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The History of the Roman Republic, published in 1784, by DR. ADAM FERGUSSON, was a respectable production, but is now in a great measure laid aside in consequence of the new light which has been thrown upon the subject by the German historian Niebuhr. Of The History of Greece, published in 1786 by DR. Adam GILLIES, in two volumes, it may in like manner be said, that though long highly esteemed, it has been superseded by the larger and more profound work of MR. MITFORD. The History of Greece, by this latter writer, occupies eight volumes in octavo, and, notwithstanding a decided partiality to monarchical principles, and some affectations in composition, it is to be valued as a full, clear, and comprehensive view of the subject to which it refers. In 1789, JOHN PINKERTON (1758-1825), published An Inquiry into the History of Scotland, preceding the reign of Malcolm III.; in which much light was thrown upon a very obscure portion of Scottish annals. Pinkerton, possessing in perfection the enthusiasm and untiring industry of the historical antiquary, was also marked by the prejudices which are too often found in connexion with that character; and, without the ability to write in an elegant and philosophical manner, rendered this defect only more conspicuous by his constant and unnecessary endeavours to attain those excellencies. His History of Scotland from the Accession of the House of Stuart, to the Reign of James V., published in 1797, in two volumes quarto, would be admired for its learning and research, if the author had not attempted to give to its comparatively humble and obscure details, the swelling declamation with which Gibbon had recorded the decline and fall of the Roman empire.

By far the most eminent historical writer who appeared in the latter years of the eighteenth century, was WILLIAM ROSCOE (1752-1831), a man of obscure birth and scanty education, and who was never in any situation more congenial to literary study, than that of an attorney in the commercial town of Liverpool. By uncommon powers of application, great industry, and singular command over his own mind, Mr. Roscoe qualified himself, in the midst of scenes and pursuits the most unfavourable, for undertaking a history of the Life of

Lorenzo de Medici; a task requiring a profound acquaintance with Italian literature and the annals of the Fine Arts. This work appeared in 1795, in two volumes quarto, and at once elevated the author to a place amongst the classical writers of history. An eminent critic characterised it as a phenomenon in literature, and said it was 'pleasant to consider a gentleman, not under the auspices of an university, nor beneath the shelter of academic bowers, but in the practice of the law and business of great extent, resident in a remote provincial town, investigating and describing the rise and progress of every polite art in Italy at the revival of learning, with acuteness, depth, and precision; with the spirit of the poet and the depth of the historian.' Having been recommended to continue this work so as to embrace the history of the revival of learning in Italy, Mr. Roscoe published, in 1805, The Life and Pontificate of Leo X., in four volumes. If he here failed to give so much pleasure to his readers, it may be at least allowed that the subject was more extensive and difficult. The chief fault of the work is a minuteness of narration, which makes no difference between the important and the trivial.

In 1799, MR. SHARON TURNER, a solicitor, commenced the publication of a series of works on English history, by which he has obtained a highly respectable reputation. The first was a History of the Anglo-Saxons; the second a History of England during the Middle Ages: in subsequent publications, he has continued the series to the end of the reign of Elizabeth; the whole being comprised in twelve volumes, and containing much new and interesting information on the government, laws, literature, and manners, as well as on the civil and ecclesiastical history of the country. Mr. Turner has also published a Sacred History of the World, in two volumes this book is intended to afford to young persons a selected and concentrated view of the chief facts and reasonings on the creation, intellectual design, and divine economy of the world, conceived and expressed in such a manner, as to suit the modern style of thought and argument in which philosophical subjects are presented.

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WILLIAM COXE (1748-1828), Archdeacon of Wilts, was the author of various historical works of a very elaborate character. His Memoirs of the Life and Administration of Sir Robert Walpole, published in 1798, in three quarto volumes, was the first tolerable account of any part of English history subsequent to the accession of the house of Hanover. It was followed by Memoirs of Horatio Lord Walpole, in which there was a view of the times between 1678 and 1757. These works derive a great value from the mass of original papers published in connexion with them. His History of the House of Austria (1807), and his Memoirs of the Kings of Spain of the House of Bourbon (1813), were the first English works in which an acquaintance was displayed with the materials of European history, extant in other languages than French and Latin. Archdeacon Coxe also published the Life and Select Works of Benjamin Stillingfleet, and the Life and Papers of the Duke of Marlborough.

