KNIGHT'S PICTORIAL HISTORY OP ENGLAND.
THESE six volumes contain the Ilistory of Great Britain, from the earliest times of which any historical records exist, down to the close of the reign of GEORGE the Second. It was originally intended to carry on the narrative to the commencement of the French Revolution : that intention has, it seems, been abandoned. The work is concluded with the death of GEORGE the Second, and a supplementary history of the reign of GEORGE the Third is in pro- gress. With the publishers' motives for this arrangement we have nothing to do. The accession of GEORGE the Third commences a new am in our history ; his reign has an epic unity that adapts it to being treated as a separate theme ; the demise of GEORGE the Second is a good haIting-place ; and the completion of the book enables us to take a more satisfactory view of its plan and execution than was possible while its fragments were successively dropping out in monthly numbers.
The feature of this history most prominently put forward in its titlepage is its pictorial illustrations. The idea was a happy one. There are many things of which the pen can convey no adequate idea that the pencil reveals clearly and distinctly. The characters of men, and of the aggregations of men called society, are mate- rially influenced by numerous petty circumstances—the routine of their daily employments, the greater or less degree of perfection attained by the mechanical aids for the discharge of business which they possess, their clothes, dwellings, &c. These alone give individuality to the characters which distinguish men of different nations and different ages from each other. The public and do- mestic architecture of an age or nation, its costume, its implements
• of mechanical toil, its written character, are all a part of its his- tory; specimens or accurate representations of them bring it home to our imaginations with all the strength of reality. The curiosity universally felt to know the form, stature, and lineaments of his- torical characters, is not a mere idle curiosity. The narrative of the historian is comparatively a dead letter to those who have not access to a museum of antiquities or a picture-gallery. The Picto- rial History of England is an attempt to accompany the letterpress of the historian with a running commentary of graphic illustration that may form a substitute for a gallery of antiquities and paint- ings.—provide the public with cheap family museums. The se- lection of materials has been in a high degree successful. The fac-similes of the handwriting of sovereigns and other distin- guished characters, the drawings of old and obsolete implements of toil and war, the contemporary portraits and illustrations of man- ners preserved in sepulchral monuments, illuminated manuscripts, household pictures, and other collections which have been gleaned to furnish materials for the pages of the pictorial his- tory, are extremely valuable. They bring before us the real image of the times we read of. Where words fall short, the artist steps in and supplies the deficiency. Some things, especially in the earlier parts of the work, might with propriety have been omitted— imaginary representations of apocryphal scenes, by artists of no transcendent merit ; but on the whole there is not much to com- plain of even in this respect. The class of readers which is startled at every innovation, and anticipates frivolity in every thing that looks like attention to deco- ration, may require to be assured that there is literary.merit in a work so lavish of pictorial embellishment. There is, and of no ordinary kind. The recent accumulations of materials throwing liglthe early periods of our history, have been made use of to a greater extent than in any previous publication; and the me- moirs, letters, journals, &c. illustrating the transactions of more recent times, have all been diligently and critically examined. The work is divided into books, each consisting of seven chapters. The first chapter is strictly narrative, and traces the continuous chain of civil and military transactions; the second contains the history of religion; the third a review of the laws and constitution of each period; the fourth the state of industry ; the fifth the condition of literature and the fine arts ; the sixth manners, costume, and fur. niture ; the seventh, entitled "Condition of the People," contains& general summary of the results of the preceding investigations and an estimate of the general character of society. The narrative m civil and military transactions—the history, in the narrower accepta- tion of the term—is almost entirely the work of Mr. MTARLANE4 and constitutes the largest portion of the book. The style is not punctilious, but clear, easy, and manly, not without depth as well as breadth of flow. The spirit in which he tells his story is liberal and candid : at times a spice of testiness may perhaps be detected, or a touch of quiet humour, which are far from diminishing the in- terest. The military events are described with peculiar spirit and animation ; the Parliamentary transactions, if not quite so satisfac- torily, still with distinctness and intelligence. Foreign affairs, though kept in due subordination, are given with a more satisfactory degree of fulness and consequence than perhaps in any other English history. The chapters on the laws and constitution (by Mr. BI13 SET, with some additions by the editor, Mr. Cann) are on the whole accurate and comprehensive : some passages display con- siderable power of writing ; and the views of the Saxon and early Norman systems of government in the second and third books are new and worthy of attention. The chapters on national industry (by the editor) contain a great amount of statistical information diligently and critically compiled, and are characterized by correct views of economical science. In the chapter upon literature, the editor seems to have laid out most of his strength : it would form apart a very complete history of English literature, characterized by extensive information and deep and sound judgment. The history of architecture is well done throughout, by Mr. POINTE ; the history of music, accurately by Mr. AYRTON. The history m. manners is told with vivacity and considerable descriptive power, by Mr. Tuomsox ; the accounts of costume and furniture, neatly and con amore, by Mr. PLANCRL There is one characteristic of the execution of this work common both to the literary and pictorial departments—a necessary conse- quence, perhaps, of its being a serial publication. We allude to the improvement, which is very remarkable in the later, upon the earlier portions of it ; also to occasional inequalities which occur throughout. The work being published piecemeal as it is completed, the authors cannot go back to recast the earlier parts, and corder upon them the benefits of the greater skill and power they have acquired by practice : and the occasional hurry inseparable from the necessity of producing a certain amount of matter within a certain time, accounts for some parts of the story (not always the least important) being sketchily executed, at least in comparison with the fulness of detail indulged in on other occasions. Our object in adverting to this fact is merely to suggest, that inasmuch as the work is calculated to take its place on the shelves of the reading public as a standard work, both as a valuable repository of information and on account of its general felicity of execution, it might be advisable in the event of a " new issue " to retouch some of the less successful passages, to supersede some imaginative illustrations by others of a more real character, and to replace some of the worse-executed cuts by others more in keeping with the high character of Mr. KNIGHT'S illustrated publications.
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