-Reirofpect of Domeftic Literature Hijftory. 
ever, if fewer placemen had been allowed; 
and if, while the lefs confiderable boroughs 
of Ireland were disfranchifed, the Britith 
-reprefentation had felt the benefit of a mo- 
derate reform, not founded on romantic 
theories of perfection, but regulated by the 
true {pirit of our conftitution. Nov is the 
Doftor unapprehenfive, that the influence 
of the crown, which may at prefent be 
deemed exorbitant, will perhaps be in- 
creafed by the transfer of Irifh reprefenta- 
tives to this country. The greater’ part 
of the number will probably, fays he, as 
wt has happened in the cafe of Scotland, 
promote the views of the court: but the 
added weight will not make any material 
difference in the complexion of the Parli- 
ament, or in the general mode of admi- 
niftration. Dr. Coote’s work is: altoge- 
ther a very refpeftable one, and has, be- 
fides its intrinfic value, the adventitious 
one of heing, we believe, the only regular 
Hillory yet publithed, of fo important an 
event in the annals of the two kingdoms. 
In our Jaft compendium, we announced 
the appearance of the firft volume of Mr. 
RANKEN’s ‘ Hiftory’ ofPrance, Civil 
and Miltary,” &c. &c. The author 
begins his Hiftory from the conqueft of 
France by Clovis, A. D. 436, and carries 
us down, in his firft volume, to the death 
of Charlemagne, at which period, the fe- 
cond, which is now publifked, of courfe 
commences: this event took place in the 
year 814. The conquelts of Charlemagne 
were extenfive, but. his abilitics were com- 
menfurate with the magnitude of his do- 
minions. He could beitow his empire to 
his children, but he could not tranfmit, 
asan inheritance which ought to have been 
unalienable. from them, thofe fylendid ta- 
Jents, that energy, firmnefspand aftivity 
of mind, by which he confolidated, and 
preferved entire, the provinces which he 
had fubdued. ‘The confequence was, that 
the authority of his fon Lewis, the mild,» 
imbecile Lewis, was firft attacked and 
weakened by his own family: war fuc- 
ceeded, and the vaft empire of Charle- 
magne was divided, by treaty, between 
his three ungrateful fons, Mr. Ranken 
enters largely into the caufe of the decline 
and fall of the Carlovingian Kings of 
France. He is patient ‘in his refearches, 
and careful in his dedugtions. His work 
is likely to be a valuable addition to our 
hiftoric literature, but the ftyle of it is 
unpolifhed, and oftentimes obf{cure: in the 
prefent day, this is no venial offence. 
«¢ Elements of General Hiftory, Ancient 
and Modern ; to which are added, a Table 
ef Chronology, and a Comparative View 
578 
of Ancient and Modern Geography, il- 
luftrated with Maps.”’ The Preface to 
this well-digefted work informs us, that it 
contains the outlines of a Courfe of Aca- 
demical Lectures on General Hiftory, deli- 
vered by Mr. Fraser TYTLer (now 
Lord Woodhoufelee), for many years in 
the Univerfity of Edinburgh. Its objeé& 
and general purpofe are to ‘* exhibit a 
progretiive view of the ftate of mankind, 
from the earlieft ages of which we have 
any authentic account, down to the clofe of 
the 17th century: to delineate the origin 
of ftates and of empires, the great out- 
lines of their hiftory, the revolutions 
which they have undergone, the caufes 
which have contributed to their rife’and 
grandeur, and operated to their declineand 
extinction.” As its title exprefles, tae 
prefent work is merely a brief elementary 
one; aS it was not to be prefumed, that 
an attendance on thefe Lectures fhould, 
by fome magic energy, diffufe a know-— 
ledge of hiftory into the minds of audi- 
tors, and thus fuperfede the neceffity of 
laborious and extenfive reading, fo neither 
is fuch an effect tobe expected from a 
more leifurely and attentive perufal of 
this fyllabus of the Lectures. Conjider- 
ing that the fcience of hiftory is, perhaps 
more thaa any other, liable to perverfion 
from its proper ufe ; that, with one clafs, 
it is no better than an idle amufement; 
with another, that it is the food of vanity; 
and, with-a third, that it fofters the pre- 
judices of party, and leads to political bi- 
gotry: confidering that it is dangerous 
for thofe, who, even with the beft inten- 
tions, feek for hiftorical knowledge to pur- 
fue the ftudy without a guide, that no 
{cience has been fo little methodized, that- 
the fources of prejudice are infinite, and 
that the mind of youth fhould not be left 
undirected, amidft the erring, the partial, 
and contradictory, reprefentations of hifto- 
rians: confidering thefe circumftances, 
the author, by giving his Lectures, en- 
Jarged for the occation, to the public,» 
juftly flatters himfelf, that his work may 
not only be ferviceable to youth, in fur- 
nifhing a regular plan for the profecution 
of the moft important ftudy of hiftory, 
but ufeful even to thofe who have acquired 
a competent knowledge of general hiftory 
from the perufal of the works of detached 
hiftorians, and who with to methodize that 
knowledge, or even to refrefh their memo- 
ries on material faéts, and the order of 
events. Although it would be incompa - 
tible with the brevity of this Retrofpecé& 
to indulge ourfelves with a tranfcript of 
the plan of the Courfe of Lectures here 
4D2 delis 
