REFLECTIONS UPON HISTORY. F all ingenious Compofitions and Labours of the Mind, there is none more noble, and more worthy of a Gentleman, than History; not only because he that would fucceed in this Way, ought to be ignorant of nothing; but because an Historian, of all Authors, fpreads, out the most ample Theatre, and erects the greatest Tribunal in the World. For 'tis his Office to fit fupreme Judge of all that passes in the World, to pronounce the Deftiny of all the great Ones of the Earth, and to fix their Character with Pofterity; to give Leffons to all People and Nations, and direct the Conduct of Ages. What Strength of Ge- Pulcrum nius can be fufficient for fo important an En- imprimis, terprize? Let us endeavour, therefore, to form videtur, non pati a right Apprehenfion of its Excellence, and of occidere the Rules by which it is fuccefsfully to be per- quibus aform'd. And what can we conceive more fair ternitas and lovely than that Kind of Writing, which debeatur. Plin. Er. knows how to do Juftice to Vertue and Worth, in beftowing Eternity upon good Actions? The following Remarks will, perhaps, contribute fomething to the carrying History to that Perfection which fets it above all other use Writings; if the Love of good Senfe, which every Day feems to advance amongst us, may be able to keep its Ground, in fpight of all the new Tastes which Caprice and Vanity are ever striving to introduce by the falfe Colours, and the misconceiv'd Idea's of Wit. 1. Nothing can be more difficult, than to fay precisely what is the best Manner of writing History. A Man ought to follow that which he finds to be moft in vogue with the Age, and most agreeable to the Taste of those for whom he writes. But is this enough to fecure the good Liking of Pofterity? Let us fee by what means we may deferve the Suffrage of a Judge, which is fo nice and delicate, fo fevere and incorrupt, and which never honours with its Approbation any Thing but true Merit. If then, a Man writes nobly, fenfibly, with Purity, and with Simplicity, in any Language, he muft for ever please. These are univerfal Principles, which alone can stand the Test of all People and Times, there being no other general Rules in the World, befides thofe of Reason and good Senfe. By this means, Thucydides, Xenophon, Saluft, Cafar, Livy, Buchanan, Mariana, and Authors of the like Character, have heen always entertain❜d with Favour, though they wrote in Ages and Countries of fo very different a Genius; and therefore we may expect the fame Favour, if we are able to write in the fame Manner. What Grandour, what Judgment, what Politeness; but above all, what Simplicity, do we find and admire in the Labours of thefe great Men? II. majorem exornato He then, that shall engage in writing Hi- Genus boc ftory, muft confider how he may write nobly. fcribendi For when a Man fpeaks to the whole World, incitatum and to all Ages, he is invefted with fuch a atque elaCharacter, as gives him Authority to lift up bere, quis tum effe dehis Voice, because he Addresses him felf to ignorat? Kings and Princes, and to the great Men of Cic. all Countries and Times, and because he is, in fome Sort, the common Mafter and Inftructor of Mankind. Nor is there any Thing Addidit more effential to History, than the Giving of hiftoria this rais'd Turn to the whole Difcourfe. An fonum voHistorian, therefore, must reject all that is ci Antilow, or vulgar in Stile; fo as to make the pater, caDignity of his Expreffion, comport with the teri non Dignity of his Subject: He must accustom res rerum, himfelf, to form a great and worthy Concep- fed tantion of every Thing that paffes through his tummodò Mind; he muft, by the exact Choice of Words, narratores endeavour to give Weight to his Thoughts, Idem. fuerunt. and Force to his Language, carefully seeking out every Thing that may enrich or exalt it if he would imprint a Character of Greatness on all that he says. The Standards in this Kind, are Thucydides among the Greeks, and Livy among the Romans. They are almost the only Two, that have been able to fuftain this Grandour of Stile, with the fame Spirit and Tone, without falling into the low, or even the moderate Character. Herodotus, by too fervile an imitation of Homer, when Things require Sublimity, fometimes flies into Enthusiasm Longinus has obferv'd. Tacitus, who is feldom great upon any Score, but because he is concife, cannot be a good Pattern; his greatness S having ; as having nothing of Nature in it. In General, great Care must be applied to distinguish true Greatnefs from falfe. Cafar perfectly underftood this Secret; who in the Narrative of his Affairs in Egypt, of which he fcarce omitted any Particular, yet fays not a Word of his Intrigue with Cleopatra, though very much at his Heart; well knowing that he could not mention it with that serious Air which the noble Spirit of Hiftory demands, and that he could fay nothing well upon. fo light and impertinent a Subject. 'Tis, in Virtue of his Office and Dignity of an Hiftorian, that he treats that Princefs with the laft Indifference; his Paffion cannot force him to deliver any Thing contrary to his Judgment, and to that wife and just Character of Writing which he fo happily purfued. It is not in fwelling Words, in foaring Expreffions, in the Pride or Flourish of Difcourfe, that the noble Stile of History should be fuppos'd to confift: Which Magna, was the Thing that mif-led Ammianus Marcelnonuimia; linus, Lampridius, and most of the other Hiftofublimis, rians in the Decline of the Roman Empire. non abrup a forti But, 'tis in a Loftinefs, and yet a Modefty of non teme- Expreffion, in a Way of Speech able to fuftain rarias fe- the strongeft, and to elevate the weakest Subvera, non ject; 'tis in that well-temper'd Greatnefs, triftis;gra- which Quintilian afcribes to true Eloquence. tarda; la Tis not enough to have a bright Wit, but a 14, non Man must have a lofty Genius, to write in luxuriofa ; this Manner, and to raise every Thing that he plena, non fays by the Choice of Words, and the Largesurgida nefs of Thoughts. This Talent is fo very rare, that if we except out of the Number of Hiftorians all those who have not been Masters of it, there will remain very few to fhare the Prize. But still, the Defire of writing nobly, ta; vis, non Quint. can cannot excufe a Man from writing naturally: He must be noble without foaring too high; and he must be natural without finking too low. III. To write fenfibly, is to go directly to the Point, without wandering or amusing our felves by the Way; 'tis to represent Things with an Air of Prudence and Reserve, not giving a Loofe to the Heat of Imagination, or the Vivacity of Wit; 'tis to know how to fupprefs difcreetly whatever would be too much in a Sentence, as thofe Adverbs and Epithets, which diminish Things under an Intention of enlarging them; to leave nothing that fhall feem idle, languid, or unprofitable; generoufly to retrench that which ought not to be faid, how fine foever it may look; conftantly to prefer that which is folid to that which is glittering; never to discover Heat and Flame, when the Subject requires a Coldness of Affetion, and a Serioufnefs of Temper; to exa- Deledus mine every. Thought, and to weigh every verborum Word, with fo juft and exquifite a Senfe, as to babendus, let nothing escape, but what is accurately ju&pondedicious. It is, to have Strength enough to ra fingulorefift the Temptation we are naturally under minanda. of fhewing our Parts, like that impertinent Quint. Hiftorian, who in the Defeat of the Parthians by the Emperor Severus, was not contented Confcrib that Ofroes fhould fave himfelf in any other Hiftor. Place, but in a delightful Grotto, shaded with Laurels and Myrtles, and thus made himself ridiculous by attempting to be agreeable,which is the most flippery Step that an Author can take. It is, to leave it free for the Reader to Sz fuppose rum exa Luciande |