to English workers I can speak from
experience, and I know many teachers to whom it will be welcome in its
present form.

It would have been easy to 'adapt' this book by altering its examples,
by modifying its excellent plan, by cutting here and carving there to
the supposed convenience of an imaginary public, but the better part has
been chosen of giving English readers this manual precisely as it
appeared in French. And surely one would rather read what M. Langlois,
an experienced teacher and a tried scholar, thought on a moot point,
than be presented with the views of some English 'adaptor' who had read
his book, as to what he would have said had he been an Englishman
lecturing to English students. That the present translator has taken
much pains to faithfully report his authors, I know (though I have not
compared English and French throughout every page), so that I can
commend his honest work to the reader as I have already commended the
excellent matter that he has been concerned in preparing for a wider
public than the French original could command.

F. YORK POWELL.

ORIEL COLLEGE, OXFORD, _July 1898_.

CONTENTS

PAGE

TO THE READER v

AUTHORS' PREFACE

What this work is _not_ meant to be--Works on the Philosophy
of History 1

What it _is_ meant to be 2

Existing works on Historical Methods--Droysen, Freeman,
Daunou, &c. 3

Reasons why the study of method is useful 7

Bernheim's _Lehrbuch_--In what way it leaves room for another
book 10

Need of warning to students 11

The general public 13

Distribution of the work between the two authors 13

BOOK I

PRELIMINARY STUDIES

CHAPTER I

THE SEARCH FOR DOCUMENTS

Documents: their nature, use, necessity 17

Utility of _Heuristic_, or the art of discovering documents 18

The difficulties of Heuristic--Ancient times--H. H. Bancroft--State
of things at the Renaissance 19

Growth of libraries--Collectors--Effects of revolutionary
confiscation in promoting the concentration and the
a