204 Darwinism and Other Essays. 



the workings of the protective spirit in England 

 and France, the causes, remote and proximate, of 

 the French Revolution, all with the most consum 

 mate skill. In the case of Spain, he sets before 

 us in vivid colours the utter impotence of govern- 

 ment to direct social progress. He describes in 

 bold outlines the course of philosophic investiga 

 tion among the Scotch, and the influence of their 

 habits of thought upon their general condition. 

 Everywhere, in this part of the work, we see the 

 touches of a master ; everywhere we find some 

 thing to instruct and entertain. Had Mr. Buckle 

 written nothing more, these chapters alone would 

 suffice to make his name immortal. Considered 

 merely as historic pictures they rival anything in 

 Gibbon or Grote. 



We have not criticized at length Mr. Buckle s 

 first law, because we have no restrictions to place 

 upon it, and because it may be found demons 

 trated, as completely as possible, in Mr. Buckle s 

 own work. As the result of our examination into 

 his other laws, we have found that the second 

 contains no truth whatever, being supported by a 

 tangled chain of sophisms, every link in which is 

 unsound ; but that the third and fourth are strictly 

 true, if limited to the period of which Mr. Buckle 

 treats. The first law did not originate with him, 



