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SUMMARIES.

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more information than if the words 'savages,' aborigines,' or copper-colored men,' had been used. And, indeed, so much is our knowledge of different tribes intermingled and confused, that it would be presumptuous to say with respect to any account given, even after the utmost research, of the inhabitants of any particular part of the coast, that it was exactly faithful. Still, some attempt must be made; and, as there was a general resemblance in the languages spoken by the adjacent tribes, even though they could not understand each other, so in the life of these several tribes there was a general basis of accordance, which we must endeavor to bring before our minds, if we would take the full interest in their story which its importance to the world demands for it."

29. The framing of summaries—called also, abridging, abstracting,—is an important art, and is conducted in a variety of ways. (See Paet I., chap, ii.)

Sometimes it corresponds to scientific generalization, which is the only perfect mode of summing up an array of particulars.

The law of universal gravity is a summary of the fall of bodies to the earth, the round figure of the earth, the tendency of the planets to the sun, he. The law that supply follows demand, is an abridgment of the phenomena of trade.

In many cases, the art of condensation turns upon discriminating the essentials; which is not possible without a full knowledge of the subject.

In historical narration, the condensed summary is commonly made by passing over many of the connecting links.

The beginning and the end of a long transaction are briefly given, with or without a few selected points in the unfolding of the plot. "Great Britain imposed an obnoxious tax on her American colonies; they resisted, fought, and made themselves independent "—is an easy abridgment of the events of several years.

It being unadvisable to anticipate the plot, summaries are not given to start with. They are usually retrospective. They substitute for the numerous windings of the narrative the larger

features and the main results; they are the heads, abiding in the memory themselves, and helping the cohesion of the details. A summary of the previous events opens a new chapter with advantage; and is all the more called for, when there has been a considerable break in the thread to be resumed. In merely recurring to the past, in the course of the narrative, a brief summary is the surest mode of reference. (See p. 172.)

30. IV. The Explanatory Narrative is, by its nature, a mixture of narration, strictly so called, with general principles.

The statement of a principle may either precede the recital of the events to be thereby cleared up, or be introduced at the close of the narrative.

When the explanation is of some length, occupying one or more paragraphs, the progress of the narrative is wholly suspended. The shorter explanations take the shape of interpolated sentences and clauses. Parenthetic clauses are often resorted to. (See pp. 137-141, and Extract X.)

31. Y. Before attempting to define more narrowly the method of Historical Composition, we have to consider its ends.

And, first, in point of Instruction, History furnishes an array of facts or experience in human nature, more especially in its social workings. It is the inductive basis, and the illustration by example, of the doctrines that regulate man in society; a knowledge of which is what we mean by political wisdom.

History is to us the trial of Institutions. The Absolute Monarchies, Limited Monarchies, Aristocracies, Democracies, represented in operation, are so many experiments as to the best form of government; and we judge them by their fruits. We can study and compare centralization and localization of authority; large states and small; slavery and free labor; castes and equality; Paganism, Mahometanism, and Christianity; Catholicism and Protestantism; state-control in education and

INSTRUCTION FROM HISTORY.

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its absence. By interpreting, wisely or unwisely, all this experience, states are guided in the choice of their own institutions.

The following is a political lesson deduced by Gibbon from the History of Imperial Rome:—

"The division of Europe into a number of independent states, connected, however, with each other by the general resemblance of religion, language, and manners, is productive of the most beneficial consequences to the liberty of mankind. A modern tyrant, who should find no resistance either in his own breast or in his people, would soon experience a gentle restraint from the example of his equals, the dread of present censure, the advice of his allies, and the apprehension of his enemies. The object of his displeasure, escaping from the narrow limits of his dominions, would easily obtain, in a happier climate, a secure refuge, a new fortune adequate to his merit, the freedom of complaint, and perhaps the means of revenge. But the empire of the Romans filled the world; and, when that empire fell into the hands of a single person, the world became a safe and dreary prison for his enemies. The slave of Im

perial despotism, whether he was condemned to drag his gilded chain in Rome and the senate, or to wear out a life of exile on the barren rock of Seriphus or the frozen banks of the Danube, expected his fate in silent despair. To resist was fatal, and it was impossible to fly."

