1. Froude was in London doing research at the Public Records Office. He had sent TC the first two chaps. of his History of England in Sept. 1855 (vols. 1 and 2 were pbd. April 1856); for TC's extensive annotations, see Dunn, Froude 1:245–51. In a general appraisal at the end of the first chapter, TC described it as “a vigorous, sunny, calm, and wonderfully
effective delineation; pleasant to read,” but he criticized the second chapter for its lack of “dates, specific details, outline of every kind” and the “arrangement.” “It does not ‘begin at the beginning’ … there is no story, but an explanation of some
story supposed to be already known, which is contrary to rule, in writing ‘History.’ … The rule throughout is, that events should speak.” TC “could almost advise” him to “start afresh, and remodel all this second chapter,” although he praised Froude's “generous breadth of intelligence, of manly sympathy,
sound judgment, and in general of luminous solidity” (Dunn, Froude 1:208–9).
