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Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year one thousand eight hundred and forty-eight, by

Harper & Brothers,

in the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the Southern District of New York.

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PREFACE.

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The history of the life of every individualwho has, for any reason, attracted extensivelythe attention of mankind, has been written ina great variety of ways by a multitude of authors,and persons sometimes wonder why weshould have so many different accounts of thesame thing. The reason is, that each one ofthese accounts is intended for a different set ofreaders, who read with ideas and purposes widelydissimilar from each other. Among thetwenty millions of people in the United States,there are perhaps two millions, between the agesof fifteen and twenty-five, who wish to becomeacquainted, in general, with the leading eventsin the history of the Old World, and of ancienttimes, but who, coming upon the stage in thisland and at this period, have ideas and conceptionsso widely different from those of other nationsand of other times, that a mere republication of[vi]existing accounts is not what they require.The story must be told expressly forthem. The things that are to be explained,the points that are to be brought out, the comparativedegree of prominence to be given tothe various particulars, will all be different, onaccount of the difference in the situation, theideas, and the objects of these new readers,compared with those of the various other classesof readers which former authors have had inview. It is for this reason, and with this view,that the present series of historical narratives ispresented to the public. The author, havinghad some opportunity to become acquaintedwith the position, the ideas, and the intellectualwants of those whom he addresses, presentsthe result of his labors to them, with the hopethat it may be found successful in accomplishingits design.

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