gi ON SOME ENGLISH HISTORIANS. May 25^ 



prefling the whole evidence on the oppofite fide of the 

 quertion. His conduft in the controverfy with Mr. 

 Tytler can hardly be defended : And his injurious 

 treatment of Queen Mary of Scotland is not more dif- 

 gufting than his elaborate panegyrics on the virtues of 

 her poller! ty. When we examine Mrs. Macaulay's per- 

 formance on the fame period, we meet with a profufion 

 of intelligence, of which the mere reader of Hume has 

 not the moft diftant conception. The Scottifh hiftorian 

 gives but fhovt and partial excerpts from the writers of 

 the times. His whig antagonill, on the other hand, 

 gives large extratls from the original writers ; and 

 though to a fuperficial reader, her work affumes an a'.r 

 lefs pleafing and clafHcal, what is loft in elegance is 

 fully repaid in authenticity. He is a zealous advocate 

 for the tawdry ceremonies of the Church of England, 

 and yet the main fcope of his metaphylical writings, is 

 to extinguifh every fentiment of religion : His hiftory 

 was written for fale ; and tliere he condefcended to flat- 

 ter public faperftition at the expence of reafon. 



Mr. Hume, in common with moft of our hiftorians, 

 has omitted to give an account of his materials. A 

 judicious reader, when he fees them perpetually refer- 

 red to, will alk who is Froiilart, and who is Rhymer? 

 Till the accefTion of the houfe of Tudor, his narrative 

 is abrupt. For example, the reign of Edward HI. ex- 

 tended to alraoft half a century, and is one of the moft 

 bufy and memorable in ancient or modern annals. It 

 is compreired by Mr. Hume within an hundred octavo 

 pages, while the reign of Elizabeth alone fills one of 

 his largeft volumes. His warmeft admirers muft al- 

 low, that he betrays a grofs difproporrion of parts in 

 the execution of his plan : But in truth, it was by far 

 too extenfive to he completed by any fingle pen. It 

 was necelTary to write a book of a faleable fize. As 

 an epitome of Englifh Hiftory, it is too large ; but as 

 a complete hiftory, it is by far too fhort. We, every 

 day, iVe whole folios printed on the antiquities o^ 



