706 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts, and Letters . 
could not be trusted, that every writer colored the events, 
consciously or unconsciously. They demanded that history 
should be reconstructed from the more objective records, 
especially the documents, inscriptions, and similar histor¬ 
ical remains. This tendency was of the greatest possible 
import, because such sources required much deeper study and 
more skill; the methods employed in the criticism of these 
reacted favorably upon the use of chronicles and memoirs. 
Certain classes of sources came into special favor because 
they could be tested more thoroughly and the facts which 
were obtained had more objectivity. This was especially 
true of the legal documents. In the words of Mr. Henry C. 
Lea: “The history of jurisprudence is the history of civ¬ 
ilization. The labors of the lawgiver embody not only the 
manners and customs of his time, but also its innermost 
thoughts and beliefs, laid bare for our examination with a 
frankness that admits no concealment. These afford the 
surest outlines for a trustworthy picture of the past, of 
which the details are supplied by the records of the chroni¬ 
cler.” Here, as often, Mr. Lea avoided the extreme views 
held by partisans and stated effectively the truth, that the 
records of the chroniclers are necessary for the complete¬ 
ness of the picture, although the legal documents are a more 
trustworthy guide for the general outline. It is noteworthy, 
too, that Mr. Lea was seeking to know “not only the man¬ 
ners and customs,” but also the “innermost thoughts and 
beliefs.” This was his lifelong interest, and in his zeal he 
examined many sources which he was the first to use. 
Historians are working towards this goal and literally 
everything which has reached us from the past is a source to ' 
be used in our study. This evening I want to illustrate this 
general statement by laying stress upon one class of sources 
which has been somewhat neglected: what we may call, 
although inexactly, literary sources. These are especially 
valuable to those historians, an ever increasing number, 
who are seeking to discover what in each age the people 
have struggled for; the ideas which were going out and those 
which were coming in; the motives and aspirations for which 
men have been willing to live and to die. In this search, 
literary sources can not be neglected. “For literature is the 
wisdom of man and the history of man. ‘It acquaints the 
