CIVIL AND NATURAL. XIX 



ment to other contemporary historians, who, to use his 

 own phrase in a letter to myself, may, like him, con- 

 sider plai?i truth as the beauty of historical composition. 

 From all these materials, and from these alone, a 

 perfect history of India (if a mere compilation, how- 

 ever elegant, could deserve such a title) might be 

 collected by any studious man who had a competent 

 knowledge of oanscrit, Persian, and Arabic ; but even 

 in the work of a writer so qualified, we could only 

 give absolute credence to the general outline ; for, 

 while the abstract sciences are all truth, and the fine 

 arts all fiction, we cannot but own, that, in the details 

 of history, truth and fiction are so blended as to be 

 scarce distinguishable. 



The practical use of history, in affording particu- 

 lar examples of civil and military wisdom, has been 

 greatly exaggerated ; but principles of action may cer- 

 tainly be collected from it ; and even the narrative of 

 wars and revolutions may serve as a lesson to nations, 

 and an admonition to sovereigns. A desire, indeed, 

 of knowing past events, while the future cannot be 

 known, and a view of the present, gives often more 

 pain than delight, seems natural to the human mind ; 

 and a happy propensity would it be, if every reader 

 of history would open his eyes to some very important 

 corollaries, which flow from the whole extent of it. 

 He could not but remark the constant effect of despo- 

 tism in benumbing and debasing all those faculties 

 which distinguish men from the herd that grazes ; and 

 to that cause lie would impute the decided inferiority 



b z of 



