torical narration is clearness, order, and due connection. To attain this the historian must be completely master of his subject; he must see the whole as at one view, and comprehend the chain and dependence of all its parts, that he may introduce everything in its proper place, that he may lead us smoothly along the track of affairs which are recorded, and may always give us the satisfaction of seeing how one event arises out of another.

Keeping up the Connection. - Nothing tries an historian's abilities more, than so to lay his train beforehand, as to make us pass naturally and agreeably from one part of his subject to another; to employ no clumsy and awkward junctures; and to contrive ways and means of forming some union among transactions which seem to be most widely separated from one another.

Gravity of Style. — In the next place, as history is a very dignified species of composition, gravity must always be maintained in the narration. There must be no meanness or vulgarity in the style; no quaint or colloquial phrases; no affectation of pertness or of wit. The smart or the sneering manner of telling a story is inconsistent with the historical character. I do not say that an historian is never to let himself down. He may sometimes do it with propriety, in order to diversify the train of his narration, which, if it be perfectly uniform, is apt to become tiresome. But he should be careful never to descend too far, and on occasions where a light or ludicrous anecdote is proper to be recorded, it is generally better to throw it into a note than to hazard becoming too familiar by introducing it into the body of the work.

Dulness to be Avoided. But an historian may possess these qualities of being perspicuous, distinct, and grave, and may notwithstanding be a dull writer, in which case we shall reap little benefit from his labors. We shall read him without pleasure, or, most probably, we shall give over reading him at all. He must, therefore, study to render his narration interesting.

How to Keep up the Interest. - · An historian that would interest us must know when to be concise, and where he ought to enlarge; passing concisely over slight and unimportant events, but dwelling on such as are striking and considerable in their nature, so pregnant with consequences; preparing beforehand our attention to them, and bringing them forth into the most full and conspicuous light. He must also attend to a proper selection of the circumstances belonging to those events which he chooses to relate fully. General facts

make a slight impression on the mind. It is by means of circumstances and particulars properly chosen that a narration becomes interesting and affecting to the reader. These give life, body, and coloring to the recital of facts, and enable us to behold them as present and passing before our eyes. It is this employment of circumstances in narration that is properly termed historical painting.

Delineation of Characters. The drawing of characters is one of the most splendid, and at the same time one of the most difficult, ornaments of historical composition. For characters are generally considered as professed exhibitions of fine writing, and an historian who seeks to shine in them is frequently in danger of carrying refinement to excess, from a desire of appearing very profound and penetrating. He brings together so many contrasts, and subtle oppositions of qualities, that we are rather dazzled with sparkling expressions than entertained with any clear conception of a human character. A writer who would characterize in an instructive and masterly manner should be simple in his style, and should avoid all quaintness and affectation, at the same time not contenting himself with giving us general outlines, but descending into those peculiarities which mark a character in its most strong and distinctive features.

Sound Morals to be Enforced. As history is a species of writing designed for the instruction of mankind, sound morality should always reign in it. Both in describing characters and in relating transactions, the author should always show himself to be on the side of virtue. To deliver moral instruction in a formal manner, falls not within his province, but both as a good man and a good writer, we expect that he should discover sentiments of respect for virtue, and an indignation at flagrant vice. To appear neutral and indifferent with respect to good and bad characters, and to affect a crafty and political, rather than a moral turn of thought, will, besides other bad effects, derogate greatly from the weight of historical composition, and will render the strain of it much more cold and uninteresting. We are always most interested in the transactions which are going on when our sympathy is awakened by the story, and when we become engaged in the fate of the actors. But this effect can never be produced by a writer who is deficient in sensibility and moral feeling.

Annals. Annals are an inferior kind of history. A book

of annals is a collection of facts arranged in strict chronological order.

Annals rather contain the materials of history than constitute history itself. The chief qualities required in a writer of annals is that he be clear, accurate, and complete.

Memoirs.- Memoirs also are a species of historical writing, though not strictly constituting history.

Less Complete. The writer of memoirs does not pretend to give a complete account of transactions, but only to relate such portions of them as he himself had access to, or had something to do with. We do not expect from him the same profound research, or the same varied information, that we expect from the historian.

