A General History of Modern Europe from the beginning of
the Sixteenth Century to the Year 1864. Fourth edition. (T. Jones.)— A very well compiled manual, intended for Roman Catholics, in which the history of the different nations is narrated simul- taneously withat confusion. The best point in it, however, is the spirit of candour in which it is written. Of course the burnings of the Protestants in the reign of Mary are extenuated, but they are not defended. So the Massacre of St. Batholomew is untruly represented as a sudden outbreak of fanacticism provoked by the Protestants, and the exultation of the Pope when he heard of it is passed over in silence, but still the slaughter is stigmatized as "barbarous murder." The account of the Revolution of 1688 is written with remarkable fairness. Anything which betokens a cessation of polemical bitterness is matter for con- gratulation, and especially so when it is found in an educational work recommended by a Catholic dignitary and stamped with the imprimatur of Cardinal Wiseman. It is a peculiarity of this manual that the history of the last hundred years is given much more Pally than that of the earlier period, an arrangement the very reverse of the common practice, and we think an improvement.
Previous page
