The enquirer. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1804-1815, 1804-10-10

TINS, which NAV be called the moral part of his
tory, the work before us is as deficient rs we
have represented it to be in the political. 1t is
mere chronicle of newspaper facts and thai,
very imperseSfly digefed. But were chronicle
of this kind ever 70 we'll digefetl, it is fill but
the fkeleton of hiftory, without any of the life
or foul. We do not recolleet that il has ever
been taken notice of by the moderns how accu-
rately Livy has pointed out thefe two inquiries,
which may be called the moral and political,
as objects of hifory; and how ftrongly he has
reprefented them as objects of by far the great
eft importance. Having mentioned i'll the pre-
face TO his hiltorv of Rome certain common facts.
and diiputes, which he reckoned of inferior,
confequence, he fays, t" Sed haze & his fimlia,
utcunque anir,adverfa aut exifimataerunt, baud
in magno equidem ponam difcrimine." He
then foicits attention to the moral and political
inquiries -" Ad lila mihi pro fe quifque acriter
intendat anirnnm; Que vita, qui mores fuerint, -
the moral part then the POLITICAL" Per
quos viros, quibuique artibus domi militi1que
p1rtum & auctum irnperium fit" 1t is curl
Gus that it is to the moral part that he chiefly
folicts the attention of his reader in tracing the
decline of the Roman ftates "Labente deinde
paulatim difciplina velut defdentes primo
mores tequatur amino, deinde ut magis magifque
lapii flint, tum ire ceperint precipites donec ad
hrc Temporal quibus nee vita nee remedia patti
poiiumus perventum eft"
We can hardly be furprifed that in the multi
tude of would-be hiftorians which recent tr,nf.
actions have produced, this moral part of the
fubjed ihould have been neglected. This is by
far the mot difficult and delicate part of the duty
the real hiitorian. This requires one of the
rareft of human characters, matter in the fci-
ence of human nature. This is what inttles the
true hiftorian to fome of the higheft honours of
human genius. This is what ranks him among
different clafs Of beings from the maker of the
RICHTER book of common facts. It is by this a.
lone that the RICHTER of thefe facts is rendered
of any value. "Hoc," to ufe again the lancua-
&c of Livy, " hoe illud eft precpue in cognitione
rerum falubre &c frugiferum."
We willingly tranfcribe the apology which
the author has made for the imperfcetions of
this volume. 1t may be fome reafon for not
concluding rafhly that he is b!ockhead, but it
can be no inducement to the public to fpend
their time in reading his book:
For any inattention to competition an apo
logy ought never to be necehary. work of
any importance ought never to be fiibmitted to
the public till it has been Efficiently revifed
and corrected. Yet the frft part of the Life of
Gen. Warrington goes into the world under
circumstances which might befpeak, from can
dour, lcfs fcverity of criticifm than it will pro-
badly experience. The papers from which it
has been compiled have been already ftated to
be immenfely voluminous, and the public was
already looking for the work before the writer
was fixed on, and the documents from which it
was competed placed in his hands. The impa
thence hnce difcovered, by many of the fubfcri-
bers, has carried the following fleets to the prefs
much more precipitately than the Judgment of
the author would have permitted him to part
with them, and he cannot flatter himfelf that
they are free from many defects which, on a re-
perufal, will attract even his own obfervation."
We think it necehary to fay very little with
regard to the ftyle of this volume. It is not
barbarous; but it is juft as far from elegant 1t
bears flIfficient marks of hate and carelefinefs;
but it is in general fimple and unaffected. We
were pleaied to find it TO free from thofe new
words with which our bretheren on the other
Tide of the Atlantic have thought proper to en-
i1ch the Englith language; and of which their
conversation and letters are 70 full. We detect
ed, however, Tome inftances; as influential, &c.
The intereiting part of this intended publica-
ton is yet to come. 1t is undoubtedly in the
power of the friends of Warrington to give
mott valuable collection of materials to the
world. If they give us, after rafting our expec-
tatons as they have done, aei,arbed one, they
will expofe themfelves to odfcnearty contempt.
After what we have faid of this volume we
do not think it necefiary to load our pages with
extracts. M.
This errom does NOT exiR in THE american
Edition it may therefore be queRion zvbetber
the inaccuracy ought to be a/cribed to the naften-
ton eftbe author or Of the EngHR prinfer.-Ed.
u. S. GAG.
+ NE need not inform or American readers,
that Gen. W'ai5ingfou bad no child and that
5ndge Wahbington is tie nepbe4v Of the late
General.-Ed. u. S. Gaz.