ebook img

The Transition in English Historical Writing, 1760–1830 PDF

340 Pages·1933·40.851 MB·English
Save to my drive
Quick download
Download
Most books are stored in the elastic cloud where traffic is expensive. For this reason, we have a limit on daily download.

Preview The Transition in English Historical Writing, 1760–1830

STUDIES IN HISTORY, ECONOMICS AND PUBLIC LAW Edited by the FACULTY OF POLITICAL SCIENCE OF COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY NUMBER 390 THE TRANSITION IN ENGLISH HISTORICAL WRITING 1760-1830 BY THOMAS PRESTON PEARDON THE TRANSITION IN ENGLISH HISTORICAL WRITING i760—1830 BY THOMAS PRESTON PEARDON, Ph.D. Instructor in Barnard College Columbia University NEW YORK COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY PRESS London : P. S. King & Son, Ltd. 1933 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I am indebted chiefly to Professor Carlton J. H. Hayes who read my manuscript carefully and made many sugges¬ tions for improvement; to my wife, Celeste Comegys Pear- don, for much assistance, especially in typing part of the manuscript and in reading proof; and to Mr. Hermann F. Robinton whose careful reading of the proof saved me from a number of errors both typographical and of a more serious kind. To Professors Austin P. Evans, Hoxie N. Fairchild, Dixon Ryan Fox, William Haller, David S. Muzzey, Geroid T. Robinson and Robert Livingston Schuyler, I am also grateful for their criticism. It is only fair to add, however, that since I have not always adopted the suggestions I have received from those mentioned above, the responsibility for the facts and opinions in this monograph rests on me alone. 5 rakW. (njafitflian Sups i iscjt :n- -■P • .Tt- PilStl.'.CXj ^ She 4, TABLE OF CONTENTS PAGE CHAPTER I Introduction . 9 CHAPTER II Rationalist History, 1780-1800. 34 CHAPTER III Party History from Hume to 1800 : The Tory Emphasis. 69 CHAPTER IV Signs of Change, 1760-1800: I, Primitivism. 103 CHAPTER V Signs of Change, 1760-1800: II, Medievalism and Pietism. 127 CHAPTER VI The Rise of Nationalist History. 161 CHAPTER VII Party History from 1800 to 1827: The Whig and Liberal Emphasis. 183 CHAPTER VIII Romanticist History, 1800-1830. 214 CHAPTER IX From Roscoe to Lingard. 253 CHAPTER X The Change in Attitude Towards the Sources of National History. 284 Bibliography . . 3H Index . 333 7 jSOu; 1 - /tStSi jioti of r.:a*? iffiiSDa jcai' “lfiVEt'k’ •k« n~: a: smjji iSyitLL^__ je asc *cc aatat Ifff£rstiw “•ire*-. ‘Hat to, L; , ‘Wi, CHAPTER I Introduction English historical writing in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries merits attention on two grounds. In the first place, if this period, especially the years between Gibbon’s last volumes (1788) and Hallam’s Middle Ages (1818), was not fertile in great historians, it saw a success- sion of works of respectable merit, and a distinct revival after 1800. Secondly, it marks the transition from the “rationalist-’ ideals of historical writing exemplified by Hume, Robertson and Gibbon to the very different ideals of the nineteenth century. In tracing this change, which it is the main purpose of the present essay to do, it is easier to set a terminal date than to find an exact beginning. By 1830 the basic elements in the nineteenth-century conception of history—romantic enthusiasm for the study of the past, nationalist zeal in portraying it, and the use of “ scientific ” methods in ascertaining the facts about it—had already found considerable expression among historians. Moreover, shortly after this date at least, the public records, funda¬ mental sources of historical study in the last hundred years, were first adequately cared for and their importance properly realized. Meantime, also, the Tory view of political his¬ tory, which had received classic exposition from the pen of Hume, was being definitely superseded by a Whig interpreta¬ tion which became almost equally classic in the Victorian era. But when we turn to seek the beginning of the change which had gone so far by 1830, one great difficulty presents itself. Students of literary history have long recognized that 9 TRANSITION IN ENGLISH HISTORICAL WRITING IO “ the more we investigate below the surface [of the eigh¬ teenth century], the clearer traces do we find of the Romantic movement, which is implicit in a constant series of writers from Dyer and Thomson to Chatterton and Blake.” 1 In precisely the same way, if we look below the surface of the great period from 1754 to 1788 when Hume, Robertson and Gibbon reigned so gloriously, we find vigorous dissent from their type of historical outlook. For this reason, therefore, the first five chapters of this essay, while mainly concerned with writers who flourished between 1780 and 1800, will give some attention to those of an earlier date.2 In the remaining chapters we shall deal chiefly with trends visible among historians of the first thirty years of the last century. The conception of history fashionable among the eigh¬ teenth-century rationalists is too familiar to need detailed description. But its main features should be summarized briefly for purposes of reference. History was believed to be the teacher of private virtue and correct public policy, and the justification for its study lay in this pragmatic value. For this purpose modern history, as being most nearly ana¬ logous to present conditions and most easily studied, was apt to be regarded as far more important than the history of earlier periods. Indeed, while classical history always enjoyed some of the respect it had won from the human¬ ists, primitive ages, as ages of barbarism, and medieval civilization, as the product of ignorance and superstition, were held unworthy of the investigation of enlightened men or at best worth examining solely as the introduc¬ tion to modern civilization. The historian was to write 1 T. Seccombe, The Age of Johnson (1748-1798) (3rd edition reprinted, London, 1928), p. xvi. 2 For the significance of the year 1780 in the periodization of literary history, see O. Elton, Survey of English Literature, 1780-1830 (London, 1920), vol. i, p. 9 et seq. « > v* • •«.»>» i l j Ml * li.ii.su hi I.Viis* - . • ClitXU 1: i.Sii'J » *. iitAUlununUiuu ■

See more

The list of books you might like

Most books are stored in the elastic cloud where traffic is expensive. For this reason, we have a limit on daily download.