£ibrarp oft he t heolocjical Seminary 
 
 PRINCETON • NEW JERSEY 
 
 ■/// CCv" 
 
 PRESENTED BY 
 
 Sameul Miller's Library 
 
 
Hu^z), /fa $ -A- ^^ 
 
 OUTLINES 
 
 OF AN 
 
 HISTORICAL VIEW 
 
 OF THE 
 
 PROGRESS OF THE HUMAN MIND. 
 4 
 
y. (\\i< rr.iT H e Cora d u r c w \ 
 
 f /Tilf/tT/- 
 
OUTLINES 
 
 ^: OF A* 
 
 HISTORICAL VIEW 
 
 OF THE 
 
 PROGRESS OF THE HUMAN MIND 
 
 BEING A POSTHUMOUS WORK OF THE IATE 
 
 M. DE^CONDORCET. 
 
 TRANSLATED FROM THE FRENCH. 
 
 PRINTED FOR J. JOHNSON, IN ST. PAUL'S CHURCH-YARD. 
 
 1795- 
 

 CONTENTS. 
 
 PPAGR 
 REFACE i 
 
 Introduction i 
 
 » 
 
 FIRST EPOCH. 
 
 Men united into Hordes • • *•• 21 
 
 SECOND EPOCH. 
 
 Pajloral State of Mankind. — Tranftion 
 from that to the Agricultural State »• 29 
 
 THIRD EPOCH. 
 
 Progrefs of Mankind from the Agricul- 
 tural State to the Invention of Alpha- 
 betical Writing 4a 
 
 FOURTH 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 TAGE 
 FOURTH EPOCH. 
 
 Progrefs of the Human Mind in Greece, 
 till the Divijion of the Sciences, about 
 the Age of Alexander 69 
 
 FIFTH EPOCH. 
 
 Progrefs of the Sciences, from their Divi- 
 jion to their Decline 95 
 
 SIXTH EPOCH. 
 
 Decline of Learning, to its Ref oration 
 about the Period of the Crufades 137 
 
 SEVENTH EPOCH. 
 
 he jirjl Progrefs of the Sciences 
 about the Period of their Revival in 
 II 'ejl, to the Invention of the Art 
 Printing 159 
 
 EIGHTH 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 PAGE 
 EIGHTH EPOCH. 
 
 From the Invention of Printing, to the 
 Period when the Sciences and Philofo- 
 phy threw off the Yoke of Authority 178 
 
 NINTH EPOCH. 
 
 From the Time of DeJ cartes, to the Forma* 
 tion of the French Republic 224 
 
 TENTH EPOCH. 
 
 Future Progrefs of Mankind 316 
 
 PREFACE. 
 

 
 
 PREFACE. 
 
 C^ONDORCET, profcribed by a fanguinary 
 faction, formed the idea of addreffing to his 
 fellow-citizens a fummary of his principles, 
 and of his conduct in public affairs* He 
 fet down a few lines in execution of this 
 project : but when he recollected, as he was 
 obliged to do, thirty years of labour directed 
 to the public fervice, and the multitude of 
 fugitive pieces in which, fmce the revolution, 
 he had uniformly attacked every inftitution 
 inimical to liberty, he rejected the idea of 
 a ufelefs j unification. Free as he was from 
 the dominion of the paffions, he could not 
 confent to ftain the purity of his mind by 
 recollecting his perfecutors ; perpetually and 
 fublimely inattentive to himfelf, he determined 
 to confecrate the fhort fpace that remained 
 between him and death to a work of general 
 
 b and 
 
11 PREFACE. 
 
 and permanent utility. That work is the 
 performance now given to the world. It has 
 relation to a number of others, in which the 
 rights of men had previoufly been difcuffed 
 and eftablifhed ; in which fuperftition had 
 received its laft and fatal blow ; in which the 
 methods of the mathematical fciences, applied 
 to new objects, have opened new avenues to 
 the moral and political fciences ; in which 
 the genuine principles of focial happinefs have 
 received a developement, and kind of de- 
 monflration, unknown before ; laftly, in 
 which we every where perceive marks of 
 that profound morality, which baniih.es even 
 the very frailties offelf-loye — of thofepure and 
 incorruptible virtues within the influence of 
 which it is impofiible to live without feeling 
 a religious veneration. 
 
 May this deplorable inltancc of the moll: 
 extraordinary talents loft to the country — to 
 the caufe of liberty — to the progrefs of ici- 
 ence, and its beneficial application to the wants 
 
 
PREFACE. Ill 
 
 of civilized man, excite a bitternefs ~of regret 
 that fhall prove advantageous to the public 
 welfare ! May this death, which will in no 
 fmall degree contribute, in the pages of hif- 
 tory, to chara&erife the era in which it has 
 taken place, infpire a firm and dauntlefs at- 
 tachment to the rights of which it was a vio- 
 lation ! Such is the only homage worthy 
 the fage who, the fatal fword fufpended over 
 his head, could meditate in peace the melio- 
 ration and happinefs of his fellow-creatures ; 
 fuch the only confolation thofe can experience 
 who have been the objects of his affe&ion, and 
 have known all the extent of his virtue. 
 
 OUTLINES 
 
OUTLINES 
 
 OF AN 
 
 HISTORICAL VIEW, &c 
 
 INTRODUCTION; 
 
 iVlAN is born with the faculty of receiving 
 fenfations. In thofe which he receives, he is 
 capable of perceiving and of diftinguifhing 
 the limple fenfations of which they are com- 
 pofed. He can retain, recognife, combine 
 them. He can preferve or recal them to his 
 memory ; he can compare their different 
 combinations ; he can afcertain what they 
 poffefs in common, and what characters es 
 each ; laPdy, he can affix figns to all thefe 
 objects, the better to know them, and the 
 more eafily to form from them new combi- 
 nations. 
 
 This faculty is developed in him by the 
 action of external objects, that is, by the 
 
 B prcfence 
 
( 2 ) 
 
 prcfcnce of certain complex fenfations, tht 
 conftancy of which, whether in their identi- 
 cal whole, or in the laws of their change,, 
 is independent of himfelf. It is alfo exer- 
 cifed by communication with other iimilarly 
 organifed individuals, and by all the artificial 
 means which, from the firft developement of 
 this faculty, men have fucceeded in invent- 
 ing. 
 
 Senfations are accompanied with pleafure 
 or pain, and man has the further faculty of 
 converting thefe momentary imprefiions into 
 durable fentiments of a corresponding na- 
 ture, and of experiencing thefe fentiments 
 either at the fight or recollection of the plea- 
 fure or pain of beings fenfitive like himfelf. 
 And from this faculty, united with that of 
 forming and combining ideas, arife, between 
 him and his fellow creatures, the ties of in- 
 rereft and duty, to which nature has affixed 
 the mod exquifite portion of our felicity, 
 and the moft poignant of our fuflerings. 
 
 Were we to confine our obfervations to an 
 enquiry into the general facls and unvarying 
 laws which the developement of thcie facul- 
 ties prefents to us, in what is common to the 
 
 different 
 
( 3 ) 
 
 different individuals of the human fpecies, our 
 enquiry would bear the name of metaphy- 
 fics. 
 
 But if we confider this developement in 
 its refults, relative to the mafs of individuals 
 co-exifting at the fame time on a given fpace, 
 and follow it from generation to generation, 
 it then exhibits a picture of the progrefs of 
 human intellect. This progrefs is fubjecl: to 
 the fame general laws, obfervable in the in- 
 dividual developement of our faculties 5 being 
 the refult of that very developement confi- 
 dered at once in a great number of indivi- 
 duals united in fociety. But the refult which 
 every inftant prefents, depends upon that of 
 the preceding inftants, and has an influence 
 on the inftants which follow. 
 
 This pi&ure, therefore, is hiftorical ; fince> 
 fubjefted as it will be to perpetual variations, 
 it is formed by the fucceffive obfervation of 
 human focieties at the different eras through 
 which they have pafled. It will accordingly 
 exhibit the order in which the changes have 
 taken place, explain the influence of every 
 paft period upon that which follows it, and 
 thus fhow, by the modifications which the 
 B 2 human 
 
( 4 ) 
 
 human fpecics has experienced, in its incef- 
 iant renovation through the immenfity of 
 ages, the courle which it- has purfued, and 
 the fteps which it has advanced towards 
 knowledge and happinefs. From thefc obfer- 
 \ ..tions on wliat man has heretofore heen, and 
 what lie is at prefent, we ilia.ll be led to the 
 rueans of fecuring and of accelerating the I 
 further progiefs, of which, from his nature, 
 may indulge the hope. 
 Such is the object of the work I have un- 
 taken ; the refult of which will be to 
 fhow, from reafoning and from facts, that uo 
 bounds have been fixed to the improvement 
 of the human faculties ; that the perfectibility 
 man is abfolutely indefinite; that the pro- 
 fs of this perfectibility, henceforth above 
 the control of every ; that would im- 
 
 pede it, has no other limit than the duration 
 of the globe Upon which natu - 
 The courfe of this progrefs ma; be 
 
 more or lefi I, but it can never be retro- 
 
 de ; at leaft while the earth retains 
 n in the fyftem of ii erfe, and 
 
 the laws of this fyftem lhall 
 upon the globe a general overthrow, nor in- 
 troduce 
 
( 5 ) 
 
 troduce fuch changes as would no longer 
 permit the human race to preferve and exer- 
 cife therein the fame faculties, and find the 
 fame refources. 
 
 The firft ftate of civilization obfervable in 
 the human fpecies, is that of a fociety of 
 men, few in number, fubfifting by means of 
 hunting and fifhing, unacquainted with every 
 art but the imperfect one of fabricating in an 
 uncouth manner their arms and fome houfe- 
 hold utenfils, and of conftru&ing or digging 
 for themfelves an habitation ; yet already in 
 poffeffion of a language for the communication 
 of their wants, and a fmall number of moral 
 ideas, from which are deduced their common 
 rules of conduct, living in families, conform- 
 ing themfelves to general cuftoms that ferre 
 inftead of laws, and having even a rude form 
 of government. 
 
 In this ftate it is apparent that the uncer- 
 tainty and difficulty of procuring fubfiftance, 
 and the unavoidable alternative of extreme 
 fatigue or an abfolute repofe, leave not to 
 man the leifure in which, by refigning him- 
 felf to meditation, he might enrich his mind 
 With new combinations. The means of fa- 
 B 3 tisfying 
 
(-6 ) 
 
 fying his want3 are even too dependent upon 
 chance and the feafons, ufefully to excite 
 an induftry, the progrefiivc improvement of 
 which might be tranfmitted to his progeny \ 
 and accordingly the attention of each is con- 
 fined to the improvement of his individual 
 fkill and addrefs. 
 
