olved to devote himself to study. He traveled for a year on the
Continent, learning on the spot the languages of the countries he passed
through. In time he became an accomplished linguist, reading nineteen
languages and conversing fluently in seven.

By the time he was nineteen he had resolved to write a great historic
work, of a nature not yet attempted by any one. To prepare himself for
this monumental labor, and to make up for past deficiencies, he settled
in London; and, apparently single-handed and without the advice or help
of tutors or professional men, entered upon that course of voluminous
reading on which his erudition rests.

He is a singular instance of a self-taught man, without scientific or
academic training, producing a work that marks an epoch in historical
literature. With a wonderful memory, he had, like Macaulay, the gift of
getting the meaning and value of a book by simply glancing over the
pages. On an average he could read with intelligent comprehension three
books in a working day of eight hours, and in time mastered his library
of twenty-two thousand volumes, indexing every book on the back, and
transcribing many pages into his commonplace-books. In this way he
spent fifteen years of study in collecting his materials.

The first volume of his introduction to the 'History of Civilization in
England' appeared in 1857, and aroused an extraordinary interest because
of the novelty and audacity of its statements. It was both bitterly
attacked and enthusiastically praised, as it antagonized or attracted
its readers. Buckle became the intellectual hero of the hour. The second
volume appeared in May, 1861. And now, worn out by overwork, his
delicate nerves completely unstrung by the death of his mother, who had
remained his first and only love, he left England for the East, in
company with the two young sons of a friend. In Palestine he was
stricken with typhoid fever, and died at Damascus on May 29th, 1862. His
grave is marked by a marble tomb with the inscription from the Arabic:--

"The written word remains long after the writer;
The writer is resting under the earth, but his works endure."

Three volumes of 'Miscellanies and Posthumous Works,' edited by Helen
Taylor, were published in 1872. Among these are a lecture on 'Woman,'
delivered before the Royal Institution,--Buckle's single and very
successful attempt at public speaking,--and a Review of Mill's
'Liberty,' one of the finest co