performance, the latter the result of considerable original inquiry; but where fancy often supplies the want of facts, and historical accuracy is bent and accommodated to dramatic effect. The fourth, sixth, and seventh Crusades are altogether unnoticed by Mr. Gibbon. But of the expedition, in which the Byzantine empire was principally interested, he has treated with such fidelity and splendour, the historic tissue is so closely drawn and so finely wrought, that every one who writes upon the Crusades must regret that the fifth armament is a part of his subject.
Whether the holy wars are considered, then, as belonging to the public affairs of Europe, or as a portion of the early history of England, a history of them in the English language appears to be a desideratum; and as hitherto the subject has been only partially or generally written upon, the present attempt is submitted to the public.