the eminent Belgian archivist, M.
Gachard, that a pen which had already given so much delight and
instruction to the world was about to be engaged on so attractive a
theme. But Prescott was not more ardent in the prosecution of his own
inquiries than in furthering those of others; and he displayed in this,
as in many like instances, the same noble spirit which, since his death,
has been so gracefully acknowledged by Mr. Motley.

Of the manner in which the work is executed it would be, perhaps,
premature to speak. We have no hesitation, however, in assigning to Mr.
Kirk's most fascinating narrative a place with the great achievements of
genius in the department he has chosen to fill. His advent among the
historians will be welcomed the world over. A glance at the copy placed
in our hands has enabled us to indicate its nature. The two volumes
about to appear bring the story down to the crisis of Charles's fate,
the moment when he became involved in a war with the Swiss. A third
volume, now in course of preparation, will complete the eventful tale.

We think it not unlikely that to the American reader the first half of
the history will seem, at the present time, to possess a peculiar
interest. For this part of the work contains the last great struggle
between the French crown and the feudal princes,--a struggle involving
the question whether France was to form one nation or to be divided into
a number of petty states. Such a struggle is now going on in our own
country. The question we are debating is whether the nation is to be
disintegrated or consolidated. The theory of "State sovereignty" is
nothing more than the old theory of feudal independence. "I love France
so well," said Charles of Burgundy, "that I would fain see it ruled over
by six kings instead of one." "I love the republic founded by our
fathers so well," says Jefferson Davis, "that I would fain see it split
up into several hostile confederacies." When we see that France, under
the direction of a Louis XI., came out of that struggle triumphant, we
shall not despair of our own future, trusting rather to the guidance of
that Providence which is working out its own great designs than to
instruments little cognizant of its plans and too often unconscious of
its influence.

_Good Thoughts in Bad Times, and Other Papers._ By THOMAS FULLER, D.D.
Boston: Ticknor & Fields.

There certainly never was a greater piece of publishing felicity, in its
seasonableness,