_J. R. Seeley, History and Polities (Macmillan's Magazine, August, 1879)._ HISTORY: How to study History. "The object of the historical student is to bring before his mind a picture of the main events and the spirit of the times which he studies. The first step is to get a general view from a brief book; the second step is to enlarge it from more elaborate books, reading more than one, and to use some system of written notes keeping them complete. The next step is to read some of the contemporary writers. Having done these three things carefully, the historical student carries away an impression of his period which will never be effaced." _Prof. A. B. Hart, How to Study History (Chautauquan, October, 1893)._ HISTORY: The Importance of a knowledge of Universal History. "When I was a schoolmaster, I never considered a pupil thoroughly educated unless he had read Gibbon through before he left me. I read it through myself before I was eighteen, and I have derived unspeakable advantage from this experience. Gibbon's faults of style and matter have very slight effect on the youthful mind, whereas his merits, his scholarship, his learning, his breadth of view, his imagination, and his insight, afford a powerful stimulus to study. … I … wish to urge the claims of two subjects on your attention which have hitherto been unaccountably neglected. The first of them is universal history, the general course of the history of the world. It seems natural to think that no subject could be more important for the consideration of any human being than the knowledge of the main lines which the race has followed since the dawn of history in reaching the position which it has now attained. The best way of understanding any situation is to know how affairs came into that position. Besides the satisfaction of legitimate curiosity, it is only thus that we can be wise reformers, and distinguish between what is a mere survival of the past and an institution which is inherent in the character of the community. {1655} Our German cousins are fully aware of this truth; a German parlour, however meagerly furnished, always contains two books, a Bible and a Weltgeschichte. I suppose that during the present century from a hundred to a hundred and fifty of these universal histories have made their appearance in Germany. In England I only know of two. In Germany, Italy, and Austria, and, I believe, in France, universal history forms an essential part of education for nearly all classes. It is taken as a subject under certain conditions in the Abiturienten-Examen. I once had the privilege of reading the notes of a viva voce examination of a student in this subject who did not pass. It covered the whole range of ancient, mediæval, and modern history. I was astonished at what the