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    devices of the powerful thwarted , and issuing in events the very contrary to what they intended to bring about ; and especially when we coii template the most signal good produced ' from apprehended evil , we are irresistibly

    compelled to acknowledge the natural bliudness and weakness of man . We are awed and humbled to submission , and we rejoice in the assurance , that There is a Providence that shapes our ends ,

    li Rough-hew them as we will / " The author then proceeds to point out the Sources of History , in oral tradition , poetry , public festivals , pillars and monumental inscriptions , existing laws and customs , records of

    judicial proceedings , * ' from which the historian may derive great utility , " [ advantage *] public archives , treaties with foreign powers , manifestoes , negotiations , official and other letters , family-history , and such notices as have of late got the name of statistic .

    In the xviiith chapter we have a survey of Ancient History , previous to which we have the following masterly character of a good historian , pp . $ 59 , &c . After remarking that the early historians of every country yve-re at first mere chroniclers , he proceeds :

    u But as knowledge was improved and extended , the scope of the historian was enlarged : he rejected the fabulous , the uninteresting- and the trifling , and fixed his principal attention on topics of inquiry , the discussion of which blended the

    entertaining- with the useful . By just degrees his character was matured ; till by applying to historical investigation the principles of sound philosophy , he rose from the rank of a mere narrator to that of a guide in morals and an instructor in politics .

    " The spirit of philosophical inquiry is , indeed , absolutely necessary to the character of a g-ood historian . If destitute of the power of discrimination , he is liable to waste his time and to he led into error \ if destitute of the faculty of deducing' useful

    consequences , the utmost extent of accom - plishment will be , the making his memory a depository of barren incidents . To 4 isttngfiiish probability from improbability , to ftepai-ate truth from falsehood , in the undigested mass of obscure records , or amidst « i ^ nn > sre |) resentations of paVty , requires f l&eiiteveitie of consummate sagacity . - He mwthftfe ft minute knowledge of the hum ** kttatrt , and betrtdowed with sufficient Mill to enabie him to analyze tfcfc preju-

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    dices and passions of men . lie will give * due weight to circumstances and situations . He will not estimate the character , of a despot by the panegyric of a courtier 5 and if a prince has resisted the claims of ecclesiastic encroachment , and restrained -ijie power of the clefgy , he will not pass sen * tence of condemnation on him , merely because his reputation happens to be vilified in the writings of a monk , j 44

    In order to complete the character of an historian , to soundness of intellect , should be added a strict integrity of principle , and a feeling / Heart . His standard of moral and political excellence must be fixed at an elevated point . He must be endowed with a sense of dignity , which will lead him to disdain to become the

    convenient apologist of foHy <* r of vice . He must entertain a strong * dislike oievery species of injustice ; and he ought to be armed with a boldness of spirit , which will prompt him * without regard to personal consequences , to represent the actions of men in their true lineaments . At the same

    time , it is his duty to cherish a spirit of candour , and to chastise and subdue all those party-feelings and sectarian prejudices , which , presenting , facts through a deceitful medium , distort their forms , and

    display them in colours not their own . He must beware . of indulging the partiality of favouritism , of lavishing upon some honoured hero praises to which he is not justly entitled , and of ascribing to him glories to which he has no claim .. He must also divest himself of that attachment

    to system , the consequence of a propensity to generalize ideas , which is too often mistaken for genuine philosophy . He must Carefully guard against this error , which causes so many investigators of past transactions to overlook circumstances which controvert their respective theories , and

    induce them to undervalue and suppress such facts as appear to be in . any point of apprehended importance , inconsistent with their preconceived opinions . He must eradicate from his mind those visionary notions , which have led ^ some writers to behold in the midst of that historical

    darkness , where nothing is distinctly visible , the perfect form of a free constitution : nor will he be actuated by the vietvs which have induced others to dwell with satis-, faction upon those incidents alone ^ which afford the plausible plea of precedent for the exercise of arbitrary power . *

    Mr * S . then proceed * to give some account of several of the principal abridgments of ancient history , ami prefers , we think Justly ,: aotWlthstandmg some inaccuracies , / the teterestiog compendium of RoJlin , though lie allows great HicMt to MiHat . Of the larger w 6 rk » on the Grecian hw-

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    518 Review . Shepherd , Joyce and Catpente ' ^ s Systematic Education ,

• Citation
  • Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Aug. 2, 1818, page 518, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2479/page/46/