The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1914-01-10
CRITICAL REVIEWS
OF THE SEASONS
LATEST BOOKS
Historian Discusses Modern Historians Memorial
Volume Of Homer Martins Pictures
Text Books on French, German, Spanish and English
Language and Literature and Other Subjects
Embroideries African Hunting, Suffrage, Progressive
Principles, Magazine Verse Anthology.

IN the essay which gives the title
10 his book. clio Il Muse and Other
ESSAYS tLungmans. Green and Com
panD George Macaulay Trevelyan ex-
pfc~scs opinions shared by many other
persons of less pretenson to scholar
shin iu regard 10 the methods and aims
OF modern professional historians. 1t Is
perhaps only natural that the grand
u,pncw of Lord Macaulay should la
m,ui the disappearance Of the old time
histories which could he read with in
t,rcst and pleasure because as much
attention was devoted to literary style
az 10 minute accuracy in the state
ucut Of facts. There was something
too in the swing and enthusiasm of
uartisau historians that is lacking in
the striving for meticulous impartality
that Is the modern aim. The real facts
are often 10y no means so important as
;he feelings men had about what they
believed tn I've the truth and the care
ful Weighing of evidence may he OF lit
tjc account il in the process the reader
is bored.
lie is impatient of the slavish imita-
ton vt German methods. which is prob
ably more prevalent in America than in
Great Britain. and, apparently. Of the
reverence paid to the authority of men
ranked In their own country as second
or third rate There is a painful amount
81 thrcshing worthless cham in our coll
lccrs and what is worse, AN immoderate
amount of publication of immature
matter that is merely evidence that an
academic task has been performed sat
I,fartorily. The Germans have no high
esteem Tor the Literature of doctor dis
s,rtations and most Americans are
happy in not knowing that 1t exists and
Is rapidly growing.
As good an example as any of the
modern spirit is the late Samuel Raw
son Gardeners careful history of Eng
land under the first two Stuarts and
Cromwell, as solid and mastery a piece
ul work rs England of the nineteenth
century can show. Mr.. Trevclyan speaks
OF II IN the highest terms and as a
book To refer to ii Will he Of permanent
value, Yet We venture to say that
neither SIR. Trevelyan nor any norma
reader can read the volumes of Gardner
consecutlvely as he can Hallam or Car.
vile with all their acknowledged faults
and that very few Of his phrases or judy
ments will stick to the memory ms
theirs do. There is feeling that the
older men have fulE digCstcd their ma
teral and know just what they mean
"a say, that the men Of the research
school generally fail to inspire. Some
like Maitland or Sir Frederick Pollock,
show that maturtd knowledge and re.
search work are NOT incompatible: SO
did Mommson in Germany. whose brill
liant style is completely lost in the
wrctched Err gl.sh translation.
Mr. Trevclyan's other essays are
pleasant, but 10y no means So interest
Ing as the clio; some deal with walk
ing. some are historical. some are boob
reviews. The article in which he com
hines trampng with the history Of the
romantic district on the Scottish border
that he visited, the Middle Marches, I.
charming. hut the essays are too un
even In merit, especially the historical
ones, for one who begins by showinl
such excellent Judgment. Even thu
Iacaulay kind of history cannot b
dashed of iauntiy. and Mr.. Trevelyan
IN spite of his excellent accounts of tn,
Garibaldi epic. has yet to prove that III
attends To be more than an amateur II
historical writing. The burden of tn,
-r0at name in which he takes pride il
'I,On him