Text: Edgar Allan Poe (?), Literary, Broadway Journal (New York), December 6, 1845, vol. 2, no. 22, p. ???-???

[page 337, column 1, continued:]

Wiley & Putnam's Library of Choice Reading, Nos. 34 and 35. The Life of Louis de Bourbon, Prince of Condé. By Lord Mahon.

If the author of this work, in superintending its translation and preparation for the press, had indulged in occasional philosophic surveys, or in comments, suggested by the wild and exciting events he records, such as are expected from every historian who aims higher than a mere setting forth of facts — we should have found nothing to desire. The portion of history it embraces is that stormy, yet most interesting era in the annals of France, connected with the life of the great Condé, the chief of the Fronde, the illustrious rebel; the hero in whom so many splendid qualities were stained by his ingratitude towards his noble wife. The book is without pretension; it is a simple narration; we are hurried on, without pause, through [column 2:] a succession of wars and intrigues; and sufficient material to fill half a dozen volumes is condensed into two. — At the close, the reader is left to form his own judgment of the character of the hero. Notwithstanding that something is wanting, however, the work is deeply interesting, and a valuable contribution to historical literature.