dge of them that a scientific historian is
guided in grouping his matter. In this he differs from the artist, whose
principle of arrangement is drawn from himself, not from external
nature; and from the annalist, who has no arrangement, since he sees,
not the connection, but the succession of events. Facts are intelligible
and instructive,--or, in other words, history exhibits truths as well
as facts,--when they are seen not merely as they follow, but as they
correspond; not merely as they have happened, but as they are
paralleled. The fate of Ireland is to be understood not simply from the
light of English and Irish history, but by the general history of other
conquests, colonies, dependencies, and establishments. In this sort of
illustration by analogy and contrast Mr. Goldwin Smith is particularly
infelicitous. Nor does Providence gain what science loses by his
treatment of history. He rejects materialism, but he confines his view
to motives and forces which are purely human.

The Catholic Church receives, therefore, very imperfect measure at his
hands. Her spiritual character and purpose he cannot discern behind the
temporal instruments and appendages of her existence; he confounds
authority with influence, devotion with bigotry, power with force of
arms, and estimates the vigour and durability of Catholicism by
criterions as material as those of the philosophers he has so vehemently
and so ably refuted. Most Protestant writers fail in approbation; he
fails in appreciation. It is not so much a religious feeling that makes
him unjust, as a way of thinking which, in great measure, ignores the
supernatural, and therefore precludes a just estimate of religion in
general, and of Catholicism in particular. Hence he is unjust rather to
the nature than to the actions of the Church. He caricatures more than
he libels her. He is much less given to misrepresentation and calumny
than Macaulay, but he has a less exalted idea of the history and
character of Catholicism. As he underrates what is divine, so he has no
very high standard for the actions of men, and he is liberal in
admitting extenuating circumstances. Though he never suspends the
severity of his moral judgment in consideration of the purpose or the
result, yet he is induced by a variety of arguments to mitigate its
rigour. In accordance with the theory he has formerly developed, he is
constantly sitting in judgment; and he discusses the morality of men and
actions fa