part ii. p. 63; and at p. 88, 'suivant l'usage de son temps,

Gessner n'indique pas avec précision les endroits d'où il a tiré ses citations:' see also p. 214.

[823] 'Le premier ouvrage de philosophie publié dans cette langue.' _Biog. Univ._ vol. xii. p. 277.

[824] So it seemed to me, when I turned over its leaves a few years ago. However, Patin says, 'sa philosophie françoise n'est pas mauvaise.' _Lettres de Patin_, vol. iii. p. 357. On the dialectic powers of Dupleix, see a favourable judgment in _Hamilton's Discuss. on Philos._ p. 119.

[825] _Biog. Univ._ vol. xxxv. p. 402. Sorel (_Bibliothèque Françoise_, p. 165), who is evidently displeased at the unprecedented boldness of La Popelinière, says, 'il dit ses sentimens en bref des historiens de toutes les nations, et de plusieurs langues, et particulièrement des historiens françois, dont il parle avec beaucoup d'asseurance.'

[826] 'Il réfute l'opinion, alors fort accréditée, de l'arrivée dans les Gaules de Francus et des Troyens.' _Biog. Univ._ vol. xxxv. p. 402. Compare _Le Long_, _Bibliothèque Historique de la France_, vol. ii. p. 39. Patin says that De Thou was much indebted to him: 'M. de Thou a pris hardiment de la Popelinière.' _Lettres de Patin_, vol. i. p. 222. There is a notice of Popelinière, in connexion with Richer, in _Mém. de Richelieu_, vol. v. p. 349.

It would be useless to collect all the instances in which this advancing spirit of scepticism now began to purge history of its falsehoods. I will only mention two or three more of those which have occurred in my reading. In 1614, De Rubis published at Lyons a work on the European monarchies; in which he not only attacks the long-established belief respecting the descent from Francus, but boldly asserts, that the Franks owe their name to their ancient liberties.[827] In 1620, Gomberville, in a dissertation on history, refutes many of those idle stories respecting the antiquity of the French, which had been universally received until his time.[828] And, in 1630, Berthault published at Paris the 'French Floras,' in which he completely upsets the old method; since he lays it down as a fundamental principle, that the origin of the French must only be sought for in those countries where they were found by the Romans.[829]

[827] 'Il réfute les fables qu'on avançoit sur l'origine des François, appuyées sur le témoignage au faux Bérose. Il dit que leur nom vient de leur ancienne franchise.' _Le Long_, _Bibliothèque Historique_, vol. ii. p. 750.

[828] Compare _Sorel_, _Bibliothèque Françoise_, p. 298, with _Du Fresnoy_, _Méthode pour étudier l'Histoire_, vol. x. p. 4, Parie, 1772. There is an account of Gomberville in _Les Historiettes de Tallemant des Réaux_, vol. viii. pp. 15-19; a singularly curious book, which is, for the seventeenth century, what Brantome is for the sixteenth. I ought to have mentioned earlier the inimitable ridicule with which Rabelais treats the habit historians had of tracing the genealogies of their heroes back to Noah. _[OE]uvres de Rabelais_, vol. i. pp. 1-3, and vol. ii. pp. 10-17: see also, at vol. v. pp. 171, 172, his defence of the antiquity of Chinon.

[829] 'L'auteur croit qu'il ne faut pas la chercher ailleurs que dans le pays où ils out été connus des Romains, c'est-à-dire entre l'Elbe et le Rhin,' _Le Long_, _Bibliothèque Historique_, vol. ii. p. 56. This work of Berthault's was, for many years, a text-book in the French colleges. _Biog. Univ._ vol. iv. p. 347.

All these, and similar productions, were, however, entirely eclipsed by Mezeray's History of France; the first volume of which was published in 1643, and the last in 1651.[830] It is, perhaps, hardly fair to his predecessors, to call him the first general historian of France;[831] but there can be no doubt that his work is greatly superior to any that had yet been seen. The style of Mezeray is admirably clear and vigorous, rising, at times, to considerable eloquence. Besides this, he has two other merits much more important. These are, an indisposition to believe strange things, merely because they have hitherto been believed; and an inclination to take the side of the people, rather than that of their rulers.[832] Of these principles, the first was too common among the ablest Frenchmen of that time to excite much attention.[833] But the other principle enabled Mezeray to advance an important step before all his contemporaries. He was the first Frenchman who, in a great historical work, threw off that superstitious reverence for royalty which had long troubled the minds of his countrymen, and which, indeed, continued to haunt them for another century. As a necessary consequence, he was also the first who saw that a history, to be of real value, must be a history, not only of kings, but of nations. A steady perception of this principle led him to incorporate into his book matters which, before his time, no one cared to study. He communicates all the information he could collect respecting the taxes which the people had paid; the sufferings they had undergone from the gripping hands of their governors; their manners, their comforts, even the state of the towns which they inhabited; in a word, what affected the interests of the French people, as well as what affected the interests of the French monarchy.[834] These were the subjects which Mezeray preferred to insignificant details respecting the pomp of courts and the lives of kings. These were the large and comprehensive matters on which he loved to dwell, and on which he expatiated; not, indeed, with so much fulness as we could desire, but still with a spirit and an accuracy which entitles him to the honour of being the greatest historian France produced before the eighteenth century.

[830] The first volume in 1643; the second in 1646; and the last in 1651. _Biog. Univ._ vol. xxviii. p. 510.

[831] 'The French have now their first general historian, Mezeray.' _Hallam's Literature of Europe_, vol. iii. p. 228; and see _Stephen's Lectures on the History of France_, 1851, vol. i. p. 10.

[832] Bayle says, that Mezeray is, 'de tous les historiens celui qui favorise le plus les peuples contre la cour.' _Le Long_, _Bibliothèque Historique_, vol. iii. p. lxxxvi.

[833] Though it did not prevent him from believing that sudden tempests, and unusual appearances in the heavens, were aberrations, due to supernatural interference, and, as such, were the prognosticators of political change. _Mézéray_, _Hist. de France_, vol. i. pp. 202, 228, 238, 241, 317, 792, vol. ii. pp. 485, 573, 1120, vol. iii. pp. 31, 167, 894; instructive passages, as proving that, even in powerful minds, the scientific and secular method was still feeble.

[834] What he did on these subjects is most remarkable, considering that some of the best materials were unknown, and in manuscript, and that even De Thou gives scarcely any information respecting them; so that Mezeray had no model. See, among other passages which have struck me in the first volume, pp. 145-147, 204, 353, 356, 362-365, 530, 531, 581, 812, 946, 1039. Compare his indignant expressions at vol. ii. p. 721.

This was, in many respects, the most important change which had yet been effected in the manner of writing history. If the plan begun by Mezeray had been completed by his successors, we should possess materials, the absence of which no modern researches can possibly compensate. Some things, indeed, we should, in that case, have lost. We should know less than we now know of courts and of camps. We should have heard less of the peerless beauty of French queens, and of the dignified presence of French kings. We might even have missed some of the links of that evidence by which the genealogies of princes and nobles are ascertained, and the study of which delights the curiosity of antiquaries and heralds. But, on the other hand, we should have been able to examine the state of the French people during the latter half of the seventeenth century; while, as things now stand, our knowledge of them, in that most important period, is inferior in accuracy and in extent to the knowledge we possess of some of the most barbarous tribes of the earth.[835] If the example of Mezeray had been followed, with such additional resources as the progress of affairs would have supplied, we should not only have the means of minutely tracing the growth of a great and civilised nation, but we should have materials that would suggest or verify those original principles, the discovery of which constitutes the real use of history.

[835] Those who have studied the French memoirs of the seventeenth century, know how little can be found in them respecting the condition of the people; while the fullest private correspondence, such as the letters of Sévigné and De Maintenon, are equally unsatisfactory. The greater part of the evidence now extant has been collected by M. Monteil, in his valuable work, _Histoire des divers Etats_: but whoever will put all this together must admit, that we are better informed as to the condition of many savage tribes than we are concerning the lower classes of France during the reign of Louis XIV.

But this was not to be. Unhappily for the interests of knowledge, the march of French civilization was, at this period, suddenly checked. Soon after the middle of the seventeenth century, that lamentable change took place in France, which gave a new turn to the destinies of the nation. The reaction which the spirit of inquiry underwent, and the social and intellectual circumstances which, by bringing the Fronde to a premature close, prepared the way for Louis XIV., have been described in a former part of this volume, where I have attempted to indicate the general effects of the disastrous movement. It now remains for me to point out how this retrogressive tendency opposed obstacles to the improvement of historical literature, and prevented authors, not only from relating with honesty what was passing around them, but also from understanding events which had occurred before their time.

The most superficial students of French literature must be struck by the dearth of historians during that long period in which Louis XIV. held the reins of government.[836] To this, the personal peculiarities of the king greatly contributed. His education had been shamefully neglected; and as he never had the energy to repair its deficiencies, he all his life remained ignorant of many things with which even princes are usually familiar.[837] Of the course of past events he knew literally nothing, and he took no interest in any history except the history of his own exploits. Among a free people, this indifference on the part of the sovereign could never have produced injurious results; indeed, as we have already seen, the absence of royal patronage is, in a highly civilized country, the most favourable condition of literature. But at the accession of Louis XIV. the liberties of the French were still too young, and the habits of independent thought too recent, to enable them to bear up against that combination of the crown and the church, which was directed against them. The French, becoming every day more servile, at length sunk so low, that, by the end of the seventeenth century, they seemed to have lost even the wish of resistance. The king, meeting no opposition, endeavoured to exercise over the intellect of the country an authority equal to that with which he conducted its government.[838] In all the great questions of religion and of politics, the spirit of inquiry was stifled, and no man was allowed to express an opinion unfavourable to the existing state of things. As the king was willing to endow literature, he naturally thought that he had a right to its services. Authors, who were fed by his hand, were not to raise their voices against his policy. They received his wages, and they were bound to do the bidding of him who paid them. When Louis assumed the government, Mezeray was still living; though I need hardly say that his great work was published before this system of protection and patronage came into play. The treatment to which he, the great historian of France, was now subjected, was a specimen of the new arrangement. He received from the crown a pension of four thousand francs; but when he, in 1668, published an abridgment of his History,[839] it was intimated to him that some remarks upon the tendency of taxation were likely to cause offence in high quarters. As, however, it was soon found that Mezeray was too honest and too fearless to retract what he had written, it was determined to have recourse to intimidation, and half of his pension was taken from him.[840] But as this did not produce a proper effect, another order was issued, which deprived him of the remaining half; and thus early, in this bad reign, there was set an example of punishing a man for writing with honesty upon a subject in which, of all others, honesty is the first essential.[841]

[836] This is noticed in _Sismondi_, _Hist. des Français_, vol. xxvii. pp. 181, 182; also in _Villemain_, _Littérature Française_, vol. ii. pp. 29, 30. Compare _D'Argenson_, _Réflexions sur les Historiens François_, in _Mémoires de l'Académie des Inscriptions_, vol. xxviii. p. 627, with _Boulainvilliers_, _Ancien Gouvernement de la France_, vol. i. p. 174.

[837] 'Le jeune Louis XIV n'avait reçu aucune éducation intellectuelle.' _Capefigue's Richelieu, Mazarin et la Fronde_, vol. ii. p. 245. On the education of Louis XIV., which was as shamefully neglected as that of our George III., see _Lettres inédites de Maintenon_, vol. ii. p. 369; _Duclos_, _Mém. Secrets_, vol. i. pp. 167, 168; _Mém. de Brienne_, vol. i. pp. 391-393.

[838] On his political maxims, see _Lemontey_, _Etablissement de Louis XIV_, pp. 325-327, 407, 408. The eloquent remarks made by M. Ranke upon an Italian despotism, are admirably applicable to his whole system: 'Sonderbare Gestalt menschlichen Dinge! Die Kräfte des Landes bringen den Hof hervor, der Mittelpunkt des Hofes ist der Fürst, das letzte Product des gesammten Lebens ist zuletzt das Selbstgefühl des Fürsten.' _Die Päpste_, vol. ii. p. 266.

[839] His _Abrégé Chronologique_ was published in 1668, in three volumes quarto. _Biog. Univ._ vol. xxviii. p. 510. Le Long (_Bibliothèque Historique_, vol. iii. p. lxxxv.) says, that it was only allowed to be published in consequence of a 'privilège' which Mezeray had formerly obtained. But there seems to have been some difficulty, of which these writers are not aware: for Patin, in a letter dated Paris, 23 December 1664, speaks of it as being then in the press: 'on imprime ici en _grand-in-quarto_ un Abrégé de l'Histoire de France, par M. Mezeray.' _Lettres de Patin_, vol. iii. p. 503: compare p. 665. It long remained an established school-book: see D'Argenson's Essay, in _Mém. de l'Académie_, vol. xxviii. p. 635; and _Works of Sir William Temple_, vol. iii. p. 70.

[840] _Barrière_, _Essai sur les M[oe]urs du Dix-septième Siècle_, prefixed to _Mém. de Brienne_, vol. i. pp. 129, 130, where reference is made to his original correspondence with Colbert. This treatment of Mezeray is noticed, but imperfectly, in _Boulainvilliers_, _Hist. de l'Ancien Gouvernement_, vol. i. p. 196; in _Lemontey_, _Etablissement de Louis XIV_, p. 331; and in _Palissot_, _Mém. pour l'Hist. de Lit._ vol. ii. p. 161.

