Page:The Cambridge History of American Literature, v3.djvu/206

1 88 Later Historians came under the sway of "the great subject," and when he died he was the leading Americanist in the United States. One small book, Spain in America (1905), remains as an expression of this phase of his activity; but it is so well done that it is not likely to be superseded as long as we hold our present views on the period of the explorers. In his Essays in Historical Criti- cism he gave the student and general reader a model of sound historical analysis and showed how to test historical statement in a practical way. Most of the Essays had previously been published in various places. The most notable was the pa- per called The Legend of Marcus Whitman, which was received with angry protest from those to whom the legend had become dear. Four Literary Historians. The members of this group had something to do with Motley and Prescott on the one hand and something with the new school on the other; but they were first of all artists in expression, working in the field of history with such success as they were able to attain. They were John Foster Kirk (1824-1904), Francis Parkman (1823-93), Edward Eggleston (1837-1902), and John Fiske (1842-1901). Kirk was the eflficient literary secretary of WiUiam H. Prescott' during the latter part of the career of this nearly blind historian, travelling with him on both sides of the Atlantic and meeting many of the leading men of the day. During this period he began to write for The North American Review and other magazines. Prescott and his friends encouraged his efforts, and after the death of his employer in 1859 he embarked definitely on the sea of authorship. It was natural for him to select a subject in Prescott's field. He chose the career of Charles the Bold, founder of the Burgundian power and great- grandfather of Charles V. It was a subject worthy of a bril- liant pen, and his book The Life of Charles the Bold (3 vols., 1863) met all expectations. While it rested on secondary authorities and has been rendered obsolete by later investiga- tions, it was worthy to rank with the books by Robertson, Pres- cott, and Motley which had already made the Burgundian- Austrian cycle a famous period in historiography. Vividness and colour were its notable qualities. The great expectations it ' See Book II, Chap, xviil.