D. APPLETON & CO.'S PUBLICATIONS.
"Whoever misses reading this book will miss reading what is, in various respects, to the best of our judgment and experience, the most remarkable book of the day—one, indeed, that no thoughtful, inquiring mind would miss reading for a good deal. Let the reader be as adverse as he may be to the writer's philosophy, let him be as devoted to the obstructive as Mr. Buckle is to the progress party, let him be as orthodox in church creed as the other is heterodox, as dogmatic as the author is skeptical—let him, in short, find his prejudices shocked at every turn of the argument, and all his prepossessions whistled down the wind—still, there is so much in this extraordinary volume to stimulate reflection and excite to inquiry, and provoke to earnest investigation, perhaps (to this or that reader) on a track hitherto untrodden, and across the virgin soil of untilled fields, fresh woods and pastures new, that we may fairly defy the most hostile spirit, the most mistrustful and least sympathetic, to read it through without being glad of having done so, or having began it, or even glanced at almost any one of its pages, to pass it away unread."—New Monthly Magazine (London).
"A work that deserves to be widely and familiarly known. Its title, however, is so little suggestive of its real character, and is be certain to repel and mislead American readers, that some prefatory words may be useful for the correction of erroneous impressions. It is well known that the term 'Constitution,' in its political sense, has very different significations in England and in this country. With us it means a written instrument. The English have no such written document. By the national Constitution they mean their actual social and political order—the whole body of laws, usages, and precedents, which have been inherited from former generations, and by which the practice of government is regulated. A work upon the English Constitution, therefore, brings us naturally to the direct consideration of the structure and practical working of English political institutions and social life. Mr. Bagehot is not so much a partisan or an advocate as a cool philosophical inquirer, with large knowledge, clear insight, independent opinions, and great freedom from the bias of what he terms ’that territorial sectarianism called patriotism.’ Taking up in succession the Cabinet, the Monarchy, the House of Lords, the House of Commons, he considers them in what may he called their dynamical inter-actions, and in relation to the habits, traditions, culture, and character of the English people. We doubt if there is any other volume so useful for our countrymen to peruse before visiting England."—From the American Preface.
"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."—London Times.
New York: D. APPLETON & CO., 1, 3, & 5 Bond Street.
