The opening of Preface
This work has two aims: to represent and exhibit the better Literature of History in the English language, and to give it an organized body—a system—adapted to the greatest convenience in any use, whether for reference, or for reading, for teacher, student, or casual inquirer.
The entire contents of the work, with slight exceptions readily distinguished, have been carefully culled from some thousands of books,—embracing the whole range (in the English language) of standard historical writing, both general and special: the biography, the institutional and constitutional studies, the social investigations, the archeological researches, the ecclesiastical and religious discussions, and all other important tributaries to the great and swelling main stream of historical knowledge. It has been culled as one might pick choice fruits, careful to choose the perfect and the ripe, where such are found, and careful to keep their flavor unimpaired. The flavor of the Literature of History, in its best examples, and the ripe quality of its latest and best thought, are faithfully preserved in what aims to be the garner of a fair selection from its fruits.