The History of the French Revolution, Vol. 1 of 4 (Classic Reprint) Thiers, Adol - libri usati

The position of Carlyle in English Literature will necessarily be ftwofold, for he chose to add to his general survey of thought the particular task of the historian. The number of men who have chosen the field of letters in general, and who have added to it in any important degree the department of History, is very small. Dickens cannot be said to have done it seriously in his little history, nor Thackeray in his Essay on the Georges, and if we consider the literature of other nations the same holds good. Conversely, though the historian properly so called who has dipped into general letters is common enough, yet there have been very few historians, whether in England, France, or Germany, I who did not profess to stand upon their history rather than upon their other work. Two men, however, have particularly chosen to combine the functions of philosopher and of historian, and to express their philosophy in many works as serious and as profound as their historical writings ;these two men are Taine and Carlyle. It must be clearly recognised in any approach to an appreciation of their position, that a man who so attempts the double function stands under a sharper light than can any other sort of writer. And that for this reason: that the work of the historian is justly recognised by men to be one of supreme importance, and to be one that while it requires literary power for its fulfilment, requires also twenty other qualities as rarely possessed or as difficult of attainment. It is of supreme importance, because upon a just presentation of the past depends all our concrete judgment of the present. History is the object-lesson of politics, and unless history is presented to us truly, it had better not be presented to us at all ;upon History is based our judgment of men so far as long experience can inform it, and if the picture is false, rather than receive it w
(Typographical errors above are due to OCR software and don't occur in the book.)