EPILOGUE 459

history.' We have proceeded on the assumption of Samuel
Butler that' Life is the art of drawing sufficient conclusions
from insufficient premises': it cannot be otherwise. "The
best thing which we derive from history,' Goethe said,' is the
enthusiasm it raises in us.' Dr. Johnson found its justifica-
tion in the argument that: ' The present state of tilings is
the consequence of the past; and it is natural to enquire
as to the sources of the good we enjoy or the evils we suffer.
If we act only for ourselves, to neglect the study of history
is not prudent; if intrusted with the care of others, it is not
just.' With all our omissions which, though inevitable, have
been many and large, we have written with the motto so well
formulated by Napoleon that 'An historian ought to be
exact, sincere, and impartial; free from passion, unbiased by
interest, fear, resentment, or affection; and faithful to the
truth, which is the mother of history, the preserver of great
actions, the enemy of oblivion, the witness of the past, the
direction of the future.'

' Life,' as Wordsworth wrote,' is divided into three terms:
that which was, which is, and which will be. Let us learn
from the past to profit by the present, and from the present
to live better for the future.'