scientific we possess, and in part the most exhaustive, is not
history. By his energy in extracting formulas and accumulating
knowledge, by the crushing force with which he masses it to sustain
conclusions, he is the strongest Frenchman of his time, and his
indictment is the weightiest that was ever drawn up. For he is no
defender of the Monarchy or of the Empire, and his cruel judgments
are not dictated by party. His book is one of the ablest that this
generation has produced. It is no substitute for history. The
consummate demonstrator, concentrated on the anatomy of French brains,
renounces much that we need to be told, and is incompetent as to the
literature and the general affairs of Europe. Where Taine failed Sorel
has magnificently succeeded, and he has occupied the vacant place both
at the Academy and in his undisputed primacy among writers on the
Revolution. He is secretary to the Senate, and is not an abstract
philosopher, but a politician, curious about things that get into
newspapers and attract the public gaze. Instead of investigating the
human interior, he is on the look-out across the Alps and beyond the
Rhine, writing, as it were, from the point of view of the Foreign
Office. He is at his best when his pawns are diplomatists. In the
process of home politics, and the development of political ideas, he
does not surpass those who went before him. Coming after Sybel, he is
somewhat ahead of him in documentary resource. He is more friendly to
the principles of the Revolution, without being an apologist, and is
more cheerful, more sanguine, and pleasanter to read. A year ago I
said that, Sybel and Taine being dead, Sorel is our highest living
authority. To-day I can no longer use those words.
On Ranke's ninetieth birthday, Mommsen paid him this compliment: "You
are probably the last of the universal historians. Undoubtedly you are
the first." This fine saying was double-edged, and intended to
disparage general histories; but it is with a general history that I
am going to conclude what I have to say on the literature of the
Revolution. In the eighth volume of the _General History_, now
appearing in France, Aulard gives the political outline of the
Revolution. It may be called the characteristic product of the year
1889. When the anniversary came round, for the hundredth time, and
found the Republic securely established, and wielding a power never
dreamed of by the founders, men began to study its history in a new
spirit. Vast pains and vast sums were expended in collecting,
arranging, printing, the most authentic and exact information; and
there was less violence and partiality, more moderation and sincerity,
as became the unresisted victor. In this new school the central figure
was M. Aulard. He occupies the chair of revolutionary history at
Paris; he is the head of the society for promoting it; the editor of
the review, _La Revolution_, now in its thirty-first volume; and he
has published the voluminous acts of the Jacobin Club and of the
Committee of Public Safety. Nobody has ever known the printed material
better than he, and nobody knows the unpublished material so well. The
cloven hoof of party preference appears in a few places. He says that
the people wrought vengeance after the manner of their kings; and he
denies the complicity of Danton in the crimes of September. As Danton
himself admitted his guilt to no less a witness than the future king
of the French, this is a defiance of a main rule of criticism that a
man shall be condemned out of his own mouth. Aulard's narrative is not
complete, and lacks detail; but it is intelligent and instructive
beyond all others, and shows the standard that has been reached by a
century of study.
Where then do we now stand, and what is the elevation that enables us
to look down on men who, the other day, were high authorities? We are
at the end, or near the end, of the supply of Memoirs; few are known
to exist in manuscript. Apart from Spain, we are advanced in respect
of diplomatic and international correspondence; and there is abundant
private correspondence, from Fersen downwards. But we are only a
little way in the movement for the production of the very acts of the
government of revolutionary France.
To give you an idea of what that means. Thirty years ago the Cahiers,
or Instructions, of 1789 were published in six large volumes. The
editors lamented that they had not found everything, and that a dozen
cahiers were missing in four provinces. The new editor, in his two
volumes of introduction, knows of 120 instructions that were
overlooked by his predecessors in those four regions alone; and he
says that there were 50,000 in the whole of France. One collection is
coming out on the Elections for Paris, another on the Paris Electors,
that is, the body entrusted with the choice of deputies, who thereupon
took over the municipal government of the city and made themselves
permanent. Then there is the series of the acts of the Commune, of the
several governing committees, of the Jacobins, of the war department,
and seven volumes on Vendee alone.
