izot,
then Minister of Public Instruction in France. By his direction a
commission of five scholars was instituted, with the learned Weiss
at its head, for the purpose of examining the Granvelle papers,
with a view to their immediate publication. The work was performed
in a prompt and accurate manner, that must have satisfied its
enlightened projector. In 1839 the whole series of papers had been
subjected to a careful analysis, and the portion selected that was
deemed proper for publication. The first volume appeared in 1841;
and the president of the commission, M. Weiss, expressed in his
preface the confident hope that in the course of 1843 the remaining
papers would all be given to the press. But these anticipations
have not been realized. In 1854 only nine volumes had appeared. How
far the publication has since advanced I am ignorant.

The Papiers d'Etat, besides Granvelle's own letters, contain a
large amount of historical materials, such as official documents,
state papers, and diplomatic correspondence of foreign
ministers,--that of Renard, for example, so often quoted in these
pages. There are, besides, numerous letters both of Philip and of
Charles the Fifth, for the earlier volumes embrace the times of the
emperor.--The minister's own correspondence is not the least
valuable part of the collection. Granvelle stood so high in the
confidence of his sovereign, that, when not intrusted himself with
the conduct of affairs, ha was constantly consulted by the king as
to the best mode of conducting them. With a different fate from
that of most ministers, he retained his influence when he had lost
his place. Thus there were few transactions of any moment in which
he was not called on directly or indirectly to take part. And his
letters furnish a clew for conducting the historical student
through more than one intricate negotiation, by revealing the true
motives of the parties who were engaged in it.

Granvelle was in such intimate relations with the most eminent
persons of the time, that his correspondence becomes in some sort
the mirror of the age, reflecting the state of opinion on the
leading topics of the day. For the same reason it is replete with
matters of personal as well as political interest; while the range
of its application, far