who proves undeniably that these unlucky bachelors--there
were only three of them--all came to a bad or sad end. As to military
historians, Kinglake's _History of the Crimean War_ takes up, I think,
some eight volumes. The whole course of the recent Boer War has been
related in five substantial volumes. Neither of these wars lasted
more than two years, yet both histories are many times larger than
Schiller's History of the Thirty Years' War in Germany. The only
edition of Schiller's work that I have found in the library of this
University is in four small volumes.

Now, the drawback to the composition of histories on this ample and
elaborate scale is obviously this--that the ordinary man or woman can
hardly be expected to read them, or at most to read more than two or
three of them. So there has sprung up a natural demand for something
lighter and shorter; the amplification has produced a supply of
abbreviation. The massive volumes, the heaps of material, are taken in
hand by very capable writers with a clear eye for the main points, for
striking incidents and personalities. The big books are sliced up into
convenient portions, and served up in attractive form and manageable
quantities. The work is often done with admirable skill and judgment.
You thus obtain a bird's-eye view of the past; you have the loftier
prominences and bold outlines of the historic landscape.

In these serials, which are deservedly popular, you can read short
biographies, for example, of English Men of Letters, of English Men of
Action, of famous Scotsmen, Rulers of India, Heroes of the Nation. You
have also a story of all the nations in series, and thus you can limit
your mental survey to separate periods, events, countries, and
figures. You are carried swiftly and adroitly over the dry interspaces
which lie between startling incidents or between supremely interesting
epochs.

Now I have no doubt that these series, which contain much sound
information very skilfully condensed, have been of real service in the
propagation of historical knowledge. On the other hand, we have to
consider that this kind of reading is disconnected in style and
subject. The reader can make a long jump from one period to another,
or from the statesman of one century to another who flourished in a
very different country and age. And the handling of these diverse
subjects is not uniform; the points of view or lines of thought are
various, and may be contradictory. It