INTRODUCTION. Although, as it has been observed in the Introductory Essay, it is only within a very short period that French Historians have fully deserved that name, there are many works of this class, which will be found deserving a particular attention. The old Chroniclers of France are held in peculiar estimation, both on account of the information they contain, and the style in which that information is conveyed. Among these, as well as the early compilers, both of Memoirs and of Histories in the French Language, the names of FROISSART, BRANTOME & PHILLIPE DE COMINES stand pre-eminent, while the historical compositions of DE THOU, of MEZERAY and of VELY, will repay the enquirer, if not by the charm of their style, at least by the facts they relate, and the full credit which may be given to their assertions. Among the more modern but not less famed writers of Memoirs, the names of RETZ and of SULLY will naturally present themselves to the mind of the reader, as those of two men who, in this particular branch of Literature, have become almost equally celebrated. BOSSUET has, by means of his genius, gained so great a reputation for his "Histoire Universelle" that it is by many considered as deserving praise rather as a literary composition than as a History, although an attentive perusal of that admirable work will be sufficient to convince the judicious reader that on both accounts it is equally deserving of admiration. ROLLIN, though a voluminous writer, is much esteemed in his own and in other countries, alike for his purity as a writer and as a moralist The historical works of VOLTAIRE, although little dependance is to be placed on him for the facts he mentions and the consequences he draws from them, partake, however, so largely of the charm attached to all his compositions, that as compositions, they are deserving the perusal of every man who lays the least claims to be considered as an accomplished French scholar.ANQUETIL, an historian of a later date, may, be consulted with advantage, as a correct,. though frequently cold narrator, while the ele - |