'346 On the Moral Triflucnce ofJIistor\/. 



fromthe temper of the soul, more than from the 

 - external condition of iife, and finds a field of ex- 

 crcise^suited to this:temper, in the calm enjoy* 

 ments of domestic, friendly and social inter- 

 course. But to this indubitable truth the his- 

 torian, pays no attention, and therefore affords 

 no as^fstance to the common reader, wherebv 

 he may correct his false estimate of things, and 

 separate the shewy parade of triumphant crime 

 from sincere enjoyment. It must ■ indeed be 

 admitted that in. some rare instances a mo- 

 ralizing historian vv:ill let you into the secret 

 •which the pride of successful wickedness would 

 hide from the world. .. If scrutinizing pictures 

 of that internal wretchedness, which, like the 

 vulture of Rome, thus gnaws at the heart of 

 conscious crime, were oftener exhibited by 

 historians, like. to that of Tiberius in his retreat 

 at Caprea, and of Charles the IXth of France^ 

 and of that monster Herod, called the Great, 

 in the decline of their health and life, history 

 would be more useful, a retributive justice as 

 the issue of conduct would appear to have 

 moreiplace in the world than the first face of 

 things countenances, the moral principles of 

 the reader would be less endangered, and few, 

 methinks, would barter the peaceful inno- 

 cence even of a cottage, for the titled grandeur 



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