" It is in two volumes quarto, containing rather
more than 1000 pages. A fitting motto for it would have been _De
omnibus rebus et quibusdam aliis._ The subject, or range of subjects,
was beyond her grasp; and the best that can be said of the book is
that a good general impression of the stream of history, lighted up
with some striking traits of manners and character, may be obtained
from it. It would have required the united powers and acquirements of
Raleigh, Burke, Gibbon, and Voltaire to fill so vast a canvass with
appropriate groups and figures; and she is more open to blame for the
ambitious conception of the work than for her comparative failure in
the execution. In 1799 she writes to Dr. Gray: "The truth is, my
plans stretch too far for these times, or for my own age; but the
wish, though scarce hope, of my heart, is to finish the work I am
engaged in, get you to look it over for me, and print in March 1801."
She published it in January 1801, but it was not looked over by her
learned correspondent. Some slight misgiving is betrayed in the
Preface:
"If I should have made improper choice of facts, and if I should be
found at length most to resemble Maister Fabyan of old, who writing
the life of Henry V. lays heaviest stress on a new weathercock set-up
on St. Paul's steeple during that eventful reign, my book must share
the fate of his, and be like that forgotten: reminding before its
death perhaps a friend or two of a poor man (Macbean) living in later
times, that Doctor Johnson used to tell us of; who being advised to
take subscriptions for a new Geographical Dictionary, hastened to
Bolt Court and begged advice.
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