an ecclesiastical schism. A traditional jealousy between the north and south end, or the east and west side of a township, is the type of a great sectional controversy that has endured for generations. A dispute over a mill privilege or a town-line represents many a border war. A sharp discussion between the supervisors of two towns is a school in which to study diplomacy, and its skill to conceal intentions and to use ambiguous language. If we become familiar with the history of what is within our reach; if we learn to know what history means by reading it when written of the persons, events, and scenes which are in a certain sense personally known to ourselves, we shall be able to understand it when it treats of objects that are distant in place, remote in time, and grand in their proportions. We do not include in our list any titles of books or collections of this sort, for the most obvious reasons.

The study of the government and institutions of this country, and of the origins and transformations of its great political parties cannot be too earnestly recommended. The best works on these subjects are The Federalist, which has been edited with great care and published in two rival editions; The Madison Papers, and the lives of Washington by John Marshall and Washington Irving. A very able work, with Federalist sympathies, entitled Sullivan's Letters on Public Characters, is invaluable as is also Theodore Dwight's History of the Hartford Convention. For the illustration and defence of the Jeffersonian principles no better authority can be found than Jefferson's collected writings, and the laudatory memoir of his life by Randall. G. T. Curtis' History of the Origin, etc., of the U. S. Constitution, with the Commentaries on the constitution, by the eminent jurists Kent and Story, are classical works on this subject. Benton's Thirty Years' View, or History of the Government from 1810 to 1850, with Martin Van Buren's History of Political Parties, and

Buchanan's History of his Administration coupled with the Speeches of Clay, Calhoun, Webster, Seward, and Sumner, will enable the reader to understand our political history. Benton's Abridgement of Debates in Congress may be found and consulted in many public and some private libraries. Frank Moore's American Eloquence, a Collection of Speeches by the most eminent Orators of America, will always be useful.

For the American Revolution, Botta may be read in addition to what Bancroft and Hildreth furnish. B. J. Lossing's Pictorial Field-book of the Revolution as also of The War of 1812, gives the picturesque and striking incidents of both, and G. W. Greene, an admirable generalized statement of the leading facts and lessons of the first. Trumbull's Hudibrastic poem, McFingal, should by no means be omitted. For the history of the civil war, The Rebellion Record is a great storehouse of documents, and Greeley's American Conflict a condensed view of its memorable events. Lossing's Pictorial History has the same charm which belong to the other works of the same author. The lives of Lincoln, by Raymond, Holland, and others, and separate sketches of the campaigns of Sherman, Grant, etc., will occur to every one.

What has been said of the relation of the biography of Englishmen to the history of England applies to that of the biography of Americans to our history with equal pertinence.

As the reader makes progress in the knowledge of history he will naturally desire to read some works upon the study and philosophy of history itself; in order to learn something of the sources from which it is derived, of the evidence by which its assertions are supported, and the lessons which it inculcates. In some works of this kind particular directions are given in respect to the authors and parts of authors which should be read upon particular

countries and periods. Bolingbroke on The Use and Study of History was formerly much read and referred to. Priestly's Lectures on the Study of History is a useful book. Dr. Thomas Arnold's Lectures on Modern History, and Goldwin Smith's Lectures on the Study of History are good books for the general reader. G. C. Lewis' Credibility of early Roman History, and W. C. Taylor On the Natural History of Society are standard works. Prof. Henry Reed is the author of some very elevating and suggestive lectures on English history. Prof. William Smyth's Lectures on Modern History, edited by Sparks, is at once an extended directory for study and a manual of the best books and parts of books which should be read. Frederick Schlegel's Modern History, and A. W. Schlegel's Philosophy of History, are well worth attention as good specimens of German generalization and philosophizing. The philosophy of Buckle's History of Civilization in England we have already characterized. W. Draper's The Intellectual Development of Europe, is written after the manner of Buckle. Some of the ablest contributions upon this subject are in the form of essays or reviews upon history in general or upon some historical writer. We name as examples Macaulay's wellknown article on History in the Edinburgh Review, and an article on Hume as an Historian in No. 73 of the London Quarterly. The indexes of modern periodical literature abound in the titles of such papers.

It is safe to say that much which is written on the Philosophy of History is the product of conjecture, pretension, or an atheistic theory of the universe, and much more is mere philosophical romancing.

The list of books which we have furnished may seem to many very meagre, and to others much too extensive. The titles of many works have doubtless been omitted. which should have been included in a list constructed for the ends and according to the theory which we have pro

posed. We have endeavored to indicate the books which should be preferred by the place which they occupy in the several heads of the catalogue, or by the comments which we have made upon them; but in selections of this sort much liberty should be allowed to individual taste and judgment. Advice ought not to be urged beyond certain general suggestions and information. We can only say that the list has been prepared with some care and painstaking, and is doubtless capable of being enlarged and improved.

CHAPTER XIV.

BIOGRAPHY AND BIOGRAPHICAL READING.

BIOGRAPHY is closely allied to History. We have observed, that it is only by reading the lives of distinguished personages, that we can most satisfactorily acquaint ourselves with much that is valuable in History. It has been forcibly said that "History is the essence of innumerable biographies."

There is an important distinction, however, between biography as the interpreter and representative of other times, and biography as the record of an individual life and the exponent of individual character. It is with biography in the last sense that we have now to do. The written lives of individual men are as various as the men who are described, and the writers who describe them, Their interest and worth depend upon two circumstancesthe significance of the events and characters recorded, and the skill and fidelity of their narrators. It is also true and worthy of notice, that the interest with which any biography is read-its value and usefulness indeed-may depend nearly as much upon the tastes and culture of the reader as upon either the worth and interest of the character which is recorded, or the genius of the biographer. This, in a sense, is true of all books, but it is especially true of books of lives.

To many readers biography is especially uninteresting and unattractive. Not a few persons have been heard to say, "I hate biography-to me it is the stupidest of all reading." It would seem at first to be a general fact that