His intention seemed always to be to write readable and saleable books. To do this he was well fitted by his predilection for historical composition, and his great experience as a teacher. His style was natural and simple and perspicuous. The arrangement of his subject was orderly, and there was in his grouping of facts a picturesqueness which was somewhat fascinating and always pleasing. He was not a philosopher, or an erudite historian, nor did he pretend to be either――hence we are not to look in his works for any profound thoughts, or for any facts which are not the common property of every one. He had no prejudices, no enthusiasms, no theories to maintain, no heroes to exalt and magnify. He wrote to please and to sell――to please that he might sell. Taking the official reports of battle and the state papers at Washington, he drew from them an intelligible statement of the main facts which he intended to narrate, and then, with good taste and consummate skill, made the dry details interesting and indeed captivating by weaving among them stories of American prowess, and such heroic deeds and patriotic daring as were easily found in the letters of war correspondents and hero-worshipers. He also availed himself of the multitude of memoirs and books of adventure which flooded the country immediately after the war, and thus made his book partake of that patriotic fervor which the splendid achievements of our troops in Mexico had kindled in the heart of every American. He has thrown into it the charm that lingers in the wonderful stories of Herodotus. Had he not done this, his book would have remained unsold on the shelves of his publishers, and would not have taken its place in every household by the side of Parson Weem’s veracious chronicles and “The Tales of a Grandfather.” It follows from what has been said that Frost’s work on the Mexican War is not a book for the students of either military or diplomatic history, nor for those who wish to learn the true history of the war, or the real truth as to the deeds which were then done, or, as to the men who did them, what manner of men they were, and what their motives, nor, lastly, as to the mighty results of the contest. Nevertheless, it is a good book and well worth a reading by those who want merely an intelligible and interesting account of the events which it narrates.