HISTORY AND BIOGRAPHY.

INTRODUCTORY.

THE most ancient historical documents we possess are the writings of Moses and the other books of the Old Testament. Not to speak of the inestimable value of these books as containing a divine revelation, the historical information with which they furnish us is, in the highest degree, important-embracing the creation, the antediluvian age, the flood, the confusion of tongues, and the dispersion of the human family through the world,-information which is not to be obtained from any other sources.

History naturally divides itself into three periods, the fabulous, the obscure, and the authentic. The first of these periods may be said to belong rather to poetry than to history. Finding it occupied only by a mass of shapeless traditions, the poets of every country have eagerly laid hold of it, as admirably suited for their purpose; and all the efforts of antiquarians have been unable to bring the period within the province of authentic history. Nor is this, per

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haps, much to be regretted; for who would wish to see Homer's Iliad replaced by a true and authentic account of the siege of Troy? or the Round Table overturned, and its knights displaced, to make room for the fierce and bloody quarrels of naked barbarians? It would appear, however, that, in the early ages, the poets were historians, and the historians poets. When any remarkable event happened, of which it was considered desirable to preserve the memory, nothing could be more natural than to commit it to verse. memory would thus more easily retain it, and it would more readily pass from generation to generation. In such circumstances, versification would become an art of some importance, and persons skilled in it would be highly esteemed among rude nations. Kings and chiefs would naturally patronize and reward those who celebrated their achievements, and the poet would as naturally desire to gratify his patron, even at some sacrifice of historical truth.

"He would frame his strains

To raise the hand that paid his pains."

In speaking of remote events, of which nothing certain was known, he would be under still less restraint. He would conceive himself at liberty to alter and modify the works of preceding bards at pleasure, and his successors would take a similar liberty with his, till at last, whatever amount of truth there might be in the traditionary records of early ages, would be so overlaid and obscured by a continually accumulating mass of fiction, that it would at length become

impossible to discover it, even by the most laborious researches. In course of time there might arise some bard gifted with high and original genius, who, availing himself of the materials collected by his predecessors, would dispose them into a regular and continuous poem. This is the true history of epic poetry. Under the second or obscure period, the materials to which the historian has access are, generally speaking, of the most meagre kind, and consist chiefly of contemporary chronicles, such as those kept by the pontifical annalists of ancient Rome, and the works of the Middle Ages; and the information which these records contain are often altogether valueless for the purposes of history. Not the least extraordinary instance of the mixture of truth and fiction is to be found in the early history of Scotland,-Buchanan, giving a continuous line of one hundred and eight monarchs, the first of whom commenced his reign three hundred and thirty years before the Christian era.

During the authentic period, the historian treads on firmer ground, supported by original documents, and contemporary annals. Of course it is impossible to indicate the boundary between the obscure and authentic periods. There is, in reality, no wellmarked boundary; and, in fact, portions of time formerly belonging to the obscure, are, from time to time, brought within the limits of the authentic. This has happened in a remarkable manner with regard to Egyptian history, on which a vast flood of light has been poured by the partial discovery of the meaning

of certain of the hieroglyphic characters. While the French troops occupied Rosetta, a stone was dug up exhibiting an inscription in three different sorts of characters. One of these was in Greek, and was found to contain a decree in honour of Ptolemy Epiphany, which ended in these words:" This decree shall be engraved on a hard stone, in sacred, common, and Greek characters." The stone falling afterwards into the hands of the British, was lodged in the British Museum, and engravings of the inscription distributed among the learned in Europe and America. The Greek was translated by Porson and Heyne, and the common text by Dr. Young. Champollion deciphered the hieroglyphics, shewing them to be, contrary to the common opinion, representations, not of things, but of sounds. From the knowledge thus gained of the meaning of a certain number of the characters, more has been acquired; many other inscriptions have been read and translated; and thus much light has been thrown upon a portion of history hitherto involved in the deepest obscurity.

It is almost impossible for a historian to write with accuracy a contemporary history. Impartiality is wanting. It is also impossible, in such a case, to trace events to their consequences; and, moreover, circumstances in themselves apparently unimportant, and which the contemporary historian may therefore pass over without notice, may be the origin of the most important events. Contemporary events, therefore, belong not to history, but to politics. Here,

again, it is also somewhat difficult to fix a boundary. The Reform Bill is as much a matter of history as the signing of the Magna Charta; whereas the legislative union of England and Ireland at the beginning of the present century, is by many of the Irish regarded more as a political experiment than an historical fact.

Thus the poet, the antiquarian, the historian, and the politician, has each his respective and separate province, although they run so gradually and imperceptibly one into another, that it is impossible to distinguish them by any distinct and defined boundary.

In studying history, a considerable attention to dates is necessary, and a knowledge of geography highly essential. It is also of importance, in commencing the history of any particular people, that we should endeavour to obtain as correct a knowledge as possible of their manners and customs, of the state of public opinion among them, and of their religious ideas and practices.

It has been well remarked by an able writer, that "The course of history is like that of a great river wandering through various countries; now, in the infancy of its current, collecting its waters from obscure small springs in splashy meadows, and from unconsidered rivulets, which neighbouring rustics do not know the name of; now, in its boisterous youth, forcing its way straight through mountains; now, in middle life, going with equable current busily by great towns, its waters sullied, yet enriched with commerce;