CHAPTER VIII. 



GREAT MEN OF MODERN HISTORY. 



In treating of the great men born since the beginning of the 

 Christian era I shall take up in detail those who, for some special 

 reason, require special mention. The others will be given in 

 tables with their birth-ranks stated. In doing this there is no pre- 

 tense that all of the great men who deserve mention are included. 

 In fact, such an effort would be futile, because of the impossi- 

 bility of drawing any hard and fast line to determine who should 

 be included and who should not. As a consequence I have probably 

 overlooked a good many men who are greater than some of those 

 I have included in the lists. I have purposely omitted a good many 

 hereditary monarchs who have become famous in the world's 

 history, because it is difficult to know how much of their greatness 

 was due to the circumstances of their reigns, to contemporary 

 statesmen, and to the generals who fought their battles. For the 

 same reason I have discriminated against the Jierditary nobility, 

 because position, wealth, and family influence often enable men 

 to achieve a fame to which they would be utterly unable to aspire 

 if it were not for these advantages. As a consequence there are 

 omitted from class A and B a number of kings and noblemen who 

 might be included in them. Their inclusion would prove nothing, 

 because there is another possible explanation of their greatness. 

 I have made an exception, however, in the cases of some men who, 

 like Alfred the Great and Peter the Great, were so pre-eminent 

 that it is plainly evident that their greatness is independent of 



their positions. 



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