it
of secret history. But the character of James I. was to pass through the
lengthened inquisitorial tortures of the sullen sectarianism of Harris.[A]
It was branded by the fierce, remorseless republican Catharine Macaulay,
and flouted by the light, sparkling Whig, Horace Walpole.[B] A senseless
cry of pedantry had been raised against him by the eloquent invective of
Bolingbroke, from whom doubtless Pope echoed it in verse which has
outlived his lordship's prose:--

Oh, cried the goddess, for some pedant reign!
Some gentle James to bless the land again;
To stick the doctor's chair into the throne,
Give law to words, or war with words alone,
Senates and courts with Greek and Latin rule,
And turn the council to a grammar-school!

_Dunciad_, book iv. ver. 175.

[Footnote A: The historical works of Dr. William Harris have been recently
republished in a collected form, and they may now be considered as
entering into our historical stores.

HARRIS is a curious researcher; but what appears more striking in his
historical character, is the impartiality with which he quotes authorities
which make against his own opinions and statements. Yet is Harris a writer
likely to impose on many readers. He announces in his title-pages that his
works are "after the manner of Mr. Bayle." This is but a literary
imposition, for Harris is perhaps the meanest writer in our language both
for style and philosophical thinking. The extraordinary impartiality he
displays in his faithful quotations from writers on opposite sides is only
the more likely to deceive us; for by that unalterable party feeling,
which never forsakes him, the facts against him he studiously weakens by
doubts, surmises, and suggestions; a character sinks to the level of his
notions by a single stroke; and from the arguments adverse to his purpose,
he wrests the most violent inferences. All party writers must submit to
practise such mean and disingenuous arts if they affect to disguise
themselves under a cover of impartiality. Bayle, intent on collecting
facts, was indifferent to their results; but Harris is more intent on the
deductions than the facts. The truth is, Harris wrote to please his
patron, the republican Hollis, who supplied him with books, and every
friendly aid. "It is possible for an ingenious man to be of a _party_
without being _partial_" says Rushworth; an airy clench on the lips of a
sober matter-of-fact man looks suspicions