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IT is justly remarked in
the Preface to this volume that while Italian history is well
represented in the form of monographs on particular periods and
personages throughout its course, there are few works, at least in our
language, which give a complete conspectus of what is certainly one of
the most deeply interesting and important of all the histories of the
world. Perhaps it is the very magnitude of the task which has prevented
its accomplishment. Putting aside the history of classic Rome, Italy, in
one way or another, has been the main field of human action in Europe
from the earliest time down to our own : at first a dominant and
world-embracing Empire, the seat of a tremendous spiritual power, and
through every century nourishing and spreading abroad the fairest
flowers and fruits of human culture. The Age of Dante, the times of the
Medici, the Papacy, the Republics, the Reunited Kingdom, what splendid
subjects are each of these for separate and detailed treatment, and how
hard is the task to weave them into one continuous tale without finding
our tapestry become too crowded, and without having, perforce, to leave
aside details of the highest interest.
The authors of this
volume have succeeded to a very marked degree in supplying the kind of
book which is so much to be desired. If it suffers from anything, it is
from compression, especially in its earlier chapters. But the knowledge
is so abundant, the materials so thoroughly at command, and the style,
as a whole, so engaging, that the impression left is that of fine work
well and conscientiously done. It is not a mere narrative ; it takes
more the shape of a running commentary on Italian history from the time
of the great struggles between Pope and Emperor in the thirteenth
century, and before it, down to the present day, with a more detailed
exposition of Italian politics in the nineteenth century, the great age
of Cavour, and Garibaldi, and Victor Emmanuel. The great names of the
early Renascence receive due honour, and not only these, but the very
remarkable group of men who surrounded Frederick II. at Palermo, and
formed what might be designated an earlier Renascence. The plan of
giving separate sketches of the different communities and states, and
resuming the story at intervals, tends to keep one's mind free from
confusion in the great mass of detail : for it is undoubtedly difficult
to do so, especially in these periods and they do occur in Italian
history, when the daily life of the people and their rulers was alike
dull and unenlightened. But from its mere mass of great names, alone,
Italian history can never be other than interesting in the highest
degree. And nowhere has it been more ably or more engagingly set forth
than in this book in which its authors have combined a fine historical
judgment with abundant scholarship.
DAVID J MACKENZIE.
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