ntry by
the glorious and bloody victory of Aquae Sextiae. Yet a little while and
the legions of Rome, under the orders of Caesar, traversing with fire and
sword their country, retaliated on the Gaul the calamities he had often
inflicted on others, subdued his proud spirit, and forged for him,
amidst seas of blood, those fetters which were finally riveted by the
policy of Augustus. Such is a brief outline of the heart-stirring story
of this singular and interesting race.

One of the most interesting parts of Thierry's work is the Introduction.
He there gives a brief view of the character of the Gaulish race; its
division into two great branches, the Gaul and the Kimry, and the
periods into which the history of this people naturally divides itself.
A considerable part of it is taken up in proving that this people do in
reality consist of two great branches, the Gaul and the Kimry. This, we
think, he has clearly and satisfactorily shown, by evidence drawn both
from the language and from the historical accounts which have been
preserved to us regarding them. His character of the Gauls as a people
is ably and well given; but here we must let him speak for himself:--

"The salient characteristics of the Gaulish family--those which
distinguish it the most, in my opinion, from the other races of
men--may be thus summed up:--A personal bravery unequaled amongst
the people of antiquity; a spirit frank, impetuous, open to every
impression, eminently intelligent; but joined to that an extreme
frivolity, want of constancy, a marked repugnance to the ideas of
discipline and order so strong in the German race, much
ostentation--in fine, a perpetual disunion, the consequence of
excessive vanity. If we wish to compare, in a few words, the
Gaulish family with that German family to whom we have just
alluded, we may say that the personal sentiment, the individual I,
is too much developed amongst the former, and that amongst the
latter it is not sufficiently so. Thus we find, in every page of
Gaulish story, original characters who strongly excite and
concentrate upon themselves our sympathy, causing us to forget the
masses; whilst, in the history of the Germans, it is generally the
masses who produce the effect. Such is the general character of the
people of the Gaulish blood; but in that character itself, an
observation of facts leads us to reco