HISTORY. 



59 



!, 



OB 



tal 



i* infinitely preferable to novels and romances, the pe- 

 rusal of which too frequently debilitates the intellect 

 tuning the imagination, and corrupts the heart 

 by the infusion of what may justly be regarded as mo- 

 ral poison. Whatever valuable impressions are made 

 upon the mind by fictitious adventures, the same in 

 kind, though, perhaps, generally not equal in degree, 

 are made by the perusal of history ; and while works of 

 fiction are not in their nature capable, in general, of 

 any other uses than the authors had in view, which 

 must necessarily be very limited ; true history, being 

 an eihihrtion of the conduct of Providence, has infinite 

 relations and uses, and may be regarded as 

 hauitible mine of the most valuable knowledgi 

 been very justly rtsnartrrn. that " works of fiction re- 

 rie these ma< 



History. 



an inex- 

 nowledge. It has 



semble 



which we contrive to illustrate 



the principles of philosophy, such as globes and orreries, 

 the uses of which extend no farther than the views of 

 human ingenuity ; whereas real history resembles the 

 experiments made by the air-pump, the condensing en- 

 gine, or electrical machine, which exhibit the opera- 

 tions of nature, and the God of nature himself, whose 

 works are the noblest subject of contemplation to the 

 human ""?"*, **! are the ground-work and materials 

 of the most extensive and useful knowledge." 



a higher use of history is to improve the radar. 

 ig and strengthen the judgment : by studying 

 ', and exaflaianm into the causes and oonsequen- 



the events which it anfokls, the penetration is 

 the and it fixed, and the 



the attention of 



enlarged: hence are acquired the fa- 

 [uicker. and that flexibility and 

 to be found in the conduct of 

 all affur.. that depend on the 

 tion of other men. It is a great but a 

 take to iuugini, that history is calculated to enlighten 

 the judgment only on those subject* which arc con- 

 nected with the welfare of the community at Urge ; it 

 is nearly in an equal degree calculated to enlighr 

 judgment on those that bear on individual utility and 

 In this respect the advantages of history are 

 lert ve from our < 



BMre iaBportant than those we derive I 

 vidual observation and experience ; lor though the im- 

 pressions made by the latter will be more . 

 probably more permanent, yet the knowledge we de- 

 better guide to us, in our intercourse with the world ; 

 for the iiaassiln which it nsanti are generally com- 

 the whole is before us; whereas in real life, every 

 very slowly, and we consequently see but 

 a small part of a thing at a time ; hence we are liable 

 to be deceived in our judgment <>i 



The history of Greet Britain will sal ai lady iBus- 

 trate the troth of the preceding remark* ; if entered 



b rich and valuable in this point of view. The rade 

 and barbarous state in which this country and its in- 

 habitant* existed at the period of the Roman conquest, 

 contrasted with its present situation, when it has at- 

 tained an infinitely higher rank in the scale of intellect 

 and power than Bone ever reached; cannot fail to act 

 as a stimulus to the curiosity, to learn the variea* 

 events which occurred between these two itates so dia- 

 metrically opposite. Besides this general source of 

 interest and amusement, which the history of Britain 

 holds out, there are many particular periods in it which 

 are almost equally calculated to excite and gratify these 

 is mnaidrring the history of Great Bri- 

 Uiu in its lowest character; it further illustrates our 



preceding remarks, by the constant exercise which it 



affords for our judgment and penetration'; so that it may ' i 



!'. justly affirmed, that the faculties of the human mind 



will derive from its perusal a great accession to their 



strength. 



But the great advantage to be derived from his- Makes us 

 tory, and this advantage flows in the most direct acquainted 

 manner, of the highest character, and in the utmost 

 abumUnce from the history of Britain, consists in this, 

 that by means of it we gain our knowledge of the 

 mechanism of society ; of the reciprocal influence of 

 national character, laws, and government; of those 

 causes and circumstances, that have operated towards 

 the production and advancement, or the destruction 

 and retardation of civil and religious liberty, and the 

 various branches of science and literature. It leads to a 

 knowledge of man in his social relations : it exhibits 

 the various operations of different systems of polity up- 

 on human happiness. In a country which enjoys so 

 great a portion of civil liberty as happily falls to the lot 

 of the inhabitants of the British empire, almost every 

 order of the community has its influence upon the mea- 

 sures of the legislative and the executive powers ; con- 

 sequently a knowledge of history should be diffused to 

 as wide an extent as possible among them. A familiar 

 acquaintance with the history of their country was, in 

 the beat times of the Roman republic, held to be cssau 

 tially requisite to qualify youth for stations of dignity, 

 power, and profit, in the administration of public af- 

 fairs. Hence the bitterness of the sarcasm, uttered by 

 Marius, when he asserted, that in his degenerate days, 

 moo of illustrious birth did not begin to read the his- 

 tory of their country till they were elevated to the 

 of the state, that is, as he saul, they 

 the employment, and then bethought 

 of the qualifications necessary for the pro- 

 per discharge of it." 



In this brief enumeration of the principal uses to be 

 derived from the study of history, it is presupposed that 

 historical facts are made the subjects of mature reflec- 

 tion. He who is satisfied with merely storing his mind 

 with a multiplicity of events, even though those events 

 may be of the highest class in point of importance, and 

 nlrulatad to establish or illustrate the most useful prin- 

 ciples, will derive little profit from a great expend of 

 time and labour. 



II. The sciences which are of the most constant and 

 general use in the study of history, so a* to have de- 

 served to be caned its two eyes, are geography and chro- 

 nology. Without the former, no reader of history can 

 have any clear and distinct idea of what be reads. 

 Morearer. by a knowledge of this science, we are able 

 to veriry many past tTaumctiaus, which, if they ever , 

 happened, must have left indelible traces on the face logy. 

 of the earth. Many curious si ampins of this nature 

 may be seen in Addison's Maundrela, and Shaw's 

 Travels. With respect to chronology, it is absolutely 

 impossible to form clear and mis of the in- 



tervals of time, of the rise and fall of empires, and of the 

 successive establishment of states, without some such 

 general uaiiyiiihiiiiiiai of the whole urrent of time, as 

 may enable us to trace out distinctly the dependence 

 of events, and distribute them into such periods and 

 divisions, as shall place the whole train of past trans- 

 actions in a just and orderly manner before us. For a 

 further illustration of the uses of GEOOAAPHV and 

 CH BOKO too Y as applicable to history, we refer our 

 leadsri to those two articles in this work. 

 Another branch of study, which ought to be pursued Sutistfes, 



Prrprtorj 



