GLEIG'S FAMILY HISTORY OF ENGLAND.
THIS work is published " under the Direction of the Committee of General Literature and Education, appointed by the SJciety for- Promoting Christian Knowledge." Its object is to supply a me- dium between the mere school-book and the more diffuse and ela- borate histories, which, from the time their perusal requires, are better fitted fin the student than the general reader. The execu- tion of this tusk has been committed to Mr. GLEIG ; and, so far as a judgment can be formed from a single Part of some sixty pages, he has fulfilled it very ably. His treatment is broad and massy; his style plain and popular ; his narration interesting. Without omitting events or persons of importance, he, as yet, rather deals with epochs than actions. After describing, for in- stance, the invasion of Just us C.ESAR, and, more briefly, the esta- blishment of the Roman power, he proceeds to consider the man- ners, character, and creed of the people, and to paint the general condition of society, instead of narrating minute events. He pur- sues a similar plan with regard to the Saxons and the Danes; with whose invasion after the massacre of their countrymen under ETHELRED, the First Part closes, breaking off with the murder of a couple of bishops by the Pagan invaders. It is not very probable that Mr. GLEIG has devoted much ori- ginal research to his task ; yet he appears nut only to have con- sulted the principal historians, but to have availed himself of modern archreological discoveries in relation to the early periods of which he treats. Ikon the question of religion he is as full and elaborate as becomes a divine ; discussing the superstition of the Druids with zest, and dwelling upon the introductionotChris- tianity into Britain with unction. Upon doubtful matters, Mr. GLEIG deems it better to assume the likeliest, than discuss the true. It is, for example, not quite certain that Czsaa sailed from Calais and landed " nearly opposite the ruins of Riehborougla Castle." But it was necessary not to puzzle his intended readers upon such abstruse subjects ; nor had he, indeed, space—we have seen bigger disquisitions on this identical point, than the whole Part before us.
The volumes are intended to be illustrated by a profusion of wood-cuts, representing the arms, dresses, buildings, and so forth, of our motley ancestors. Those in the First Part are clear, but coarse ; and the costumes and shipping somewhat apocryphal, we imagine.
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