ABSTRACT
In sheer bulk Robert Southey histories loom as the largest and most formidable of any category in which he wrote. Both his History of the Peninsular War and his History of Brazil consisted of three large quartos of several hundred pages in each volume. Southey undertook the composition and publication of The History of the Peninsular War by agreement with John Murray for the sum of one thousand guineas. Despite the shortcomings of Southey's history there are still good things within the volumes. The great unwritten opus of Southey's career was his History of Portugal. He planned this work at the age of twenty-six during his second trip to Portugal, with the assistance of his uncle, the Reverend Herbert Hill, and of Mr Hill's excellent collection of books and manuscripts. The Book of the Church is not simply a popular history of the Church of England, but was a part of the public debate over the question of Catholic Emancipation.
