however, long to struggle against a violent prejudice in the country, and as late as 1765 only 6,000 persons had been inoculated in Scotland.

This prejudice was less unreasonable than has been supposed. Though some patients died from inoculation, its efficacy in securing those who underwent the operation from one of the most deadly of diseases was unquestionable. It was, however, only very partially practised, and as its object was to produce in the patient the disease in a mitigated form, it had the effect of greatly multiplying centres of infection, and thus propagating the very evil it was intended to arrest. To those who were wise enough to avail themselves of it, it was a great blessing; but to the poor and the ignorant, who repudiated it, it was a scourge, and for some years after it was widely introduced, the deaths from small-pox were found rapidly to increase. If inoculation can be regarded as a national benefit it was chiefly because it led the way to the great discovery of Jenner.'

It was in this respect somewhat characteristic of the period in which it arose. One of the most remarkable features of the first sixty years of the eighteenth century is the great number of new powers or influences that were then called into action of which the full significance was only perceived long afterwards. It was in this period that Russia began to intervene actively in Western politics, and Prussia to emerge from the crowd of obscure German States into a position of commanding eminence. It was in this period that the first steps were taken in many works which were destined in succeeding generations to exercise the widest and most abiding influence on human affairs. It was then that the English Deists promulgated doctrines which led the way to the great movement of European

Lady M. W. Montagu's Works (Lord Wharncliffe's ed.), i. pp. xxii. 55-60, 391-393. Baron's Life of Jenner, vol. i. 230-233. Gentleman's Magazine, xxvii. 409. Haygarth on Casual Small-pox (1793), vol. i. p. 31. Nichols' Literary Anecdotes of the

Eighteenth Century, iv. 625. Nichols' Literary Illustrations, i. 277–280. Voltaire's Lettres sur les Anglois, let. xi. Heberden's Observations on the Increase and Decrease of Disease, p. 36.

scepticism, that Diderot founded the French Encyclopedia, that Voltaire began his crusade against the dominant religion of Christendom; that a few obscure Quakers began the long struggle for the abolition of slavery; that Wesley sowed the first seeds of religious revival in England. Without any great or salient revolutions the aspect of Europe was slowly changing, and before the middle of the century had arrived both the balance of power and the lines of division and antagonism were profoundly modified. Industrial interests and the commercial spirit had acquired a new preponderance in politics, and theological influence had at least proportionately declined. The fear of Mohammedan aggression, which was one great source of theological passions in Christendom, had now passed away. The power of the Turks was broken by the war which ended in the Peace of Carlowitz, and eighteen years later by the victories of Eugene, and although they waged a successful war with Austria in 1739, their triumph was much more due to the disorganisation of their opponents than to their own strength. Among Christian sects the frontier lines were now clearly traced. In Germany, as we have seen, the political position of Protestantism at the time of the Revolution appeared very precarious, and a new danger arose when the Sovereign of Saxony bartered his faith for the crown of Poland. But this danger had wholly passed. The elevation of Hanover into an Electorate and of Prussia into a kingdom, the additional strength acquired by Hanover through its connection with England, and the rapid development of the greatness of Prussia, would have secured German Protestantism from danger even if the zeal of the Catholic States had not greatly abated. The only religious war of the period broke out in Switzerland in 1712, and it ended in the complete triumph of the Protestant cantons, and the spirit of fanaticism and of persecution had everywhere declined. Two Protestant States, however, which had played a great and noble part in the history of the seventeenth century had sunk gradually into comparative insignificance. Sweden never recovered the effects of its disastrous war with Russia. Holland,

through causes that were partly political and partly economical, had ceased to exercise any great influence beyond its borders. France exhibited some decline of energy and ambition, and a marked decline of administrative and military ability; and some of the elements of decomposition might be already detected which led to the convulsions of the Revolution. In England the Protestant succession and Parliamentary institutions were firmly established, and the position of the country in Europe. was on the whole sustained.

"We closed these volumes with the conviction that Mr. Lecky is one of the most accomplished writers and one of the most ingenious thinkers of the time, and that his book deserves the highest commendation we can bestow upon it. We hope to see it take its place among the best literary productions of the age."

Athenæum.

"Mr. Lecky is the historian of the rise and progress of that resistance to the Christianity of clerical interpretation which has gone by the names of private judgment, rationalism, latitudinarianism, blasphemy, infidelity, or atheism, according to the speaker and his bias. Mr. Lecky is learned, sensible, and readable, and we wish his book a wide circulation. It comes at a time when it is wanted."

Pall Mall Gazette.

"Mr. Lecky has written an admirable book, now and then a little youthful in its eloquence, but, on the whole, full of learning and acute criticism on the modernization of the Christian theology. The history of the decline of credulity and of the growth of the demand for evidence in modern society, is exceedingly well given by Mr. Lecky."

Spectator.

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Daily News.

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FROM AUGUSTUS TO CHARLEMAGNE.

By WILLIAM E. H. LECKY, M. A.

2 vols., 12mo.

Cloth, $3.00; half calf, extra, $7.00.

"Mr. Lecky has treated the written a book of great interest.

Macmillan's Magazine.

subject of European morals with great ability, and has He has brought to it wide and intelligent reading, much acuteness, and considerable powers of sympathy, and a characteristic boldness and sweep of generalization which often take the reader's mind by storm. The remarkable qualities which were conspicuous in Mr. Lecky's former book are present in this one."

The London Times.

"So vast is the field Mr. Lecky introduces us to, so varied and extensive the information he has collected in it, fetching it from far beyond the limits of his professed subject, that it is impossible in any moderate space to do more than indicate the line he follows. . . . The work is a valuable contribution to our higher English literature, as well as an admirable guide for those who may care to go in person to the distant fountains from which Mr. Lecky has drawn for them so freely."

...

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Albany Evening Times.

"It is a mine of information in a restricted but important province, and will long be quoted for its thoroughness in opening a study which, though touched by other writers, never before had such exhaustive consideration."

Detroit Free Press.

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Indianapolis Journal.

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