68 THE HISTORY OF THE ORDER OF [book ii.

Daps is said by some to have been an English-man, but upon no sufficient authority. It mayseem ridiculously minute, but there must havebeen many English. But as the order’s historianshave been nearly all foreigners, these names aretranslated or ill spelt; so as to have been toodifficult to discover even formerly, and now im-possible. Yet many old English names have inthemselves proof of a Palestine origin, as D’Acre.England was much more connected with the Con-tinent then than in Bonaparte’s time—But you sooften speak to us of those documents as certain.Are they quite so? Are you very sure of it?—Why, yes, quite ! as certain as anything human.—How? Might they not have been forged?—No!—Have not similar forgeries been?—No! never!For these only regard individuals and things oflittle importance to any except private interests,and each of them has been sifted and resiftedthousands of times, and they all agree with eachother, as well as with whatever is extant of likevalidity. They are neither historical nor political,but only the solid basis on which history may beraised. History must cover far wider ground,and embrace within itself not only much that ishighly probable, and from coincidences acquires amoral certainty or nearly, and some particulars