reader entirely ignorant of the facts, his object being simply to make him acquainted with them. But if he wishes to avoid being considered as a mere frigid and tiresome annalist, he must penetrate into the causes and consequences of the events he details, and show their connexion and dependence upon each other.

Thus Livy has perfectly grasped the ruling principle in the policy of the Roman people, and constantly presents to us the steady onward progress of this republic to the empire of the world. All the wars, all the negotiations of this people constantly point to this grand object. Even the civil wars and domestic revolutions, their reverses and defeats abroad, which tend to retard their progress in attaining this end, the very dangers to which they are incessantly exposed, only redouble the interest we feel in their final success.

213. In every history, universal, general, or particular, the writer ought then to have constantly before his eyes the epoch in which his story terminates. Whatever may be the point from which he sets out, and that at which he terminates, he should possess a perfect knowledge of the state of things during that period, the situation, the interests, the manners, and the character of the people as well as that of the principal personages who figure in the epoch at which he commences, and he should be able to portray them with truth and impartiality. In these circumstances, if he possess tact and ability, he will find the germ, the principle, and the source of suc

ceeding facts. They prepare the way and introduce what follows; and it is always in them and the combined influence they exercise, that the state of things and the situation of the characters may be found at the period when he closes his recital.

214. But besides this general unity in every history, each period, each reign, for instance, has a particular unity in itself. Every period or portion of the history has its commencement, prepared by the events which took place in the preceding period or reign; its middle or continuation, the progress of which is more or less obstructed by obstacles which the designs of men constantly meet with in the opposing designs of other influential men, whose power and influence is sufficient to counterbalance theirs; and its end or catastrophe, brought about by what precedes, and paving the way for what is to follow. Hence it is not so much to their merely chronological order, as to the succession of events, and their connexion and dependence upon each other, that the historian ought to attach himself. He should always keep in view the facts which are to follow. He will often anticipate an event, when the knowledge of it is necessary to explain what succeeds; and again he will sometimes keep back a fact which if given earlier, or in its proper place in the order of events, would not have been understood. Any confusion. that might arise from this cause, is easily remedied by a reference to the dates.

SECT. 1. OF HISTORICAL NARRATION.

215. As each period, so each event related in the history has its beginning, its middle, and its end. Hence every narration has its exposition, its plot, and its catastrophe or conclusion.

216. The object of the exposition is to prepare the mind for what is to follow, to describe the scene of the event, the time in which it happened, and the actors in it, and to explain the antecedent events necessary previously to be understood for the full comprehension of what succeeds. It should be clear, and especially simple, and modest; not promising too much at the beginning, but increasing in interest and importance as it proceeds. "Non fumum ex fulgore, sed ex fumo dare lucem."-Hor. Sometimes the reader is thrown into the middle of events, and afterwards made acquainted with what precedes, as in the Æneid.

217. The plot is that part of the narration in which the interests of the persons concerned come to be understood, in which they interfere with each other and become complicated, and thus lead to a fortunate or disastrous conclusion as the case may be. Here the writer has scope to awaken curiosity and excite interest by keeping the reader in suspense between hope and fear, so that he cannot know the issue of the event till he reaches the conclusion. Thus Mde. Sevigne, in relating the death of Turenne, keeps us so completely in the dark with regard to the fate that awaits him, and the change in his fate is so skil

fully managed in the description, that we are not prepared for the terrible blow which is about to fall upon him, until it strikes him and lays him prostrate in the dust.

218. The catastrophe or conclusion is the point in which the action terminates and in which the plot is unravelled. All that precedes ought to conduce naturally to it and prepare the way for it. It should satisfy the expectations raised by the exposition of the narration. It should terminate when the event is fully made known to the reader; for after he is in possession of the whole transaction, the addition of any trivial or accidental circumstance would only produce disgust. It, moreover, frequently happens that our interest is so warmly excited by the actors in the events described, that we wish to know what may have been their fate hereafter. In this case the curiosity of the reader may be gratified by a few remarks added after the catastrophe has been told, and which may thence be called the finishing of the recital.

219. These rules which we have laid down for the narration of any particular fact, apply also to the recital of each period of the history, and to the history itself, considered as a whole.

220. They apply equally to poetic narration, which is the recital of a supposed fact or event, and to romance, which is a history invented merely to please the imagination.

SECT. 2. OF THE STYLE OF HISTORY.

221. The style of history should be, 1st, simple; 2d, animated; 3d, rapid, and 4th, suited to the subject.

The business of the historian is far different from that of the poet or orator. He scrupulously rejects all bold and ambitious ornament, every epithet even, every expression of emotion that savours of passion, or that indicates a desire to enlist the feelings of the reader in his view of the subject. His merit lies in being a faithful witness. His aim is not, like that of the poet, to please the imagination, nor like that of the orator, to work upon the feelings.

222. And yet he must not be without sensibility either. He cannot give the details of crime without hating it, nor of misfortune without being touched with pity, nor of a noble and generous action without admiration. Hence the different impressions he feels in his mind will appear in his style by the expressions he uses and by his manner of describing the actions and events which he relates and which necessarily betray the sentiments of his heart. He places before the eyes of the reader the most striking events, he makes the authors of them speak and act, he depicts the sentiments which animate them, he gives the expression of their countenance, of their voice, their gestures, their attitudes, and their bearing. His style will be no more than true to nature, if he expresses with vivacity and animation the emotions necessarily excited in the minds both of the actors