FOOTNOTES:
[11] Bancroft was twice married. His second wife was Mrs. Elisabeth (Davis) Bliss.
[12] For an account of the privileges he enjoyed in making his collections see Winsor’s Narrative and Critical History of America, vol. viii, p. 477.
[13] W. M. Sloane.
[14] T. W. Higginson in ‘The Nation,’ January, 1891.
[15] Bancroft’s characteristics as a young man are admirably brought out in the recently printed selection from his letters and journals, edited by M. A. DeWolfe Howe. ‘Scribner’s Magazine,’ September and October, 1905.
[16] Two volumes of the original edition correspond to one volume of the ‘author’s last revision,’ 1883–85.
[17] In the ‘last revision’ Epoch Four is divided into unequal parts and the titles are reworded: Epoch first, ‘Britain overthrows the European colonial system,’ 1748–63; Epoch second, ‘Britain estranges America,’ 1763–74; Epoch third, ‘America takes up arms for self-defence and arrives at independence,’ 1774–76; Epoch fourth, ‘America in alliance with France,’ 1776—80; Epoch fifth, ‘The People of America take their equal station among the powers of the earth,’ 1780 to December, 1782.
[18] J. F. Jameson speaks of Bancroft’s ‘tendency to conventionalize, to compose his American populations of highly virtuous Noah’s-ark men.’ History of Historical Writing in America, 1891, p. 108.