The Hillsborough recorder. [volume] (Hillsborough, N.C.) 1820-1879, 1854-10-25

and this is too often the manifest OBJ
lject Of the historian: 10 exhibit hsss~
s<y Besides. the employment Of poe
try and rhetoric Immediately besets
a suspicion Of fcfion-,hat li,e i.isiori-
an is not elevated 70 that high seat aud
clear atmosphere Of judicial dignity.
which woaId qualify him 10 decide
iairly on the merits of historic facts.
That Is just the saspiriea you feel.
upon taxing up Walter scotfs life oi
Napoleon. When the then unknown
author Of the " wzserly novels" hrst
announced that he had undertaken the
biography Of the greatest warrior Of
the world. the public were on the tip
toe Of expectation the foremost in
arms portrayed by the foremost in let.
tsrs They could scarcely wait for
is completion. aud as soon as il APP
peared. seized upon and deyoured IL
with the greatest avidity. Bat the So
her reader Immediately diseerns the
hand OF the poet. The prolusion Of
smiles and metaphors awaken feel
! Ing that you are on fairy and enehant-
ed ground. and you withhold your con-
fidence--to say nothing of the caution
you think necessary against the natu-
raj prcjudiccs " Briton. These re-
marks apply with still more force to .
history (shall | call il , or historical
defamation. in praise Of Napoleon by
the Reverend J. q. Abbott. now bcguil-
ing the American public in the pages
oil a fashionable periodical. This mili-
tary parson, with cocked hat on his
head and epauletts on his shoulders
and spurs on his heels. who thinks il
his mission to whitewash the charac.
ter Of man who destroyed about five
millions Of his fellow creatures. may
figure for year or two, with readers
whose historical knowledge goes no
deeper than the pages Of magazine |;
but after having ilourished his short
day upon the stage. and done his best
(under the banner of the Prince OF
Peace) to make "young America" adj
mirc and burn to initiate the bloody
race OF conquerors. we can safely pre-.
dict speedy descent Of his nnclcrical
production. "to the family vault Of all
the CapuIets." | make these remarks
on Abbott's work merely in passing.
to caution my young hearers agains It
forming their historical opinions mere
ly from the hired writers, for periodi.
Gals, who know that their contributions
will be mUre noticed the more they
may startle BY their audacity and pa,
radox.
/. Rising to higher grade Of histori-
cal productions, the histories Of Ham
croft. Prescott aud Irving, who have
done so much honor to their country,
we may still be allowed to doubt whe /.
ther they have not pushed ornament
too far. You see the landscape (in
their payes) not through plain. clear
glass. but through painted window
the objects are not seen merely in the
common transparent light of the atmos.
phere. but giIded by the beams Of the
sun. The best Illustration of a good
style that was ever given, was that Of
Robert Hall, applied to Miss Edges
worth. lie said that a good style ought
to resemble a transparent medium,
through which you see the writer's
thoughts clearly, without thinking ol
. the medium itself; and such he said
was Miss Edgeworth's style. Ii this
be just remark ON style in general,
It holds with especial accuracy in re-
gard to the style of history. But the
subject is 50 expansive, and the time
so short, that must contract my ex-
cursions and hurry on to other pro-
posed topics. Let me just remark
here, however, that having praised
Hume's style, | must not be consider
ed as praising his history, for the main
qualities of good historian: fairness
and fidelity. In that respect the de.
cision of the world has accorded, [ be
lieve, with the sentence of Archbishop
Magee OF Dublin, that, besides his TOT
apparent prejudices against religion
his celebrated history is a labored apo
logy for tyranny and arbitrary power.
j Some of the colloquial abuses referred to il
the following, are quite common:
The miserable barbarism done for did
lis too bad. and can't be too carefully J
avoided. {" He done it without think.
ing."&c Sowhena speaker concludes
he sometimes says, /" I am done," fol
"I hare DONE" lfyou were loaf o
bread in the oven, when you were tho
f roughly cooked, you might with pro
priety cry out to the baker, !" an
DONE" Him and me talked il over.
bad as it is, Ihaye heard something lik,
it from the lips Of one Of our big men
who had been at the University. Be
: tween you and L." though nearly a
bad, have heard from a much create