MONTHLY REVIEW OF LITERATURE. 42? 



throw a firebrand into a powder-room. It promised poorly for a 

 Radical government, though there are many talented and well- 

 meaning men in the clique. The character given by Justin of Hiero 

 would, I fear, apply badly to a prime-minister of their calibre ' in 

 alloquio blandus, in negotio Justus, in imperio moderatus." 



MONTHLY REVIEW OF LITERATURE. 



History of England. Vol. XIV. Being the First Vol. of the Con- 

 tinuation from the death of George the Second in 1760. By the 

 Rev. T. S. HUGHES, B.D. A. J. Valpy, M. A. London. 

 Small octavo. 



MR, HUGHES' undertaking was one of no mean difficulty. However ex- 

 cellent his work might have been in itself as a separate and distinct History, 

 it has had to undergo a different kind of ordeal, namely, an unavoidable 

 comparison with the works of which it forms a continuation. We are 

 not about to run a parallel between the relative merits of Hume and 

 Smollett ; indeed there is little ground for comparison, as the minds 

 and acquirements of the two historians were essentially different, and in 

 many respects diametrically opposed to each other. Mr. Hughes has, 

 however, executed his task in a way equally honorable to his understanding 

 and his industry, and the result is an impartial and critical history of one 

 of the most important epochs of ancient or modern times. 



We have been much pleased with the Preliminary Essay. It is able 

 and discriminative, and is a very clear and elaborate, though concise 

 account of the rise and progress of the present European States' system ; 

 and also of the home, colonial, commercial, and military policy of its 

 different kingdoms. It forms an excellent and well-conceived intro- 

 duction to the body of the work, which thus becomes, in itself, the me- 

 dium for conveying a general view of Anglo-European history to the 

 commencement of the reign of George III. 



The characters of the distinguished individuals who have " played 

 their parts" during the last half century, are, as far as we can judge from 

 the volume before us, impartially and vigorously drawn ; freed, in many 

 instances, from that party spirit which has hitherto hidden their true 

 lineaments. The remarks on the science of government, and on the state 

 of parties, are judicious and lucid ; and, on the whole, we may congratulate 

 ourselves on having a history of the times to which it relates, and worthy 

 also of the works of which it is a continuation. 



When it is completed, we shall give an extended critical analysis of it, 

 as it embraces a period during which moral and political changes have 

 been in progress, that have already altered the face of society, and which 

 will as completely alter the entire political relations of modern govern- 

 ments. 



The following summary of the character of Mr. Fox will not be very 

 palatable to his admirers. It is in the main just, and serves well to illus- 



