A Short History of England

It will be very reasonably asked why I should consent though upon a sort of challenge to write even a popular essay in English history who make no pretence to particular scholarship and am merely a member of the public. The answer is that I know just enough to know one thing: that a history from the standpoint of a member of the public has not been written. What we call the popular histories should rather be called the anti-popular histories. They are all nearly without exception written against the people; and in them the populace is either ignored or elaborately proved to have been wrong.