in the scenes he describes, and of the spectators of them, and, without saying any thing purposely for effect, the interest felt in his story will be increased if he gives the very words used by those who have participated in the events he describes, or which were heard by those who were the witnesses of them.

Ex.-Xenophon, Cyropædia, The Retreat of the Ten Thousand, passim; Thucydides, Description of the Plague in Athens, the Siege of Platæa, &c.; Livy, Conjuratio de recipiendis Tarquiniis, 6, 7, Nar. 26.- Manlii in filium severitas, No. 4,

etc.

223. But history does not consist in descriptions and narrations calculated to excite passion or emotion. The historian says nothing but what is necessary to give the reader a clear understanding of what he relates and nothing more. To him still more than to the poet may be applied the words of Horace, "Semper ad eventum festinat."

224. Descriptions, then, should be seldom introduced, and then only when they are necessary to make the facts better understood, to indicate the theatre, for example, of a great event; and when introduced, they should be brief and animated. The precept of Boileau should never be followed in historical description,

"Soyez riche et pompeux dans vos descriptions;"

we ought rather to apply to them that of the recital to which they are subordinate,

"Soyez vif et pressé dans vos narrations."

And, in fact, it is this animated rapidity of expression that we meet with and which so charms us in the best models of historical composition.

225. The style of the historian should be more or less rapid, or more or less animated according to the nature of the transactions which he relates; it should, in fact, be suited to the kind of historical narrative he undertakes to write. For example, in painting the ravages of war, and the deplorable consequences of civil discord, his style should be rapid, energetic, and vehement.

Ex.-Livy's account of the ruin of Saguntum.

In portraying the happy fruits of peace and prosperity, it should be soft, flowing, elegant, and graceful.

Ex.-Livy's description of the triumph of Paulus

Emilius.

226. The style varies also according to the kind of history. For example, a general history demands a more elevated tone, and a more developed, flowing, and harmonious style, than a particular one, of which the style should be close, rapid, and

nervous.

Ex. Thucydides, Sallust, etc.

Political history should abound more in philosophical reflections.

Ex.-Tacitus.

The history of Courts is more curious and minute. in its details.

etc.

Ex.-Memoirs of the Court of Louis XIV.,
That of revolutions more dramatic in its charac-

ter.

Ex.-Vertot; d'Orleans, etc.

In writing the life of a private individual, the historian should omit no traits, no details of circumstances, nor should he neglect any artifices of style in narration or description which tend to illustrate the character and manners of his hero.

Ex.-Plutarch, Cornelius Nepos, Xenophon, etc.

SECT. 3. OF HISTORICAL HARANGUES.

227. Many critics reproach the ancient historians for putting speeches in the mouths of the personages who figure in their history. These discourses, say they, are not those which were actually delivered on the occasion referred to; they therefore violate the truth and sincerity of history. This reproach would be just and well founded, if we exacted from the historian the letter rather than the spirit of truth. There is no manner of doubt that the Scipios, the Hannibals, etc., never uttered the precise words that the historian attributes to them, but if they have not said the very same things, in the identical language of the historian, they are in fact the same which had been uttered on different occasions, not perhaps in a single harangue, but delivered at different times, and which the historian combines in such a manner as to give more animation and energy to his subject.

Besides, if the historian is not bound to present the facts in strictly chronological order, if, on the contrary, he ought to detail them in that order which is best calculated to show their succession and relative connexion, is it not also allowable for him to

unite together the motives which have brought about events, the causes of wars, the ratification of treaties, the reasons and arguments for which must have been certainly alleged, and provided that they are fundamentally true, and appropriate to the character, the rank, and the situation of the respective personages who figure in the story, ought we not to prefer that form which is the most instructive and at the same time the most interesting?

SECT. 4. OF HISTORICAL PAINTING.

228. The fault with which some authors are reproached, as Vellerius Parterculus, for example, with having amused themselves in describing minutely their personages and making them figure in their history, as their portraits would do in a picture gallery, deserves more severe reprehension. The historian should depict his heroes by their words and actions, not by their dress or personal appearance. However, it is not only allowable but imperative upon him to make us intimately acquainted with certain individuals in whose character there is any thing particularly striking or extraordinary. But he will confine himself to describe the moral qualities, the genius and disposition, the manners and passions of his personages, rather than their external appearance, their stature, their gait, etc., unless, indeed, these outward traits tend to unveil the qualities of their minds. Sometimes the portrait of a great man is necessary to explain his conduct, and to render the great actions he performs probable or

more easily grasped by the mind. Thus after having learned from Livy what kind of men, Hannibal, Scipio, etc., and from Sallust who and what Catiline, Jugurtha, etc., were, we are no longer astonished at the great deeds which they have undertaken and accomplished.

Ex.-Livy is not surpassed by any author, ancient or modern, in painting scenes and characters. See his account of the defeat of the Roman army by the Samnites, at the Furce Caudina, B. IX. prope init. 66 Redintegravit luctum in castris," etc. See also Sallust, passim.

PART III.

OF DIDACTIC COMPOSITION.

229. To didactic writing (didasxw, doceo,) belong all those works, the special end of which is to instruct. Such are theological, philosophical, polemical, literary, critical, and scientific writings, the object and end of which is to make us acquainted with religion, truth, morals, politics, the arts and sciences, both physical and natural.-Among didactic works we may distinguish several kinds.

ART. I. OF ELEMENTARY WORKS.

230. Some elementary works contain merely the elements of a science or the rules of an art, and