_Ne Sutor ultra Crepidam_, is in nothing a more necessary Maxim, than in the Productions of the Mind. It is not because a Man can write a Sonnet, an Elegy, nay, an Ode, or a Dramatick Poem, that therefore he can succeed in Epick; though we in _England_ are apt to confound all Sorts of Poetry and Poets, and to think that there is but one and the same Genius necessary for all of them. Thus it is, that you often hear the Question in Company, which is the best Poet, _Virgil_ or _Horace_, _Milton_ or _Waller_, _Dryden_ or _Wycherley_, _Congreve_ or _Row_. It is the same Thing in History: If a Man is able to abridge a Dictionary, to collect and compile Memoirs; in a Word, if he can put a Tale together, he is immediately an Historian, though Story-telling and History are as different as a _Madrigal_ and a Pindarick _Ode_. History is designed to instruct Mankind by Example, to shew what Men were by what they did, and from particular Instances to form general Lessons in all the various Stations of Life; and our Historian has so far a just Conception of its Dignity and Use, that he speaks of his own Performance as if he had formed a regular noble Design, with a regular and noble View, and executed it with equal Beauty and Perfection. Very great Talents are requisite to succeed in it, especially that of Judgement, to relate only what is worth relating, and to make proper Reflections upon Events for the Instruction of the Reader. _Nothing is more necessary for an Historian_, says _Pere Rapin_, _than Judgement: Nothing requires so much Sense, so much Reason, so much Wit, so much Wisdom, and other good Qualities, as History, to succeed in writing it; and above all,_ Un Heureux Naturel, _a happy Genius, which endowed with all these Qualifications, will not do without,_ Un Grand Commerce du Monde, _a great Knowledge of the World_. _Pere Bouhours_, whom Mr. _Addison_ thought the most judicious and penetrating of all the _French_ Criticks, has an admirable Remark on the Reflections of Historians, in his _Maniere de bien penser_. The _Historian ought to shine most in his Reflections: Nothing is so irregular as to reflect falsely on Events that are true_. He mentions a pleasant Instance of a _French_ Priest, who said in a Sermon, _The Heart of Man being of a triangular Figure, and the World of a round one; It is plain, that all worldly Greatness cannot fill the Heart of Man_. We have been told a thousand Times, that the _Presbyterians_ had a Quarrel with King _Charles_ the First, and that those who had a Quarrel with him, took him and cut off his Head. The Fact is true as to the Quarrel, but nothing can be more false, than that the _Presbyterians_ beheaded him. The Fact is true, that the Act of Toleration put a Stop to the Persecuting of Dissenters; but the Reflection from it, _That the Church was in Danger_, is false. If I would rifle the _Grand Rebellion_, and Mr. _Echard_'s History, I might have the Honour of being Author of a Folio too, by taking from them