Later Mughals v1.c4.s5.4

v1.c4.s5.4

As Mr. Kennedy writes in the *Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society*, 1912, (pp. 299-304):—"Irvine's conception of history was much like that which is at present in vogue at the Ecole des Chartes. History was to be mainly occupied with the search for, and investigation of, original authorities,* and to be an exact chronicle of the doings of the time. Although Irvine did not neglect such picturesque touches as he might find in his authorities, he did not profess to be an artist, nor would he consider historical narrative a fine art. Still less was he a philosophical historian : he was doubtful of generalities, and he seldom attempted generalizations. His strength lay in detail, and to be faultlessly accurate was his pride. Two things especially attracted him : he had a Scottish love of genealogies and an equal love of precise dates.