In a few years all these publications will be completed, and all will
be known that ever can be known. Perhaps some one will then compose a
history as far beyond the latest that we possess as Sorel, Aulard,
Rambaud, Flammermont are in advance of Taine and Sybel, or Taine and
Sybel of Michelet and Louis Blanc; or of the best that we have in
English, the three chapters in the second volume of Buckle, or the two
chapters in the fifth volume of Lecky. In that golden age our
historians will be sincere, and our history certain. The worst will be
known, and then sentence need not be deferred. With the fulness of
knowledge the pleader's occupation is gone, and the apologist is
deprived of his bread. Mendacity depended on concealment of evidence.
When that is at an end, fable departs with it, and the margin of
legitimate divergence is narrowed.
Don't let us utter too much evil of party writers, for we owe them
much. If not honest, they are helpful, as the advocates aid the judge;
and they would not have done so well from the mere inspiration of
disinterested veracity. We might wait long if we watched for the man
who knows the whole truth and has the courage to speak it, who is
careful of other interests besides his own, and labours to satisfy
opponents, who can be liberal towards those who have erred, who have
sinned, who have failed, and deal evenly with friend and foe--assuming
that it would be possible for an honest historian to have a friend.
INDEX
Adams, John, 23
Agra, bishop of, 308-9
Aiguillon, Duc de, 99, 154
Alsace, 206, 208, 211
Amsterdam, 329
Anglas, Boissy d', 293, 337-8
Archives, Austrian, 364
Argenson, d', 8-9
Argenteau, Mercy, 147
Armand, Colonel, the Marquis de la Rouerie, 302-3
Arneth, 364
Artois, Comte d', 59, 69, 178-9, 204, 339
Auckland, Lord, 320
Aulard, 371-2
Baillon, 183, 187, 189
Bailly, 71, 74, 88
Bale, peace of, 327
Barante, 355
Barbaroux, 267
Barentin, 55
Barere, 99, 117, 257, 273, 289, 295, 332, 335
Barnave, 91-3, 109, 191, 195, 200
Barras, 298, 344
Barthelemy, 337, 365
Bastille, 84, 85
Batz, Baron de, 354
Baudot, 280
Bazire, 271
Beaumetz, 128
Becard, 85
Beccaria, 18
Belgium, 330
Bentham, 106
Bernier, 307-9
Bertrand, 246
Besenval, 84
Beurnonville, 217
Billaud-Varennes, 284, 274, 280-2, 294-5, 333-5
Blanc, Louis, 349-50
Bonchamps, Marquis de, 305, 310-312 ff.
Bordeaux, archbishop of, 102
Bouille, Marquis de, 174-5, 181, 367
Bouille, de, the younger, 185
Bourbon, House of, 260, 337, 340
Bourdon, 298
Breteuil, 83, 175, 231
Bridport, Lord, 339
Brissot, 205, 209, 226, 243, 259
Broglie, Marshal de, 80
Brunswick, Duke of, 211, 231
Brussels, 221
Burke, Edmund, 29, 31, 126, 183, 204, 213
Buzot, 249, 267, 334, 367
Cabanis, 268
Calonne, 45, 178-9
Cambaceres, 274, 299, 337, 341
