SPECTATOR'S LIBRARY.

General History of the World, from the earliest times until the year 1831. By Charles Von Rotteck, LL.D., Professor in the University of Freiburg. Antic Coml. senor, &c. &c. &c. Translated from the German, and continued to 1890. In four

volumes. Longman and Co. Tiesvzia,

Journal of • Tour in Greece and the Ionian Islands; with remarks on the recent his- tory. present state, and classical antiquities or those countries. By William

Mitre of Caldwell. In two volumes Blackwood and Suns. Fuss Awn,

A Hand. Book of the History of Painting, front the age of Constantine the Great to the present time; by Dr. Franz Kugler. Translated from the German by a Lady. In two palls. Part!. The Italian Schools of Painting. Edited, with 'Notes, by

' C. L. Eastlake, Esq , RA. Murray. A Hand•Book to the Public Galleries of Art in and near London. With Catalogues • of the Pictures, accompanied by critical, historical. aud biographical notices. and copious indexes to facilitate reference. By Mrs. Jameson. In two parts. Murray.

EOTTECICS GENERAL HISTORY OF THE WORLD.

THIS work is highly praised and highly popular on the Continent,

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above 100,000 copies having been sold n Germany alone within a few years : and, no doubt, the General History of the World does offer a characteristic view of the leading epochs in the annals of mankind, and a coupd' veil of events in the history of particular countries. We question, however, whether it will be so successful in England ; partly because the style is foreign, partly because its utility has been to some extent forestalled by a variety of com- pilations, original or translated.

"From the size and contents of this work," says the translator, "many would be inclined to call it a universal history : but there is an important distinction between general history' and 'uni- versal history.' The latter resembles a magazine of materials for building, but general history the edifice itself." The distinction

probably exists; but we doubt whether this definition will enable

any one to apprehend it. In our view of the subject, general history is rather a deduction of the principles contained in events ;

universal, a narrative of the events themselves. In a general

history of the world, the writer would begin with the Mosaic account, as the earliest original record, and probably bring down his survey of the arts, knowledge, social system and progress of the human race, as deduced from his authority, till the Jewish settlement in Egypt. From scattered notices in ancient authors, the pictorial and monumental records which have survived to our time, and the commentaries of modern archseologists, he would exhibit ancient Egypt in a similar way ; only noticing events or persons when they produced some probable effect upon the fortunes of that particular nation, or the advance- ment of the human race, or were in themselves of extraordinary

character. As the confession of the Greeks ascribes to Egypt the origin of their arts and in a great measure of their civilization, the natural transition would seem to be to the general history of Greece : its probable origin, and condition before the heroic age— the character of that age, as exhibited in the Homeric pictures—

the variety of states, and their essential differences from one another in national character, institutions, arts, and letters, and their general progress in political power. The wanderings of the mythological heroes in the Black Sea, &c.—the Trojan war— the Italian, Sicilian, and Asiatic colonies—the two Persian inva-

sions of Greece, and the conquests of ALEXANDER—would lead to

such an historical view of these respective countries as materials exist for giving. Rome next appears upon the scene ; the early state of Italy and the condition of the Etruscans carrying us back through an obscure twilight into the very night of history ; as the general progress of the republic connects it with Africa, Spain, Gaul, Britain, and Germany, and the influence of Phcenician com- merce and factories upon geography, the useful arts, and material civilization. Between the downfal of the Roman Republic and the consolidation of the Empire, the Jewish nation emerges from its barbarian obscurity, to influence, by means of Christianity, the fu- ture fate of the Roman Empire, and so far as we can yet see, the condition of the whole world. And to develop philosophically the spirit of the Jewish annals, from the arrival of JACOB in Egypt till the downfal of the national independence and the spread of Christianity, would task the greatest historians of ancient or modern times. Besides a commercial connexion with the East, the decline and fall of the Roman Empire introduces Eastern Europe and Central Asia—the Mongolian and Sarmatian peoples ; as the extinction of the Western division brings the Scan- dinavian or Norman race upon the scene, and would complete the

