the Civil War. By JOHN 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._
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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.
* * * * *
THE
HISTORICAL REFERENCE-BOOK,
COMPRISING:
_A Chronological Table of Universal History, a Chronological Dictionary
of Universal History, a Biographical Dictionary_.
WITH GEOGRAPHICAL NOTES.
FOR THE USE OF STUDENTS, TEACHERS, AND READERS.
_By LOUIS HEILPRIN._
New edition. Crown 8vo. Half leather, $3.00.
“A second revised edition of Mr. Louis Heilprin’s ‘Historical
Reference-Book’ has just appeared, marking the well-earned success of
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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._
“One of the most complete, compact, and valuable works of reference yet
produced.”--_Troy Daily Times._
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Saturday Evening Gazette._
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accompany the historical incidents are a novel addition, and exceedingly
helpful._ The size also commends it, making it convenient for constant
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and uninteresting incidents make it much easier to find dates and events
about which accuracy is necessary. Sir William Hamilton avers that too
retentive a memory tends to hinder the development of the judgment by
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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 510 B.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 86 B.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.