THE HISTORY OF FRANCE. BY EYRE EVANS CROWE. IN FIVE VOLUMES. VOL. I. LONDON LONGMAN, BROWN, GREEN, LONGMANS, AND ROBERTS. 1858 The right of translation is reserved. L PREFACE. It SOME five-and-twenty years ago, the Author of these present volumes wrote for Dr. Lardner's "Cabinet Cyclopædia" a Compendious History of France. The space there assigned for the work did not render the careful consultation of original sources requisite. has ever since been his aim, and more or less the object of his study and thought, to write a History of France from the ample original materials which the care of the French Government and learned bodies have collected, and which so many of their able historic philosophers have elucidated. The First Volume of a History of France, thus composed, is now presented to the public. Although no original narrative or document of these times has been left unconsulted by the Author, he has still refrained from multiplying references at the bottom of each page. The materials of French history, or at least of its earlier centuries, have been formed into collections, for the most part in chronological order. Each volume is amply furnished with indexes and tables of contents. And nothing can be more easy than for the student to refer to any epoch, test any opinion, or verify any assertion, should he entertain a doubt of the correctness or good faith of the modern historian. But The Author may perhaps be taxed with presumption for undertaking what has already been achieved by several eminent writers of that country whose progress, character, and fate are to be depicted. French history is in a great measure English history: both are bound up together, and opinions entertained respecting the one necessarily react upon the other. This renders it desirable to have a History of France written from an English point of view. We of course prefer our own institutions, our social and political organisation. Local freedom, representative government, individual rights are the Penates which we worship; whilst the French are ever ready to accept absolute monarchy provided it be glorious, or democracy provided it be energetic, and are apt to appreciate religions and institutions less for their being based on truth or conducive to general happiness, than for the efficiency with which they promote the unity and grandeur of the nation, with the regularity, power, and compactness of its government. The French and English mind are in fact placed at two different poles, and if attracting each other, do so from diversity. They proceed from different principles and arrive at opposite conclusions. Such variance need not be enmity; on the contrary, it may prove the source of mutual admiration and respect. No two individuals are born alike; and it were not to be expected or desired that |