New-York tribune., 1905-06-07

EARLIEST IlME9' II IL 'nsfineuished Scholars In
Twntysour Volumes. BY Charles A. ertsSerg
John fsks ThHDaGa SssPated Iv, R9yai G
syo. gp XII, 5 sS' s T. tPGilsdelpha isG Lea Bros
& COS ,,,
Modern methods Of circuiauhs - 49,. -.
,,ootrs have fertilized wide field WIN INC -
.s,lt that there is to-day a pubic loi Oh.
., what we may cali encyclopedia en'e- a.
sr-ha number of volumes IN WHICH O.
nrinted scarcely matters One puihs puD-o-..- .-,.
o,o+ter ,s nut forward, and, if it has Ine'i',
ai'ei ,-,,.- - or success The latest OF
rthe.e cornpendums to come under our io'ee
a.. ry,x+o,,, of All Nations" IN twenty-iouR No-
-. +ha 4lrst seven of which have thus i"
go from, the press. It must I'LL, wheh Gum
,,ye.x5 a good deal Of space, but the 'oi"
NOT too large TO be handled with eoIiAot -.
the contrary. they are OF a very 0O"' -
,e3ze-and there is no doubt about the iiiei''
the text they contain. ,,.-- am,
The first nineteen volumes OF TINS hiS''is
,,odv q translation, edited, slghuy
so-,o1,,nat augmented, of the "Aligemeiho
xveI+reschichte" which Is thus plaoeu -,
.te reach Of American readers on a thoiouf4ls
.o4,,eI basis The remaining volumes are '-
-L of scholars on this side OF the Ati"i'-~
.bo,ors en- numerous that we cannot nilo sp"0O
20 mention all their names The puplis -,
ecouttting themselves well OF thelr siu0 - -
Yask Paper and presswork are
-ba binding is not only in good TASTE Ou'
ices to prove durable. The illustrations iii'e
from, an artistic point of view, nave pee
nroved on but the black and whites La.e 80
least the virtue of giving clear account VI t--e
,sa4. +,a1, renresent and the tinted illusIra-
.,o,S ara all adrnirab BILE. Useful maps are alSo
.,r+roduced. The general impression left py 'lo
-,,bljcation in its external aspects is OF coi
yenient working library. one Of those nls'oricat
eompendiums which aim at giving the
the essentials of the subject in really hali'S
form.
ae for the character of the text, we ma IL ui'-
commonly satisfactory To begin "ltA'
scheme is divided into four parts The HFSt' 0o'--
sjsting of five volumes IS devoted 10 aitiq
starting with the dawn of civilization in Egyp'
and Western Asia, carrying the recoIo
through the early history of Central and East
arn Asia and continuing through ancient Greece
r.nutltcan Rome and the Roman Empire In 'ne
newt five volumes the history of the Ndluoe
Ages is traversed from the Asian mlgra'lo4i'
over Europe TO the period Of the henalsSaiI'e'
the last of the volumes embracing the discover
=. America and the invention of printing. Mod
80 t;s+or,, occupies the ten volumes that follow,
The last of them being written by PROFESSOR y
NJ Andrews of Bryn Mawr, and Pro1essoF w
+ Tjngelbach OF the University OF felilSSt
in such wise as 10 DIlliS IA'O
down 10 the present day. America fills the next
three volumes and the twenty-fourth contains
General index The arrangement is sifipie
- oorveriert and what is more, we IND on
oo,,e,,1+ine the volumes already issued that inc
aatoi1s ore for so elaborate and even cumorous
a work most delightfully."- adjusted TO the eui'oi
central idea. That would seem to be an ioea ol
giving the reader his facts in form al once
CONCISE and readable. The needs OF lhe lay man
are kept steadily in mind For example ne is
practicaIy spared the annoyance OF notes we
have encountered a few of those aids 10 IN
st-7,ction. which are ezasperating as often rs
they are edifying, but. in the main. there 3 no
occasion for the readers stepping outside OF the
text Furthermore, the scholarship on which
the text is based is never allowed TO obscure the
-,oint to break the even flow of history meant
10 interest and TO teach in d straightforward
fashion
A good illustration Of the common sense man
ner in which this work has been prepared is pro
vided in that part Of the hrst volume whicf
treats Of the invention OF writing fine op
r,ortunitv was here offered for a good deal o.
oylish discourse. But from the point on pag
los. at which the finding of the Rosetta Stone
noted. down to the first illusions to Egyptian
literature, which means matter of only I'VE o
six pages, the whole difficult subject of hiero
glvnhic writing is made sufficiently luminous 70
the student to get a very good notion of what i
means. Turning to a later volume, the seventh
which describes the early Middle Ages-we di
into the pages on the Byzantine empire and fin
this passage:
Justinian was despot, gloomy, severe. ca
Of all-had to subordinate itself end, III
maintenance of the glory and greatness Of II
empire. With these ends he made use of all III
powers and all the men with whom he wa
aggrandized the state and its authorit
maintaining at the same time his dignity
spite all difficulties. All power. temporal ar
spiritual. he held with firm grasp. he VIC
ly doubtful whether the remaining porton-Spa
and Gaul-would have resisted him had he NJ
been threatened al home by the PeTsianS, Slav
Bulgarians and Germans. and his land been q
ficted by pestience and earthquakes. Much III
he strove after he failed 10 attain; other objec
attained have turned 10 dust II is in his lay
books and his edifces that he lives to-day. Ju
Jnians reign is the golden age of the ByZantil
too much. On his death the empire possess
bounds II could not maintain. and had tasks befo
II too great for its powers; and yet the found
tons laid by him proved so lasting that they gu
For its soundness brevity and unpretentious
adequate style. this paragraph is precisely VIII
is wanted in compendium of the sort, and II
Characteristic. The authors of "A History of A
Nations do not tell their readers too little b
neither do they attempt to tell them too muc
AS source of readily accessible informant
trustworthy and interestingly set forth the boz
is to be cordially commended.