I claim for students of history that their study – if properly conducted – can strip the mind of illusions, leading them from heady abstraction back … - David C. Douglas

The search for wisdom in precedent flourished as if naturally among a people whom foreign observers at a later date have praised especially for its reliance upon tradition rather than upon those wide general theories which claim universal validity.

The philosophy of history is a fascinating and important subject, but with the rarest exceptions its chief English exponents have not been historians. Life is short, and the fervent historian has much to do. He has to discover; he has to create. The nature of his subject he must leave for others to discuss. "I do not believe in the philosophy of history," wrote the great William Stubbs, "and therefore I do not believe in Buckle."

Perhaps I may also be permitted to add how much the lawyer can teach the historian about the use of evidence, and certainly I learnt most of the little I know about the criticism of medieval charters from a practising lawyer at work from ten to five in the office of the Treasury Solicitor.