Page images
PDF
EPUB
[graphic][merged small][subsumed][merged small][ocr errors]
[ocr errors][merged small][merged small][ocr errors][ocr errors][ocr errors]
[ocr errors][merged small][ocr errors]

THE

MASSACHUSETTS TEACHER,

AND

JOURNAL OF HOME AND SCHOOL EDUCATION.

JULY, 1857.

MR. PRESCOTT AND HIS HISTORIES.

BY REV. GEORGE E. ELLIS.

THE theme to which we now propose to devote a few pages is one peculiarly appropriate to an educational journal. No subject relating to the tasks, the processes, or the fruits of mental culture is unsuitable for discussion here. Elementary topics must, indeed, have the larger space allotted to them. Methods of discipline, rules for conveying instruction, controversies about different systems of teaching, and the merits of different text-books, must, indeed, form the staple contents of these pages. But once in a while we should be refreshed by a reference to those accomplished labors of the finished scholar, the man of genius, the popular author, who wins fame for himself and honor to his country, and affords the purest of all intellectual pleasures to unnumbered readers, by presenting us with the fruits of his own toil and acquirements in volumes which are themselves the culmination of all educational efforts. We cannot suppose that any who peruse these pages from month to month will find our present theme new to them. A teacher in our land who is not more or less familiar with Mr. Prescott's historical works, must have been so engrossed by his hard duties, as to have deferred an expected pleasure to that green oasis on life's onward journey, to

which we are all of us looking forward, as to a blessed opportunity for leisure and calm mental delights.

We propose to write briefly concerning the subject-matter, the method of composition, and some of the personalities of the author of a series of compositions which have already taken an honored place among the treasures of all libraries, and which have especial claims upon Americans as splendid contributions alike to the history of our continent and to our just pride.

Twenty years have elapsed since there appeared on the counters of our largest publishing firm in Boston, in three elegant octavo volumes, the "History of the Reign of Ferdinand and Isabella, the Catholic." These were followed, in 1843, by three more volumes bearing the title, "History of the Conquest of Mexico, with a preliminary view of the Ancient Mexican Civilization, and the Life of the Conqueror, Hernando Cortés." To these, in 1847, succeeded, in two volumes, "History of the Conquest of Peru, with a preliminary view of the Civilization of the Incas." In 1855 were published the first two volumes of "History of the Reign of Philip the Second, King of Spain," a work which will require certainly three, if not four and even more than four additional volumes, to complete the story with the fulness in which it has thus far been related. Besides these elaborate works, the author yielded to the earnest desire of his publishers, by collecting together, in another volume, many of his miscellaneous articles and essays which had appeared through various channels. In addition to all these labors his name is found as editor and reviser upon the title-page of a new edition of Robertson's History of Charles V., which work is enriched by Mr. Prescott, with most valuable additions to its most interesting portions.

Here certainly are tokens of patient and devoted toil. Had the volumes been merely compilations or digests from the labors of others, a modernizing of antiquated works, or translations from foreign tongues, they would have given proof of high scholarly acquisitions and of rich intellectual culture. But they are all original compositions, wrought out by dint of the most persevering effort, with the outlay of long years of preparatory discipline upon materials gathered by intelligent research and

« PreviousContinue »