armed when they found that the nonsense of their inflated speeches produced not intimidation, but laughter. Moderate men took courage; the middle classes, to whose prosperity peace abroad and tranquility at home were essentially necessary, rallied round the monarchy, and the republicans were forced to remain silent, until some new excitement of the public mind would afford an opportunity for disseminating mischievous false hoods."

Beyond the period to which we have brought this history, nothing of any moment has occured in France, that is not incidentally mentioned in the latter part of the history of England. Whether Louis Philippe is apprehensive that the peace of the country will not be of long duration, or whether he is anxious to prevent the citizens of Paris from showing another specimen of their courage, if by any chance they should be brought into collision with the military-or whether it be to provide equally against either contingency-is more than we will venture to offer an opinion on; but we must not close our sketch without stating that he is at present engaged in fortifying Paris in a manner calculated to afford great facilities to the troops in either emergency. These works were begun in September, 1840, and are not yet finished. When complete, the city and suburbs of Paris will be enclosed with a thick, high wall, defended by bastions and moats in various parts. At some distance from this wall, exterior works, consisting chiefly of detached forts, will serve to protect the inner fortifications, and serve to prevent an enemy from approaching the walls of the town. This measure at first niet with considerable opposition; but, viewing it as a defensive operation, and recollecting how lately the French capital was compelled to open its gates to an invading army, these defences are now regarded with more satisfaction than displeasure.

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Subjoined to an excellent article on French statistics, &c., in Mr. M'Culloch's Dictionary, are the following pertinent observations on "the probable continuance of the existing order of things in France;" which, as an appropriate conclusion of this brief history, we take the liberty to transfer to our pages: It would be to no purpose to take up the reader's time by making any observations on the great influence exercised by France in the politics of Europe and the world. That is too obvious, and has been too strikingly exemplified during the last half century, to require being pointed out. But, since the overthrow of Napoleon, France has been rather an object of awe, and of vague apprehension, from a want of confidence in the stability of her existing institutions, than from any fear of what she might be able to effect under a constitutional and settled form of government. Under all the circumstances, this feeling is, perhaps, not very unreasonable; for, were anything to occur to subvert the present order of things, and to excite the popular enthusiasm, it is difficult to say what the result might be. There are, indeed, many persons who are inclined to regard all apprehensions as to the subversion of the present constitution in France as chimerical; we confess, however, that we are unable to participate in their confidence. Everything in France appears to be tending to a pure democracy; and were there nothing else, the law of equal succession, by preventing the continuance of large fortunes in single families, would suffice to bring it about. What, in fact, is there in France to oppose a revolution? With the exception of the holders of funded property, and of those in the immediate employiment of the court, hardly any one could apprehend any injury from it; and it is most probable the property of the former would be protected. There are no longer any great landholders; and it is immaterial to the holder of a small piece of land who is at the head of affairs, provided the purdens laid on him be not increased. Monarchy in France is without all those old associations and powerful bulwarks whence it derives almost

all its support in this, and most other countries; and there is really nothing to hinder a hostile majority in the chamber of deputies, or anything that should powerfully influence the public mind, from at once subverting the regal branch of the constitution. The peers have no real power; and there is no class that has that deep and abiding interest in the support of the existing institutions, that seems indispensable to rescue a government from sudden popular impulses, and give it security and free action. Napoleon will, most probably, be found to have correctly appreciated the existing state of things, when he declared, that the destruction of the aristocracy had proved fatal to all subsequent efforts for establishing a constitutional monarchy in France. The revolution had attempted the solution of a problem as impossible as the direction of balloons. An aristocracy is the true support of the throne; its moderator, its lever, its fulcrum. The state without it is a vessel without a rudder; a balloon in the air.' Great prudence on the part of those in authority may, no doubt, enable a government like that of France to exist for an indefinite period, but still it must be deemed of a precarious character. At present, the members of the electoral colleges constitute the only aristocratical body to be found in the country; and there is, perhaps, little to fear from the encroachments of power on the one hand, or of licentiousness on the other, as long as they continue on their present footing. But great efforts are being made to lower the qualifications of electors, and, consequently, to extend the electoral basis; and should these be success. ful, the government will necessarily be rendered still more dependent on popular impulse.

