An Inaugural Lecture Author:John Bagnell Bury Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: studies are undergoing is itself a great event in the history of the world,—that we are ourselves in the very middle of it, that we are witnessing and may share ... more »in the accomplish ment of a change which will have a vast influence on future cycles of the world. I wish that I had been enabled to realise this when I first began to study history. I think it is important for all historical students alike—not only for those who may be drawn to make history the special work of their lives, but also for those who study it as part of a liberal education-—to be fully alive and awake to the revolution which is slowly and silently progressing. It seems especially desirable that those who are sensible of the importance of the change and sympathize with it should declare and emphasize it; just because it is less patent to the vision and is more perplexed by ancient theories and traditions, than those kindred revolutions which have been effected simultaneously in other branches of knowledge. chapter{Section 4History has really been enthroned and ensphered among the sciences ; but the particular nature of her influence, her time-honoured association with literature, and other circumstances, have acted as a sort of vague cloud, Tialf concealing from men's eyes her new position in the heavens. The proposition that before the beginning of the last century the study of history was not scientific may be sustained in spite of a jew exceptions. The works of permanent value, such as those of Muratori, Ducange, Tillemont, were achieved by dint of most laborious and conscientious industry, which commands, our highest admiration and warmest gratitude : but it must be admitted that their criticism was sporadic and capricious. It was the criticism of sheer learning. A few stand on a higher level in so f...« less