[841] In 1685 was published at Paris what was called an improved edition of Mezeray's History; that is, an edition from which the honest remarks were expunged. See _Le Long_, _Bibliothèque Historique_, vol. ii. p. 53, vol. iv. p. 381; and _Brunet_, _Manuel du Libraire_, vol. iii. p. 383, Paris, 1843. Hampden, who knew Mezeray, has recorded an interesting interview he had with him in Paris, when the great historian lamented the loss of the liberties of France. See _Calamy's Life of Himself_, vol. i. pp. 392, 393.

Such conduct as this showed what historians were to expect from the government of Louis XIV. Several years later, the king took another opportunity of displaying the same spirit. Fénelon had been appointed preceptor to the grandson of Louis, whose early vices his firmness and judgment did much to repress.[842] But a single circumstance was thought sufficient to outweigh the immense service which Fénelon thus rendered to the royal family, and, if his pupil had come to the throne, would have rendered prospectively to the whole of France. His celebrated romance, _Telemachus_, was published in 1699, as it appears, without his consent.[843] The king suspected that, under the guise of a fiction, Fénelon intended to reflect on the conduct of government. It was in vain that the author denied so dangerous an imputation. The indignation of the king was not to be appeased. He banished Fénelon from the court; and would never again admit to his presence a man whom he suspected of even insinuating a criticism upon the measures adopted by the administration of the country.[844]

[842] _Sismondi_, _Hist. des Français_, vol. xxvi. pp. 240, 241.

[843] 'Par l'infidélité d'un domestique chargé de transcrire le manuscrit.' _Biog. Univ._ vol. xiv. p. 289; and see _Peignot_, _Dict. des Livres condamnés_, vol. i. pp. 134, 135. It was suppressed in France, and appeared in Holland in the same year, 1699. _Lettres de Sévigné_, vol. vi. pp. 434, 435 note.

[844] 'Louis XIV prit le Télémaque pour une personnalité.... Comme il (Fénelon) avait déplu au roi, il mourut dans l'exil.' _Lerminier_, _Philos. du Droit_, vol. ii. pp. 219, 220; and see _Siècle de Louis XIV_, chap. xxxii., in _[OE]uvres de Voltaire_, vol. xx. p. 307.

If the king could, on mere suspicion, thus treat a great writer, who had the rank of an archbishop and the reputation of a saint, it was not likely that he would deal more tenderly with inferior men. In 1681, the Abbé Primi, an Italian, then residing at Paris, was induced to write a history of Louis XIV. The king, delighted with the idea of perpetuating his own fame, conferred several rewards upon the author: and arrangements were made that the work should be composed in Italian, and immediately translated into French. But when the history appeared, there were found in it some circumstances which it was thought ought not to have been disclosed. On this account, Louis caused the book to be suppressed, the papers of the author to be seized, and the author himself to be thrown into the Bastille.[845]

[845] These circumstances are related in a letter from Lord Preston, dated Paris, 22 July 1682, and printed in _Dalrymple's Memoirs_, pp. 141, 142, appendix to vol. i. The account given by M. Peignot (_Livres condamnés_, vol. ii. pp. 52, 53) is incomplete, he being evidently ignorant of the existence of Lord Preston's letter.

Those, indeed, were dangerous times for independent men; times when no writer on politics or religion was safe, unless he followed the fashion of the day, and defended the opinions of the court and the church. The king, who had an insatiable thirst for what he called glory,[846] laboured to degrade contemporary historians into mere chroniclers of his own achievements. He ordered Racine and Boileau to write an account of his reign; he settled a pension upon them, and he promised to supply them with the necessary materials.[847] But even Racine and Boileau, poets though they were, knew that they would fail in satisfying his morbid vanity; they, therefore, received the pension, but omitted to compose the work for which the pension was conferred. So notorious was the unwillingness of able men to meddle with history, that it was thought advisable to beat up literary recruits from foreign countries. The case of the Abbé Primi has just been mentioned; he was an Italian, and only one year later a similar offer was made to an Englishman. In 1683, Burnet visited France, and was given to understand that he might receive a pension, and that he might even enjoy the honour of conversing with Louis himself, provided he would write a history of the royal affairs; such history, it was carefully added, being on the 'side' of the French king.[848]

[846] An able writer has well called him 'glorieux plutôt qu'appréciateur de la vraie gloire.' _Flassan_, _Histoire de la Diplomatie Française_, vol. iv. p. 399.

[847] In 1677, Madame de Sévigné writes from Paris respecting the king: 'Vous savez bien qu'il a donné deux mille écus de pension à Racine et à Despréaux, en leur commandant de travailler à son histoire, dont il aura soin de donner des Mémoires.' _Lettres de Sévigné_, vol. iii. p. 362. Compare _Eloge de Valincourt_, in _[OE]uvres de Fontenelle_, vol. vi. p. 383; and _Hughes's Letters_, edit. 1773, vol. ii. pp. 74, 75.

[848] Burnet relates this with delightful simplicity: 'Others more probably thought that the king, hearing I was a writer of history, had a mind to engage me to write on his side. I was told a pension would be offered me. But I made no steps towards it; for though I was offered an audience of the king, I excused it, since I could not have the honour to be presented to that king by the minister of England.' _Burnet's Own Time_, vol. ii. p. 385.

Under such circumstances as these, it is no wonder that history, so far as its great essentials are concerned, should have rapidly declined during the power of Louis XIV. It became, as some think, more elegant; but it certainly became more feeble. The language in which it was composed was worked with great care, the periods neatly arranged, the epithets soft and harmonious. For that was a polite and obsequious age, full of reverence, of duty, and of admiration. In history, as it was then written, every king was a hero, and every bishop was a saint. All unpleasant truths were suppressed; nothing harsh or unkind was to be told. These docile and submissive sentiments being expressed in an easy and flowing style, gave to history that air of refinement, that gentle, unobtrusive gait, which made it popular with the classes that it flattered. But even so, while its form was polished, its life was extinct. All its independence was gone, all its honesty, all its boldness. The noblest and the most difficult department of knowledge, the study of the movements of the human race, was abandoned to every timid and creeping intellect that cared to cultivate it. There was Boulainvilliers, and Daniel, and Maimburg, and Varillas, and Vertot, and numerous others, who in the reign of Louis XIV. were believed to be historians; but whose histories have scarcely any merit, except that of enabling us to appreciate the period in which such productions were admired, and the system of which they were the representatives.

To give a complete view of the decline of historical literature in France, from the time of Mezeray until early in the eighteenth century, would require a summary of every history which was written; for all of them were pervaded by the same spirit. But, as this would occupy much too large a space, it will probably be thought sufficient if I confine myself to such illustrations as will bring the tendency of the age most clearly before the reader; and for this purpose, I will notice the works of two historians I have not yet mentioned; one of whom was celebrated as an antiquary, the other as a theologian. Both possessed considerable learning, and one was a man of undoubted genius; their works are, therefore, worth attention, as symptoms of the state of the French intellect late in the seventeenth century. The name of the antiquary was Audigier; the name of the theologian was Bossuet: and from them we may learn something respecting the way in which, during the reign of Louis XIV., it was usual to contemplate the transactions of past ages.

The celebrated work of Audigier, on the Origin of the French, was published at Paris in 1676.[849] It would be unjust to deny that the author was a man of great and careful reading. But his credulity, his prejudices, his reverence for antiquity, and his dutiful admiration for everything established by the church and the court, warped his judgment to an extent which, in our time, seems incredible; and, as there are probably few persons in England who have read his once famous book, I will give an outline of its leading views.

[849] During many years it enjoyed great reputation; and there is no history written in that period respecting which Le Long gives so many details. See his _Bibliothèque Historique de la France_, vol. ii. pp. 13, 14. Compare _La Bibliothèque de Leber_, vol. ii. p. 110, Paris, 1839.

In this great history we are told, that 3464 years after the creation of the world, and 590 years before the birth of Christ, was the exact period at which Sigovese, nephew to the king of the Celts, was first sent into Germany.[850] Those who accompanied him were necessarily travellers; and as, in the German language, _wandeln_ means _to go_, we have here the origin of the Vandals.[851] But the antiquity of the Vandals is far surpassed by that of the French. Jupiter, Pluto, and Neptune, who are sometimes supposed to be gods, were in reality kings of Gaul.[852] And, if we look back a little further, it becomes certain that Gallus, the founder of Gaul, was no other than Noah himself; for in those days the same man frequently had two names.[853] As to the subsequent history of the French, it was fully equal to the dignity of their origin. Alexander the Great, even in all the pride of his victories, never dared to attack the Scythians, who were a colony sent from France.[854] It is from these great occupiers of France that there have proceeded all the gods of Europe, all the fine arts, and all the sciences.[855] The English themselves are merely a colony of the French, as must be evident to whoever considers the similarity of the words Angles and Anjou;[856] and to this fortunate descent the natives of the British islands are indebted for such bravery and politeness as they still possess.[857] Several other points are cleared up by this great critic with equal faculty. The Salian Franks were so called from the rapidity of their flight;[858] the Bretons were evidently Saxons;[859] and even the Scotch, about whose independence so much has been said, were vassals to the kings of France.[860] Indeed, it is impossible to exaggerate the dignity of the crown of France; it is difficult even to conceive its splendour. Some have supposed that the emperors are superior to the kings of France, but this is the mistake of ignorant men; for an emperor means a mere military ruler, while the title of king includes all the functions of supreme power.[861] To put the question, therefore, on its real footing, the great king Louis XIV. is an emperor, as have been all his predecessors, the illustrious rulers of France, for fifteen centuries.[862] And it is an undoubted fact, that Antichrist, about whom so much anxiety is felt, will never be allowed to appear in the world until the French empire has been destroyed. This, says Audigier, it would be idle to deny; for it is asserted by many of the saints, and it is distinctly foreshadowed by St. Paul, in his second epistle to the Thessalonians.[863]

[850] _Audigier_, _L'Origine des François_, Paris, 1676, vol. i. p. 5. See also p. 45, where he congratulates himself on being the first to clear up the history of Sigovese.

[851] _Audigier_, vol. i. p. 7. Other antiquaries have adopted the same preposterous etymology. See a note in _Kemble's Saxons in England_, vol. i. p. 41.

[852] 'Or le plus ancien Jupiter, le plus ancien Neptune, et le plus ancien Pluton, sont ceux de Gaule; ils la divisèrent les premiers en Celtique, Aquitaine et Belgique, et obtinrent chacun une de ces parties en partage. Jupiter, qu'on fait régner au ciel, eut la Celtique.... Neptune, qu'on fait régner sur les eaux, et sur les mers, eut l'Aquitaine, qui n'est appelée de la sorte qu'à cause de l'abondance de ses eaux, et de la situation sur l'océan.' _Audigier_, _L'Origine des François_, vol. i. pp. 223, 224.

[853] See his argument, vol. i. pp. 216, 217, beginning, 'le nom de Noé, que portèrent les Galates, est Gallus;' and compare vol. ii. p. 109, where he expresses surprise that so little should have been done by previous writers towards establishing this obvious origin of the French.

[854] _Audigier_, vol. i. pp. 196, 197, 255, 256.

[855] 'Voilà donc les anciennes divinitez d'Europe, originaires de Gaule, aussi bien que les beaux arts et les hautes sciences.' _Audigier_, vol. i. p. 234.

[856] _Ibid._ vol. i. pp. 73, 74. He sums up, 'c'en est assez pour relever l'Anjou, à qui cette gloire appartient légitimement.'

[857] Vol. i. pp. 265, 266.

[858] Vol. i. p. 149.

[859] Vol. ii. pp. 179, 180.

[860] Vol. ii. p. 269.

[861] Vol. ii. p. 124.

[862] Vol. ii. pp. 451-454.

[863] 'A quoy nous pourrions joindre un autre monument fort authentique, c'est le résultat de certains pères, et de certains docteurs de l'église, qui tiennent que l'Ante-christ ne viendra point au monde qu'après la dissection, c'est-à-dire après la dissipation de nostre empire. Leur fondement est dans la seconde épistre de saint Paul aux Thessaloniciens.' _Audigier_, vol. ii. p. 462.

Strange as all this appears, there was nothing in it to revolt the enlightened age of Louis XIV. Indeed, the French, dazzled by the brilliancy of their prince, must have felt great interest in learning how superior he was to all other potentates, and how he had not only been preceded by a long line of emperors, but was in fact an emperor himself. They must have been struck with awe at the information communicated by Audigier respecting the arrival of Antichrist, and the connexion between that important event and the fate of the French monarchy. They must have listened with pious wonder to the illustration of these matters from the writings of the fathers, and from the epistle to the Thessalonians. All this they would easily receive; because to worship the king, and venerate the church, were the two cardinal maxims of that age. To obey, and to believe, were the fundamental ideas of a period, in which the fine arts did for a time flourish,--in which the perception of beauty, though too fastidious, was undoubtedly keen,--in which taste and the imagination, in its lower departments, were zealously cultivated,--but in which, on the other hand, originality and independence of thought were extinguished, the greatest and the largest topics were forbidden to be discussed, the sciences were almost deserted, reforms and innovations were hated, new opinions were despised, and their authors punished, until at length, the exuberance of genius being tamed into sterility, the national intellect was reduced to that dull and monotonous level which characterizes the last twenty years of the reign of Louis XIV.