 For this reafon, the progrefs of the human 
 fpecies mull in this ftage have been extremely 
 flow| it could make no advance but at diftant 
 intervals, and when favoured by extraordU 
 nary circumftances. Meanwhile, to the fub- 
 fiftance derived from hunting and fifhing, or 
 from the fruits which the earth fpontaneoufly 
 offered, fucceeds the fuftenance afforded by 
 the animals which man has tamed, and which 
 he knows how to preferve and multiply. To 
 thefe means is afterwards added an imperfect 
 agriculture ; he is no longer content with the 
 fruit or the plants which chance throws in his 
 way ; he learns to form a Hock of them, to 
 collect them around him, to fow or to plant 
 them, to favour their reproduction by the la- 
 bour of culture. 
 
 Property, which, in the firft ftate, was 
 confined to his houfehold uteniils, his arms, 
 
 hi* 
 
( 7 ) 
 
 his nets, and the animals he killed, is now ex- 
 tended to his flock, and next to the land which 
 he has cleared and cultivated. Upon the death 
 of its head, this property naturally devolves to 
 the family. Some individuals poffefs a fuper- 
 fluity capable of being preferved. If it be ab- 
 folute, it gives rife to new wants. If con- 
 fined to a fingle article, while the proprietor 
 feels the want of other articles, this want 
 fuggefts the idea of exchange. Hence fftbial 
 relations jnultiply, and become complicate. 
 A greater fecurity, a more certain and more 
 conftant leifure, afford time for meditation, 
 or at leaft for a continued feries of obferva- 
 tions. The cuftom is introduced, as to fome 
 individuals, of giving a part of their fuper- 
 fluity in exchange for labour, by which they 
 might be exempt from labour themfelves* 
 There accordingly exifts a clafs of men whofe 
 time is not engroffed by corporeal exertions, 
 and whofe defires extend beyond their fira- 
 ple wants. Induftry awakes ; the arts already 
 known, expand and improve ; the facls which 
 chance prefents to the obfervation of the moft 
 attentive and beft cultivated minds, bring to 
 }ight new arts ; as the means of living be- 
 
 J3 4 CPJM 
 
( -s ) 
 
 come lei's dangerous and lefs precarious, po 
 pulation increafes ; agriculture, which can 
 provide for a greater number of individuals 
 ppon the fame fpace of ground, fupplies the 
 place of the other fources of fubfiftance ; it 
 favours the multiplication of the fpecies, by 
 which it is favoured in its turn ; in a lbciety 
 become more fedentary, more connected, more 
 intimate, ideas that have been acquired com- 
 municate themfelves more quickly, and are 
 perpetuated with more certainty. And now 
 the dawn ot the fciences begins to appear ; 
 man exhibits an appearance diftindt from the 
 other clafles of animals, and is no longer like 
 them confined to an improvement purely in- 
 dividual. 
 
 The more extenfive, more numerous and 
 
 more complicated relations which men now 
 
 form with each other, caufe them to feel the 
 
 neceflity of having a mode of communicating 
 
 to the abfent, of prtferving the 
 
 remembrance of a fad with more precifioiv 
 
 than !•; . ■r;i! tradition, of fixing the conditions 
 
 of i more fecurely than by the 
 
 rj of witn-. fli ., oi dating, in a v 
 
 to change, thofe refpe&ed cuft< i 
 
 to 
 
( 9 ) 
 
 to which the members of any fociety agree to 
 fubmit their conduct. 
 
 Accordingly the want of writing is felt, and 
 the art invented. It appears at firft to have 
 been an abfolute painting, to which fucceeded 
 a conventional painting, preferving fuch traits 
 only as were charadteriftic of the objects. 
 Afterwards, by a kind of metaphor analogous 
 to that which was already introduced into 
 their language, the image of a phyfical object 
 became expreffive of moral ideas. The origin 
 of thofe figns, like the origin of words, were 
 liable in time to be forgotten ; and writing 
 became the art of affixing figns of convention 
 to every idea, every word, and of confequence 
 to every combination of ideas and words. 
 
 There was now a language that was written, 
 and a language that was fpoken, which it was 
 neceffary equally to learn, between which 
 there muft be eftablifhed a reciprocal corre- 
 spondence. 
 
 Some men of genius, the eternal benefactors 
 of the human race, but whofe names and 
 even country are for ever buried in oblivion, 
 obferved that all the words of a language were 
 only the combinations of a very limited num- 
 ber 
 
( io ) 
 
 bcr of primitive articulations ; but that this 
 number, final 1 as it was, was fuflicient to form 
 a quantity almoft infinite of different com- 
 binations. Hence they conceived the idea of 
 reprefenting by viiible figns, not the ideas 
 or the words that anfwered to them, but thofe 
 fimple elements of which the words are com- 
 pofed. 
 
 Alphabetical writing was then introduced. 
 A fmall number of iigns ferved to exprefs 
 every thing in this mode, as a fmall number of 
 founds fufficed to exprefs every thing orally. 
 The language written and the language fpoken 
 were the fame ; all that was neceflary was to 
 be able to know, and to form, the few given 
 figns ; and this laft ftep fecured for ever the 
 progrefs of the human race. 
 
 It would perhaps be defirable at the prefent 
 day, to inftitute a written language, which, 
 devoted to the fole ufe of the fciences, ex- 
 prefhng only fuch combinations of iimple 
 ideas as are found to be exactly the fame in 
 every mind, employed only upon reafoninga 
 of logical ftrictnefs, upon operations of the 
 mind precife and determinate, might be un- 
 derftood by men of every country, and be 
 
 tranflatct} 
 
( » ) 
 
 tranflated into all their idioms, without being, 
 like thofe idioms, liable to corruption, by 
 pafling into common uie. 
 
 Then, fingular as it may appear, this kind 
 of writing, the prefervation of which would 
 only have ferved to prolong ignorance, would 
 become, in the hands of philofophy, an ufeful 
 inftrument for the fpeedy propagation of 
 knowledge, and advancement of the fciences. 
 
 It is between this degree of civilization and 
 that in which we ftill find the favage tribes, 
 that we muft place every people whofe hiftory 
 has been handed down to us, and who, fome- 
 times making new advancements, fometimes 
 plunging themfelves again into ignorance, 
 fometimes floating between the two alter- 
 natives or flopping at a certain limit, fome- 
 times totally difappearing from the earth 
 under the fword of conquerors, mixing with 
 thofe conquerors, or living in flavery ; laftly, 
 fometimes receiving knowledge from a more 
 enlightened people, to tranfmit it to other 
 nations,-r-form an unbroken chain of con^ 
 ne&ion between the earlieft periods of hiftory 
 and the age in which we live, between the 
 
 fitft 
 
( * ) 
 
 firfl people known to us, and the prefent na- 
 pe. 
 In the pi&ure then which I mean to 
 fkctch, three diftin s are perceptible. 
 
 In the firft, in which tlie relations of tra- 
 exhibit to ua the condition of man- 
 kind in the leaft civili.- is, we arc 
 obliged to gueis by what fteps man in an 
 ifbli ^c, or rather confined to the fociety 
 neceflary for the propagation of the fpecies, 
 able to acquire thofe firft degrees of im- 
 ;ent, the la ft term of which is the life 
 of an articulate language : an acquiiition that 
 tents the moft ftriking feature, and indeed 
 one, a few more extenfive moral 
 a flight commencement of focial 
 pled, which diftinguilhes him from 
 [tfg like himfelf in regular and per- 
 cent fociety. In this part of our picture, 
 ;, we can have no other guide than an 
 \q[: : i of the developement of our fa- 
 cult: 
 
 To - llide, in order to folh 
 
 ; int in whi ch he en ercifes arts, in 
 
 hten 
 him. 
 
( 13 ) 
 
 him, in which nations are united by com- 
 mercial intercourfe ; in which, in fine, alpha- 
 betical writing is invented, we may add the 
 hiftory of the feveral focieties that have been 
 obferved in almoft every intermediate Hate : 
 though we can follow no individual one 
 through all the fpace which feparates th, 
 two grand epochs of the human race. 
 
 Here the picture begins to take its colour- 
 ing in great meafure from the feries of £ai 
 transmitted to us by hiftory : but it is ne- 
 ceflary to feled thefe fads from that of dif- 
 ferent nations, and at the fame time compare 
 and combine them, to form the fuppo 
 hiitory of a fingle people, and delineate 
 progrefs. 
 
 From the period that alphabetical writing; 
 was known in Greece, hiftory is connect 
 by an uninterrupted feries of facts and ob- 
 fervations, with the period in which we U 
 with the prefent ftate of mankind in the m 
 enlightened countries of Europe ; and ; 
 picture of the progrefs and advancement ri 
 the human mind becomes llricVy hifl 
 Philofophy has no longer any thing to gv. 
 has no more fuppolitious combinations to to 
 
 all 
 3 
 
( H ) 
 
 all It has to do is to collect and arrange facts, 
 and exhibit the ufcful truths which arife from 
 them as a whole, and from the different 
 bearings of their feveral parts. 
 
 There remains only a third picture to 
 form, — that of our hopes, or the progrefs re- 
 ierved for future generations, which the con- 
 ftancy of the laws of nature feems to fecure 
 to mankind. And here it will be necefTary to 
 fliew by what fteps this progrefs, which at 
 preient may appear chimerical, is gradually to 
 be rendered poflible, and even eafy ; how 
 truth, in fpite of the tranfient fuccsfs of pre- 
 judices, and the fupport they receive from the 
 corruption of governments or of the people, 
 muft in the end obtain a durable triumph ; by 
 what ties nature has indifiblubly united the 
 advancement of knowledge with the progrefs 
 of liberty, virtue, and refpect for the natural 
 rights of man ; how thefe Wettings, the only 
 real ones, though fo frequently feen apart as 
 to be thought incompatible, mufl neceffarily 
 amalgamate and become infeparable, the mo- 
 ment knowledge (hall have arrived at a cer- 
 tain pitch in a great number of nations at 
 once, the moment it (hall have penetrated 
 
 the 
 
( U ) 
 
 the whole mafs of a great people, whofe lan- 
 guage fhall have become univerfal, and whofe 
 commercial intercourfe ihall embrace the 
 whole extent of the globe. This union having 
 once taken place in the whole enlightened 
 clafs of men, this clafs will be confidered as 
 the friends of human kind, exerting themfelves 
 in concert to advance the improvement and 
 happinefs of the fpecies. 
 
 We fhall expofe the origin and trace the 
 hiftory of general errors, which have more or 
 leis contributed to retard or fufpend the ad- 
 vance of reafon, and fometimes even, as much 
 as political events, have been the caufe of 
 man's taking a retrograde courfe towards 
 ignorance. 
 
 Thoie operations of the mind that lead to 
 or retain us in error, from the fubtle para- 
 logical, by which the moft penetrating mind 
 may be deceived, to the mad reveries of en- 
 tbufiafts, belong equally, with that jufi mode 
 of reafoning that conducts us to truth, to the 
 theory of the developement of our individual 
 faculties ; and for the fame reafon, the man- 
 ner in which general errors ai*e introduced, 
 propagated, tranfmitted, and rendered per- 
 2 manent 
 
( «J ) 
 
 manent among nations, forms a part of the 
 picture of the progrefs of the human mind. 
 Like truths which improve and enlighten it, 
 they are the confequence of its activity, and 
 of the difproportion that always exifts be- 
 tween what it actually knows, what it has 
 the defire to know, and what it conceives 
 there is a neceflity of acquiring. 
 