Cambon, 293-4
Campan, Madame, 128
Camus, 105
Carlyle, 358
Carnac, 339
Carnot, 258, 274, 290, 318, 324-6, 334
Carnot the younger, 359
Carrier, 93, 315, 333, 334
Cassagnac, Granier de, 349
Castlereagh, Lord, 324
Cathelineau, 304, 308, 310-11
Cazales, 75, 110, 193
Cerutti, 92
Chabot, 264
Charette, 237, 304, 307, 310-14, 335, 339-40
Charleroi, 328
Charles, Archduke, 328
Chartres, Duc de, 257
Chateaubriand, 115, 348, 353
Chatelet, Duc de, 101
Chatham, 26-7
Chaumette, 272, 276-7, 278, 280
Chauvelin, 318-19
Choiseul, Duc de, 181, 185
Cholet, battle of, 313
Chouans, Chouannerie, 302, 303, 339-340
Clerfayt, 216-17, 221-2
Clermont, Count Tonnerre de, 82, 98, 102, 230
Clermont, 188-90
Cloots, Anacharsis, 277
Coburg, Prince of, 320, 325-6, 328
Coffinhal, 294, 297, 299
Collot, 289, 292
Conde, 325
Condorcet, 261, 267-8
Cook, Captain, 149
Corday, Charlotte, 265-7, 349
Cordeliers, the, 128, 227, 229
Cormatin, 335, 341
Corsica, 322
Cottereau, 302
Courier, Paul Louis, 348
Courmenin, 354
Couthon, 286, 297-8
Croker, 350
Custine, 220, 253
Cuvier, 357
Damas, 188, 189, 191
Danton, 84, 226, 234, 238, 241, 242-4, 257, 261, 273-8, 282-3, 318, 349,
352, 372
Dareste, 359
Daunou, 341
Delauney, 85, 86
Delessart, 202, 208-9
Desaix, 325
Deseze, 252
Desmoulins, Camille, 84, 226, 248, 280, 282
Diderot, 31
Domat, 2
Dreux-Breze, 74
Drouet, 186-8, 191-2
Droz, 346-7, 350
Dumouriez, 209, 215, 221, 222-3, 262, 319, 366
Dunkirk, 320, 326
Dupont de Nemours, 51, 62, 116
Duport, 98, 99, 100, 155
Egalite, Prince, 221
Eglantine, Fabre de, 277
Elbee, de, 303, 305
Elizabeth, Princess, 181, 246
_Emigres_, the, 129, 178, 201, 240, 260, 313-14, 338-40
Estaing, Count, 127, 136
Favras, Marquis de, 145
_Federes_, the, 229
Fenelon, 3, 4
Fersen, Count, 176, 182-4, 188, 206, 213, 365-7
Feuillants, 194, 226, 230
Fleurus, battle of, 290, 328
Fontenoy, Madame de, her note to Tallien, 293
Fouche, 289 ff., 324
Foulon, 90
Fouquier-Tinville, 332, 335
Fox, 259, 320
Francis, king of Hungary, 209
Franklin, 126
Frederic William, 211, 219
Freron, 226
Gabourd, Amedee, 354
Garat, 254
Genoude, 353
George III., 202, 259, 320, 329
Gobel, 171, 277
Godoy, Manuel, 329
Goethe, 218
Goguelat, 189
Gouvion, General, 182-3
Gower, Lord, 155, 318
Gregoire, bishop of Blois, 171, 278
Grenville, 318, 320
Guadeloupe, 322
Guizot, 355
Gustavus III., 178
Guyot, bishop of Agra, 309
Hamilton, Alexander, 34, 36
Hanriot, 295-6, 299
Hauranne, Duvergier de, 357, 359-60
Hayti, island of, 322
Hebert, 272, 276, 281
Herbois, Collot de, 247, 274, 295, 333-335
Hervilly, de, 236, 238, 338
Hoche, 244
Hohenlohe, 329
Holland, 260, 329
Hood, Lord, 315
Howe, Lord, 322
Hunolstein, 363
Isnard, 205, 228, 337
Jansenists, the, 2, 169
Jefferson, 92, 126
Jourdan, 326, 328
Joyeuse, Villaret, 322-3
Jurieu, 2
