"Any proposition which does not involve a contradiction in terms may be possibly true; and, if all the circumstances which cause a probabili- ty in its form be stated and expressed, and those which lead to an opposite conclusion be omitted, a lightly passed on, it may appear to be demonstrated. In every human character and trans- action there is a mixture of good and evil: a little exaggeration, a little dyspension, a judicious use of epi- thets, a watchful and searching scepticism with respect to the ordinary on one side, a convenient credulity with respect to very ancient traditions on the other, may easily make a saint of Laud, or tyrant of Henry the Fourth" Macaulay's Essays article History.