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amiable monarch, it seems a duty impofed upon me by the laws of juftice and gratitude, to print at the beginning of this Volume the honourable testimony of regard, which his Majefty Chriftian VII. fent publickly to London, a few months after He had received my work, together with my letter of thanks for so fignal a token of His favour; and I cannot, certainly, be charged with want of respect to the great and illuftrious Personage, to whom that royal Epiftle is addressed, fince it was not fent in a private manner, but openly and in the eyes of the world; and a copy of it was even delivered to me, after having paffed through feveral hands. Nothing more remains to be faid on this fubject, but that the worthy and excellent man, who was my fole guide and adviser in this affair, and to whom I opened my thoughts in my familiar letters with the utmost frankness, having retired from the office which he then held, I am left at perfect liberty to relate the whole tranfaction, without a poffibility of giving offence to any one living; especially fince I have not fuffered his name to be made cheap, by mentioning it in any part of the narrative.

This was the circumftance, which induced me, against my inclination, to describe the Life of a Conqueror, and to appear in publick

as an Author, before a maturity of judgement had made me fee the dangers of the step, which I was inconfiderately taking; for, I believe, if I had reflected on the little solid glory which a man reaps from acquiring a name in literature, on the jealoufy and envy which attend fuch an acquifition, on the distant referve which a writer is fure to meet with from the generality of mankind, and on the obftruction which a contemplative habit gives to our hopes of being distinguished in active life; if all, or any, of these reflections had occurred to me, I should not have been tempted by any confideration to enter upon fo invidious and fo thankless a career: but, as Tully fays, I should have confidered, before I embarked, the nature and extent of my voyage; now, fince the fails are Spread, the vessel must take its course*.

It may perhaps be expected, that fome account fhould here be given of the Perfian Hiftory, which I was thus appointed to fend abroad in an European drefs, with some remarks on the veracity and merit of its Eaftern Author; but, before we defcend to thefe minute particulars, it will not be foreign from

* Sed ingredientibus confiderandum fuit, quid ageremus; nunc quidem jam, quocunque feremur, danda nimirum vela funt. Cic. Orator ad Brut.

the fubject of the prefent publication, to enquire into the general nature of Historical compofition, and to offer the idea, rather of what is required from a perfect Hiftorian, than of what hitherto feems to have been executed any age or nation.

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CICERO, who was meditating an Hiftory of Rome, had established a fet of rules for the conduct of his work, which he puts into the mouth of Antonius in his treatife on the accomplished Orator; where he declares "the "bafis and ground-work of all History to

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depend upon thefe primary Laws, that the "writer fhould not dare to fet down a Falfe"hood, nor be deterred by fear from divulg"ing an interefting Truth; and that he should "avoid any just fufpicion of partiality or re"fentment: the edifice, he adds, which muft "be raised on this foundation, confifts of two

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parts, the relation of things, and the words "in which they are related; in the first, the "Hiftorian fhould adhere to the order of "time, and diverfify his narrative with the "description of countries; and fince, in all"memorable tranfactions, firft the counfels

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are explained, then the acts, and, lastly, the

" events, he should pronounce his own judge"ment on the merit of the counsels; should "show what acts enfued, and in what manner

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they were performed; and unfold the causes of all great events, whether he imputes them "to chance, or wifdom, or rafhnefs: he should "alfo defcribe, not only the actions, but the "lives and characters, of all the perfons, who are eminently distinguished in his piece;

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" and, as to the words, fhould be master of a copious and expanded ftyle, flowing along "with ease and delicacy, without the rough"nefs of pleadings at the Bar, or the affecta❝tion of pointed sentences *.

If we form our idea of a complete Hiftorian from these rules, we shall presently perceive

* Quis nefcit primam effe Hiftoriæ legem, ne quid falfi dicere audeat; deinde, ne quid veri non audeat ; ne qua fufpicio gratiæ fit in fcribendo, ne qua fimultatis? Hæc fcilicet fundamenta nota funt omnibus: ipfa autem exædificatio pofita eft in rebus et verbis. Rerum ratio ordinem temporum defiderat, regionum defcriptionem : vult etiam, quoniam in rebus magnis memoriâque dignis confilia primùm, deinde acta, pofteà eventûs expectantur; et de confiliis fignificari quid fcriptor probet, et in rebus gestis declarari non folùm quid actum aut dictum fit, fed etiam quo modo; et, cùm de eventu dicatur, ut caufæ explicentur omnes vel cafûs, vel fapientiæ, vel temeritatis: hominumque ipforum non folùm res geftæ, fed etiam, qui famâ ac nomine excellant, de cujusque vitâ atque naturâ. Verborum autem ratio, et genus orationis fufum atque tractum, et cum lenitate quadam æquabili profluens, fine hac judiciali afperitate, et fine fententiarum forenfium aculeis, perfequendum eft. De Orat. Lib. II. 15.

the reason, why no writer, ancient or modern, has been able to fuftain the weight of fo important a character; which includes in it the perfection of almost every virtue and every noble accomplishment, an unbiassed integrity, a comprehensive view of nature, an exact knowledge of men and manners, a mind stored with free and generous principles, a penetrating fagacity, a fine tafte and copious eloquence: a perfect Hiftorian must know many languages, many arts, many fciences; and, that he may not be reduced to borrow his materials wholly from other men, he muft have acquired the height of political wisdom, by long experience in the great affairs of his country, both in peace and war. There never was, perhaps, any such character; and, perhaps, there never will be: but in every art and science there are certain ideas of perfection, to which the works of human genius are continually tending, though, like the Loga rithmick Spiral, they will never meet the point to which they are infinitely approaching. Cicero himself, had he found leisure to accomplish his design, though he would have answered his own idea in most respects, would have been justly liable to the suspicion of an illiberal bias in relating the history of his own

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