Kaiserslautern, battle of, 329
Kaunitz, 126, 203, 207-8, 212
Kellermann, 217-28
Kleber, 312-13, 314, 325
Klopstock, 126
Korff, Madame de, 184
Kozsiusko and the Polish insurrection, 328
Laboulaye, 359-360
Lafayette, General, 32, 38, 88, 124, 130, 134, 137, 152, 182, 183, 196,
201, 229-30, 233
Lally Tollendal, 88, 90-91, 101, 110, 143, 230, 346
La Marck, 131, 147, 155
Lamartine, 345, 347-8
Lamballe, Princess de, 245
Lameth, 109, 155
Lanfrey, 360
Langres, bishop of, 111, 118, 133
La Jaunaye, treaty of, 335
Lanjuinais, 103, 144, 252, 261, 264, 337, 340
Lasource, 262
Latour Maubourg, 191
Lavallee, 359
Lavergne, 215
Lavoisier, 91
Lecointre, 333
Legendre, 226, 228, 264, 298, 333
Leonard, 181, 185, 188
Leopold, 177-8, 202-3, 208, 367
Le Quesnoy, 326
Lescure, 305, 308, 311, 313-15
Lewis XIV., 337
Lewis XVI., 40-43, 49, 72, 75, 87, 89, 118, 140, 170, 180-90, 195, 198,
204, 206, 227, 228, 231, 232, 233-5, 236-7, 242, 251-3, 255, 346
Lewis XVII., 338
Lewis XVIII., 313, 339
Liancourt, Duc de Rochefoucauld, 87, 233
Limon, 213
Longwy, 215, 242
Louchet, 332
Louis Philippe, 223
Louvet, 250
Lubbock, Sir John, 352
Lubersac, bishop of Chartres, 100, 159
Luckner, General, 229
Luxemburg, Duke of, 61
Lyons, 315, 327
Machault, 42
Mack, Colonel, 325
Mailhe, 251
Maillane, Durand de, 293, 295
Maillard, 129, 131-2, 244
Malesherbes, 42, 252
Mallet du Pan, 212, 361
Malmesbury, 328
Malouet, 51, 54, 230, 346, 366
Mandat, 235
Mantua, 178, 179
Manuel, 248
Marat, 93, 113, 128, 226, 241, 262, 266, 333-5, 353
Marceau, 312, 325
Maret, 275, 319
Marie Antoinette, 55, 59, 131, 138, 140, 141-2, 177-8, 197, 180, 200,
206-7, 213, 275, 348, 363-4
Marigny, 311
Martin, Henry, 359
Massena, 274, 325
Maulevrier, Count Colbert de, 343
Maultrot, 3
Maurepas, 43
Maury, Cardinal, 110, 147
Mayence, 312
Menou, 343
Mentz, 326
Mercier de la Riviere, 13
Merlin, 288, 341
Michelet, 351, 360
Mirabeau, 37, 62, 63, 64, 82, 105, 110, 125, 131, 148, 151, 153, 154,
156-7, 347, 361
Moellendorf, Marshal, 329
Mons, 328
Montagu, 322, 323
Montalembert, 356
Montciel, Terrier de, 226, 229
Montesquieu, 7, 220
Montlosier, 65, 144, 366
Montmedy, 180
Montmorin, 153
Moreau, 274, 325
Morris, 82, 230
Mounier, 60, 61, 95, 109, 111, 118, 122-3, 132-3, 137, 143
Mousson, 251
Murat, 344
Nantes, 311, 333
Napier, 313
Naples, 321
Napoleon Bonaparte, 61, 115, 216, 236, 259, 274, 316, 325-6, 344
Narbonne de Lara, Count, Minister of War, 201-2, 208
Necker, 43, 46, 47, 49, 56, 64, 70, 73, 75, 83, 88, 101, 124, 135
Neerwinden, 325
Ney, Marshal, 325
Niebuhr, 355, 369
Noailles, 87, 99
Orange, the Prince of, 329
Orleans, the Duke of, 135-6, 253
Orleans, the Duchess of, 349
Paine, Tom, 126, 249
Pamiers, bishop of, 175
Panis, 226, 281
Panizzi, 358
Paris, archbishop of, 81, 167
