fjgl. OK HERODOTUS. 327 



terefts the poet, the philofopher, and the politician ; and 

 is alfo acceffible to the common herd of mankind, who 

 are content with the amufement of general and fuperfi- 

 cial knowledge. 



The aftions of men, and if we may fo fpeak, the ac- 

 tions of nations, are the two great fubjeds of hiftory ; 

 the one exhibiting human nature as it aftually exifts, 

 the other government, with all its political confequences. 

 The firll has been more attended to by the ancients, the 

 lail by the moderns. 



Herodotus was the firft of hiftorians ; and therefore 

 little acquantance wiih political ellablifhments is tobe 

 expeSed in his works : he lived in that ftate of fociety 

 in which the love of the marvellous far exceeds that of 

 philofophical truth, and in which the mind muft be grati- 

 fied with extraordinary events, and uncommon adven- 

 '^res, with what will roufe the imagination, and what will 

 intereft the heart. Incapable as yet ftriclly to difcern 

 all the poffibilities of nature's operations ; and unwill- 

 ing to fubftitute general and abftraft ideas, in place of 

 thofe pleafing and wonderful tranfaflions which take 

 poffeffion of the mind, without the labour of inquiry, or 

 tedious inveftigation ; indulging thefe incredible fic- 

 I tions, they often allow themfelves to be carried along 

 with them through the courfe of ages, notwithftanding 

 the countera£ling tendency of reafon and nature. 



In the writings however of Herodotus, we difcover 

 the firft dawnings of hillorical truth. He drew the at- 

 tention of his countrymen from the remote regions of 

 mythological obfcurity, in which their minds had beea 

 wholly involved, to more recent aftions, and to fceaea 

 which had a greater coincidence with thofe with which 

 they were converfant. He gradually taught them to 

 contemplate human affairs with a more fober eye, by 

 relating thofe revolutions m kingdoms, and thofe inci- 

 dents m life, which either their own experience could 

 atteft, or which bad no very diflant analogy to their ex- 

 perience. 