 It is even apparent, that, from the genera! 
 laws of the developement of our faculties, 
 certain prejudices muft neceflarily fpring up 
 in each ftage. of our progrefs, and extend 
 their feductive influence beyond that ftage ; 
 becaufe men retain the errors of their in- 
 fancy, their country, and the age in which 
 they live, long after the truths neceflary to 
 the removal of thofe errors are acknow- 
 ledged. 
 
 In ihort, there exift, at all times and in all 
 countries, different prejudices, according to 
 the degree of illumination of the different 
 clafTes of men, and according to their pro- 
 fefiions. If the prej udices of philo fophera be 
 impediments to new acquiiitions of truth, 
 thole of the left enlightened claflfes retard the 
 propagation of truths already known, and 
 
 thofe 
 
( *7 ) 
 
 thofe of efteemed and powerful profefTior^s 
 oppofe like obftacles. Thefe are the three 
 kinds of enemies which reafon is continually 
 obliged to encounter, and over which fhe fre- 
 quently does not triumph till after a long and 
 painful ftruggle. The hiftory of thefe con- 
 tends, together with that of the rife, triumph, 
 and fall of prejudice, will occupy a confider- 
 able place in this work, and will by no means 
 form the leaft important or leaft ufeful part 
 of it. 
 
 If there be really fuch an art as that of 
 forefeeing the future improvement of the 
 human race, and of directing and haftening 
 that improvement, the hiftory of the progrefs 
 it has already made muft form the principal 
 bafis of this art. Philofophy, no doubt, ought 
 to profcribe the fuperftitious idea, which fup- 
 pofes no rules of conduct are to be found but 
 in the hiftory of paft ages, and no truths but 
 in the ftudy of the opinions of antiquity. 
 But ought it not to include in the pro- 
 fcription, the prejudice that would proudly 
 reject the leflbns of experience ? Certainly it 
 is meditation alone that can, by happy com- 
 binations, conduct us to the general prin- 
 
 C ciples 
 
( i8 ) 
 
 ciplcs of die fcicncc of man. But if the ftudV 
 of individuals of the" human fpecies be of 
 life to the metaph yiiciaa and moralift, why 
 fhould that of focieties be lefs ufeful to them ? 
 And why not of ufe to the political philo- 
 fopher i If it be advantageous to ohfervc the 
 focieties that cxift at one and the fame pe^ 
 riod, and to trace their connection and re- 
 femblance, why not to obferve thern in a fuc- 
 ceflion of periods ? Even fuppofmg that fuch 
 obfervation might be neglected in the invefti- 
 gation of fpeculative truths,, ought it to be 
 neglected when the queltion is to apply thofe 
 Tilths to practice, and to deduce from fcience 
 the art that fhould be the ufeful refult ? Da 
 not our prejudices, and the evils that are the 
 confequence of them, derive their fource from 
 the prejudices of our anceftors ? And will it 
 not be the Aire ft way of undeceiving us re- 
 ipecling the one, and of preventing the other, 
 to develope their origin and effects ? 
 
 Are we not arrived at the point when there 
 is no longer any tiling to fear, cither from 
 new errors, or the return of old ones ; when 
 no corrupt inftitution can be introduced \j/y 
 hypocriiy, and adopted by ignorance or ( 
 
 thufiafm ; 
 3 
 
i *$ ) 
 
 khiifiafm ; when no vicious combination can 
 effect the infelicity of a great people ? Ac- 
 cordingly would it not be of advantage to 
 know how nations have been deceived, cor- 
 rupted, and plunged in mifery. 
 
 Every thing tells us that we are approach- 
 ing the era of one of the grand revolutions of 
 the human race. What can better enlighten 
 us as to what we may expect, what can be A 
 furer guide to us, amidft its commotions, than 
 the picture of the revolutions that have pre- 
 ceded and prepared the way for it ? Thejgre-^ 
 fent ftate of knowledge affures us that it will be 
 happy. But is it not upon condition that we 
 know how to aflift it with all our ftrength ? 
 And, that the happinefs it promifes may be- 
 lefs dearly bought, that it may fpread with 
 more rapidity over a greater fpace, that it 
 may be more complete in its effects, is it not 
 requifite to ftudy, in the hiftory of the hu- 
 man mind, what obftacles remain to be feared, 
 and by what means thofe obftacles are to be 
 furmountcd? , 
 
 I fhall divide the fpace through which I 
 
 mean to run, into nine grand epochs ; and 
 
 mall prefume, in a tenth, to advance fome 
 
 C 2 con- 
 
( 20 ) 
 
 conje&ures upon the future deftiny of man- 
 kind. 
 
 I ihall confine myfelf to the principal fea- 
 tures that characleriie each ; I mall give them 
 in the group, without troubling myfelf with 
 exceptions or detail. I mall indicate the ob- 
 jects, of the remits of which the work itfelf 
 will prefent the developements and the 
 proofs. 
 
 FIRST 
 
( 21 
 
 FIRST EPOCH. 
 
 Men united into Hordes. 
 
 W E have no direct information by which 
 to afcertain what has preceded the ftate of 
 which we are now to fpeak ; and it is only 
 by examining the intellectual or moral fa- 
 culties, and the phyfical cpnftitution of man, 
 that we are enabled to conjecture by what 
 means he arrived at this firft degree of ci- 
 vilization. 
 
 Accordingly an inveftigation of thofe phy- 
 fical qualities favourable to the firft formation 
 of fociety, together with a fummary analyfis 
 of the developement of our intellectual or 
 moral faculties, muft ferve as an introduction 
 to this epoch. 
 
 A fociety confifting of a family appears 
 to be natural to man. Formed at firft by the 
 want which children have of their parents, 
 and by the affection of the mother, as well as 
 that of the father, though lefs general an4 
 Jefs lively, time was allowed, by the long 
 
 C 3 coa- 
 
( w ) 
 
 continuance of this want, for the birth and 
 growth of a fentiment which mud have ex- 
 cited the defire of perpetuating the union, 
 The continuance of the want was alio fuffi-. 
 cient for the advantages of the union to be 
 felt. A family placed upon a foil that afforded 
 an eafy fubiiftance, might afterwards have 
 multiplied and become a horde. 
 
 Hordes that may have owed their origin to 
 the union of feveral diftincl: families, muft 
 have been formed more flowly and more 
 rarely, the union depending on motives lefs 
 urgent and the concurrence of a greater num- 
 ber of circumftanccs. 
 
 The art of fabricating arms, of preparing 
 aliments, of procuring the utenfils requifite 
 for this preparation, of preferring thefe ali- 
 ments as a provifion againft the feafons in 
 which it was impoiiible to procure a frefh 
 iupply of them — thefe arts, confined to the 
 moil fimplc wants, were the firft fruits of a 
 continued union, and the fir ft feature* that 
 diftinguiihed human fociety from the fociety 
 ODlervable in many fpecies of beafts. 
 
 in ioiue of thefe hordes, the women culti- 
 vate round the huts plants which fervc 
 
 food 
 
C 23 ) 
 
 food and fuperfede the neceflity of hunting 
 : and fifhing. In others, formed in places 
 where the earth fpontaneoufly offers vegetable 
 nutriment, a part of the time of the favages is 
 .occupied by the care of feeking and gathering 
 it. In hordes of the laft defcription, where 
 jhe advantage of remaining united is lefs felt, 
 ^civilization has been obferved very little to 
 /exceed that of a fociety confifting of a fingle 
 family. Meanwhite there has been found in 
 .all the ufe of an articulate language. 
 
 More frequent and more durable con- 
 nections with the fame individuals, a fimi- 
 larity of interefts, the fuccour mutually given, 
 whether in their common hunting or againft 
 an enemy, muft have equally produced both 
 jthe fentiment of juftice and a reciprocal at 
 feclion between the members of the fociety, 
 In a fliort time this affecYion would transform, 
 itfelf into attachment to the fociety, 
 
 The neceiTary confequence was a violent 
 enmity, and a defire of vengeance not to be 
 (extinguifhed, againft the enemies of the 
 horde. 
 
 The want of a chief, in order to a<ft in 
 COmmori, and thereby defend themlelves the 
 
 C 4 better, 
 
( *4 ) 
 
 better, and procure with greater cafe a more 
 certain and more abundant fubliftance, intro- 
 duced the lull idea of public authority into 
 thele iocicties. In circumftances in wlftch the 
 whole horde was interefted, rcfpecling which 
 a common refolution mil ft be taken, all thofe 
 concerned in executing the refolution were 
 to be confulted. The wcaknefs of the females, 
 which exempted them from the diftant chace 
 and from war, the ufual fubje&s of debate, 
 excluded them alike from thefe confutations. 
 As the refblutions demanded experience, none 
 were admitted but fuch as were fuppofed to 
 pofiefs it. The quarrels that arofe in a fociety 
 difturbed its harmony, and were calculated to 
 deftroy it : it was natural to agree that the 
 decifion of them ihould be referred .to thole 
 whofe age and pcrfonal qualities infpired the 
 grenteft confidence. Such was the origin of 
 the firft political inllitutions. 
 
 The formation of a language mud have 
 e inllitutions. The idea 'of ex- 
 fling bbj >nventlonal figns appears 
 »e above the degree of intelligence attained 
 in this ftngc of civilization ; and it is pro- 
 bable they were only brought into life by 
 
 2 length 
 
( *5 ) 
 
 length of time, by degrees, and iii a manner 
 In fome fort imperceptible. 
 
 The invention of the bow was the work 
 of a fmgle man of genius ; the formation of a 
 language that of the whole fociety. Thefe two 
 kinds of progrefs belong equally to the human 
 fpecies. The one, more rapid, is the refult of 
 thofe new combinations which men favoured 
 by nature are capable of forming ; is the fruit 
 of their meditations and the energies they 
 difplay : the other, more flow, arifes from the 
 reflections and obfervations that offer them- 
 felves to all men, and from the habits con- 
 traded in their common courfe of life. 
 
 Regular movements adj lifted to each other 
 in due proportion, are capable of being exe- 
 cuted with a lefs degree of fatigue ; and they 
 who fee, or hear them, perceive their order 
 and relation with greater facility. For both 
 thefe reafons, they form a fource of pleafure. 
 Thus the origin of the dance, of mufic and 
 of poetry, may be traced to the infant ftate 
 of fociety. They were employed for the 
 amufement of youth and upon occafions of 
 public feftivals. There were at that period 
 Jove longs and war fongs 3 and even muficai 
 
 inflru- 
 
( 26 ) 
 
 inftruments were invented. Neither was the 
 art of eloquence abfolutely unknown in thefe 
 hordes ; at lead they could a flu me in their fct 
 fpeeches a more grave and folemn tone, and 
 were not flrangcrs to rhetorical exaggeration. 
 
