THE ENGLISH REVIEW, For NOVEMBER 1796. ART. I. The Hiftory of France, from the Acceffion of Henry the Third to the Death of Louis the Fourteenth. Preceded by a View of the Civil, Military, and Political State of Europe, between the Middle and the Clofe of the Sixteenth Century. By Nathaniel William Wraxall. pp. 1569. 3 vols. 4to. 31. 35. boards. Cadell and Davies. London, 1796. E have had, in the courfe of a few years, feveral hiftories of France, under different forms and denominations; fome being published in separate numbers, and others in volumes of different fizes: while a great number of journalists, letterwriters, viewers of fociety, &c. have attempted to bring down the hiftory of France to the very moment in which they write, and even to predict what kind of order is infallibly to arife out of the prefent chaos. All this fhewed that the public curiofity was ftrongly excited by the present situation of that country; which has, doubtlefs, given occafion to many judicious and profound obfervations on the nature of man, in general, and the national character of the French, in particular; as well as to an infinite number of most affecting stories, and pathetic sentiments and ejaculations. Mr. Wraxall does not immerge into particular details, but rifes to an eminence from which he contemplates the whole as one scene, and that scene as near akin to one of the fame kind about two hundred years ago; and thus, by comparing things of a fimilar nature, and widening the bafis of induction, unites philofophy with hiftory.-There is a kind of modern fchool in history that has not, indeed, exceeded the best historians of antiquity in juftness of obfervation, fublimity of fentiment, or ENG, REV. VOL. XXVIII. NOV. 1796. F f grandeur grandeur of defign, but who, very properly, avoid that minutenefs of detail, on certain fubjects, which unprofitably fwell the volumes of fome hiftorians, and are chiefly attentive to what is most interesting to the ftudent of moral and political science; the ph lofophy of the human mind; and the nature and effects of the different forms of government; with the progress or viciffitudes of arts and fciences. Machiavel produced Montefquieu and Giannone; Montefquieu, Voltaire, Hume, Robertfon, and Gibbon; with whom fome clafs the induftrious and judicious, though dull and prolix, Henry.-It is in this fchool that Mr. Wraxall has formed his tafte for hiftorical compofition; and though he does not belong to the first form, he may be read with much pleasure and advantage. His prefatory addrefs is as follows: In compofing the hiftory of France I have not had it fo much in my intention to relate the feries of political facts under the reigns of Henry the Third and Fourth, as to delineate the genius, fpirit, and character, of the French nation, during that period. The nature and limits of the work itself did not permit me, in the first volume, to do more than to sketch, in nineteen chapters, the general flate of the European fyftem, between the middle and the conclufion of the fixteenth century. In the fecond and third volumes I have minutely and accurately fhaded the picture. The fources from which information upon national manners, and the progrefs of the human mind, are derived, may be pronounced to be neither obvious nor fuperficial. They can only be found in the moft patient and laborious perufal or investigation of almost all the contemporary writers in every branch of fcience or polite letters. To that merit, and to that only, I can lay claim. It may, perhaps, be objected, that at the prefent moment, when men are univerfally agitated with apprehenfions relative to the deareft objects of perfonal concern, and for the very preservation of civil; · order and fociety itfelf; few perfons will have Icifare or inclination to read the history of a period which, though not in itself remote, is yet comparatively diftant. But may I not be allowed to affert, that, to thofe who philofophife upon the nature of man, it cannot be either. deftitute of amufement or of infruction to contemplate the fame nation, as it exifted two hundred years ago, which engroffes at prefent fo much attention?. We hall find. that, at the extinction of the family of Valois, and at the elevation of the house of Bourbon to the throne, the French people were under the influence of a delirium, neither lefs ferocious, nor lefs fanguinary, than at this moment. So extraordinary a renewal of the fame anarchy, and the fame enormities, precifely at the termination of two centuries, might almost induce us to adopt the fentiment of their own hiftorian de Thou, who feems to think, that nations, like individuals, are fubject to paroxyfms of frenzy, which vifit them periodically, at ftated intervals.' 3 • IE If the work now prefented to the world should never exceed its prefent limits, it is complete in itfelf; as containing, befides the ketch of Europe in the first volume, a history of France, in its most comprehenfive fenfe, from 1574 to 1610. At the fame time, it is my intention, if the public approbation fhould be extended to the work, to continue it through three additional volumes. The first of thefe would continue the reign and age of Louis the Thirteenth; and the two lat the reign and age of Louis the Fourteenth, down to the death of that monarch in 1715. The feverity of truth which is demanded from hiftory, as well as the want of a number of lights and documents of various kinds, which time alone could furnish, would prevent me, even if there were no perfonal impediments in the way, from ever attempting to bring it down to a later period. That task must be the province of future historians, and the work of another century.' After a copious table of contents follows an introduction: The principal object of history, which is to expand and elevate while it informs the mind, can never be fo effectually attained as by afcending an eminence at certain periods, and taking from thence a comprehenfive view of man, as he exifts under the various forms into which force, policy, or accident, have moulded fociety. Before the termination of the fifteenth century, Europe, fcarcely emerged from barbarifm, and deftitute of all the facilities of mutual communication, was little connected by any general ties of policy or commerce. But, after the acceffion of Francis the Firit to the crown of France, and the elevation of Charles the Fifth to the imperi 1 throne, a new order of events arofe. The obftinate contests of thofe princes for preeminence and power called into action ftates previously unknown; and eventually produced that fytem tic attention to prevent the aggrandifement of any one state, which has blended the interests of all. Letters, hitherto confined to the banks of the Arno or the Tyber; and only foftered