sophic glance of Guizot, nor the military fire of
Napier, nor the incomparable descriptive powers of Gibbon. His merit, and
it is a very great one, consists in the lucid and spirited telling of the
story, interspersed with interesting descriptions of the scenes of the
leading incidents, and dramatic portraiture of the principal characters.
His greatest fault--no trifling one--is the perplexity produced in the
mind of the reader by the want of proper grouping and arrangement, and the
introduction of a vast number of characters and events at once into the
story, without any preparatory description, to enable him to appreciate
the one or understand the other. This is a very natural error for a
romance writer to fall into when he undertakes history; because, in
novels, where characters are few, and the events only such as happen to
them, there is no need of previous preparation of the reader's mind, of
such grouping and perspective, for the simplification and illustration of
events. But, in history, where the events are so numerous and complicated,
and each actor in general occupies only an inconsiderable portion of the
canvass, it is indispensable, if the writer would avoid prolixity of
details, or achieve that object so well known to artists, which they
denominate _breadth_ of effect.

Biography should be, and when properly handled is, the most interesting
branch of historical composition. It has the immense advantage--the value
of which can only be properly appreciated by those who undertake to write
general history--of being limited to the leading characters who have
appeared on the theatre of the world, and consequently steering clear of
the intermediate periods of uninteresting or tedious occurrence. How to
get over these without exhausting the patience of his readers, on the one
hand, or incurring the reproach of omitting some events of importance, on
the other, is the great difficulty of general history. The biographer
seizes the finest points of the story; he dwells only on the exploits of
his hero, and casts the rest into the shade. If this style of composition
does not afford room for those general and important views on the general
march of events, or progress of our species, which constitute the most
valuable part of the highest branch of history, it presents much greater
opportunities for securing the interest of the general reader, and
awakening that sympathy in the breast of others, which it is the great
obje