APPENDIX A LXXV 



never before attained. The old maxim holds that experience teaches. 

 Men have been writing history now for a very long time. In doing so 

 they have been betrayed into innumerable errors and weaknesses. But, 

 just as these errors and weaknesses have been detected, they have called 

 into existence precepts and cautions for their avoidance. History is 

 full of pitfalls for the unlearned and the unwary; but to-day these pit- 

 falls have all, practically speaking, been catalogued and charted, so that 

 any one who wishes to avoid them, and is willing to take the necessary 

 pains, may do so. Another point to be noticed is that the duty of im- 

 partiality is more fully recognized than ever before, and with results 

 wholly beneficial to the interests of historical truth. It is felt that the 

 writer, in order to be fair to the reader, must afford him, as much as pos- 

 sible, the opportunity to judge for himself in all disputed questions, and 

 not merely guide him to an acceptance of the conclusions he has himself 

 arrived at. A Macaulay leaves his reader no option save that of accept- 

 ing his version of things or everlastingly perishing as an enemy of light. 

 A Gibbon has a superbly ironical smile for all who do not believe that 

 the eighteenth century has said the last word in philosophy. The 

 Leckys and Gardiners and Greens, the Sorels, the Hanotaux and the 

 Vandals, of our own day write more as if the final verdict lay with the 

 reader, and it was no part of their business to force opinion either by 

 an overwhelming eloquence, a crushing argumentative assault, or any 

 assumption of superior wisdom and knowledge. 



The mere avoidance of errors will not of course make a man an 

 historian, any more than the avoidance of grammatical blunders will 

 make him a distinguished writer; for, after he has got his facts right, he 

 must let the world see how he understands and correlates them. A man 

 of less learning will sometimes discover more meaning in facts and put 

 a better construction on them than a man of greater learning. A word 

 to the wise is more enlightening than many words to the foolish. Emile 

 Reich says of specialists that they have a knack of dwelling on trivialities 

 and neglecting the most important facts. The best way to acquire true 

 historical insight, he thinks, is to knock about the world and come into 

 direct contact with the hurly-burly of actual human life, and so to 

 acquire varied and intense sensorial impressions. Ben Johnson said 

 of Shakespeare that he was "naturally learned"; and his wisdom 

 assuredly did not all come from books. 



Several excellent works on the technique of history are now av bill- 

 able for the student. The one of highest reputation is, perhaps ''Bern- 

 heim's Lehrbuch der Historischen Méthode," of which, so far as I am 

 aware, no English translation has ever been published. Of great merit 

 is also the ''Introduction aux Etudes Historiques" of MM. Charles V. 

 Langlois and Charles Seignobos, both of the Sorbonne. Of this an 



