represented on a hill enveloped in a mist: the ascent should be drawn most precipitous and cloudy at the bottom, with crowds of travellers, dull, heavy, discouraged, and bewildered; while, towards the top, the slope should be gradual, the travellers few and far between, looking better both in health and spirits, and the mist clearing away, till the one happy man on the summit is in a flood of light, and cannot take off his hat to huzzah for the sun in his eyes. Fancy would add sign-posts with "Beware of man-traps,". 66 Try no short cuts." "The best road lies over the hill." In the foreground swarms of little children, of pantomimic proportions, might be selling penny guides to many an eager purchaser; while one or two sages were standing aside, presenting a chosen few with lectures of a far less tempting appearance on patient and methodical industry. what ancient authorities is the history of Rome chiefly based? the following: Livy, Dionysius of Halicarnassus, Polybius, Diodorus Siculus, Appian, Dion Cassius, Varro, Cicero, Sallust, Cæsar, Velleius, Tacitus, Suetonius, Plutarch, and Cornelius Nepos; these are the principal classical authorities. The Scriptores Hist. Augustæ, Procopius, and others, are comparatively little consulted, except by men of the enthusiasm of Gibbon. These authors I mention, because their names. so often occur, that any young person would do well to employ an hour in reading a short account of them from a Biographical Dictionary. I would also show how arduous is the task of becoming profoundly learned in every part of Roman History. De Thou wrote 138 books on the continental broils, during the last half of the 16th century; but before he began he knelt down and offered up a prayer, that he might accurately and impartially execute a work on which, from that moment, he resolved to devote his life. Gibbon was twenty years composing the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire. It would have taken many more years to write its rise and grandeur. To men of such genius and enthusiasm we leave the original authorities, and, not entering the mine ourselves, are content with such specimens of the buried treasure as they bring to light. The above list does not contain the names of half the authorities who supply the whole chain of history; yet, short as it is, it comprises twice the number of books which enter into the classical studies of either university. I must now address myself to two separate classes of readers; first, to young men preparing themselves as candidates either for Scholarships or classical honours at the universities; secondly, to young ladies, and other general readers, who have only learning and leisure sufficient for a shorter and more general course. To speak of the first class — youths at school, or with private tutors, have, commonly, time for doing much to advance them at college, if well directed. The mode of reading history which they must adopt is peculiar. They have not only to fill but to form their minds, and to satisfy not only themselves but examiners. Others may be less careful of facts, when they have gathered principles, and preserve the kernel without the husk; but candidates for honours must exhibit a knowledge of principles, which they can only do by having facts available and ready at command. An examination is conducted by papers of questions which serve as pegs on which to hang your knowledge; but should you confuse merely the names of historical characters, you will lose the chance of displaying your attainments, although your mind is stored with the deepest reflections on the Roman policy or constitution. The first thing, therefore, -- to consider is, that you can never be said effectually to know any more history than you can accurately write out, with time, place, and circumstance. Read, therefore, on the method before described, which I shall call the expansive principle. Begin with committing to memory an outline then fill in no faster than you can make good your ground. Thus you will always be ready to be examined to the extent of your reading, and will rear such an historical edifice as will admit of continual addition and enlargement, without any part of your work being pulled down and wasted. This advice is more simple than obvious. Many a student has read for sixteen University terms, collecting materials which were at no single moment, from first to last, in a state to be put together, even supposing that the disorder of his mental store-room did not render it impossible ever to find or identify the many separate pieces he had laboriously collected. Your first book should be “The Outline of the Roman History," by the Christian Knowledge Society. This little book, insignificant as it may seem, is not to be despised. It traces the Romans as they gradually spread from a corner of Italy over nearly all the known world, and gives the chief dates, characters, and events. When this outline is known thoroughly, it will serve as a memoria technica, to connect and facilitate the re collection of more minute detail. For the difficulty in history is to remember not the principles and general impression, but who said this, and who did that, and when or where particular actions occurred and in an examination you can only show that you know anything by giving a clear and accurate account. Certainly you may be allowed to describe events more or less fully and in detail; but every statement must be both connected and exact as far as it goes. Let this outline, then, be impressed deeply on your memory, so that you have, as it were, one Roman picture ever hanging before your mind's eye, to serve as a general map of the country, through which your classic path is doomed to lie for some years to A plan I found very useful was to draw out the leading historical facts on a sheet of paper, divided into vertical columns, each comprising one century. Four black horizontal lines cut all the centuries into quarters, and the sheet into departments. It is easy to remember the contents of each department, or the position of each fact on the chart, and thus you have a clue to dates and a long series of events. When this outline is fectly familiar to the "mind's eye," proceed to fill it up according to your taste and inclination. The usual examinations of Scholarships, at which the candidates are too young to be supposed to have read very deeply, require an exact knowledge of come. per |