Chapter 19

HISTORY OF THE RISE AND INFLUENCE OF THE SPIRIT OF RATIONALISM IN EUROPE.ByWilliam E. H. Lecky. 2 vols. Small 8vo. Cloth, $4.00; half calf, extra, $8.00.

“The author defines his purpose as an attempt to trace that spirit which ‘leads men on all occasions to subordinate dogmatic theology to the dictates of reason and of conscience, and, as a necessary consequence, to restrict its influence upon life’—which predisposes men, in history, to attribute all kinds of phenomena to natural rather than miraculous causes; in theology, to esteem succeeding systems the expressions of the wants and aspirations of that religious sentiment which is planted in all men; and, in ethics, to regard as duties only those which conscience reveals to be such.”—Dr. C. K. Adams’s Manual of Historical Literature.

THE LEADERS OF PUBLIC OPINION IN IRELAND: SWIFT, FLOOD, GRATTAN, O’CONNELL.ByWilliam E. H. Lecky. 12mo. Cloth, $1.75.

“A writer of Lecky’s mind, with his rich imagination, his fine ability to appreciate imagination in others, and his disposition to be himself an orator upon the written page, could hardly have found a period in British history more harmonious with his literary style than that which witnessed the rise, the ripening, and the fall of the four men whose impress upon the development of the national spirit of Ireland was not limited by the local questions whose discussion constituted their fame.”—New York Evening Post.

HISTORY OF HENRY THE FIFTH: KING OF ENGLAND, LORD OF IRELAND, AND HEIR OF FRANCE. ByGeorge M. Towle. 8vo. Cloth, $2.50.

New revised edition of Bancroft’s History of the United States.

HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES, from the Discovery of the Continent to the Establishment of the Constitution in 1789. ByGeorge Bancroft. Complete in 6 vols., 8vo, printed from new type, and bound in cloth, uncut, with gilt top, $2.50; sheep, $3.50; half calf, $4.50 per volume. Vol. VI contains the History of the Formation of the Constitution of the United States, and a Portrait of Mr. Bancroft.

In this edition of his great work the author has made extensive changes in the text, condensing in places, enlarging in others, and carefully revising. It is practically a new work embodying the results of the latest researches, and enjoying the advantage of the author’s long and mature experience.

“On comparing this work with the corresponding volume of the ‘Centenary’ edition of 1876, one is surprised to see how extensive changes the author has found desirable, even after so short an interval. The first thing that strikes one is the increased number of chapters, resulting from subdivision. The first volume contains two volumes of the original, and is divided into thirty-eight chapters instead of eighteen. This is in itself an improvement. But the new arrangement is not the result merely of subdivision; the matter is rearranged in such a manner as vastly to increase the lucidity and continuousness of treatment. In the present edition Mr. Bancroft returns to the principle of division into periods, abandoned in the ‘Centenary’ edition. His division is, however, a new one. As the permanent shape taken by a great historical work, this new arrangement is certainly an improvement.”—The Nation (New York).“The work as a whole is in better shape, and is of course more authoritative than ever before. This last revision will be without doubt, both from its desirable form and accurate text, the standard one.”—Boston Traveller.“It has not been granted to many historians to devote half a century to the history of a single people, and to live long enough, and, let us add, to be willing and wise enough, to revise and rewrite in an honored old age the work of a whole lifetime.”—New York Mail and Express.“The extent and thoroughness of this revision would hardly be guessed without comparing the editions side by side. The condensation of the text amounts to something over one third of the previous edition. There has also been very considerable recasting of the text. On the whole, our examination of the first volume leads us to believe that the thought of the historian loses nothing by the abbreviation of the text. A closer and later approximation to the best results of scholarship and criticism is reached. The public gains by its more compact brevity and in amount of matter, and in economy of time and money.”—The Independent (New York).“There is nothing to be said at this day of the value of ‘Bancroft.’ Its authority is no longer in dispute, and as a piece of vivid and realistic historical writing it stands among the best works of its class. It may be taken for granted that this new edition will greatly extend its usefulness.”—Philadelphia North American.

“The work as a whole is in better shape, and is of course more authoritative than ever before. This last revision will be without doubt, both from its desirable form and accurate text, the standard one.”—Boston Traveller.

“It has not been granted to many historians to devote half a century to the history of a single people, and to live long enough, and, let us add, to be willing and wise enough, to revise and rewrite in an honored old age the work of a whole lifetime.”—New York Mail and Express.

“The extent and thoroughness of this revision would hardly be guessed without comparing the editions side by side. The condensation of the text amounts to something over one third of the previous edition. There has also been very considerable recasting of the text. On the whole, our examination of the first volume leads us to believe that the thought of the historian loses nothing by the abbreviation of the text. A closer and later approximation to the best results of scholarship and criticism is reached. The public gains by its more compact brevity and in amount of matter, and in economy of time and money.”—The Independent (New York).

