, 1866-12-09

good gentleman In whose mind those ages
are reflected" ..
Perhaps no historian orer piqued himself
more on his judicial eqnan!mity than David
Hume. Il WAS Avorito bozst Of his, that
his Arst account Of tho StusttA WAS ffee from
all bias, and that be had held tho balance
between Whlg and Tory with delicate and
impartial hand. Yet, that his preludlces
powerfully warped his mind, 40 ~ to render
him altogether unsnis - historian, there
can be no doubt. Ten years after the 9rst
publication of his work, irsitated b. the out
cry against him ''for presnming,"as he er-
presses It, ''lo shed generous tear for the
fate Of Charles the First and the Earl Of
etraGord, " he avenged the censurc by re-
casting his historical verdicts 40 as to render
them offensive to the party that had attacked
him. Among his intimate friends ut Edin-
burgh was m old Jesuit, who. like most Of
the order, WAS scholar and man Of tasta
aud to his criticism, rs the parts were fin
hhed, the MSS. WAS submitted, Just after
the publication Of Ellxabeth's reign. tho
WAS astonished to hrd on the
printed page, sins OF the Scot
tish Queen that never sullied the written one.
whnt he had read In tie manuscript. Seek
Ing the author, he asked the meaning Of this.
why" replied Hume, "thc printer said he
would lose e5o0 By TINT story indeed. he
almost refused to priut it +; 80 was obliged
10 alter It 81 you saw."
It is not, however, by positively false stale
ments that Hume usun1ly pcrvests The truth
Of history. It Is by suppression and e1ag-
rcration, by gliding lightly over some parts
and scrutinixing others With the utmost
eevcrity-just as the author Of the Decline
and Fall OF the Roman Empire has Gibbonized
the vast tract over which he has travcrsed-
that Hume commonly deceives the reader !;
a process by which, as Aacauley truly says,
sit il easy to make mint Of Land or IT,
rant Of Henry w."
But what exactneas could be expected Of
IN historian who wrote Iying-on 9 sofa
Nothing can surpats the exquisite ease and
viyacity Of Humc's narration; but he was
too indolent to trouble himself about aceu-
racy. Instead of applying his powerful crit
ica1 faculty to slit truth ont Of tradition, he
rcpeats Legendary and half mythological sto-
rtea With the same mir of belief Is the we'll
authenticated events Of modern times. Es-
sent1ally classicist Of the Voltatrc and Did
cSat school, he despiscd too heartily the
barbarous monkisb chrnniclers to think of
going through the drudser5 OF examining
:heir writlngs4 and Winnowfng the grains OF
fac. they contain from the chat Of supe.sti.
uonA and imaginative detail. We need not
be surprised, therefore, that the searching
investigation to which his history was sub
jected some years ago by George Brodie
brought to Light 60 many departures from
truth, both wilfhl and uuintentioual.
Even had Hume struggled against his In
dolence and his pr 'rdEces, there Is one
source Of error which he could not haye
avoided In condcnstng narrative from tho
old ch1onicleEs, and giving the pfth of their
stataments In modern phrascology, the his.
torian almost unaroldably gives US new
and different story. The events, characters,
all the features Of the time, undesgo \ kind
of translation or paraphrase, which material.
" changes their character, and giyes false
Impression to the reader-an impression is
false as that which Dryden has given Of
Chauccr by hts attempts to modcrnize the
old bard. Every one knows how com
rletcly the atoms-the bouquet Of the
old poet-thc sly grace Of his Ian.
guaee-the exquisite tone Of aairese-
"Aiens "Aa tue AspinGn u lnlancy, give 6ncn
charm to his Serse-have essporated In the
process OF transmission Into more modern lsu-
guage- Words and ideas arc so mYstically
connected-so connatulal-that the mod.
cruization Of IN old author is substantially
new book. It is not the putting Of old
thoughts into new dress; 1t is tho substi.
tuition Of new thought, more or less
changed from the original type. Languages
's not the dress OF thought; 1t Ia the iaearna
flon Of thought, and ''t controls both the
hysioguomy and the organization of the
| idea 1t utteFsn
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