Louis XIV. In the Scandinavian kingdom the peoples made common. cause with the throne in permanently overthrowing in its favour the sway of the nobles; while in Russia, the distinctive features of whose earlier history are traced in this volume, the autocracy of Peter the Great, strengthened by his contact with Western civilisation, broke the resistance of boiars and Church, and stimulated the lethargy of his people. In three important European States only no absolute system of government was established in this age. In Poland, notwithstanding the chronic pressure of the Eastern peril, faction-consuming its energies from time to time in the process of choosing a king-could not have tolerated the establishment of a strong regal authority, even had a fitting personality been forthcoming to make the attempt. The Dutch Republic, though the oligarchy of its leading State had to surrender the control of affairs to a hereditary presidency, preserved the free constitution which it had won for itself with its independence. In Great Britain, religious convictions, menaced together with the traditions of parliamentary self-government, combined with them to preserve the foundations of political freedom and to defend the religious convictions of the great body of the nation. Thus, the patriotic Dutchman whom the last English Revolution seated on the throne of the Stewarts was, reluctantly enough, forced to accept the limits of the royal authority with which he had been invested.

While, in the matter of government and of all the influences derived from it, the example of France more or less enduringly impressed itself in this period upon most of the States of Europe, the history of their international relations was determined by several causes, among which the foreign policy of Louis XIV was but one of the chief. The endeavour of France, in circumstances singularly propitious to the execution of her design, to constitute herself the arbitress of European affairs at large, unlike the Habsburg aspirations for a universal monarchy, lacked the glamour of Imperial tradition, while it could not claim the open approval of Rome. The pretexts with which Louis XIV was supplied for his long series of encroachments within the boundaries of the Empire, for his attempt to annex the Spanish, and for his subsequent invasion of the United, Netherlands, are discussed in different parts of this volume, together with the history of French intervention in the affairs of other European States; and the pacifications and other agreements and alliances, which mark the successive stages of alternating advance

and retreat in the progress of the French schemes, necessarily call for exposition and comment. The height of the narrative seems to be reached in the negotiations which preceded, without being able to avert, the War of the Spanish Succession, or rather-inasmuch as these negotiations proved the unwillingness of Louis XIV to provoke the united resistance of Western and Central Europe against him—in his ultimate decision to accept the opportunity offered him by the last will of Charles II of Spain. The "balance of Europe" was now in actual danger of being unsettled-in other words, the preponderance of the power of France would have become irresistible had her King's final challenge been left without a response. The Grand Alliance brought about by William III proved victorious; and though later events, and more especially the death of the Emperor and the accession to the Imperial throne of the Austrian claimant of the Spanish inheritance, once more modified the situation, the principle of a reestablished "balance" underlay all the negotiations which resulted in the Peace of Utrecht. Thus, at the close of the period treated in this volume, the political ascendancy of France in Europe was a thing of the past; though her ascendancy continued in literature, and in much besides.

The second of the causes determining the course of European history in this age has to be traced in the long, and seemingly remote, history of the Ottoman Power in Europe from the middle of the seventeenth century to the Peace of Carlowitz. Its significance for the Empire, Hungary, Poland, and the Venetian dominions, continued till nearly the end of the period treated in this volume. The policy of Louis XIV drew no small advantage from the Eastern question, and viewed its temporary settlement as, in its turn, a menace to the balance of power in Europe; but for a large part of Europe it was to the close of the seventeenth century a question of life and death.

Finally, in this volume a large division of the canvas is filled by the great Swedish or "Northern" War. A new Thirty Years' War, absorbing all the conflicts of Europe, might have resulted, had the military genius of Charles XII been united to a political genius of the same order. But none of the high-spirited successors of Gustavus Adolphus, whose exploits are narrated in this volume, had inherited the comprehensiveness of his statesmanship. Thus the result of the Northern Warwhile incidentally proving the impotence of Poland and leaving the now important military Power, Prussia, to play a "waiting game"-was

to transfer the dominium maris Baltici to the young Russian Power, and thus to prepare a new chapter in the history of Europe.