In no instance can we find a better example of this reactionary movement, than in the case of Bossuet, bishop of Meaux. The success, and indeed the mere existence, of his work on Universal History, becomes, from this point of view, highly instructive. Considered by itself, the book is a painful exhibition of a great genius cramped by a superstitious age. But considered in reference to the time in which it appeared, it is invaluable as a symptom of the French intellect; since it proves, that towards the end of the seventeenth century, one of the most eminent men, in one of the first countries of Europe, could willingly submit to a prostration of judgment, and could display a blind credulity, of which, in our day, even the feeblest minds would be ashamed; and that this, so far from causing scandal, or bringing a rebuke on the head of the author, was received with universal and unqualified applause. Bossuet was a great orator, a consummate dialectician, and an accomplished master of those vague sublimities by which most men are easily affected. All these qualities he, a few years later, employed in the production of what is probably the most formidable work ever directed against Protestantism.[864] But when he, leaving these matters, entered the vast field of history, he could think of no better way of treating his new subject, than by following the arbitrary rules peculiar to his own profession.[865] His work is an audacious attempt to degrade history to a mere handmaid of theology.[866] As if, on such matters, doubt were synonymous with crime, he, without the slightest hesitation, takes everything for granted which the church had been accustomed to believe. This enables him to speak with perfect confidence respecting events which are lost in the remotest antiquity. He knows the exact number of years which have elapsed since the moment when Cain murdered his brother; when the deluge overwhelmed the world; and when Abraham was summoned to his mission.[867] The dates of these, and similar occurrences, he fixes with a precision, which might almost make us believe that they had taken place in his own time, if not under his own eyes.[868] It is true, that the Hebrew books on which he willingly relied, supply no evidence of the slightest value concerning the chronology even of their own people; while the information they contain respecting other countries is notoriously meagre and unsatisfactory.[869] But so narrow were the views of Bossuet upon history, that with all this he, in his own opinion, had no concern. The text of the Vulgate declared, that these things had happened at a particular time; and a number of holy men, calling themselves the council of the church, had, in the middle of the sixteenth century, pronounced the Vulgate to be authentic, and had taken upon themselves to place it above all other versions.[870] This theological opinion was accepted by Bossuet as an historical law; and thus the decision of a handful of cardinals and bishops, in a superstitious and uncritical age, is the sole authority for that early chronology, the precision of which is, to an uninformed reader, a matter of great admiration.[871]

[864] This is the opinion of Mr. Hallam respecting Bossuet's History of the Variations of Protestant Churches. _Const. Hist._ vol. i. p. 486: compare _Lerminier_, _Philos. du Droit_, vol. ii. p. 86. Attempts have been made by Protestant theologians to retort against the Catholics the arguments of Bossuet, on the ground that religious variations are a necessary consequence of the honest pursuit of religious truth. See _Blanco White's Evidence against Catholicism_, pp. 109-112; and his _Letters from Spain_, _by Doblado_, p. 127. With this I fully agree; but it would be easy to show that the argument is fatal to all ecclesiastical systems with strictly defined creeds, and, therefore, strikes as heavily against the Protestant churches as against the Catholic. Beausobre, in his acute and learned work on Manichæism, seems to have felt this; and he makes the dangerous admission, 'que si l'argument de M. de Meaux vaut quelque chose contre la Réformation, il a la même force contre le Christianisme.' _Hist. de Manichée_, vol. i. p. 526. On Bossuet as a controversialist, see _Stäudlin_, _Geschichte der theologischen Wissenschaften_, vol. ii. pp. 43-45; and for a contemporary opinion of his great work, see a characteristic passage in _Lettres de Sévigné_, vol. v. p. 409.

[865] His method is fairly stated by _Sismondi_, _Hist. des Français_, vol. xxv. p. 427.

[866] See, on this attempt of Bossuet's, some good remarks in _Stäudlin_, _Geschichte der theologischen Wissenschaften_, vol. ii. p. 198: 'Kirche und Christenthum sind für diesen Bischoff der Mittelpunct der ganzen Geschichte. Aus diesem Gesichtspuncte betrachtet er nicht nur die Patriarchen und Propheten, das Judenthum und die alten Weissagungen, sondern auch die Reiche der Welt.'

[867] _Bossuet_, _Discours sur l'Histoire Universelle_, pp. 10, 11, 16, 17; see also, at p. 90, a curious specimen of his chronological calculations.

[868] He says, that if the ordinarily received dates of the Pentateuch and the Prophets are not true, then the miracles must fall, and the writings themselves are not inspired. _Hist. Univ._ p. 360. It would be hard to find, even in the works of Bossuet a more rash assertion than this.

[869] Indeed the Jews have no consecutive chronology before Solomon. See _Bunsen's Egypt_, vol. i. pp. viii. xxv. 170, 178, 185, vol. ii. p. 399.

[870] Doing this, as they did everything else, on account, not of reason, but of dogma; for, as a learned writer says, 'l'Église a bien distingué certains livres en apocryphes et en orthodoxes; elle s'est prononcée d'une manière formelle sur le choix des ouvrages canoniques; néanmoins sa critique n'a jamais été fondée sur un examen raisonné, mais seulement sur la question de savoir si tel ou tel écrit était d'accord avec les dogmes qu'elle enseignait.' _Maury_, _Légendes Pieuses_, p. 224.

[871] Theologians have always been remarkable for the exactness of their knowledge on subjects respecting which nothing is known; but none of them have surpassed the learned Dr. Stukeley. In 1730, this eminent divine writes: 'But according to the calculations I have made of this matter, I find God Almighty ordered Noah to get the creatures into the ark on Sunday the 12th of October, the very day of the autumnal equinox that year; and on this present day, on the Sunday se'nnight following (the 19th of October), that terrible catastrophe began, the moon being past her third quarter.' _Nichols's Illustrations of the Eighteenth Century_, vol. ii. p. 792.

In the same way, because Bossuet had been taught that the Jews are the chosen people of God, he, under the title of Universal History, almost confines his attention to them, and treats this obstinate and ignorant race as if they formed the pivot upon which the affairs of the universe had been made to turn.[872] His idea of an universal history excludes those nations who were the first to reach civilization, and to some of whom the Hebrews owed the scanty knowledge which they subsequently acquired.[873] He says little of the Persians, and less of the Egyptians; nor does he even mention that far greater people between the Indus and the Ganges, whose philosophy formed one of the elements of the school of Alexandria, whose subtle speculations anticipated all the efforts of European metaphysics, and whose sublime inquiries, conducted in their own exquisite language, date from a period when the Jews, stained with every variety of crime, were a plundering and vagabond tribe, wandering on the face of the earth, raising their hand against every man and every man raising his hand against them.

[872] 'Premièrement, ces empires ont pour la plupart une liaison nécessaire avec l'histoire du peuple de Dieu. Dieu s'est servi des Assyriens et des Babyloniens pour châtier ce peuple; des Perses pour le rétablir; d'Alexandre et de ses premiers successeurs pour le protéger; d'Antiochus l'Illustre et de ses successeurs pour l'exercer; des Romains pour soutenir sa liberté contre les rois de Syrie, que ne songeaient qu'à le détruire.' _Bossuet_, _Hist. Univ._ p. 382. Well may M. Lerminier say (_Philos. du Droit_, vol. ii. p. 87), that Bossuet 'a sacrifié toutes les nations au peuple juif.'

[873] On the extraordinary and prolonged ignorance of the Jews, even to the time of the Apostles, see _Mackay's Progress of the Intellect_, vol. i. pp. 13 seq.; a work of profound learning.

When he enters the more modern period, he allows himself to be governed by the same theological prejudices. So contracted is his view, that he considers the whole history of the church as the history of providential interference; and he takes no notice of the manner in which, contrary to the original scheme, it has been affected by foreign events.[874] Thus, for example, the most important fact relating to the early changes in Christianity, is the extent to which its doctrines have been influenced by the African form of the Platonic philosophy.[875] But this, Bossuet never mentions; nor does he even hint that any such thing had occurred. It suited his views to look upon the church as a perpetual miracle, and he therefore omits the most important event in its early history.[876] To descend a little later: every one acquainted with the progress of civilization will allow, that no small share of it is due to those gleams of light, which, in the midst of surrounding darkness, shot from the great centres of Cordova and Bagdad. These, however, were the work of Mohammedanism; and as Bossuet had been taught that Mohammedanism is a pestilential heresy, he could not bring himself to believe that Christian nations had derived anything from so corrupt a source. The consequence is, that he says nothing of that great religion, the noise of which has filled the world;[877] and having occasion to mention its founder, he treats him with scorn, as an impudent impostor, whose pretensions it is hardly fitting to notice.[878] The great apostle, who diffused among millions of idolaters the sublime verity of one God, is spoken of by Bossuet with supreme contempt; because Bossuet, with the true spirit of his profession, could see nothing to admire in those whose opinions differed from his own.[879] But when he has occasion to mention some obscure member of that class to which he himself belonged, then it is that he scatters his praises with boundless profusion. In his scheme of universal history, Mohammed is not worthy to play a part. He is passed by; but the truly great man, the man to whom the human race is really indebted, is--Martin, bishop of Tours. He it is, says Bossuet, whose unrivalled actions filled the universe with his fame, both during his lifetime and after his death.[880] It is true, that not one educated man in fifty has ever heard the name of Martin, bishop of Tours. But Martin performed miracles, and the church had made him a saint; his claims, therefore, to the attention of historians must be far superior to the claims of one who, like Mohammed, was without these advantages. Thus it is that, in the opinion of the only eminent writer on history during the power of Louis XIV., the greatest man Asia has ever produced, and one of the greatest the world has ever seen, is considered in every way inferior to a mean and ignorant monk, whose most important achievement was the erection of a monastery, and who spent the best part of his life in useless solitude, trembling before the superstitious fancies of his weak and ignoble nature.[881]

[874] The original scheme of Christianity, as stated by its Great Author (_Matthew_ x. 6, and xv. 24), was merely to convert the Jews; and if the doctrines of Christ had never extended beyond that ignorant people, they could not have received those modifications which philosophy imposed upon them. The whole of this subject is admirably discussed in _Mackay's Progress of the Intellect in Religious Development_, vol. ii. pp. 382 seq.; and on the 'universalism,' first clearly announced 'by the Hellenist Stephen,' see p. 484. Neander makes a noticeable attempt to evade the difficulty caused by the changes in Christianity from 'various outward causes:' see his _History of the Church_, vol. iii. p. 125.

[875] Neander (_Hist. of the Church_, vol. ii. p. 42) even thinks that Cerinthus whose views are remarkable as being the point where Gnosticism and Judaism touch each other, borrowed his system from Alexandria. But this, though not unlikely, seems only to rest on the authority of Theodoret. On the influence of the Platonism of Alexandria in developing the idea of the Logos, see _Neander_, vol. ii. pp. 304, 306-314. Compare _Sharpe's Hist. of Egypt_, vol. ii. pp. 152 seq.

[876] And having to mention Clemens Alexandrinus, who was more deeply versed in the philosophy of Alexandria than were any of the other fathers, Bossuet merely says, p. 98, 'à peu près dans le même temps, le saint prêtre Clément Alexandrin déterra les antiquités du paganisme pour le confondre.'

[877] About the time that Bossuet wrote, a very learned writer calculated that the area of the countries which professed Mohammedanism, exceeded, by one fifth, those where Christianity was believed. See _Brerewood's Inquiries touching the Diversity of Languages and Religions_, Lond. 1674, pp. 144, 145. The estimate of Southey (_Vindiciæ Ecclesiæ Anglicanæ_, London, 1826, p. 48), is very vague; but it is much easier to judge of the extent of Mohammedan countries than of the extent of their population. On this latter point we have the most conflicting statements. In the nineteenth century, there are, according to Sharon Turner (_Hist. of England_, vol. iii. p. 485, edit. 1839), eighty million Mohammedans; according to Dr. Elliotson (_Human Physiology_, p. 1055, edit. 1840), more than a hundred and twenty-two million; while, according to Mr. Wilkin (note in _Sir Thomas Browne's Works_, vol. ii. p. 37, edit. 1835), there are a hundred and eighty-eight million.

[878] 'Le faux prophète donna ses victoires pour toute marque de sa mission.' _Bossuet_, p. 125.

[879] The greatest Mohammedan writers have always expressed ideas regarding the Deity more lofty than those possessed by the majority of Christians. The Koran contains noble passages on the oneness of God; and for the views of their ordinary theologians, I may refer to an interesting Mohammedan sermon, in _Transactions of the Bombay Society_, vol. i. pp. 146-158. See also, in vol. iii. pp. 398-448, an Essay by Vans Kennedy; and compare a remarkable passage, considering the quarter from which it comes, in _Autobiography of the Emperor Jehangueir_, p. 44. Those who are so thoughtless as to believe that Mohammed was a hypocrite, had better study the admirable remarks of M. Comte (_Philos. Pos._ vol. v. pp. 76, 77), who truly says, 'qu'un homme vraiment supérieur n'a jamais pu exercer aucune grande action sur ses semblables sans être d'abord lui-même intimement convaincu.'

[880] 'Saint Martin fut fait évêque de Tours, et remplit tout l'univers du bruit de sa sainteté et de ses miracles, durant sa vie, et après sa mort.' _Bossuet_, _Hist. Univ._ p. 111.

[881] The Benedictines have written the life of Martin in their _Hist. Lit. de la France_, vol. i. part ii. pp. 413-417, Paris, 1733, 4to. They say that he erected the first monastery in Gaul: 'Martin, toujours passionné pour la solitude, érigea un monastère qui fut le premier que l'on eût encore vû dans les Gaules,' p. 414. At p. 415, they make the unnecessary admission, that the saint 'n'avoit point étudié les sciences profanes.' I may add, that the miracles of Martin are related by Fleury, who evidently believes that they were really performed. _Fleury_, _Hist. Ecclésiastique_, livre xvi. no. 31, vol. iv. pp. 215-217, Paris, 1758, 12mo. Neander, having the advantage of living a hundred years later than Fleury, is content to say, 'the veneration of his period denominated him a worker of miracles.' _Hist. of the Church_, vol. iv. p. 494. There is a characteristic anecdote of him, from Sulpitius Severus, in _Mosheim's Eccles. Hist._ vol. i. p. 123.

