European History, 976 - 918. By Charles Oman, M.A. (Rivington, Percival, and
Co.)—Mr. Oman takes these four centuries and a half (roughly speaking) as his " First Period of European His- tory." In 476 Romulus Augustulus was deposed ; in the following year the Roman Senate announced to Zeno, Emperor of the East, that the Western Empire had ceased to exist, and that—the gist of their errand—they had chosen Flavius Odoacer for their Emperor. Odoacer, the Visigoth, after seventeen years of power, gave way to Theodoric the Ostrogoth, who had almost double as long a time of power. This period is the subject of Mr. Oman's first two chapters, a piece of admirably clear and compressed narrative. The third chapter treats of the same period in Constantinople, Zeno, Anastasius, and Justinus. Then comes the foundation of the Frankish power in Gaul, and then we are taken back to the East and to the thirty-seven years of Justinian. Mr. Oman keeps the various threads of the history that forms his themes clearly distinct. A thorough master of his subject, and possessed of a gift for clear exposition, he has supplied the student with a most valuable and helpful book. We shall still consult our Gibbon; but Mr. Oman supplements in a very useful way the immortal " Decline and Fall." The maps and genealogical tables with which he illustrates his volume will be found to add much to its completeness.
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