ioo On the ANCIENT FORM 



The earliefl hiftorians were mere narrators of facts. They were 

 not very anxious either about inveftigating caufes or tracing ef- 

 fects. If they were deiirous of inftructing their readers or 

 hearers, (for the earliefl hiftories were often recited to a nu- 

 merous audience), they were no lefs defirous of amufing them. 

 In fuch compofitions, therefore, they were led to imitate con- 

 verfation. Their hiftories were, in truth, no other than oral 

 narratives and ftories committed to writing. But, in converfa- 

 tion, the narrator of an interefting ftory becomes animated in 

 his narrative ; and if, like the ancient Greeks, he poffefs fen- 

 fibility, the fpirit exhibited in his ftory will be proportioned to 

 the vivacity of his feelings. Lively feelings, however, lead per- 

 fons, in relating or defcribing the actions or conduct of others, 

 to become dramatic ; that is, to tell us the very words or fay- 

 ings of the perfon they defcribe ; and not only fo, but to recite 

 them as if he himfelf were the fpeaker. Now this animated 

 mode is imitated by the earlieft writers who defcribe human 

 actions. They do fo at firft, becaufe it is done in converfation ; 

 they continue the practice, becaufe it is lively and interefting. 

 As, in converfation, the fpeeches or fayings attributed to the 

 perfon whofe conduct was delineated, were fhort 4 they were 

 alfo fhort in the earlieft, and perhaps moft agreeable form of 

 written hiftory. Of this the facred hiftorians and HERODOTUS 

 afford us fufficient proof. It was not till after hiftorical com- 

 pofition had been fome time in ufe, that it prefented to us long 

 fpeeches and elaborate declamation. Its earlieft fpecies, there- 

 fore, may be termed colloquial, as diftinguifhed from that 

 which, belonging to the clafs of dramatic hiftory, followed foon 

 after, and may be termed oratorial. Perhaps there was an in- 

 termediate ftep. Poets were earlier than hiftorians ; and, in 

 their reprefentations of hviman actions, were, for the reafons 

 above mentioned, colloquial and dramatic. Such are the poems 

 of HOMER. The propenfity, therefore, which early hiftorians 

 had to afTume the dramatic form was, by the practice of their 



predeceflbrs, 



