Page:English Historical Review Volume 37.djvu/598

 590 REVIEWS OF BOOKS October are to be congratulated on the completion of this unique series. It is to be hoped that the modest brevity of the introduction is an indication that the editor is reserving the fuller constructive treatment of the later history for separate publication. GEORGE UNWIN. Histoire de Prusse. Tome II. Les Deux Premiers Rois (1688-1740). Par Albert Waddington. (Paris : Plon, 1922.) THE first volume of M. Albert Waddington's history of Prussia appeared in 1911, and was reviewed by Sir A. W. Ward in this Keview in July 191 2. 1 During the interval devoted to the preparation of the second volume the great war has taken place, and it is possible that the demand in France for an impartial survey of the rise of Prussia may have diminished in intensity. It is only fair to M. Waddington to say at the outset that the bitterness provoked by the war finds little expression in his pages, and that his estimate of the first two Hohenzollern kings is at least as appre- ciative of their merits and as kind to their demerits as if no great national collision had occurred. The scope and character of the second volume differ altogether from those of its predecessor. In place of a general sketch of the territorial and administrative development of the various provinces which combined to form what ultimately became the Prussian state, we have a somewhat minute analysis, based mainly upon research in the archives of Berlin, of the domestic and foreign policy of two rulers whose combined reigns cover just over half a century. The merits of the book are incontestable. It gives a clear and painstaking account of the physical and mental charac- teristics of the two kings, of the principal personages in their court and ministry, and of the legislative and administrative measures in the viirious provinces during the period. But these merits are counterbalanced by some apparent defects in method and arrangement. M. Waddington has deliberately abstained from loading his pages with detailed references to his authorities for particular statements and contentions. In place of such references he gives a list of sources in a note at the commencement of each chapter. The defence of this procedure is that it avoids distraction from the narrative by frequent reference to notes at the foot of the page. This might be justified in a book intended for the general public rather than for professed scholars, but it can hardly be contended that this is such a book. The general reader is not likely to be attracted by the minute details of Prussian administration, and M. Waddington cannot claim the distinction of style and presentment that one has learned to expect from French historians. His vocabulary is limited, his style is pedestrian, and the whole book is (to borrow his own favourite adverb) ' plutot ' dull. In these circumstances it would have been better to allow the student to test his assertions and to verify his quotations by giving the definite references for each. Another defect is excessive subdivision. Not only are foreign and domestic affairs treated in separate chapters, but the internal history is broken up into endless subdivisions under separate headings. The 1 Ante, xxvii. 558.