Text: Edgar Allan Poe (?), Literary, Broadway Journal (New York), March 1, 1845, vol. 1, no. 9, p. ???-???

[page 142, column 1, continued:]

LITERARY NOTICES.

A Manual of Ancient and Modern History. By W. C. Taylor, LLD., M.R., A.S., of Trinity College, Dublin. Revised, with a chapter on the History of the United States, by C. S. Henry, DD., Professor of Philosophy and History in the University of the City of New York. D. Appleton it Co., 200 Broadway.

“The use of history is not to load the memory with facts, but to store the mind with principles,” says Dr. Taylor, in his preface; but [column 2:] if this were true, it would be an idle labor to compress a world of facts into the compass that he has done in his manual; principles alone would have answered a better purpose. But it is an unmeaning sentence. The principles of history, like the principles of chemistry, are facts: we have need of nothing else. Facts are to the mind what manure is to the soil — nothing of value will grow without them. How absurd it would be for a man to talk of the philosophy of history, whose memory was not well stored with facts. Happily for us, Dr. Taylor has not acted on his own theory, but has given us as many historical facts as could well be disposed of in 800 pages; and it is this, not his principles, which gives so high a value to his manual. There is yet no settled principle in regard to the best manner of rustling historical studies; and it is not probable that there ever will be. In nine cases out of ten, accident will guide the student in his choice of books; and elegance of style more than any other cause, will gain popularity for an historian. Some of the worst histories that have been written, are the most popular; indeed, a good history will stand but little chance of popularity. If every man knew himself thoroughly, he would have need of no other knowledge of mankind, for history, which sounds so grand, is only an exceedingly imperfect account of the lives of men precisely like ourselves; and whether they wore crowns or tarpaulins, the particulars of their lives arc alike valuable as materials for philosophy. The life of any milliner in Broadway is as good material for history as the life of Queen Anne. If the whole plan of writing historie- were reversed, and the quarrels and speeches of corporals and hucksters from the earliest periods to the present time were given, we should know as much of the philosophy of the human mind as we do now. The most important fact to be gleaned from the history of mankind, is whether or not the human mind has improved since the creation; and the only way to determine it is by comparing man at the outset with man at the present. But history can aid us but little here; we must have a more reliable source than the records which men make of each other. The true objects for the student of humanity will be found in the monuments which men have left of their habits, like foot prints in the sand, by which we ascertain in what direction they have travelled. A comparison of the Astor House with the pyramid of Cheops, if we but knew the uses to which both buildings were put, will enable us to determine, better than any history that has been written, whether the human mind has made any advances during the last three thousand years.

But we are undesignedly uttering all manner of heterodoxies, when we had only intended to call attention to the very valuable work tinder notice, whose original value has been enhanced by an additional chapter by Professor Henry, (we call him Professor, lest he be confounded with Dr. Henry, the historian of England,) on the history of the United States, which brings down our history literally to the present time, giving an account of President Tyler's Texas message to Congress.

The work is divided into ancient and modem history, the first part beginning with the Egyptians and ending with the creation of the Western empire, and a separate chapter on India. The second part commences with the Gothic kingdom of Italy, and ends with the af. fairs of yesterday. There are also separate chapters devoted to the history of Colonization, the history of the Jews, and the history of China.

As a manual of history it will be found one of the most useful, and at the same time most readable compends, that have been published.