Among the works recommended in these volumes, editions of the following have been published by HENRY G. BOHN, in his Standard and other Libraries, at the price of 3s. 6d. per volume, except where otherwise marked.

ROSCOE'S LIFE AND PONTIFICATE OF LEO X., edited by his Son, with the Copyright Notes, Appendices of Documents, the Episode on Lucretia Borgia, &c. (complete in 2 vols.). 3 Plates.

ROSCOE'S LIFE OF LORENZO DE MEDICI, called the Magnificent, including the Copyright Notes and Illustrations, with a new Memoir by his Son. Portrait.

SCHILLER'S WORKS, VOL. I., History of the Thirty Years' War, and of the Revolt of the Netherlands, translated by the Rev. A. J. W. Morrison. Vol. II. Portrait.

MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE OF COLONEL HUTCHINSON, by his Widow Lucy: to which is now first added, an Account of the Siege of Lathom House. Portrait.

COXE'S HISTORY OF THE HOUSE OF AUSTRIA, from the Foundation of the Monarchy to the death of Leopold II., 1218-1792. New and revised edition, in vols. With Portraits.

OCKLEY'S HISTORY OF THE SARACENS, revised, enlarged, and completed, with a Life of Mohammed, and Memoir of the Author. Portrait of Mohammed.

COXE'S MEMOIRS OF THE DUKE OF MARLBOROUGH. (Complete in 3 vols.) Portraits. *** Atlas, containing 26 fine large Maps and Plans of Marlborough's Campaigns (being all those published in the original edition at £12 12s.), 4to, 10s. 6d.

BACON'S ESSAYS, APOPHTHEGMS, WISDOM OF THE ANCIENTS, NEW ATLANTIS, and HENRY VII., with Introductory Dissertation and Notes. Portrait.

GIBBON'S ROMAN EMPIRE; complete and unabridged, with variorum Notes, including, in addition to all the Author's own, those of Guizot, Wenck, Niebuhr, Hugo, Neander, and other foreign scholars. Edited by an English Churchman. In six volumes, Post 8vo. Portrait and Maps. CESAR'S WORKS, complete, with the Alexandrian, African, and Spanish Wars of Hirtius, literally translated with Notes and copious Index. Portrait. 5s.

THE WORKS OF TACITUS, literally translated, with Notes and very complete Index.

5s. each.

BEDE'S ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY, and the ANGLO-SAXON CHRONICLE. 58.

WILLIAM OF MALMESBURY'S CHRONICLE OF THE KINGS OF ENGLAND. 53.

SIX OLD ENGLISH CHRONICLES, viz., Asser's Life of Alfred; and the Chronicles of Ethelwerd, Gildas, Nennius, Geoffrey of Monmouth, and

Richard of Cirencester.

5s.

CHRONICLES OF THE CRUSADERS; Richard of Devizes, Geoffrey de Vinsauf, de Joinville. Illuminated Frontispiece. 5s.

EARLY TRAVELS IN PALESTINE, Willibald, Sawulf, Benjamin of Tudela, Mandeville, La Brocquiere, and Maundrell. Edited by Thomas Wright, Esq. Map. 5s.

MATTHEW PARIS'S CHRONICLE. First division published under the title of ROGER OF WENDOVER'S FLOWERS OF HISTORY, comprising the History of England from the Descent of the Saxons to A.D. 1235. By Dr. Giles. 2 vols., 5s. each.

MATTHEW PARIS'S CHRONICLE, containing the History of England from 1235, translated by Dr. Giles. 3 vols. With complete Index to the 5 vols., 5s. each. Portrait.

ROGER DE HOVEDEN'S ANNALS OF ENGLISH HISTORY, from A.D. 732 to A.D. 1201. Translated and edited by H. T. RILEY, Esq. B.A. 2 vols.,

5s. each.

HENRY OF HUNTINGDON'S HISTORY OF THE ENGLISH, from the Roman Invasion to Henry II.; with The Acts of King Stephen, &c. Translated and edited by T. Forester, Esq., M.A. 5s.

MATTHEW OF WESTMINSTER'S FLOWERS OF HISTORY, especially such as relate to the affairs of Britain, from the beginning of the World to A.D. 1307. Translated by C. D. Yonge, B.A. 2 vols., 5s. each.

ORDERICUS VITALIS; his Ecclesiastical History of England and Normandy, translated, with Notes and the Introduction of Guizot, by T. Forester, M.A. 4 vols., 5s. each.

INGULPH'S CHRONICLE OF THE ABBEY OF CROYLAND, with the Continuations by Peter of Blois and other Writers. Translated, with Notes and an Index, by H. T. Riley, B.A. 5s.

GRAMMONT'S MEMOIRS OF THE COURT OF CHARLES II., with the Boscobel Narratives. Portrait of Nell Gwynne.