 The errors that diftinguifh this epoch of 
 civilization are the converfion of vengeance 
 and cruelty towards an enemy into virtue ; 
 the prejudice that configns the female part of 
 fociety to a fort of flavery ; the right of 
 commanding in war confulered as the pre- 
 rogative of an individual family ; together 
 with the firfl dawn of various kinds, of iuper- 
 flition. Of thefe it will be neceflary to trace 
 the origin and afcertain the motives. For 
 man never adopts without reafon any errors, 
 except what his early education have in a 
 manner rendered natural to him : if he em- 
 brace any new error, it is either becaufe it is 
 connected with thofe of his infancy, or be- 
 caufe his opinions, paflions, intereits, or other 
 circumftances, difpofe him to embrace it. 
 
 The only fciences known to favage hordes, 
 are a flight and crude idea of aflronomv, and 
 the knowledge of certain medicinal plants 
 employed in the cure of wounds and diilaK 
 
( n ) 
 
 and even thefe are already corrupted by a 
 mixture of luperftition. 
 
 Meanwhile there is prefented to us in this 
 epoch one fact of importance in the hiftory of 
 the human mind. We can here perceive the 
 beginnings of an inftitution, that in its pro- 
 grefs has been attended with oppofite effects, 
 accelerating the advancement of knowledge, 
 at the fame time that it difieminated error; 
 enriching the fciences with new truths, but 
 precipitating the people into ignorance and 
 religious fervitude, and obliging them to pur- 
 chafe a few tranfient benefits at the price 
 of a long and fhameful tyranny. 
 
 I mean the formation of a clafs of men the 
 depofitaries of the elements of the fciences or 
 proceffes of the arts, of the myfteries or cere- 
 monies of religion, of the practices of fuper- 
 ftition, and frequently even of the fecrets of 
 legiflation and polity. I mean that feparation 
 of the human race into two portions ; the one 
 deftined to teach, the other to believe ; the 
 one proudly concealing what it vainly boafts 
 of knowing, the other receiving with refpect 
 whatever its teachers fhall condefcend to re- 
 veal ; the one wifhing to raife itfelf above 
 
 reafon, 
 
( 28 ) 
 
 reafon, the other humbly renouncing rcafon, 
 and debafing itielf below humanity, by ac- 
 knowledging ill its fellow men prerogatives 
 fuperior to their common nature. 
 
 This diftinction, of which, at the clofe of 
 the eighteenth century, we Hill fee the re- 
 mains in our priefts, is obfervable in the 
 lead civilized tribes of lavages, who have 
 already their quacks and forcerers. It is too 
 general, and too conftantly meets the eye in 
 all the Itages of civilization, not to have a 
 foundation in nature itielf: and we mall ac- 
 cordingly find in the Rate of the human fa- 
 culties at this early period of fociety, the 
 caufe of the credulity of the firft dupes, and 
 of the rude cunning of the firft impoftors, 
 
 SECOND 
 
( *9 ) 
 
 SECOND EPOCH. 
 
 PaJIoral State of Mankind. — ^ranfition from 
 that to the Agricultural State. 
 
 Jl HE idea of preferring certain animals 
 taken in hunting, muft readily have oc- 
 curred, when their docility rendered the pre- 
 fervation of them a tafk of no difficulty, when 
 the foil round the habitations of the hunters 
 afforded thefe animals an ample fubfiftance, 
 when the family poffefled a greater quantity 
 of them than it could for the prefent con- 
 fume, and at the fame time might have rea- 
 fon to apprehend the being expofed to want, 
 from the ill fuccefs of the next chace, or the 
 intemperature of the feafons. 
 
 From keeping thefe animals as a fimple 
 fupply againft a time of need, it was obferved 
 that they might be made to multiply, and 
 thus furnifh a more durable provifion. Their 
 milk afforded a farther refource : and thofe 
 fruits of a flock, which, at firft, were regarded 
 only as a fupplement to the produce of the 
 
 chace, 
 
( 30 ) 
 
 chace, became the mo ft certain, moft abund- 
 ant and leaft painful means of fubfiftance- 
 Accordingly the chace ceafed to be confidercd 
 as the principal of thefe rcfources, and foon 
 as any refourcc at all ; it was purfued only 
 as a plcafure, or as a ncceffary precaution for 
 keeping beads of prey from the flocks, which, 
 become more numerous, could no longer find 
 round the habitations of their keepers a fufil- 
 cient nourifhment. 
 
 A more fedentary and lefs fatiguing life 
 afforded leifure favourable to the develope- 
 ment of the mind. Secure of fubfiftance, no 
 longer anxious refpecYing their lirft and indii- 
 penfible wants, men fought, in the means of 
 providing for thofe wants, new fenfations. 
 
 The arts made fome progrefs : new light 
 was acquired refpecting that of maintaining 
 domeftic animals, of favouring their repro- 
 duction, and even of improving their breed. 
 
 Wool was ufed for apparel, and cloth fub- 
 ftituted in the place of fluns. 
 
 Family focieties became more urbane, with- 
 out being lefs intimate. As the flocks of each 
 could not multiply in the fame proportion, 
 a difference of wealth was cftablifhed. Then 
 
 was 
 
( P ) 
 
 was fuggefted the idea of one man Sharing the 
 produce of his flocks with another who had 
 no flocks, and who was to devote his time 
 and ftrength to the care they required. Then 
 it was found that the labour of a young and 
 able individual was of more value than the 
 expence of his bare fubfiftance ; and the cuf- 
 tom was introduced of retaining prifoners of 
 war as flaves, inftead of putting them to 
 death. 
 
 Hofpitality, which is pra&ifed alfo among 
 favages, affumes in the paftoral ftate a more 
 decided and important character, even among 
 thofe wandering hordes that dwell in their 
 waggons or in tents. More frequent occa- 
 iions occur for the reciprocal exercife of this 
 ad of humanity between man and man, be-» 
 tween individual families, and between one 
 people and another. It becomes a focial duty, 
 and is fubje&ed to laws. 
 
 As fome families poflefled not only a lure 
 fubfiftance, but a conftant fuperfluity, while 
 others were deftitute of the neceflaries of life, 
 natural compaflion for the fuflerings of the 
 latter gave birth to the fentiment and practice 
 of beneficence. 
 
 Manners 
 
( 32 ) 
 
 Manners mud of courfe have foftened.. 
 The flavery of women became leis feverc, and 
 
 the wives of the rich were no longer con- 
 demned to fatiguing labcur . 
 
 A greater variety of articles employed in 
 Satisfying the different wants, a greater num- 
 ber of initruments to prepare theic wants, and 
 a greater inequality in their diftribution, gave 
 energy to exchange, and converted it into 
 actual commerce : it w r as impoflible it mould 
 extend .without the neceflity of a common 
 meafure and a fpecies of money being felt. 
 
 Hordes became more numerous. At the 
 fame time, in order the more eafily to maintain 
 their flocks, they placed their habitations, 
 when fixed, more apart from each other ; or 
 changed them into moveable encampments, 
 as foon as they had difcovcred the ufc of 
 certain fpecies of animals they had tamed, in 
 drawing or carrying burthens. 
 
 Each nation had its chief for the conduct 
 of war ; but being divided into tribes, from 
 the neccility of fecuring pa^urage, each tribe 
 had alio its chief. This fuperiority was at- 
 tached almoft univerfally to certain families* 
 The heads however of families in pofleffion 
 
 of 
 
( 3S ) 
 
 of numerous flocks, a multitude of flaves, and 
 who employed in their fervice a great num- 
 ber of poor, partook of the authority of the 
 chiefs of the tribe, as thefe alfo fhared in that 
 of the chiefs of the nation ; at leafl when, 
 from the refpect due to age, to experience, 
 and the exploits they had performed, they 
 were conceived to be worthy of it. And it 
 is at this epoch of fociety that we mufl place 
 the origin of flavery, and inequality of poli- 
 tical rights between men arrived at the age 
 of maturity. 
 
 The counfels of the chiefs of the family or 
 tribe decided, from ideas of natural juftice or 
 of eftablifhed ufage, the numerous and intri- 
 cate diiputes that already prevailed. The 
 tradition of thefe decifions, by confirming and 
 perpetuating the ufage, foon formed a kind 
 of jurifprudence more regular and coherent 
 than the progrefs of fociety had rendered 
 in other refpects necefTary. The idea of. pro- 
 perty and its rights had acquired greater ex- 
 tent and precifion. The divifion of inhe- 
 ritances becoming more important, there was 
 a neceflity of fubj-ecting it to fixed regula- 
 lations. The agreements that were entered 
 
 D into 
 
( 34 ) 
 
 into being more frequent, were no longer con- 
 fined to fuch fimplc objects ; they were to 
 be fubje&ed to forms ; and the manner of 
 verifying them, to fecure their execution, had 
 alfo its laws. 
 
 The utility of obferving the ftars, the occu- 
 pation which in long evenings they afforded to 
 the mind, and the leifure enjoyed by the fhep- 
 herds, effected a flight degree of improvement 
 in aftronomy. 
 
 But we obferve advancing at the fame 
 time the art of deceiving men in order to 
 rob them, and of affuming over their opinions 
 an authority founded upon the hopes and 
 fears of the imagination. More regular forme 
 of worfhip begin to be eftabliflied, and fyf- 
 tems of faith lefs coarfely combined. The 
 ideas entertained of fupernatural powers, ac- 
 quire a fort of refinement: and with this re- 
 finement we fee fpring up in one place pon- 
 tiff princes, in another facerdotal families or 
 tribes, in a third colleges of priefts ; a clafs of 
 individuals uniformly affe&ing infolent pre- 
 rogatives, feparating thcmfclvcs from ,the 
 people, the better to cnllave them, and feizing 
 cxclufively upon medicine and aftronomy, 
 
 that 
 
( 35 ) 
 
 that they may poflefs every hold upon the 
 mind for fubjugating it, and leave no means 
 by which to unmade their hypocrify, and 
 break in pieces their chains. 
 
 Languages were enriched without becoming 
 lefs figurative or lefs bold* The images em- 
 ployed were more varied and more pleafmg. 
 They were acquired in paftoral life, as well as 
 in the lavage life of the forefts, from the re- 
 gular phenomena of nature, as well as from 
 its wildnefs and eccentricities. Song, poetry, 
 and inftruments of mufic were improved 
 during a leifure that produced an audience 
 more peaceable* and at the fame time more 
 difficult to pleafe, and allowed the artift to 
 reflecl: on his own fentiments, examine 
 his lirft ideas, and form a felection from 
 them. 
 
 It could not have efcaped obfervation that 
 fome plants yielded the flocks a better and 
 more abundant fubfiftance than others. The 
 advantage was accordingly felt of favouring 
 the production of thefe, of feparating them 
 from plants lefs nutritive, unwholfome, and 
 even dangerous ; and the means of effecting 
 this were difcovered. 
 