“There is nothing to be said at this day of the value of ‘Bancroft.’ Its authority is no longer in dispute, and as a piece of vivid and realistic historical writing it stands among the best works of its class. It may be taken for granted that this new edition will greatly extend its usefulness.”—Philadelphia North American.

HISTORY OF THE PEOPLE OF THE UNITED STATES, from the Revolution to the Civil War. ByJohn Bach McMaster. To be completed in five volumes. Vols. I and II, 8vo, cloth, gilt top, $2.50 each.

Scope of the Work.—In the course of this narrative much is written of wars, conspiracies, and rebellions; of Presidents, of Congresses, of embassies, of treaties, of the ambition of political leaders, and of the rise of great parties in the nation. Yet the history of the people is the chief theme. At every stage of the splendid progress which separates the America of Washington and Adams from the America in which we live, it has been the author’s purpose to describe the dress, the occupations, the amusements, the literary canons of the times; to note the changes of manners and morals; to trace the growth of that humane spirit which abolished punishment for debt, and reformed the discipline of prisons and of jails; to recount the manifold improvements which, in a thousand ways, have multiplied the conveniences of life and ministered to the happiness of our race; to describe the rise and progress of that long series of mechanical inventions and discoveries which is now the admiration of the world, and our just pride and boast; to tell how, under the benign influence of liberty and peace, there sprang up, in the course of a single century, a prosperity unparalleled in the annals of human affairs.

“The pledge given by Mr. McMaster, that ‘the history of the people shall be the chief theme,’ is punctiliously and satisfactorily fulfilled. He carries out his promise in a complete, vivid, and delightful way. We should add that the literary execution of the work is worthy of the indefatigable industry and unceasing vigilance with which the stores of historical material have been accumulated, weighed, and sifted. The cardinal qualities of style, lucidity, animation, and energy, are everywhere present. Seldom, indeed, has a book, in which matter of substantial value has been so happily united to attractiveness of form, been offered by an American author to his fellow-citizens.”—New York Sun.“To recount the marvelous progress of the American people, to describe their life, their literature, their occupations, their amusements, is Mr. McMaster’s object. His theme is an important one, and we congratulate him on his success. It has rarely been our province to notice a book with so many excellences and so few defects.”—New York Herald.“Mr. McMaster at once shows his grasp of the various themes and his special capacity as a historian of the people. His aim is high, but he hits the mark.”—New York Journal of Commerce.“I have had to read a good deal of history in my day, but I find so much freshness in the way Professor McMaster has treated his subject that it is quite like a new story.”—Philadelphia Press.“Mr. McMaster’s success as a writer seems to us distinct and decisive. In the first place he has written a remarkably readable history. His style is clear and vigorous, if not always condensed. He has the faculty of felicitous comparison and contrast in a marked degree. Mr. McMaster has produced one of the most spirited of histories, a book which will be widely read, and the entertaining quality of which is conspicuous beyond that of any work of its kind.”—Boston Gazette.

“To recount the marvelous progress of the American people, to describe their life, their literature, their occupations, their amusements, is Mr. McMaster’s object. His theme is an important one, and we congratulate him on his success. It has rarely been our province to notice a book with so many excellences and so few defects.”—New York Herald.

“Mr. McMaster at once shows his grasp of the various themes and his special capacity as a historian of the people. His aim is high, but he hits the mark.”—New York Journal of Commerce.

“I have had to read a good deal of history in my day, but I find so much freshness in the way Professor McMaster has treated his subject that it is quite like a new story.”—Philadelphia Press.

“Mr. McMaster’s success as a writer seems to us distinct and decisive. In the first place he has written a remarkably readable history. His style is clear and vigorous, if not always condensed. He has the faculty of felicitous comparison and contrast in a marked degree. Mr. McMaster has produced one of the most spirited of histories, a book which will be widely read, and the entertaining quality of which is conspicuous beyond that of any work of its kind.”—Boston Gazette.

New York: D. APPLETON & CO., 1, 3, & 5 Bond Street.

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“A second revised edition of Mr. Louis Heilprin’s ‘Historical Reference-Book’ has just appeared, marking the well-earned success of this admirable work—a dictionary of dates, a dictionary of events (with a special gazetteer for the places mentioned), and a concise biographical dictionary, all in one, and all in the highest degree trustworthy. Mr. Heilprin’s revision is as thorough as his original work. Any one can test it by running over the list of persons deceased since this manual first appeared. Corrections, too, have been made, as we can testify in one instance at least.”—New York Evening Post.

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New York: D. APPLETON & CO., 1, 3, & 5 Bond Street.