"But though monarchy should be subverted in France, we look upon it as the merest possible delusion to imagine that there can be anything like a repetition of the enormities and outrages that accompanied the revolution of 1789. Society is now arranged on a totally new basis; there are few or no abuses to rectify; the people are not sinarting from the oppressions of a host of feudal tyrants; and, though that is most doubtful, it may be supposed that they have had sufficient experience of the folly of attempting to govern the world. Provided, therefore, they are left to arrange their internal affairs as they may judge best, we incline to think that the other European nations have little to fear from any changes that may take place in the form of government in France. At present, it is a democracy with an hereditary head; the only change likely to happen, is to a democracy with an elective head."

THE HISTORY OF SPAIN.

THIS Country, situated in the south-west of Europe, and bounded i the Atlantic, the Mediterranean, Portugal, and France, was well known to the Phoenicians at least a thousand years before the Christian era; yet t appears to have been very imperfectly known to the Greeks in the time of Herodotus. As far as history or tradition makes us acquainted with its aboriginal inhabitants, they were the Celta and Iberians, who became blended in the common name of Celtiberians. Till the coming of the Carthaginians into Spain, however, nothing certain can be affirmed of the Spaniards, and this happened not long before the first punic war

n ancient times Spain was regarded as a country replete with riches, and though at the time of the Roman conquest prodigious quantities of gold and silver had been carried out of it by the Carthaginians and Tyrians, it still had the reputation of being very rich. We are informed by Aristotle, t that when the Phoenicians first arrived in Spain, they exchanged their naval commodities for such immense quantities of silver, that their ships could neither contain nor sustain their load, though they used it for ballast, and made their anchors and other implements of silver. Nor could it have been much diminished when the Carthaginians came, since the inhabitants at that time made all their utensils, even their mangers, of that precious metal. In the time of the Romans this amazing plenty was greatly reduced; still their gleanings were by no means despicable, since in nine years they carried off 111,542 pounds of silver, and 4,095 pounds of gold, besides an immense quantity of coin and other things of value.

Although the earliest inhabitants of Spain appear to have consisted of Celtic tribes, which probably entered the peninsula from the neighbouring country of Gaul, and occupied the northern districts, there is every reason to believe that the southern part of the country was possessed by the Mauritani from the opposite coast of Africa; the narrowness of the strait of Gibraltar, and the valuable products of Spain, being inducements quite sufficient for the African barbarians to form settlements there. Accordingly, the Carthagenians, whose descent from the Phoenicians led them to traffic with all those nations who could supply them with useful commodities, early directed their views towards Spain, and about the year 300 B. c., had established a colony in the north-east of the peninsula, and founded the town of Barceno, the modern Barcelona. In the course of the same century their ambition and jealousy of the Romans induced them to attempt the conquest of a country so advanțageously situated for their commercial enterprises. This attempt gave rise to the second punic war. The result was the gradual annexation of the whole peninsula to the Roman republic, and it continued, under the name of Hispania, tò form an important province of the empire for nearly seven centuries. It was usually divided into three great portions, Lusilania, Botica or Hispania Ulterior, and Tarraconensis or Hispania Citerior. The Spaniards were naturally brave, and though the inhabitants of the eastern and southern coasts had been reduced to a state of servile subjection, yet, as the Romans penetrated farther into the country than the Carthagenians had done, they met with nations whose love of liberty was equal to their valour, and whom the whole strength of their empire was scarcely able to subdue. Of these the most formidable were the Nu mantines, Cantabrians, and Asturians. In the time of the third punic war, one Vieriathus, a celebrated hunter, and afterwards the captain of a gang of banditti, took the command of some nations who had been in alliance with Carthage, and ventured to oppose the Roman power in that part of Spain called Lusitania, now Portugal. The prætor Vitelius, who commanded in those parts, marched against him with ten thousand men, but was defeated and killed, with the loss of four thousand of his troops. The Romans immediately dispatched another prætor with ten thousand foot and thirteen hundred horse; but Vieriathus, having first cut off a detachment of four thousand of them, engaged the rest in a pitched battle, and, having entirely defeated them, reduced great part of the country. Another prætor, who was sent with a new army, met with the same fate; so that, after the destruction of Carthage, the Romans thought proper to send their consul, Quintus Fabius, who defeated the Lusitanians in several battles. It is not, however, necessary to pursue this portion of the Spanish history with minuteness; suffice it to say, that after many severe contests, in which the Romans were often obliged to yield to the

