know
him, indeed, was to be ignorant of some of the most memorable passages
in the history of this continent; but, what is certainly remarkable, he
had never found an English translator. At the time of the Old French
War, when the public curiosity was strongly interested in everything
relating to America, the journal appended to the history was "done into
English" and eagerly read; but the history itself had remained to this
time in the language in which it was originally written. This is not to
be regretted, if it has been the occasion of giving us the truly
admirable work which is the subject of this notice.

The spirit and the manner in which Mr. Shea has entered upon his task
are above all praise. It is with him a "labor of love." In these days of
literary "jobs," when bad translating and careless editing are palmed
off upon the amateurs of choice books in all the finery of broad margins
and faultless typography, it is refreshing to meet with a book of which
the mechanical excellence is fully equalled by the substantial value of
its contents, and by the thorough, conscientious, and scholarlike
character of the literary execution. The labor and the knowledge
bestowed on this translation would have sufficed to produce an original
history of high merit. Charlevoix rarely gives his authorities. Mr. Shea
has more than supplied this deficiency. Not only has he traced out the
sources of his author's statements and exhibited them in notes, but he
has had recourse to sources of which Charlevoix knew nothing. He is thus
enabled to substantiate, correct, or amplify the original narrative. He
translates it, indeed, with literal precision, but, in his copious notes
he sheds such a flood of new light upon it that this translation is of
far more value to the student than the original work. Since Charlevoix's
time, many documents, unknown to him, though bearing on his subject,
have been discovered, and Mr. Shea has diligently availed himself of
them. The tastes and studies of many years have made him familiar with
this field of research, and prepared him to accomplish an undertaking
which would otherwise have been impracticable.

The first volume is illustrated by facsimiles of Charlevoix's maps,
together with his portrait and those of Cartier and Menendez. It forms a
large octavo of about three hundred pages, and as a specimen of the
typographical art is scarcely to be surpassed. We learn that the second
volume is about to appea