512 FRANCOIS-PIERRE-GUILLAUME GUIZOT. 



of Letters at Paris. Under the Restoration he entered into political 

 life, and at different times held administrative offices. He was an im- 

 portant member of the school or class of politicians known as " doctri- 

 naire," which began with taking a middle position between extreme 

 legitimists and advanced liberals. As a publicist and a scholar he was 

 an active writer, and his professorial lectures excited great interest. At 

 length, however, having given umbrage to the reactionary government, 

 which had come into power in 1820, they were suspended in 1822. 



During this suspension Guizot was not inactive. In 1823 he pub- 

 lished a great Collection of (translated) Memoirs relating to the his- 

 tory of the English Revolution, with prefatory notices. This served 

 as a sort of prelude to a series of histories, of which the first two 

 volumes appeared in 1827. He edited also an extensive Collection of 

 Memoirs relating to the history of France, with introductions and 

 notes of his own. This, too, like his edition of Gibbon, was turned to 

 good account in his subsequent lectures. Various other writings of his 

 appeared in this interval. 



In 1828 Guizot's suspension was taken off, and he delivered in that 

 year and the next two years, at the Sorbonne, three courses of lectures, 

 which were received at the time with marked apj^lause, and have been 

 celebrated for their skilful analysis and comprehensive generalization. 

 They have been widely read, under the often published titles of 

 History of Civilization in Europe and History of Civilization in 

 France. The author, however, had no opportunity to do perfect 

 justice to his plan. His lectures were suddeidy broken off by the 

 revolution of 1830, which transferred him to the political arena. The 

 latter work stands now where it was arrested then. 



Guizot hud been returned before the height of the crisis to the 

 Chamber of Deputies, and he soon took an active interest in the estab- 

 lishment and organization of the new government. In time he became 

 a great parliamentary speaker, and at last the foremost political figure 

 in France. As Minister of Public Instruction he was the framer of 

 important laws, and finally as virtual or as formal head of the ministry 

 directed, for several years, — with his royal master, who was not quite 

 content to reign without governing, — the j^ublic affairs of France. 

 When the revolution of 1848 surprised and overthrew him, he found 

 a temporary refuge in England, where he had formerly been well 

 known as ambassador. After the storm had blown over, he returned 

 to France, and there ended his political career with an unsuccessful 

 canvass for a seat in the Chamber. 



The revolution of 1848 restored Guizot to literature. He took up 



