PROFESSOR OF HISTORY IN THE FACULTY OF LITERATURE AT PARIS, THIRD AMERICAN, FROM THE SECOND ENGLISH EDITION, WITH OCCASIONAL NOTES, BY C. S. HENRY, D. D., PROFESSOR OF PHILOSOPHY AND HISTORY IN THE UNIVERSITY OF THE 1 ENTERED, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1842, BY D. APPLETON & COMPANY, in the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the United States, for the Southern District of New York. YORK PREFACE TO THE THIRD AMERICAN EDITION. THE adoption of this work as a text-book by numerous institutions, and the demand for a third edition within so short a period, indicate the favorable estimation in which it is held in this country. In complying with the request of the publishers to superintend the present edition, the editor has seen fit to add a few notes, which, if of no value to the accomplished historical scholar, may perhaps be of some use to the younger student. He takes this occasion to offer a few observations on the study of history, and on the use which he conceives may be made of works like the present. The study of history is a necessary part of a thorough education. Aside from its more immediate practical advantages, a full and familiar knowledge of history is requisite to the most liberal cultivation of the mind. Accordingly, the study of history has always had a place in the course of instruction pursued in our higher institutions. Precisely here, however, lies a serious difficulty. History is not, like many of the other studies prescribed in such a course, a science whose leading principles can be systematically exhibited within a moderate compass, and of which a complete elementary knowledge can be imparted within a limited time. There is, properly speaking, no short road to a competent knowledge of history. For any valuable purpose |