Chapter I: Preface

In selecting the subjects for the successive volumes of this series, it has been the object of the author to look for the names of those great personages whose histories constitute useful, and not merely entertaining, knowledge. There are certain names which are familiar, as names, to all mankind; and every person who seeks for any degree of mental cultivation, feels desirous of informing himself of the leading outlines of their history, that he may know, in brief, what it was in their characters or their doings which has given them so widely-extended a fame. This knowledge, which it seems incumbent on every one to obtain in respect to such personages as Hannibal, Alexander, Caesar, Cleopatra, Darius, Xerxes, Alfred, William the Conqueror, Queen Elizabeth, and Mary Queen of Scots, it is the design and object of these volumes to communicate, in a faithful, and, at the same time, if possible, in an attractive manner. Consequently, great historical names alone are selected; and it has been the writer's aim to present the prominent and leading traits in their characters, and all the important events in their lives, in a bold and free manner, and yet in the plain and simple language which is so obviously required in works which aim at permanent and practical usefulness.

CONTENTS.

Chapter Page

I. NORMANDY 13

II. BIRTH OF WILLIAM 31

III. THE ACCESSION 51

IV. WILLIAM'S REIGN IN NORMANDY 72

V. THE MARRIAGE 96

VI. THE LADY EMMA 119

VII. KING HAROLD 142

VIII. PREPARATIONS FOR THE INVASION 164

IX. CROSSING THE CHANNEL 189

X. THE BATTLE OF HASTINGS 212

XI. PRINCE ROBERT'S REBELLION 242

XII. THE CONCLUSION 265

ENGRAVINGS.

Page

MAP--THE SITUATION OF NORMANDY 14

WILLIAM AND ARLOTTE 40

WILLIAM'S ESCAPE 77

THE BAYEUX TAPESTRY 102

THE RESCUE 127

HAROLD'S INTERVIEW WITH EDWARD 147

WILLIAM RECEIVING TOSTIG'S TIDINGS 166

MAP--NORMANDY 190

THE NORWEGIANS AT SCARBOROUGH 218

WILLIAM'S HORSE STEPPING ON THE EMBERS 281

WILLIAM THE CONQUEROR.