Mere statements are jealously watched, and the motives of the writer form as important an ingredient in the analysis of his history, as the facts he records.

Probability is a powerful and troublesome test; and it is by this troublesome standard that a large portion of historical evidence is sifted.

Consistency is no less pertinacious and exacting in its demands.

In brief, to write a history, we must know more than mere facts.

Human nature, viewed under an induction of extended experience, is the best help to the criticism of human history.
Historical characters can only be estimated by the standard which human experience, whether actual or traditionary, has furnished.