on, in the style we all know and
love so well, and none better, we may rest assured, than Professor Seeley
himself, if only he were not tortured by the thought that people were
taking this to be a specimen of the science of which he is a Regius
Professor. His comment on this passage of Thackeray's is almost a groan.
'What is this but the old literary groove, leading to no trustworthy
knowledge?' and certainly no one of us, from letting his fancy gaze on
the Maypole in the Strand, could ever have foretold the Griffin. On the
same page he cries: 'Break the drowsy spell of narrative. Ask yourself
questions, set yourself problems; your mind will at once take up a new
attitude. Now, modern English history breaks up into two grand
problems--the problem of the Colonies and the problem of India.' The
Cambridge School of History with a vengeance!

In a paper read at the South Kensington Museum in 1884, Professor Seeley
observes: 'The essential point is this, that we should recognise that to
study history is to study not merely a narrative, but _at the same time_
certain theoretical studies.' He then proceeds to name them:--Political
philosophy, the comparative study of legal institutions, political
economy, and international law.

These passages are, I think, adequate to give a fair view of Professor
Seeley's position. History is a science, to be written scientifically
and to be studied scientifically in conjunction with other studies. It
should pursue a practical object and be read with direct reference to
practical politics--using the latter word, no doubt, in an enlightened
sense. History is not a narrative of all sorts of facts--biographical,
moral, political--but of such facts as a scientific diagnosis has
ascertained to be historically interesting. In fine, history, if her
study is to be profitable and not a mere pastime, less exhausting than
skittles and cheaper than horse exercise, must be dominated by some
theory capable of verification by reference to certain ascertained facts
belonging to a particular class. Is this the right way of looking upon
history? The dictionaries tell us that history and story are the same
word, and are derived from a Greek source, signifying information
obtained by inquiry. The natural definition of history, therefore,
surely is the story of man upon earth, and the historian is he who tells
us any chapter or fragment of that story. All things that on earth do
dwell have, no dou