= 
—— 
Ye, a 

OLD AND NEW WAYS OF TREATING HISTORY 33 
Gibbon, aided by marvellous artistic sense in the 
grouping of huge masses of detail, gives us what is in 
many ways the greatest book of history that ever was 
written. It now needs to be supplemented at many 
points, but it is not easy to look forward to a time 
when it can be superseded. It is curious to note the 
contrast between this book and one that used always 
to be associated with it in men’s minds. “ The History 
of England,” by David Hume, has lived more than a 
century, partly because of its fine narrative style, partly 
because of the absence, until recently, of any better 
book of convenient size; but it was never in any sense 
a great history, and it is now worse than worthless to 
the general reader. The reason for this-is its lack of 
knowledge of the subject with which it deals. It is 
the superficial and careless work of a man of brilliant 
genius. In contrast with this the untiring patience 
of Gibbon, his exhaustless wealth of knowledge, his 
almost miraculous accuracy, his disinterested calmness 
of spirit, his profundity of critical discernment, com- 
bined with the artistic temperament to produce a work 
as enduring as the Eternal City itself. And with this 
example my concluding advice to the student of new 
methods is, Forget not to profit by the old masters. 
