enumerated in that book which is or ought to be in
the library of every educated Englishman and American, Gibbon's "History
of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire".

The fifth and sixth centuries do not supply us with many materials for
pictorial illustrations, and I do not know where to look for authentic
and contemporary representations of the civil or military life of
Theodoric and his subjects. We have, however, a large and interesting
store of nearly contemporary works of art at Ravenna, illustrating the
ecclesiastical life of the period, and of these the engraver has made
considerable use. The statue of Theodoric at Innsbruck, a representation
of which is included with the illustrations, possesses, of course, no
historical value, but is interesting as showing how deeply the memory of
Theodoric's great deeds had impressed itself on the mind of the Middle
Ages.

And here I will venture on a word of personal reminiscence. The figure
of Theodoric the Ostrogoth has been an interesting and attractive one to
me from the days of my boyhood. I well remember walking with a friend on
a little hill (then silent and lonely, now covered with houses), looking
down on London, and discussing European politics with the earnest
interest which young debaters bring to such a theme. The time was in
those dark days which followed the revolutions of 1848, when it seemed
as if the life of the European nations would be crushed out under the
heel of returned and triumphant despotism. For Italy especially, after
the defeat of Novara, there seemed no hope. We talked of Mazzini,
Cavour, Garibaldi, and discussed the possibility--which then seemed so
infinitely remote--that there might one day be a free and united Italy.
We both agreed that the vision was a beautiful one, but was there any
hope of it ever becoming a reality? My friend thought there was not, and
argued from the fact of Italy's divided condition in the past, that she
must always be divided in the future. I, who was on the side of hope,
felt the weakness of my position, and was driven backward through the
centuries, till at length I took refuge in the reign of Theodoric.
Surely, under the Ostrogothic king, Italy had been united, strong, and
prosperous. My precedent was a remote one, but it was admitted, and it
did a little help my cause.

Since that conversation more than forty years have passed. The beautiful
land is now united, free, and mighty; and a new generation has a