AN ABSTRACT

OF THE

HISTORY OF ENGLAND,

FROM THE INVASION OF IT BY JULIUS CAESAR

TO THE REIGN OF HENRY THE SECOND.

NOTE.

The Abstract of the History of England here reprinted calls for little or no comment.  It is but a dry relation of events with no touch in the recital of any of those qualities which characterize Swift’s writings.  The facts were evidently obtained from the old chroniclers.  What object Swift had in writing this Abstract is not known.  If the dedication to the Count de Gyllenborg truly states his intention, it must be confessed that the “foreigners, and gentlemen of our own country” had not much upon which to congratulate themselves.  Why Swift should have chosen the Count de Gyllenborg to whom to address the dedication must also remain a matter for conjecture.  The Count had been sent out of the British Isles for instigating a conspiracy for a Jacobite insurrection in Great Britain.  Swift wrote his dedication three years after the Count’s expulsion.  Knowing that the Count’s master, Charles XII. of Sweden, had been a party to the plot, he yet writes in a most amiable tone of friendliness towards both, with a parenthetical sneer at “his present Britannic Majesty.”  Undoubtedly this dedication might easily and fairly be taken as strong presumptive evidence of a leaning on Swift’s part towards the Pretender.  It will, however, be more truly interpreted, if it be considered as an expression of contempt for the King of England and the ministry in power.

The text of the present reprint is that given by Deane Swift from his edition of his kinsman’s works issued in 1765 and 1768 (4to edit, vols. viii. and xiii.).  Deane Swift thought that the narratives of Rufus, Henry I. and Stephen, would “appear to be such a model of English history, as will make all men of taste, and especially foreigners, regret that he pursued his plan no further.”

[T.S.]

TO THE COUNT DE GYLLENBORG.[1]

[Footnote 1:  Charles, Count Gyllenborg (1679-1746), was Swedish Ambassador at London 1710-16.  He then joined in a Jacobite plot, was arrested in January, 1716-7, and expelled the kingdom in August, 1717.  He afterwards filled high offices in his own country. [W.S.J.]]

Dublin in Ireland, Nov. 2, 1719.

SIR,

It is now about sixteen years since I first entertained the design of writing a History of England, from the beginning of William Rufus to the end of Queen Elizabeth; such a History, I mean, as appears to be most wanted by foreigners, and gentlemen of our own country; not a voluminous work, nor properly an abridgement, but an exact relation of the most important affairs and events, without any regard to the rest.  My intention