Henry of Monmouth, Volume 1 | Page 3

suppress or disguise his view of the very TRUTH.
The reader will readily perceive that, with reference to the foreign and domestic policy of our country,--the advances of civilization,--the manners of private life, as well in the higher as in the more humble grades of society,--the state of literature,--the progress of the English constitution,--the condition and discipline of the army, which Henry greatly improved,--and the rise and progress of the royal navy, of which he was virtually the founder, many topics are either purposely avoided, or only incidentally and cursorily noticed. To one point especially (a subject in itself most animating and uplifting, and intimately interwoven with the period embraced by these Memoirs,) he would have rejoiced to devote a far greater portion of his book, had it been compatible with the immediate design of his undertaking;--THE PROMISE AND THE DAWN OF THE REFORMATION.
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However the value of his labours may be ultimately appreciated, the Author confidently trusts that their publication can do no disservice to the cause of truth, of sound morality, and of pure religion. He would hope, indeed, that in one point at least the power of an (p. xi) example of pernicious tendency might be weakened by the issue of his investigation. If the results of these inquiries be acquiesced in as sound and just, no young man can be encouraged by Henry's example (as it is feared many, especially in the higher classes, have been encouraged,) in early habits of moral delinquency, with the intention of extricating himself in time from the dominion of his passions, and of becoming, like Henry, in after-life a pattern of religion and virtue, "the mirror of every grace and excellence." The divine, the moralist, and the historian know that authenticated instances of such sudden moral revolutions in character are very rare,--exceptions to the general rule; and among those exceptions we cannot be justified in numbering Henry of Monmouth.
He was bold and merciful and kind, but he was no libertine, in his youth; he was brave and generous and just, but he was no persecutor, in his manhood. On the throne he upheld the royal authority with mingled energy and mildness, and he approved himself to his subjects as a wise and beneficent King; in his private individual capacity he was a bountiful and considerate, though strict and firm master, a warm and sincere friend, a faithful and loving husband. He passed through life under the habitual sense of an overruling Providence; and, in his premature death, he left us the example of a Christian's patient and pious resignation to the Divine Will. As long as he lived, he was (p. xii) an object of the most ardent and enthusiastic admiration, confidence, and love; and, whilst the English monarchy shall remain among the unforgotten things on earth, his memory will be honoured, and his name will be enrolled among the NOBLE and the GOOD.

TABLE OF THE PRINCIPAL EVENTS, (p. xiii)
IN THEIR CHRONOLOGICAL ORDER.
[*] Those years, months, or days, respectively, to which an asterisk is attached, are not considered to have been so fully ascertained as the other dates.
1340* Feb.* John of Gaunt born. 1340} Earl of Northumberland, Hotspur's father, born, 1341} before Nov. 19, 1341. 1359 May 19, John of Gaunt married to Blanche. 1358} Owyn Glyndowr born, before Sept. 3, 1359. 1359} 1366 April 6, Henry Bolinbroke born. 1365} May 20,* Henry Percy (Hotspur) born before 30th Oct. 1366. 1366} 1367 Jan. Richard II. born at Bourdeaux. 1369* Blanche, wife of John of Gaunt died. 1371* John of Gaunt married Constance. 1376 June 8, Edward the Black Prince died. 1377 June 21, King Edward III. died. 1378 Nov. Hotspur first bore arms at Berwick. 1381 Bolinbroke nearly slain by the rioters. 1382 Richard II. married to Queen Anne. 1384 Dec. 31, Wickliffe's death. 1386* Bolinbroke married Mary Bohun. 1387 John of Gaunt went to Spain. 1387* Aug. 9,* HENRY born at MONMOUTH. 1388 Hotspur taken prisoner by the Scots. 1388 Thomas Duke of Clarence born. 1389 Nov. 9, Isabel, Richard II.'s wife, born. 1389* Nov.* John of Gaunt returned from Spain. (p. xiv) 1389* John Duke of Bedford born. 1390* Humfrey Duke of Gloucester born. 1390} Bolinbroke visited Barbary. 1391} 1392} Bolinbroke visited Prussia and the Holy Sepulchre. 1393} 1394* Mary, HENRY's mother, died. 1394* Constance, John of Gaunt's wife, died. 1394 June 7, Anne, Richard II.'s Queen, died. 1396 John of Gaunt recalled from Acquitaine by Richard II. 1396 John of Gaunt married Katharine Swynford. 1397 Arundel, Archbishop of Canterbury, banished. 1397 Sept. 29, Bolinbroke created Duke of Hereford. 1397* John Oldcastle, Lord Cobham, banished. 1397 Nov. 4, Richard II. married to Isabel. 1398* Henry of Monmouth resided in Oxford. 1398 July 14, Henry Beaufort consecrated Bishop of Lincoln. 1398 Sept. 16, Bolinbroke and Norfolk at