Penthievre, Duc de, 339
Petion, 201, 226, 235, 249, 267
Pichegru, 329, 337
Pilnitz, declaration of, 202
Pitt, 210, 216, 254, 314, 318, 321, 329, 338, 346
Pius VI. and the Civil Constitution of the clergy, 170, 172-3
Plain, the deputies of the, 291
Poland, 320
Polignac, the Duchess of, 65, 83, 88
Pontecoulant, 349
Portugal, 321
Precy, 269
Priestly, 248
Prieur, 274
Provence, the Count of, 48, 50, 145-6, 181, 337
Prussia, 329
Puisaye, Count de, 265, 313, 338
Quiberon, battle of, 340
Quinet, 360
Ranke, 371
Raynal, Abbe, 18
Rebecqui, 251
Reinhard, 200
Reynier, 325
Richelieu, Duc de, 135
Rigby, Dr., 86
Robespierre, 117, 226, 270, 273, 275, 278, 280, 284, 285, 294, 298,
299-300, 330, 332, 351
Rochefoucauld, La, Duke de Liancourt, 87, 233
Rochejaquelein, Henri de la, 305, 309, 314
Roederer, 225, 236-7
Roland, 228, 238, 243, 249, 251, 264
Roland, Madame, 225, 267, 367
Romeuf, 183, 188
Romilly, Sir Samuel, 94
Romme, 277, 336
Rouerie, Marquis de la, 302-3
Rousseau, 14-17, 285, 333, 348
Royer Collard, 122
Saint Victor, 348
Sainte Marie, Miomandre de, 138
Santerre, 226-8, 235
Sardinia, the king of, 220
Sauce, 189
Saumur, 308
Savenay, 315
Scheldt, opening of the, 318
Sechelles, Herault de, 269, 271, 281
Semonville, 275
Sergent, 226
Serre, De, 114
Sieyes, 67, 101-2, 110, 119, 121, 159-62, 163, 249, 261, 340-41
Simolin, 208
Smith, Adam, 22
Sombreuil, 246, 338-40
Sorel, 367, 371
Spain, 260, 321, 329, 337
Spencer, Lord, 329
St. Cyr, 325
St. Just, 251, 273, 280-81, 290, 295, 297
St. Menehould, 186-7
St. Priest, 130, 135-6, 355
Stael, Madame de, 137, 201
Stofflet, 305, 310-11, 314-15, 335, 339
Swiss Guard, 238
Sybel, Heinrich von, 356, 360-70
Taine, 93, 353, 360, 367, 370-71
Talleyrand, bishop of Autun, 69, 75, 79, 110, 156, 167, 171, 319,
347, 365-6
Tallien, 243, 281, 292, 295, 332, 337, 340
Tallien, Madame, 331
Talmond, Prince de, 314
Target, 116
Ternaux, Mortimer, 360
Thibaudeau, 341
Thierry, 353
Thiers, 357, 369
Thouret, 119, 123
Tocqueville, 157, 350, 356, 359-60
Torfou, 312
Torquemada, 352
Toulon, 315, 321
Toulouse, archbishop of, 46, 148
Tourzel, Madame de, 245
Tronchet, 252
Turgot, 10, 11, 14, 42
Tuscany, 337
Ushant, 290
Vadier, 295
Valenciennes, 312, 325
Valmy, 216, 218
Vancouver Island, 149, 150
Varennes, 120, 179, 189
Vendee, La, 260, 303-4, 334, 337
Verdun, 215, 244
Vergniaud, 209, 225, 223, 231, 238, 249, 253, 261, 267
Versailles, the march to, 129-30
Villaret-Joyeuse, 290
Villiaume, 353
Vincent, 273, 276
Virieu, 99
Volney, 123
Voulland, 297, 298
Washington, 126
Wattignies, 326
Weber, 246, 365
Webster, Daniel, 25
Weissenburg, 327
Westermann, 226, 238, 281
Wilson, James, 35, 36
Windward Islands, 322
Wurmser, 327
York, the Duke of, 325-6, 328-9, 339
THE END
_Printed by_ R. & R. Clark, Limited, _Edinburgh_.