general history of the ancient world. In this survey, particular

events, we conceive, would only be mentioned when their import- ant results raised them above a mere national interest. The battle of Marathon, for example was the germ of the supremacy of Athens, and it first exhibited the superiority of European discipline over Asiatic numbers : the principles of the battle of Marathon, there- fore, would be exhibited; but the particular exploits of the Grecians ought to be read in Grecian history, unless they were introduced ar- tistically to diversify the picture. If this exposition should fail in conveying our idea of the difference between universal and general

history, a shorter exemplification may succeed : if the reader forms a collection of histories of particular countries, he has so far as it goes, a portion of universal history ; the impression produced upon his mind by their perusal and comparison, is that of general history. If our view of general history is correct, Professor ROTTECK'S work is more of a universal than a general character ; for although

he introduces the different divisions or tern into which he has arranged his performance by a general view of the period, a par-

ticular history of each country follows with minuteness if not detail; that is, particular persons and particular events are enu- merated—and not always with judgment upon the Professor's own plan. Where so many things have to be mentioned, distinctness can only be attained by the plainest description of each thing, while interest can only be imparted by a skilful selection of the characteristic circumstances. In both of these important points the Professor sometimes fails : simpler terms would frequently convey more knowledge in less space; nor is he always happy in selecting such things as give the peculiar character to the period, the action, or the man. His scale too, is deficient ; large subjects being sometimes more compressed others of less importance. In the more modern part, as in the Napoleonic wars, he falls into the strange error of writing something like annals. Thus, the Peninsular war is told in two or three separate lots ; from which the reader is carried to the Austrian wars, and so forth. By this means, the attention is diverted, the story suspended, and sometimes we get at the effect before the cause.

In point of execution, the work cannot be greatly commended. The more general views are obscured and injured by a straining after effect ; the loftier style of Professor ROTTECK forming a strange mixture of collegiate heaviness with ambitious rhetoric. His narrative of single circumstances is better, though not feli- citous and we have a suspicion that he may not always be fully apprehended by a person previously unacquainted with the history he relates. Part of the defect of his diction may, however, be attributed to the translator; who does not seem to have improved the style of the original.

The great use of Dr. ROTTECK'S General History of the World consists in the comprehensiveness of its plan. Whatever faults may be perceived in the book, it goes over the entire history of mankind; mentioning the most remarkable events and persons, and pointing out the most striking social features of each large epoch of our race, if not with original and penetrating acumen, at least according to received opinion. As a work to be read, or to be re- ferred to, it will therefore be found of utility ; but more useful, we think, to refresh old knowledge than to acquire new. As the author approaches more modern times, his own leanings, too, be- come visible. We do not mean to say that he is unfair, or that his opinions are wrong, but that he writes like an advocate rather than an historian.

A singular point in Dr. Rorrecx's composition is its variety. When deducing conclusions from large circumstances, he is turgid; when narrating single actions, his style is somewhat bald ; but when dealing with scholastic subjects, he is clear and terse. An example of the first and last modes will be seen in his sketch of the generic character of the French Revolution, and his account of the early chronology of the world.

UNCERTAINTY OF ANCIENT CHRONOLOGY.

1. The profane writers differ immensely from the sacred books in their com- putations, but particularly in relation to the age of the world. It is to vat, not to untie the knot, if we wholly reject the accounts of the first. However, not much assistance is derived from them; for, 2. The designations of time, in our sacred books, are dark, fluctuating, and discordant among themselves, especially in the Pentateuch ; since Moses reckons according to the years that the patriarchs lived, which is susceptible of very different interpretations. 3. Besides, there are several texts of these sacred books, the Hebrew, Sama- ritan, and Greek text of the seventy interpreters. All, three differ from one another; and in particular, in the Hebrew original, the patriarch Cainan is not found, w hom the seventy introduce after Arphaxad. The chronology of Joseph Flavius has been added to that of the three texts cited, on account of its anti- quity and authority : hence we have four different _sources or bases for ancient chronology.

