The Puritan hated bear-baiting, not because it gave pain to the bear, but because it gave pleasure to the spectators.
The Spartan, smiting and spurning the wretched Helot, moves our disgust. But the same Spartan, calmly dressing his hair, and uttering his concise jests, on what the well knows to be his last day, in the pass of Thermopylae, is not to be contemplated without admiration.
He had done that which could never be forgiven; he was in the grasp of one who never forgave.
The highest eulogy which can be pronounced on the Revolution of 1688 is this that this was our last Revolution.
A history in which every particular incident may be true may on the whole be false.
History begins in novel and ends in essay.
The best portraits are perhaps those in which there is a slight mixture of caricature; and we are not certain that the best histories are not those in which a little of the exaggeration of fictitious narrative is judiciously employed. Something is lost in accuracy; but much is gained in effect. The fainter lines are neglected; but the great characteristic features are imprinted on the mind forever.
Facts are the mere dross of history. It is from the abstract truth which interpenetrates them, and lies latent among them, like gold in the ore, that the mass derives its whole value; and the precious particles are generally combined with the baser in such a manner that the separation is a task of the utmost difficulty.
Those who compare the age in which their lot has fallen with a golden age which exists only in imagination, may talk of degeneracy and decay; but no man who is correctly informed as to the past, will be disposed to take a morose or desponding view of the present.
A Grecian history, perfectly written should be a complete record of the rise and progress of poetry, philosophy, and the arts.
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