Chapter Chapter 6 of Index by Simonds History of American Literature

but only three of the six volumes proposed were finished, the third appearing in 1858. Prescott died in January of the following year.

J.L. Motley, 1814-1877.

Although to a certain extent discredited as authoritative upon historical fact, these works possess high literary value. They read like romance; their style is pictorial and vivid. Prescott was the successor of Irving in the romantic field of Spanish history. Irving himself, indeed, had meditated a history of the conquest of Mexico, had collected material therefor in Spain, and was actually engaged upon the work; but when he learned of Prescott's design, he quietly withdrew from the field and placed his material in the hands of the younger man. A few years later Prescott in turn performed a similar act of kindness in resigning to Motley an important part of the field naturally included in any account of the reign of Philip II.

Dorchester, now a part of Boston, was the birthplace of John Lothrop Motley. After graduation from Harvard in 1831, he spent two years as a student at the universities of Berlin and Göttingen, forming an intimate acquaintance with Bismarck his fellow student, the future chancellor of Germany. Motley's literary career began inauspiciously with the publication of an unsuccessful novel, Morton's Hope (1839); and this was followed ten years later by a colonial romance, Merry Mount (1849).

Historical Studies.

After a brief period of residence in St. Petersburg as a secretary of legation (1841-1842), he returned to America and soon became interested in historical themes. A series of articles contributed to the North American Review attracted general notice. In 1850, he became absorbed in his study of the Protestant struggle in Holland against the tyranny of Philip II. Motley had not, like Prescott, determined to be an historian and then searched for a theme. "My subject had taken me up, drawn me on, and absorbed me into itself," he wrote; "it was necessary for me, it seemed, to write the book I had been thinking much of, even if it were destined to fall dead from the press, and I had no inclination or interest to write any other."¹ After receiving the hearty approval and encouragement of the older historian, Motley set himself at the task.

The Dutch Republic.

Searching the archives of Europe and counting his labor a joy, -- so filled with enthusiasm was he over his theme, -- Motley completed the major portion of his work in 1856. The Rise of the Dutch Republic was received, as Prescott's volumes had been, with universal applause. The History of the United Netherlands was published, the first two volumes in 1860, the last two in 1868. The Life of John of Barneveld (1874) was preliminary to the final work of the series, a history of the Thirty Years' War; but this work was never written.

Diplomatic Service.

Much of Motley's life was spent abroad. Besides his early service as secretary at St. Petersburg, he held two important appointments. He was minister to Austria during the Civil War period, and was appointed by President Grant minister to England in 1869. His recall, however, -- for which no satisfactory reason has ever been given, -- came in 1870. After the publication of John of Barneveld, in 1874, a year marked also by domestic sorrow in the loss of his wife, Motley undertook no further literary work. He died in England in 1877, and was buried just outside London.

Motley's works are characterized, like those of his predecessor, by the dramatic quality of the narrative and by eloquence of style. His intense sympathy with the oppressed and gallant Hollanders in their struggle for independence, and his hearty admiration for their great hero, William the Silent, permitted him to take no impartial ground. He writes as an acknowledged partisan, and in this respect his historical method is rather the method of the past than of the present.