The History of England from the Accession of James the Second. Volume III

by Thomas Babington Macaulay, Charles Harding Firth (editor)

Volume III of VI. 491 pages, paginated pp. 1041-1532.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, European History

491 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1855

About the author

Thomas Babington Macaulay, 1st Baron Macaulay PC was an English poet, historian and Whig politician. He wrote extensively as an essayist and reviewer, and on British history. He also held political office as Secretary at War between 1839 and 1841 and Paymaster-General between 1846 and 1848.

As a young man he composed the ballads Ivry and The Armada, which he later included as part of Lays of Ancient Rome, a series of very popular ballads about heroic episodes in Roman history which he composed in India and published in 1842.

During the 1840s he began work on his most famous work, The History of England from the Accession of James the Second, publishing the first two volumes in 1848. At first, he had planned to bring his history down to the reign of George III. After publication of his first two volumes, his hope was to complete his work with the death of Queen Anne in 1714. The third and fourth volumes, bringing the history to the Peace of Ryswick, were published in 1855. However, at his death in 1859, he was working on the fifth volume. This, bringing the History down to the death of William III, was prepared for publication by his sister, Lady Trevelyan, after his death.

Reviews

[Doug McKay · Rating 5 out of 5]

Incredible insight into human behavior and why we remember so much from the Glorious Revolution. That it is from an unabashed-Whig perspective, is not troublesome to me at all. A master of history.

[Sarah · Rating 4 out of 5]

July 14 finished History of England from the ascension of James II vol III by Thomas Macaulay. This volume picks up the thread of the tale where vol. II left off, at the Glorious Revolution. William is left with four or five warring factions in his parliament, a nation that is rather shocked with itself, even though the transfer was completed without bloodshed, and two “auxiliary” nations, which are ready to jump into the quarrel with both feet, whatever the pretense, not to mention a deposed king who would like to regain his alienated subjects. This volume deals primarily with William’s masterly handling of this delicate situation. The scene is temporarily diverted from England to deal with Ireland, where James lands with French troops to reclaim his exasperated people, and Scotland, where the various clans begin to war against one another, with William and James as the excuse. William is left in rather tenuous control of the three kingdoms, and James flees back to France, helping the opposing schools of opinion to band together by his threat of bringing a French army into England.

[Timothy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Covers roughly the first two years of the reign of William and Mary, with emphasis on the Jacobite rebellions in Ireland and Scotland. I find some of the parliamentary wrangling to be a bit dull, but otherwise this continues to be a lively history with a wonderful style.

[Zachary Moore · Rating 4 out of 5]

The third volume in the series continues the strong narrative thread, although the worshipful treatment of William III bothered me a bit as did the excessive focus on parliamentary minutiae.