, in
bringing to maturity the British empire, and spreading the Anglo-Saxon
race, in pursuance of its appointed mission, over half the globe! What
marvellous effect had the heroism and skill of Robert Bruce upon the
subsequent history of Scotland, and, through it, on the fortunes of
the British race! Thus biography, or the deeds or thoughts of
illustrious men, still forms a most important, and certainly the most
interesting, part even of general history; and the perfection of that
noble art consists, not in the exclusive delineation of individual
achievement, or the concentration of attention on general causes, but
in the union of the two in due proportions, as they really exist in
nature, and determine, by their combined operation, the direction of
human affairs. The talent now required in the historian partakes,
accordingly, of this two-fold character. He is expected to write
philosophy and biography: skill in drawing individual character, the
power of describing individual achievements, with a clear perception
of general causes, and the generalizing faculty of enlarged
philosophy. He must combine in his mind the powers of the microscope
and the telescope; be ready, like the steam-engine, at one time to
twist a fibre, at another to propel an hundred-gun ship. Hence the
rarity of eminence in this branch of knowledge; and if we could
conceive a writer who, to the ardent genius and descriptive powers of
Gibbon, should unite the lucid glance and just discrimination of
Robertson, and the calm sense and reasoning powers of Hume, he would
form a more perfect historian than ever has, or probably ever will
appear upon earth.

With all his generalizing powers, however, Robertson fell into one
defect--or rather, he was unable, in one respect, to extricate himself
from the prejudices of his age and profession. He was not a
freethinker--on the contrary, he was a sincere and pious divine; but
he lived in an age of freethinkers--they had the chief influence in
the formation of a writer's fame; and he was too desirous of literary
reputation to incur the hazard of ridicule or contempt, by assigning
too prominent a place to the obnoxious topic. Thence he has ascribed
far too little influence to Christianity, in restraining the ferocity
of savage manners, preserving alive the remains of ancient knowledge,
and laying in general freedom the broad and deep foundations of
European society. He has not overlooked these topics, but he has not