The leading object had in view in the preparation of the present volume hasbeen to produce, within a moderate compass, a History of Greece that shall notonly be trustworthy, but interesting to all classes of readers.
It must be acknowledged that our standard historical works, with all theirworth, do not command a perusal by the people at large; and it is equally plainthat our ordinary School Manuals—the abridgments and outlines of morevoluminous works—do not meet with any greater favor. The mere outline system ofhistorical study usually pursued in the schools is interesting to those only towhom it is suggestive of the details on which it is based; and we have longbeen satisfied that it is not the best for beginners and for popular use; thatit inverts the natural order of acquisition; that for the young to master it isdrudgery; that its statistical enumeration, if ever learned by them, is soonforgotten; that it tends to create a prejudice against the study of history;that it does not lay the proper foundation for future historical reading; andthat, outside of the enforced study of the school-room, it is seldom made useof. The people in general—the masses—do not read such works, while they do readwith avidity historical legends, historical romances, historical poems anddramas, and biographical sketches. And we do not hesitate to assert that fromShakspeare's historical plays the reading public have acquired (together withmuch other valuable information) a hundred-fold more knowledge of certainportions of English history than from all the ponderous tomes of formal historythat have ever been written. It may be said that people ought to read Hume, andLingard, and Mackintosh, and Hallam, and Froude, and Freeman, instead ofShakspeare's "King John," and "Richard II.," and "Henry IV.," and "HenryVIII.," etc. It is a sufficient reply to say they do not.
Historical works, therefore, to be read by the masses, must be adapted to thepopular taste. It was an acknowledgment of this truth that led Macaulay, themost brilliant of historians, to remark, "We are not certain that the besthistories are not those in which a little of the exaggeration of fictitiousnarrative is judiciously employed. Something is lost in accuracy, but much isgained in effect. The fainter lines are neglected, but the great characteristicfeatures are imprinted on the mind forever." If the result to which Macaulayrefers be once attained by an introductory work so interesting that it shallcome into general use, it will, we believe, naturally lead to the reading ofsome of the best standard works in the same historical field. In our attempt tomake this a work of such a preparatory character, we have borne in mind thedemand that has arisen for poetic illustration in the reading and teaching ofhistory, and have given this delightful aid to historical study a prominentplace—ofttimes making it the sole means of imparting information. And yet wehave introduced nothing that is not strictly consistent with our ideal of whathistory should be; for although some of the poetic selections are avowedlywholly legendary, and others, still, in a greater or less degree fictitious intheir minor details—like the by-plays in Shakspeare's historic dramas—webelieve they do no violence to historical verity, as they are faithful picturesof the times, scenes, incidents, principles, and beliefs which they areemployed to illustrate. Aside, too, from their historic interest, they have aliterary value. Many prose selections from the best historians are alsointroduced, giving to the narrative a pleasing variety of style that can befound in no one writer, even if he be a Gr