VIII. An ESSAY upon the PRINCIPLES of HISTOR T CAL 

 COMPOSITION; with an Application of tbnfe Principles 

 to the Writing* of TACITUS. By jfoHN HiLL, M. A. 

 F. R. S. EDIN. and Prof ejfor of Humanity in the Univerjity 

 of EDINBURGH. 



/ 



PART II*. 



\Rcad by the Author , Feb. 21. 1785.] 



"'HE proofs of found judgment in the writings of TACITUS 

 -- are extremely numerous. From the choice of his fub>- 

 je&s, he appears to have been perfectly acquainted with the na- 

 ture and the extent of his own powers. Though he was confi- 

 derably advanced in life before he began to write hiftory, yet 

 the clofenefs of his application enabled him to unfold that wif- 

 dom which his experience had furnimed. In fpite of an ardent 

 love of fame, he avoided the rock upon which moft authors fplit, 

 and wifely forbore to folieit the attention of the public, till he 

 could for certain command its refpeft. 



WHILE he was governor of Belgium, he did not wafte his 

 time in idlenefs, nor in devifing plans for the increafe of his 

 fortune. The generofity of his fpirit made him abhor that 

 cruelty with which other Prefects opprefled their fubjecls. 

 When the concerns of his government did not engage his at- 

 tention, he viewed the rude manners of the Germans with an 

 attentive eye ; and the acutenefs of the obferver was happily 

 fuited to the nicety of the fubjecl. The difcuflions of the phi- 

 lofopher were, with him, a relaxation from the cares of the 



ftatefman* 



* See PART I. p. 76. of PAPERS of the LITEB.AK.Y CLASS* 



