The arrangement of the topics treated of, having been originally adopted for a course of lectures on the subject, differs from that usually found in regular histories. The Revolution of 1688 is treated as if it were but a continuance and completion of the movements begun in the reign of Charles I. And the relation of the events which established William and Mary as sovereigns, first in England, next in Scotland, and lastly in Ireland, is followed by an enumeration of the legislative measures which were required to complete the Revolution. This again is followed by a description of the circumstances which for some years seemed to threaten a counterrevolution; though several of the events of this last-named character were, in point of time, prior to some of the enactments described before them. And the circumstances to which many looked for a counter-revolution are divided into two classes; one kind of danger arising from foreign war; another, of a more formidable kind, being that of domestic treachery and conspiracies within the kingdom.
The Revolution is regarded as not having been finally completed and secured till the peace of Ryswick, and the volume ends with a brief contemplation of the consequences and fruits of the Revolution, among which the closing events of William's reign necessarily find a place.