 D 2 In 
 
( 3<$ ) 
 
 In like manner, where plants, grain, the 
 fpontaneoua fruits of the earth, contributed, 
 
 with the produce of the Hock- 1 , to the fub- 
 fiftancc of man, it mud equally have been 
 obferved how thofe vegetables multiplied ; 
 and the care muft have followed of collecting 
 them nearer to the habitations ; of feparating 
 them from ilfelefs vegetables, that they might- 
 occupy a foil to themfelves ; of fecuring them 
 from untamed bcafts, from the flocks, and 
 even from the rapacity of other men. 
 
 Thefe ideas muft have equally occurred, 
 and even fooncr, in more fertile count; 
 where the fpontaneous productions of the 
 earth almoft fufneed of themfelves for the fup- 
 port of men ; who now began to devote 
 themfelves to agriculture. 
 
 In fuch a country, and under a happy cli- 
 mate, the fame fpace of ground produces, 
 in corn, roots, and fruit, wherewith to main- 
 tain a greater number of men than if em- 
 ployed as pafturage. Accordingly, when the 
 nature of the foil rendered not inch cultiva- 
 tion too laborious, when the difcovery was 
 made of employing therein thofe fame ani- 
 mals ufed by paitoral tribes for the traniport 
 
 from 
 
( 37 ) 
 
 from place to place of themfelves and their 
 effects, agriculture became the moft plentiful 
 fource of fubfiftance, the firft occupation of 
 men ; and the human race arrived at the third 
 epoch of its progrcfs. 
 
 There are people who have remained, from 
 time immemorial, in one of the two ftates we 
 have defcribed. They have not only not 
 rifen of themfelves to any higher degree of 
 improvement, but the connections and com- 
 mercial intercourfe they have had with nations 
 more civilized have failed to produce this 
 effect. Such connections and intercourfe have 
 communicated to them fome knowledge, fome 
 induury, and a great many vices, but have 
 never been able to draw them from their ftate 
 of mental ftagnation. 
 
 The principal caufes of this phenomenon 
 are to be found in climate ; in habit ; in the 
 fweets annexed to this ftate of almoft com- 
 plete independence, an independence not to 
 be equalled but in a fociety more perfect even 
 than our own ; in the natural attachment of 
 man to opinions received from his infancy, 
 and to the cuftoms of his country ; in the 
 ^verfion that ignorance feels to every fort of 
 D 3 novelty ; 
 
( 38 ) 
 
 novelty ; in bodily and more especially men- 
 tal iiul ich fupprefs the feeble and 
 as yet fcareely exiftjng fpark of curiofity ; 
 and laftly, in tlu re which fuperftition 
 already exercifes over theft infant Societies. 
 To thefe caufes muft be added the avarice, 
 cruelty, corruption and prejudices of po- 
 limed nations, who appear to thefe people 
 more powerful, more rich, more informed, 
 more active, but at the fame time more vi- 
 cious, and particularly lefs happy than them- 
 felves. They muft frequently indeed have 
 been lefs (truck with the fnperiority of fuch 
 nations, than terrified at the multiplicity and 
 extent of their wants, the torments of their 
 avarice, the never ceafing agitations of their 
 ever active, ever infatiable pafiions. This de- 
 fcription of people has by fome philosophers 
 been pitied, and by others admired and ap- 
 plauded : thefe have confidered as wifdom 
 and virtue, what the former have called by 
 the names of ftupidity and floth. 
 
 The queftion in debate between them will 
 be reiolvcd in the courfc of this work. It 
 will there be (ccn why the progrefs of the 
 mind has not been at all times accompanied 
 
 with 
 2 
 
( 39 ) 
 
 with an equal progrefs towards happinefs and 
 virtue ; and how the leaven of prejudices and 
 errors has polluted the good that mould flow 
 from knowledge, a good which depends 
 more upon the purity of that knowledge than 
 its extent Then it will be found that the 
 ftcrmy and arduous fcranfition f a rude fo- 
 ciety to the ftate of civilization of an en- 
 lightened and free people, implies no degene- 
 ration of the human fpecies, but is a neceflary 
 crifis in its gradual advance towards abfolute 
 perfection. Then it will be found that it is 
 not the increafe of knowledge, hut its de- 
 cline, that has produced the vices of polifhed 
 nations, and that, inftead of corrupting, it has 
 in all cafes foftened, where it has been unable 
 U) corre£l or to change the manners of men, 
 
 D 4 THIRD 
 
( 40 ) 
 
 THIRD EPOCH, 
 
 Trogrefs of Mankind from the Agricultural State 
 to the Im of Alphabetical Writing* 
 
 JL HE uniformity of the picture we have 
 hitherto drawn will foon diiappcar ; and \vc 
 Ihall no longer have to delineate thofe in- 
 diftincl: features, thofe flight fhades of differ- 
 ence, that diftinguifh the manners, characters, 
 opinions and fuperftitions of men, rooted, a \ 
 it were, to their foil, and perpetuating almofl 
 without mixture a fingle family. 
 
 Invafions, conquefts, the rife and overthrow 
 of empires, will fhortly he feen mixing and 
 confounding nations, fometimes difperfing 
 them over a now territory, fometimes cover- 
 ing the fame fpot with different people. 
 
 Fortuitous events will continually interpofe, 
 and derange the flow but regular movement 
 of nature, often retarding, fometimes accele- 
 rating it. 
 
 The appearances we obferve in a nation in 
 any particular age, have frequently their caufc 
 
 iq 
 
( 4i ) 
 
 in a revolution happening ten ages before 
 it, and at a diftance of a thoufand leagues ; 
 and the night of time conceals a great portion 
 of thofe events, the influence of which we fee 
 operating upon the men who have pre- 
 ceded us, and fometimes extending to our- 
 felves. 
 
 But we have firft to confider the efle&s of 
 the change of which we are fpeaking, in a 
 fingle people, and independently of the in- 
 fluence that conquefts and the intermixture of 
 nations may have exercifed. 
 
 Agriculture attaches man to the foil which 
 he cultivates. It is no longer his perfon, his 
 family, his implements for hunting, that it 
 Would fuffice him to tranfport ; it is no longer 
 even his flocks which he might drive before 
 him. The ground not belonging in common 
 to all, he would find in his flight no fubfift- 
 ance, either for himfelf or the animals from 
 which he derives his fupport. 
 
 Each parcel of land has a mafler, to whom 
 alone the fruits of it belong. The harvefl 
 exceeding the maintenance of the animals 
 and men by whom it has been prepared, fur- 
 niihes the proprietor with an annual wealth, 
 
 that 
 
( 42 ) 
 
 that he has no ncceiLty of purchafing with 
 his perfonal labour. 
 
 In the two former dates of focicty, every 
 individual, or every family at lead, practifed 
 nearly all the neceffary arts. 
 
 But when there were men, who, without 
 Jabour, lived upon the produce of their land, 
 and others who received wages ; when oc- 
 cupations were multiplied, and the procefTes 
 of the arts become more extenfive and com- 
 plicate, common intereft foon enforced a fe- 
 paration cf (hem. It was perceived, that the 
 induftry of an individual, when confined to 
 fewer objects, was more complete ; that the 
 hand executed with greater readinefs and pre- 
 cificn a fmaller number of operations that 
 long habit had rendered more familiar ; that 
 a lefs degree of underftanding was required 
 to perform a work well, when that work had 
 been more frequently repeated. 
 
 Accordingly, while one portion of men de- 
 voted themfclves to the labours of hufbandry, 
 others prepared the neceflary inftruments. 
 The care of the flocks, domeftic economy, 
 and the making of different articles of ap- 
 parel, became in like manner diftincl: em- 
 ployments, 
 
( 43 ) 
 
 ploymerus. As, in families poflcfling but 
 little property, one of thefe occupations was 
 inefficient of itfelf to engrofs the whole time 
 of an individual, feveral were performed by 
 the fame perfon, for which he received the 
 wages only of a fingle man. Soon the ma- 
 terials ufed in the arts increafing, and their 
 nature demanding different modes of treat- 
 ment, fuch as were analogous in this refpecl 
 became diftincT: from the reft, and had a par- 
 ticular clafs of workmen. Commerce ex- 
 panded, embraced a greater number of ob- 
 jects, and derived them from a greater extent 
 of territory • and then was formed another 
 clafs of men, whofe fole occupation was the 
 purchafe of commodities for the purpole of 
 preferving, tranfporting, or felling them again 
 with profit, 
 
 Thus to the three daffes of men before 
 diftinguifhable in paftoral life, that of pro- 
 prietors, that of the domeftics of their family, 
 and laftly, that of flaves, we mud now add, 
 that of the different kinds of artifans, and 
 that of merchants. 
 
 Then it was, that, in a fociety more fixed, 
 more compact, and more intricate, the ne- 
 ceffity was felt of a more regular and more 
 
 ample 
 
( 44 ) 
 
 ample code of legiflation; of determii 
 
 with greater precifion the punishments for 
 crime?, and the forms to be obferved as to 
 contracts ; of fubjeding to feverer rules the 
 means of aica raining and verifying the f 
 to which the law was to be applied. 
 
 This progrefs was the flow and gradual 
 work of necellity and concurring circum- 
 ftances : it is but a ftep or two farther in the 
 route we have already traced in paflorai 
 nations. 
 
 In the firft two epochs, education was 
 purelv domefiic. The children were inftruclcd 
 by refiding with the father, in the common 
 labours that were foil owed, or the few arts 
 that were known. From him they received 
 the fmall number of traditions that formed 
 the hiftory of the horde or of the family, the 
 fables that had been tranfmitted, the know- 
 ;e of the national cuftoms, together with 
 the principles and prejudices that compofed 
 their petty code of morality. Singing, dancing 
 and military cxercifes they acquired in the 
 fociety of their friend 
 
 In the epoch at which we are arrived, the 
 children of the richer families received a fort 
 of common education, either in towns, from 
 
 con^ 
 
( 45 ) 
 
 converiation with the old and experienced, or 
 in the houfe of a chief, to whom they at- 
 tached themfelves. Here it was they were 
 inftructed in the laws, cuftoms and prejudices 
 of the country, and learned to chant poems 
 defcriptive of the events of its hiftory. 
 
 A more fedentary mode of life had intro- 
 duced a greater equality between the fexes. 
 The wives were no longer confidered as fimple 
 objects of utility, as only the more familiar 
 flaves of their mailer. Man looked upon them 
 as companions, and faw how conducive 
 they might be made to his happinefs. Mean- 
 while, even in countries where they were 
 treated with moft refpect, where polygamy 
 was profcribed, neither reafon nor juftice ex- 
 tended fo far as to an entire reciprocity as to 
 the right of divorce, and an equal infliction 
 of punifnment in cafes of infidelity. 
 
 The hiftory of this clafs of prejudices, and 
 of their influence on the lot of the human 
 fpecies, mud enter into the picture I have 
 propofed to draw ; and nothing can better 
 evince how clofely man's happinefs is con- 
 nected with the progrefs of reafon. 
 
