I would not enter upon the study of history through the medium of
epitome. I would even postpone the general history of nations, to the
character and actions of particular men.
Many of the articles I have mentioned, serve to compose the pedantry of
history. Than history, no science has been more abused. It has been
studied from ostentation; it has been studied with the narrow views of
little minds; it has been warped to serve a temporary purpose. Ingenious
art has hung it round with a thousand subtleties, and a thousand
disputes. The time has at length arrived, when it requires an erect
understanding, and a penetrating view, above the common rate, to
discover the noble purposes, which this science is most immediately
calculated to subserve.
In a word, the fate of history has been like that of travelling. The
institution has been preserved, but its original use is lost. One man
travels from fashion, and another from pride. One man travels to measure
buildings, another to examine pictures, and a third perhaps to learn to
dance. Scarcely any remember that its true application is to study men
and manners. Perhaps a juster idea cannot be given of the science we are
considering, than that which we may deduce from a reflection of
Rousseau.
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