Europe Books

Boundaries and Devolution of the Empire of Germany during the Carlovingian Dynasty. 800-911. The Ocean on the north, the Danube on the south, the Rhine on the west, and the Sarmatian Provinces on the east, are the boundaries assigned by Tacitus to Antient Germany. It formed the most extensive portion of the territories of Charlemagne; descended, at his decease, to his son, Lewis the Debonnaire; and, on... more...

CHAPTER I THE CAUSES OF THE FRANCO-GERMAN WAR"After the fatal year 1866, the Empire was in a state of decadence."--L. GREGOIRE,Histoire de France. The irony of history is nowhere more manifest than in the curious destiny which called a Napoleon III. to the place once occupied by Napoleon I., and at the very time when the national movements, unwittingly called to vigorous life by the great... more...

I went this summer to Forges, to try, by means of the waters there, to get rid of a tertian fever that quinquina only suspended. While there I heard of a new enterprise on the part of the Princes of the blood, who, in the discredit in which the King held them, profited without measure by his desire for the grandeur of the illegitimate children, to acquire new advantages which were suffered because the... more...

THE FIRST CHAPTER. MULMUCIUS. Matth. West. Polyd. Now to proceede with the aforesaid authors, Mulmucius DunwallГ…ВЌ, or as other saie Dunuallo Mulmucius, the sonne of Cloton (as testifieth th'english chronicle and also Geffrey of Monmouth) got the vpper hand of the other dukes or rulers: and after his fathers deceasse began his reigne ouer the whole monarchie of Britaine, in the... more...

CHAPTER I. "MORE, ALAS! THAN THE QUEEN'S LIFE!" "The Queen is pretty well," Swift wrote to Lord Peterborough on May 18, 1714, "at present, but the least disorder she has puts all in alarm." Swift goes on to tell his correspondent that "when it is over we act as if she were immortal; neither is it possible to persuade people to make any preparations against an evil... more...

THE HISTORIC THAMES England has been built up upon the framework of her rivers, and, in that pattern, the principal line has been the line of the Thames. Partly because it was the main highway of Southern England, partly because it looked eastward towards the Continent from which the national life has been drawn, partly because it was better served by the tide than any other channel, but mainly because... more...

AT LOUGH MASK. Westport, Co. Mayo, Oct. 24. The result of several days' incessant travelling in county Mayo is a very considerable modification of the opinion formed at the first glance at this, the most disaffected part of Ireland. On reaching Claremorris, in the heart of the most disturbed district, I certainly felt, and not for the first time, that as one approaches a spot in which law and... more...

As no inconsiderable portion of the Correspondence contained in these volumes relates to the structure and conduct of Cabinets, throwing light upon public affairs from those secret recesses to which historians rarely have access, it may be useful, by way of introduction, to glance at certain circumstances which, during the period embraced in the work, exercised a special influence over the Government... more...

March 1, 1653. Whitelocke continues the negotiation. Now was the heat of Whitelocke’s business, and many cross endeavours used to render all his labours fruitless, and to bring his treaty to no effect. But it pleased God, in whom his confidence was placed, to carry him through all his difficulties, and to give his blessing and success to this negotiation. Whitelocke gave a visit to the Count de... more...

Although, as we have just seen, matters were beginning to brighten a little in Spain, they remained as dull and overcast as ever in France. The impossibility of obtaining peace, and the exhaustion of the realm, threw, the King into the most cruel anguish, and Desmarets into the saddest embarrassment. The paper of all kinds with which trade was inundated, and which had all more or less lost credit, made... more...