THE HISTORY OF ENGLAND, FROM THE ACCESSION OF KING GEORGE THE THIRD, TO THE CONCLUSION OF FE&CE IN THE YEAR. ONE THOUSAND SEVEN HUNDRED AND EIGHTY-THREE. BY JOHN ADOLPHUS, ESQ. F.S.A. IN THREE VOLUMES. VOL I. LONDON: PRINTED FOR T. CADELL, JUN. AND W. DAVIES, IN THE STRAND. PREFACE. #TW YOR WHEN HEN I undertook the Work which is now fubmitted to the Public, I did not overlook the difficulties of the execution, nor overrate my own powers. I FULLY appreciated the delicacy of detailing the annals of a living fovereign, and of defcanting on the conduct and motives of men who yet furvive, or who have been recently removed from the bufy fcene. I was aware that bitter calumny or fulfome adulation had disfigured moft of their characters; and that the real image of perfons, as well as the true colour of events, could with difficulty be discerned through the noxious mift or fplendid vapour. I knew that other writers had executed the fame task, and had even extended their labours to a nearer, and confequently more interesting period than that which it was my intention a 2 |