1797-1 
wilh, Of modern works, I know of 
none that I can recommend to be read with 
the ancient hiftorians, except VERTOT’S 
Roman Revolutions—MOonTESQUIEU’S 
Greatnefs and Decline of the Romans 
—and Dr. MippLETON’s incompa- 
rable Life of Cicero, which is a pro- 
duétion of original genius, and yet 
comprifes all that 1s’ moft excellent in 
the writings of the great man whofe 
life it marrates. tis, indeed, a model of 
Enelith fyle;’it is correét, without lan- 
guor; imterefting, yet elaborate; and, 
if any proof was to be adduced of the de- 
cline of tive tafte in the prefent age, the 
moitt forcible would be, the negicét into 
which this admirable work has fallen. 
Tt have not noticed the abridgements 
of Justin, FLORUS, and, VELLEIUs 
PAaTEXCULUS, as they are mere com- 
pilations, and very indifferent and un- 
fatisiaétory. Two works of great merit 
I have not mentioned, becauie the cne 
relates to an event of not much import- 
ance with re{peét to seneral hiftory, 
“< materiam fupérabat opus,’ and the 
fubfttance of the other is‘ contained in 
thofe which | had before recommended. 
I {peak of the ANABASIS, of KENO- 
PHON, one of the moft interefting and 
engaging books that ever was produced, 
and the hittory of Ponysprus. Of the 
latter, there is a tranflation by Hampton, 
but I cannot {peak of its merits, having 
snever read it. Of the Englifh compila- 
tions which contain the hittory of the 
Roman commonwealth, I prefer Fergu- 
fon’s to Hook’s. 
in fpeaking of the hiftory of the 
Roman emperors, the reader is prepared 
to anticipate my recommendation of 
SUETONIUS and Tacitus. The 
Hiitory of the Twelve Cefars, by the 
former, is an ill-written book, yet -it - 
mutt be read, as we have the facts in no 
other original author ;—but Tacitus is a 
treafure which the man of genius will 
prize, not merely for the hiftorical mat- 
_ ter which it contains, but for the mafs of 
moral inflruétion, and the great know- 
ledge of human nature, which it conveys 
to the attentive mind. Hie muft be a 
dull man, who contents himfelf with 
reading Tacitus once; he that has tatie 
and leifure will almoft with to commit 
his annals and his hiftory to memory. 
Of Tacitus we have two tranflations ; 
Mr. Murphy’s contains the fentiments, 
though it gives the Eneglith reader but an 
indifferent idea of the ftyle of his author. 
it is, however, written in what may be 
termed a good Englih fiyle, and he who 
On the Study of Hiftory. 
‘of. the correét De Tuou. 
369 
reads for hiftorical information only, mav 
read it with pleafure. Gordon’s tran. 
lation is infuiferably pedantic and affected, 
yet it has fome firength, and occafionally 
affords a tolerable fpecimen of that con- 
denfation of language which, 1s thcha- 
racteriftic of Tacitus. Mr. Murphy’s, 
however, is preferable for the Nudent in 
hittory, becaufe it is the mott intellizible. 
After finifhing Tacitus, we muft? of ne- 
cefity, have recourfe to compilation 
wunlefs we would undertake a drudgery 
<— Js 
to which few men of tafte will fubmit, 
except for the attainment of fome great 
object. Mr. Gipgeon takes ua the fub- 
ject where Tacitus has left it, and cer- 
tainly a nobler monument of cenius was 
Wever erected, than the “Decline and 
Fallof the Roman Empire.”) Thoush in 
one fenfe it may be termed a com pilation, 
yet, as a compofition, it ts truly original. 
The fentiments are certainly thofe of our 
times; but all the riches of a great mind 
are poured out to the reader, and much 
of the {cenery, and much of the delinea_ 
tian of manners which the original 
Writers contain, are ftill preferved. The 
two chapters which have excited mot 
attention, the 1sthand 16th, are the leaft 
valuable; they are heavy and fpeculative, 
and may be omitted in the perufal cf the 
hiftory, without breaking the conneétion. 
The narrative of Gibbon extends to what 
may be accounted a modern period, and 
a few books will ferve to unite the chain 
of hiftory with that of our own country. 
Dr ROBERTSON’s CHARLES V IS, 
perhaps, the moft perfeét hiftorical com- 
polition in the Englith language; and Dr. 
Warson’s History is weil conneéted 
with it; and both-relate to fome of the 
moft important events recorded in hiftory 
—the reformation of religion, and the 
eftablifhment of the Batavian republic, 
Mr. Wraxate has lately filled up a 
chaf on the hiftorical. fhelf, by his 
agreeable hiftory of France; yet, I 
would not wifh the fudent to fatisfy him- 
felf with that author’s account of the ace 
of Henry the Great, but would advite 
him to infpeét for himfelf the interefting 
and unblemithed pages of SULLY; and 
there are few {cholars who will not find 
exquifite pleafure in the General Hiftory 
VERTOT’s 
REVOLUTIONS: of ‘SWEDEN and. of 
PORTUGAL, are both of them animated 
narratives of important events. Vol. 
taire’s Age of Louis XIV and XV, 
may be claffed among original hiftories, 
though not of the firft rank ; his Charles 
Xit is, I fear, little better than a 
| romance 
