and Mr. G. P. R. James, better known as a novelist, has also written a picturesque "History of Chivalry," a "History of Charlemagne," which may be studied side by side with the History of England at the same period, and a "History of Richard Coeur-de-lion." Although these last-named works hardly reach, perhaps, the dignity of fine historical productions, there is a realization of the temporal and local truth, a picturesqueness of narrative, a vigour and vividness, which will especially interest the student; nor is Mr. James at all deficient in industry or research. Among picturesque histories may be mentioned Miss Agnes Strickland's "Lives of the Queens of England," and those of her imitator, Mrs. Green. Miss Strickland is picturesque, clear, and always interesting. She has not much mental grasp, and always writes like a woman, which is no more than was to be expected; but she has this merit, that she realizes the home feelings, the costume, and the domestic life of the period. To draw a simile from the stage, she dresses her characters extremely well; and the reader does grasp a certain amount of suggestive information from her pages.

Of a much higher standard, calm and clear, yet brilliant and logical, is Mr. John Forster, the historian of "Statesmen of the Commonwealth," "The Arrest of the Five Members by Charles the First," and various historical and biographical essays, all of which are profound and careful studies, elaborated and most conscientiously finished, so that of Pym, Hampden, Vane, and the great statesmen who surrounded the Protector, one manages to get a very clear and sufficient view, hardly indeed to be obtained elsewhere. But the most valuable contribution of its kind to historical biography

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is "Carlyle's Letters and Speeches of Oliver Cromwell, with Elucidations;" a great but fragmentary work, consisting of all the letters recoverable, or, it may be, extant, of the great Protector, with elucidations, as Carlyle modestly calls his valuable notes, which explain and connect these letters. By them we are enabled to view the great man as he lived, thought, and prayed. We find him a thoroughly earnest, unselfish, devout man, living continually, as it were, in the presence of God, with a thorough belief in His personal help, with a tender love for his wife, children, and friends, an honest care for his soldiers, a reverent appreciation of his own work and duty, and a wide and somewhat pitying love for the nation and people under him. Had David Hume seen these letters, it would have been impossible for him to tax Cromwell with hypocrisy; a fanatic he might have been in Hume's view, but certainly no hypocrite. The value of these personal studies of great men is seen in the repeated attempt, often successful, to rehabilitate, as it is termed, some historical character. One of the earliest of these useful and necessary studies is a view of Richard III. by Horace Walpole, afterwards Lord Orford, in which a great deal is done to remove from Richard "Crookback" the character of an odious and bloodthirsty tyrant, as painted by Shakespeare, who followed Holinshed. Mr. J. A. Froude, an admirable writer and painstaking historian, has proceeded in this way with the character of Henry the Eighth, in his "History of England from the Fall of Wolsey," and afterwards with the history of the reign of Elizabeth. This great queen perhaps loses somewhat of her height in Mr. Froude's pictures, and appears more in the light of a natural,

very clever, yet vacillating woman. On the other hand, her statesmen appear much greater, nobler, and more far-seeing. Lord Burleigh is the central figure; and the plots of the Papists, and guilt of Mary Queen of Scots, related with a continual reference to, and checking by, the State Papers themselves, are conclusively established. The grandeur of the period, the nobility and astuteness of the English character, the cunning, bravery, and quick intellect of English statesmen, are all educed in a masterly manner, and some of the episodes, such as the murder of Darnley, are told with a force and vigour which are quite unsurpassed.

Lord Macaulay, as an historian, can by no means be passed over; although it seems doubtful whether this brilliant reviewer and vivid and picturesque writer, with his lively, glittering, and interesting style, will hold with posterity so high a rank as he does at the present time. His History is a fragment. Had he lived to complete it, he would possibly have been overwhelmed with the immense mass of materials out of which he would have had to weave a complete picture of the large and important space occupied by the reign of George III. His chief hero is William III., a great man, and a greater king; and, having a sudden and sharp grasp of character, all the statesmen and authors of whom he writes stand out brilliantly and clearly in his pages. His great faults are a "review" style, and a certain dogmatism inseparable from his class of mind. He never seems to doubt what he narrates, nor to doubt that what he says is the absolute truth. His style, hence, becomes cumbrous and heavy-glittering, it may be, but glittering like cut steel or polished lead; and, if looked at in the writings of some of his imitators, in

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whose hands the historian's mannerisms and peculiarities are not relieved by sterling qualities, appears both ridiculous and offensive. Macaulay's Biographical Essays are charmingly written, clear, concise, and, for their size, very exhaustive and full. They are delightful reading; but should always be approached with some knowledge of the subject. "Lord Bacon" and "Warren Hastings" are his two best essays; then come "Chatham" (Pitt), "Lord Clive," "Addison," "Walpole," "Ranke's Popes," "Hallam's History," "Croker's Boswell's Johnson," and "Lord Byron." These are of the very best kind of review articles, and are based upon a thorough understanding of the subject, great scholarship, unwearied industry, and a fine intellectual power-a combination, indeed, which few other men could bring into the field of literature. Of course Macaulay is a partisan; he makes up his mind upon what he thinks, and proceeds upon that basis; hence he has laid himself open to the attacks of petty controversial critics, who can count tenpenny nails, and know that five and four do not make ten, though they come very near it. His character of Lord Bacon and his estimate of Penn were especially the objects of such attacks; but he did not suffer much from his contemptible assailants, who sought to make themselves notorious by controverting the assertions of so brilliant a writer. Happily, but little of his light was reflected upon the dull masses projected against him.

Amongst other aids to the historian must not be overlooked those which are afforded by certain learned and industrious authors who calendar State Papers, and arrange the materials whence history is made. I may therefore mention here with honour Mr. S. Duffus

Hardy's "Catalogue of the Lord Chancellors," and "Materials relating to the History of Great Britain,” in which are hints and facts not only curious, but of inestimable value to the readers as well as the writers of history. Dr. Brewer's "History of Henry VIII.," and many other publications, come under this head.

Another way of understanding a particular period or reign is afforded by taking the contemporary historians of that period, although these are almost always sure to be partisans-many of them indeed tediously dry and wearisome-and this plan would perhaps consume much valuable time with but small results. Lord Clarendon's "History of the Great Rebellion" is a work which everybody must read who desires to understand the personal feelings which were elicited, and the men who occupied prominent positions, in that stormy period; and the student, if possible, should endeavour to obtain an edition of it later than the year 1825, as all editions published previous to that date are more or less corrupt. This great work, which was first printed in six volumes, has none of the polish of Hume, nor of the brilliancy of Macaulay, but it is written in an easy, familiar, and flowing style, and is enlivened by descriptions of the chief personages in the history, many of whom were the author's familiar friends. These are painted with a freshness and a minuteness which only personal knowledge and direct intimacy can give. The author (b. 1608, d. 1674), although he should have well known of what stuff kings are made, and had experienced the foolish hauteur of one Charles, and the ingratitude and neglect of the other, is yet an uncompromising Royalist; and therefore certain deductions must be made. Thus, in speaking of