Book Description

After 1815 the usual form became a number of chapters on Britain, paying particular attention to the proceedings of Parliament, followed by chapters covering other countries in turn, no longer limited to Europe. The expansion of the History came at the expense of the sketches, reviews and other essays so that the nineteenth-century publication ceased to have the miscellaneous character of its eighteenth-century forebear, although poems continued to be included until 1862, and a small number of official papers and other important texts continue to be reproduced to this day. Includes a long historical essay on the “History of the Present War” (the Seven Years' War 1756–63). In his preface to the 1758 volume Burke noted the difficulties he had faced in writing the history section of the book. Taking the “broken and unconnected materials” and creating from them “one connected narrative” had been, he commented, “a work of more labour than may at first appear.” The 1758 volume is considered a unique, contemporaneous account of the Seven Years' War, analyzing its origins and development with a perspective not readily available at the time in newspapers or magazines.