HISTORY OF HIS OWN TIME. 



stances is exactly similar, as it is for men not to fall into opposite 

 extremes in speaking of the same persons and the same actions. — 

 And it is also a failing no less common to every class of political 

 feasoners, when they engage in the discussion of practical subjects 

 of great interest, to deliver their opinions v^^ith an earnestness and 

 passion which, to him who takes only an ordinary concern in such 

 discussions, must pass for heat and personality. I would not, of 

 course, be understood to apply these observations to the justifica- 

 tion of any history deformed by violence and exaggeration. But 

 when particular objects and paarticular occurrences come to be 

 viewed through the magnifying glasses of party, it is matter even 

 of vulgar remark, that it is difficult to distinguish between favour- 

 ing and lying. 



Had Burnett, then, in the History of his own Time, acknow- 

 ledged no influence but what the strictest impartiality could avow, 

 ^-had he always sought to disentangle truth from error, instead of 

 permitting himself, according to the uncharitable criticisms of his 

 opponents, to write upon the faith of popular rumour and prejudice, 

 from the very peculiar circumstances of the times in which he lived 

 and wrote, not to be occasionally mistaken would have been diffi- 

 cult, not to have offended, impossible ; since he had events to record 

 in which many a leading character was a problem. 



It will, indeed, ever be remembered, by those who do not studi- 

 ously seek to disparage the justness of our Author's conclusions, 

 that his narrative treats of those periods of our country in which 

 the human mind was deeply and roughly stirred — in which all the 

 combustible elements of character were in full play and develop- 

 ment. Plots, conspiracies, hair-breadth escapes, the purse, the axe, 

 and the dagger, held sway in high places. There was a mighty 

 fermentation throughout the political world. All was enterprise, 

 boldness, and activity. The more attractive prizes in the lottery 

 of life were beginning to be brought within the -reach of a larger 

 portion of the community. Accordingly we find that the questions 

 which then pervaded and agitated the breasts of the many, were 

 liberty of conscience, the limits of obedience^ the rights of resist- 

 ance, and the corruption of the Romish Church. In this state of 

 things, when the discordant parts of society had not yet amalga- 



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