FOOTNOTES:[1]This and the succeeding selection from the works of Prescott are included by kind permission of Messrs. Lippincott & Co.[2]This and other selections from the works of Motley are included by kind permission of Messrs. Harper & Brothers.[3]Miltiades claimed descent from Æacus, the fabled son of Jupiter, father of Peleus and Telamon, and grandfather of Achilles and Ajax the Greater, the chiefs of the Greek heroes before Troy.—G. T. F.[4]Peisistratos was the tyrant of Athens, the overthrow of whose family, about 510B.C., laid the foundation of the Athenian democracy.—G. T. F.[5]The leadership in a league or confederation, as to-day it may be said Prussia possesses the “hegemony” of Germany.—G. T. F.[6]Jugurtha was a Numidian prince, who at one time served in the Roman armies. He afterward usurped the Numidian kingdom in Africa, and, after a tedious war, was subjugated by the Romans, brought to Rome, and starved in his dungeon.—G. T. F.[7]Publius Cornelius Scipio Africanus (Minor), the final destroyer of Carthage.—G. T. F.[8]A Roman magistrate, inferior to consul, appointed to rule a province.—G. T. F.[9]The war against Jugurtha.[10]This kingdom was situated in Asia Minor, on the southern and eastern shores of the Euxine (Black) Sea, between Bithynia and Armenia. With the first-named region it constituted the extreme north-western portion of what is now Asiatic Turkey.—G. T. F.[11]The office charged with financial administration. A military prætor was at the head of the pay and commissary department.—G. T. F.[12]Publius Cornelius Cinna, consul from 86B.C.to 83.—G. T. F.[13]Gallio was the proconsul of Achaia, and the elder brother of the philosopher Seneca. The Apostle Paul was brought before his judgment-seat by the Jews, and he thus answered: “If it were a matter of wrong or wicked lewdness, O ye Jews, reason would that I should bear with you. But if it be a question of words and names, and of your law, look ye to it; for I will be no judge of such matters.” Acts 18: 14, 15. The name has become a synonym for the attitude of philosophical indifference. (G.F.F.)[14]The legal fiction of the republic and of its governmental machinery was carefully perpetuated by Augustus and his successors in the empire until the destruction of the Western Empire. Public acts were in the name of the “senate and people of Rome.” The same pious fraud continued in the Empire of the East till the reign of Justinian.—G. T. F.[15]This historian was one of the most bitter and bigoted of the writers under the new Christian epoch; and his partisanship was pursued with an acrimony unworthy of the great cause in which he was retained.—G. T. F.[16]The Emperor Julian was succeeded by Jovian, one of his generals, who was at once proclaimed by the troops. Before, however, he could march to Constantinople he died from a fit of indigestion, or of poison. Valentinian, a general of Pannonian ancestry distinguished for his military skill and courage, was then proclaimed.—G. T. F.[17]Theodosius, though justly provoked by the contumacy of the people of Antioch in casting down and destroying his statues, consulted pride rather than justice in the severe measures which he at first proposed, which would have depopulated Antioch, confiscated its wealth, and destroyed its rank as a capital. The punishment of Thessalonica, on the other hand, though cruel and excessive, was prompted by a cause more adequate. A favorite general, Botheric, was brutally assassinated by the turbulent populace in a circus riot. The wrath of the outraged emperor was only satiated by a promiscuous massacre of from seven to fifteen thousand people.—G. T. F.[18]The characters mentioned by Sir William Temple, the author alluded to, are Belisarius, Ætius, John Hunniades, Gonsalvo of Cordova, Scanderbeg, Alexander Duke of Parma, and the Prince of Orange.[19]Gibbon, while recognizing the correct orthography of the name Mohammed, prefers to use the then popular substitute of “Mahomet,” as that by which the Arabian prophet was almost universally known.—G. T. F.[20]The sister of Svein had fled to Olaf’s court for protection against a detested marriage, whereon Olaf had become enamored of and married the fair fugitive. As Queen Sigrid had formerly been jilted by Olaf his marriage had been a sore blow to her.—G. T. F.[21]Derived from an old Italian word meaning astuteness or shrewdness.—G. T. F.[22]Froissart’s “Chronicles.”[23]The reader scarcely needs to be informed that, in the time of Gibbon, the British East India Company was the practical maister of Hindostan.[24]Philip II, king of Spain.—G. T. F.[25]A noted Protestant general, to whom Wallenstein had been opposed in more than one campaign.[26]Ferdinand of Austria, the head of the Catholic League of Germany and Spain, by whom the Thirty Years’ War was inaugurated.—G. T. F.[27]The time of life selected by Macaulay for this picture was just prior to William’s accession to the English throne.—G. T. F.[28]Father of Charles James Fox, whose picture is given by Lecky in another sketch.—G. T. F.[29]King of Spain.

FOOTNOTES:

[1]This and the succeeding selection from the works of Prescott are included by kind permission of Messrs. Lippincott & Co.

