rdiner and Ranke. Froude
is much more dangerous. His splendid narrative style does not compensate
for his inaccuracies. Langlois makes an apt quotation from Froude. "We
saw," says Froude, of the city of Adelaide, in Australia, "below us in a
basin, with the river winding through it, a city of 150,000 inhabitants,
none of whom has ever known or ever will know one moment's anxiety as to
the recurring regularity of three meals a day." Now for the facts.
Langlois says: "Adelaide is built on an eminence; no river runs through
it. When Froude visited it the population did not exceed 75,000, and it
was suffering from a famine at the time." Froude was curious in his
inaccuracies. He furnished the data which convict him of error. He
quoted inaccurately the Simancas manuscripts and deposited correct
copies in the British Museum. Carlyle and Macaulay are honest partisans
and you know how to take them, but for constitutional inaccuracy such as
Froude's no allowance can be made.

Perhaps it may be said of Green that he combines the merits of the
scientific and literary historian. He has written an honest and artistic
piece of work. But he is not infallible. I have been told on good
authority that in his reference to the Thirty Years' War he has hardly
stated a single fact correctly, yet the general impression you get from
his account is correct. Saintsbury writes that Green has "out-Macaulayed
Macaulay in reckless abuse" of Dryden. Stubbs and Gardiner are
preeminently the scientific historians of England. Of Stubbs, from
actual knowledge, I regret that I cannot speak, but the reputation he
has among historical experts is positive proof of his great value. Of
Gardiner I can speak with knowledge. Any one who desires to write
history will do well to read every line Gardiner has written--not the
text alone, but also the notes. It is an admirable study in method which
will bear important fruit. But because Gibbon, Gardiner, and Stubbs
should be one's chief reliance, it does not follow that one may neglect
Macaulay, Carlyle, Tacitus, Thucydides, and Herodotus. Gardiner himself
has learned much from Macaulay and Carlyle. All of them may be
criticised on one point or another, but they all have lessons for us.

We shall all agree that the aim of history is to get at the truth and
express it as clearly as possible. The differences crop out when we
begin to elaborate our meaning. "This I regard as the historian's
highest function," writes Tac