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attending to the full-blown events of the current day, which, however, are rapidly losing their significance."

The lesson of Grecian History is thus set forth by Grote :

"The poets, historians, orators and philosophers of Greece, have all been rendered both more intelligible and more instructive than they were to a student in the last century; and the general picture of the Grecian world may now be conceived with a degree of fidelity, which, considering our imperfect materials, it is curious to.contemplate. It is that general picture which an historian of Greece is required first to embody in his own mind, and next to lay out before his readers; a picture not merely such as to delight the imagination by brilliancy of coloring and depth of sentiment, but also suggestive and improving to the reason. Not omitting the points of resemblance as well as of contrast with the better-known forms of modern society, he will especially study to exhibit the spontaneous movement of Grecian intellect, sometimes aided but never borrowed from without, and lighting up a small portion of a world otherwise clouded and stationary. He will develop the action of that social system, which, while ensuring to the mass of freemen a degree of protection elsewhere unknown, acted as a stimulus to the creative impulses of genius, and left the superior minds sufficiently unshackled to soar above religious and political routine, to overshoot their own age, and to become the teachers of posterity."

The teachings of History are not confined to the merits of the institutions tested. They enforce, besides, the dependence of society on the virtues of the individual members, governing or governed: they read moral lessons even more unequivocally than political. Hence reflections of a moral kind are abundantly strewed over the historian's page. Froude, alluding to the vocation of history, makes these observations :—

"The history of this, as of all other nations (or so much of it as there is occasion for any of us to know), is the history of the battles which it has fought and won with evil; not with political evil merely, or spiritual evil; but with all manifestations whatsoever of the devil's power. And to have beaten back, or even to have fought against and stemmed in ever so small a degree those besetting basenesses of human nature, now held so invincible that the influences of them are assumed as the fundamental axioms of economic science; this appears to me a greater victory than Agincourt, a grander triumph of wisdom and faith and courage than even the English constitution or the English liturgy."

32. Secondly, as regards Interest, or the gratifica

INTEREST OF HISTORY.

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tion of the feelings. In this light, History participates of the nature of Poetry, of which it commands many elements.

(1.) There is always a powerful attraction in human personality-man's interest in man. Our sympathy with the race in general, and with our own, or any other, country in particular, engages us with human affairs in the past.

(2.) The spectacle of great heroic men, and of the collective force of nations, displaying itself in war or in peace, is imposing and sublime.

(3.) It is in narration that we enjoy the stir of movement and the interest of plot.

(4.) Sometimes we are gratified by a righteous moral retribution, and by the success of worthy endeavors.

(5.) The progress or improvement of mankind is a natural aspiration, lending interest to the course of events. The following passage from Macaulay brings out this special interest, and is also deserving of being quoted as an example of Strength, and of the arts of Poetry embodied in prose :

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"The sources of the noblest rivers which spread fertility over continents, and bear richly laden fleets to the sea, are to be sought in wild and barren mountain tracts, incorrectly laid down in maps, and rarely explored by travellers. To such a tract the history of our country during the thirteenth century may not inaptly be compared. Sterile and obscure as is that portion of our annals, it is there that we must seek for the origin of our freedom, our prosperity, and our glory. Then it was that the great English people was formed; that the national character began to exhibit those culiarities which it has ever since retained; and that our fathers became emphatically islanders,-islanders not merely in geographical position, but in their politics, their feelings, and their manners. Then first appeared with distinctness that constitution which has ever since, through all changes, preserved its identity; that constitution of which all the other free constitutions in the world are copies, and which, in spite of some defects, deserves to be regarded as the best under which any great society has ever yet existed during many ages. Then it was that the House of Commons, the archetype of all the representative assemblies which now meet either in the Old or in the New World, held its first sittings. Then it was that the common law rose to the dignity of a science, and rapidly became a not unworthy rival of the imperial jurisprudence. Then it was that the courage of those sailors who manned the rude

barks of the Cinque Ports first made the flag of England terrible on the seas. Then it was that the most ancient colleges which still exist at both the great national seats of learning were founded. Then was formed that language, less musical, indeed, than the languages of the south, but in force, in richness, in aptitude for all the highest purposes of the poet, the philosopher, and the orator, inferior to that of Greece alone. Then, too, appeared the first faint dawn of that noble literature, the most splendid and the most durable of the many glories of England.”

