and frequency are to be equalled by no writer before nor since."

Dr. Johnson, however, says in another place, "Tacitus, Sir, seems to me
rather to have made notes for an historical work, than to have written a
history:" I must own, that upon the subject of Tacitus, I prefer the
sentiments of Gordon; and Montaigne would agree with me, for he says, "I
do not know any author, who, in a work of history, has taken so broad a
view of human events, or given a more just analysis of particular
characters." The impressions of Tacitus are indeed wonderful: I doubt,
whether volumes could bring us nearer to the mutinous legions, than the
few chapters in which he records their history. I am always delighted by
Gordon's way of telling the battle, in which the iron men of Sacrovir were
overthrown; the account begins on page 139. Then how satisfying is the
narrative of the wars in Germany, of the shipwreck, of the funeral of
Varus and the slaughtered legions; how pleasing the description of
Germanicus' antiquarian travels in Egypt, and in Greece. Though Tacitus is
not a maker of "descriptions," in our modern sense: there is but one
"description" in "The Annals," so far as I remember, it is of Capri; and
it is not the sort, that would be quoted by a reviewer, as a "beautiful
cameo of description." With Tacitus, a field of battle is not an occasion
for "word-painting," as we call it; the battle is always first, the
scenery of less importance. He tells, what it is necessary to know; but he
is too wise to think, that we can realise from words, a place which we
have never seen; and too sound in his taste, to forget the wholesome
boundaries between poetry and prose. This is the way of all the ancient
writers. In a work on "Landscape," I remember that Mr. Hamerton mourns
over the Commentaries of Caesar; because they do not resemble the letters
of a modern war-correspondent; Ascham, on the other hand, a man of real
taste and learning, says of the Commentaries, "All things be most
perfectly done by him; in Caesar only, could never yet fault be found." I