An Objection against the Utility of History Removed.II.The False and True Aims of Those who Study it.III.Of the History of the First Ages,With Reflections on the State of Ancient History Profane and Sacred.
Were these letters to fall into the hands of some ingenious persons who adorn the age we live in,your lordship's correspondent would be joked upon for his project of improving men in virtue and wisdom by the study of history.
The general characters of men,it would be said,are determined by their natural constitutions,as their particular actions are by immediate objects.
Many very conversant in history would be cited,who have proved ill men,or bad politicians;and a long roll would be produced of others,who have arrived at a great pitch of private,and public virtue,without any assistance of this kind.Something has been said already to anticipate this objection;but,since I have heard several persons affirm such propositions with great confidence,a loud laugh,or a silent sneer at the pedants who presumed to think otherwise;I will spend a few paragraphs,with your lordship's leave,to show that such affirmations,for to affirm amongst these fine men is to reason,either prove too much,or prove nothing.
If our general characters were determined absolutely,as they are certainly influenced,by our constitutions,and if our particular actions were so by immediate objects;all instruction by precept,as well as example,and all endeavors to form the moral character by education,would be unnecessary.
Even the little care that is taken,and surely it is impossible to take less,in the training up our youth,would be too much.But the truth is widely different from this representation of it;for,what is vice,and what is virtue?I speak of them in a large and philosophical sense.The former is,I think,no more than the excess,abuse,and misapplication of appetites,desires,and passions,natural and innocent,nay useful and necessary.The latter consists in the moderation and government,in the use and application of these appetites,desires,and passions,according to the rules of reason,and therefore often in opposition to their own blind impulse.
What now is education?that part,that principle and most neglected part of it,I mean,which tends to form the moral character?It is,I think,an institution designed to lead men from their tender years,by precept and example,by argument and authority,to the practice,and to the habit of practising these rules.The stronger our appetites,desires,and passions are,the harder indeed is the task of education:but when these efforts of education are proportioned to this strength,although our keenest appetites and desires,and our ruling passions cannot be reduced to a quiet and uniform submission,yet,are not their excesses assuaged?are not their abuses and misapplications,in some degree,diverted or checked?Though the pilot cannot lay the storm,cannot he carry the ship,by his art,better through it,and often prevent the wreck that would always happen,without him?If Alexander who loved wine,and was naturally choleric,had been bred under the severity of Roman discipline,it is probable he would neither have made a bonfire of Persepolis for his whore,nor have killed his friend.If Scipio,who was naturally given to women,for which anecdote we have,if I mistake not,the authority of Polybius,as well as some verses of Naevius preserved by A.
Gellius,bad been educated by Olympius at the court of Philip,it is improbable that he would have restored the beautiful Spaniard.In short,if the renowned Socrates bad not corrected nature by art,this first apostle of the Gentiles had been a very profligate fellow,by his own confession;for he was inclined to all the vices Zopyrus imputed to him,as they say,on the observation of his physiognomy.
With him,therefore,who denies the effects of education,it would be in vain to dispute;and with him who admits them,there can be dispute,concerning that share which I ascribe to the study of history,in forming our moral characters,and making us better men.The very persons who pretend that inclinations cannot be restrained,nor habits corrected,against our natural bent,would be the first perhaps to prove,in certain cases,the contrary.A fortune at court,or the favors of a lady,have prevailed on many to conceal,and they could not conceal without restraining,which is one step towards correcting,the vices they were by nature addicted to the most.Shall we imagine now,that the beauty of virtue and the deformity of vice,the charms of a bright and lasting reputation,the terror of being delivered over as criminals to all posterity,the real benefit arising from a conscientious discharge of the duty we owe to others,which benefit fortune can neither hinder nor take away,and the reasonableness of conforming ourselves to the designs of God manifested in the constitution of the human nature;shall we imagine,I say,that ill these are not able to acquire the same power over those who are continually called upon to a contemplation of them,and they who apply themselves to the study of history are so called upon,as other motives,mean and sordid in comparison of these,can usurp on other men?
2.That the study of history,far from making us wiser,and more useful citizens,as well as better men,may be of no advantage whatsoever;that it may serve to render us mere antiquaries and scholars;or that it may help to make us forward coxcombs,and prating pedants,I have already allowed.
