s no less adapted to moral teachings than to the touching
inspirations and free jovial songs of the country Muse.

The work of M. Veyre is the first tending to give his native province
a share in the literary revival of the Romanic idioms, which is so
universally felt in Southern France, and has of late produced so much.

_History of the United Netherlands, from the Death of William the Silent
to the Synod of Dort._ With a Full View of the English--Dutch Struggle
against Spain; and of the Origin and Destruction of the Spanish Armada.
By JOHN LOTHROP MOTLEY, LL.D., D.C.L. New York: Harper & Brothers. Vols.
I. and II. 8vo.

These volumes bear the unmistakable mark, not merely of historical
accuracy and research, but of historical genius; and the genius is not
that of Thierry or Guizot, of Gibbon or Macaulay, but has a palpable
individuality of its own. They evince throughout a patient, persistent
industry in investigating original documents, from the mere labor of
which an Irish hod-carrier would shrink aghast, and thank the Virgin
that, though born a drudge, he was not born to drudge in the bogs and
morasses of unexplored domains of History; yet the genius and enthusiasm
of the historian are so strong that he converts the drudgery into
delight, and lives joyful, though "laborious days." There is not a page
in these volumes which does not sparkle with evidences of an enjoyment
far beyond any that the rich and pleasure-seeking idler can ever know;
and while the materials are those of the barest and bleakest fact, the
style of the narrative is that of the gayest, most genial, and most
elastic spirit of romance. We have read all the best fictions which
have been published during the interval which has elapsed between the
publication of the "History of the Dutch Republic" and that of the
"History of the United Netherlands," but we have read none which
fairly exceeds, in what is called, in the slang of fifth-rate critics,
"breathless interest," this novel, but authentic memorial of a past
heroic age.

The first requirement of an historian in the present century is original
research,--not merely research into rare printed books and pamphlets,
but into unpublished and almost unknown manuscripts. No sobriety of
judgment, no sagacity of insight, no brilliancy of imagination can
compensate for defective information. The finest genius is degraded to
the rank of a compiler, unless he sheds new light upon his subject by
contributi