1846.] Historical Studies. 579 highest eulogy is, that his field was the world. Messengers of grace went forth from the little village of Herrnhut to the snows of Greenland, the burning deserts of Africa and the pestilential swamps of South America. While kings and princes were listening to the impassioned appeals of the pious nobleman in Amsterdam and Berlin, his disciples were proclaiming, in persuasive accents, the love of Jesus to barbarous fishermen near the northern pole and to naked savages under the line. The silent industry and peaceful joy which reigned in the modest dwellings at Herrnhut, were copied in the commercial capital of the world and in the forests of Pennsylvania. Of few individuals among our race can it be affirmed with more truth than of Zinzendorf, "Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from henceforth, yea, saith the Spirit, that they may rest from their labors, and their works do follow them;" or that other sentence, engraved on his monument, " He was ordained to go and bring forth fruit, and that his fruit should remain." ARTICLE V. HISTORICAL STUDIES. By Rev. B. Sears, D. D. President of Theol. Institution, Newton. 1. Grundzüge der Historik von G. G. Gervinus, Leipzig, 1837. 2. Lectures on Modern History, by Thomas Arnold, D. D. with an Introduction and Notes by Prof. Henry Reed, New York, 1845. We have placed these two works at the head of the present article, not for the purpose of making them the subject of a critical examination and review, but rather as indicating the general topic on which we propose to remark. The study of history and the historical art itself are beginning to receive from our countrymen a larger and more just share of attention, while in Europe men of the profoundest erudition, and of the most exalted genius and talents, are consecrating themselves to the cultivation of this department of knowledge. Examples are numerous, but it is unnecessary to cite them. The most careless observer of the literature of the age, must have noticed that, among the more substan tial and magnificent works which are issued from the press in England, France and Germany, those of a historical character hold a conspicuous place. This circumstance suggests the propriety of our devoting a little space to the consideration of the qualifications and labors of the historian, with some observations on the importance of this branch of study in general. That investigation should precede historical composition, though a truism, has often been regarded as untrue. Of those who have undertaken the sacred office of historian many are found who have neither the means nor the inclination for historical research. Secondary sources of information are all that they seek, and in the use of these they are, too often, not over scrupulous. The consequence of this abuse is that, among intelligent readers, history having lost its freshness, has ceased to awaken general interest; and the only wonder is that the disgust has not been greater. Writers of this description seem not to have been aware, or if aware, not heedful of the boggy nature of the soil in some of the tracts over which they have travelled, or rather flown, nor of the rich mines that lie scarcely beneath the surface, in others. Nothing is more ludicrous than the gravity with which fables are sometimes set forth as veritable history, or more contemptible than the stupid indifference with which, at other times, things of intensest interest, lying, too, directly in the path of the historian, are unheeded, as the remains of ancient art are by the self-satisfied Turk. Most of our compends of general history are, for this reason, unworthy of the place which they occupy, and many a larger work, of respectability, would poorly abide the test of searching criticism. We might here instance the early history of Rome, which, often and confidently as its story has been told, is, to the true scholar, what the polar regions are to the geographer. Some of its seas have been navigated; some of its coasts have been touched; but as to the rest, there are impenetrable fields of ice, which have to this day baffled all the skill of the explorer. Since Niebuhr has shown how little reliance can be placed upon much that passes under the name of Roman history, others who have come after him are in a situation like that of merchants whose store-houses have been consumed by a general conflagration, and who must content themselves for a while with sheds and stalls till they shall have time to erect something more substantial. In respect to Grecian history, the state of things is more favorable; but it has not long been so. Less than thirty years ago, little comparatively was known of the many-sided life of 1846.] Necessity of accurate Investigation. 581 the Greeks. The entire subject of the legal antiquities of Athens, to give but one instance, was a chaos, too faithfully exemplified in the Notes to Dobson's edition of the Attic orators. How great the change since the investigations of Böckh, Müller, Wachsmuth, Hermann, Meyer and Schömann! It is inspiring to see, with what restless activity almost every subject connected with Grecian history has within a few years been investigated. With this multitude of historical dissertations, it has, at length, become possible to compose a tolerable history of Greece. Instead of what has been done, let us suppose that modern scholars had been satisfied with the method of good old Rollin, and laid out their strength in rhetorical exhibition, and in setting forth by way of ratiocination vague and uncertain generalities. How different would have been the state of our knowledge! Of what use, then, is this perpetual varnishing up of old furniture, while the very frame-work is in danger of falling in pieces; this outside stucco-work and polish, while the building itself is crumbling and tottering? He who settles one disputed question, who clears up one obscurity, who corrects one error, does a better service to mankind, than he who fills the shelves of booksellers with "libraries" of superficial and unauthentic history. After the days of poly-history, the age of the Scaligers, of Casaubon, of Salmasius, of Gronovius, of Heinsius and others, there was some value to be attached to the labors of those who converted the accumulated mass of historical