Francis Parkman 221 



herent in its very nature. The hopeless paralysis, 

 the woeful corruption, the moral torpor, resulting 

 from the suppression of individualism, are vividly 

 portrayed ; yet there is no discursive generalizing, 

 and from moment to moment the development of 

 the story proceeds from within itself. It is the 

 whole national life of New France that is displayed 

 before us. Historians of ordinary calibre exhibit 

 their subject in fragments, or they show us some 

 phases of life and neglect others. Some have no 

 eyes save for events that are startling, such as bat- 

 tles and sieges ; or decorative, such as coronations 

 and court balls. Others give abundant details of 

 manners and customs ; others have their attention 

 absorbed by economics ; others again feel such inter- 

 est in the history of ideas as to lose sight of mere 

 material incidents. Parkman, on the other hand, 

 conceives and presents his subject as a whole. He 

 forgets nothing, overlooks nothing; but whether 

 it is a bloody battle, or a theological pamphlet, or 

 an exploring journey though the forest, or a code 

 for the discipline of nunneries, each event grows 

 out of its context as a feature in the total develop- 

 ment that is going on before our eyes. It is only 

 the historian who is also philosopher and artist that 

 can thus deal in block with the great and complex 

 life of a whole society. The requisite combination 