Such was the narrow spirit with which the great facts of history were contemplated by a writer, who, when he was confined to his own department, displayed the most towering genius. This contracted view was the inevitable consequence of his attempt to explain the complicated movements of the human race by principles which he had generalized from his own inferior studies.[882] Nor need any one be offended, that, from a scientific point of view, I assign to the pursuits of Bossuet a rank lower than that in which they are sometimes placed. It is certain that religious dogmas do, in many cases, influence the affairs of men. But it is equally certain, that as civilization advances, such influence decreases, and that even when the power of those dogmas was at its height, there were many other motives by which the actions of mankind were also governed. And since the study of history is the study of the aggregate of these motives, it is evident that history must be superior to theology; just as the whole is superior to a part. A neglect of this simple consideration has, with a few eminent exceptions, led all ecclesiastical authors into serious errors. It has induced in them a disposition to disregard the immense variety of external events, and to suppose that the course of affairs is regulated by some principles which theology alone can detect. This, indeed, is only the result of a general law of the mind, by which those who have any favourite profession, are apt to exaggerate its capacity; to explain events by its maxims, and as it were, to refract through its medium the occurrences of life.[883] Among theologians, however, such prejudices are more dangerous than in any other profession, because among them alone are they fortified by that bold assumption of supernatural authority on which many of the clergy willingly rely.

[882] At pp. 479, 480, Bossuet gives a sort of summary of his historical principles; and if they are true, history is evidently impossible to be written. On this account, though fully recognizing the genius of Bossuet, I cannot agree with the remarks made upon him by M. Comte, _Philos. Pos._ vol. iv. p. 280, vol. vi. pp. 316, 317.

[883] And then, as M. Charles Comte well says, they call this prejudice their moral sense, or their moral instinct. _Comte_, _Traité de Législation_, vol. i. p. 116.

These professional prejudices, when supported by theological dogmas, in a reign like that of Louis XIV.,[884] are sufficient to account for the peculiarities which mark the historical work of Bossuet. Besides this, in his case, the general tendency was aggravated by personal characteristics. His mind was remarkable for a haughtiness, which we find constantly breaking out into a general contempt for mankind.[885] At the same time his amazing eloquence, and the effects which it never failed to produce, seemed to justify the overweening confidence that he felt in his own powers. There is, indeed, in some of his greatest efforts, so much of the fire and majesty of genius, that we are reminded of those lofty and burning words with which the prophets of antiquity thrilled their hearers. Bossuet, thus standing, as he supposed, on an eminence which raised him above the ordinary weaknesses of men, loved to taunt them with their follies, and to deride every aspiration of their genius. Every thing like intellectual boldness seemed to gall his own superiority.[886] It was this boundless arrogance with which he was filled, which gives to his works some of their most marked peculiarities. It was this, that made him strain every nerve to abase and vilify those prodigious resources of the human understanding, which are often despised by men who are ignorant of them; but which in reality are so great, that no one has yet arisen able to scan them in the whole of their gigantic dimensions. It was this same contempt for the human intellect, that made him deny its capacity to work out for itself the epochs through which it has passed; and, consequently, made him recur to the dogma of supernatural interference. It was this, again, that, in those magnificent orations which are among the greatest wonders of modern art, caused him to exhaust the language of eulogy, not upon intellectual eminence, but upon mere military achievements, upon great conquerors, those pests and destroyers of men, who pass their lives in discovering new ways of slaying their enemies, and in devising new means of aggravating the miseries of the world. And, to descend still lower, it was this same contempt for the dearest interests of mankind, which made him look with reverence upon a king, who considered all those interests as nothing; but who had the merit of enslaving the mind of France, and of increasing the power of that body of men, among whom Bossuet himself was the most distinguished.

[884] The connection between the opinions of Bossuet and the despotism of Louis XIV. is touched on by Montlosier, who, however, has probably laid too much stress on the influence which the civil law exercised over both. _Montlosier_, _Monarchie Française_, vol. ii. p. 90.

[885] He belonged to a class of historians, described by a celebrated writer in a single sentence: 'dans leurs écrits l'auteur paraît souvent grand, mais l'humanité est toujours petite.' _Tocqueville_, _Démocratie_, vol. iv. p. 139.

[886] Hardly any one acquainted with the writings and the history of Bossuet will require evidence of his singular arrogance. But the reader may consult _Sismondi_, _Hist. des Franç._ vol. xxvi. p. 247; and on his treatment of Fénelon, which was the most shameful transaction of his life, compare _Burnet's Own Time_, vol. iv. p. 384, with _Capefigue's Louis XIV_, vol. ii. p. 58; where there is printed one of the many epigrams to which the conduct of Bossuet gave rise.

In the absence of sufficient evidence respecting the general state of the French at the end of the seventeenth century, it is impossible to ascertain to what extent such notions as these had penetrated the popular mind. But, looking at the manner in which government had broken the spirit of the country, I should be inclined to suppose that the opinions of Bossuet were very acceptable to his own generation. This, however, is a question rather of curiosity than of importance; for only a few years later there appeared the first symptoms of that unprecedented movement, which not merely destroyed the political institutions of France, but effected a greater and more permanent revolution in every department of the national intellect. At the death of Louis XIV., in literature, as well as in politics, in religion, and in morals, everything was ripe for reaction. The materials still existing are so ample, that it would be possible to trace with considerable minuteness the steps of this great process; but it will, I think, be more agreeable to the general scheme of this Introduction, if I pass over some of the intermediate links, and confine myself to those salient instances in which the spirit of the age is most strikingly portrayed.

There is, indeed, something extraordinary in the change which, in France, one generation was able to effect in the method of writing history. The best way, perhaps, to form an idea of this, will be to compare the works of Voltaire with those of Bossuet; because these great authors were probably the most able, and were certainly the most influential, Frenchmen during the period they respectively represented. The first great improvement which we find in Voltaire, as compared with Bossuet, is an increased perception of the dignity of the human intellect. In addition to the circumstances already noticed, we must remember that the reading of Bossuet lay in a direction which prevented him from feeling this. He had not studied those branches of knowledge where great things have been achieved; but he was very conversant with the writings of the saints and fathers, whose speculations are by no means calculated to give us a high opinion of the resources of their own understanding. Thus accustomed to contemplate the workings of the mind in what is, on the whole, the most puerile literature Europe has ever produced, the contempt which Bossuet felt for mankind went on increasing; until it reached that inordinate degree which, in his later works, is painfully conspicuous. But Voltaire, who paid no attention to such things as these, passed his long life in the constant accumulation of real and available knowledge. His mind was essentially modern. Despising unsupported authority, and heedless of tradition, he devoted himself to subjects in which the triumph of the human reason is too apparent to be mistaken. The more his knowledge advanced, the more he admired those vast powers by which the knowledge had been created. Hence his admiration for the intellect of man, so far from diminishing, grew with his growth; and, just in the same proportion, there was strengthened his love of humanity, and his dislike to the prejudices which had long obscured its history. That this, in the march of his mind, was the course it actually followed, will be evident to any one who considers the different spirit of his works, in reference to the different periods of life in which they were produced.

The first historical work of Voltaire was a life of Charles XII., in 1728.[887] At this time his knowledge was still scanty, and he was still influenced by the servile traditions of the preceding generation. It is not, therefore, wonderful, that he should express the greatest respect for Charles, who, among the admirers of military fame, will always preserve a certain reputation; though his only merits are, that he ravaged many countries and killed many men. But we find little sympathy with his unfortunate subjects, the accumulations of whose industry supported the royal armies;[888] nor is there much pity for those nations who were oppressed by this great robber in the immense line of his conquests from Sweden to Turkey. Indeed, the admiration of Voltaire for Charles is unbounded. He calls him the most extraordinary man the world had ever seen;[889] he declares him to be a prince full of honour;[890] and while he scarcely blames his infamous murder of Patkul,[891] he relates with evident emotion how the royal lunatic, at the head of forty servants, resisted an entire army.[892] In the same way, he says, that after the battle of Narva, all the attempts of Charles were unable to prevent medals from being struck at Stockholm in celebration of that event;[893] although Voltaire well knew that a man of such extravagant vanity must have been pleased by so durable a homage, and although it is quite certain that if he had not been pleased, the medals would never have been struck: for who would venture, without an object, to offend, in his own capital, one of the most arbitrary and revengeful of princes?

[887] He says that he wrote it in 1728. _[OE]uvres de Voltaire_, vol. xxii. p. 5, but, according to M. Lepan (_Vie de Voltaire_, p. 382), 'il parut en 1731.' Both statements may be accurate, as Voltaire frequently kept his works for some time in manuscript.

[888] Sir A. Alison, who certainly cannot be accused of want of respect for military conquerors, says of Sweden, 'the attempt which Charles XII. made to engage her in long and arduous wars, so completely drained the resources of the country, that they did not recover the loss for half a century.' _Hist. of Europe_, vol. x. p. 504. See also, on the effects produced by the conscriptions of Charles XII., _Laing's Sweden_, p. 59; _Koch_, _Tableau des Révolutions_, vol. ii. p. 63; and above all, a curious passage in _Duclos_, _Mém. Secrets_, vol. i. p. 448. Several of the soldiers of Charles XII. who were taken prisoners, were sent into Siberia, where Bell fell in with them early in the eighteenth century. _Bell's Travels in Asia_, edit. Edinb. 1788, vol. i. pp. 223-224.

[889] 'Charles XII, l'homme le plus extraordinaire peut-être qui ait jamais été sur la terre, qui a réuni en lui toutes les grandes qualités de ses aïeux, et qui n'a eu d'autre défaut ni d'autre malheur que de les avoir toutes outrées.' _Hist. de Charles XII_, livre i., in _[OE]uvres de Voltaire_, vol. xxii. p. 30.

[890] 'Plein d'honneur.' _Ibid._ in _[OE]uvres_, vol. xxii. p. 63.

[891] Which Burke, not without justice, compares to the murder of Monaldeschi by Christina. _Burke's Works_, vol. i. p. 412. See some remarks on the murder of Patkul, in _Vattel_, _Droit des Gens_, vol. i. p. 230; and an account of it, from Swedish authorities, in _Somers Tracts_, vol. xiii. pp. 879-881. For Voltaire's version see his _[OE]uvres_, vol. xxii. pp. 136, 137; which may be contrasted with _Crichton and Wheaton's History of Scandinavia_, Edinb. 1838, vol. ii. p. 127.

[892] _[OE]uvres de Voltaire_, vol. xxii. pp. 250-260. It may interest some persons to hear, that the litter in which this madman 'was borne from the battle of Pultava' is still preserved at Moscow. _Kohl's Russia_, p. 220. It was also seen by M. Custine. _Custine's Russia_, vol. iii. p. 263.

[893] 'Sa modestie ne put empêcher qu'on ne frappât à Stockholm plusieurs médailles pour perpétuer la mémoire de ces événements.' _Charles XII_, livre ii., in _[OE]uvres_, vol. xxii. p. 70.

So far, it might appear that little had been gained in the method of writing history.[894] But, even thus early, we find one vast improvement. In Voltaire's Life of Charles XII., faulty as it is, there are none of those assumptions of supernatural interference in which Bossuet delighted, and which were natural to the reign of Louis XIV. The absence of this marks the first great stage in the French school of history in the eighteenth century; and we find the same peculiarity in all the subsequent historians, none of whom recurred to a method, which, though suitable for the purposes of theologians, is fatal to all independent inquiries, since it not only prescribes the course the inquirer is bound to take, but actually sets up a limit beyond which he is forbidden to proceed.

[894] Even some of its geographical details are said to be inaccurate. Compare _Villemain_, _Littérature au XVIII^e Siècle_, vol. ii. p. 33, with _Kohl's Russia_, p. 505. However, as M. Villemain says, this must always be the case, when writers, who only know a country from maps, attempt to enter into details respecting military geography. In regard to style, it cannot be too highly praised; and a well-known critic, Lacratelle, calls it 'le modèle le plus accompli de narration qui existe dans notre langue.' _Lacretelle_, _Dix-huitième Siècle_, vol. ii. p. 42. In 1843 it was still used as a text book in the French royal colleges. See _Report on Education in France_, in _Journal of Stat. Soc._ vol. vi. p. 308. Further information respecting this work may be found in _Longchamp et Wagnière_, _Mém. sur Voltaire_, vol. ii. p. 494; and in _Mém. de Genlis_, vol. viii. p. 224, vol. x. p. 304.

