to research in Vienna, Florence, Rome, Naples, and other
cities. The wealth of material which he discovered and
utilized later in his works went far to draw the veil from
this unknown history of Europe.^ Ranke's peculiar service
at this time consisted in opening up to scholars a vast mass
of a kind of material to which they had previously resorted
only occasionally, but from that time diplomatic material
has been accorded a chief place among the sources. "The
ultimate aim of historical writing is," Ranke said, "the
bringing before us the whole truth." This new evidence he
prized as enabling us to look upon the past with the eyes of
contemporaries. Since Ranke's demonstration of their sin-
gular value, many collections have been printed in full and
many others carefully calendared.
The use of this material exercised an important influence over Ranke's style and method of treatment. These Hela- tions were clear, impartial, and objective. The Venetian envoys aimed to present to the home government practical information of the most varied kind. They had every reason to adhere to a colorless truthfulness "to show how things actually happened." Their character sketching is simple, with bold outlines. In short, their work made easier for the historian that objective presentation upon which he placed so much stress. It is, I think, safe to say that the most impor- tant literary influence of Ranke's second period was that of the Venetian Relations.'^ His most popular, and from a liter- ary point of view certainly his best work — The History of
1 It is a striking and interesting coincidence that during these years Jared Sparks was doing exactly the same work for American history that Ranke was doing for European history. See, in Professor H. B. Adams's Life of Sparks, chapters xiv-xvi, the account of Sparks's travels in the United States and Europe in search of historical manuscripts and diplomatic relations.
2 Dove writes : " Vieles von der speciellen Kunst der Beobachtung und Zeichnung, die er hier den klugen Diplomaten des heiligen Marcus absah, hat er bis in seine spatesten Tage beibehalten ; zumal seine lebensvollen Character- bildnisse verrathen stets mehr oder weniger die Venetianische Schule." Art
- Ranke," in Allgemeine deutsche Biotj., 252. Nothing can be clearer, I think, than
this stylistic influence to any one who compares the styles of Ranke's first two books with each other and with that of the Venetian Relations.