 Some nations remained difperfed over the 
 country. Others united themfelves in towns, 
 
 which 
 
( 4» ) 
 
 which became the refidence of the comm 
 chief, called by a name infwering to the word 
 gr, of the chiefs of bribes who partook his 
 power, and of the ciders of every great fa- 
 mily. There the common affairs of the fo- 
 ciety were decided, as well as individual 
 difputes. There the rich brought together 
 the moil valuable part of his wealth, that it 
 mh T ht be fecure from robbers, who muft of 
 courfe have multiplied with fedentary riches. 
 When nations remained difperfed over a tei ri- 
 tory, cuftom determined the time and place 
 where the chiefs were to meet for deliberation 
 upon the general interefts of the community. 
 and the adjudication of fuits. 
 
 Nations who acknowledged a common ori- 
 gin, who fpoke the fame language, without 
 abjuring war with each other, entered almoft 
 univerfally into a confederacy more or lefs 
 clofe, and agreed to unite themfelves, either 
 againft foreign enemies, or mutually to afenge 
 their wrongs, or to difcharge in common fome 
 religious duty. 
 
 Hofpitality and commerce produced even 
 fome lading tics between nations different in 
 origin, cultoms and language ; tics that by 
 robbery and war were often diifoived, but 
 
 which 
 
( 47 ) 
 
 which necefiity, flronger than the love of 
 pillage or a thirft for vengeance, afterwards 
 renewed. 
 
 To murder the vanquished, or to (trip and 
 reduce them to flavery, was no longer the 
 only acknowledged right between nations 
 inimical to each other. Ceffions of territory, 
 ranfoms, tribute, in part fupplied the place of 
 thefe barbarous outrages. 
 
 At this epoch every man that poflefled 
 arms was a foldier. He who had the be ft, 
 and beft knew how to exercife them, who 
 could furniiri arms for others, upon condition 
 that they followed him to the wars, and from 
 the provifion he had amafTed was in a ca- 
 pacity to fupply their wants, necefiarily be- 
 came a chief. But this obedience, almoft vo- 
 luntary, did not involve them in a fervile 
 dependence. 
 
 As there was feldom occafion for new laws ; 
 as there were no public expenccs to which 
 the citizens were obliged to contribute, and 
 fuch as it became neceffary to incur were de- 
 frayed out of the property of the chiefs, cr 
 the lands that were preferved in common ; as 
 the idea of reftriding indultry and commerce 
 
 by 
 
( 45 ) 
 
 by regulations was unknown ; as ofienfivc 
 war v, ided by general content, or un- 
 
 dertaken by thofe only who were allured by 
 tlu- lave of glory or defire of pillage ; — man 
 believed himfelf free in thefe rude govern- 
 ments, notwithftanding the hereditary fuc- 
 ccilion, almoft univcilal, of their fir ft chiefs 
 or kings, and the prerogative, ufurped by 
 Other fubordinate chiefs, of fharing alone the 
 political authority, and exercifing the func- 
 tions of government as well as of magiftracv. 
 
 But frequently a king furrendered himfelf 
 to the impulfe of perfonal vengeance, to the 
 commiflion of arbitrary ads of violence ; fre- 
 quently, in thefe privileged families, pride, 
 hereditary hatred, the fury of love and third 
 for gold, engendered and multiplied crimes, 
 while the chiefs alTembled in towns, the in- 
 ftruments of the paflions of kings, excited 
 therein factions and civil wars, opprefTed the 
 people by iniquitous judgments, and tor- 
 mented them by the enormities of their am- 
 bition and rapacity. 
 
 In many nations the execfles of thefe fa- 
 milies exhaulled the patience of the people, 
 who accordingly extirpated, banifhed, or fub- 
 
 jecled 
 
( 49 ) 
 
 jetted them to the common law ; it Wa9 
 rarely that their title, with a limited authority, 
 was preferved to them ; and we fee take place 
 what has lince been called by the name of 
 republics. 
 
 In other pla'ces, thefe kings, furrounded 
 with minions, becaufe they had arms and 
 treafures to beftow on them, exercifed an 
 abfolute authority : and fuch was the origin 
 of tyranny. 
 
 Elfewhere, particularly in countries where 
 the fmall nations did not unite together in 
 towns, the firft forms of thofe crude infti- 
 tutions were preferved, till the period in 
 which thefe people, either fell under the yoke 
 of a conqueror, or, inftigated by the fpirit of 
 robbery, fpread themfelves over a foreign 
 territory. 
 
 This tyranny, compreiTed within too narrow 
 a fpace, could have but a fhort duration. The 
 people foon threw ofT a yoke which force 
 alone impofed, and opinion had been unable 
 to maintain. The monfter was fcen too 
 nearly not to excite more horror than dread : 
 and forde as well as opinion could forge no 
 durable chains, if tyrants did not extend their 
 
 E empire 
 
( 50 ) 
 
 empire to a di fiance fufficiently great to be 
 able, by dividing tlic nation they oppreifed, 
 to conceal from it the fecret of its own power 
 and of their weaknefs. 
 
 The hiftory of republics belongs to the next 
 epoch : but that which we are confidcring 
 will pre&ntly exhibit a new fpe&acle. 
 
 An agricultural people, fubjected to a 
 foreign power, does not abandon its hearths : 
 neceffity obliges it to labour for its mailers. 
 
 Sometimes the ruling nation contents itfelf 
 with leaving, upon the conquered territory, 
 chiefs to govern, foldiers to defend it, and 
 efpecially to keep in awe the inhabitants, and 
 with exacting from the fubmiflive and dis- 
 armed fubje&s a tribute in money or in pro- 
 vifion. 
 
 Sometimes it feizes upon the territory it- 
 felf, diftributing the property of it to the 
 officers and foldiers : in that cafe it annexes 
 to each eftate the old occupiers that culti- 
 vated it, and fubjecls them to this new kind 
 of flavcry, which is regulated by laws more 
 or lets rigorous. Military fervice, and a tri- 
 bute from the individuals of the conquered 
 people, are the conditions upon which the 
 
 enjoy- 
 
( St ) 
 
 enjoyment of thefe lands is granted to 
 them. 
 
 Sometimes the ruling nation referves to it- 
 felf the property of the territory, and diftri- 
 butes only the ufufruft upon the fame con- 
 ditions as in the preceding inftance. 
 
 Commonly, however, all thefe modes of re- 
 compenfing the inftruments of conqueft, and 
 of robbing the vanquifhed, are adopted at the 
 fame time. 
 
 Hence we fee new clalTes of men fpring 
 up ; the defcendants of the conquering na- 
 tion and thofe of the opprefled ; an hereditary 
 nobility, not however to be confounded with 
 the patrician dignity of republics ; a people 
 condemned to labour, to dependence, to a 
 ftate of degradation, but not to flavery ; and 
 laftly, flaves attached to the glebe, a clafs dif- 
 fering from that of domeftic flaves, whofe 
 fervitude is lefs arbitrary, and who may ap- 
 peal againft the caprices of their mafters to 
 the law. 
 
 It is here alfo we may obferve the origin 
 of the feodal fyftem, a peft that has not been 
 peculiar to our own climate, but has found a 
 footing in almoft every part of the globe, at 
 
 E 2 the 
 
( 52 ) 
 
 the fame periods of civilization, and when- 
 ever a country has been occupied by two 
 people between whom viclory has eftablifhcd 
 an hereditary inequality. 
 
 In line, defpotifm was alfo the fruit of con- 
 quer:. By defpotifm I here mean, in order 
 to diitinguifh it from tyrannies of a tranfient 
 duration, the oppreflion of a people by a 
 lingle man, who governs it by opinion, by 
 habit, and above all, by a military force, oyer 
 the individuals of which he exercifes himfelf 
 an arbitrary authority, but at the fame time is 
 obliged to refpecl their prejudices, flatter their 
 caprices, and footh their avidity and pride. 
 
 Personally guarded by a numerous and 
 feled portion of this armed force, taken from 
 the conquering nation or confiding of fo- 
 reigners ; immediately furrounded by the moll 
 powerful military chiefs ; holding the pro- 
 vinces in awe by means of generals who have 
 the control of inferior detachments of this 
 fame armed body, the defpot reigns by terror: 
 nor is the poiiibility conceived, either by the 
 depreflcd people, or any of thole difperfed 
 chiefs, rivals as they are to each other, of 
 bringing againft this man a face, which the 
 
 armies 
 
( 55 ) 
 
 armies he has at his command would not be 
 able to crufh at the inftant. 
 
 A mutiny of the guards, an infurrection in 
 the capital, may be fatal to the defpot, without 
 crufhing defpotifm. The general of an army, 
 by deftroying a family rendered facred by pre- 
 judice, may eftablifh a new dynafty, but it is 
 only to exercife a fimilar tyranny. 
 
 In this third epoch, the people who have 
 yet not experienced the misfortune, either of 
 conquering, or of being conquered, exhibit a 
 ^picture of thofe fimple but flrong virtues of 
 agricultural nations, thofe manners of heroic 
 times, rendered fo interefting by a mixture of 
 greatnefs and ferocity, of generofity and bar- 
 barifm, that we are ftill fo far feduced as to 
 admire and even regret them. 
 
 On the contrary, in empires founded by 
 conquerors, we are prefented with a picture 
 containing all the gradations and ihades of 
 that abafement and corruption, to which def- 
 potifm and fuperftition can reduce the human 
 fpecies. There we fee fpring up taxes upon 
 induftry and commerce, exactions obliging a 
 man to purchafe the right of employing as he 
 pleafes his own faculties, laws reftriiting him 
 
 E3 in 
 
( 54 ) 
 
 in the choice of his labour and ufe of his pro- 
 perty, other laws compelling the children to 
 follow the profefEon of their parents, confis- 
 cations, cruel and atrocious punifhments, in 
 fhort, all thofe acts of arbitrary power, of le- 
 galized tyranny, of fuperftitious wickednefs, 
 that a contempt of human nature has been 
 able to invent. 
 
 In hordes that have not undergone any 
 confiderable revolution, we may obferve the 
 progrefs of civilization flopping at no very 
 elevated point. Meanwhile men already felt 
 the want of new ideas or fenfations ; a want 
 which is the firft moving power in the pro- 
 grefs of the human mind, equally awakening 
 a tafte for the fuperfluities of luxury, inciting 
 induftry and a fpirit of curiofity, and piercing 
 with an eager eye the veil with which na- 
 ture has con:ealjd her fecrets. But it has 
 happened, aim oft univerfally, that, to efcape 
 this want, men have fought, and embraced 
 with a kind of phrenzy, phy ileal means of 
 procuring fenfations that may be continually 
 renewed Such is the practice of ufing fer- 
 mented liquors, hot drinks, opium, tobacco, 
 and betel. There are few nations among 
 
 whom, 
 
( 55 ) 
 
 whom one or other of thefe practices is not 
 obferved, from which is derived a pleafure 
 that occupies whole days, or is repeated at 
 every interval, that prevents the weight of 
 time from being felt, fatisfies the neceflity of 
 having the faculties roufed or employed, and 
 at laft blunting the edge of this neceflity, thus 
 prolongs the duration of the infancy and inac- 
 tivity of the human mind. Thefe practices, 
 which have proved an obftacle to the pro- 
 grefs of ignorant and enflaved nations, pro- 
 duce alfo their effe&s in wifer and more civi- 
 lized countries, preventing truth from dif- 
 fusing through all clafTes of men a pure and 
 equal light. 
 
