The New York herald., 1874-10-10
LITERATURE.


croft published the first volume Of the important
work which he has now completed He was then
thirty-four years Of age, the head OF the Round
Hin School. whose site 0verlooks the picturesque
valley In which nestes the lovely village OF North
ampton; young man OF rare culture, various
accomplishments ana high hopes, who, after an
early graduation at Harvard had pursued his
studies in the most famous OF the German univer-
stiles, and, oy q happy union OF patriotic ardor
with literary ambition, was impeiled to write the
history or his country He has devoted to this
great task the chief activity OF long, laborious
life, and his fellow citizens will oner their congrat
ulatons that he has been spared to bring 1t 10
definite conclusion.
Notwithstanding the general popularity OF Mr..
BancroIt's history and the high rank accorded
him In the republic Of letters, he Is vulnerable to
CRITICISM and OF late years some OF his critics have
given him rather rough handling. Alter the pub
lcation OF the last preceding volume especially, he
was assafled with great vigor and some acrimony
by several distinguished writer's, who impeached
his accuracy ana fidelity. But previously to the
appearance OF his ninth volume the assaults OF his
critics were principally directed against the liter
ary execution OF his work, and his most partial
admirers cannot deny his tendency to literary
tinsel and stited grandiloquence. These besetting
weaknesses Of Mr.. Bancrolt's style do not so much
0pPSoA
work as In the frequent episodes and rhetorical
nourishes, winch might be pruned away without i'm
pairing It's value as history. HIS narrative style
combines In singular degree the merits OF clear
ness animation and dramatic enect, although IL is
deficient In ease and simplicity BY dropping the
pages and passages which he considers particu-
larly fine the chief faults Of taste which dsngure
his volumes could be made to disappear. Nothing
Is easter than for hostile critics to make his his
tory seem ridiculous BY culing out and presenting
together It's bombastic nights But to continu-
GUS reader, who seeks only information In Mr..
Bancroft's pages, these excrescences seem to re-
ieve his narrative. or, at least, may be easily
skipped by readers whose taste they onend. We
have sincere respect for some OF his critics; but
their efforts remind OF Swift's satir cal repre-
sentation that the primitive critics "wece a race
OF men who delighted to nibDle ut the super
nuiiies and excrescences OF books which the
learned at length observing took warn
Ing OF their own accord to iop the
luxurtant, the rotten, the dead, the
sapless and the overgrown branches from their
WORKS" Swift carries out his witty malice against
the critics by observing that the ancients 1earned
the art OF pruning their vines by noticing that
when an ass had browsed upon one OF them it
tnrove the better and bore falrer ruitn Unlor-
tunately Mr. Bancroft has never fully learned this
useful iesson but his last volume has fewer OF his
characteristic superine passages than any OF its
predecessors. 1t is to be regretted that his own
pruning hook has not left less for the critics TO
browse upon. Mr.. Bancroft's accuracy has been
impugned only by the posscssors or family papers ;
but such documents are not always trustworthy.
TO mention one example out OF multitude, there
are remarkable discrepancies between the private
papers OF Hamilton and Madison respecting the
authorship OF particular papers in the Federaltst;
but II would be aOsurd for the OF either
to incupate historian because his nara i've could
not be reconced with records which are incon-
sistent with each other.
After due allowance fs made for Mr.. Bancrofts
literary f0tbles there must remain to him the In
contestable merit OF having given Infinitely more
time and research to the sources OF American
history than any other man who has yet lived. He
Is the only writer who has industriously explored
every accessible field Of ofinformatlon. With slight
exception in favor Of Sparks, all the writer's OF our
annals have drawn their Information almost solely
from American journals Irving, in his .sLife OF
Washington" has covered great part OF Mr..
Bancroft's ground, but his materials consisted OF
little else than Washtngton's writings and the
American archives, as he states IN his preface.
Hildreth's useful work rests entirely upon Amer
lean documents and authorities. Mr.. Bancrolt's
fruitful inquiries have taken far wider range
He has delved in search OF materials in all the
archives Of Europe and has had access to the cor
respondence and private papers OF the statesmen
who took an interest in American affairs or
acted part in relation to them during the period
Of our Revolution. The State paper ofrlces OF all
the governments OF Europe have been freely
thrown open either to him directly or TO diplo-
matte friends who have assisted him in his re-
searches. In the richness Of his materials Mr..
Bancroft Is unrivalled, and cheap sneers at the
occasional grandilOquence OF his style cannot
depOse him from the position OF supremacy which
he holds in public estimation the most fully in
formed man OF our time In all matters connected
with the rise OF our Republic. Mr.. Bancroft does
not in the least resemble pretenders who write
descriptions OF countries in which they have
never travelled. The diligent, exhaustive re-
rearch in which Mr. Bancroft has neither equal
nor second in the department Of American history
is the highest claim to attention which writer Of
our annals can offer. And, besides, he Is a
picturesque, interesting narrator, and he has
tried, not without success to trace the
causes Of great events and place them
in philosophical sequence. Some OF his
worst faults OF taste are indeed committed in con-
nection with this part Of hts work, II, In vain
struggle to grasp conceptions which were little
beyond him, he sought to Lift himself by balloon
into that region OF wide survey to which the eagle
rises by strength Of wing But even when he
mounts in his most swelling balloon Mr.. Bancroft
seldom iails to take In something Of the broad
landscape spread out below. M s.
The present volume which ends with the treaty
OF peace by which American independence was
secured, begins with the state OF our affairs I'M
mediately after the alliance with France in l77s
In the last paragraph of his preceding volume Mr.
Bancroft saids-''So the fags Of France and the
United States went together into the neld
against Great Britain" From that period
the American struggle became q leading
topic OF European politics, and through
out bhe present. volume important light is
thrown upon the Ar By Mr.. Bancroft's extensive
European researches. From that time forward
the public heart OF every leading country palpt-
tated in sympathy or opposition. England soon
iound herself at war not only with Ameraca and
France. but With Spain, With H0lland, and With