Its nature is
suggested in the preface to his "Montcalm and Wolfe." "A very large
amount," he says, "of unpublished material has been used in its
preparation, consisting for the most part of documents copied from the
archives and libraries of France and England. The papers copied for the
present work ["Montcalm and Wolfe"] in France alone, exceed six thousand
folio pages of manuscript, additional and supplementary to the 'Paris
Documents' procured for the State of New York.... The copies made in
England form ten volumes, besides many English documents consulted in the
original manuscript. Great numbers of autograph letters, diaries, and
other writings of persons engaged in the war have also been examined on
this [_i.e._, American] side of the Atlantic."
But even these were as the dry bones in the valley which Ezekiel saw, till
he touched these scattered fragments with his genius.
The process employed by the blind workman is described by Frothingham, one
of his friends: "The manuscripts were read over to him, slowly, one by
one.
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