he Chair of History connected with the Faculty of
Letters; and in 1838 he was appointed Professor of History in the
College de France. Meanwhile, besides instalments of his 'History of
France,' he had published several works, among them (1835) his
excellent and interesting 'Memoires de Luther,' in which, by extracts
from Luther's Table-talk and Letters, the great reformer was made to
tell himself the history of his life; the 'OEuvres Choises de Vico;'
and the philosophical and poetical 'Origines du Droit Francais.' In
the education controversy of the later years of Louis Philippe's reign,
Michelet and his friend Edgar Quinet vehemently opposed the pretensions
of the clerical party, and carried the war into the enemies' camp by
the publication of their joint work, 'Les Jesuites,' 1843, followed, in
1844, by Michelet's 'Du Pretre, de la Femme, et la Famille,' translated
into English as 'Priests, Women, and Families.' Guizot bowed to the
ecclesiastical storm which these works invoked, and suspended the
lectures of the two anti-clerical professors. To 1846 belongs
Michelet's eloquent and touching little book, 'Le Peuple.' The
Revolution of February, 1848, restored Michelet to his functions. He
waived, however, the political career which was now opened to him, and
laboured at his grandiose 'History of the French Revolution,' of which
the first volume had appeared in 1847. In 1851 he was again
suspended--this time by the ministry of the Prince President--from his
professional functions, and on account of his democratic teachings.
After the _coup d'etat_ he refused to take the oaths, and lost all his
public employments. Since then he has been occupied with his 'History
of France,' and of the French Revolution, and with the production of
other and some minor works. It is not among the last that must be
classed his two striking volumes, 'L'Oiseau,' 1856, and 'L'Insecte,'
1857, the result of a retreat from a pressure of a new political system
into the realm of nature. In 'L'Amour,' 1858, and 'La Femme,' 1859,
the intrusion of physiology into the domain of thought and feeling was
too much for English tastes. In 'La Mer,' 1861, Michelet addresses
himself to the natural history and the poetry of the sea."

CONTENTS.

PREFACES.

Editor's Preface

Author's Preface

Memoir

PART I.

ON DIRECTION IN THE SEVENTEENTH CENTURY.

CHAPTER I.

Religious Re-action in 1600--Influence of the Jesuits over Women