interest or to take the general history too much for granted,
I can only plead that to discuss every point of contact between
a great party and the nation at large would have carried me
far beyond the limits of time and space allowed me.

The acknowledgements I must make are many. Sir Charles
Firth assisted me with invaluable criticism on four of my
chapters. Mr. L. G. Wickham Legg, of New College, and
Mr. J. C. Masterman, my colleague at Christ Church, per-
formed similar service in respect of others. Mr. C. R. L.
Fletcher kindly read the whole in manuscript and helped me
with his advice and encouragement at every stage. To
Mr. G. N. Clark I am most grateful for his reading and
criticism of my proof-sheets. I have to thank the Warden
and Fellows of All Souls College for allowing me to use
Sir William Trumbull's manuscript memoir, as well as for
the liberal use of the Codrington Library. To the staff of
that library, of the manuscript room at the British Museum,
of the Public Record Office, and of the Bodleian Library I owe
grateful thanks for essential and long-suffering assistance.

My deepest debt is to my own College, Christ Church: not
only to the Wake Trustees for permission to use the manu-
scripts in their custody, but to the Governing Body as a whole
for the indulgence which made possible the completion of
this book.

K. F.

January 1924

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