say that the history of individuals is the history of mankind, we speak truly, taking in not merely political personages, who make up the history of barbarous times and countries, but the poet, the thinker, the theologian, and, above all, the discoverer and the inventor. He who opens a new conttinen, or plants his flag upon a star infinitely distant, or who extends in any way the range of human knowledge, even by contracting it to some fact infinitely small, or achieves a grim immortality by giving his name to some disease, not before diagnosed, is a factor in true history, though not, perhaps, bearing any share in the shadowy and fantastic procession of mere events. He is himself an event, passing in importance the reigns of monarchs. Or the inventor, who is also a discoverer, with the difference that he discovers things that might be, and the other things that are; that one combines, and, as it were, creates, while the other only finds out things that really exist;-he is often a still more important factor, and completely shifts the scenes before which the actors of events perform their parts. To read history without regard to these elements of change would be to make it unintelligible; and the true method of history is to take a broad view of all that contributes to change. History is a resultant of many forces; each force must be studied separately, if we would calculate the result with precision. History, in its common acceptation, is the synthesis of biography; biography is the analysis of history. It is true that, as education advances, and public opinion ripens, the Press becomes more of a power, and the individual, for instance, the orator, less, and society verges to a commonwealth. We may conceive a vanishing point for the individual, and the reign of universal mediocrity may have its advantages, although it will probably prove the sternest of despotisms, the despotism of all, over each, instead of the despotism of one over all. Nevertheless, the theory upon which Dr. Wills spells history out of biography is not yet untrue. This was Dr. Wills's plan, confining its application to one country, and, of course, in so narrow a section, recognizing the impossibility of taking in collateral causes. In this work he planned, as we have said, to spell out change, to shape men's lives into history, and, as a sort of argument of the stages into which he divided it, to preface each with a historical introduction. That he was not unsuccessful in this wide scheme may be gathered from the testimony of friend and foe. O'Connell said that there had never before been written a history of Ireland, and advised many of his followers to continue their subscriptions, who, from opposition of politics, had been inclined to withdraw their support. An eminent Irishman of the present day, reviewing the work from the Conservative point of view, bore the following testimony :-* "It were now time we came from biography to the volumes before us; and enter on the very agreeable task of presenting to the notice of our readers a work of the highest merit, and the greatest utility. It is the first, and such is its excellence, that we should not be surprised were it the last attempt to supply a desideratum in our literature. Commencing from the earliest period (the first life is that of Ollamh Fodla, who is supposed to have lived before the Christian era), it gives, in chronological order, a sketch of the life, the deeds or the writings of every man deserving biographical notice, who can be considered either from birth, residence, or any other circumstance, an Irishman. * The present Lord Chancellor of Ireland, in the DUB. UNI. MAG., No. xcvii. "The memoirs are written with great liveliness and spirit, and in every way are marked with the impress of a highly thoughtful and original mind. "The biographies are arranged in series, according as the characters are principally remarkable for their political, or ecclesiastical, or literary and scientific career, and these series again are arranged by certain epochs. Prefixed to each epoch is a dissertation on its peculiar aims, tendencies, and general characteristics. Perhaps these dissertations are the most valuable portion of the whole work. "Calm judgment, subtle analysis of the motives, and the external developments of every age, a philosophical freedom from passion and prejudice, rarely attained and still more rarely combined, with a firm adherence to right principles, are especially observable. Great difficulties surrounded the author in their execution. Incedens per ignes Suppositos cineri doloso.' "This intermixture of historical dissertation with the biographies is attended with several beneficial results. It is evident that it prevents unnecessary repetition, by giving at one glance that which should else require to be represented anew in each successive contemporary life. Placing the reflective and philosophical portion of the work apart by itself, it preserves the current of narrative from any undue interruption, and presenting, in conjunction with the individual and his influence over his contemporaries, a view of the spirit of his age, as it existed independent of, and operating on the individual