Henry Thomas Buckle

( Originally Published Early 1900's )

A most remarkable historical monument is the incomplete "History of Civilization" by Henry Thomas Buckle (1823-1862). He had been privately educated, was wealthy and learned, but he had imbibed strong prejudices against religion and the church. With a view of expounding ultimately English civilization, he undertook first to discuss European civilization, and to show that the differences in it depended on geographical conditions and on the forms of government, civil and ecclesiastical. As examples he treated at great length Spain and Scot-land; his facts are capriciously selected to suit his theory, and his arguments are one-sided. Nevertheless the clearness of his style and the aggressive force with which he pleaded his position gave his work a brief popularity, which, however, it did not retain. As it followed the French method of excessive generalization and propagated Voltaire's views, the sober English mind rejected the curious work.