2. The archives in the Public Record Office: comprising mainly (a) Domestic State Papers calendared up to 1675 and from 1689-93. (b) Foreign State Papers, not calendared at all for the 17th century. (c) Colonial papers, only partially calendared. (d) Certain departmental archives, and Commonwealth Committee ar chives, only partially calendared as yet. Of the departmental archives the Treasury Records are the only ones at present being calendared; similarly the printing of the 'Register of the Privy Council' has not yet reached the 17th century.
3. Archives notpreserved at the Public Record Office, viz.; (a) Collections of manu scripts and individual manuscripts at the British Museum, at the Bodleian (including the Clar endon manuscripts, Carte manuscripts, and Tan ner manuscripts), and at Lambeth (including the Commonwealth Church Manuscripts). So far as these sources have been worked at all it has only been by individual effort or by socie ties such as the Camden. Of the manuscripts printed by the Camden Society, the 'Clarke Pa pers,' 'Nicholas Papers,' and 'Lauderdale Pa pers' may be particularly instanced. (b) The archives in the possession of private families are being systematically printed by the Histor ical Manuscripts Commission. So many of the reports bear on the 17th century that it is almost impossible to particularize, but the (Buccleuch manuscripts,' 'Portland manuscripts,' 'Or monde manuscripts,' (Cowper manuscripts,' (Rutland manuscripts,'
4. Printed collections of state papers, viz.: Winwood, Sydney, Roe, Wentworth, Rush worth, Nalson, Thurloe, Milton, Orrery, Macpherson, Hardwicke, Rochester, Carstairs, Kemble and Stuart Papers.
5. Diaries, memoirs, etc., other than those published by the Camden Society and other so cieties, viz.: Whitlock, Burton, Ludlow, Holles, Fairfax, Hutchinson, Price, Herbert, Reresby, Warwick, Berkley, Evelyn, Pepys, Anchitell, Grey, Luttrell, Ellis Letters.
6. Constructive synoptic works: Rapin and Tindal, Baker, Clarendon's 'History' and 'Life,' Carte's 'Ormond,' Kennett's 'Register' and 'History,' Burnet's 'Own Time,' Andrew Marvell's works, Sir William Temple's works, Boyer, Ralph and Dalrymple.
7. Of tract literature the mass is so great that the portions which have been printed in the 'Harleian Miscellany,' 'Somers' Tracts,' 'State Tracts of Charles II,' and' 'State Tracts of William III,' are an incon siderable fragment of the whole.
8. Of modern constructive historical work the only English one worthy of the name. is S. R. Gardiner's great work covering the years 1603-54. Carlyle's 'Cromwell) is a construct ive work of distorted view; Macaulay's history for the latter part of the century represents a type of historical writing which is deservedly falling into disrepute among professional histo rians. Ranke's
tor Ono Klopp's work on the fall of the House of Stuart are scientific and exhaustive. For Church History, Shaw's
of the Com monwealth Church' is a specialized work cover ing only the years 1640-60. The various de nominations of the Dissenting Churches, as also the Quakers have an abundant historical litera ture of their own, but, generally speaking, neither the religious history of the century as a whole, nor the intensely important and inter esting economic history of the century have as yet received adequate specialized attention, though Doctor Cunningham has covered many aspects and much of the ground of the latter section in his
The leading features of the period from 1702 to 1815 are those connected with the rule of the great Whig aristocracy in Parliament, the expansion of England abroad in spite of the opposition of France, the consolidation of the Britannic state at home and the change of the whole character of the country by the coming of machinery. See Irmusnum. REVOLUTION (article 32).
The great constitutional fact of the 18th century is that the era of the responsibility of the monarch for the welfare of the nation had passed away for ever. William III had been called to the throne by Parliament and it was on Parliament that he depended for his sup port. In 1702 the Crown was vested by an Act of Parliament in the Electress Sophia of Hano ver and her Protestant descendants, and the first two Georges happened to be men who were thoroughly German and so left English affairs to the English Parliament. Hence the predomi nance of the House of Commons became firmly established. It was found convenient that a group of ministers should form a committee to carry on the affairs of the nation. Gradually it became the rule for them to be chosen from the party which had the majority in the House of Commons and to vote under the leadership of one man. The delegation of monarchy to the Prime Minister and the Cabinet was ac complished by the end of the 18th century. See