Chap. XVIL] IlUforj/. 3A3 



But it can he doubted by none tliat the Ihst class 

 of historical works produced in the hist age tar 

 transcend in excellence of manner every s[)ecinien 

 in this department of composition which, for 

 fifteen centuries before, had been given to the 

 world. 



The first English liistorian who seems to have 

 paid any attention to style, and who rises to any 

 thing like the dignity of this species of composi- 

 tion, is lord Clarendon. The histories which pre- 

 ceded his, though many of them invaluable as 

 repositories of facts, were dull and uninteresting 

 compilations, thrown together without taste or 

 skill, and apparently without even an attempt to 

 excel with respect to style. He had the honour 

 of introducing a higher kind of historical writing 

 among his countrymen ; and his work may doubt- 

 less be pronounced to have formed a remarkable 

 tera in this branch of English literature. Though 

 his sentences are tediously long and involved, and 

 his narratives equally prolix and perplexed; yet 

 he wrote remarkably well for his time, and de- 

 serves an honourable place among the im[)rovers 

 of historical style. After Clarendon, towards the 

 close of the seventeenth century, came bishop 

 Burnet, who, though inferior to his predecessor 

 in dignity, went beyond him in sprightliness and 

 perspicuity. He was accused of being jiartial to 

 the houses of Orange and Hanover ; but with re- 

 spect to manner, and general authenticity, he is 

 entitled to much praise, aud certainly contributed 

 something to the improven)ent of English hislori- 

 i:al style. 



On entering the eighteenth century, Uapin ap- 



