he case of the English (Heaven be praised!) history opens up a
boundless vista for the patriotic. The Englishman seldom realises how
much he has to be proud of in his history, or how loudly the past cries
upon him to be of good cheer. One hears much nowadays of England's
peril, and it is good that the red signals of danger should sometimes be
displayed. But let every Englishman remember that history can tell him
of greater perils faced successfully; of mighty armies commanded by the
greatest generals the world has ever known, held in check year after
year, and finally crushed by England; of vast fleets scattered or
destroyed by English sailors; of almost impregnable cities captured by
British troops. "There is something very characteristic," writes
Professor Seeley,[1] "in the indifference which we show towards the
mighty phenomenon of the diffusion of our race and the expansion of our
state. We seem, as it were, to have conquered and peopled half the world
in a fit of absence of mind."

[Footnote 1: 'The Expansion of England,' p. 10.]

The history of England, and later of the British Empire, constitutes a
tale so amazing that he who has the welfare of the nation as a whole at
heart--that is to say, the true patriot--is justified in entertaining
the most optimistic thoughts for the future. He should not be
indifferent to the past: he should bear it in mind all the time.
Patriotism may not often be otherwise than misguided if no study of
history has been made. The patriot of one nation will wish to procure
for his country a freedom which history would show him to have been its
very curse; and the patriot of another nation will encourage a
nervousness and restraint in his people which history would tell him was
unnecessary. The English patriot has a history to read which, at the
present time, it is especially needful for him to consider; and, since
Egyptology is my particular province, I cannot better close this
argument than by reminding the modern Egyptians that their own history
of four thousand years and its teaching must be considered by them when
they speak of patriotism. A nation so talented as the descendants of the
Pharaohs, so industrious, so smart and clever, should give a far larger
part of its attention to the arts, crafts, and industries, of which
Egyptian archaeology has to tell so splendid a story.

As a final argument for the value of the study of history and archaeology
an aspect of the question ma