in letters published in The Tribune. In 1846 and following years, she travelled and resided in Italy, where she was married to an impoverished nobleman, the Marquis d'Ossoli, who was engaged in the revolutionary movement of 1849. In the following year, she embarked with her husband and their child in a vessel bound for New York. Their voyage was disastrous but they had almost reached the American coast, when the ship was wrecked by a violent gale off the shore of Fire Island. There was a good chance of saving the lives of all the passengers; but Margaret refused to be parted from Ossoli and their son. Her literary ambition had been almost forgotten in her love for her boy, named Angelino. While the seamen were vainly persuading her to leave the child in the care of the steward, a heavy sea washed over the forecastle, and carried all away. Margaret sank with her husband, and the lifeless body of the child was carried to the beach.

It is not our purpose to criticise the writings named in this biographical sketch. It appears clear that the eccentricity and unhappiness of Margaret Fuller, though partly constitutional, were in a great measure caused by the errors of her early training; and in this point of view, her biography affords a useful warning. With regard to the style and the general characteristics of her writings, the opinions of an American editor-Mr Griswold-may be quoted. Of the work, entitled Woman in the Nineteenth Century, he says: 'It is difficult to understand what is its real import, further than to the extent, that the author was ill satisfied that there should be difference in the rank or opportunity of the sexes. Summer on the Lakes evinces considerable descriptive power, and contains some good verses. The Papers on Literature and Art are all forcible, and brilliant in a degree, but frequently pointed with pique or prejudice.' The authoress was fond of epigram, and shewed everywhere a willingness to advance any opinion for the sake of making a point. She rarely attempted particular or analytical criticism, but commended or censured all books with about an equal degree of earnestness, being generally most severe upon those of home-production, excepting a few by personal friends.

6

She had remarkable quickness, but not much subtlety of apprehension; general, but not solid acquirements; and an astonishing facility in the use of her intellectual furniture, which secured her the reputation of being one of the best talkers of the age.'

HISTORY.

BANCROFT-HILDRETH-PARKMAN-TICKNOR, AND

OTHER

WRITERS.

'More than four hundred large historical works,' says an American writer, 'have been written in the United States.' Of these, however, a large majority may be described as consisting rather of compilations of materials than of complete and well-executed books. The names of Bancroft, Prescott, Hildreth, and Sparks, are the most prominent in the departments of history and historical biography.

The work of Bancroft on the History of the United States was preceded by the writings of Hutchinson, Belknap, Ramsay, Holmes, Marshall, Botta, Pitkins, and Grahame, besides several local histories already named. Judge Marshall's History of the Colonies planted by the English on the Continent of North America, appeared in 1824. In the same year, James Grahame, a Scotch advocate, commenced writing a History of the United States, which was completed and published in four octavo volumes (1836). This work was very coldly received in England, and its publication occasioned a pecuniary loss of L.1000 sterling. It is described as a valuable work based upon diligent research. Botta's History of the War of the Revolution is a treatise of considerable merit, but has the disadvantage of being written by a foreigner. American readers had too long borrowed their knowledge of the history of their own country, when, in 1834, Mr Bancroft published the first volume of his History of the Colonisation of the United States. The materials for the work were abundant, but no American before Bancroft had attempted to collect and organise them. A few brief notices of the works of several local historians may precede our remarks on Bancroft's history.

A History of the State of Maine, by WILLIAM D. WILLIAMSON, includes the period 1602–1820, and has been highly commended for its fidelity and completeness of narrative, its judicious arrangement, and neat and perspicuous style.

The Historical Sketches of Michigan comprise a series of discourses delivered before the Historical Society of that state by Lewis Cass, Henry Whiting, John Biddle, and Henry R. Schoolcraft. These papers are rather fragmentary, but include several interesting memoirs.

Another collection of materials for American history was supplied by SALMON P. CHASE in his three volumes of the

Statutes of Ohio and of the North-western Territory (1788–1833). The Collections of the New York Historical Society include numerous valuable materials and curious old works. Gayarre's History of Louisiana-written in French-embodies several important documents, but does not claim notice as a complete history. An Introduction to the History of the Colony and Ancient Dominion of Virginia, by CHARLES CAMPBELL, and A History of Georgia, by the Rev. W. B. STEVENS, must be classed with the more valuable contributions to national historical literature.

A History of the Commonwealth of Kentucky, by MANN BUTLER, must be commended as a work of research, though its style is inelegant. It introduces us to the early settlers, men of hardy and daring character, among whom the most celebrated was Daniel Boone.

Several other works of the same class might be mentioned; but the preceding notices may be sufficient to indicate the abundance of materials for a History of the United States. This wealth of details made the task of the historian very difficult. To combine the annals of the several states, and to sustain a connected narrative interest throughout the details of the colonial period; to correct the errors of early writers on the affairs of the several colonies; and to find unity of purpose and tendency in the development of the various local governments-such was the arduous undertaking of Mr Bancroft. He has written in a high tone of enthusiasm, and has given a warmth of colouring to many topics which had been coldly treated by other writers. There can be no doubt of his industry and fidelity in research; but critics have censured his immoderate use of eulogy, and have complained that his views are sometimes American rather than philosophical.

