Note 285 — Chapter IX · REFLECTIONS ON THE FOREGOING

See Cambridge Modern History, vol. i., p. 4: “We are bound to assume, as the scientific hypothesis on which history is to be written, a progress in human affairs. This progress must inevitably be towards some end; and we find it difficult to escape from the temptation, while we keep that end in view, of treating certain events as landmarks on the road. A mode of historical presentation thus comes into fashion based upon an inspiring assumption.”