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THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



has been indirect, and the result of the hab- 

 its of thought engendered strictly within the 

 physical sphere. Yet so considerable has 

 been the impression made upon these sub- 

 jects in this direction, that it is much more 

 common now than it formerly was to speak 

 of the science of philology and the science 

 of history. 



In the case of history, other influences, 

 no doubt, have come into play to modify it, 

 yet the reaction of the scientific method is 

 seen in the more rigorous scrutiny of his- 

 toric evidence, in the clearer conception of 

 a natural order in human society, and in 

 the greater importance assigned to the en- 

 vironing conditions of nature. But besides 

 this it has been the effect of science to com- 

 pel a closer attention to and a higher esti- 

 mate of elements formerly neglected or 

 overlooked. Science has thus concurred 

 with the general advance of democratic 

 ideas in giving greater consideration to the 

 character and interests of the common peo- 

 ple. Macaulay was no scientist, but he was 

 a man of sufficient breadth and sagacity to 

 discern the unmistakable tendencies of mod- 

 ern thought to obliterate the old factitious 

 distinctions between the dignified and the 

 vulgar in historic exposition. Down to the 

 time of this writer, history remained very 

 much what it had always been, a chronicle 

 of the doings of kings, commanders, diplo- 

 matists, and the ruling classes of society. He 

 made an epoch in historic literature by first 

 systematically taking the people into ac- 

 count in his delineation of the progress of 

 historical events. His example has been 

 inevitably followed by other authors, so 

 that a new quality, so to speak, has been 

 given to recent historic works. Mr. Monas- 

 ter's book has been written from a thorough 

 appreciation of the later point of view. It 

 is a history, and the first yet attempted, of 

 the people of the United States. It is said 

 it is an imitation of Macaulay ; but it is 

 high praise to recognize it as a successful 

 imitation of his method in a new field. 



It is not, however, to be supposed that 

 Mr. McMaster has ignored the political as- 

 pect of the history of the country, or neg- 

 lected the eminent political characters that 

 have figured in American affairs. No ac- 

 count of the American people would be at 

 all sufficient that did not give prominence 



to their relations to government. The citi- 

 zens of the United States have always been 

 participants in the political activity of the 

 country ; more so, indeed, than has been the 

 case in any other nation. The work before 

 us is, therefore, necessarily to a large ex- 

 tent a political history, and in the first vol- 

 ume, now issued, we have an interesting 

 survey of the movements of the various 

 communities which were at length fused into 

 a national unity by the adoption of the Con- 

 stitution of the United States. 



Yet that which distinguishes the work is 

 the detailed delineation of those various so- 

 cial conditions, characteristics, and habits 

 of the common people, which are both of 

 intrinsic importance in themselves and in- 

 dispensable to the understanding of the 

 course of political action. The pictures of 

 the social life of the people at the close of 

 the Revolution, in the various modifications 

 it manifested in different localities, are most 

 instructive. The accounts of the morals 

 and manners, education and religion, pro- 

 fessions and industries, the diet and dress 

 of the people, their ideas and prejudices, 

 the conflicts of sects and parties, the condi- 

 tion of cities, and the particulars of country 

 life, in short, all the circumstances by which 

 the complexion of society was affected, are 

 described with a freshness of illustration 

 which shows the most indefatigable and ex- 

 tended research into all available sources of 

 information upon the subject. 



This characteristic alone would give a 

 fascinating interest to Mr. McMaster's vol- 

 ume, but that interest is greatly enhanced 

 by the clearness, directness, simple earnest- 

 ness, and often the eloquenoc of his style. 

 This history is emphatically a book for the 

 people, not only in the import and adapta- 

 tion of its subject-matter, but in its thor- 

 oughly popular literary form. It is a book 

 to please everybody. History here descends 

 from its rhetorical stilts, and uses the plain 

 vernacular of common sense, without abat- 

 ing a jot of its attractiveness. There is no 

 fine writing, no straining after effect, be- 

 cause the interest of the topics is abun- 

 dantly sufficient to maintain the reader's 

 attention. We congratulate the author on 

 the success of his undertaking, and all his 

 readers on the pleasure they will have in 

 perusing his book. 



