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    The value of some histories of eminent men depends on the character of their external actions more than of jtheir internal constitution . When we read of scientific men , for instance , it concerns us more to know what were their discoveries and inventions , and how they made them , than bow they controlled their tempers and their families ; and with respect to these inventions and discoveries , we are not in much danger of being deceived . In

    forming an acquaintance with an eminent statesman , we follow his schemes from their origin to their completion , and watch the progress of measures on which the welfare of millions depends , without being so anxious to attend him into the retirement of his thoughts as in the case of the philosopher or the saint , whose mind , and not whose fortunes , is the subject of our inquiry . Yet an acquaintance with the fortunes and achievements of eminent men is of little importance in comparison with the knowledge of the internal machinery by which those achievements are originated and those fortunes

    modified ; and in proportion to the dimness of our insight into this internal constitution does biography lose its interest and its value . The histories of pious men and moralists are worth almost nothing at all , if the structure of their minds is hidden from the reader ; and as long as the revelation is partial and the representation defective , the effect on the mind of the inquirer cannot be purely beneficial . Has such a thing as a tolerably correct delineation of any one mind ever been offered to the public ? Have we ever met with a representation of character supported by facts , at all approaching in fairness to those discussions of the characters of our friends which are held in

    conversation while they are alive and active ? For ourselves we can answer , never . In the longest , the most fair-seeming narrative of a life , we have always found something deficient , something unsatisfactory , something which we cannot reconcile , or which it is impossible to believe . Much as we grieve , we do not wonder at this ; for we see where the difficulties lie ; and these difficulties are so various and so nearly insuperable , that we consider the position of a conscientious biographer one of the most perplexing that can be conceived . Did he know intimately the character he is going to dehe

    scribe ? If he did , ho ^ ir can bring himself to notice the weaknesses , the follies , the peculiarities , which he desires should be forgotten in the grave , and which to the eye of friendship have already faded away into shades too slight to be caught ere they vanish ? If he did not know him , how is he qualified for the task he has undertaken ? Did he love the departed ? If he did , can he form an impartial estimate of his virtues ? If not , how came he by the knowledge of those finer qualities of the soul which can only be revealed to a kindred soul , and which yet must not be omitted in a delineation of the mind ? It is obvious that no delineation of the mind can be

    complete . The obstacles are too many and too great . But true philosophy can argue from things that are known , to those which are not known ; and here we have a method by which we may surmount many difficulties . For this purpose , the facts with which we are furnished must be true , the details faithful , the materials of unquestionable originality . If we cannot have the whole truth , we ought to be told nothing but the truth : and if this rule be

    observed , ( as in common fairness it ought , ) we will contrive to make out for ourselves whatever it is of material consequence to ascertain . But , can we ever feel entirely satisfied of the fidelity of the meagre relations which are afforded us ? Alas ! in very few cases ; but in a few we may . How do we know , how can we distinguish such cases from the many ? By the presence of a simplicity which carries conviction with it ; by an impress of truth which cannot be counterfeited ; by a verisimilitude analogous to that

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    16 Doddridge ' s Correspondence and Diary .

• Citation
  • Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Jan. 2, 1830, page 16, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2580/page/16/