27 Treaty of Utrecht 506-507 28 Northeastern Europe in the Eighteenth Century 513 29 Provinces of France in the Eighteenth Century 539 30 Salt Tax in France 541 31 France in Departments 568-569 32 Partitions of Poland 584 33 Europe at the Height of Napoleon's Power 614-615 34 Europe in 1815 626-627 35 Races of Austro-Hungary 649 36 Europe of To-day 666-667 FULL-PAGE ILLUSTRATIONS I PAGE FROM AN ILLUMINATED MANUSCRIPT _Frontispiece_ II FAÇADE OF RHEIMS CATHEDRAL _Facing page_ 264 III INTERIOR OF EXETER CATHEDRAL _Facing page_ 266 IV BRONZE STATUES OF PHILIP THE GOOD AND CHARLES THE BOLD AT INNSBRUCK _Facing page_ 300 V BRONZE DOORS OF THE CATHEDRAL AT PISA } } 342-343 VI GHIBERTI'S DOORS AT FLORENCE } VII GIOTTO'S MADONNA } } 346-347 VIII HOLY FAMILY BY ANDREA DEL SARTO } INTRODUCTION TO THE HISTORY OF WESTERN EUROPE CHAPTER I THE HISTORICAL POINT OF VIEW [Sidenote: The scope of history.] 1. History, in the broadest sense of the word, is all that we know about everything that man has ever done, or thought, or hoped, or felt. It is the limitless science of past human affairs, a subject immeasurably vast and important but exceedingly vague. The historian may busy himself deciphering hieroglyphics on an Egyptian obelisk, describing a mediæval monastery, enumerating the Mongol emperors of Hindustan or the battles of Napoleon. He may explain how the Roman Empire was conquered by the German barbarians, or why the United States and Spain came to blows in 1898, or what Calvin thought of Luther, or what a French peasant had to eat in the eighteenth century. We can know something of each of these matters if we choose to examine the evidence which still exists; they all help to make up history. [Sidenote: Object of this volume.]