Page:Source Problems in English History.djvu/19

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Preface

undergraduate intelligence. Some of them, which the instructor will have no trouble in recognizing, are, like the originals in geometry, for the exercise and enjoyment of the ablest members of the class. Students should be diligently reminded that they must study the introductory statements as well as the source material itself before they attempt to answer the questions.[1]

The book is intended for use in the more general and elementary college courses in English history. If it leans to the governmental it is because the editors feel that any good course in English history must emphasize that aspect. But it is not intended—as the reader can see at a glance—for any advanced work in English constitutional history. A book of source problems will of course always be used in connection with a narrative text; hence the sections entitled “The Historical Setting of the Problem” take many routine facts for granted. The editors have used these sections to present such material or to urge such points of view as they believe should be very prominently in mind when the student attacks the sources. Occasionally important facts have been omitted from the statements introductory to the sources, when it has been deemed a legitimate part of the problem for the student to find out these facts for himself.

  1. Mr. White is responsible for Problems I–IV, and Mr. Notestein for Problems V–VIII.