Excerpt from the opening chapter: "I have to deal, under strict limitations of space, with a long life, almost the whole of its adult period passed in the exercise of sovereignty-a life which is in effect the history of England during forty-five years, abounding at the same time in personal interest, and the subject, both in its public and private aspects, of fierce and probably interminable controversies. Evidently a bird's-eye view is all that can be attempted: and the most important episodes alone can be selected for consideration."