Resembling Turner and Coxe in the vastness of his undertakings, but greatly their inferior as a writer, was GEORGE CHALMERS (1744-1825), a native of Scotland, and originally a barrister in one of the American colonies before their disjunction from Britain. His first composition, A History of the United Colonies, from their Settlement till the Peace of 1763, appeared in 1780, and from time to time he gave to the world many works connected with history, politics, and literature. In 1807,he commenced the publication of his Caledonia, of which three large volumes had appeared, when his death precluded the hope of its being completed. It contains a laborious, though inelegant detail of the earlier periods of Scottish history, with minute topographical and historical accounts of the various provinces of the country. A History of Scotland, during the time between the union of the crowns and the union of the kingdoms, was published in 1800, by MR. MALCOLM LAING, a Scottish advocate, and bears a high character for acumen and research. MR. PATRICK FRASER TYTLER, a gentleman of the same profession, has more recently undertaken a complete History of Scotland from the death of Alex

ander the Third; and the subject has been treated in more than one form by SIR WALTER SCOTT.

CHARLES JAMES Fox (1748–1806), so celebrated as a statesman, contemplated for many years before his death, the composition of an elaborate work respecting the transactions which preceded, attended, and followed the Revolution of 1688. The only portion which he found leisure to write was published in 1808, under the title of A History of the Early Part of the Reign of James II., with an introductory chapter. Unsatisfactory as so small a fragment could not fail to be, it displayed such qualities as increased the public regret for its not having been completed. Without any effort at profound thinking, or very elegant writing, it strongly exemplified the high principles and gentle and kind dispositions of the author. The task thus demitted by Mr. Fox, was afterwards undertaken by a distinguished ornament of the same political party, SIR JAMES MACKINTOSH (1765-1882), who also contemplated a history, extending over the early reigns of the house of Hanover. A fragment not exceeding that of Mr. Fox, and a portion of introductory history extending to the reign of Elizabeth, formed the amount of the labours of this writer. The latter was given to the world in his lifetime, as the article of English history in Lardner's Cabinet Cyclopedia, and the fragment was published posthumously with a sequel by another individual, under the title of a History of the Revolution of 1688. Another historical work by Sir James Mackintosh, was a Discourse on the Progress of Ethical and Political Science, prefixed to the seventh edition of the Encyclopedia Britannica. His sketch of English history is less a detailed narrative of events, than a rapid, yet clear, profound, and philosophic view of the state and progress of society, law, government, and civilization; in which the lessons of experience, the character of men and events, the circumstances which have promoted, retarded, and modified the social and political improvement of the English nation, are unfolded and judged with the acuteness of a philosopher and the wisdom of a practical statesman. His style, though sometimes clumsy and inelegant, often

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rises to eloquence when he records the growth of liberty, or the influence of generous institutions.

Besides a laborious composition on the Antiquities of the Anglo-Saxon Church (1809), the public has been indebted to DR. JOHN LINGARD, an English Catholic priest, for a History of England till the Revolution of 1688, consisting of fourteen volumes in octavo (1819-31). This performance has been translated into several languages, and was appointed by Charles X. to be the standard work on English history in the seminaries of France. Although the vindication of the Catholic Church and clergy from the alleged misrepresentations of Protestant writers, be a ruling object with Lingard, he is generally acknowledged to have written in a candid and dispassionate tone. He has had recourse to original sources of information, which he seems to have studied with diligence and caution; and on many points he gives new views of manners, events, and characters. He has shown much judgment in his selection of materials; and though he has fallen short of the first rank among historians, he has fully attained the valuable qualities of acuteness, clearness, and a pleasing and agreeable style of narrative. It may here be mentioned that MR. HENRY HALLAM is the author of a valuable work on the State of Europe during the Middle Ages, and of a Constitutional History of England from the Accession of Henry VII. to the Death of George II.; that is, a history treating chiefly of the progress of the constitution, which this author views in the spirit of the Whig party. The Anglo-Saxon period of the history of England has been treated with a great display of fresh materials, and many new views of its early institutions, by SIR FRANCIS PALGRAVE.

As a historian, MR. SOUTHEY has displayed great industry and research, an engaging and forcible style, and that affection for his subject which, when not carried to an extravagant length, imparts a charm to narrative. He is the author of a History of Brazil (1810), in three volumes quarto; The Book of the Church, an elegant summary of English ecclesiastical history; and a History of the Peninsular War (1823-28). For the last of these works he was qualified in a peculiar manner by