ooks in their present form.

The attempt has been made to set aside the evidence that the writer of
the books of Samuel made use of earlier documents, from the example of
such men as Swift and Defoe, who composed works of fiction with all the
simplicity and circumstantial detail of those who write authentic
history as eye-witnesses. But, unless the design be to class the books
of Samuel with "Gulliver's Travels" and "Robinson Crusoe," the argument
is wholly irrelevant. With Swift and Defoe simplicity and minuteness of
detail were a matter of conscious effort--_a work of art_, for which
they naturally chose the region of fiction; and here they, and other men
of genius, have been eminently successful. Shakespeare has portrayed
_ideal_ scenes in the life of Julius Caesar with more vividness and
circumstantiality than any authentic historian of Caesar's age. But _real
history_, written simply in the interest of truth, never has the graphic
character, artless simplicity, and circumstantiality of detail which
belong to these inimitable narratives, unless the writer be either an
eye-witness, or draw his materials from eye-witnesses.

7. We come next to the books of Kings and Chronicles, the writers of
which confessedly employed previously existing materials. In the two
books of Kings (which, like the two of Samuel and of Chronicles,
originally constituted one work) reference is made to the following
sources: For the reign of Solomon, "the book of the acts of Solomon" (1
Kings 11:41); for the kingdom of Judah after the revolt of the twelve
tribes from Rehoboam to Jehoiakim, "the book of the chronicles of the
kings of Judah;" for the kingdom of Israel, "the book of the chronicles
of the kings of Israel." In the books of Chronicles we have: For the
reign of David, "the book" (history) "of Samuel the seer, the book of
Nathan the prophet, and the book of Gad the seer" (1 Chron. 29:29); for
the reign of Solomon, "the book of Nathan the prophet, the prophecy of
Ahijah the Shilonite," and "the vision of Iddo the seer against Jeroboam
the son of Nebat" (2 Chron. 9:29); for the reign of Rehoboam, "the book
of Shemaiah the prophet," and "of Iddo the seer concerning genealogies,"
that is, in the manner of a genealogical record (2 Chron. 12:15); for
the reign of Abijah, "the story" (commentary) "of the prophet Iddo" (2
Chron. 13:22); for the reign of Jehoshaphat, "the book of Jehu the son
of Hanani," who is mentioned (rather, _who is inser