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0 F T H E

Study of History.

LETTER II.

Concerning the true ufe and advantages of it.

I j E T me fay fomething of hiflory in general,before I defcend into the confederation of particularparts of it, or of the various methods of fludy, orof the different views of thofe that apply themfelvesto it, as I had begun to do in my former letter.

The., love of hiflory feems infeparable fromhuman nature, becaufe it feems infeparable fromfelf-love. The fame principle in this inflance carriesus forward and backward, to future and to paftages. We imagine that the things, which affedlus, mufl affect poflerity : this fentiment runsthrough mankind, from Caesar down to theparifh clerk in Pope ’s mifcellany. We are fond ofpreferving, as far as it is in our frail power, thememory of our own adventures, of thofe of ourown time, and of thofe that preceded it. Rudeheaps of flones have been raifed, and ruder hymnshave been compofed, for this purpofe, by nationswho had not yet the ufe of arts and letters. Togo no farther back , the triumphs of Oo IN werecelebrated in runic fongs, and the feats of our

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