That Voltaire should have infringed upon this ancient method only thirteen years after the death of Louis XIV., and that he should have done this in a popular work, abounding with such dangerous adventures as are always found to tempt the mind to an opposite course, is a step of no common merit, and becomes still more worthy of remark, if taken in connexion with another fact of considerable interest. This is, that the life of Charles XII. represents the first epoch, not only in the eighteenth century, but also in the intellect of Voltaire himself.[895] After it was published, this great man turned awhile from history, and directed his attention to some of the noblest subjects: to mathematics, to physics, to jurisprudence, to the discoveries of Newton, and to the speculations of Locke. In these things he perceived those capabilities of the human mind, which his own country had formerly witnessed, but of which during the authority of Louis XIV. the memory had been almost lost. Then it was that, with extended knowledge and sharpened intellect, he returned to the great field of history.[896] The manner in which he now treated his old subject, showed the change that had come over him. In 1752, appeared his celebrated work on Louis XIV.,[897] the very title of which is suggestive of the process through which his mind had passed. His former history was an account of a king; this is an account of an age. To the production of his youth he gave the title of a _History of Charles XII._; this he called the _Age of Louis XIV._ Before, he had detailed the peculiarities of a prince; now, he considered the movements of a people. Indeed, in the introduction to the work, he announces his intention to describe, 'not the actions of a single man, but the character of men.'[898] Nor, in this point of view, is the execution inferior to the design. While he is contented with giving a summary of military achievements, on which Bossuet hung with delight, he enters at great length into those really important matters which, before his time, found no place in the history of France. He has one chapter on commerce and internal government;[899] another chapter on finances;[900] another on the history of science;[901] and three chapters on the progress of the fine arts.[902] And though Voltaire did not attach much value to theological disputes, still he knew that they have often played a great part in the affairs of men; he therefore gives several distinct chapters to a relation of ecclesiastical matters during the reign of Louis.[903] It is hardly necessary to observe the immense superiority which a scheme like this possessed, not only over the narrow views of Bossuet, but even over his own earlier history. Still it cannot be denied, that we find in it prejudices from which it was difficult for a Frenchman, educated in the reign of Louis XIV., to be entirely free. Not only does Voltaire dwell at needless length upon those amusements and debaucheries of Louis, with which history can have little concern, but he displays an evident disposition to favour the king himself, and to protect his name from the infamy with which it ought to be covered.[904]

[895] It is evident, from Voltaire's correspondence, that he afterwards became somewhat ashamed of the praises he had bestowed on Charles XII. In 1735, he writes to De Formont, 'si Charles XII n'avait pas été excessivement grand, malheureux, et fou, je me serais bien donné de garde de parler de lui.' _[OE]uvres de Voltaire_, vol. lvi. p. 462. In 1758, advancing still further, he says of Charles, 'voilà, monsieur, ce que les hommes de tous les temps et de tous les pays appellent un héros; mais c'est le vulgaire de tous les temps et de tous les pays qui donne ce nom à la soif du carnage.' _Ibid._ vol. lx. p. 411. In 1759, he writes, that he was then engaged on the history of Peter the Great: 'mais je doute que cela soit aussi amusant que la vie de Charles XII; car ce Pierre n'était qu'un sage extraordinaire, et Charles un fou extraordinaire, qui se battait, comme Don Quichotte, contre des moulins à vent.' Vol. lxi. p. 23: see also p. 350. These passages prove the constant progress Voltaire was making in his conception of what history ought to be, and what its uses were.

[896] In 1741, he mentions his increasing love of history. _Corresp._ in _[OE]uvres de Voltaire_, vol. li. p. 96.

[897] Lord Brougham, in his life of Voltaire, says that it appeared in 1751. _Lives of Men of Letters_, vol. i p. 106. But 1752 is the date given in _Biog. Univ._ xlix. 478; in _Quérard_, _France Lit._ vol. x. p. 355; and in _Lepan_, _Vie de Voltaire_, p. 382.

[898] 'On veut essayer de peindre à la postérité, non les actions d'un seul homme, mais l'esprit des hommes dans le siècle le plus éclairé qui fut jamais.' _Siècle de Louis XIV_, in _[OE]uvres de Voltaire_, vol. xix. p. 213. And in his correspondence respecting his work on Louis XIV., he carefully makes the same distinction. See vol. lvi. pp. 453, 488, 489, 500, vol. lvii. pp. 337, 342-344, vol. lix. p. 103.

[899] Chap. xxix., in _[OE]uvres de Voltaire_, vol. xx. pp. 234-267.

[900] Chap. xxx., in _[OE]uvres_, vol. xx. pp. 267-291. This chapter is praised in _Sinclair's History of the Public Revenue_, vol. iii. appendix, p. 77; an indifferent work, but the best we have on the important subject to which it refers.

[901] Chap. xxxi., in _[OE]uvres_, vol. xx. pp. 291-299; necessarily a very short chapter, because of the paucity of materials.

[902] Chapters xxxii. to xxxiv., in _[OE]uvres_, vol. xx. pp. 299-338.

[903] _[OE]uvres_, vol. xx. pp. 338-464.

[904] This disposition to favour Louis XIV. is noticed by Condorcet, who says it was the only early prejudice which Voltaire was unable to shake off: 'c'est le seul préjugé de sa jeunesse qu'il ait conservé.' _Condorcet_, _Vie de Voltaire_, in _[OE]uvres de Voltaire_, vol. i. p. 286. See also, on this defect, _Grimm et Diderot_, _Corresp. Lit._ vol. ii. p. 182; _Lemontey_, _Etablissement Monarchique_, pp. 451, 452; _Mém. de Brissot_, vol. ii. pp. 88, 89. It is interesting to observe, that Voltaire's earlier opinions were still more favourable to Louis XIV. than those which he afterwards expressed in his history. See a letter which he wrote in 1740 to Lord Harvey, printed in _[OE]uvres de Voltaire_, vol. lviii. pp. 57-63.

But the next work of Voltaire showed that this was a mere personal feeling, and did not affect his general views as to the part which the acts of princes ought to occupy in history. Four years after the appearance of the _Age of Louis XIV._, he published his important treatise on the _Morals, Manners, and Character of Nations_.[905] This is not only one of the greatest books which appeared during the eighteenth century, but it still remains the best on the subject to which it refers. The mere reading it displays is immense;[906] what, however, is far more admirable, is the skill with which the author connects the various facts, and makes them illustrate each other, sometimes by a single remark, sometimes only by the order and position in which they are placed. Indeed, considered solely as a work of art, it would be difficult to praise it too highly; while, as a symptom of the times, it is important to observe, that it contains no traces of that adulation of royalty which characterized Voltaire in the period of his youth, and which is found in all the best writers during the power of Louis XIV. In the whole of this long and important work, the great historian takes little notice of the intrigues of courts, or of the changes of ministers, or of the fate of kings; but he endeavours to discover and develop the different epochs through which Man has successively passed. 'I wish,' he says, 'to write a history, not of wars, but of society; and to ascertain how men lived in the interior of their families, and what were the arts which they commonly cultivated.'[907] For, he adds, 'my object is the history of the human mind, and not a mere detail of petty facts; nor am I concerned with the history of great lords, who made war upon French kings; but I want to know what were the steps by which men passed from barbarism to civilization.'[908]

[905] Mr. Burton, in his interesting work, _Life and Correspondence of Hume_, vol. ii. p. 129, says it was 'first published in 1756;' and the same date is given by Quérard (_France Littéraire_, vol. x. p. 359), who is a very accurate bibliographer; so that Condorcet (_Vie de Voltaire_, p. 199) and Lord Brougham (_Men of Letters_, vol. i. p. 98) are probably in error in assigning it to 1757. In regard to its title, I translate 'M[oe]urs' as 'morals and manners;' for M. Tocqueville uses 'm[oe]urs' as equivalent to the Latin word 'mores.' _Tocqueville_, _Démocratie en Amérique_, vol. iii. pp. 50, 84.

[906] Superficial writers are so much in the habit of calling Voltaire superficial, that it may be well to observe, that his accuracy has been praised, not only by his own countrymen, but by several English authors of admitted learning. For three remarkable instances of this, from men whom no one will accuse of leaning towards his other opinions, see _notes to Charles V._, in _Robertson's Works_, pp. 431, 432; _Barrington's Observations on the Statutes_, p. 293; and _Warton's History of English Poetry_, vol. i. p. xvi. Even Sir W. Jones, in his preface to the _Life of Nader Shah_, says, that Voltaire is 'the best historian' the French have produced. _Works of Sir William Jones_, vol. v. p. 542; and compare the preface to his _Persian Grammar_, in _Works_, vol. ii. p. 123.

[907] 'Je voudrais découvrir quelle était alors la société des hommes, comment on vivait dans l'intérieur des familles, quels arts étaient cultivés, plutôt que de répéter tant de malheurs et tant de combats, funestes objets de l'histoire, et lieux communs de la méchanceté humaine.' _Essai sur les M[oe]urs_, chap. lxxxi., in _[OE]uvres_, vol. xvi. p. 381.

[908] 'L'objet était l'histoire de l'esprit humain, et non pas le détail des faits presque toujours défigurés; il ne s'agissait pas de rechercher, par exemple, de quelle famille était le seigneur de Puiset, ou le seigneur de Montlheri, qui firent la guerre à des rois de France; mais de voir par quels degrés on est parvenu de la rusticité barbare de ces temps à la politesse du nôtre.' Supplement to _Essai sur les M[oe]urs_, in _[OE]uvres_, vol. xviii. p. 435. Compare _Fragments sur l'Histoire_, vol. xxvii. p. 214, with two letters in vol. lx. pp. 153, 154, vol. lxv. p. 370.

It was in this way that Voltaire taught historians to concentrate their attention on matters of real importance, and to neglect those idle details with which history had formerly been filled. But what proves this to be a movement arising as much from the spirit of the age as from the individual author, is, that we find precisely the same tendency in the works of Montesquieu and Turgot, who were certainly the two most eminent of the contemporaries of Voltaire; and both of whom followed a method similar to his, in so far as, omitting descriptions of kings, courts, and battles, they confined themselves to points which illustrate the character of mankind, and the general march of civilization. And such was the popularity of this change in the old routine, that its influence was felt by other historians of inferior, but still of considerable, ability. In 1755, Mallet[909] published his interesting, and, at the time it was written, most valuable work, on the history of Denmark;[910] in which he professes himself a pupil of the new school. 'For why,' he says, 'should history be only a recital of battles, sieges, intrigues, and negotiations? And why should it contain merely a heap of petty facts and dates, rather than a great picture of the opinions, customs, and even inclinations of a people?'[911] Thus too, in 1765, Mably published the first part of his celebrated work on the history of France;[912] in the preface to which, he complains that historians 'have neglected the origin of laws and customs, in favour of sieges and battles.'[913] In the same spirit, Velly and Villaret, in their voluminous history of France, express regret that historians should usually relate what happens to the sovereign, in preference to what happens to the people, and should omit the manners and characteristics of a nation, in order to study the acts of a single man.[914] Duclos, again, announces that his history is not of war, nor of politics, but of men and manners:[915] while, strange to say, even the courtly Hénault declares that his object was to describe laws and manners, which he calls the soul of history, or rather history itself.[916]

[909] Mallet, though born in Geneva, was a Frenchman in the habits of his mind: he wrote in French, and is classed among French historians, in the report presented to Napoleon by the Institut. _Dacier_, _Rapport sur les Progrès de l'Histoire_, p. 173.

[910] Göthe, in his Autobiography, mentions his obligations to this work, which, I suspect, exercised considerable influence over the early associations of his mind: 'Ich hatte die Fabeln der Edda schon längst aus der Vorrede zu Mallet's Dänischer Geschichte kennen gelernt, und mich derselben sogleich bemächtigt; sie gehörten unter diejenigen Mährchen, die ich, von einer Gesellschaft aufgefordert, am liebsten erzählte.' _Wahrheit u. Dichtung_, in _Goethe's Werke_, vol. ii. part ii. p. 169. Percy, a very fair judge, thought highly of Mallet's history, part of which, indeed, he translated. See a letter from him, in _Nichols's Illustrations of the Eighteenth Century_, vol. vii. p. 719.

[911] _Mallet's Northern Antiquities_, edit. Blackell, 1847, p. 78.

[912] The first two volumes were published in 1765; the other two in 1790. _Biog. Univ._ vol. xxvi. pp. 9, 12.

[913] _Mably_, _Observ. sur l'Hist. de France_, vol. i. p. ii.; and compare vol. iii. p. 289: but this latter passage was written several years later.

[914] 'Bornés à nous apprendre les victoires ou les défaites du souverain, ils ne nous disent rien ou presque rien des peuples qu'il a rendus heureux ou malheureux. On ne trouve dans leurs écrits que longues descriptions de sièges et de batailles; nulle mention des m[oe]urs et de l'esprit de la nation. Elle y est presque toujours sacrifiée à un seul homme.' _Histoire de France par Velly_, Paris, 1770, 4to, vol. i. p. 6; and see, to the same effect, the _Continuation by Villaret_, vol. v. p. vi.

[915] 'Si l'histoire que j'écris n'est ni militaire, ni politique, ni économique, du moins dans le sens que je conçois pour ces différentes parties, on me demandera quelle est donc celle que je me propose d'écrire. C'est l'histoire des hommes et des m[oe]urs.' _Duclos_, _Louis XIV et Louis XV_, vol. i. p. xxv.

[916] 'Je voulois connoître nos loix, nos m[oe]urs, et tout ce qui est l'âme de l'histoire, ou plutôt l'histoire même.' _Hénault_, _Nouvel Abrégé chronologique de l'Histoire de France_, edit. Paris, 1775, vol. i. p. i.

Thus it was, that historians began to shift, as it were, the scene of their labours, and to study subjects connected with those popular interests, on which the great writers under Louis XIV. disdained to waste a thought. I need hardly observe, how agreeable such views were to the general spirit of the eighteenth century, and how well they harmonized with the temper of men who were striving to lay aside their former prejudices, and despise what had once been universally admired. All this was but part of that vast movement, which prepared the way for the Revolution, by unsettling ancient opinions, by encouraging a certain mobility and restlessness of mind, and, above all, by the disrespect it showed for those powerful individuals, hitherto regarded as gods rather than as men, but who now, for the first time, were neglected by the greatest and most popular historians, who passed over even their prominent actions, in order to dwell upon the welfare of nations, and the interests of the people at large.

