354 Revieivs of Books i860 with this last, one finds changes not only in form but also in sub- stance, indicating that the work has been remoulded, and not merely re- vised. There has been a gain too in style, due chiefly to the greater compression which Mr. Hazlitt has learned to practise. He is still too diff"use in places, still overfond of giving free rein to a natural propen- sity for digressing; but even this fulness has its advantage, when it leads him, for instance, to print entire the last speeches of Doge Tommaso Mocenigo (I. 800-806). But in a notice as brief as the present, it is impossible to criticize details without creating a false impression as to the worth of the work as a whole. Of this, there should be no doubt. Mr. Hazlitt has written not only the best history of Venice in English, but he has excelled any histories in Italian, French, or German that compete with him. On spe- cial periods, or topics, several other historians have written authorita- tively, but it is somewhat singular that the whole field should have been so long neglected. Daru, the "regulation " historian of Venice before Hazlitt, wrote too early to have access to indispensable material. Mr. Horatio F. Brown, the only other recent English writer, contented him- self with a sketch, admirable in many respects, but still only a sketch. Whoever reads Hazlitt may rest assured, therefore, that he has before him the best history of Venice, whatever may be its limitations, now in exis- tence. As a supplement to the history itself, Mr. Hazlitt has added twenty- five chapters, equal to more than a fourth of the whole work, on the manners, customs, topography, government, police, church, commerce, laws, coinage, dwellings, education, drama, literature, and charitable in- stitutions of Venice. Such an encyclopaedia of information cannot be found elsewhere in a single book ; had it been printed separately, it would have sufficed to establish a permanent reputation for its author. He has overlooked no detail, however minute, and as he arranges his material chronologically, one follows the development of a custom, or of an insti- tution, from its origin to its ending, in the most instructive way. Need- less to say, the view we thus get of the Venetians in their daily life en- ables us the better to understand their history ; and, finally, it is unflag- gingly entertaining. Nobody can close this history without acknowledging that Mr. Hazlitt has succeeded in his purpose of telling the truth about Venice and the Venetians. By so doing, he dispels the old notion that they were a people delighting in dark crimes. He shows how, on the contrary, they led Europe for many centuries in the essentials for civi- lization, not less than in trade and wealth. Out of their character there grew up one of the most interesting forms of government the world has seen — an oligarchy, which not only inspired the most fervent devotion of the masses whom it was supposed to oppress, but which also, unlike all other oligarchies, was long-lived. Mr. Hazlitt's monumental work ought to draw attention anew to the constitution of that state which, though sea-born, and cradled in the shifting mud of the lagoons, proved more durable than any other in history. Before the Roman Empire fell,