 By expofing what was the flate of the arts 
 in the firft two periods of fociety, it will be 
 feen how to thofe of working wood, ftone, 
 or the bones of animals, of preparing fkins, 
 and weaving cloths, thefe infant people w r ere 
 able to add the more difficult ones of dyeing, 
 of making earthen \^are, and even their fir It 
 attempts upon metals. 
 
 In ifolated nations the progrefs of thefe 
 
 arts muft have been flow ; but the intercourfe, 
 
 flight as it was, which took place between 
 
 E 4 them, 
 
( 56 ) 
 
 them, ferved to haftenit A new method of 
 proceeding, a better contrivance, difcovered 
 by one people, became common to its neigh- 
 bours. Conqueft, which has fo often de- 
 Rroyed the arts, began with extending, and 
 contributed to the improving of them, before 
 it flopped their progrefs, or was inftrumental 
 to their fall. 
 
 We obferve many of thefe arts carried to 
 the higheft degree of perfection in countries, 
 where the long influence of fuperftition and 
 defpotifm has completed the degradation of 
 all the human faculties. But, if we fcrutinife 
 the wonderful productions of this fervile in- 
 duflry, we fhall find nothing in them which 
 announces the infpiration of genius ; all the 
 improvements appear to be the flow and 
 painful work of reiterated practice ; every 
 where may be leen, amidft this labour which 
 aftonifhes us, marks of ignorance and ftupU 
 dity that difclofe its origin. 
 
 In fedentary and peaceable foeieties, aflro- 
 nomy, medicine, the mod fimple notions of 
 anatomy, the knowledge of plants and mine- 
 rals, the firil elements of the itudv of the 
 phenomena of nature, acquired iomc im- 
 prove- 
 
( 57 ) 
 
 provement, or rather extended themfelves by 
 the mere influence of time, which, increafmg 
 the flock of obfervations, led, in a manner 
 flow, but fure, to the eafy and almoft inftant 
 perception of fome of the general confequences 
 to which thofe obfervations were calculated 
 to lead. 
 
 Meanwhile this improvement was ex- 
 tremely (lender ; and the fciences would have 
 remained for a longer period in a ftate of 
 earlieft infancy, if certain families, and efpe- 
 cially particular calls, had not made them the 
 firft foundation of their reputation and power. 
 
 Already the obfervation of man and of lb- 
 cieties had been connected with that of na- 
 ture. Already a fmall number of moral 
 maxims, of a practical, as well as a political 
 kind, had been transmitted from generation to 
 generation. Thefe were feized upon by thofe 
 calls : religious ideas, prejudices, and different 
 fuperftitions contributed to a ftill farther in- 
 creafe of their power. They fucceeded the 
 firft affociations, or firft families, of empirics 
 and forcerers ; but they practifed more art to 
 deceive and feduce the mind, which was now 
 Ids rude and ignorant. The knowledge they 
 
 actually 
 
( 58 ) 
 
 actually poiTc(icd, the apparent auftcrity of 
 their lives, an affected c dtempt for what 
 was the object of the deiirea of vulgar men, 
 gave weight to their impoilures, while thefe 
 impoftures at the lame time rendered facred, 
 in the eyes of the people, their flender flock 
 of knowledge, and their hypocritical virtues. 
 The members of thefe focieties purfued at 
 firft, almoft with equal ardour, two very dif- 
 ferent objects: one, that of acquiring for 
 themfelves new information ; the other, that 
 of employing fuch as they had already ac- 
 quired in deceiving the people, and gaining 
 an afcendancy over their minds. 
 
 Their fages devoted their attention particu- 
 larly to aflronomy : and, as far as we can 
 judge from the fcattered remains of the mo- 
 numents of their labours, they appear to have 
 carried it to the highefl poUible pitch to which, 
 without the aid of telefcopes, without the ai- 
 fiflanee of mathematical theories fuperior to 
 the firll elements, it can be fuppofed to ar- 
 rive. 
 
 In reality, by means of a continued courfo 
 of obfervations, an idea fufEciently accurate of 
 the motion of the ftars may be acquired, by 
 
 which 
 
( 59 ) 
 
 which to calculate and predict the phenomena 
 of the heavens. Thofe empirical laws, fo 
 much the eafier attained as the attention be- 
 comes extended through a greater fpace of 
 time, did not indeed lead thefe firft aftrono- 
 mers to the difcovery of the general laws of 
 the fyftem of the univerfe ; but they luffi- 
 ciently fupplied their place for every purpofe 
 that might intereft the wants or curiofity of 
 man, and ferve to augment the credit of thefe 
 ufurpers of the excluiive right of inftrucling 
 him. 
 
 It mould feem that to them we are in^. 
 debted for the ingenious idea of arithmetical 
 fcales, that happy mode of repreienting all 
 poiTible numbers by a fmall quantity of iigns, 
 and of executing, by technical operations of 
 a very fimple nature, calculations which the 
 human intellect, left to itfelf, could not have 
 reached. This is the firft example of thofe 
 contrivances that double the powers of the 
 mind, by means of which it can extend inde- 
 finitely its limits, without its being poiTible to 
 fay to it, thus far fhalt thou go 3 and no far> 
 the*. 
 
 But they do not appear to have extended 
 the fcience of arithmetic beyond its firft opera- 
 tions. 
 
 Their 
 
( 60 ) 
 
 Their geometry, Including what was ncccf- 
 fary for furveying, as well as for the practice 
 ofaftronomy, is hounded by that eclehrated 
 problem which Pythagoras carried with him 
 into Greece, or discovered an. 
 
 The conftructing of machines they refigned 
 to thofe bv whom the machines were to he 
 ufed. Some recitals, however, in which there 
 is a mixture of fable, feem to indicate their 
 having cultivated themfelves this branch of 
 the fciences, and employed it as one of the 
 means of linking upon the mind by a fern- 
 blaace of prodigy. 
 
 The laws ot motion, the fcjence of the me- 
 chanical powers, attracted not their notice. 
 
 If they ftudied medicine and furgery, that 
 part efpecially the object of which is the 
 treatment of wounds, anatomy was neglected 
 by them. 
 
 Their knowledge in botany, and in natu- 
 ral hiftory, was confined to the articles ufed 
 as remedies, and to fomc plants and minerals, 
 the lingular properties of which might afilft 
 their projects. 
 
 Their chymiftry, reduced to the mod fnn- 
 ple proceflljs, without theory, without me- 
 thod, without analyfis, confided in the making 
 
 certain 
 
( 6i ) 
 
 certain preparations, in the knowledge of a 
 few fecrets relative to medicine or the arts, or 
 in the acquiiition of fome noftrums calculated 
 to dazzle an ignorant multitude, fubjected to 
 chiefs not lefs ignorant than itfelf. 
 
 The progreis of the fciences they confidered 
 but as a fecondary object, as an inftrument 
 of perpetuating or extending their power. 
 They fought Truth only to diffufe errors; and 
 it is not to be wondered they fo feldom found 
 her. 
 
 In the mean time, flow and feeble as was 
 this progrefs of every kind, it would not 
 have been attainable, if thefe men had not 
 known the art of writing, the only way by 
 which traditions can be rendered fecure and 
 permanent, and knowledge, in proportion as 
 it increafes, be communicated and tranfmitted 
 to pofterity. 
 
 Accordingly, hieroglyphic writing was 
 either one of their firft inventions, or had 
 been difcovered prior to the formation of 
 cafts affuming to themfelves the prerogative 
 of inftru&ion. 
 
 As the view of thefe cafts was not to en- 
 lighten, but to govern the mind, they not 
 
 only 
 
( to ) 
 
 only avoided communicating to the people thtf 
 whole of their knowledge, but adulterated 
 with errors fuch portions as they thought 
 proper to difclofe. They taught not what 
 they believed to be true, but what they 
 thought favourable to their own ends. 
 
 Every thing which the people received from 
 them had in it a ftrange mixture of fomething 
 fupernatural, facred, celeftial, which led thefe , 
 men to be regarded as beings fuperior to 
 humanity, as inverted with a divine character, 
 as deriving from heaven itfelf information 
 prohibited to the reft of mankind. 
 
 Thefe men had therefore two doctrines, one 
 for themfelves, the other for the people. Fre- 
 quently even, as they were divided into many 
 orders, each order referred to itfelf its own 
 myftcries. All the inferior orders were at 
 once both knaves and dupes ; and it was only 
 by a few adepts that all the mazes of this hy- 
 pocritical fyftem were underftood and de- 
 veloped. 
 
 No circumftance proved more favourable to 
 the eftablifhmcnt of this double doctrine, than 
 the changes which time, and the ; - urfe 
 
 and mixture of nations, introduced into lan- 
 guage. 
 
( 63 ) 
 
 guage. The double-doctrine men, preferring 
 the old language or that of another nation, 
 thereby fecured the advantage of having one 
 that was underftood only by themfelves. 
 
 The firft mode of writing, which repre- 
 fented things by a painting more or lefs 
 accurate, either of the thing itfelf or of an 
 analogous object, giving place to a more 
 iimple mode, in which the refemblance of 
 thefe objects was nearly effaced, in which 
 fcarcely any figns were employed but fuch a9 
 were in a manner purely conventional, the 
 fecret doctrine came to have a writing, as it 
 had before a language to itfelf 
 
 In the origin and upon the firft intro- 
 duction of language, almofl every word is a 
 metaphor, and every phrafe an allegory. The 
 mind catches at once both the figurative and 
 natural fenfe ; the word fuggefts at the fame 
 inftant with the idea, the analogous image by 
 which it has been exprefTed. But from the habit 
 of employing a word in a figurative fenfe, the 
 mind alternately fixed upon that alone, heed- 
 lefs of the original meaning : and thus the 
 figurative fenfe of a word became gradually 
 its proper and ordinary fignification. 
 
 The 
 
( en ) 
 
 The priefts by whom the firft allegorical 
 language was preferred, employed it with the 
 people, who were no longer capable of dif- 
 •overing its true meaning; and who, ac- 
 cuftomed to take words in one acceptation 
 only, that generally received, pictured to 
 themfelves I know not what abiurd and ri- 
 diculous fables, in exprefhons that conveyed 
 to the minds of the priefts but a plain and 
 fimple truth. The fame ufe was made by 
 the priefts of their facred writing. The 
 people faw men, animals, monfters, wi. 
 the priefts meant only to rcprefent an aftro- 
 nomical phenomenon, an hiftorical occum 
 of the year. 
 
