Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
The History Of The Order Of St. John Of Jerusalem*
last omission may be taken as a specimen : he argues , that as truces xvere agreed upon , even by the Crusaders , xvith the Infidels , that a perpetual xvarfare is not necessary , ancl thence he skips to the rather illogical conclusion , that , therefore , fighting is altogether needless . The History of Templars , Hospitallersand Teutonicksin reference to each other , ancl
, , their submission or rejection of Papal authority , has yet to find its historian in our language , AA'hich , if written by a diligent and accurate Protestant annalist , AA'ould be an excellent Avork , and if such a Avriter could be found , would deserve the support and encouragement of all the confraternities xvhich have sprung from them .
As xve cannot , unfortunately , find much to praise in the facts and details given by our author , it xvould be consolatory to praise the form and apparel in xvhich they are presented to us ; but ex'en on this minor qualification in a xvriter , can we , as conscientious critics , fail not to note our censure . True it is , the author frequently ancl candidly disclaims the graces and
elegancies of the pen . Vol . iv ., p . 232 , he says , " Elegancies of language in this work there are none ; if ever they came into my head I xvas quickly obliged to throxv them out of it : " ancl ibid . p . 181 , " and if I obtain little attention , impute it not so much to
any xxdlful backxvardness in me , but rather to nature , xvhich has not gifted me—I clo not say with eloquence , for of that , indeed , I have none , as you xvell know , but of the common faculty of relating plain facts clearly . " Yet , notwithstanding this modesty , there are certain limits of writing and diction , at the present day , which no author is alloAved to pass Avith
impunity . Expressions that would disgrace a schoolboy ' s first theme , phrases culled from the streets , and vernacular vulgarisms , cannot now be tolerated in works that aspire to the dignity of history , and that such may be found in our author ' s tomes , besides some specimens in the quotations already gix'en , the folloAving selections , pretty much , at random from the first
x'olume , Avill sufficiently bear out our censure : — " The unfortunate priest forced to participate in the sure- destruction and disgrace of such a squad . "—p . 91 . " The first squad , to xvhom I will not do Cromwell ' s wildest the injustice to compare them . "—p . 96 . "Kings were shelved for a while . "—p . 93 .
" The heir-apparent of England jumped to pledge Normandy . "—p . 9-1 " Which , did not prevent his army to thin . "—p . IIS . " One basis to both the assize order and the conduct of several of the Crusade , xvho returning to Europe as the Duke of Brittany , the Count of Flanders ( more particularly perhaps in France , but also in England , xvhencc Henry the First ' s Charter , and in Germany Lothairc ' s ) , these
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
The History Of The Order Of St. John Of Jerusalem*
last omission may be taken as a specimen : he argues , that as truces xvere agreed upon , even by the Crusaders , xvith the Infidels , that a perpetual xvarfare is not necessary , ancl thence he skips to the rather illogical conclusion , that , therefore , fighting is altogether needless . The History of Templars , Hospitallersand Teutonicksin reference to each other , ancl
, , their submission or rejection of Papal authority , has yet to find its historian in our language , AA'hich , if written by a diligent and accurate Protestant annalist , AA'ould be an excellent Avork , and if such a Avriter could be found , would deserve the support and encouragement of all the confraternities xvhich have sprung from them .
As xve cannot , unfortunately , find much to praise in the facts and details given by our author , it xvould be consolatory to praise the form and apparel in xvhich they are presented to us ; but ex'en on this minor qualification in a xvriter , can we , as conscientious critics , fail not to note our censure . True it is , the author frequently ancl candidly disclaims the graces and
elegancies of the pen . Vol . iv ., p . 232 , he says , " Elegancies of language in this work there are none ; if ever they came into my head I xvas quickly obliged to throxv them out of it : " ancl ibid . p . 181 , " and if I obtain little attention , impute it not so much to
any xxdlful backxvardness in me , but rather to nature , xvhich has not gifted me—I clo not say with eloquence , for of that , indeed , I have none , as you xvell know , but of the common faculty of relating plain facts clearly . " Yet , notwithstanding this modesty , there are certain limits of writing and diction , at the present day , which no author is alloAved to pass Avith
impunity . Expressions that would disgrace a schoolboy ' s first theme , phrases culled from the streets , and vernacular vulgarisms , cannot now be tolerated in works that aspire to the dignity of history , and that such may be found in our author ' s tomes , besides some specimens in the quotations already gix'en , the folloAving selections , pretty much , at random from the first
x'olume , Avill sufficiently bear out our censure : — " The unfortunate priest forced to participate in the sure- destruction and disgrace of such a squad . "—p . 91 . " The first squad , to xvhom I will not do Cromwell ' s wildest the injustice to compare them . "—p . 96 . "Kings were shelved for a while . "—p . 93 .
" The heir-apparent of England jumped to pledge Normandy . "—p . 9-1 " Which , did not prevent his army to thin . "—p . IIS . " One basis to both the assize order and the conduct of several of the Crusade , xvho returning to Europe as the Duke of Brittany , the Count of Flanders ( more particularly perhaps in France , but also in England , xvhencc Henry the First ' s Charter , and in Germany Lothairc ' s ) , these