was expelled from Rome (he having given his daughter in marriage to its chief, Mamilius), was, according to the Roman anuals, of Etruscan descent; and we must probably suppose some special connexion between Tusculum and Etruria, though no discoveries of Etruscan objects have ever been made here or hereabouts. At Praeneste the converse is the case; the discoveries made in its early cemetery show a strong connexion with Etruria, of which our literary sources know nothing. But those who affirm that these cities, and even Rome herself, are actually of Etruscan origin are going too far; and others even consider it an acceptable solution of this very vexed question to suppose that the Etruscans were not after all of different blood from the Latins, but merely a superior class which easily assimilated foreign culture.

We may descend from the ridge of Tusculum along a branch road, which still preserves its ancient pavement, to the Via Latina. Not far along it towards Rome is the medieval abbey of Grottaferrata, fortified by Giuliano della Rovere, nephew of Pope Sixtus IV, and built upon the remains of a huge villa, which some have tried to attribute to Cicero, while others propose other sites'quot homines, tot sententiae.' But, despite all the efforts of scholars, the great orator's Tusculan villa has not yet been found; and only a lucky chance can enable us to localise it, inasmuch as the indications of ancient writers, including Cicero himself, are insufficient. The tradition which places it at Grottaferrata cannot be traced earlier than the time of the visit of Pius II to the abbey in May 1463, when the learned Bessarion was abbot. The abbey itself was founded by St Nilus, four and a half centuries I earlier, and is still in the hands of the Basilian monks, who take good care of the valuable library, and have recently instituted a museum of antiquities found in the district. Many fine works of ancient art, however, were removed to Rome by the various commendatory abbots who reigned there, to adorn their family palaces; for here we are in the centre of the district which was most chiefly in favour as a residence in Roman days, being easily accessible by the Via Latina, which passes close by.

The deep valley which runs below Grottaferrata separates this from another group of villas, which centre round the ancient Castrimoenium, the site of which is

probably that of Marino, which still preserves parts of its medieval enceinte. We know nothing of its earlier history, but it seems to have gained prosperity under the Empire. From it we may easily reach the rim of the Alban crater, not far from Castel Gandolfo, and thus terminate our survey of this wonderfully interesting and beautiful group of hills. To give any true idea of their charm to those who do not know them is difficult; while those who know them well will always feel that there is some other favourite spot which has been omitted But Rome is indeed fortunate in her surroundings. From no other capital of Europe can such a wonderful variety of hill and plain be reached so easily; and these hills now within easy reach even of the poorer classes, are fast becoming known and appreciated by Italians and foreigners alike. In this they may-nay, they mustlose much of the charm of solitude, which is so potent an attraction, especially to the northern mind. But the economic regeneration of Italy is proceeding apace; in twenty or thirty years, at the present rate of progress, the Campagna will very likely be a populous and well culti vated district. We must now realise-it is a lesson that many have been far too slow to learn-that Italy is no dead country content to sentimentalise over the ruins of a mighty past, but a living organism, which presents possibilities of healthy development as great, perhaps as those of any nation in Europe. As a result of the changes which are taking place in Italy, we must, it is true, reconcile ourselves to the loss of much that has been dear to us in the past. But this is the toll that we must always pay to advancing civilisation; and the greater part of their charm the Alban Hills can never lose. We may fairly hope, too, that the Italians, who ar now becoming fully alive to the natural beauties of the marvellous country of theirs, will see to it that these st sacrificed in as slight a degree as is possible in the cours of the transformation which must inevitably take place. THOMAS ASHBY.

Art. 3.-THE FRENCH REVOLUTION IN CONTEMPORARY LITERATURE.

1. List of the Contents of the three Collections of Books, Pamphlets and Journals in the British Museum relating to the French Revolution. London: Trustees of the British Museum, 1899.

2. Rapport sur les documents relatifs à la Révolution Française à Paris conservés au British Museum. Par M. F. Braesch. Paris: Imprimerie Nationale, 1907. AT the close of each quinquennial period the Library of the British Museum produces a Subject Index of contemporary books which have been added to the Library during the five preceding years. These indexes are mainly designed for the use of those who use the Reading Room, but incidentally they fulfil a much larger purpose. The great library spreads its net far and wide, and captures so vast a multitude of current books that these indexes form a closer approximation than can be found elsewhere to a universal index of the recent literature of the civilised world. They serve as illustrations of the main course of events, the currents, cross-currents and backwaters of thought, the social life, the scientific progress, the wisdom and the folly of each year's literature. The latest of these indexes covers the period between January 1900 and December 1910. It supplies many curious instances of the trend of the most recent literature, the most striking of all being the proofs which it furnishes of the vivid and growing interest with which writers and readers, both in France and elsewhere, pursue the history of the French Revolution.