To return, however, to what was actually effected by Voltaire, there is no doubt that, in his case, this tendency of the time was strengthened by a natural comprehensiveness of mind, which predisposed him to large views, and made him dissatisfied with that narrow range to which history had been hitherto confined.[917] Whatever may be thought of the other qualities of Voltaire, it must be allowed that, in his intellect, everything was on a great scale.[918] Always prepared for thought, and always ready to generalize, he was averse to the study of individual actions, unless they could be made available for the establishment of some broad and permanent principle. Hence his habit of looking at history with a view to the stages through which the country had passed, rather than with a view to the character of the men by whom the country had been governed. The same tendency appears in his lighter works; and it has been well observed,[919] that, even in his dramas, he endeavours to portray, not so much the passions of individuals, as the spirit of epochs. In _Mahomet_, his subject is a great religion; in _Alzire_, the conquest of America; in _Brutus_, the formation of the Roman power; in the _Death of Cæsar_, the rise of the empire upon the ruins of that power.[920]

[917] In 1763, he writes to D'Argental: 'il y a environ douze batailles dont je n'ai point parlé, Dieu merci, parceque j'écris l'histoire de l'esprit humain, et non une gazette.' _[OE]uvres de Voltaire_, vol. lxiii. p. 51. See also his letter to Tabareau (_Lettres inédites de Voltaire_, vol. ii. p. 585): 'Personne ne lit les détails des combats et des sièges; rien n'est plus ennuyeux que la droite et la gauche, les bastions et la contrescarpe.'

[918] M. Lamartine characterizes him as 'ce génie non pas le plus haut, mais le plus vaste de la France.' _Hist. des Girondins_, vol. i. p. 180.

[919] _Biog. Univ._ vol. xlix. p. 493. His _Orphelin de la Chine_ is taken from Chinese sources: see _Davis's China_, vol. ii. p. 258.

[920] The surprising versatility of Voltaire's mind is shown by the fact, unparalleled in literature, that he was equally great as a dramatic writer and as an historian. Mr. Forster, in his admirable _Life of Goldsmith_, 1854, says (vol. i. p. 119), 'Gray's high opinion of Voltaire's tragedies is shared by one of our greatest authorities on such a matter now living, Sir Edward Bulwer Lytton, whom I have often heard maintain the marked superiority of Voltaire over all his countrymen in the knowledge of dramatic art, and the power of producing theatrical effects.' Compare _Correspondence of Gray and Mason_, edit. Mitford, 1855, p. 44.

By this determination to look upon the course of events as a great and connected whole, Voltaire was led to several results, which have been complacently adopted by many authors, who, even while using them, revile him from whom they were taken. He was the first historian who, rejecting the ordinary method of investigation, endeavoured, by large general views, to explain the origin of feudality; and, by indicating some of the causes of its decline in the fourteenth century,[921] he laid the foundation for a philosophic estimate of that important institution.[922] He was the author of a profound remark, afterwards adopted by Constant, to the effect, that licentious religious ceremonies have no connexion with licentious national morals.[923] Another observation of his, which has been only partly used by writers on ecclesiastical history, is pregnant with instruction. He says, that one of the reasons why the bishops of Rome acquired an authority so superior to that of the eastern patriarchs, was the greater subtlety of the Greek mind. Nearly all the heresies proceeded from the east; and, with the exception of Honorius I., not a single pope adopted a system condemned by the church. This gave to the papal power an unity and consolidation, which the patriarchal power was unable to reach; and thus the Holy See owes part of its authority to the early dulness of the European fancy.[924]

[921] _Essai sur les M[oe]urs_, chap. lxxxv., in _[OE]uvres_, vol. xvi. p. 412, and elsewhere.

[922] During the eighteenth century, and, I may say, until the publication in 1818 of Hallam's Middle Ages, there was in the English language no comprehensive account of the feudal system; unless, perhaps, we except that given by Robertson, who in this, as in many other matters of history, was a pupil of Voltaire. Not only Dalrymple, and writers of his kind, but even Blackstone, took so narrow a view of this great institution, that they were unable to connect it with the general state of society to which it belonged. Some of our historians gravely traced it back to Moses, in whose laws they found the origin of allodial lands. See a charming passage in _Barry's History of the Orkney Islands_, p. 219. On the spirit of feudality, there are some remarks well worth reading in _Comtés Philos. Posit._ vol. v. pp. 393-413.

[923] Constant, in his work on Roman polytheism, says, 'des rites indécens peuvent être pratiqués par un peuple religieux avec une grande pureté de c[oe]ur. Mais quand l'incrédulité atteint ces peuples, ces rites sont pour lui la cause et le prétexte de la plus révoltante corruption.' This passage is quoted by Mr. Milman, who calls it 'extremely profound and just.' _Milman's History of Christianity_, 1840, vol. i. p. 28. And so it is--extremely profound and just. But it happens that precisely the same remark was made by Voltaire, just about the time that Constant was born. Speaking of the worship of Priapus, he says (_Essai sur les M[oe]urs_, chap. cxliii. in _[OE]uvres de Voltaire_, vol. xvii. p. 341), 'nos idées de bienséance nous portent à croire qu'un cérémonie qui nous paraît si infâme n'a été inventée que par la débauche; mais il n'est guère croyable que la dépravation des m[oe]urs ait jamais chez aucun peuple établi des cérémonies religieuses. Il est probable, au contraire, que cette coutume fut d'abord introduite dans les temps de simplicité, et qu'on ne pensa d'abord qu'à honorer la Divinité dans le symbole de la vie qu'elle nous a donnée. Une telle cérémonie a dû inspirer la licence à la jeunesse, et paraître ridicule aux esprits sages, dans les temps plus raffinés, plus corrompus, et plus éclairés.' Compare the remarks on the indecency of the Spartan customs, in _Thirlwall's Hist. of Greece_, vol. i. pp. 326, 327.

[924] _Essai sur les M[oe]urs_, chaps. xiv. and xxxi., in _[OE]uvres_, vol. xv. pp. 391, 514. Neander observes, that in the Greek church there were more heresies than in the Latin church, because the Greeks thought more; but he has failed to perceive how this favoured the authority of the popes. _Neander's History of the Church_, vol. ii. pp. 198, 199, vol. iii. pp. 191, 492, vol. iv. p. 90, vol. vi. p. 293, vol. viii. p. 257.

It would be impossible to relate all the original remarks of Voltaire, which, when he made them, were attacked as dangerous paradoxes, and are now valued as sober truths. He was the first historian who recommended universal freedom of trade; and, although he expresses himself with great caution,[925] still the mere announcement of the idea in a popular history forms an epoch in the progress of the French mind. He is the originator of that important distinction between the increase of population and the increase of food, to which political economy has been greatly indebted;[926] a principle adopted several years later by Townsend, and then used by Malthus as the basis of his celebrated work.[927] He has, moreover, the merit of being the first who dispelled the childish admiration with which the Middle Ages had been hitherto regarded, and which they owed to those dull and learned writers, who, in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, were the principal investigators of the early history of Europe. These industrious compilers had collected extensive materials, which Voltaire turned to good account, and by their aid overthrew the conclusions at which the authors had themselves arrived. In his works, the Middle Ages are, for the first time, represented as what they really were,--a period of ignorance, ferocity, and licentiousness; a period when injuries were unredressed, crime unpunished, and superstition unrebuked. It may be said, with some show of justice, that Voltaire, in the picture he drew, fell into the opposite extreme, and did not sufficiently recognize the merit of those truly great men, who, at long intervals, stood here and there, like solitary beacons, whose light only made the surrounding darkness more visible. Still, after every allowance for that exaggeration which a reaction of opinions always causes, it is certain that his view of the Middle Ages is not only far more accurate than that of any preceding writer, but conveys a much juster idea of the time than can be found in those subsequent compilations which we owe to the industry of modern antiquaries; a simple and plodding race, who admire the past because they are ignorant of the present, and who, spending their lives amid the dust of forgotten manuscripts, think themselves able, with the resources of their little learning, to speculate on the affairs of men, to trace the history of different periods, and even to assign to each the praise it ought to receive.

[925] In his account of the trade of Archangel, he says, 'les Anglais obtinrent le privilége d'y commercer sans payer aucun droit; et c'est ainsi que toutes les nations devraient peut-être négocier ensemble.' _Hist. de Russie_, part i. chap. i., in _[OE]uvres_, vol. xxiii. p. 35. Remarkable words to have been written by a Frenchman, born at the end of the seventeenth century; and yet they have, so far as I am aware, escaped the attention of all the historians of political economy. Indeed, on this, as on most matters, sufficient justice has not been done to Voltaire, whose opinions were more accurate than those of Quesnay and his followers. However, Mr. M'Culloch, in noticing one of the economical errors of Voltaire, honestly admits that his 'opinions on such subjects are, for the most part, very correct.' _M'Culloch's Principles of Political Economy_, p. 530. For proof of his sympathy with Turgot's efforts to establish free trade, compare _Lettres inédites de Voltaire_, vol. ii. pp. 367, 403, 423, with _Longchamp_, _Mém. sur Voltaire_, vol. i. pp. 376, 378.

[926] 'The idea of the different ratios by which population and food increase, was originally thrown out by Voltaire; and was picked up and expanded into many a goodly volume by our English political economists in the present century.' _Laing's Notes_, second series, p. 42.

[927] It is often said that Malthus was indebted to Townsend's writings for his views on population; but this obligation has been too strongly stated, as, indeed, is always the case when charges of plagiarism are brought against great works. Still, Townsend is to be considered as the precursor of Malthus; and if the reader is interested in tracing the paternity of ideas, he will find some interesting economical remarks in _Townsend's Journey through Spain_, vol. i. pp. 379, 383, vol. ii. pp. 85, 337, 387-393; which must be compared with _M'Culloch's Literature of Political Economy_, pp. 259, 281-3. Voltaire having preceded these authors, has, of course, fallen into errors which they avoided; but nothing can be better than the way in which he opposes the ignorant belief of his own time, that every thing should be done to increase population. 'Le point principal n'est pas d'avoir du superflu en hommes, mais de rendre ce que nous en avons le moins malheureux qu'il est possible,' is the summing-up of his able remarks, in _Dict. Philos._, article _Population_, sect. 2, in _[OE]uvres_, vol. xli. p. 466. Godwin, in his notice of the history of these opinions, is evidently ignorant of what was done by Voltaire. _Sinclair's Corresp._ vol. i. p. 396.

With such writers as these, Voltaire was always at war; and no one has done so much to lessen the influence they once exercised over even the highest branches of knowledge. There was also another class of dictators, whose authority this great man was equally successful in reducing, namely, the old class of classical scholars and commentators, who, from the middle of the fourteenth till early in the eighteenth century, were the chief dispensers of fame, and were respected as being by far the most distinguished men Europe had ever produced. The first great assaults made upon them were late in the seventeenth century, when two controversies sprung up, of which I shall hereafter give an account,--one in France, and one in England,--by both of which their power was considerably damaged. But their two most formidable opponents were, undoubtedly, Locke and Voltaire. The immense services rendered by Locke in lessening the reputation of the old classical school, will be examined in another part of this work; at present we are only concerned with the steps taken by Voltaire.

The authority wielded by the great classical scholars rested not only on their abilities, which are undeniable, but also on the supposed dignity of their pursuits. It was generally believed that ancient history possessed some inherent superiority over modern history; and this being taken for granted, the inference naturally followed, that the cultivators of the one were more praiseworthy than the cultivators of the other; and that a Frenchman, for instance, who should write the history of some Greek republic, displayed a nobler turn of mind than if he had written the history of his own country. This singular prejudice had for centuries been a traditional notion; which men accepted, because they had received it from their fathers, and which it would have been almost an impiety to dispute. The result was, that the few really able writers on history devoted themselves chiefly to that of the ancients; or, if they published an account of modern times, they handled their theme, not according to modern ideas, but according to ideas gathered from their more favourite pursuit. This confusion of the standard of one age with the standard of another, caused a double evil. Historians, by adopting this plan, injured the originality of their own minds; and, what was far worse, they set a bad example to the literature of their country. For every great nation has a mode of expression, and of thought, peculiar to itself, and with which its sympathies are intimately connected. To introduce any foreign model, however admirable it may be, is to violate this connexion, and to impair the value of literature by limiting the scope of its action. By such a course, the taste may possibly be refined, but the vigour will certainly be weakened. Indeed, the refinement of the taste may well be doubted, when we see what has taken place in our country, where our great scholars have corrupted the English language by a jargon so uncouth, that a plain man can hardly discern the real lack of ideas which their barbarous and mottled dialect strives to hide.[928] At all events, it is certain, that every people worthy of being called a nation, possess in their own language ample resources for expressing the highest ideas they are able to form; and although, in matters of science, it may be convenient to coin such words as are more easily understood in foreign countries, it is a grave offence to depart on other subjects from the vernacular speech; and it is a still graver one, to introduce notions and standards for action, suited perhaps to former times, but which the march of society has left far behind, and with which we have no real sympathy, though they may excite that sickly and artificial interest which the classical prejudices of early education still contrive to create.

[928] With the single exception of Porson, not one of the great English scholars has shown an appreciation of the beauties of his native language; and many of them, such as Parr (in all his works) and Bentley (in his mad edition of Milton), have done every thing in their power to corrupt it. And there can be little doubt, that the principal reason why well-educated women write and converse in a purer style than well-educated men, is because they have not formed their taste according to those ancient classical standards, which, admirable as they are in themselves, should never be introduced into a state of society unfitted for them. To this may be added, that Cobbett, the most racy and idiomatic of all our writers, and Erskine, by far the greatest of our forensic orators, knew little or nothing of any ancient language; and the same observation applies to Shakespeare. On the supposed connexion between the improvement of taste and the study of classical models, there are some remarks worth attending to in _Rey's Théorie et Pratique de la Science Sociale_, vol. i. pp. 98-101.