[2]This and other selections from the works of Motley are included by kind permission of Messrs. Harper & Brothers.

[3]Miltiades claimed descent from Æacus, the fabled son of Jupiter, father of Peleus and Telamon, and grandfather of Achilles and Ajax the Greater, the chiefs of the Greek heroes before Troy.—G. T. F.

[4]Peisistratos was the tyrant of Athens, the overthrow of whose family, about 510B.C., laid the foundation of the Athenian democracy.—G. T. F.

[5]The leadership in a league or confederation, as to-day it may be said Prussia possesses the “hegemony” of Germany.—G. T. F.

[6]Jugurtha was a Numidian prince, who at one time served in the Roman armies. He afterward usurped the Numidian kingdom in Africa, and, after a tedious war, was subjugated by the Romans, brought to Rome, and starved in his dungeon.—G. T. F.

[7]Publius Cornelius Scipio Africanus (Minor), the final destroyer of Carthage.—G. T. F.

[8]A Roman magistrate, inferior to consul, appointed to rule a province.—G. T. F.

[9]The war against Jugurtha.

[10]This kingdom was situated in Asia Minor, on the southern and eastern shores of the Euxine (Black) Sea, between Bithynia and Armenia. With the first-named region it constituted the extreme north-western portion of what is now Asiatic Turkey.—G. T. F.

[11]The office charged with financial administration. A military prætor was at the head of the pay and commissary department.—G. T. F.

[12]Publius Cornelius Cinna, consul from 86B.C.to 83.—G. T. F.

[13]Gallio was the proconsul of Achaia, and the elder brother of the philosopher Seneca. The Apostle Paul was brought before his judgment-seat by the Jews, and he thus answered: “If it were a matter of wrong or wicked lewdness, O ye Jews, reason would that I should bear with you. But if it be a question of words and names, and of your law, look ye to it; for I will be no judge of such matters.” Acts 18: 14, 15. The name has become a synonym for the attitude of philosophical indifference. (G.F.F.)

[14]The legal fiction of the republic and of its governmental machinery was carefully perpetuated by Augustus and his successors in the empire until the destruction of the Western Empire. Public acts were in the name of the “senate and people of Rome.” The same pious fraud continued in the Empire of the East till the reign of Justinian.—G. T. F.

[15]This historian was one of the most bitter and bigoted of the writers under the new Christian epoch; and his partisanship was pursued with an acrimony unworthy of the great cause in which he was retained.—G. T. F.

[16]The Emperor Julian was succeeded by Jovian, one of his generals, who was at once proclaimed by the troops. Before, however, he could march to Constantinople he died from a fit of indigestion, or of poison. Valentinian, a general of Pannonian ancestry distinguished for his military skill and courage, was then proclaimed.—G. T. F.

[17]Theodosius, though justly provoked by the contumacy of the people of Antioch in casting down and destroying his statues, consulted pride rather than justice in the severe measures which he at first proposed, which would have depopulated Antioch, confiscated its wealth, and destroyed its rank as a capital. The punishment of Thessalonica, on the other hand, though cruel and excessive, was prompted by a cause more adequate. A favorite general, Botheric, was brutally assassinated by the turbulent populace in a circus riot. The wrath of the outraged emperor was only satiated by a promiscuous massacre of from seven to fifteen thousand people.—G. T. F.

[18]The characters mentioned by Sir William Temple, the author alluded to, are Belisarius, Ætius, John Hunniades, Gonsalvo of Cordova, Scanderbeg, Alexander Duke of Parma, and the Prince of Orange.

[19]Gibbon, while recognizing the correct orthography of the name Mohammed, prefers to use the then popular substitute of “Mahomet,” as that by which the Arabian prophet was almost universally known.—G. T. F.

[20]The sister of Svein had fled to Olaf’s court for protection against a detested marriage, whereon Olaf had become enamored of and married the fair fugitive. As Queen Sigrid had formerly been jilted by Olaf his marriage had been a sore blow to her.—G. T. F.

[21]Derived from an old Italian word meaning astuteness or shrewdness.—G. T. F.

[22]Froissart’s “Chronicles.”

[23]The reader scarcely needs to be informed that, in the time of Gibbon, the British East India Company was the practical maister of Hindostan.

[24]Philip II, king of Spain.—G. T. F.

[25]A noted Protestant general, to whom Wallenstein had been opposed in more than one campaign.

[26]Ferdinand of Austria, the head of the Catholic League of Germany and Spain, by whom the Thirty Years’ War was inaugurated.—G. T. F.

[27]The time of life selected by Macaulay for this picture was just prior to William’s accession to the English throne.—G. T. F.

[28]Father of Charles James Fox, whose picture is given by Lecky in another sketch.—G. T. F.

[29]King of Spain.

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