BY THE SAME AUTHOR
_8vo. 10s. net each._
THE HISTORY OF FREEDOM
AND OTHER ESSAYS
EDITED WITH AN INTRODUCTION BY
JOHN NEVILLE FIGGIS, Litt.D.
SOMETIME LECTURER IN ST. CATHARINE'S COLLEGE, CAMBRIDGE
AND
REGINALD VERE LAURENCE, M.A.
FELLOW AND LECTURER OF TRINITY COLLEGE, CAMBRIDGE
HISTORICAL
ESSAYS AND STUDIES
EDITED BY
JOHN NEVILLE FIGGIS, Litt.D.
SOMETIME LECTURER IN ST. CATHARINE'S COLLEGE, CAMBRIDGE
AND
REGINALD VERE LAURENCE, M.A.
FELLOW AND LECTURER OF TRINITY COLLEGE, CAMBRIDGE
SOME PRESS OPINIONS.
_GUARDIAN._--"The publication of the literary remains of Lord Acton
is gradually showing the world his true greatness as an historian,
and for this we owe our warmest thanks to Mr. Figgis and Mr.
Laurence. The two volumes before us reveal better than anything
that has yet been published the extent of Lord Acton's knowledge
and the force of his mind.... Powerful and closely reasoned essays
and lectures, which bear on every page the stamp of learning and
judgment and righteousness, which are worthy of a great scholar and
a good man."
_TIMES._--"These volumes must be regarded, not as the support of
an existing reputation, or as a bid for the establishment of
posthumous renown, but as the record and memorial of a rare and
attractive personality. The accurate, insatiable, and broad-minded
student is revealed; the generous champion of a noble cause which
has suffered temporary defeat is seen on the field of his eager
endeavour in controversy with Popes and Cardinals for the sake of
freedom and truth; and the principles which he brought to the study
of history or elicited from his observation of men and affairs
throughout the centuries are set forth for all to read. The
resulting picture of the great student, the partisan striving for
impartiality, is admirably put together in a sympathetic and lucid
introduction supplied by the editors."
_ATHENAEUM._--"We have said enough to indicate the varied
attractions of this volume. It shows us, indeed, the great scholar
at his best, in his wide knowledge, sound judgment, and intense but
restrained moral fervour. It is a book which does more than add to
our information: it strengthens and inspires."
_SPECTATOR._--"These thirty-seven lectures, essays, and reviews are
but a small part, the editors tell us, of Lord Acton's literary
'output.' Let us say at once that they are sufficient to convince
us, if we had needed conviction, of the prodigious learning, the
consummate literary ability, and the unfailing candour of the
writer."
Mr. Oscar Browning in the _CAMBRIDGE REVIEW_.--"The perusal of the
volumes before us will confirm the opinion already formed by those
who are best acquainted with Lord Acton, that he was one of the
most distinguished men of his age, and that he claims to be placed
in the first rank of English historians."
_ACADEMY._--"We can imagine no better mental training for any
reader of history than a study of Lord Acton's methods of inquiry
and criticisms as exemplified in these learned treatises. The
teacher of history will find that these two volumes have a value as
books of reference, which will aid his judgment on many constantly
recurring historical problems--a reference made easy by the
admirable indexes, which in themselves are a testimony to the
immense range of Lord Acton's erudition."
_DAILY NEWS._--"The present volumes, prefaced by an admirable
editorial essay, contain a large number of the writings by which
Acton won the reputation of the most learned Englishman of his
time, together with addresses and unsigned articles that are little
known.... The articles and reviews which he contributed to the
pages of the _English Historical Review_ are reprinted in these
volumes, and contain the ripest and most valuable work of his life.
There is, indeed, nothing like them in English historical
literature."
_NATION._--"It is no exaggeration to say that Lord Acton's Essays
are the book of the season, and that their publication is an event.