bravery of the Celtiberians, Numantines, and Cantabrians, Scipio Æmilianus, the destroyer of Carthage, was sent against Numantia, which, after a most desperate resistance, submitted to the Roman commander, though scarcely an inhabitant survived to grace the conqueror's triumph. This was a final overthrow, and the whole of Spain very speedily became a province of Rome, governed by two annual prætors.

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Nothing of importance now occurred in the history of the peninsula till The latter having the civil war between Marius and Sylla; B. c. 76. crushed the Marian faction, proscribed all those who had joined against him whom he could not destroy. Among these was Sertorius, who had collected a powerful army from the relics of that party, and contended with great success against Caius Annius and Metellus, who were sent against him. Sertorius now formed a design of erecting Lusitania into an independent republic; and so vigorously were his measures prosecuted, that the Romans became seriously alarmed for the safety of their empire in that quarter. On the death of Sylla, the most eminent generals in Rome contended for the honour of having the command of the army which is was intended to send against this formidable enemy. After some deliber ation, the management of this war was intrusted to Pompey, afterwards surnamed the Great, though he had not yet attained the consular dignity. Metellus was not, however, recalled. Sertorius for a long time proved more than a match for them both; and after establishing himself in Lusitania, he made such perpetual attacks on their united armies, that they found it necessary to separate, one retreating into Gaul, and the other to the foot of the Pyrenees. Treachery at length effected for the Roman cause what valour tried in vain, the bold and skilful Sertorius being assassinated at an entertainment by Perperna, after having made head agains: the Roman forces for almost ten years. Pompey now pressed forward with redoubled ardour against the insurgent army, and the troops, deprived of their able leader, were finally subdued by him.

Though conquered, Spain was not altogether in a state of tranquility; many of the most warlike nations, particularly the Cantabrians and Asturians, continuing, wherever opportunities presented themselves, to struggle for their independence. But from the time of Agrippa, who carried on a war of extermination against them, till the decline of the western empire, they remained in quiet subjection to the Romans. Augustus himself founded the colony of Cæsar Augusta (Saragossa), and Augustus Emerita (Merida). For four hundred years the Roman manners and language took root in the Spanish provinces, which in Cæsar's time had a population of forty millions. Tarragona had two millions five hundred thousand inhabitants; and Merida supported a garrison of ninety thousand men. In the arts of war and peace, the peninsula at that period rivalled Rome, and it gave birth to many men of first-rate character and abilities; among them. Pomponius Mela, Seneca, Lucan, Trajan, and Theodosius the Great.

In the reign of the emperor Honorius, the Gothic tribes of Vandals, Suevi, and Alans, spread themselves over the peninsula. About the year 420 the brave Wallia founded the kingdom of the Visigoths in Spain. The Vandals, from whom Andalusia received its name, could not withstand him, and withdrew into Africa in a few years after. The Visigoths, under Euric, extended their kingdom by the expulsion of the Romans in 484; and at length Leovigild, in 583, overthrew the kingdom of the Suevi, in Galicia. Under his successor, Reccared I., the introduction of the catholic faith gave the corrupt Latin language the predominance over the Gothic· and, after that time, the unity of the Spanish nation was maintained by the catholic religion and the political influence of the clergy.