Helps says:—"The history of almost every nation tells of some great transaction peculiar to that nation, something which aptly illustrates the particular characteristics of the people, and proclaims, as we may say, the part in human nature which that nation was to explain and render visible. In English history, the contest between the Crown and the Parliament; in that of France, the French Revolution; in that of Germany, the religious wars, are such transactions."

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And again :—" History seems often to be only a record of great opportunities missed or mismanaged. Amid the tumult. of small things which require immediate attention, and which press at least fully as much upon persons in great place as upon private individuals, the most important transactions are not appreciated in their true proportions. Besides and this is the fatal circumstance—when great affairs are in their infancy, and are most tractable to human endeavor, they then appear of the smallest importance; and all consideration about them is lost in

attending to the full-blown events of the current day, which, however, are rapidly losing their significance."

The lesson of Grecian History is thus set forth by Grote :—

"The poets, historians, orators and philosophers of Greece, have all been rendered both more intelligible and more instructive than they were to a student in the last century; and the general picture of the Grecian world may now be conceived with a degree of fidelity, which, considering our imperfect materials, it is curious to contemplate. It is that general picture which an historian of Greece is required first to embody in his own mind, and next to lay out before his readers; a picture not merely such as to delight the imagination by brilliancy of coloring and depth of sentiment, but also suggestive and improving to the reason. Not omitting the points of resemblance as well as of contrast with the better-known forms of modern society, he will especially study to exhibit the spontaneous movement of Grecian intellect, sometimes aided but never borrowed from without, and lighting up a small portion of a world otherwise clouded and stationary. He will develop the action of that social system, which, while ensuring to the mass of freemen a degree of protection elsewhere unknown, acted as a stimulus to the creative impulses of genius, and left the superior minds sufficiently unshackled to soar above religious and political routine, to overshoot their own age, and to become the teachers of posterity."

The teachings of History are not confined to the merits of the institutions tested. They enforce, besides, the dependence of society on the virtues of the individual members, governing or governed: they read moral lessons even more unequivocally than political. Hence reflections of a moral kind are abundantly strewed over the historian's page. Froudc, alluding to the vocation of history, makes these observations :—

"The history of this, as of all other nations (or so much of it as there is occasion for any of us to know), is the history of the battles which it has fought and won with evil; not with political evil merely, or spiritual evil; but with all manifestations whatsoever of the devil's power. And to have beaten back, or even to have fought against and stemmed in ever so small a degree those besetting basenesses of human nature, now held so invincible that the influences of them are assumed as the fundamental axioms of economic science; this appears to me a greater victory than Agincourt, a grander triumph of wisdom and faith and courage than even the English constitution or the English liturgy."

32. Secondly, as regards Interest, or the gratifica

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This evades the difficulty of realizing a complicated description, and sets before the reader the easier task of following a detailed succession. (See Poetry.)

CHAPTER III.

EXPOSITION.

40. Exposition is the mode of handling applicable to knowledge or information in the form of what is called the Sciences, as Mathematics, Natural Philosophy, Chemistry, Physiology, Natural History, the Human Mind.

The sciences just named are called Theoretical or Pure, being each arranged on the plan of exhausting, in the most systematic array, all the information respecting one department of nature. There are other sciences, in a great measure derived from the foregoing, and having reference to practice, or some end to be attained; as, Navigation, Practical Mechanics, Medicine, Logic, Ethics, Politics, Jurisprudence.

The principles of Exposition are in the main the same for both classes, keeping in view their different objects.

41. While bent on realizing the property that alone gives value to anything called knowledge, or information, namely, that it shall be true, or certain,—Science is further characterized by the attribute of Generality, or Comprehensiveness.

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Knowledge may be composed of individual facts; as, "Rome was sacked by the Gauls," "The earth's circumference is nearly 34 times its diameter," "The great pyramid of Egypt is a stable structure: or of statements comprehending many individuals; as, "Conquering hosts prey upon their victims," "The circumference of a circle is about 34 times the diameter," ""The form of the pyramids gives stability."

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