Thursday, September 02, 2021
Pernicious Erudition
Washington Irving (1783-1859), The Life and Voyages of Christopher Columbus, Vol. I (New York: G.P. Putnam's Sons, 1868), p. 71:
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There is a certain meddlesome spirit, which, in the garb of learned research, goes prying about the traces of history, casting down its monuments, and marring and mutilating its fairest trophies. Care should be taken to vindicate great names from such pernicious erudition. It defeats one of the most salutary purposes of history, that of furnishing examples of what human genius and laudable enterprise may accomplish.
