HISTORY. 



suit, the reprobation consequent upon 

 vice, and the glory which awaits virtue. 

 In his days of nature, the oppressor may 

 be applauded by the venal, whilst he 

 lords it over his fellow men, and the wan- 

 ton destroyer of the human race may be 

 hailed as a hero by the obsequious or mis- 

 taken crowd. But when his dust is min- 

 gled with that of the victims of his cruel- 

 ty and ambition, history summons him to 

 her tribunal : she scrutinizes his deeds 

 with impartial strictness, and passes sen- 

 tence upon him according to his deserts. 

 The prejudices and errors of time present 

 will hereafter be done away and correct- 

 ed by history, which, represses the 

 wrongs of the injured, and treats with just 

 contempt the insolent assumption of the 

 undeserving. Thus, by the record of 

 crimes, no less than by the display of il- 

 lustrious examples of virtue, does history 

 inculcate good principles, and enforce 

 upon the reflecting mind a belief in a 

 superintending Providence. 



The early annals of all countries are 

 considerably debased by an intermixture 

 of fables. In fact, the first historians 

 were universally poets,,whpse metaphors, 

 amplifications, and allegories, necessarily 

 obscured facts, or heightened them be- 

 yond the standard of probability. To ex- 

 plain their legends is the province of the 

 mythologist, whose labours, however cu- 

 rious an'd interesting to those who have 

 time and inclination for such pursuits, af- 

 ford very little assistance to the historian. 



But the mythologic age being thus 

 consigned to the examination of those 

 whom they may concern, however rude 

 may be the style of ancient chronicles, 

 or however simple and puerile the obser- 

 vations and reflections with which they 

 may be interspersed, he who wishes to im- 

 bibe the true spirit of history will dili- 

 gently peruse them, when they become 

 the repositories of facts. Such documents 

 alone will give him an idea of the genius 

 of the times concerning which they treat. 

 He who wishes to become acquainted 

 with the principles and manners which 

 predominated in France, in the reign of 

 St. Louis or of John, will read the lively 

 and simple, but minutely particular, nar- 

 ratives of Joinville and of Froissart, rather 

 than the dull details of a Daniel, or the 

 hasty and imperfect sketch of a Millot. 

 In all cases, indeed, he who wishes to see 

 past events in their true light will refer as 

 much as possible to original authorities. 

 The farther the stream of history flows 

 from its source, the more it is polluted by 

 foreign mixtures. And besides this, how-*" 

 ever skilful, or however faithful, a com- 

 piler may be, his particular view& lead 



him to pass unnoticed a variety of fects, 

 which are in themselves valuable, and in- 

 deed necessary to the perfect understand- 

 ing of the real nature and bearings of 

 events. 



This maxim of having recourse to au- 

 thentic documents will furnish a canon for 

 the most profitable mode of studying an- 

 cient history. It will instruct the student 

 to pass lightly over those periods of the 

 Greek and Roman annals, the transactions 

 of which were handed down by tradition 

 to authors, who, instead of scrutinizing 

 their credibility, have amplified and em- 

 bellished them by the charms of style ; 

 and to direct his attention to the records 

 which have been written by those who 

 lived at the time when the actions which 

 they commemorate took place, and more 

 especially to the memoirs of illustrious 

 warriors and statesmen, who have left be- 

 hind them the detail of transactions in 

 which they have been personally concern- 

 ed. Guided by this principle, he will not 

 dwell upon the marvellous tales ef an 

 Herodotus or a Quintus Curtius ; but he 

 will study with diligence the narratives of 

 a Thucydides or a Xenophon, of a Sallust, 

 a Cicero, a Caesar, or a Tacitus; and whilst 

 the legend of Curtius, as recorded by Li- 

 vy, only demonstrates to him the posthu- 

 mous glory, which, in the happier times 

 of the Roman republic, awaited him who 

 was ready to sacrifice his life for the good 

 of his country, he will peruse, with more 

 interest, the later periods of that writer's 

 history, in which .he treats of events 

 which happened nearer to his own time, 

 and the genuine records of which were, 

 in all probability, furnished to him by the 

 public offices of the state. 



In regard to the earlier periods of mo- 

 dern history, authentic documents are 

 scanty and obscure, and the investigator 

 of the truth of facts is frequently obliged, 

 as it were, to proceed with cautious steps 

 through a dark and doubtful way ; but, in 

 process of time, they multiply to such an 

 extent, that the student is embarrassed 

 by their number. The archives of the 

 different states of Europe contain vast 

 masses of materials, which occasional li- 

 berality has opened to the curious inqui- 

 rer. On the important topic of ecclesias- 

 tical proceedings, the printed reports 

 of the decrees of councils and synods 

 throw the most satisfactory light. Volu- 

 minous collections of treatises, which 

 have been compiled for the benefit of af- 

 ter times, open the policy of different 

 states and empires ; and in various cases, 

 those documents are themselves illustrat- 

 ed by the comments and memoirs of the 

 negotiators, by whom they were discussed 



