enemy; but above all, to estimate his character, we should carefully observe, how he won the affections, possessed himself of the confidence, and breathed his own heroic soul into that of his army; or, negligent of, and incompetent to both, sunk his troops into feebleness and dastardy. In order to acquire from history a scientific knowledge of politics, we must study the general character, as well as the peculiar manners and customs of the nations and people whom it treats of, the nature of the government and the physical strength of those countries with which the political actors of the times are connected; we must review again and again the varied conduct of eminent statesmen ; the policy, the wisdom, the patriotism, and the virtue of their schemes; the means by which they carried them into execution; the prudence of their financial arrangements; în fine, the general system and tendency of their domestic and foreign policy; whether like a meteor it be temporary and fleeting, or, like the œconomy of Nature, permanent and and comprehensive. In the moral philosophy of history, it is a more nice and delicate task, amidst a variety of apparent, delusive, and often contradictory causes, to elicit those which can alone conduce to the stability, independence, and true prosperity of nations, and upon which the advancement of mankind in knowledge, virtue, and happiness absolutely depends; to penetrate a thick and turbid mass, and discover the true theory of human nature; that seemingly latent but indestructible principle of moral, which confounds the deep and well-planned schemes of designing selfish policy, which survives the wreck of contending empires, and the wide-spreading desolation of barbarian conquest, which from the very grave of ignorance, superstition, and vice, regenerates man, In this way history may certainly be studied to great advantage, and where there is time adequate thereto, and where there are talents prepared and cultivated to this purpose, every human being may derive from history - L4 history a generous gratification and much solid benefit. There is another valuable purpose to which history subserves, in teaching to man the magnitude of his powers, and the inexhausted resources on which in every emergency and difficulty, exertion, fortitude, and magnanimity have to depend. This is a lesson which man needs, and sufficient to confer on history all the dignity and praise which are ascribed to her. The most vicious as well as the most honourable characters recorded in history exhibit this lesson to man. The fortitude, the perseverance, the unsubdued spirit, with which both ancient and modern heroes keep on their course through the most formidable difficulties, summon to their aid those powers, which trial and necessity could alone have discovered to them, and by the vigorous and steady application of which they triumph over every resistance, and attain their desired object, unfold a view of man, which could .could only be learned from the grand and extended display of human talent which history exhibits. This I consider as by far the most valuable use to which history subserves; and certainly applicable as a lesson to a wider range of extent than the former uses which I have noticed. But to the far greater part of mankind, who, from the destiny of their lot, are assigned to different purposes, who either cannot, or think that they cannot, penetrate the mysteries of the soldier or the statesman, or follow the philosophic moralist in his deep and abstract investigations, these concessions do by no means apply. Occupied in the common concerns of the world, they have neither the time, the inclination, nor the abilities which enable them to derive from history these important advantages, nor are they invited and encouraged to the attempt by their more favoured superiors. If they peruse history at all, it is merely as an idle and passing amusement, or to acquire a cursory knowledge of a few leading facts and and dates, in order that they may not appear utterly ignorant of former times; a species of knowledge which can neither much improve the understanding, better the heart, nor contribute to one valuable end. Perhaps I am not wrong if it be my further opinion, that to uncultivated and unfeeling readers of this description, history may not only be an unprofitable, but in its consequences an injurious occupation. Some may deem it only a pleasing illusion of the imagination, but I hold it as a truth, that the virtue, which constitutes at once the ornament and felicity of man, has most of the graces in her train, and amongst these, that modesty which declines a proud show to the world, is a distinguished and inseparable attendant. It is therefore that we rarely meet with virtue in the splendid display of history, whether in the court, or in the camp, in the senate, or in the forum, or even in the academic grove, or, where she might at least be expected, at the tribunals of executive justice. And it is therefore that the |