Less Dignified. The writer is not held to the same unvarying gravity and dignity, or to the same impersonal style of narration that is required in history. He may indulge in familiar anecdotes and pleasantry, and may freely mix up himself and his own personal affairs with the public affairs which he commemorates. Memoirs are, in fact, of the nature of reminiscences. They are a testimony by an eye-witness. Hence they have a double character. They are usually very entertaining to be read by themselves, and they furnish to the regular historian one of his most valuable storehouses of materials.

Biography.-A biography is the history of one individual. Biography is, therefore, a species of historical composition.

Different from History. - Biography differs from history proper, not only in being thus limited in its range, but also in being less stately and formal. In this latter respect biography corresponds with memoirs, descending to the particulars of private life and to familiar incidents.

Different from Memoirs. — Biography differs, on the other hand, from memoirs, in being complete in itself. It is no objection to memoirs that they are fragmentary, containing only selected portions of the transactions commemorated. But a biography of a man is expected to give his whole life, just as the history of a nation or of a period is expected to give its whole history.

Autobiography is a biography of a person written by himself.

X. FICTION.

A Fiction is a story made up of incidents invented for the purpose.

Its Prevalence. - Fictitious writing has existed in all ages of the world, and in nearly all departments of literature, but it has received its greatest enlargement in the present age. The works of fiction now produced exceed in number those of any other class, if, indeed, they do not equal those of all other classes combined. Fully onehalf of all the reading done by the community is the reading of fiction.

Names.- The names most commonly given to works of fiction are Novels and Romances. These terms are for the most part used indiscriminately, though romances more strictly mean a class of fiction in which the manners, incidents, and sentiments are of a rather extravagant kind.

Kinds. Novels are divided into two leading classes, historical and domestic.

Historical Novels are those in which the events of history are introduced, and historical persons are represented as talking and acting. The most celebrated historical novels are those of Sir Walter Scott. The historical novel may be made very interesting, and may help the dull and unimaginative reader in forming a more distinct conception of past events, but it is very unsafe as a guide in studying history. The novelist naturally shapes the facts to suit his story, instead of shaping his story to suit the facts. The great mass of novels, however, are of a domestic character, the incidents being such as occur in private life.

Appeal to Curiosity. The novelist relies for the interest of his story, first and mainly, upon the curiosity of the reader. The incidents being of the writer's own creation, he contrives so to arrange them as to conceal from his readers the issue of the affair until the very end of the story. If the novelist were to begin his story by acquainting his readers at the outset with the issue of the whole, so that we should know from the first who is to be married or killed, and how things generally are to turn out, which is in the main our condition in sitting down to read history or biography, an epic, or a play, it is safe to say that not one novel in a hundred would ever be read.

Other Means. Curiosity, however, is not the only means on which the novelist relies to secure readers. The incidents and the characters being entirely of his own creation, he can, if skilful enough, make them of the kind which will be in themselves pleasing and attractive, and he can use at will all those advantages of combination and contrast which tend to heighten the effect.

Delineation of Character. - Another great source of interest in novels is the opportunity they give for the delineation of character. In history the writer must take his characters as he finds them. In fiction the writer creates his characters. He clothes them with such qualities as he pleases, and then creates for them circumstances which enable them to act out these qualities in the sight of the reader. Such a mental process, that is, obtaining a clear conception of a character, and then seeing that character developed in action before our eyes, is always a source of pleasure, and the novelist has a field for the employment of it, bounded only by his own faculties of conception and invention.

General Effect. The greater part of the fiction now published and read has no other object than mere pleasure, and that of a very low kind. Novels of this sort have a debasing effect upon the public mind. The reading of them is a mere mental dissipation, unfitting the reader both for reading of a more elevated kind, and for the active duties of life.

Effect on the Memory. I give it, too, as my opinion, the result of a long course of observation, in a profession peculiarly fitted for such a purpose, that much and indiscriminate novel-reading has a most disastrous effect upon the memory. Indeed, I am not sure that the debilitating effect upon the mental faculties is not a more serious evil even than its relaxing influence upon the conscience and the moral sensibilities.

Novels of a Higher Aim. —A good many novels have a higher aim, being intended by their authors to disseminate theories of life and morals, and even of religion. Dickens's novels, for instance, are aimed mainly at social vices, and so efficiently has he propagated his opinions on these subjects, by means of his fictions, that he has created a strong public sentiment in favor of his social views.

Religious Fiction. — No inconsiderable part of the fiction now produced has for its professed object the inculcation of religious truth. Nine-tenths of all the religious books written for children are fictions of this kind. The Sunday-school books, of which not less than three