INTRODUCTION. 'TALKING of history,' Johnson said, 'we may know historical facts to be true, as we may know facts in common life to be true. Motives are generally unknown. We cannot trust to the characters we find in history, unless when they are drawn by those who knew the persons; as those, for instance, by Sallust and by Lord Clarendon.' The opinion expressed in these remarkable words is undoubtedly the opinion entertained by average Englishmen for many years regarding the characters drawn by Clarendon in his great work. Indeed, it may be said that until our own times, the supremacy of Clarendon, as an historian and portrait painter, was almost undisputed. He has moulded the conceptions of several generations, and, as Ranke expresses it, he belongs to those who have essentially fixed the circle of ideas for the English nation.' The estimate which Ranke has formed as to Clarendon's historical position will probably be accepted generally as a thoroughly trustworthy account of this great writer. With true historical insight he has shown the real bias and intention of Clarendon's writings. He has placed him high among the leading statesmen of the seventeenth century, who have given to the world their own personal impressions, under the form of memoirs and histories. The moderation of Clarendon and the conspicuous defects of his narrative are admirably delineated. The relation of the 2 history to the career of the great statesman is vigorously [ traced, and the tone of honest conviction which communicates itself to the reader'-too often ignored by writers i like the late John Forster-is happily noted as a leading o characteristic of the historian. Whatever additions may be 7 made to our intimate knowledge of the history of the times, 9 the characters of Clarendon will always remain prominent and interesting, not altogether free from colour and partisan i feeling, but giving clear and distinct evidence of the genuine hold which noble qualities of mind possessed over the soul and understanding of the historian. Clarendon was well read in French memoirs and the principal Latin writers. Traces of the influence of Tacitus and Livy abound in his pages. Lord Macaulay, who was not always just or fair to Clarendon, admitted once in conversation, that there were few things in English literature better worth a young man's study than the characters in Clarendon. Indeed, the charm of the stately writing, and the feeling that one is in the hands of a strong and powerful spirit, never desert the reader throughout the length of the narrative. We are learning, from the admirable histories of Mr. Gardiner, the importance of approaching the whole period which Clarendon traverses in an impartial spirit; but it is not too much to say, that whatever else may be read and studied, as to the progress and issue of the great quarrel, Clarendon must not be neglected. Clarendon, in that portion of his autobiography which relates the experience of his youth, dwells on the obligations he owed to many remarkable men. It is clear that he was greatly indebted to men like Falkland and John Hales, students of literature in a wide sense, and members |