Page:Seventeen lectures on the study of medieval and modern history and kindred subjects.djvu/78

 criticism and deep research two elements that are somewhat deficient in the other lines of historical work. Local antiquaries and local societies flourish in France as much as in Germany, and the same spirit of restoration and conservation, which is exhibited in the case of historic buildings and other monuments, is conspicuous in the minute reproduction of chronicles and cartularies. At last constitutional history has found a home again in the land of Montesquieu. The history of États Généraux and Parliaments is critically and impartially investigated by men like M. Picot and M. Boutaric. Ancient laws and customs also are found to have a value besides their importance to the scientific lawyer. M. Fustel de Coulanges brings to the study of institutions a philosophic spirit, critical acuteness, and learning which seems not unlikely to have the effect of inducing some of the German constitutionalists to revise or modify their conclusions. And lastly, in the foundation of the Revue Historique, the best scholars, in all of these departments, have stretched out the right hand of fellowship to the workers in other lands, and occupied their place in the alliance for international knowledge and help in history. It is perhaps true to say that in the most essential and characteristic parts of our own national history we have less interest in France than in Germany; but throughout many ages French and English history, both external and institutional, are bound together as closely as any two national histories can be; and that which illustrates the one cannot but illustrate the other. English writers have long ago learned that there are other histories worth studying besides their own: German writers seem to have been late in learning that the Fatherland has a united and continuous history. France is at last showing that she recognises the fact that other lands have histories at all, and that the whole of medieval history is not a mere preparation for the dramatic glories of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. If she has somewhat to learn from her neighbours, surely we cannot afford to say that we have not much to learn from her; much to hope for, and much to be grateful for, in the co-operation of her scholars.