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ANNUAL REGISTER,

OR GENERAL REPOSITORY OF

HISTORY,

POLITICS,'

AND

LITERATUR E,
For the YEAR 1799.

TO WHICH IS PREFIXED

The HISTORY of KNOWLEDGE, LEARNING, and TASTE,
in GREAT BRITAIN, during the Reign of King CHARLES II.-
Part III.

LONDON:

Printed for JOHN STOCKDALE, Piccadilly.

1805.

BODLEIAN

2 APR 1959

LIBRARY

Printed by Cox, Son, and BAYLIS, No. 75,
Great Queen Street, Lincoln's-Inn-Fields.

PREFACE.

IT is a trite remark, that the real causes and mo

tives of political events are never known till a considerable period after they have happened; but it is a remark, of the truth of which, since the invention of printing, and since the sources of public information have been so wonderfully augmented, we might be permitted to entertain a doubt: nor is it easy to conceive, that, at a time when every transaction of importance is committed to writing, and by some medium or other (it might be imagined) would find it's way to the press, a political secret should be kept even for a month.

Notwithstanding this, whoever has formed his opinions of political affairs from the information contained in newspapers, and other periodical publications, will find, when he comes to peruse this volume, that he reads a history which is, in all its most essential parts, entirely new. of the names of statesmen and

a 2

He has heard

generals, the

names

names of the places where they have been engaged, but he is altogether ignorant of the intrigues, the factions, the projects, and the motives which have produced the events of the year 1799.

We shall not anticipate the prominent parts of the following narrative; we shall not destroy the 'reader's entertainment by a premature developement; he will meet with matter which is not only new, but extraordinary,----and, from the sources from which we have derived our information, we can only say, that we cannot entertain a doubt of its authenticity.

Though from principle we are enemies to war on every pretence, yet, as far as accuracy is concerned, we are desirous of obtaining the suffrage of military men. We cannot but flatter ourselves that the detail of the late important campaign is more complete than any thing that has ever appeared upon the subject, and that it is indeed such that not only the politician may read it for entertainment, but that the soldier may study it for instruction.

CONTENT S.

THE History of Knowledge, Learning, and Taste, in Great Britain, dur-
ing the Reign of King Charles the Second. Part. 111.

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page xvii

CHAP. II.

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