ESSAYS, OR DISCOURSES, SELECTED FROM THE WORKS OF FEYJOO, AND TRANSLATED FROM THE SPANISH, BY JOHN BRETT, ESQ. VOLUME THE THIRD. LONDON, Printed for the TRANSLATOR: Sold by H. PAYNE, Pall-Mall; C. DILLY, in the Poultry; and T. EVANS, in the Strand. MDCCLXXX. REFLEXIONS UPON HISTORY. SECT. I. I. There is the same common error prevalent among the vulgar, with respect to History, that there is with regard to Jurisprudence. I mean, that they suppose the attainment of those two faculties depends solely upon application and memory. It is commonly thought, that a man is made a great lawyer, by treasuring up in his remembrance great numbers of law texts and maxims; and a great historian, by reading and retaining many historical relations. I won’t dispute, if we speak only of men learned in conversation, and historians for table talk, that any thing more is necessary. But to become a historian of the pen, good Lord! nothing less than the pens of the Phœnix are equal to the undertaking. The most prudent and learned bishop of Cambray, in his letter on this subject to the French Academy, said very justly, _that an excellent historian is perhaps more rare than a great poet_.