This is shown with singular clearness by a comparison between the number of books published during the last five years on the history of our own country and that of France. There are in this index (and the proportion is much the same in each of the earlier issues) 615 entries under the history of the United Kingdom, while there are no less than 1376 under the history of France. The difference is the more striking when it is remembered that the British Museum receives under the Copyright Act all the books (down to elementary school-books) on British history, while the French books are merely a

selection purchased on account of their value or utility. A further analysis shows that the greater part of the French historical literature deals with the Revolution. There have been not less-probably many more-than 659 books produced or republished during these last five years relating to the history of the years 1789 to 1815. That is to say that the history of France during this short period of twenty-six years is the subject of more literature than the history of Great Britain from Cæsar's invasion to the present day. It is not difficult to suggest reasons for this extraordinary disproportion. Readers of all nations may well be attracted by the story of these few crowded years of glorious and of sordid life, teeming with paradox and mystery, with lofty hopes and bitter disillusions, beginning with the wild enthusiasm of a great people panting for freedom, and closing with the most dramatic incident of history, the rise, the greatness, and the fall of the Heir of the Revolution. But, if this period has so deep an interest for the outside world, how much deeper is the absorption of the near descendants of those who acted their part in the tragedy of the Terror or the glory of the Empire! There can be no question that the Revolution has influenced the daily life, the religion, the thought, the legal position of every Frenchman now living, in a degree which has no parallel in the past history of any other nation. France, moreover, possesses in the École des Chartes an unrivalled school of history. Thus the importance of the Revolution gives the motive while the École des Chartes supplies the means, the result being a constantly increasing literature on the subject. Perhaps the most significant portion of this literature consists of the many periodicals and publications of societies devoted to the history of the period, such as the 'Publications relatives à la Révolution' published by the municipality of Paris, the series of monographs issued by the Société de l'histoire de la Révolution,' the Révolution française,' the Annales révolutionnaires' and others, all throwing new light on one detail after another of the Revolution in Paris and in the provinces, and all finding interested readers.

It follows naturally that the contemporary documents, manuscript or printed, of the Revolution are no mere dying echoes of a dead epoch. On the contrary each

decade rather adds to their interest and value; nor is it any small advantage to students in our own country that they have at their disposal perhaps the most complete collection now extant of pamphlets, books and newspapers issued during the whole period of the Revolution. This collection forms one of the treasures of the Library of the British Museum. It rivals in value the Thomason Tracts' relating to our own Civil War and Commonwealth,* while in extent it greatly exceeds it; the Thomason Collection containing in all 22,255 books and numbers of newspapers, bound in 2008 volumes, while the 'Croker Collection' consists of 48,579 books, pamphlets and sets of journals, bound in 3420 volumes.

The three collections technically known as the 'Croker Tracts' were formed by the Right Hon. John Wilson Croker at three different periods and were sold by him to the British Museum at or below their cost price in 1817, in 1831, and in 1856. In his evidence before the Royal Commission on the British Museum in 1849, Croker thus describes his collections.

'The first collection I bought in France between the first fall and the return of Bonaparte. I bought it for the express purpose of offering it to the Trustees of the Museum if they chose to pay for it, the amount, I think, was 2501. or thereabouts. I afterwards got the offer of another library, which I bought for myself-it was a very extensive one, about between 20,000 and 30,000 items-and which I had at my house in the Admiralty. When I left the Admiralty . . . I offered them to the British Museum at the expense they cost me, . . . about 250l. . . . You will perhaps smile at me when I tell you that I have now formed, and have catalogued, a third collection, which contains a considerable number of things not in either of the former collections.'

In a letter published in the 'Croker Papers' (III, 318-19) in reply to an enquiry made by Panizzi on behalf of Louis Blanc, who desires this information, and may wish to make it public, inasmuch as in France they doubt his statement that he has found such a collection in England,' Croker writes:

'The first part was formed by myself from various sources, of which the most copious was an old bouquiniste of the name

* See an article on the Thomason Tracts in the 'Quarterly Review' for April 1908 (No. 415).