1818.] Lord Woodhouselee. 411 



tion of a system of arrangement by which he might be able to 

 give some degree of unity and consistence to the great mass of 

 materials that were before him. In examining the methods in 

 which academical lectures on this subject had hitherto been 

 conducted, either in this country or on the Continent, he per- 

 ceived that there were two different systems which had chiefly 

 been followed, and which may, perhaps, not improperly be styled 

 the narrative, and the didactic systems. In the first, the prin- 

 ciple of arrangement was simply that of chronology : the only 

 order observed was the order of time ; and the only object of 

 the teacher was to convey to the student the knowledge of the 

 succession of historical facts. In the second, the principle of 

 chronological arrangement was altogether disregarded : the 

 events of history were considered not as a branch of knowledge 

 in themselves, but as a ground-work for the conclusions of 

 science ; and the great object of the teacher was to convey to 

 the students the knowledge of the general principles of public 

 law and of political philosophy. 



In neither of these systems did Mr. Tytler find the utilities 

 which it was his ambition to derive from the subject of his 

 lectures. The first appeared to him only a barren detail of 

 chronological events, in which nothing more was conveyed than 

 the mere knowledge of the succession of these events ; and all 

 that is included under the name of the Philosophy of History 

 was necessarily omitted. In the second, he feared that too wide 

 a field was opened to the ambitious speculations of the teacher, 

 and that while the attention of the student was liable to be occu- 

 pied by hasty or by unfounded theories, the interest of historical 

 narration was necessarily lost, and all the moral instructions of 

 history neglected. 



The system which Mr. Tytler finally adopted for his own 

 course of lectures, was one which combined the advantages of 

 both these systems, and was very happily adapted both to main- 

 tain the interest and to consult the instruction of the student. 

 In surveying with an attentive eye the ancient history of the 

 world, he observed (to use his own words) " that it was distin- 

 guished in every age by one prominent feature ; that one nation, 

 or empire, was successively predominant, to whom all the rest 

 bore, as it were, an under-part, and to whose history, we find 

 that the principal events in the annals of other nations may be 

 referred from some natural connexion." In this remarkable 

 feature Mr. Tytler saw that a principle of natural arrangement 

 was afforded him which might give to his course a sufficient 

 degree of unity and order ; and which, while it preserved to the 

 student the interest of historical narration, gave to the teacher 

 the opportunity of exhibiting those general views of the progress 

 of the human race, which form the most important instruction 

 we can derive from its history. 



It was on this principle that his course of Ancient History was 



