APPENDIX A LXXVII 



yet the penny post was not, and travel was not only difficult but dan- 

 gerous, to find out what light one could throw on another's problems. 

 Precious documents would then be exchanged between literary friends, 

 and anxiety would be great for their safe return. Such collections 

 of documents as existed were mostly in private hands; but, as time ad- 

 vanced, public collections began to be formed and public libraries to be 

 established. To-day there are libraries everywhere; each state has its 

 archives; each administrative department has its records; private 

 libraries are making their manuscript treasures available for the student. 

 The age is an age of catalogues and bibliographies and publications of 

 all kinds. If the historian of former days was straitened for lack of 

 material, his successor to-day is more likely to groan under the Pelions 

 and Ossas of information hurled upon him by an unpitying press. 



The French Revolution led to a great concentration at Paris, au 

 profit de l'état, of documents confiscated in various places. On the whole 

 this has been advantageous to historical science, though the minor 

 centres still grieve over their despoilment. Napoleon had the grandiose 

 idea, we are told, of concentrating all the archives of the world at Paris; 

 and actually did send thither those of the Vatican, of the Holy Roman 

 Empire, and of the Crown of Castile; but later these were returned. 

 Paris is sufficiently ville lumière as it is, without extinguishing all other 

 lights. 



It would be interesting to glance at the various analytical, critical, 

 and interpretative processes through which the raw material, if the ex- 

 pression may be allowed, of history has to pass before it is ready for the 

 highest constructive uses; but my time limit renders this wholly impos- 

 sible. It will be admitted, I hope, that history on any important scale, 

 or dealing with any important subject, is not an enterprise to be entered 

 on with a light heart, unless a man is an athlete of the schools and some- 

 thing of a philosopher to boot; and, even then, it is better for him not to 

 be too self-confident. 



Very odd errors will sometimes creep into manuscripts. Far back 

 in the thirties of the last century the London Morning Post had a cor- 

 respondent travelling in Canada, and sending home the results of his 

 observations. In one of his letters from the Kingston district, quoting 

 the prices of various products, he made, according to the record pre- 

 served in our Archives, the strange statement that whiskey was sold at 

 two shillings currency, or one shilling and nine pence sterling, per 

 bushel, and that the land produced from 25 to 30 bushels per acre. This 

 was indeed a land flowing, if not with milk and honey, with a liquid 

 highly appreciated by many, especially in those ante- (spelt with an e) 

 prohibition, and ante-local-option days. That the document from which 

 the copy now in the Archives was made gave the same reading, is indicated 