4. These have all been carefully investigated, studied, expounded, and com- pared, by later chronologists: recourse has been had also to the profane writers, in order to illumine the darkness. In vain! it has become more dense. A. great number of scholars, some of whom were also men of genius, such as Scaliger, Boclaart, Marsham' Newton, Jackson, Petavius, Usher, Pesron, Lenglet Du Fresnoy, and in later times, Batsch, Frank, Ideler, &c, have de- voted their time and labour to this ungrateful employment ; and the conse- quence is, that we now possess more than a hundred different systems, which differ more than fourteen hundred years from one another, but which, one as well as another, according to Bolingbroke's appropriate expression, like en- chanted castles, vanish into nothing by the dissolution of the charm, or by a nearer consideration.

A RHAPSODY ON THE FRENCH REVOLUTION.

According to the principal oscillations produced by the great movement in France and in the rest of the world, the most recent period of general history is divided into four sections or particular periods, each of which is naturally subdivided into some smaller parts. These four sections are—

I. The times of Constitutional Monarchy in France; II. The times of the French Republic; IIL The times of the French Empire ; IV. The times that succeeded the fall of Napoleon.

One character—the struggle of philosophical law against historical institu- tions—of the eternal idea against accidental relations, dictated by arbitrary authority and perversity, or ot the force of public opinion against public power— reigns through the whole period, and gives it before all anterior a quite pecu- liar, imposing aspect ; but the success, the extent, the chances of this struggle, change multifariously, and an immensity of consequences results from ever), great blow. In general, it is no more the resolves of cabinets, diplomatic intrigues, and the regular tactics of mercenary troops, that direct the stream of events and the destinies of nations : the life of these nations is itself awakened, and enters, amidst violent opposition, yet formidably., the history of the world; they begin—to the terror of ministers and the privileged—to be accounted something. The authorities deign to observe public opinion; and where they are indisposed to fall in with it, wage more violent war against it than before against the most formidable and odious enemy. War is no longer carried on merely for the acquisition or preservation of a province, or the main- tenance of the worn-out system of the European balance of power. Continu- ance or destruction, the form of states and independence, triumph or suppres- sion of political doctrines, liberty or slavery of large parts of the world, the highest destinations of mankind—these are now the springs of action. New tactics, new systems of administration arise; all the relations of civil life are essentially changed. The conquests of science are immense in depth and extent ; participation in them is diffused through all classes of society. The rays of enlightenment penetrate into the hitherto darkest recesses; self- judgment takes a bold stand against authority. But the aberrations of this yet unpurified self-judgment, and more still the excesses of passion and the numberless crimes of selfishness committed under the profaned banner of liberty, give authority, and the classes reposing in its shade, here specious reasons, there welcome pretexts for combating and persecuting the at all events inconvenient light. But the reaction produced new excesses and new crimes on the opposite side too : tyranny arises from the bosom of the revolu- tion itself, and destroys its noblest fruits; the counter-revolution under- takes the part of liberation. But the war of principles speedily returns : natural and historical law, allied in war against the tyrants of the world, renew their fatal contest. Who shall adjust it ? Truth cannot yield, selfish- ness consents to no sacrifice, passion gives every thing a false appearance. Spirits are more and more estranged ; the course of truth and justice, as clear as it is traced by unbiassed reason, is abandoned more and more ; the demands of liberality and legitimacy appear absolutely incompatible; it is resolved— "the repose of this part of the world cannot he bought too dear "—to attempt desperately to suppress all ideas that were the principle of the revolution, to make a disconsolate retrogression towards a time long since buried. Then the genius of liberty soars over the sea to the New World, in order to return one day shedding its blessings upon Europe, or to cast looks of compassion and contempt upon this degenerate part of the world.