attains at once the separate advantages of history and biography. The grouping of the former is combined with the attention to minutiae that distinguishes the latter. "In truth, however, the history of Ireland is best written in the biographies of her illustrious sons. She never at any one time possessed the unity, the independence, and the literature essential as the foundation of a national history; but in every age, and under every variety of circumstance and fortune, she has produced the noblest minds. Her fame is not that which results from great popular heroic movement or exertion, but that which arises from having been the nurse and mother of genius and of valour. Her sons have brought their trophies home to the feet of any country rather than their own." These remarks, by one who is not himself subject to the reproach which he casts upon other Irishmen of genius, truly point out the peculiar adaptation of biography to be the vehicle of the history of Ireland; but we may observe that the most successful modern historians of other countries, for example, Macaulay, have called in a large amount of biography to enliven their narration, or have actually made it the medium of history. The reviewer concludes: : "A better or more interesting work of the kind, we are bound to say, has not for years issued from the press. For the honour of our national spirit we hope, though the book be published in Ireland, and though it records the lives and fortunes of Irishmen, that, at least, among his own countrymen, Mr. Wills may not find the curse of Swift upon him-to be an Irishman, and a man of genius.' Dr. Anster, the translator of "Faust," in a private letter, thus contrasts "Lives of Illustrious Irishmen" with Moore's "History of Ireland," which was then in the press : "The book is becoming, as you get remote from Irish feeling, and have to deal with periods of real history, very entertaining, and that I did not at one time expect. I have now little doubt that parts of the work will procure for you a very enviable reputation. You are everywhere at least readable-this is strange praise-but Moore is scarcely anywhere so. Now, considering the little rascal's whole life having been spent in swearing Kerry stones were real diamonds bright as those in war-chariots of Ossian's carbonic heroes-I think it is no small merit to have beaten him out of the field. Your plan gave you some advantages which, when you come to Burke and the rest of them, will be of moment. I hear Moore ends with the accession of the Stuarts. This, I suppose, however, is not yet fixed with certainty, even by himself. Furlong advised him not to go farther." Dr. Wills received a thousand pounds for this work, which had a wide circulation, and went through two editions. In his later years he was asked by the publishers to undertake a complete recast; rewriting where newer materials had been opened up since the first publication, modifying, and, so far as possible, neutralizing the work, sketching out the last three quarters of a century's history of Ireland, and taking in all the lives which had fallen within that period; and in order to do this, and at the same time keep the work within reasonable bounds, shortening, and omitting dissertation. The title of the work thus renewed, "The Irish Nation," is a more correct description than the original one, "The Lives of Illustrious and Distinguished Irishmen," for it better covers the object of the book, which, in aiming to be historical, includes many who were not illustrious or distinguished. Dr. Wills did not live to proceed with this undertaking beyond the end of the rebellion of '98 in the historical introduction of vol. iii., the remainder of which volume, and vol. iv., concluding with brief notices of living men, were edited by his son, Mr. Freeman Wills. Dr. Wills began life as a poet, and had a considerable turn for metaphysics; and it might be supposed that such tendencies were scarcely congenial to the task of laborious compilation. But a severe course of study for the bar, and the training of the Historical Society, were not bad preparations for the work. The metaphysical turn may have led him away too much into disquisition; but the poetical gave him a sympathy with the past, and enabled him to animate and give it picturesqueness. The scenes and recollections of early life, and the peculiarly Celtic spirit of Connaught which he then imbibed, gave light to his pencil. We quote some lines which are a key-note to his impartial history, and show that strong sympathies with the early struggles of a yet unconquered race, are not incompatible with Conservative and Protestant views. They overflow with a bardic love of country, with that kindly and loyal spirit towards it, without which it would be an impertinence to sit down and write the history of Ireland: "Green hills of the west where I carolled along, And the steps of the minstrel are weary and old; Though no more through those famous old haunts shall I stray, That each had its story, and true-hearted friend, Before I forget ye, life's journey shall end. 'Oh, 'twas joy in the prime of life's morning to go On the path where Clan Connell once followed Hugh Roe, |