33. VI. A History is appropriately commenced with the Geography of the country.

It is not an historian's province to teach Geography. Still, as few readers are well versed in the Geography of any country, and as the writer of a history knows exactly what are the geographical features that concern the events to be related, he does well to preface his work with a sketch adapted to his own ends. The other method of attaining the object—to introduce the local descriptions piecemeal, as they are wanted-is less compatible with a comprehensive view. In any case, an acquaintance with localities is essential to realizing the events graphically, and gives them an additional hold on the memory. tween Geography and History there is a mutual support.

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The physical features of the country constitute the first part of the delineation,-the coasts, plains, mountains, rivers, fertile and barren tracts, mines, vegetation, animal life, &c. Then follows what it is now usual to call the Political Geography—the races that inhabit the country, their distribution, their industry, the towns, the government, &c.

In such a detail, opportunities may be found of disburdening the future narrative of explanations necessary to comprehend the events. Such matters-pertinent to all national movements as the industry and resources of the country, the character and habits of the population, the political system, or the working of the government, are to be understood once for all, and are merely to derive confirmation from the progress of the history.

34. VII. Considered as unfolding the progress or civilization of a people, and thereby furnishing political

HISTORY OF NATIONAL PROGRESS.

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and moral lessons, a History might be conceived as a series of delineations or cross sections of a nation's existence, selected from different epochs, with an intermediate narrative to show how the one passed into the other.

Mere existence does not provide matter for history in the above sense. If a people maintain the precise routine of their fathers in the limits of their abode, in their industry, their usages, their knowledge and beliefs, and all their institutions, the life of such a people is exhausted by a single delineation; they have a geography, but not a history. This state of things is commonly, though incorrectly, attributed to the Chinese. It is more true of other Asiatic nations, and of the tribes everywhere reputed savage. Highly dramatic incidents and struggles, and the lights and shades of human life, would still appear, and might be seized hold of by a poet-historian, but the only material for the politician or the political philosopher would be the fact that certain institutions could co-exist, and might possibly have the more intimate bond of cause and effect.

35. The entire mode of existence of a people at any one epoch would require to be exhibited under welldefined heads.

By different historians the institutions of a complete society are differently classed. We append one mode as an example :

It being assumed that the physical constituents, or geographical features, of the country are fully set forth, and the natural characteristics of the population understood, the institutions may be described in order as follows:

(1.) The INDUSTRIAL ARRANGEMENTS. The Industrial condition not only gives the action of the people on the materials presented to them by surrounding nature, and their efforts for the first necessaries of life, but also reflects light upon their intelligence and their degree of advancement, and penetrates a good way into their social relations, many of which, as master and servant, buyer and seller, grow out of their industry. A full description of the agricultural, mining, commercial, and

manufacturing operations, makes us already familiar with a large part of a nation's life. It shadows forth the distribution of the people in towns and villages, the means of communication, and a considerable portion of the legislative, administrative, and judicial acts of the Government.

In connection with the material industry, we may treat of the more intellectual professions-the priest, the teacher, the physician, the legal adviser-all which are interesting in themselves, and suggestive of many other important points.

(2.) There can be no society without a GOVERNMENT.

The political head of the state, whether one person or more, stands forth in various relations to other states, which relations history seizes by preference. The constitution of the Government needs to be fully described for each epoch. When this has greatly changed between two epochs, there is always scope for narrative and explanation.

The extent of liberty granted to the individual citizen is a vital part of the political system.

The operations of the governing body fall under three heads: Legislative, or the permanent regulations known as the Laws; Administrative, or the daily conduct of such affairs as are managed by the central authority; and Judicial, or the forms and processes of distributing justice, in civil suits and in the punishment of criminals. The Legislation can be described only in a general manner, unless it be very simple and primitive; but many of its details come out in the delineation of the other departments of society.

The account of the Government must include local authorities, as well as the central, and the extent of the sphere allotted to these, in other words, the degree of centralization of political power.

The System of Ranks is a political institution; for, although rank is sometimes found to mean only precedence, yet, in its first foundations, it must be associated with temporal or spiritual authority.

(3.) The FAMILY.

The laws and usages connected with marriage, and the re

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