Their author stood in the first rank of _Gelehrte_. His reading was
immense, his memory unfailing. He added to his learning a
considerable knowledge of affairs and an almost passionate moral
energy. The former kept him in touch with life, the latter with
principle; he lived in the world of men without descending to its
level; he raised and inspired. The works of such a man are of
public, it is not too much to say of European, interest."
_MORNING POST._--"Nobody can read these two volumes, so massive in
their learning, so moving in their grave and eloquent appeal,
without feeling the moral grandeur of the life of which they form
the most adequate commemoration. Only one of the papers printed in
this collection, an address upon the causes of the Franco-Prussian
War, positively sees the light for the first time, but we question
whether any one of the other essays was known to the general
reading public, or whether there are ten historical experts in the
country who had tracked Lord Acton through the many devious
periodicals in which he deposited the results of his genius and
industry. These volumes, then, to all intents and purposes form a
new book. It is to them, and not to the 'Cambridge Lectures,' that
we should look for Lord Acton's most finished literary work, for
the expression of his deepest convictions upon the most profound
problems of faith and morals, and for the most convincing proofs of
the wide span of his interests and the inexhaustible arsenal of his
knowledge. They enable us to understand the animating conception
which guided his life of arduous toil, and indicate the lines of a
historical apologetic for the Catholic Church more just, original,
and profound than any which the writers of the Ultramontane School
have offered."
_DAILY TELEGRAPH._--"There is so much of fine thought and brilliant
expression in these volumes, and so diverse a variety of themes,
that it is difficult to do more than indicate the treasures which
they offer to intelligent readers."
_Globe 8vo. 2s. 6d._
A LECTURE ON
THE STUDY OF HISTORY
DELIVERED AT CAMBRIDGE,
JUNE 11, 1895
BY THE SAME AUTHOR
_8vo. 10s. net._
LECTURES
ON
MODERN HISTORY
EDITED WITH AN INTRODUCTION BY
JOHN NEVILLE FIGGIS, Litt.D.
SOMETIME LECTURER IN ST. CATHARINE'S COLLEGE, CAMBRIDGE
AND
REGINALD VERE LAURENCE, M.A.
FELLOW AND LECTURER OF TRINITY COLLEGE, CAMBRIDGE
SOME PRESS OPINIONS.
_TIMES._--"The treatment is personal, fresh, and original
throughout. Lucidity is unfailing. Learning is marshalled behind
_every_ paragraph, and almost behind every sentence, and yet is
never obtrusive. The lectures are equally adapted to illuminate the
scholar and to introduce the novice to the study of the mighty
scheme of human affairs in its dynamic flow. The selection of
detail is governed by consummate judgment; and frequently
information drawn from sources alien to the matter in hand is
dropped into its place with a sureness and precision which
astonishes; controversial questions, when introduced, are
legitimately brought forward as an illustration of historical
method, and not as the diversions and digressions of an overstocked
mind."
_ENGLISH HISTORICAL REVIEW._--"Three hundred years of European
history are covered in these nineteen lectures, masterpieces of
lucid statement, of suggestive and stimulating criticism.
Everywhere, whether the lecturer be sketching the salient features
of the sixteenth century or of the eighteenth, whether he be
dealing with Italy or America, we feel the sureness of touch of one
who is familiar with every detail. Although we may often not agree
with his trenchant judgments, with his paradoxes, or even with his
interpretation of the teaching of history, we are made to feel that
his ample knowledge would never have been at a loss for weighty
arguments in answer to every objection."
_TRIBUNE._--"The pages abound in indispensable corrections of
popular and pedagogic errors, and in revelations of new facts. No
one could do this so well as Acton, because no historical scholar
who ever lived kept himself so well abreast of Continental research
or so completely in touch with the world of scholars. All archives
were open to him, and all archivists put their knowledge at his
disposal; wealth, social position, and leisure gave him advantages
denied to almost every other scholar."
MACMILLAN AND CO., Ltd., LONDON.