Audiobook · read by volunteers
History of England, from the Accession of James II - (Volume 3, Chapter 11)
Thomas Babington Macaulay (1800–1859)
Read by Justin Brett, quolo, Kara Shallenberg (1969-2023), Chris Chapman, Sibella Denton, Estragon, John Lieder, Bob Tassinari, Marco · 13 chapters · 4 h 14
About the book
William and Mary have been crowned, the old king is gone, and the new rulers must now govern a kingdom that is far from united. In this chapter of his History of England, Thomas Babington Macaulay turns to the practical business of power in the months after the Revolution of 1688. Noblemen jockey for office, factions form and re-form, and the king's evident liking for his Dutch companions causes fresh offence among the English lords and generals who expected to lead. Macaulay sketches each rival with a novelist's eye, and he keeps the tale moving at a quick narrative pace. Nine volunteer readers share the thirteen parts of the chapter, which makes this a compact way to meet one of the great Victorian historians. Rivalries, jealousies and clashing temperaments move the story along briskly from start to finish.
Introduction
Thomas Babington Macaulay, who lived from 1800 to 1859, was a politician, essayist and historian. His History of England from the Accession of James II began to appear in 1848, and it was an immediate success, admired for its vivid style and for its confident belief in progress. Macaulay wrote with the energy of a great speaker. His portraits of statesmen, soldiers and courtiers are drawn with so much colour that readers have long found them hard to forget.
This recording presents a single chapter, the eleventh of the third volume. It deals with the early months of the reign of William and Mary, the period just after the Glorious Revolution, when the question was no longer how to remove a king but how to make the new settlement work. It was a time of disappointed hopes, shifting alliances and open rivalry between the ministers. Macaulay's account has been challenged by later historians on points of interpretation, yet it remains a landmark of English historical writing.
The LibriVox reading lasts about four hours and is divided into thirteen parts, shared among nine volunteers. Listeners who want a taste of Macaulay's grand narrative style, without committing to the whole work, will find this a convenient place to begin, and anyone interested in the politics of the late seventeenth century will learn a good deal.
Macaulay's confidence, his love of contrast and his gift for the telling anecdote make even a chapter of political manoeuvring easy to follow. The cast is large, but the author never lets the reader lose the thread, and the pace stays brisk throughout.
Public domain
Thomas Babington Macaulay died in 1859: the work is in the public domain in Switzerland, more than 70 years after the author’s death.
The LibriVox volunteers dedicated this recording to the public domain.
Sources : LibriVox page · Files at the Internet Archive · Original text