On the Mdral Li/lu€?ice opJIistory. 329 



devoted a greater portion of time. I should 

 think it not extraivagant to say, that I have 

 with pleasure perused a million pages of history 

 in the course of my literary life. It cannot 

 therefore be supposed, that I mean to detract 

 one iota from the real worth, importance, and 

 interest of history. But, like the enraptured 

 lover, the admirers of history may ascribe to 

 her what she has no claim to, viz. that of 

 being eminently the instructress of moral ; and 

 the questioning this supposed attribute is the 

 sole object of the present essay. 



This attribute has certainly been ascribed to 

 history by writers of great repute, whose judg- 

 ment on any subject ought not lightly to be 

 arraigned. But 



JSullius adUictus jur^re in verba magistri — hor. 



is a maxim sanctioned by high authority, 

 and essential to the freedom of the human 

 mind. — The Jesuit Strada, Lord Bolingbroke, 

 Vertot, Dr. Priestley, and many others, if mv 

 recollection do not fail me, have considered 

 this praise, as appropriately due to histon*. 

 But on what grounds I am utterly ignorant, 

 for to the best of my remembrance they assume 

 it as a datum, which they suppose no one 

 would question. Perhaps it is presumed from 

 the general interest and acceptance of history* 



