Excerpt from The Popular History of England, Vol. 5: An Illustrated History of Society and Government From the Earliest Period to Our Own Times We are entering upon that period of our national progress in which England is very slowly developing itself into a manufacturing and commercial country. The great features of that progress, and its accompanying changes in the character of the population, must ever be borne in mind when we attempt to trace the political history of the eighteenth century. This gradual development of her resources is not a mere accident in England's career. It constitutes the most important feature of her advancing political condition. It requires to be thoroughly understood, if we would rightly understand the circumstances which have given us our present place amongst the nations. We propose to offer a picture, derived indeed from scattered and imperfect materials, but with some approximation to exactness, of the industry, and the consequent condition and character of the people, during the period from the Revolution of 1688 to the accession of the house of Brunswick. Some of our authorities extend through the reign of George I. But there were few changes of invention or discovery to mark a new epoch of industry as immediately following the close of the reign of Anne. It was the period before steam-engines and navigable canals - the period before the cotton trade - the period before scientific husbandry in its humblest form. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.