The Cabinet Cyclopædia, Vol. 1: History; Spain and Portugal (Classic Reprint)

Excerpt from The Cabinet Cyclopædia, Vol. 1: History; Spain and Portugal

The present is an attempt - the first that has been made in our language - to compose, from the interminable mass of original authorities, a general history of the Spanish and Portuguese Peninsula.

That such an attempt has not been made before now, will surprise no one fully aware of the difficulties attending it. Even with the advantages of a long and intimate acquaintance with Spain, - an acquaintance not merely literary, but personal; not confined to one city, but extending over a great part of the country, - we could not foresee their precise extent. The number of authorities, many of great rarity; the trouble and expense of procuring them; the labour of forming a clear and connected narrative from materials generally confused, often obscure and contradictory; above all, the more than Egyptian darkness which at every period involves the political, civil, and ecclesiastical institutions, no less than the social condition, of the Peninsula - subjects, however interesting and important, unaccountably neglected by the national historians - are obstacles formidable enough to intimidate the most resolute student.

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