When we come to the historians, we find that Prescott wrote of the romantic achievements of Spain in the days of her glory; Motley, of the struggles of the Dutch Republic to keep religious and civil liberty from disappearing from this earth; Parkman, of the contest of the English against the French and Indians to decide whether the institutions and literature of North America should be French or English. This New England literature is most remarkable for its moral quality, its gospel of self-reliance, its high ideals, its call to the soul to build itself more stately mansions. REFERENCES FOR FURTHER STUDY HISTORICAL For contemporary English history consult the histories mentioned on p. 60. The chapter on Victorian literature in the author's _History of English Literature_ gives the trend of literary movements on the other side of the Atlantic during this period. Contemporary American history may be traced in the general works listed on p. 61, or in Woodrow Wilson's _Division and Reunion_. LITERARY GENERAL WORKS In addition to the works of Richardson, Wendell, and Trent (p. 61), the following may be consulted:-- Nichol's _American Literature_. Churton Collins's _The Poets and Poetry of America_. Vincent's _American Literary Masters_. Stedman's _Poets of America_. Onderdonk's _History of American Verse_. Lawton's _The New England Poets_. Erskine's _Leading American Novelists_. (Mrs. Stowe, Hawthorne.) Brownell's _American Prose Masters_. (Especially Emerson and Lowell.) Howells's _Literary Friends and Acquaintance_. (Longfellow, Lowell, Holmes.) SPECIAL WORKS Frothingham's _Transcendentalism in New England_. Dowden's _Studies in Literature_. (Transcendentalism.) Swift's _Brook Farm_. Fields's _The Life and Letters of Harriet Beecher Stowe_. Lodge's _Daniel Webster_. Woodberry's _Ralph Waldo Emerson_. Holmes's _Ralph Waldo Emerson_. Garnett's _Life of Ralph Waldo Emerson_. Sanborn's _Ralph Waldo Emerson_. Cabot's _A Memoir of Ralph Waldo Emerson_, 2 vols. E. W. Emerson's _Emerson in Concord_. Lowell's _Emerson the Lecturer_, in _Works_, Vol. I. Woodbury's _Talks with Ralph Waldo Emerson_. Sanborn's _Henry David Thoreau_. Salt's _Life of Henry David Thoreau_. Channing's _Thoreau, The Poet Naturalist_. Marble's _Thoreau_, _His Home_, _Friends_, and _Books_. James Russell Lowell's _Thoreau_, in _Works_, Vol. I. Burroughs's _Indoor Studies_, Chap. 1., _Henry D. Thoreau_. Woodberry's _Nathaniel Hawthorne_. Henry James's _Hawthorne_. Conway's _Life of Nathaniel Hawthorne_. Fields's _Nathaniel Hawthorne_. Julian Hawthorne's _Nathaniel Hawthorne and his Wife_. George Parsons Lathrop's _A Study of Hawthorne_. Bridge's _Personal Recollections of Nathaniel Hawthorne_. Rose Hawthorne Lathrop's _Memories of Hawthorne_. Julian Hawthorne's _Hawthorne and his Circle_. Gates's _Studies and Appreciations_. (Hawthorne.) Canby's _The Short Story in English_, Chap. XII. (Hawthorne.)