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348 Rcvieic's of Books has suffered much from scholars whose literary taste has led them to judge the accuracy of a writer by the quality of his style. This criticism of the author's method should by no means be taken as a condemnation of his work. The reader of the present volume under- stands that he is following Thucydides ; and if it is his wish to view polit- ical parties and leaders at Athens from the standpoint of a great though prejudiced contemporary, he may consider himself fortunate in having so faithful and so trustworthy a guide as Mr. Abbott. In brief the work is remarkably careful and accurate ; and the merit of the volumes which have thus far appeared inspires the hope that the entire history will fill a large sphere of positive usefulness. G. W. B. A History of England for the Use of Schools and Academies. By J. N. Larned, with Topical Analyses, Research Questions and Bibliographical Notes, by Homer P. Lewis, Principal of the English High School, Worcester, Mass. (Boston : Houghton, Mifflin and Co. igoo. Pp. xxxiii, 673.) In his preface Mr. Larned states that his aim in writing this book has • been to tell " the things most essential with simple clearness, in such an order and so connectedly as to show streams of influence and cause flow- ing through them, so that the reader may feel himself led "easily along the main lines of development that flow through English history." This has been done with a considerable degree of success. The subject-mat- ter is divided into seven periods : Britain and Early England ; The Norman-English Nation ; The Decline of Feudalism ; Renaissance and Reformation ; A Century of Revolution : The Period of Aristocratic Government ; and The Democratic Era ; and these are handled in such a way as to present a narrative of the nation's development that is both consecutive and interesting, and possesses more literary merit than one often finds in a text-book. The array of wars — both foreign and domes- tic, — and the intricacies of the royal genealogies are happily subordinated to the constitutional, social, and industrial development of the people, and the territorial expansion of the nation, while the lines of such de- velopment are well-defined. That a few of the estimates of character — both of individuals and of nations — are emphatic rather than judicial, it would be difficult to deny. Elizabeth's greatness is scantily recognized ; and the author gives us the impression that " no good thing can come out of" Spain. Of the seven periods enumerated, The Century of Revolution (1603- 168S) is treated with the greatest detail. To it are given 106 pages, while the period 1450-1603 covers 77 pages, and that from 1688 to 1820, 94 pages. There are interpolated, at various intervals throughout the text. Sur- veys of General History, — one for the first .seven centuries following the fall of Rome, and one for each century after the twelfth. These are in-