collections into readable histories. But that ore was long since all worked up. If men will now write history, they must begin with research, the want of which it is in vain for mere cultivated taste or even genius to attempt to supply. The true historian, who understands the condition of that branch of study to which he is devoted, will not only feel the necessity of laying anew the foundations of history, but will be almost oppressed with a sense of the greatness of the undertaking. His only encouragement will be that, while it is the work of an age, and perhaps of many ages to accomplish what is needed by way of investigation, it is in his power to select some single part of the work, and perform it so thoroughly that it shall be of permanent value. Greater undertakings will be left for the few, if such there be, who are adequate to them. Even a Niebuhr was not able to complete the examination of the history of a single people. Heeren could explore thoroughly but one of the aspects of the ancient world, that of its material or economical interests. Schlosser has at tempted more, and with partial success; but who will venture, single-handed, to undertake what a Schlosser has failed to accomplish? The attempt to write, from original investigations, a general history, where others have not before critically explored the ground and furnished innumerable helps and guides, is too gigantic for the powers of the human mind. As in erecting an Egyptian pyramid, so here, many laborers must be long employed before the pile can be reared. All efforts in anticipation of this preparatory work are misdirected and nearly useless. The present generation of historians must, if they would meet the demand that is made upon them, limit their ambition chiefly to the accurate investigation of details. Without these, nothing of real and lasting importance in history can be produced. After that work shall have been accomplished, men of the requisite genius and industry will be able to construct the fabric of a general history from safe and durable materials. We have spoken of Greece and Rome; but the time is passed, when it could be supposed that in them, in their language and literature, is to be found the key which shall unlock the history of the ancient world. Not to insist on the point, that Asia had an influence upon the early civilization and subsequent fortunes of these countries so various and so extensive that it cannot be safely overlooked, that original seat of the human race had a history of its own, equal, at least, in interest and importance to that of Europe, a history which can never be written from Greek and Latin authorities. He who would contemplate Asia as she was, can do so only by following her to her own home and hearing the recitals of her history in her own language. Our knowledge even of western Asia was very imperfect, till the aids of Oriental literature and of modern travels were added to those already possessed in the remains of classical learning. Still much remains to be done, and probably many things pertaining to the early history of those countries, will always continue in obscurity. In regard to ancient Egypt, the age of utter incredulity in one class of men, and of despondency in another, has passed away. Nowhere is the value of patient research more apparent than in the results to which it has led respecting that country. It is impossible yet to say how much the study of Sanscrit literature, and the possession of so large a part of India by the British, and the various investigations which will grow out of these circumstan. ces, will contribute to remove the obscurity which rests upon the history of that more easterly part of the world which was the 1846.] Defects in the Histories of the Middle Ages. 583 most exuberant source of influence in shaping the destinies of many nations. The comparative study of languages as now pursued, and applied to ethnographical inquiries; the discovery and interpretation of various literary productions in the different languages of Asia descended from a remote antiquity; the study of the face of the country and of its monuments of art by scholars who shall be able to follow out every hint of ancient authors, may yet conspire to increase our knowledge of ancient India beyond the present expectation of the most sanguine inquirer. Nor can we believe it a vain hope that, in a historical point of view, China will yet be more widely opened. There is another quarter from which we may confidently expect additional light on the history of Asia. We refer to the occupancy of all the north of Asia by the Russians, and the culture of the languages of the country both ancient and modern, and the study of its history as now successfully prosecuted under the auspices of the government. There is, for example, a Mongolian literature existing to an extent which is yet unknown. In this literature there are, according to scholars now in the employ of the Russian government, numerous historical works, relating to that part of Asia where originated those great military move. ments which agitated the whole world from Spain to China. Now as we have only fragments of information on this great subject, a knowledge of Tartar and Mongolian history would furnish a key to much that is unknown and enigmatical in the history of other nations both in Europe and in Asia. So far as we know, von Hammer, of the historians, has directed most attention to this subject. In no period of history is the necessity of further research more obvious than in that of the Middle Ages. The learning of a Hallam suffices but for two or three of the western and southern States of Europe. With the language and literature of the two great political powers of that age, the Imperial and the Mohammedan, he appears to have no intimate acquaintance. Yet an accurate history of the Middle Ages, without such know. ledge, is utterly impossible. And in regard to the Latin chronicles of this period, it is to be observed, that many of them have recently been brought to light for the first time, and that all the others need to be examined anew with sounder principles of historical criticism, and to be interpreted in connection with all the remains of the vernacular literature of the age. This last circumstance suggests what is particularly needed at the present |