New-York tribune., 1874-11-06
HISTORY AND SCIENCE.

might Just as well Delp prove tne loiueI "lons "Ioo
G. w. s.
HISTORY AND SCIENCE.
JOURNAL OF THE REIGNs OF GEORGE w. AND
WILLIAM Iy.-AN ABUNDANCE or HISTORICAL
NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS. FROM FRENCH-DooKs
OF SCIENTIFIC INoUIRY-MR. HALLIwELL's IL
Illustrations OF THE LIFE OF SHAKESPEARE.
FRoM TIE REGULAR CORRESPONDENT OF THE TRIBUNEI
LONDON, Oct. 21.-Messrs. Longmans and Co.'s
quarterly list of books preparing for publication
leads Off with the late Charles c. F. Greville's
journal of the Regns of King George ~. and King
William IV."-which has already been published,
and is full of interest to the student of English pol
itics. review of it viii be found in The Edinburgh
for October; an illustration of habit to be OBJ
served both in The Edinburgh and The Quarterly OF
publishing reviews of books not out. but which are
to be issued by the publishers of those reviews re-
spectively This Journal " has the further advan-
tage-for reviewing purposes-of having been edited
by Mr. Henry Reeve, the editor of The Edinburgh
Mr.. Reeve occupies q respectable position in the
literary world, and is of courage. He is about
to give to the world new edition. IN two vols,
post 8vo-which Messrs Longmans will pub
lsh-of his translation of De TOcqueville's
Democracy in America" which l have
heard confidently pronounced to be the worst
translation from French into English known. The
criticism is too but for criticism shade less
sweeping the book offers only too much occasion.
Mr. Reeve, though he prides himself on his famil-
iarty with French literature and history, has far
too heavy touch for the work of rendering French
into English De Tocqueville's book IS still-spite
of the Rebellion which somebody lately said had up
set its conclusions-invauable TO the American and
the non-Amercan alike. But it has not yet found
a competent translator, and there is no good En-
&c - l,ho oil Drof
of Reeve is sometimes better than Reeve, but his
:.., 80 ---~slatnr's dntv RI his o"|L-- -. $50
luehS "a o ,ft..---- -.- .."onOr are loose,
and his notions of style are such as Harvard has
since his day, it may be hoped outgrown.
Historical works abound on this list. and there is
another relating to the Western Continent: The
Native Races Of tine Pacific States of Moth
America" by Hubert II. Bancroft 8 vols, $40, with
maps and illustrations This Is sethnograpca', phlio-
logical and archaeological, as well as historical ana
will be out in November. And from that you may
pass at one step to the East to meet Prof Ra|lne0n
with his Seventh Great Oriental Monarchy, or
History of the Sassanans with Notices Geographi-
cal and Antiquarian" vol. svo with illustrations
A book sure to be learned and equally sure to be
wanting in the power of reproducing IN pic
tUresGue and impressive way the ancient civiliza-
ton of which it treats The imaginative quality is
lacking to Prof. RawlinsOn, whose work as his
toran, high as it is would have been far higher
with it. SO of DR.. Merle DAubigne, whose " His
tory of the Reformation in Europe in the time OF
Calvin" in svo will be completed by the appearance
of the sixth and seventh volumes, at time not
stated The promise of the third and fourth volumes
of DR.. Wilhelm lines History of Rome" is
oouallv vaeue. There are other historical works on
Messrs Longmans' list, some account OF which VIII
be found in my letter of July "a published Aug, TO-
It would be rash to put Mr.. Blanchard Jcrold's
second volume of The Life of Napoleon ILL.,. under
the head of history. You know what the first vol
ume was and il is not too much to say that the
whole book is to be devoted-th0ugh ever so hon
estly on Mr. Jerrolds part-tO the construction OF
new Napoeonic Legend. destined i'll the hope of Mr.
errold and the partiSans of the young Chlsclhurst
Pretender-to take its place in French faith by the
side of the first. Intended also to rekindle sup
pose in English breasts something OF the selfish
feryor with which the alliance between England
and the Second Empire for manv years was re-
garded in this island Bat of the first volume En-
glish reviewers for the most part told good deal of
wholesome truth, and if Mr. Blanchard Jerrold has
hopes Of accomplishing his Napoleonic conversion
he must trust to that future when the just criticisms
OF his book shall have been forgotten, and the facts
of his hero's career forgotten.
America do not know. lie could not be said TO
have many here but the energy and devotion of the
small band whom his name untes are surprising
To them and to MeSsTs. LOngmans shall pres
emily owe a translation of the System of Positive
Polty' or Treatise upon Sociology, by the renowned
author of the Positive Philosophy. This will ap-
near in four vols. $40, to be published separately,
each of them in some degree an independent treatise
the whole translated from the Paris edition Of 1851
1854 The first volume, on the general view Of Posi-
tive Poity and its Philosophical Basis will be done
by Mr.. j. II. Bridges; the second on the Social
States or the Abstract Laws of Human Order, By
the moro famous Mr.. Frederic Harrison; the third,
on the Social Dynamics, or the General Laws Of
Human Progress (the Philosophy of History, by
Mr.. l.. S. Beesy the learned and rather vehement
Professor Of History in the University College: the
fourth on the Synthesis of the Future of Mankind by
Mr Richard Congreve, one of the high priests of the
order of Comte in England. The issue of this work
indicates that great part Of Comte's English fol-
lowers belong TO a vigorous-minded bat incom-
pletcly educated class. Had Comte been merely a
philosophical thinker, aud not also great social re-
former, those who read him at all would have been
likely to read him in the original. Neither in En-
olish nor in French he ever be made popular
author, but through the few able men who have
taken him for their master his influence filters by
degrees through the lower social strata. Through
Mr.. Frederic Harrison, for instance, who has Ill
Messrs. LoDgmans press an 8vO. volume of Political
Problems" reprinted chiefly from The FortnigaHs
Rerie,c revised. and with new essays Mr. Frederic
Harrison is rich young barrister of Linc0ln's lnn
who has given much attention to the questions which
concern most closely the English working classes and
has won large share of their confidence. He is a
writer with singular power of statement; with a
STYLE indeed SO fresh and energetic that he widely