"The ancient historians," says he, "are crowded with those
views of things, from which we may derive the utmost utility, even
though the facts that suggest them, should be mistaken. But we are
unskilled to derive any real advantage from history. The critique of
erudition absorbs every thing; as if it imported us much whether the
relation were true, provided we could extract from it any useful
induction. Men of sense ought to regard history as a tissue of fables,
whose moral is perfectly adapted to the human heart."
The mere external actions of men are not worth the studying: Who would
have ever thought of going through a course of history, if the science
were comprised in a set of chronological tables? No: it is the hearts of
men we should study. It is to their actions, as expressive of
disposition and character, we should attend. But by what is it that we
can be advanced thus far, but by specious conjecture, and plausible
inference? The philosophy of a Sallust, and the sagacity of a Tacitus,
can only advance us to the regions of probability. But whatever be the
most perfect mode of historical composition, it is to the simplest
writers that our youth should be first introduced, writers equally
distant from the dry detail of Du Fresnoy, and the unrivalled eloquence
of a Livy.
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