The essay which I am about to read should be taken as a continuation of a speech delivered by me before the Royal Geographical Society in February 1882, regarding the ‘birth-place and cradle of Mahratta power.’ The subject of the speech was in a great degree geographical, and the intention was to show how history is affected by geography. The subject of this essay is an analysis of human character as exhibited in vast spheres of action. Nevertheless, for a due understanding of the men it is necessary to bear the geography in mind, for the significance of the events cannot be apprehended without a general idea of the physical surroundings.

To the student of English history the campaign in Flanders, undertaken by Cromwell in 1657 in conjunction with the French king, is one of great interest and importance. Yet, strange to say, to all, except to the plodders in the by-paths of history, it is one of the least known of the episodes in the story of that wonderful man, who according to Macaulay was the ‘greatest prince that ever ruled England.’ Justice has not yet been done to the memory of one to whom the English nation owes more perhaps than to any other ruler, or statesman, to whom for so brief a period the destinies of the country have been entrusted. Something has been attempted of recent years in this direction, and something done—especially by Carlyle—but it amounts to no more than an instalment of the sum total of that justice which was due. When that interest comes to be taken in the measures and achievements of the great Protector which they deserve, it will be found and confessed that the Flanders scheme, which he did not live long enough to fully realise, was one of the greatest of them. It is with that scheme that we have to deal in the present paper.

History and Geography, if we would study either thoroughly and intelligently, can never be completely dissevered. The continual influence exercised, from generation to generation, by climate, food, and necessary pursuits upon a people, combined with the influences of the political geography of the surrounding countries, the presence of strong or weak, civilised or barbarous neighbours, all these exercise the strongest pressure upon the original character, and mould the course of the history of every nation. And, therefore, to appreciate the full meaning of that history, a study of the theatre in which the action was played is of importance.

Political and strategic geography of China — Mongol invasion turning-point in Chinese history — Early Chinese civilisation before that event — Gallant and patriotic resistance on the part of the Chinese against their Mongol invaders — Mongol conquest of China completed A.D. 1270 — Character of Mongol rule there — Restoration of native Chinese dynasty — Its decay after lasting two centuries — Local insurrection of a strange character arising — Prepares the way for accession of the Manchus — Origin of the Manchu Tartars — They overrun China after a noble resistance by the people — Their dominion established over China — Character of their rule up to the nineteenth century — Eminent sovereigns of their race — Beginning of their degeneracy.

Louis the DÉbonnaire was dead; he died on June 20, 840. The bitter strife among his sons had continued to the last. The anxious indiscretion of Judith, and her determination to reserve an ample inheritance for her son Charles, caused fresh heart-burnings, revolts, and disturbances almost annually. Louis was buried in the Basilica of Saint Arnulph, beyond the walls at Frankfort.

It is quite unnecessary, in addressing such a Society as this, for me to enlarge on the help that may be obtained in historical investigations from other researches that are purely literary. I may, however, venture to express a regret that so little mutual assistance is usually afforded by those who confine themselves, too exclusively, to one or other of these branches of seeking after truth. A remarkable instance of this want of co-operation is afforded us in the earliest of the poems, which I shall now bring under your notice: Chaucer's ‘Dream,’ or, as it has well been renamed in our time, his ‘Isle of Ladies.’ For as, on the one hand, by establishing the true meaning of this poem, we present to the historian new pastures, whence he may here and there glean, by comparison with known historical facts, some additions to the story of the time; so, on the other, by a due use of history, we may throw new light on the works of our first and almost our greatest poet. I know that the school of modern criticism, which trusts the counting of its fingers rather than the evidence of its ears or its reason, has pronounced this poem spurious; but I trust to show you that its agreement with history prevents our taking that view, which rests wholly on the ungrounded assumption that because Chaucer used no rhymes of –y and –ye in his later poems, he could not have done so in this, his very earliest that has come down to us.

Having by your favour in a former paper tried to dissect the early history of Sweden, I propose to do the same now for Norway. My purpose is not to enter into the region of very early tradition where there is no foothold for criticism, but rather to try and throw some light on that border-ground where history and fable meet, and which is lit up, when illuminated at all, by very dim twilight.