Towards the end of the seventh century, the Saracens (the name adopted by the Arabs after their settlement in Europe), having overran Barbary with a rapidity which nothing could resist, and possessed themselves of

the Gothic dominions in Africa, made a descent upon Spain. Roderic, the king of the Goths, was a usurper, and having occasioned great disaffection among his subjects, he determined to come to an engagement, knowing that he could not depend upon the fidelity of his own people if he allowed the enemy time to tamper with them. The two armies met in a plain near Xeres, in Andalusia. The Goths began the attack with great fury, but they were totally defeated, and Roderic, in his flight, was drowned in the Guadalquiver, A. D. 711. Nearly the whole of Spain was brought under the dominion of the Moors (as the Arabs of Spain are usually called), by this decisive battle; those Goths who still contended for independence retiring into the mountainous parts of Asturia, Burgos, and Biscay. But in 718 their power began to revive under Pelayo (or Don Pelagio), a prince of the royal blood, who headed those that had retired to the mountains after the fatal battle of Xeres. In the most inaccessible parts of these regions Pelayò established himself; and such were its natural defences, that although the Moorish governor, Alakor, sent a powerful army to crush him, the followers of Pelayo were so concealed among the precipices, that, almost unseen, they annihilated their enemies. In a second attempt the Moors were equally unsuccessful, nearly the whole of their army being either cut in pieces or taken prisoners.

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At this time the greater part of Spain became a province of the caliphs of Bagdad; but in the middle of the eighth century, Abderahman, the caliph's viceroy in Spain, threw off the yoke, and rendered himself independent, fixing the seat of his government at Cordova. Abderahman's first care was to regulate the affairs of his kingdom; and though he could not alter the Mahommedan laws, which are unchangeable as the koran wherein they are written, he appointed just magistrates, released his Christian subjects from a great part of the tribute-money hitherto exacted from them, and patronised commerce and the arts. At Cordova he built one of the most superb mosques in the world, and it still remains a splendid monument of the skill and magnificence of that enlightened people. The descendants of Abderahman continued for nearly two centuries to reign in Spain, at their capital Cordova, patronising the sciences and arts, particularly astronomy and medicine, at a period when christian Europe was immersed in ignorance and barbarism. In 778, Charlemagne entered Spain with two great armies, one passing through Catalonia, and the other through Navarre, where he pushed his conquests as far as the Ebro. On his return he was attacked and defeated by the Moors, though this did not prevent him from keeping possession of all those places he had reduced. In the meantime the kingdom founded by Pelayo, now called the kingdom of Leon and Oviedo, continued to increase rapidly in strength, and many advantages were gained over the Moors. In the early part of the tenth century, a distinguished general, named Mohammed Ebn Amir Almanzor, appeared to support the sinking cause of that people. He took the city of Leon, which he reduced to ashes, and destroyed the inhabitants. Barcelona shared the same fate; Castile was reduced and depopulated; Galicia and Portugal ravaged; and he is said to have overcome the Christians in fifty different engagements. A pestilence, however, having at. tacked his army just after he had demolished the city of Compostella, and carried off in triumph the gates of the church of St. James, the Christians superstitiously attributed it to a divine judgment; and, in the full persuasion that the Moors were destitute of all heavenly aid, they fell upon them with such fury in the next battle, that all the valour of Almanzor and his soldiers could not save them from a terrible defeat, and, overcome with shame and despair, he starved himself to death.

During this period a new Christian principality appeared in Spain, namely, that of Castile, which lay in the middle between the Christian kingom of Leon and Oviedo, and the Moorish kingdom of Cordova. This distri