torical into physiological phenomena, whether they are material, vital, or spiritual. Temperature and moisture, of a certain degree and quantity, acting on certain chemical combinations of nitrogen, carbon, phosphorus, etc., are the formula by which historical phenomena can all be explained. Napoleon and Waterloo, Abraham Lincoln and Bull Run, General Lee and Appomatox Court-House, are satisfactorily accounted for by various formulæ, of which the terms are H, O, C, N, etc., in various combinations. A writer who recognizes a somewhat wider range of forces, some of which are spiritual, but all, whether material or spiritual, obey mechanical laws and act by a necessitating force, will, like Buckle, evolve and explain all possible occurrences and phenomena according to an à priori necessity, from whose iron embrace there is no release. Those who, like Froude, believe in the caprices and energy of human passions and individual freedom, or who, like Niebuhr, Arnold, Goldwin Smith, and hosts of other Christian historians, distinctly recognize a Divine Providence fulfilling merciful plans of human progress and redemption, will have another and a nobler philosophy of history, because they accept a nobler philosophy of the universe and of human life.

It ought to be added that to serve more effectually the philosophical explanation of the Past, the great movements of historic progress in separate lines and the several agencies on which they depend have been treated of in distinct works. Thus we have not a few generalized histories, as of Commerce, Geographical Discovery, Emigration, Philosophy, Morals, Literature, Poetry, Fiction, Criticism, and even of Civilization itself. The treatment of these topics of historic research separately has this great advantage, that it limits the attention more effectually to single classes of phenomena, and to the workings of single forces. It withdraws the mind from the more palpable

and material effects and causes, to the more refined and spiritual. It enables each student to look at the history of man from that point of view which most interests his own feelings, or bears upon his own studies, and it saves the general reader an immense amount of special research and laborious investigation.

But the impatient reader, who may have followed us thus far, will be likely here to interrupt us with the inquiry; "But what has all this to do with a course of historical reading? These general disquisitions on the writing of history may have some interest for those who have history to write, but they can have no possible application to those who have history to read. The progress and development of history, from poetic narration to philosophical interpretation, may be instructive to learned students but not to general readers." To which we reply: Have patience; "History is a vast jungle, an impenetrable morass to the reader who undertakes to find his way through it without a guide, and even to him who reads the first book which is recommended to him, and having finished that seizes upon another. To read history with any profit or even with much satisfaction whether alone or under the advice of a sagacious friend, one should know something of what history is, and how it is written, in what various forms, with what diversity of honesty, truth, and trustworthiness." To furnish this information, preliminary to special advice respecting the selection of books and the manner of reading them, has been the aim of this chapter.

CHAPTER XII.

HOW TO READ HISTORY.

It is not easy to prescribe a course of Historical Reading for a single individual, even though he is an intimate friend, whose character and culture, whose aims and habits, whose leisure and opportunities are all supposed to be familiarly known to his adviser. It is more difficult to do it for many persons, every one of whom may differ from the other in every one of these particulars. An extended or general course which might be equally suitable for all readers, is idle to think of. To attempt even a selection of the best authors, without knowing somewhat intimately the person for whom they are chosen, would be foolish and futile. All that we propose to do is to lay down a few principles which will enable a reader to begin wisely and to proceed with satisfaction in selecting books for himself; and also to illustrate these principles by referring to a few authors of marked peculiarities and of unquestioned excellence.

We observe, first of all, that a thorough mastery of the field of history must be the work of many years; in some sort, of a lifetime. To fix in the mind the dates of the most important events, to impress the events themselves upon the memory so that they shall be permanent and familiar, to settle the great questions which are in dispute in respect to facts and principles, to be able to summon at call the great pictures which make up the diorama of the world's past, can be achieved only by the few students to whom historical research is the exclusive occupation of

their life. For such we do not write. They would not need our assistance, could we give it ; for it is the prerogative of every such student to find his path opening naturally and easily before him as he proceeds. To such the author immediately in hand introduces many others whom he will wish to read. The subject which at present occupies the attention inevitably suggests numerous kindred topics. In part this is true for the class of persons for whom we write-who are supposed to be comparatively ignorant of books and unpractised in reading. Even such readers ought not to expect to finish in a year or two the brief and imperfect course of history which they may immediately require. We grant, one may learn a compend of events or a table of dates within a few months. He may commit to memory an outline history of Greece and Rome, of Europe in the middle ages, of Great Britain and the United States. But to do this is simply to lay the foundation and to erect the scaffolding. To master the history of these countries, so as intelligently to enjoy it and be instructed by it, requires a far longer period, and must be, at the shortest, the work of several years of earnest and awakened attention. Moreover, it would not be desirable, were it practicable, to finish such a course of reading more speedily. To read history should be proposed by every thoughtful person as the learning and pastime of his entire life; ; as capable of perpetually opening new views of regions unseen before, and of bringing before the same eye fresh aspects of scenes that are none the less interesting because they have been often revisited. Indeed, there is an important sense in which it is true that a man must wait till he is somewhat advanced in life before he can read history with full advantage and enjoyment, because such a person only can bring to it the observation and interest furnished by actual experience. If "old experience" alone, as Milton suggests, can attain "to something like prophetic

strain" in its forecast of the future, it is almost equally necessary that one may intelligently appreciate the history of the past. History to the eye of the young has the interest of an exciting spectacle; to the old it is as inspiring as the counsel of a life-long friend. The youth gazes with excited and breathless curiosity upon the shifting panorama of great empires rising mysteriously like overhanging clouds, of vast cities thronged with representatives from a hundred nations, of endless caravans of barbaric emigrants; of the confusion of battle, the pomp of victory, and the splendor of pageants. All these are to his eye brilliant, imposing, and exciting. But when the same eye has seen more of living men and of actual life, when the man has interpreted the causes and meditated upon the lessons of the events which have occurred within his personal experience, then and then only is he prepared to gather instruction from the story of the past, because in the men and the events which this story records he sees the counterpart of what has passed beneath his personal observation. To the young, history must be an exciting drama or a painful task; to the old, it is as fresh as a fairy tale, and as instructive as the lessons of a patriarch.

Those persons who are impatient to acquire in a twelvemonth a satisfactory knowledge of history, or who expect or wish to finish up their reading in order that it may be done with and laid aside, might almost as well not begin at all, for by such history can be read only for convenience or show, and to them it can bring little instruction and less enjoyment. There are not a few who, having just left school or college, say to themselves, "A man must know something of history, in order to pass respectably with intelligent people. Without having read history, one cannot understand the newspapers, or take part in conversation, or shine in a debating-club, or make speeches; therefore I will take a course in history-what is the best, be