,561 Reflex ions on II is ton/, SCc. 



ibr the rhetoricu'l style. 'The historian, in Im 

 -Study, has endeaybured tq conjecture the 

 motives which have influenced at le^st the 

 leaders of contending and opposite parties, till 

 he has imagined himself intimately acquainted 

 Avith their reasonings and apologies, and a^ 

 well able to transmit them to succeeding time's, 

 as if he had been a member of their councils, 

 or invested with the divine privilege of know- 

 ing the heart. But great events, it is well 

 known, have frequently been occasioned ;0r 

 produced by very inconsiderable causes. IIen(5^, 

 if the politician were acquainted, not only 

 with the domestic transactions, but with tln^ 

 private characters of statesmen, he would pro- 

 bably often find that the most important an^ 

 extraordinary events frequently originate in 

 secret motives inctbp narrow selfish passions; />f 

 -obscure individualsj the parasites or dependents 

 of the great, or in trifling incidents unknown 

 to the world. 



From these and other considerations, it has 

 been argued, that history in general is entitled 

 to little credit, or at least tha-t only public oc- 

 •eurrences can possibly be certainly known or 

 faithfully recorded. %e rest, it is supposed, 

 must have been merely the conjecture of the 

 historian. But diligence, caution and accurate 

 reseaxcb> -/KQ-^frP-J^'. ^i^cqretical speculation or 



