4 NOVEMBER 1854, Page 8

of others. To men whose faculties are on the alert,

whose powers of action and observation have not been drugged by sensuality and sloth, books of little imaginative insight sug- gest very living realities. It is in this direction that we are in- clined to look for a popular appreciation of the men and the facts of our national history ; to the faculties of apprehension sharpened by the life of healthy activity that prevails among our people, rather than to any miracle of a genius who is to surpass all his predecessors in the historical art. Let books of authority be made accessible generally to the poor who are inclined to read—let libraries containing the great collections of raw -material for history be established in our towns for reference—and not many years would pass away without a marked increase of historical knowledge among our artisans and tradesmen, and a marked influence from such know- ledge upon our representative institutions and our politics both at home and abroad. Nor will Lord John Russell's ideal historian be less likely to come when the ground is thus prepared for him, nor less welcome to those who will be able to appreciate his transcend- ent genius and value.