His first publication was a volume of (Poems' (1823), all European in theme. This was followed by books for the use of his stu dents, translations of Heeren's 'Politics of An cient Greece> (1824) and Jacobs' (Latin Read er) (1825). His first article in the North American Review appeared in October 1823, and was a notice of Schiller's (Minor Poems' with numerous translations. Thenceforward he wrote in almost every volume, but always on classical or German themes, until in Jan uary 1831, he took up (The Bank of the United States,) and in October 1835 (The Documen tary History of the American Revolution.' The two latter indicate the direction his historical studies had taken. Then came the beginnings of his great (History of the United States,' the work which gave him his greatest farne. The first volume appeared in 1834, the second in 1837, the third in 1840, the fourth in 1852, the fifth in 1853 and so onward to the tenth in 18'74. The earlier volumes were received with enthusiasm in America, pirated in England, translated into Danish, Italian, German and French, both with and without the author's permission. The 15th edition of Vols. I-III was issued in 1853. The design of the work was as deliberate as Gibbon's, and almost as vast and, like Gibbon, Bancroft lived to see his work accomplished. The history of the United States from 1492 to 1789 is treated in three parts. The first deals with (Colonial History, 1492-1748.' The second part, (The American Revolution, 1748-82,> is divided into four s called respectively: (Overthrow of the 2=1)1pean Colonial System, 1748-63); 'How Great Britain Estranged America, 1763-74); (America Declares Itself Independent, 1774 75' ; and (The Independence of America Ac knowledged, 1776-82.) The last part, though published as a separate work, entitled (His tory of the Formation of the Con.stitution, 1782-89,> is really a continuation of the (His tory.> The work is still the most popular and widely read of the larger American histories. Bancroft's materials and facilities for writing it were better and more extensive than any other writer on our Anglo-American history has enjoyed. His private collection of manu scripts and documents, original and copies (now in the New York Public Library), was by far the finest of his day in private hands, and su perior to most institutional collections. His merits as a historian are positive and incon testable. For his subject he had a boundless and untiring enthusiasm, and he was permeated with that democratic spirit without which the history of the United States cannot be ade quately written. Though his early style is justly open to the charge of being pompous, in flated and over-ornamented, it is essentially picturesque, and the earlier defects yvere greatly remedied by his successive revisions of the work. His command of his resources was mas terly, and a far from favorable critic candidly admits that °one must follow him minutely through the history of the war for independ ence to appreciate in full the consummate grasp of a mind which can deploy military events in a narrative as a general deploys brigades in a field. Add to this the capacity for occa
sional maxims in the highest degree profound and lucid, and you certainly combine in one man some of the greatest qualities of the his torian.° It has been said that he made no ef fort to avail himself of the materials and re sults of other investigators, but nowhere does he claim finality for his work, and his later years were chiefly occit*ed in weaving into his narrative what he and no one else had. In 1876 he issued a Centenary edition in six vol tunes, upon which he had spent a solid year in revision. Aga-in (New York 1884-87) he published what he termed the °author's last re vision° in six volumes large octavo. In this he made considerable changes in arrangement and the subdivisions, all tending to a better order ing. of the narrative. There were frequent omissions and condensations, and many repeti tions and redundancies were cast out These final changes have, in the judgment of good scholars, better fitted the work for permanent favor. It will remain necessary to the student until another historian, with equal or better facilities, shall rewrite the story in a way to gain wider sympathy. Present tendencies and methods in historical study and writing give little evidence that such another will soon anse. His lesser works include (Poetns) .(182.3) ; 'Lit erary and Historical Miscellanies) (1855); (Memorial Address on the Life of Lincoln) (1866); (Joseph Reed: a Historical Essay) (1867) ; (A Plea for the Constitution of the United States Wounded in the House of Its Guardians) (1886); (Necessity, Reality and Promise of the Progress of the Human Race) (1854); (Oration, 4 July 1826, Northampton, Mass.); (Oration Before the Democracy of Springfield, Mass., 4 July 1836' • (Address at Hartford, Conn., 18 Feb. 1840' ; (history of the Fomiation of the Constitution of the United States' (1882)); (Oration Delivered at the Commemoration, in Washington, of the Death of Andrew Jackson, 27 June 1845.) To the (American Encyclopmdial he contributed the article on Jonathan Edwards. Consult Green, (George Bancroft) (1891) • Wallis, (Mr. Ban croft as a Historian) (1866); West, (George Bancroft' (1900); Higginson, T. W., George Bancroft in (Carlyle's Langh, and Other Sur prises) (Boston 1909); Howe, M. A. DeW., (The Life and Letters of George Bancroft) (New York 1908); 'Report of Committte Charged with Placing the Memorial to Mark the Birthplace of George Bancroft) (Proceed ings of the Worcester Society of AntiquitY. Vol. XVII, pp. 269-292 Worcester, Mass, 1901) • (Oliver Hazard Perry and the Battle of Lake 'Erie> (Rhode Island Education Depart ment, Newport 1912); Stippel, H. C., (A Bibli ography of Books and Pamphlets by George Bancroft' (On Howe's (Life and Letters' of Bancroft, mentioned above, New York 1908) ; Bassett, John Spencer, (The Middle Group of American Historians> (New York 1916).