" He was a brilliant partisan, hating Spaniards and
Calvinists; and wrote all the better for this bias. He was an
admirable sketcher of historical portraits, and had Macaulay's
skill in composing special chapters devoted to the tendencies and
qualities of an epoch or to the characteristics of a dynasty.
Between 1860 and 1868 he produced the four volumes of the
"History of the United Netherlands." During the Civil War he
served usefully as American minister to Vienna, and in 1869 was
appointed minister to London. Both of these appointments ended
unhappily for him. Dr. Holmes, his loyal admirer and biographer,
does not conceal the fact that a steadier, less excitable type of
public servant might have handled both the Vienna situation and
the London situation without incurring a recall. Motley continued
to live in England, where his daughters had married, and where,
in spite of his ardent Americanism, he felt socially at home. His
last book was "The Life and Death of John of Barneveld." His
"Letters," edited after his death in 1877 by George William
Curtis, give a fascinating picture of English life among the
cultivated and leisurely classes.
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