We have received a new 'edition of the History of
the Conquest of Mexico, by William H. Prescott, edited by John Foster Kirk, 3 vols. (George Bell- and Sons, 10s. 6d.) An introduction has been furnished by Mr. G. P. Winship, which, after giving an interesting personal sketch of the historian, proceeds to an appreciation of the history itself. "' Prescott's Mexico * is really a 'great historical romance, with few equals in all literature- Out of the documents in which is contained the records of what actually happened in the valley of Mexico between 1515 and 1525 Prescott constructed a tale of deeds of prowess, of love and adventure, of suffering and torture, of hopeless despair and ultimate conquest over every obstacle. It is a wonderful story, founded most solidly upon fact, set forth with all the pageantry and much of the unreality of the veriest fiction." Nothing of the kind was ever more effectively done. The writer of this notice remembers most vividly passages of the history, which he has not read for more than fifty years.
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