by the protecting care of the Medicis, or the fovereign pontifs, began to penetrate beyond the Appenines and the Alps. They were patronifed by fovereigns, cultivated by the nobility, and gradually diffufed through the inferior ranks of mankind: Trade, which had been exclufively limited to the Mediterranean, em braced the Baltic and the Atlantic. The extremities of Europe became, in fome meafure, approximated, and the mutual wants of various countries united them by a common chain. It is from this period that a liberal curiofity is juftly excited; and that history, li berated from fable or fuperftition, becomes the guide, and the beft inftructor to which we can have recourfe. France, from its central pofition, from the magnitude and variety of its refources, as well as from the spirit of enterprife and turbulence which has frequently character fed its councils, has, in every age, had great influence on the general repofe of the furrounding states. During the whole courfe of the fixteenth century, that kingdom may be confidered as the mafter-fpring, by which all the inferior movements were affected or regulated Charles the Fifth and Philip the Ff2 Second, Second, although poffeffed of far more extenfive dominions, and mafters of the treafures remitted from the new world, yet in real power were, perhaps, not fuperior to the French princes, their cotemporaries. All Europe was implicated in the quarrels of Francis the Firft. England and Scotland, either as allies or enemies, took the most active part. Italy was the great theatre of action, and the perpetual fcene of hoftility. The German empire, convulfed in its interior by political and religious diffenfions, was agitated by the intrigues of Francis, and openly invaded by his fucceffor, Henry the Second, who difmembered from it Metz, Toul, and Verdun. Even beyond the fhore of the Baltic their enmity oppofed new barriers to the ambition of the houfe of Auftria. Chriftian the Second, King of Denmark, and Guftavus Vafa, King of Sweden, entered into connexions of offenfive policy with the crown of France. Not Satisfied with appealing to all the Chriftian states, they introduced an Afiatic and a Mahometan upon the ftage of Europe. Soliman the Second, Sultan of the Turks, and mafter of the capital of the Greek empire, was their ally and confederate. The Mediterranean was covered with the French and Ottoman fleets, who befieged Nice in concert, laid wafte the coafts of Italy, and fpread terror from the mouth of the Adriatic to the Straits of Gibraltar. • Even after the decease of Henry the Second, and the commencement of the civil wars, which plunged the kingdom of France into a temporary anarchy, the restless ambition of Catherine of Medicis, or the efforts of the two factions which contended for fuperiority, perpetuated the general fermentation. Scotland, by the marriage of its young queen to Francis the Second, became, for a fhort period, annexed to, and incorporated with, the French monarchy. The Netherlands were on the point of paffing permanently into the house of Valois, in the perfon of the Duke of Alenfon, the youngeft of the fons of Henry the Second. Catherine herself laid claim to the vacant fceptre of Portugal, after the death of the cardinal king, in 1580; and endeavoured, though vainly, to place on the throne an illegitimate defcendant of its ancient monarchs. Her intrigues pervaded the most remote countries, and, by a fingular caprice of for tune, raised to the Polish crown one of her fons, the Duke of Anjou, after the extinction of the family of Jagellon. Elizabeth, Queen of England, notwithstanding the numerous reafons which fhould have induced her to dread a French alliance, feemed to be inclined towards accepting the hand of the Duke of Alenfon. Germany, Spain, and Switzerland, as well as many of the Italian ftates, were active parti. cipators in all the troubles of France, and lent their affistance to one or the other of the contending parties. In order, therefore, to read the French hiftory with information, and to derive from its perufal that enlarged inftruction which it is peculiarly calculated to convey, it becomes indifpenfable to furvey previously the state of Europe. By comparing the relative fituation, force, and progrefs, of the refpective countries which compofe it, we hall be affifted in forming thofe deductions, without which the mere narration of events is neither productive of utility nor benefit. The prefent prefent age, which has produced fo many illuftrious writers, and which is illuminated by a variety of knowledge on every subject, expects from an historian a comprehenfive view of the time and period, not the dull recapitulation of battles, treaties, and alliances. Such is the avowed object of the work now undertaken. In contemplating the European fyftem, as it existed at the death of Charles the Ninth of France, in 1574, it is natural to begin with England.' On our author's observation, that the period of his hiftory, though not in itself remote, is yet comparatively diftant,' we have to obferve, that it is very inaccurate. There is no period in itself remote. Distance of time, as of place, is merely relative. This flip would not be of any confequence in the body of a great work. It is more unhappy in a preface, where the author is expected to appear collected, in form, and in his best drefs. In the introduction, speaking of the extenfive influence of the intriguing Catherine of Medicis, he says, Elizabeth, Queen of England, notwithstanding the numerous reasons which 'fhould have induced her to dread a French alliance, feemed to be inclined towards accepting the hand of the Duke of Alenfon.'-She feemed inclined towards the acceptance of many different hands. She is well known to have been a royal coquette. This flirtation with the young Duke was not a proof of the efficacy of those intrigues which our author celebrates. This amplification, or exaggeration, favours of oratory, and is unbecoming the gravity and severity of history, ΑΙ [To be continued. ] ART. II. Captain Stedman's Expedition to Surinam. [Continued from our laft Number. ] LTHOUGH the principal defign of the present yarious and entertaining work, be, a narrative, or rather journal of the military operations of Colonel Fourgeoud, yet the greater part of it confifts in matter much more amusing and instructive than bush-fighting with Indians. The wealth and luxury of the Dutch fettlers at Surinam are deeply contrafted with the wretched and most deplorable fituation of the African flaves as the vices and weaknesses of those Europeans (we avoid to fay Chriftians, for Chriftianity in itself is pure and excellent) alfo are with many virtues in the Africans even in a state of flavery. There is, alas! but little room for Ff3 novelty |