FROISSART'S CHRONICLES OF ENGLAND, FRANCE, AND SPAIN, &c. New Edition, from the Text of Colonel Johnes, With Notes, a Life of the Author, an Essay on his Works, and a Criticism on his History, with 100 b.autiful Woodcuts. illustrative of the Manners, Customs, &c. 2 vols., Super-royal 8vo., cloth. £1 8s.

MONSTRELET'S CHRONICLES OF ENGLAND AND FRANCE. New Edition, from the Text of Colonel Johnes. With Notes, and upwards of 100 Woodcuts (uniform with Froissart). 2 vols., Super-royal 8vo., cloth. £1 48.

HUME AND SMOLLETT'S HISTORY OF ENGLAND, with a Memoir of Hume, complete in 1 large vol. Imp. 8vo. Fine Portraits of the authors. Extra

cloth, 1. ls.

LECTURES ON HISTORY.

ว

INTRODUCTORY LECTURE.

1809.

I MUST avail myself of the privilege of a prefatory address to enter into some explanations with respect to the lectures I am going to deliver, which could not well find a place in the lectures themselves.

I must mention to you the plan upon which they are drawn up.

And I think it best to give you at once the history of my own thoughts in forming this plan, because such a detail will serve to display the general nature of the study in which you are now to engage, and will lead to observations that may afford to these lectures their best chance of being useful.

My first impressions, then, with respect to a scheme for Lectures on Modern History, were these—

That, in the first place, all detail, all narrative were impossible.

That the great subject before me was the situation oí Europe in different periods of these later ages-the progress of the human mind, of human society, of human happiness, of the intellectual character of the species for the last fifteen centuries. Everything therefore of a temporary nature was to be excluded; all more particular and local history; all peculiar delineations of characters, revolutions, and events, that concerned not the general interests of mankind. That the history of France or Spain or England was not to be considered separately and distinctly, but only in conjunction

B

each with the other; each, only as it affected by its relations the great community of Europe. That, in short, such occurrences only were to be mentioned, as indicated the character of the times-such changes only, as left permanent effects. That a summary, an estimate of human nature, as it had shown itself, since the fall of the Roman empire, on the great theatre of the civilised part of the world, was, if possible, to be given.

I must confess that this still appears to me to be the genuine and proper idea of a course of lectures on modern history. But to this plan, the obvious objection was, its extent and its difficulty.

The great Lord Bacon did not find himself unworthily employed when he was considering the existing situation, and contemplating the future advancement of human learning; but to look back upon the world and to consider the different movements of different nations, whether retrograde or in advance, and to state the progress of the whole from time to time, as resulting from the combined effect of the failures and successes of all the parts-to attempt this, is to attempt more than was effected even by the enterprising mind of Bacon; for it is to appreciate the facts as well as to exhibit the theory of human society-to weigh in the balance the conduct, as well as the intelligence of mankind, and to extend to the religion, legislation, and policy of states, and to the infinitely diversified subject of their political happiness, the same inquiry, criticism, and speculation which the wisest and brightest of mankind had been content to extend only to the more particular theme of human knowledge.

Such were the first impressions produced upon my mind by the plan that had thus occurred to me.

It is very true, that when they had somewhat subsided, I became sufficiently aware that objections like these must not be urged too far. That a plan might be very imperfectly executed, and yet answer many of its original purposes, as far as the instruction of the hearer was concerned, and that this

was on the whole sufficient. The effect upon the hearer being the point of real consequence, not the literary failures or successes of the lecturer.

This scheme of lectures, however, I have not adopted, for though I might fairly have been permitted to execute it in a slight and inadequate manner, I was persuaded that lectures. would be expected from me in this place long before I could have attempted to execute it, in any manner, however imperfect and inadequate to my wishes.

Having mentioned this reason, it is unnecessary to mention others, which might also have induced me to form the same resolution.

But a plan of this sort, though rejected by me as a lecturer, should always be present to you as readers of history. By no other means can you derive the full benefit that may and should be derived from the annals of the past.

Large and comprehensive views, the connection of causes and effects, the steady, though often slow and, at the time, unperceived influence of general principles; habits of calm speculation, of foresight, of deliberative and providing wisdom, these are the lessons of instruction, and these the best advantages to be gained by the contemplation of history; and it is to these that the ambition of an historical student should be at all events directed.

The next scheme of lectures, that occurred to me, was to take particular periods of history and to review and estimate several of them, if possible, in a connected manner. The period, for instance, of the Dark Ages, of the Revival of Learning, of the Reformation, of the Religious Wars, of the power and enterprises of Louis the Fourteenth, of the prosperity of Europe towards the close of the last century.

These periods could not be described and examined without conveying to the hearer a very full impression, not only of the leading events, but of the general meaning and importance of modern history. All the proper purposes of a system of lectures would be therefore by these means very suffi