Burnet, "A good historian and an honest man."--_Lord Brougham_.
"The History of his Own Times, which Burnet left behind him, is a work
of great instruction and amusement.... His ignorance of parliamentary
forms has led him into some errors, it would be absurd to deny,
but these faults do not detract from the general usefulness of his
work."--_Lord John Russell_.
"The most partial, malicious heap of scandal and misrepresentation,
that was ever collected for the laudable design of giving a false
impression of persons and things to all future ages."--_Lord
Dartmouth: note in Dr. Routh's edition_.
"A rash and partial writer."[7]--_Macaulay_.
"It is a piece of justice I owe to historical truth to say, that I
have never tried Burnet's facts by the tests of dates and of original
papers, without finding them wrong."--_Sir J. Dalrymple_.
"Burnet had all the merits and all the faults of an ardent, impetuous,
headstrong man, whose mind was honest, and whose objects were noble.
Whatever he reports himself to have heard or seen, the reader may
be assured he really did hear and see. But we must {41} receive his
representations and conclusions with that caution which must ever be
observed when we listen to the relation of a warm and busy partizan,
whatever be his natural integrity and good sense."--_Smyth's Lectures
on Modern History._
"His history is one which the present editor (Dr. Routh) truly says
will never lose its importance, but will continue to furnish materials
for other historians, and to be read by those who wish to derive their
knowledge of facts from the first sources of information. The accuracy
of his narrative has often been attacked with vehemence, and often, it
must be confessed, with success, but not so often as to overthrow the
general credit of his work."--_Quarterly Review._
"Rarely polished, I never read so ill a style."--_Swift._
[7] Our correspondent should have added exact references to the
places where these passages are to be found. Mr. Macaulay may
have written these words quoted by our correspondent, in some
hasty moment, but his summary of the character of Burnet in his
_history of England_, ii. 175. 2nd Edition--a very noble and well
considered passage--gives a very different and far juster estimate
of Burnet's character.
* * * * *