Of HISTORICAL COMPOSITION. 83 



JUDGMENT ftands oppofed to feeling, as the operations of 

 the latter are prior in the order of nature ; the one pafling fen- 

 tence upon perceptions, which the other has previoufly furnifh- 

 ed. It ftands oppofed to imagination, as there is belief in the 

 reality both of the fubjecl and the decifion. Different, nay op- 

 pofite judgments may be formed of one thing ; but, if fimple 

 apprehenfions be different, their fubjecY cannot be the fame. 



TRUE judgment enables men to difcern both the truth of 

 propofitions fairly dated, and the propriety of fentiment and 

 conduct in every particular inftance. As the hiftorian's judg- 

 ment is proved, not only by his reflections on the conduct of 

 others, but by what he does himfelf ; fo the fir ft indication of 

 the degree in which he pofTefTes this power is to be feen in his 

 choice of a fubject. The rule in HORACE is alike applicable to 

 writers of every kind : 



Verfate diu^ quidferre recufent^ 



t^uid valeant humeri *. 



Real abilities are generally accompanied with a juft notion of 

 their extent. This confcioufnefs, at the fame time, renders nei- 

 ther the pofleffor prefumptuous, nor the obferver jealous. True 

 difcernment deftroys every thing like arrogance in the former ; 

 and, where there is a clear fuperiority, men repine not at that 

 fubordination in talents which nature herfelf has eftablifhed. 



ALTHOUGH the higheft abilities will make the moft of all 

 hiftorical fubjects, yet, among thefe, there is fuch a difference as 

 to give room for a judicious choice. Ordinary genius would be 

 foiled where the moft diftinguifhed can beft mew itfelf. The 

 difficulty of hiftorical fubjects depends upon the ftate of the 

 facts to be recorded. When thefe are of very ancient or of 

 very recent date, it tries the hiftorian's judgment, upon the one 

 hand, to diftinguifh the fpurious from the genuine, and to 

 make the moft of information that is perhaps but fcanty } and, 

 upon the other, to fhun the odium of parties, without negledl- 



/ 2 ing 



* HOR. de Arte Poetics, v. 39. 