It was against these evils that Voltaire entered the field. The wit and the ridicule with which he attacked the dreaming scholars of his own time, can only be appreciated by those who have studied his works. Not, as some have supposed, that he used these weapons as a substitute for argument, still less that he fell into the error of making ridicule a test for truth. No one could reason more closely than Voltaire, when reasoning suited his purpose. But he had to deal with men impervious to argument; men whose inordinate reverence for antiquity had only left them two ideas, namely, that every thing old is right, and that every thing new is wrong. To argue against these opinions would be idle indeed; the only other resource was, to make them ridiculous, and weaken their influence, by holding up their authors to contempt. This was one of the tasks Voltaire set himself to perform; and he did it well.[929] He, therefore, used ridicule, not as the test of truth, but as the scourge of folly. And with such effect was the punishment administered, that not only did the pedants and theologians of his own time wince under the lash, but even their successors feel their ears tingle when they read his biting words; and they revenge themselves by reviling the memory of that great writer, whose works are as a thorn in their side, and whose very name they hold in undisguised abhorrence.

[929] 'We can best judge, from the Jesuitical rage with which he was persecuted, how admirably he had delineated the weaknesses and presumption of the interpreters of the ancients, who shone in the schools and academies, and had acquired great reputation by their various and copiously exhibited learning.' _Schlosser's Eighteenth Century_, vol. i. p. 120. At p. 270, M. Schlosser says, 'And it was only a man of Voltaire's wit and talents, who could throw the light of an entirely new criticism upon the darkness of those grabbing and collecting pedants.'

These two classes have, indeed, reasons enough for the hatred with which they still regard the greatest Frenchman of the eighteenth century. For, Voltaire did more than any other man to sap the foundation of ecclesiastical power, and to destroy the supremacy of classical studies. This is not the place for discussing the theological opinions which he attacked; but of the state of classical opinions an idea may be formed, by considering some of those circumstances which were recorded by the ancients respecting their history, and which, until the appearance of Voltaire, were implicitly believed by modern scholars, and through them by the people at large.

It was believed that, in ancient times, Mars ravished a virgin, and that the offspring of the intrigue were no other than Romulus and Remus, both of whom it was intended to put to death; but they were fortunately saved by the attentions of a she-wolf and a woodpecker; the wolf giving them suck, and the woodpecker protecting them from insects. It was, moreover, believed that Romulus and Remus, when grown up to man's estate, determined to build a city, and that, being joined by the descendants of the Trojan warriors, they succeeded in erecting Rome. It was believed that both brothers came to an untimely end; Remus being murdered, and Romulus being taken up to heaven by his father, who descended for that purpose in the midst of a tempest. The great scholars then proceeded to relate the succession of several other kings; the most remarkable of whom was Numa, whose only communications with his wife were carried on in a sacred grove. Another of the sovereigns of Rome was Tullus Hostilius, who, having offended the clergy, perished from the effects of their anger; his death being caused by lightning, and preceded by pestilence. Then again, there was one Servius Tullius, who was also a king, and whose greatness was prognosticated by the appearance of flames round his head as he was sleeping in his cradle. After this, it was but a slight matter that the ordinary laws of mortality should be suspended; we were, therefore, assured that those ignorant barbarians, the early Romans, passed two hundred and forty-five years under the government of only seven kings, all of whom were elected in the prime of life, one of whom was expelled the city, and three of whom were put to death.

These are a few of the idle stories in which the great scholars took intense delight, and which, during many centuries, were supposed to form a necessary part of the annals of the Latin empire. Indeed, so universal was the credulity, that, until they were destroyed by Voltaire, there were only four writers who had ventured openly to attack them. Cluverius, Perizonius, Pouilly, and Beaufort were the names of these bold innovators; but by none of them was any impression made on the public mind. The works of Cluverius and Perizonius, being composed in Latin, were addressed entirely to a class of readers who, infatuated with a love of antiquity, would listen to nothing that diminished the reputation of its history. Pouilly and Beaufort wrote in French; both of them, and especially Beaufort, were men of considerable ability; but their powers were not versatile enough to enable them to extirpate prejudices which were so strongly protected, and which had been fostered by the education of many successive generations.

The service, therefore, rendered by Voltaire in purging history of these foolish conceits, is, not that he was the first by whom they were attacked, but that he was the first to attack them with success; and this because he was also the first who mingled ridicule with argument, thus not only assailing the system, but also weakening the authority of those by whom the system was supported. His irony, his wit, his pungent and telling sarcasms, produced more effect than the gravest arguments could have done; and there can be no doubt that he was fully justified in using those great resources with which nature had endowed him, since by their aid he advanced the interests of truth, and relieved men from some of their most inveterate prejudices.

It is not, however, to be supposed that ridicule was the only means employed by Voltaire in effecting this important object. So far from that, I can say with confidence, after a careful comparison of both writers, that the most decisive arguments advanced by Niebuhr against the early history of Rome, had all been anticipated by Voltaire; in whose works they may be found, by whoever will take the trouble of reading what this great man has written, instead of ignorantly railing against him. Without entering into needless detail, it is enough to mention that, amidst a great variety of very ingenious and very learned discussion, Niebuhr has put forward several views with which later critics have been dissatisfied; but that there are three, and only three, principles which are fundamental to his history, and which it is impossible to refute. These are:--I. That, on account of the inevitable intermixture of fable essential to a rude people, no nation can possess trustworthy details respecting its own origin. II. That even such early documents as the Romans might have possessed, had been destroyed before they were incorporated into a regular history. III. That ceremonies established in honour of certain events alleged to have taken place in former times, were a proof, not that the events had happened, but that they were believed to have happened. The whole fabric of the early history of Rome at once fell to pieces, as soon as these three principles were applied to it. What, however, is most remarkable, is, that not only are all three laid down by Voltaire, but their bearing upon Roman history is distinctly shown. He says that no nation is acquainted with its own origin; so that all primitive history is necessarily an invention.[930] He remarks, that since even such historical works as the Romans once possessed, were all destroyed when their city was burned, no confidence can be placed in the accounts which, at a much later period, are given by Livy and other compilers.[931] And, as innumerable scholars busied themselves in collecting evidence respecting ceremonies instituted in celebration of certain events, and then appealed to the evidence in order to prove the events, Voltaire makes a reflection which now seems very obvious, but which these learned men had entirely overlooked. He notices, that their labour is bootless, because the date of the evidence is, with extremely few exceptions, much later than the date of the event to which it refers. In such cases, the existence of a festival, or of a monument, proves, indeed, the belief which men entertain, but by no means proves the reality of the occurrence concerning which the belief is held.[932] This simple, but important maxim, is, even in our own days, constantly lost sight of, while before the eighteenth century it was universally neglected. Hence it was that historians were able to accumulate fables which were believed without examination;[933] it being altogether forgotten, that fables, as Voltaire says, begin to be current in one generation, are established in the second, become respectable in the third, while in the fourth generation temples are raised in honour of them.[934]

[930] 'C'est l'imagination seule qui a écrit les premières histoires. Non seulement chaque peuple inventa son origine, mais il inventa aussi l'origine du monde entier.' _Dict. Philos._ article _Histoire_, sec. 2, in _[OE]uvres_, vol. xl. p. 195. See also his article on Chronology, vol. xxxviii. p. 77, for the application of this to the history of Rome, where he says, 'Tite Live n'a garde de dire en quelle année Romulus commença son prétendu règne.' And at vol. xxxvi. p. 86, 'tous les peuples se sont attribués des origines imaginaires; et aucun n'a touché à la véritable.'

[931] 'Qu'on fasse attention que la république romaine a été cinq cents ans sans historiens; que Tite Live lui-même déplore la perte des autres monuments qui périrent presque tous dans l'incendie de Rome,' &c. _Dict. Philos._ in _[OE]uvres_, vol. xl. p. 202. At p. 188, 'ce peuple, si récent en comparaison des nations asiatiques, a été cinq cents années sans historiens. Ainsi, il n'est pas surprenant que Romulus ait été le fils de Mars, qu'une louve ait été sa nourrice, qu'il ait marché avec mille hommes de son village de Rome contre vingt-cinq mille combattants du village des Sabins.'

[932] 'Par quel excès de démence, par quel opiniâtreté absurde, tant de compilateurs ont-ils voulu prouver dans tant de volumes énormes, qu'une fête publique établie en mémoire d'un événement était une démonstration de la vérité de cet événement?' _Essai sur les M[oe]urs_, in _[OE]uvres_, vol. xv. p. 109. See also the same remark applied to monuments, in chap. cxcvii., _[OE]uvres_, vol. xviii. pp. 412-414; and again, in vol. xl. pp. 203, 204.

[933] 'La plupart des histoires out été crues sans examen, et cette créance est un préjugé. Fabius Pictor raconte que, plusieurs siècles avant lui, une vestale de la ville d'Albe, allant puiser de l'eau dans sa cruche, fut violée, qu'elle accoucha de Romulus et de Rémus, qu'ils furent nourris par une louve, etc. Le peuple romain crut cette fable; il n'examina point si dans ce temps-là il y avait des vestales dans le Latium, s'il était vraisemblable que la fille d'un roi sortît de son couvent avec sa cruche, s'il était probable qu'une louve allaitât deux enfants au lieu de les manger; le préjugé s'établit.' _Dict. Philos._ article _Préjugés_, in _[OE]uvres_, vol. xli. pp. 488, 489.

[934] 'Les amateurs du merveilleux disaient: Il faut bien que ces faits soient vrais, puisque tant de monuments en sont la preuve. Et nous disions: Il faut bien qu'ils soient faux, puisque le vulgaire les a crus. Une fable a quelque cours dans une génération; elle s'établit dans la seconde; elle devient respectable dans la troisième; la quatrième lui élève des temples.' _Fragments sur l'Histoire_, article i. in _[OE]uvres_, vol. xxvii. pp. 158, 159.

I have been the more particular in stating the immense obligations history is under to Voltaire, because in England there exists against him a prejudice, which nothing but ignorance, or something worse than ignorance, can excuse;[935] and because, taking him on the whole, he is probably the greatest historian Europe has yet produced. In reference, however, to the mental habits of the eighteenth century, it is important to show, that in the same period similar comprehensiveness was being displayed by other French historians; so that in this case, as in all others, we shall find that a large share of what is effected, even by the most eminent men, is due to the character of the age in which they live.

[935] In this case, as in many others, ignorance has been fortified by bigotry; for, as Lord Campbell truly says of Voltaire, 'since the French Revolution, an indiscriminate abuse of this author has been in England the test of orthodoxy and loyalty.' _Campbell's Chief Justices_, vol. ii. p. 335. Indeed, so extensively has the public mind been prejudiced against this great man, that, until a very few years ago, when Lord Brougham published a life of him, there was no book in the English language containing even a tolerable account of one of the most influential writers France has produced. This work of Lord Brougham's, though a middling performance, is at least an honest one, and, as it harmonizes with the general spirit of our time, it has probably had considerable weight. In it he says of Voltaire, 'nor can any one since the days of Luther be named, to whom the spirit of free inquiry, nay, the emancipation of the human mind from spiritual tyranny, owes a more lasting debt of gratitude.' _Brougham's Life of Voltaire_, p. 132. It is certain, that the better the history of the eighteenth century is understood, the more the reputation of Voltaire will increase; as was clearly foreseen by a celebrated writer nearly a generation ago. In 1831, Lerminier wrote these remarkable, and, as the result has proved, prophetic words: 'Il est temps de revenir à des sentimens plus respectueux pour la mémoire de Voltaire.... Voltaire a fait pour la France ce que Leibnitz a fait pour l'Allemagne; pendant trois-quarts de siècle il a représenté son pays, puissant à la manière de Luther et de Napoléon; il est destiné à survivre à bien des gloires, et je plains ceux qui se sont oubliés jusqu'à laisser tomber des paroles dédaigneuses sur le génie de cet homme.' _Lerminier_, _Philosophie du Droit_, vol. i. p. 199. Compare the glowing eulogy in _Longchamp et Wagnière_, _Mémoires sur Voltaire_, vol. ii. pp. 388, 389, with the remarks of Saint-Lambert, in _Mém. d'Epinay_, vol. i. p. 263.

The vast labours of Voltaire towards reforming the old method of writing history, were greatly aided by those important works which Montesquieu put forward during the same period. In 1734,[936] this remarkable man published what may be truly called the first book in which there can be found any information concerning the real history of Rome; because it is also the first in which the affairs of the ancient world are treated in a large and comprehensive spirit.[937] Fourteen years later, there appeared, by the same author, the _Spirit of Laws_; a more famous production, but, as it seems to me, not a greater one. The immense merit of the _Spirit of Laws_ is, indeed, incontestable, and cannot be affected by the captious attempts made to diminish it by those minute critics, who seem to think that when they detect the occasional errors of a great man, they in some degree reduce him to their own level. It is not such petty cavilling which can destroy an European reputation; and the noble work of Montesquieu will long survive all attacks of this kind, because its large and suggestive generalizations would retain their value even if the particular facts of which the illustrations consist were all unfounded.[938] Still, I am inclined to believe, that in point of original thought it is barely equal to his earlier work, though it is unquestionably the fruit of much greater reading. Without, however, instituting a comparison between them, our present object is merely to consider the contributions they jointly contain towards a right understanding of history, and the way in which those contributions are connected with the general spirit of the eighteenth century.

