HISTORY. 



te therefore must not turn philosopher or 

 moralist indifferently upon all occasions; 

 for every man desires to be free in his 

 judgment of the facts represented to him, 

 and the consequences he is to draw from 

 them, in which consists the greatest plea- 

 sure of the reader.. But if an author 

 should throw in or mingle reflections of 

 his own with his story, they must be suck 

 as arise naturally from the subject, and 

 contain a great and noble sense in a few 

 words ; they must not be too fine spun or 

 Studied, nor have more brightness than 

 solidity, but appear rather to be the rea- 

 soning of a wise statesman than the affec- 

 tation of a declaimer ; nor must they be 

 too frequent, or too loose and disjointed, 

 but be enamelled in the body of the work. 

 Digressions, if made with judgment, and 

 not too wide and foreign from the subject, 

 have also their proper grace and ornament 

 in history ; as they give an agreeable va- 

 riety to the narration, and relie-ve the 

 mind of the reader ; but they must be 

 introduced by the historian with an artful 

 hand and great address ; they must bear 

 an alliance and connection with tbe pur- 

 port of the history ; and their length 

 must be proportionably greater or less, 

 as they are more nearly or remotely allied 

 to the capital point of the story. 



HISTORY is a connected recital of past 

 or present events. 



If the value of each department of 

 knowledge is to be ascertained by the 

 esteem in which it is held by the gene- 

 rality of readers, a place of distinguished 

 honour must be assigned to history. Gra- 

 tifying that curiosity, which is innate in 

 the mind of man, it is equally delightful 

 to those whose intellect is just dawning, 

 and to those whose faculties are ma- 

 tured by the lapse of time and the pro- 

 cess of cultivation. Comparateively, few 

 have a relish for abstract speculations ; 

 but almost all are delighted by the dis- 

 play of facts. By the pictures which are 

 exhibited in a faithful narration, the fancy 

 is gently excited, and the feelings are in- 

 terested, without being agitated to a de- 

 gree inconsistent with pleasure. If then 

 we consider history only as a source of 

 elegant amusement, it is an object of no 

 inconsiderable importance in a course of 

 liberal education. 



But this is in fact the lowest commen- 

 dation to which history is entitled. It is 

 eminently productive of signal utility. 

 The poet "has justly remarked, that " the 

 proper study of mankind is man ;" and 

 it is the office of history to trace the pro- 

 gress of man from the savage state, and 



VOL. VI, 



through the intermediate degrees of civi- 

 lization, to the nearest approach to per- 

 fection of which social institutions are ca- 

 pable. It falls within its province to note 

 the effects of laws and political regula- 

 tions, and to record the wondrous revolu- 

 tions which have been produced in states 

 by external violence, and the no less aston- 

 ishing changes which have been occasion- 

 ed by the gradual corruption of ancient 

 systems of government. The record of 

 past transactions, when diligently and mi- 

 nutely examined, will present to the po- 

 litician matter of warning and matter of 

 instruction. It will point out the sources 

 of the errors of former days, and will also 

 lead him to a discernment of the means 

 which have crowned with success such 

 plans as have been productive of benefit 

 to the public. Knowledge which is thus 

 gained is obtained at the cheapest possi- 

 ble price. Happy are the directors of po- 

 litical affairs, who learn, in the philosophy 

 of history, those lessons which their pre- 

 decessors have learnt by the process of 

 painful experience. It has been well ob- 

 served by Voltaire, that the history of the 

 sanguinary Chrstiern will deter those, 

 whose influence may happen to sway the 

 destiny of nations, from investing a tyrant 

 with absolute power ; and that the disas- 

 ter of Charles XII. before Pultowa af- 

 fords a lesson of admonition to a general, 

 not to penetrate without provision into a 

 country like the Ukraine; whilst the pow- 

 erful and popular administration of Eliza- 

 beth of England demonstrates the mighty 

 effects of extended commerce, and pru- 

 dent economy. In a political point of view, 

 the general influence of historical know- 

 ledge, is, indeed, of the highest import- 

 ance ; it tends to prevent the recurrence, 

 and to diminish the remaining influence, 

 of superstition and religious persecution, 

 and of the long train of calamities with 

 which those direst enemies of human hap- 

 piness are accompanied. For who can 

 read the memorials of the papal usurpa- 

 tions in the dark ages, and of the melan- 

 choly consequences by which they were 

 followed, without imbibing a spirit of to- 

 lerance, and a determined disposition to 

 discountenance any claims which may re- 

 vive the unjust assumptions of inordinate 

 spiritual power. In short, history, whilst 

 it details the miseries and misfortunes 

 which have upon various occasions befall- 

 en civilized man, instructs him how these 

 miseries and misfortunes may hereafter 

 be avoided. 



In a moral point of view, history is ex- 

 tremely useful, as it points out the issues 

 of things, and exhibits, as its general re* 



U 



