Page:Notes and Queries - Series 10 - Volume 5.djvu/482

 398

NOTES AND QUERIES. [UPS. V.MAY 19, woe.

NOTES ON BOOKS, &o.

The Cambridge Modern History. Planned by the late Lord Acton. Edited by A. W. Ward, LittJ)., G. W. Prothero, Litt.D., and Stanley Leathes, M.A. Vol. IX. Napoleon. (Cambridge, Univer- sity Press.)

IN none of the volumes of the series hitherto issued are the advantages and disadvantages attendant upon the scheme of 'The Cambridge Modern His- tory ' so apparent as in the present. Short as is the period between the establishment in 1799 of the Consulate and the death of Napoleon on 5 May, 1821, no other period of modern times is, as is said in the editorial preface, so completely " dominated by a single personalty." Except the Revolutionary period which immediately preceded it, no epoch treated in the various volumes was pregnant with more important influences, or exercised a more far- reaching effect upon modern history. It is scarcely conceivable, accordingly, that a single writer, what- ever his energy and erudition, should be able to deal with the entire range of subjects herein dis- cussed. On the point of thoroughness the present work eclipses all that has been produced on the subject ; in that of picturesqueness and of poignant interest it leaves somewhat to be desired. Repeti- tion is inevitable, and contradiction to be expected, when different pens deal with the same epoch ; and no legitimate exercise of supervision on the part of editors who appear to have done their spiriting gently could avail to banish it. A singularly wide range of writers is employed in the compilation. The five years of the Consulate, which constitute a species of prologue to the swelling theme of the imperial tragedy, are assigned to Dr. Georges Pariset, Professor of Modern History in the Univer- sity of Nancy ; the period passed at St. Helena, which may be accepted as an epilogue, is entrusted to Mr. H. A. L. Fisher. Between these opening and closing portions come twenty-two other chap- ters, the w r ork of some of the best English and foreign professors. Chaps, xix. and xxi., in some respects the most important of all, deal with the Congress of Vienna, and are contributed by the Master of Peterhouse. Chap. viii. is occupied with the command of the sea, and includes the crowning victory of Trafalgar. It is written by Mr. H. W. Wilson, of Trinity College, Oxford, who is also responsible for the second section of chap, ii., which is concerned with the ' Armed Neutrality,' ending in 1801. The first section of this is in the hands of Dr. T. A. Walker, of Peterhouse. To Col. Lloyd are assigned the two fighting chapters, ix and x., which are occupied with the Third Coalition. In these is included the collapse of the Prussian State, the weakness of which, though it had been for half a century a military model, had been perceptible to observers so thoughtful, shrewd, and penetrative as Mirabeau -and Catherine II. of Russia. At this period, 1806, patriotism was scarcely conspicuous among the inhabitants of Berlin, who received Napoleon with friendliness, if scarcely, as has been said, with enthusiasm. Dr. J. Holland Rose has an edifying chapter (xi.) on * The Napoleonic Empire at its Height, 1807-9,' and a second on ' The Con- tinental System, 1809-14.' The war of 1809 is treated by Major-General (retired) August Keim,

of the German army ; while to the Chichele Pro- fessor of Modern History is assigned the long and important disquisition on 'The Peninsular War.' To the same authority is left the account of the Hundred Days. Among foreign contributors the lion's share is awarded Prof. Anton Guilland, of Zurich, though ' Russia under Alexander I. and the Invasion of 1812' is in the hands of Eugen Stschepkin, Professor of History at Odessa, and the 'War of Liberation' in those of Herr Julius von Pflugk-Harttung, Professor of History in the University of Basel. One of the most stimulating portions of a splendid contribution to history is the last, showing the pose of Napoleon at St. Helena. This gives De Tocqueville's immortal epitaph, " He was as great as a man can be without virtue." In the present volume the Bibliography constitutes a specially important and serviceable feature.

Notre Dame de Paris. By Victor Hugo. Edited

by Leon Delbos, M.A. (Oxford, Clarendon Press.) Memoires d* Madame Campan, 1785-1792. Edited

by H. C. Bradby, B.A. (Same publishers.) THESE two works are representative of a new series called "The Oxford Higher French Series'," the publication of which has been begun by the Claren- don Press. It is rather painful to have to state that the execution of the scheme is unsatisfactory. Neither work is, to begin with, complete. An apology is put in by M. Delbos, but it is inadequate. When a work such as Hugo's ' Notre Dame de Paris ' is promised, it is unworthy to give it in a shortened form, with the more lengthy descriptions curtailed, and details entirely or partly omitted. Technically the notes are excellent. It is, however, saddening to find a stern condemnation of Rabelais as one whose book is always extravagant, often meaning- less, and seldom witty or amusing. ThatLaBruyere, though he said of Rabelais, " Ou il est bon, il va jusqu'j\ 1'exquis," depreciated the foremost man of the Renaissance, is true. To find in modern days such an estimate advanced as significant is scarcely conceivable. An English note upon la triple enceinte of Paris is ungrammatical.

The ' Memoires de Madame Campan ' contains, "with a few trifling omissions," that part of Madame Campan's account of the life of Marie-Antoinette which covers the period from 1785 to 1792. when the memoirs end.

Each work contains a portrait of the author at the time when the respective books were written.

A History of Modern Liberty. By James Mac-

kinnon. 2 vols. (Longmans & Co.) DR. MACKINNON'S qualities are already known to historical students. He has a lively interest in his subject ; he has read widely : and he writes with ease. But he is not a critical scholar, nor does he ever go very deep, nor are his judgments subtle or balanced. This book has all the defects and most of the merits of its predecessors. It is slap-dash in style, and unoriginal in matter. Much of it is merely a rechaujfd of what was previously known ; and the whole is little more than a survey of general history from a particular standpoint. On the de- velopment of the ideas of freedom the author of a book with this title might be expected to have much to say. Dr. Mackinnon has very little; for the chapters on political theory are as brief as they are inadequate. Still, the general reader will find in this work a good deal of interesting information.