GEORGE BANCROFT, the historian of the United States, is the son of a congregational minister, and was born at Worcester, in Massachusetts, in the year 1800. His father had some reputation as a historical writer, and published in 1807 a Life of Washington, which passed through many editions.

In 1817, Bancroft graduated with the first honours of his class in Harvard College, and gained one of the Bowdoin prizes by an Essay on the Use and Necessity of Revelation. At this time, he had determined to enter the Christian ministry; and after a visit to Europe, he appeared, on some few occasions, as a successful preacher; but his love of literature soon prevailed over his first choice of a profession. During his stay in Germany, he had studied history and philosophy under the learned professor Heeren, and had enjoyed the society of the historian Schlosser.

In 1824, Bancroft published a translation of Heeren's Reflections on the Politics of Ancient Greece, which was followed by several translations of German works on philology; and in 1828, by Heeren's histories of the states of antiquity, and of the political system of Europe and its colonies, from the discovery of America to the time of independence. Meanwhile, the translator, not trusting in the precarious gains of literary labour, had opened a school at Northampton. In his political views, he had seen reasons for leaving the Whig party, and joining the democracy. An article from his pen, 'The Progress of Civilisation,' published in The Boston Quarterly Review, explained his motives in making this change.

The first volume of the History of the Colonisation of the United States appeared in 1834, and was received with general approbation. The services of the writer were rewarded by his appointment as collector of the customs at Boston. The second volume of the History appeared in 1837, and the third in 1840. After a considerable interval of time, partly occupied by the author's official duties, the fourth volume, giving a view of the first epoch of the American Revolution, or the overthrow of the colonial system, appeared in 1852, and has been followed by the history of the revolution. Besides this principal work, Bancroft has published an abridgment of the History, and has contributed several articles to the North American and Boston Quarterly Reviews. His services have been justly recognised in his own country, and the eminent political and social position he holds has been won by literature. America has unwisely refused to insure to the scholar a fair share of the profits of his own toil, but has not yet adopted the policy of treating learning and intellectual power as disqualifications for public service. In 1844, Bancroft was appointed secretary of the navy; and in this office, his zeal and foresight in planning reforms and instituting a Nautical School and Astronomical Observatory, made his services highly important and valuable. In 1846, he was sent as ministerplenipotentiary to Great Britain.

The History of the United States is based on extensive research in original documents, and corrects the errors of former works. Its failings are very intimately connected with its best qualities. It is too exclusively American in its tone. The generous enthusiasm of the writer must be commended, and is well displayed in eulogy of the heroes of early colonisation; but in the warmth of sympathy, Bancroft sometimes appears rather as the advocate than the historian. With regard to the institutions of his country, too, the strong national feeling of the writer has led him aside from the path of careful analysis.

Among the most characteristic portions of the History, we must notice the narratives of the early colonisation of New England and Pennsylvania, The several sketches of character are written in an enthusiastic and eloquent style. A summary of the early annals of Connecticut may be mentioned as one of the best examples of the author's manner. In other parts of the work, digressions on topics which do not belong strictly to American history are too freely introduced. To quote the remarks of an American Review-'Mr Bancroft likes to expatiate on a boundless theme, passing swiftly from one portion of it to another; here presenting a striking event, and there portraying a brilliant character, and colouring the whole with the glare of ambitious rhetoric and a somewhat overstrained republican philosophy.'

The style of the historian, in speaking of the heroes of liberty and civilisation, is so hearty and enthusiastic, that he seems to identify himself with the characters portrayed by his pen. The narration of the deeds of George Fox and William Penn is so warmly eulogistic, that we might imagine the author to be a descendant of the American Quakers; but his zeal has a broader character than that of the sectarian, and is as readily called forth by the exploits of the Jesuit missionary as by the courage of Roger Williams. In both instances, the same grandeur of character and nobility of purpose awaken the sympathy of Bancroft. He forgets the creed, and sees only the man. His narrative of the adventure of the Catholic missionaries in the Western territory, is one of the most attractive episodes in American history.

As the Reformation gave rise to the settlement of New England, so the counter-movement commenced by Loyola, first introduced civilisation into Canada and the West. In 1634, the two Jesuit missionaries Brebeuf and Daniel, joined a tribe of Huron Indians, and travelled more than 300 leagues through dense forests, and along the Ottawa and its confluents, enduring all the miseries of savage-life, resting at night on the bare earth, and subsisting on a scanty supply of maize. Near a bay of Lake Huron, in the Indian territory, they raised their first chapel, and began their labours among the natives. Six years later, Montreal was selected as a mission-station; and a plan was formed for establishing settlements among the northern Indians, as in Michigan, the south of Lake Huron, and other regions of the West. Serious difficulties opposed this design, for the animosities of the tribes made the proposed routes of travel impracticable. Some years elapsed before the missionary Jogues was deputed to visit the Mohawks, in order to establish friendly relations with the tribes known as the Five Nations. He obeyed the order, but,