It will be seen by the above title that my present purpose is not to attempt a history of Bridges. That indeed would be an herculean task: for the materials lie scattered through the histories of nations, and no serious attempt has been made to bring them into a manageable compass. Still I assume it will be expected that I shall present such an historical review as may serve to make the subject intelligible to those who have not heretofore turned their attention to it.

The Emperor Frederick II. was one of the most extraordinary personages in history. He has found many biographers among Continental writers. Muratori, Giannone, Von Raumer, and Hofler have described his remarkable career either with national pride or with stern condemnation. But until Dean Milman wrote his history of Latin Christianity, a few lines in Gibbon and a few pages of Hallam contained all the information which could be obtained respecting him by the English reader. Since the Dean wrote, information from other sources has been obtained, which I now propose to bring before you. We see this remarkable man only indistinctly through the mists of calumny and prejudice. On account of his long contest with the popes, he has been assailed by Roman Catholic writers with vituperative epithets. I propose in the following paper to give an account of his life; to show whether or no Roman Catholic writers were justified in regarding him as a monster of iniquity; to describe his natural endowments and acquirements, and the services which he conferred on his country; and to bring before you that celebrated struggle with the popes which has affected the course of events in his own age, and through succeeding generations.

In that region of the world where the three continents of Europe, Asia, and Africa meet, there are constantly latent the germs of that typical form of pestilence known as the Egyptian or Levantine Plague. This frightful disease has, on account of its enormous and rapid mortality, struck terror into all minds, and has consequently been recorded by the historians of every nation that has been visited by it. From the records that have been handed down to us, it would appear to have been in existence from the earliest times, and to have been liable, at intervals, to be fanned into a flame, and increase in extent and intensity to an almost unlimited degree.

I. The question of who were the Ligurians has occupied many, and remained obscure. Many and many years ago it occupied me, and about the year 1869 it led me to engage in a close investigation of a possible Dravidian connexion. This brought me some remarkable results, but for reasons not then known to me they led to no decision. The names of rivers in Liguria and Northern Italy responded to the Tamil names for river, water, &c., but the true cause was that such names are not Dravidian in their origin, and that the river names were not given by the Ligurians, but according to a uniform law, recognisable from Hispania or Britannia to further India, and it may be said to America.

The portion of the history of Britain now to be dealt with has hitherto been regarded as rather belonging to ethnology than to history, as prehistoric. It has consequently been supplied from barrows, from skulls, and from pottery, and has been largely matter of speculation and conjecture, supplied according to the fancy or prepossessions of each individual author. The greater part of what has been written turns upon Stonehenge and on supposed Druidical practices.

The Roman province, Pannonia, after having become a prey to the Vizigoths and Ostrogoths, was suddenly invaded towards the end of the fourth century, A.D., by an Asiatic people known under the name of ‘Huns,’ ‘Konoi,’ ‘Aorsoi,’ or ‘Alans.’ These Huns were followed by the Avars, undoubtedly a cognate tribe. The Avars are said to have overcome the Kutugurs, or Usurgurs, and driven from Pannonia the Longobards (Lombards), a Teuton tribe, which settled in Italy, and formed the principal ethnical element of Tuscany. At last we have the Magyars, another cognate tribe of the Huns occupying Pannonia. That the Magyars were Fins was often asserted, but is now an entirely exploded hypothesis. There are a few Finnish words in the Magyar language, proving that at a certain historical period the Magyars must have had some kind of connection with the Fins, but the test words proving the affinity of languages are entirely different.

Among the many services done the cause of historical research by Mr. John Richard Green, whose premature loss all lovers of history are mourning, the last and not the least was to point out in his own matchless language the part played by the Keltic Church in the conversion of the English to Christianity. I wish to emphasise his hint on the greatness of the part played by the Keltic Churches—to show how far reaching it was in its effects; and that, after the time of S. Augustine, amidst great difference of opinion, there was no touch of antagonism between the Keltic and Italian missions.

The historian meets with greater difficulties in treating of Oriental history than in any other branch of his subject. The dawn of awakening consciousness in humanity had not yet reached broad daylight. All was still bathed in the golden rays of the rising sun, surrounded by the fantastic clouds of myths and fables. In the East the allegorical and the metaphorical have always proved serious stumbling-blocks in the path of the seeker after dry facts. We find towns personified as nations; nations reduced to mere names of places.