[936] _Vie de Montesquieu_, p. xiv., prefixed to his works.

[937] Before Montesquieu, the only two great thinkers who had really studied Roman history were Macchiavelli and Vico: but Macchiavelli did not attempt any thing approaching the generalizations of Montesquieu, and he suffered, moreover, from the serious deficiency of being too much occupied with the practical utility of his subject. Vico, whose genius was perhaps even more vast than that of Montesquieu, can hardly be considered his rival; for, though his _Scienza Nova_ contains the most profound views on ancient history, they are rather glimpses of truth, than a systematic investigation of any one period.

[938] Which M. Guizot (_Civilisation en France_, vol. iv. p. 36), in his remarks on the _Esprit des Lois_, does not take sufficiently into consideration. A juster appreciation of Montesquieu will be found in _Cousin_, _Hist. de la Philosophie_, part ii. vol. i. p. 182; and in _Comte_, _Philosophie Positive_, vol. iv. pp. 243-252, 261. Compare _Charles Comte_, _Traité de Législation_, vol. i. p. 125, with _Meyer_, _Esprit des Institutions Judiciaires_, vol. i. p. lxi., respecting the vast innovations he introduced.

In this point of view, there are, in the works of Montesquieu, two leading peculiarities. The first is, the complete rejection of those personal anecdotes, and those trivial details respecting individuals, which belong to biography, but with which, as Montesquieu clearly saw, history has no concern. The other peculiarity is, the very remarkable attempt which he first made to effect an union between the history of man and those sciences which deal with the external world. As these are the two great characteristics of the method adopted by Montesquieu, it will be necessary to give some account of them, before we can understand the place he really occupies, as one of the founders of the philosophy of history.

We have already seen that Voltaire had strongly insisted on the necessity of reforming history, by paying more attention to the history of the people, and less attention to that of their political and military rulers. We have also seen, that this great improvement was so agreeable to the spirit of the time, that it was generally and quickly adopted, and thus became an indication of those democratic tendencies, of which it was in reality a result. It is not, therefore, surprising that Montesquieu should have taken the same course, even before the movement had been clearly declared; since he, like most great thinkers, was a representative of the intellectual condition, and a satisfier of the intellectual wants, of the age in which he lived.

But, what constitutes the peculiarity of Montesquieu in this matter, is, that with him a contempt for those details respecting courts, ministers, and princes, in which ordinary compilers take great delight, was accompanied by an equal contempt for other details which are really interesting, because they concern the mental habits of the few truly eminent men who, from time to time, have appeared on the stage of public life. This was because Montesquieu perceived that, though these things are very interesting, they are also very unimportant. He knew, what no historian before him had even suspected, that in the great march of human affairs, individual peculiarities count for nothing; and that, therefore, the historian has no business with them, but should leave them to the biographer, to whose province they properly belong. The consequence is, that not only does he treat the most powerful princes with such disregard as to relate the reigns of six emperors in two lines,[939] but he constantly enforces the necessity, even in the case of eminent men, of subordinating their special influence to the more general influence of the surrounding society. Thus, many writers had ascribed the ruin of the Roman Republic to the ambition of Cæsar and Pompey, and particularly to the deep schemes of Cæsar. This, Montesquieu totally denies. According to his view of history, no great alteration can be effected, except by virtue of a long train of antecedents, where alone we are to seek the cause of what to a superficial eye is the work of individuals. The republic, therefore, was overthrown, not by Cæsar and Pompey, but by that state of things which made the success of Cæsar and Pompey possible.[940] It is thus that the events which ordinary historians relate are utterly valueless. Such events, instead of being causes, are merely the occasions on which the real causes act.[941] They may be called the accidents of history; and they must be treated as subservient to those vast and comprehensive conditions, by which alone the rise and fall of nations are ultimately governed.[942]

[939] He says of the emperor Maximin, 'il fut tué avec son fils par ses soldats. Les deux premiers Gordiens périrent en Afrique. Maxime, Balbin, et le troisième Gordien furent massacrés.' _Grandeur et Décadence des Romains_, chap. xvi., in _[OE]uvres de Montesquieu_, p. 167.

[940] _Ibid._ chap. xi., in _[OE]uvres de Montesquieu_, pp. 149-153. Compare a similar remark, respecting Charles XII., in _Esprit des Lois_, livre x. chap. xiii. _[OE]uvres_, p. 260.

[941] On the difference between cause and occasion, see _Grandeur et Décad._ chap. i. p. 126.

[942] 'Il y a des causes générales, soit morales, soit physiques, qui agissent dans chaque monarchie, l'élèvent, la maintiennent, ou la précipitent; tous les accidents sont soumis à ces causes; et si le hasard d'une bataille, c'est-à-dire une cause particulière, a ruiné un état, il y avoit une cause générale qui faisoit que cet état devoit périr par une seule bataille. En un mot, l'allure principale entraîne avec elle tous les accidente particuliers.' _Grand. et Décad. des Romains_, chap. xviii. p. 172.

This, then, was the first great merit of Montesquieu, that he effected a complete separation between biography and history, and taught historians to study, not the pecularities of individual character, but the general aspect of the society in which the peculiarities appeared. If this remarkable man had accomplished nothing further, he would have rendered an incalculable service to history, by pointing out how one of its most fertile sources of error might be safely removed. And although, unhappily, we have not yet reaped the full benefit of his example, this is because his successors have really had the capacity of rising to so high a generalization: it is, however, certain, that since his time, an approximation towards such elevated views may be noticed, even among those inferior writers who, for want of sufficient grasp, are unable to adopt them to their full extent.

In addition to this, Montesquieu made another great advance in the method of treating history. He was the first who, in an inquiry into the relations between the social conditions of a country and its jurisprudence, called in the aid of physical knowledge, in order to ascertain how the character of any given civilization is modified by the action of the external world. In his work on the _Spirit of Laws_, he studies the way in which both the civil and political legislation of a people are naturally connected with their climate, soil, and food.[943] It is true, that in this vast enterprise he almost entirely failed; but this was because meteorology, chemistry, and physiology, were still too backward to admit of such an undertaking. This, however, affects the value only of his conclusions, not of his method; and here, as elsewhere, we see the great thinker tracing the outline of a plan, which, in the then state of knowledge, it was impossible to fill up, and the completion of which he was obliged to leave to the riper experience and more powerful resources of a later age. Thus to anticipate the march of the human intellect, and, as it were, forestal its subsequent acquisitions, is the peculiar prerogative of minds of the highest order; and it is this which gives to the writings of Montesquieu a certain fragmentary and provisional appearance, which was the necessary consequence of a profoundly speculative genius dealing with materials that were intractable, simply because science had not yet reduced them to order by generalizing the laws of their phenomena. Hence it is, that many of the inferences drawn by Montesquieu are untenable; such, for instance, as those regarding the effect of diet in stimulating population by increasing the fecundity of women,[944] and the effect of climate in altering the proportion between the births of the sexes.[945] In other cases, an increased acquaintance with barbarous nations has sufficed to correct his conclusions, particularly those concerning the effect which he supposed climate to produce on individual character; for we have now the most decisive evidence, that he was wrong in asserting[946] that hot climates make people unchaste and cowardly, while cold climates make them virtuous and brave.

[943] _De l'Esprit des Lois_, books xiv. to xviii. inclusive; in _[OE]uvres_, pp. 300-336.

[944] _Ibid._ livre xxiii. chap. xiii. p. 395. Compare _Burdach_, _Traité de Physiologie_, vol. ii. p. 116.

[945] _Ibid._ livre xvi. chap. iv., and livre xxiii. chap. xii. pp. 317, 395.

[946] _Ibid._ livre xiv. chap. ii., livre xvii. chap. ii., and elsewhere.

These, indeed, are comparatively trifling objections, because, in all the highest branches of knowledge, the main difficulty is, not to discover facts, but to discover the true method according to which the laws of the facts may be ascertained.[947] In this, Montesquieu performed a double service, since he not only enriched history, but also strengthened its foundation. He enriched history by incorporating with it physical inquiries; and he strengthened history by separating it from biography, and thus freeing it from details which are always unimportant, and often unauthentic. And although he committed the error of studying the influence of nature over men considered as individuals,[948] rather than over men considered as an aggregate society, this arose principally from the fact that, in his time, the resources necessary for the more complicated study had not yet been created. Those resources, as I have shown, are political economy and statistics; political economy supplying the means of connecting the laws of physical agents with the laws of the inequality of wealth, and, therefore, with a great variety of social disturbances; while statistics enable us to verify those laws in their widest extent, and to prove how completely the volition of individual men is controlled by their antecedents, and by the circumstances in which they are placed. It was, therefore, not only natural, but inevitable, that Montesquieu should fail in his magnificent attempt to unite the laws of the human mind with the laws of external nature. He failed, partly because the sciences of external nature were too backward, and partly because those other branches of knowledge which connect nature with men were still unformed. For, as to political economy, it had no existence as a science until the publication of the _Wealth of Nations_ in 1776, twenty-one years after the death of Montesquieu. As to statistics, their philosophy is a still more recent creation, since it is only during the last thirty years that they have been systematically applied to social phenomena; the earlier statisticians being merely a body of industrious collectors, groping in the dark, bringing together facts of every kind without selection or method, and whose labours were consequently unavailable for those important purposes to which they have been successfully applied during the present generation.

[947] On the supreme importance of method, see my defence of Bichat in the next chapter.

[948] How completely futile this was, as regards results, is evident from the fact, that a hundred years after he wrote, we, with all our increased knowledge, can affirm nothing positively respecting the direct action of climate, food, and soil, in modifying individual character; though it has, I trust, appeared in the second chapter of this Introduction, that something can be ascertained respecting their indirect action, that is, their action on individual minds through the medium of social and economical organisation.

Only two years after the publication of the _Spirit of Laws_, Turgot delivered those celebrated lectures, of which it has been said, that in them he created the philosophy of history.[949] This praise is somewhat exaggerated; for in the most important matters relating to the philosophy of his subject, he takes the same view as Montesquieu; and Montesquieu, besides preceding him in point of time, was his superior certainly in learning, perhaps in genius. Still, the merit of Turgot is immense; and he belongs to that extremely small class of men who have looked at history comprehensively, and have recognized the almost boundless knowledge needed for its investigation. In this respect, his method is identical with that of Montesquieu, since both of these great men excluded from their scheme the personal details which ordinary historians accumulate, and concentrated their attention upon those large general causes, by the operation of which the destinies of nations are permanently affected. Turgot clearly perceived, that, notwithstanding the variety of events produced by the play of human passions, there is amid this apparent confusion a principle of order, and a regularity of march, not to be mistaken by those whose grasp is firm enough to seize the history of man as a complete and single whole.[950] It is true that Turgot, subsequently engaged in political life, never possessed sufficient leisure to fill up the splendid outline of what he so successfully sketched: but though in the execution of his plan he fell short of Montesquieu, still the analogy between the two men is obvious, as also is their relation to the age in which they lived. They, as well as Voltaire, were the unconscious advocates of the democratic movement, inasmuch as they discountenanced the homage which historians had formerly paid to individuals, and rescued history from being a mere recital of the deeds of political and ecclesiastical rulers. At the same time, Turgot, by the captivating prospects which he held out of future progress,[951] and by the picture which he drew of the capacity of society to improve itself, increased the impatience which his countrymen were beginning to feel against that despotic government, in whose presence amelioration seemed to be hopeless. These, and similar speculations, which now for the first time appeared in French literature, stimulated the activity of the intellectual classes, cheered them under the persecutions to which they were exposed, and emboldened them to the arduous enterprise of leading on the people to attack the institutions of their native land. Thus it was, that in France every thing tended to the same result. Every thing indicated the approach of some sharp and terrible struggle, in which the spirit of the present should war with the spirit of the past; and in which it should be finally settled, whether the people of France could free themselves from the chains in which they had long been held, or whether, missing their aim, they were doomed to sink still lower in that ignominious vassalage, which makes even the most splendid periods of their political history a warning and a lesson to the civilized world.

[949] 'Il a créé en 1750 la philosophie de l'histoire dans ses deux discours prononcés en Sorbonne.' _Cousin_, _Hist. de la Philosophie_, I. série, vol. i. p. 147. There is a short notice of these striking productions in _Condorcet_, _Vie de Turgot_, pp. 11-16.

[950] Nothing can be better than his summary of this vast conception: 'Tous les ages sont enchaînés par une suite de causes et d'effets qui lient l'état du monde à tous ceux qui l'ont précédé.' _Second Discours en Sorbonne_, in _[OE]uvres de Turgot_, vol. ii. p. 52. Every thing Turgot wrote on history is a development of this pregnant sentence. That he understood the necessity of an historian being acquainted with physical science, and with the laws of the configuration of the earth, climate, soil, and the like, is evident in his fragment, _La Géographie Politique_, in _[OE]uvres_, vol. ii. pp. 166-208. It is no slight proof of his political sagacity, that in 1750 he distinctly foretold the freedom of the American colonies. Compare _[OE]uvres de Turgot_, vol. ii. p. 66, with _Mém. sur Turgot_, vol. i. p. 139.

[951] A confidence which is apparent in his economical as well as in his historical works. In 1811, Sir James Mackintosh writes, that Turgot 'had more comprehensive views of the progress of society than any man since Bacon:' _Mem. of Mackintosh_, vol. ii. p. 133; and see a similar remark by Dugald Stewart, in his _Philos. of the Mind_, vol. i. p. 246.