It seemed to us that an adequate historical survey of the latter half of the seventeenth and the early years of the eighteenth century was impossible without due regard to the moral and intellectual interests which this period inherited from its predecessors or bequeathed to ensuing ages. From the Reformation to the times of the Thirty Years' War the discussion and settlement of religious dogma had absorbed a wholly disproportionate share of the intellectual activity of Western Europe, where the toleration of religious opinion was even as a conception almost unknown. Yet, as is shown in this volume, the spiritual forces of religion were revived as men ceased to be chiefly concerned in the fixing of its doctrines and the enforcement of their acceptance; and the principle of toleration, while it became a factor in the prosperity of States, gained and imparted strength from its association with new developments of religious life and thought. At the same time literature adapted itself to the courtly order of things, except where, as in the later works of Milton, the issues for which a mightier age contended still dominated the poet's mind, or, the universal sympathies of a great dramatist such as Molière claimed a European audience. And yet another influence was beginning in a more gradual and less widely perceptible fashion to permeate the life of Europe. To Science-as our usage limits the term-kings and peoples had almost forgotten to lend an attentive ear, when, in the period of which this volume treats, it once more asserted its position among the moving forces of the world's history, and entered upon a new stage in its progress of which the continuity has since then been unbroken. The chapter in this volume on French Literature under Louis XIV and its European Influence was to have been written by the illustrious French critic, M. Ferdinand Brunetière; but, on his lamented death, only a few notes referring to his projected contribution were found among his We papers. were fortunate enough to be enabled to secure the consent of M. Émile Faguet that he should take the place of his confrère-a place which no other critic of literature could have filled so suitably and so well. The bibliography to his chapter has been kindly supplied, at very short notice, by Mr A. R. Waller, of Peterhouse, Assistant Secretary of the University Press. The late Sir Michael Foster, whose cooperation in the Cambridge Modern History will be a source of gratification to all our readers, had

only a week or two before his death sent in to us the Ms. of the second section of the chapter on The Progress of European Science, of which the earlier section has been written by Mr W. W. Rouse Ball. But Sir Michael had no opportunity of revising what he had written, or of furnishing us with more than a rough draft of his bibliography. We have to thank Dr Clifford Allbutt, Regius Professor of Physic, and Mr A. C. Seward, Professor of Botany, in this University, for their great kindness in revising their lamented friend's text, and adding suggestions for his section of the bibliography, which has been completed by Mr A. T. Bartholomew, of Peterhouse and the University Library.

The Index of this volume has been compiled by Mr H. G. Aldis, of Peterhouse, Secretary of the University Library, and the Chronological Table by Miss A. M. Cooke, whose services to the Acton Collection in the Library will long be held in remembrance.

In accordance with the rule previously followed in this History, the dates of events mentioned in this volume are in New Style, except in the case of events in a country by which in this period New Style had not yet been adopted. Where, as in the instance of a battle by sea, doubts might arise as to which Style has been chosen, that actually used has been specially indicated. The dates of the years are throughout in New Style. A table of years in which New Style was severally adopted by the chief European countries will be found in Vol. III of this work.

A. W. W.

G. W. P.

September, 1907.

S. L.

p. 200, 1. 17 from bottom. For May 29 read May 2.

p. 212, last line. For 1676 read 1670.

p. 292, 1. 11. For James read John.

p. 311, 1. 13 from bottom. For King read Marsh.

p. 318, 1. 5 from bottom. For opposite side, before read opposite side of the Shannon, before.

p. 451, 1. 2. For those of her allies the Dukes read the duchies.

p. 465, 11. 9 and 7 from bottom. For Greg read Gregg.

p. 619, 1. 13.

p. 620, 1. 11.

For Oldenburg read Oldensworth.

For Frederick II read Frederick I.

p. 656, 11. 2 and 11. For Frederick William read Frederick.

p. 662, 1. 17 from bottom.

p. 733, 1. 15 from bottom.

p. 738, 1. 7 from bottom.

For Duke read Prince.

For (1621-66) read (1621-75).
For 1772 read 1728.

p. 828, 1. 21 from bottom.

Add: Hewison, J. K.

The Covenanters. A History of the Church of Scotland from the Reformation to the Revolution. 2 vols. Glasgow. 1908.

p. 849, 1. 2.

A second edition of A Legrelle's important work was published in 6 vols. at Braine-le-Comte in 1895-9.