An able English writer [FN] has recently opened a very interesting discussion, upon the great advantages of thus using letters and manuscripts in the composition of history. Speaking of the maxim that "history is philosophy teaching by example," he remarks:--"In morals, all depends upon circumstances. An example, whether real or fictitious, can teach us nothing, if it contains only dry facts. The mischief of a great many histories, and those of no mean account, is, that they are quite contented with giving an agreeable narration of naked facts, from which we can gather nothing beyond the facts themselves. To the chronicler, the murder of Thomas A' Becket is the murder of Becket, and it is nothing more. To what quarter, then, are we to look for the magic by which we may make the dry bones live again? We answer, unhesitatingly, to the letters of the day, if there be any. We say so, not because they will contain any elaborate description of the feelings, or expose' of the views, of the age to which they belong, but because they must be written, to a great extent, in the spirit of the age in which their writers lived. The events of the day--the writers' feelings toward their neighbours, and their neighbours' feelings toward them--their comments on the ordinary course of things around them; these are precious records for all who wish to study mankind and morals in history; for these things, and these alone, can enable us fully to appreciate the temper and spirit in which the acts commemorated in history were done. . . . It is very true that some historians profess to use letters, and that some have actually used them in a small degree; but, considering their great value, they have never been used as they deserved; and, in very many cases, their existence seems to be hardly known to historians themselves." It is in accordance with these views, that letters and speeches have been so copiously used in the present work; although it is not supposed that the correspondence of a burly chieftain of the forest, or the bluff partisan officers of a wilderness border, can in any respect be compared with Cowper's polished models of epistolary writing, or with those of Scott or Byron, or those of Lady Mary Wortley Montague, of Peter of Blois or John of Salisbury. They are nevertheless valuable in themselves, both as historical records and as illustrations of character. Of the speeches, and sketches of speeches, embodied in this work, together with the narratives given of the occasions which called them forth, it may be added that they are all memorials of a people,--once a noble race--numerous and powerful--now fast disappearing from the face of the earth--a beautiful portion of the earth--once their own! These memorials it was one of the chief purposes of the author to gather up and preserve. * * * * * [FN] London Quarterly Review, No. cxvi.--Art. on Upcott's Collection of Original Letters, Manuscripts, and State Papers.