In this first of a three-volume work that focuses on England's history during the author's lifetime, Molesworth provides an interesting account of the Great Reform Struggle of 1831 and 1832, which introduced far-reaching changes to the electoral system. He begins his history here because the event was the author's earliest memory of an important occurrence in English history—the reforms effected major constitutional changes without violence or upheaval. The volume closes in the late 1830's, with the death of William IV (1837).