Volume 1: 1. Statement of the resources for investigating history, and proofs of the regularity of human actions. These actions are governed by mental and physical laws: therefore both sets of laws must be studied, and there can be no history without the natural sciences; 2. Influence exercised by physical laws over the organization of society, and over the character of individuals; 3. Examination of the method employed by metaphysicians for discovering mental laws; 4. Mental laws are either moral or intellectual. Comparison of moral and intellectual laws, and inquiry into the effect produced by each on the progress of society; 5. Inquiry into the influence exercised by religion, literature, and government; 6. Origin of history, and state of historical literature during the middle ages; 7. Outline of the history of the English intellectual from the middle of the sixteenth to the end of the eighteenth century; 8. Outline of the history of the French intellect from the middle of the sixteenth century to the accession to power of Louis XIV; 9. History of the protective spirit, and comparison of it in France and England; 10. The energy of the protective spirit in France explains the failure of the Fronde. Comparison between the Fronde and the contemporary English rebellion; 11. The protective spirit carried by Louis XIV into literature. Examination of the consequences of this alliance between the intellectual classes and the governing classes; 12. Death of Louis XIV. Reaction against the protective spirit, and preparations for the French Revolution; 13. State of historical literature in France from the end of the sixteenth to the end of the eighteenth century; 14. Proximate causes of the French Revolution after the middle of the eighteenth century. Volume 2: 1. Outlines of the history of the Spanish intellect from the fifth to the middle of the nineteenth century; 2. Condition of Scotland to the end of the fourteenth century; 3. Condition of Scotland in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries; 4. Condition of Scotland during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries; 5. An examination of the Scotch intellect during the seventeenth century; 6. An examination of the Scotch intellect during the eighteenth century.
