HISTORIOG'RAPHER, a professed historian, or writer of histories. It has been a common, although not uniform practice in European courts, to confer the place of public historiographer on some learned man as a mark of royal favor. Voltaire had at one period the title of Royal Historiographer of France.
an account of facts, particu larly of facts respecting nations or states; a. narration of events in the order in which they happened, with their causes and ef fects. History tillers from annals. An nals relate simply the facts and events of each year, in strict chronological order, without any observations of the annalist. History regards less strictly the arrange ment of events under each year, and ad mits the observations of the writer. This distinction, however, is not always re garded with strictness. History is of dif• ferent kinds, or treats of ditlerent as, it history of gore rnment, or litical history; history of the Christian church, or ecclesiastical history ; blot cry of the attairs of nations. empires, king doms, ant states, their rise, progress, au l decline, or civil history; history of relig ion as contained in the bible, or eaered his tory.—Projane history is another name fir civil history, as distinguished from en 'red history ; history of war and con quests, or military history; history st la.w; history of commerce; history of the crusades ; history of literature, history of silence, he. In these and similar exam ples, history is written n:rrativc or rel:t tion. 7'he divisions of history in relation to periods of time have been reckoned three. I. Ancient history, which ine1ades the .Jewish history, and that of the na tions of antiquity, and reaches down to the destruction of the ILoman empire, A.n. 976. 2. i[istory of the middle ngcs, which begin with 976, aol comes 10 on to the discovery of America in 1492, or to the reformation. 3. Modern history,
tl•on either of these eras to our con times. —Classical history, properly so called, is the history of the national affairs and conquests of the Greeks and $omans. The uses of history are as varied as they arc important. To heroine acquainted with the characters of men, the marks, sources, and effects of their passions and prejudices, the power and changes of their customs, and the like, is an essential and necessary step to prurience; and all this knowledge is considerably improved by history, which teaches its to make other men's e ape ricnee our own, to tcclh by it, and to learn wisdom from their misfor tunes. Persons who read lu story merely or :unuscment, or, having in view some particular branch ii' learning, attend only to certain branches of history, are not confined to that. order ant connection which is ahcolotely requisite for obtain ing a proper knowledge of history; the unnt rogular, as well as suc•oesstul wry of studying wlti,•li, is to begin with an r•pitonle 1f nnivprsal history, and after sea iris apply to the history of pnrt.ieular nations and cnutulonwca.lths; for the study of ps.rticoln.r htst,tries is only ex ten•ltng the IiuoivIclgc of p•wtieu1lr parts of universal history Unless this lee em• plan, we shall only fill the naottun•y n•ith some events; which car be done with out applying to history, or prclesding to the knowtcd_e of it.
:1 R'1', th :t of actiug in drs.utalie rcpresautatiau lliclria, iu an dent Ttone, signified an actor or come lion; but more es1:crially a pantom im i.st, (Chloe talents were exerted in gest teal a tions and dancing.