Page:The Works of the Rev. Jonathan Swift, Volume 16.djvu/9



SIR,

T 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 abridgment, but an exact relation of the most important affairs and events, without any regard to the rest. My intention was to inscribe it to the king your late master, for whose great virtues I had ever the highest veneration, as I . XVI.