Ebook An Introductory History of England From Henry VII to the Restoration

My dear Pollard, -

Dedications are said to be wholly out of keeping with the 'spirit of the age'; but they are not more so than is the dedicator of this volume. I take the liberty of putting my preface in the form of a letter to you, for two reasons: first, because it was only your advice and sympathy which gave me courage to tackle such a difficult period as the Sixteenth Century; and secondly, because it is your own monographs on Henry VIII., Somerset and Cranmer that have made the most critical years in English History at last intelligible to English readers. I am not likely to forget an evening which we spent together, in the course of which you, out of the stores of your memory, dictated to me for nearly an hour a list of the authorities which I ought to consult. I diligently took the list down from your dictation, and afterwards (less diligently) read about one-quarter of the said authorities. To this initial kindness, and to that of frequent response to my applications for help, you have now added the final service of revising the manuscript of the Tudor portion of the volume, and of putting your imprimatur to it.