books publication date: 2009 Original publication date: 1854 Notes: This is a black and white OCR reprint of the original. It has no illustrations and there may be typos or missing text. When you buy the General Books edition of this book you get free trial access to Million-Books.com where you can select from more than a million book... more »s for free. Excerpt: PREFACE TO BOOK III. Incited by different motives, both Normans and English have written of king William: the former have praised him to excess, alike extolling to the utmost his good and his bad actions; while the latter, out of national hatred, have laden their conqueror with undeserved reproach. For my part, as the blood of each people flows in my veins, I shall steer a middle course; where I am certified of his good deeds, I shall openly proclaim them; his bad conduct I shall touch upon lightly and sparingly, though not so as to conceal it; so that neither shall my narrative be condemned as false, nor will I brand that man with ignominious censure, almost the whole of whose actions may reasonably be excused, if not commended. Wherefore I shall willingly and carefully relate such particulars of him as may be matter of incitement to the indolent, of example to the enterprising, useful to the present age, and pleasing to posterity. But I shall spend little time in relating such things as are of service to no one, and which produce disgust in the reader, as well as ill-will to the author. There are always people, more than sufficient, ready to detract from the actions of the noble: my course of proceeding will be, to extenuate evil, as much as can be done consistently with the sacrifice of truth, and not to bestow excessive commendation even on good actions. For this moderation all true judges will, I imagine, esteem me neither timid nor unskilful. And this rule, too, my history will regard equally, with respect both to William and his two sons; that nothing shall be dwelt on too fondly, nothing untru...« less