Edward Augustus Freeman 277 



expected twenty years ago, and before the path- 

 breaking work of the American scholar Lewis 

 Morgan. Freeman's outlook was confined to the 

 Aryan domain ; but he did not attempt more than 

 he knew. His task was conceived with so clear a 

 consciousness of his limitations, and every point 

 was so richly illustrated, that the " Comparative 

 Politics " remains one of his most useful and charm- 

 ing books. 



The other work calling for especial mention is 

 " The Historical Geography of Europe," published 

 in 1880. Its object was " to trace out the extent of 

 territory which the different states and nations of 

 Europe have held at different times in the world's 

 history ; to mark the different boundaries which 

 the same country has had, and the different mean- 

 ings in which the same name has been used." 

 Such work is of great and fundamental importance, 

 because men are perpetually making grotesque 

 mistakes through ignorance or forgetfulness of the 

 changes which have occurred upon the map ; as, for 

 example, when somebody speaks of Lyons in the 

 twelfth century as a French city, or supposes that 

 Charles the Bold invaded Swiss territory. His- 

 torical writings fairly swarm with blunders based 

 upon unconscious errors of this sort, and nowhere 

 did Freeman do better service than in pointing 



