Francois Pierre Guillaume Guizot (1787-1874), who, like his rival
Thiers, devoted himself much to historical study. His earliest works
were literary and linguistic, but he soon turned to political history,
and for the last half-century of his long life his contributions to
historical literature were almost incessant and of the most various
character. The most important are the histories _Des Origines du
gouvernement representatif_, _De la revolution d'Angleterre_, _De la
civilisation en France_, and latterly a _Histoire de France_, which he
was writing at the time of his death. Among minor historians of the
earlier century may be mentioned Prosper Duvergier de Hauranne
(1798-1881) (_Gouvernement parlementaire en France_), J. J. Ampere
(1800-1864) (_Histoire romaine a Rome_), Auguste Arthur Beugnot
(1797-1865) (_Destruction du paganisme d'occident_), J. O. B. de Cleron,
comte d'Haussonville (_La Reunion de la Lorraine a la France_), Achille
Tendelle de Vaulabelle (1799-1870) (_Les Deux Restaurations_). In the
last quarter of the century, under the department of history, the most
remarkable names were still those of Taine and Renan, the former being
distinguished for thought and matter, the latter for style. Indeed it
may be here proper to remark that Renan, in the kind of elaborated
semi-poetic style which has most characterized the prose of the 19th
century in all countries of Europe, takes pre-eminence among French
writers even in the estimation of critics who are not enamoured of his
substance and tone. But, under the influence of Taine to some extent and
of a general European tendency still more, France during this period
attained or recovered a considerable place for what is called
"scientific" history--the history which while, in some cases, though not
in all, not neglecting the development of style attaches itself
particularly to "the document," on the one hand, and to philosophical
arrangement on the other. The chief representative of the school was
probably Albert Sorel (1842-1906), whose various handlings of the
Revolutionary period (including an excursion into partly literary
criticism in the shape of an admirable monograph on Madame de Stael)
have established themselves once for all. In a wider sweep Ernest
Lavisse (b. 1842), who has dealt mainly with the 18th century, may hold
a similar position. Of others, older and younger, the duc de Broglie
(1821-1901), who devoted himself also to the 18th century and especially
to its secret diplomacy; Gaston Boissier (b. 1823), a classical scholar
rather than an historian proper, and one of the latest masters of the
older French academic style; Thureau-Dangin (b. 1837), a student of mid
19th-century history; Henri Houssaye (b. 1848), one of the Napoleonic
period; Gabriel Hanotaux (b. 1853), an historian of Richelieu and other
subjects, and a practical politician, may be mentioned. A large
accession has also been made to the publication of older memoirs--that
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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