Richmond daily Whig. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1842-1861, 1842-12-05
miscellaneous.
EXTRACTS PROM
MccULLAGH's s-SrUDY or HISTOwY.-


EXTRACTS
HecULLAGEE's ~SrUDY or HISTOwY.,
Tacitus.
In this respect am inclined look upon hi- work Of
acs a. one OF the sinpeadou- efjrs ID, Truly mo
raj greatness that We know OF. aude especially the
ulnnph Of selfsusainng energy it manists. In most
other biographies of nations there magnificent
as 10 work Tacus had nome In all of
mem there " likewise the great d Antagonist
powers IN action To be depeied but dead in
his nrne. Herodots chronicle of (;r,cian ehya
e narrative OF the most briant struggle that world has
seen, OF moral discipline and daring with gigantic brutal
iorce Thucydides Is anthcss from 70 end. Iivy
Tells now the bloodhound cub born, and how grew
and every Of danger from sucking time II, I'm,
w"i's den tall Its maed ferocity when every leaf in the
ioress OF Asia and OF Ganl had learned eme i'm
Prral howl Poiybius had the canvass TO tint
though ms cooring IN uniform.
but ariins had civilized desert for his andscape-a
moral graveyard tor his The conflict OF political
principles and powers and past The
worn Itself down. No dreamed any more of demo-
cracy; no man imagined the restoration Of aristocratc
commonwealth was possible. The provinces had
revolt Numdia had become n domestic con-ield and the
creeks had learned 10 dance gracefully chains As
Tar as e crcnmsPective could reach there nothing
10 DC seen but the rottin supencumben weight of Rome
In the babel chatter of the thongin forum or in the
u sence OF the night watch, any longer whisper
eu change Had II been otlerwise-had the sodden sense
oil helpless unesistance imperial despofu less tho
roughly tell as universal and inevitable, Tacitus dared not
nave publicly etial those scalding which
! current of his history.
but think what have the heart to write .t all st
such ihe Think what 1t was for whose soul
wrte OF 1t! Think
OF mat spnt must have been produce work like his and
That despite the oppressive Consciousness that he should ne
yer i've to see the day when could be appreciated possibly
without any distinct hope that it should be So All the
rest had their auditory of enthusiastic parans country
men, With all of them il the singing of a tiunphal
song IN the choral echoes whereof thousand kindred
voices seem to Join The very antcipatons Of such re-
cepuon, such recognition of the their abors when
Completed, IN itself inspiration the authors
Us ey oied But Tacits speaks like Of the
VINO lett they had lonely and unpopular mission full
NIL Ii Is the OF solitary amidst the weering sea
OF nfay and bondage, and deahincss Of unesisted
irresistible oppressona solemn poured forth upon the
taitlessness and british trivaly of corrupted yyorld-an
isolated but irreagabe testimony against state of
unnatural ard articialy supernduced evil which, if he
saw remedy he deemed part of his duty TO PROFOUND
| it," 10y " Ff
Herodotus, Thucydidee, Xenophon, POlybius Pluarch
Sueionius and number OF moders are described with At
least equal beauty and neness of discrimination The
paragraph OF the following, the work of Thucydides
peculiarly felicitous:
Thucydidcs.
Ihucydides is the work Of a statesman Ii is proud
trophy OF great forbeaTance country under
teHinie exasPerauon Thucydides was Of eminent
polca rank AT Athens His party beaten and he was
ostacized In his retirement he indicted the story of that
memorable struggle OF parties and principles that all
Greece during his People say ne Is partial: 10 he s
ne Is would not give for his history he was not
but he Is most just, true, Greek His partisan
snip never stimulates him aduce his country. He glo
ies Athens even In his exile; covering deprecang
her ANGER but giving her his blessing while he persists in
saylng-you have wronged He less luxuriant less
gauiou less picturesque than his predecessor of Hacar
nassus Out not less truly ideal Herodous The mingled
dance of warriors and fesal maids; Thucyddes the pro
cesson OF armed citizens and their children TO the altar
hucydldes doc portico, chaste. solemn, built ON
ihodei which no time can admire which orna
ment or ck Of dizzenng improve Its embellishments
are not here or there unequay scattered and down.
are so identified with the noble fame thoroughly made
part and parcel OF the whole that they distin
guished or specified apart from it,"
OF the modcrns he dwells on MachiaveI Gucci,r
DIM, DE Thon Daviln, Mariana and Clarendon In the
Inmates OF these, and elsewhere the author manifess ge
nuine catholic spirit With strong parales himself and
even contempt for those who have none he vet doe
ample justice the and honesty of those from whom
he differs most. The following portion of what is said
on
MachiaveIIi.
1.-The history of Florence, written probably in his laes,
years Is free at all events from these equvoca and
nate topics AS the most e-ful picture OF the turbulent
p9puiaee and naughty mobiles Of the greatest
OF the middle ages, It's value Is inestimabe Every
trembeS with the eddying wri of that tumutuous time
The secret counscings of the hghbon, their mutual zeal
ous'es and mstrss their superb daring and sefcondenc,
IN action, are wildly portrayed And then the assemblies
ct the guilds, under their elective leaders and their insr
reconary marchngs led by their gonaioer their parey
with unpopular power, and the inesse wcrewh it moinen
tany appeased tem and their dispersal and its perdy
and their resenu call again arms and how "of the
people, inspired by the emergency would suddenly arise
and rule the when all other law and authority for
in turn, were stranded and fosaken; all there intensely
magicaly full of the hot breath Of passionate life.
such length 10 you of Machavel OF his faults and IN,
evil principles his other works contan in worls if not in de
sgn 1t is perhaps enough say that if meant seriously
they are at war with moral tie and sanction; il meant
Ironically their msconcepion fearful warning how pc
rlos element ridcue badiRdge even 10 those who
deem themselves most thoroughly its masters
In speaking of Clarendon, Mr. McCulagh notices the
fact that the greatest historians not been mere men of
letters.
Great Historians Wen of Action.
"Bu Clarendon had both the natural of mind and
the practical education of great historian have no idea
that HeTGteuT, matter what his industry power
of language force Of sympathy, write history we'll
Look back at the lustrious have been recanq
they ALL with hardly exception men Of action
men OF the world of great and for the part Of
sorrowful Speenccl No chimney politicians these,
no irresponsible Spectators upon human dryshod
pilots of times lie-boat but chiefly veahcrbeaten men
whose hair grew early gray The critics stayed at home
and quibblcd these their manly post long
as duty needed when they back they wrote even
they were moved they knew how why, that
they thought the things they had witnessed were memora
ble-and 10! they have been remembered"
Nep Era ia the Manufacturing Of Gas-Messrs. De-
groo and Briggs have invented process for generating
which seems likely supcrccde all the old methods and
he ut tee highest importance the flights of the
We went few evenings since expressly opera
tion and effects, and come satisfied that the
cheapest it is the best that have eve seen in use
These gentlemen have erected substantial fire proof build
ing adjoining the Bowery Theatre Elizabeth street, in
whchthcy have erected probably the complete apparatus
be found where and exhibiting in several essential par.
ucuars very important Improvements upon any, process
heretofore IN The cooler especially, Is constructed