 Thus, for example, the priefts, in their con- 
 templation-, invented, and introduced almoft 
 every where, the metaphyseal fyftem of a 
 great, immenfe and eternal all, of which the 
 wmole of the beings that exiftcd were only 
 parts, of which the various changes obfervable 
 in the univcrfc were but modifications, live 
 heavens ftruck them in no other light than as 
 difperfed through the im- 
 menfity of (pace, pi defcribin .ions 
 
 more or lefa complicate, and phenomena 
 2 purely 
 
( 6S ) 
 
 purely phyfical refulting from their refpective 
 pofitions. They affixed names to thefe con- 
 ftellations and planets, as well as to the fixed 
 or moveable circles, invented with a view to 
 reprefent their fituation and courfe, and ex- 
 plain their appearances. 
 
 But the language, the memorials, employed 
 in exprefling thefe metaphyfical opinions, 
 thefe natural truths, exhibited to the eyes of 
 the people the mod extravagant fyftem of 
 mythology, and became the foundation of 
 creeds the moft abfurd, modes of worfhip the 
 moft fenfelefs, and practices the moft fhame- 
 ful and barbarous. 
 
 Such is the origin of almoft all the re- 
 ligions that are known to us, and which the 
 hypocrify or the extravagance of their in- 
 ventors and their profelytes afterwards loaded 
 with new fables. 
 
 Thefe cafts feized upon education, that 
 they might fafhion mail to a more patient en- 
 durance of chains, embodied as it were with 
 his exiftence, and extirpate the poffibility of 
 his defiring to break them. But, if we would 
 know to what point, even without the aid of 
 fuperftitious terrors, thefe inftitutions, fo de- 
 
 F {Inactive 
 
( C6 ) 
 
 ftruclivc to the human faculties, can extend 
 their baneful power, we muft look for a mo- 
 ment to China ; to that people who feem to 
 have preceded all others in the arts and 
 fciences, only to fee themfelves fuccefTively 
 eclipfed by them all ; to that people whom 
 the knowledge of artillery has not prevented 
 from being conquered by barbarous nations ; 
 where the fciences, of which the numerous 
 fchools are open to every clafs of citizens, 
 alone lead to dignities, and at the fame time, 
 fettered by abfurd prejudices, are condemned 
 to an eternal mediocrity ; laftly, where even 
 the invention of printing has remained an in- 
 ftrument totally ufelefs in advancing the pro- 
 grefs of the human mind. 
 
 Men, whofe intereft it was to deceive, foon 
 felt a diflike to the purluit of truth. Content 
 with the docility of the people, they con- 
 ceived there was no need of further means to 
 fecure its continuance. By degrees they for- 
 got a part of the truths concealed under their 
 allegories ; they preferved no more of their 
 ancient fcience than was ftrictly neceifary to 
 maintain the confidence of their diiciples ; and 
 at laft they became themfelves the dupes of 
 their own fables. 
 
 Then 
 
( 6; ) 
 
 Then was all progrefs of the fciences at a 
 ftand ; fome even of thofe which had been 
 enjoyed by preceding ages, were loft to the 
 generations that followed ; and the human 
 mind, a prey to ignorance and prejudice, was 
 condemned, in thofe vaft empires, to a lhame- 
 ful ftagnation, of which the uniform and un- 
 varied continuance has fo long been a dis- 
 honour to Afia. 
 
 The people who inhabit thefe countries are 
 the only inftance that is to be met with of 
 fuch civilization and fuch decline. Thofe who 
 occupy the reft of the globe either have been 
 flopped in their career, and exhibit an ap- 
 pearance that again brings to our memory the 
 infant days of the human race, or they have 
 been hurried by events through the periods 
 of which we have ftill to illuftrate the 
 hiftory. 
 
 At the epoch we are confidering, thefe 
 very people of Afia had invented alphabetical 
 writing, which they fubftituted in the place 
 of hieroglyphics, probably after having em- 
 ployed that other mode, in which conventional 
 iigns are affixed to every idea, which is the 
 only one that the Chinefe are at prefent ac- 
 quainted with. 
 
 F 2 Hiftory 
 
( C8 ) 
 
 Hiilory and reflection may throw feme 
 light upon the manner in which the gradual 
 tranfition from hieroglyphics to this inter- 
 mediary fort of art, nuift have taken place ; 
 but nothing can inform us with preciiion 
 either in what country, or at what time, 
 alphabetical writing was firft brought into 
 ufe. 
 
 The difcovery was in time introduced into 
 Greece, among a people who have exercifed 
 fo powerful and happy an influence on the 
 progrefs of the human fpecies, whole genius 
 has opened all the avenues to truth, whom 
 nature had prepared, whom fate had deftined 
 to be the benefa&or and guide of all nations 
 and all ages : an honour in which no other 
 people has hitherto fhared. One only nation 
 has fince dared to entertain the hope of pre- 
 fiding in a revolution new in the deftiny of 
 mankind. And this glory both nature and 
 a concurrence of events feem to agree in re- 
 fcrving for her. But let us not feck to pene- 
 trate what an uncertain futurity as yet con- 
 ceals from us. 
 
 FOURTH 
 
( 69 ) 
 
 FOURTH EPOCH. 
 
 Progrefs of the Human Mind in Greece* till 
 the Divijion of the Sciences , about the Age 
 of Alexander* 
 
 X HE Greeks, difgufted with thofe kings, 
 who, calling themfelves the children of the 
 Gods, difgraced humanity by their paflions 
 and crimes, became divided into republics, of 
 which Lacedemonia was the only one that 
 acknowledged hereditary chiefs : but thefe 
 chiefs were kept in awe by other magiftracies, 
 were fubjected, like citizens, to the laws, and 
 were weakened by the divifion of royalty be- 
 tween the two branches of the family of the 
 Heraclides. 
 
 The inhabitants of Macedonia, of Theffaly, 
 and of Epirus, allied to the Greeks by a 
 common origin and the ufe of a fimilar lan- 
 guage, and governed by princes weak, and 
 divided among themfelves, though unable to 
 opprefs* Greece, were yet fufficient to pre- 
 ferve it at the north from the incurfions of 
 Scythian nations, 
 
 F3 At 
 
( 7° ) 
 
 At the weft, Italy, divided into fmall and 
 unconnected ftates, could occafion no appre- 
 henfior.s ; and already nearly the whole of 
 Si ily, and the moll delightful parts of the 
 fouth of Italy, were occupied by Greek colo- 
 nies, forming independent republics, but pre- 
 ferring at the fame time tics of filiation with 
 their mother countries. Other colonies were 
 efta 1 liihed in the iflands of the iEgean fea, 
 and upc n part of the coafts of Afia-Minor. 
 
 Accordingly the union of this part of the 
 Afiatic continent to the vaft empire of Cyrus, 
 was in the fcqnel the only real danger that 
 could threaten the independence of Greece, 
 and the freedom of its inhabitants. 
 
 Tyranny, though more durable in fome 
 colonies, and in thofe particularly the efta- 
 blifhment of which had preceded the extirpa- 
 tion of the royal families, could be confidered 
 only as a tranficnt and partial evil, that in- 
 llicled mifery on the inhabitants of a few 
 towns, but without influencing the general 
 fpirit Qf the nation. 
 
 The Greeks had derived from the eaftern 
 nations their arts, a part of their information, 
 the ule of alphabetical writing, and their fyf- 
 
 tern 
 
( 7« ) 
 
 tern of religion : but it was in confequence of 
 the intercourfe eftablifhed between herfelf and 
 thefe nations by exiles, who fought an afy- 
 lum in Greece, and by Greek travellers, who 
 brought back with them from the Eaft know- 
 ledge and errors. 
 
 The fciences, therefore, could not become 
 in this country the occupation and patrimony 
 of an individual caft. The functions of the 
 priefts were confined to the worfhip of the 
 Gods. Genius might difplay all its energies, 
 without being fettered by the pedantic ob- 
 fervances, the fyftematic hypocrify of a fa- 
 cerdotal college. All men poffefTed an equal 
 right to the knowledge of truth. All might 
 engage in the purfuit of it, and communicate 
 it to all, not in fcraps and parcels, but in its 
 whole extent. 
 
 This fortunate circumftance, ftill more 
 than political freedom, wrought In the hu- 
 man mind, among the Greeks, an independ- 
 ance, the fureft pledge of the rapidity and 
 greatnefs of its future progrefs. 
 
 In the mean time their learned men, their 
 
 fages, as they were called, but who foon 
 
 tpok the more modeft appellation of philofo- 
 
 F 4 phers, 
 
( a ) 
 
 phcrs, or friends pf feience and wifdom, wan-* 
 dcrcd in the immenliiy of the too vaft and 
 comprehenfiye plan which they !ud embraced. 
 Th defirou8 pf penetrating both the na- 
 
 ture n, and f hat pf theGods ; the ori 
 
 of the world, as well as of the human race. 
 They endeavoured to reduce all nature to one 
 principle only, and the phenomena of the 
 univerfe to one law. They attempted to in- 
 clude, in a fingle rule of conduct, all the du- 
 ties of morality, and the fecret of true happi- 
 nefs. 
 
 Thus, inflead of difcovering truths, they 
 forged lyilems ; they neglected the obferva- 
 tion of fads, to purine the chimeras of their 
 imagination ; and being no longer able to 
 fupport their opinions with proofs, they 
 fought to defend them by fubtleties. 
 
 Geometry and aitxonomy, however, were 
 cultivated with fuccefs by thefe men. Greece 
 owed to them the firil elements of thefe fci- 
 ences, and even fome new truths, or at leaft 
 the knowledge of inch as they had brought 
 with them from the l\aft, not as cftablifhed 
 creeds, but as theories, of which they under- 
 ftood the principles and proofs, 
 
 We 
 
( 73 ) 
 
 We even perceive, in the midft of the 
 darknefs of thofe fyftems, two happy idea? 
 beam forth, which will again make their ap- 
 pearance in more enlightened ages. 
 
 Democritus confidered all the phenomena 
 of the univerfe as the refult of the combina- 
 tions and motion of fimple bodies, of a fixed 
 and unalterable form, having received an ori- 
 ginal impulfe, and thence derived a quantity 
 of action that undergoes modifications in the 
 individual atoms, but that in the entire mafs 
 continues always the fame. 
 
 Pythagoras was of opinion that the uni- 
 verfe was governed by a harmony, the prin- 
 ciples of which were to be unfolded by the 
 properties of numbers ; that is, that the whols 
 phenomena of nature depended upon general 
 laws capable of being afcertained by calcula- 
 tion. 
 
 In thefe two doctrines we readily perceive 
 the bold fyftems of Defcartes, and the phila, 
 fophy of Newton. 
 
 Pythagoras either difcovered by his own 
 meditation, or learned from the priefts of 
 pgypt or of Italy, the actual difpofition of 
 the heavenly bodies, and the true fyftem of the 
 
 world, 
 
( 74 ) 
 
 world. This he communicated to the Greeks, 
 But the fyftem was too much at variance 
 with the teftimony of the fenfes, too oppofite 
 to the vulgar opinions, for the feeble proofs 
 by which it could then be fupported to gain 
 much hold upon the mind. Accordingly it 
 was confined to the Pythagorean fchool, and 
 afterwards forgotten with that fchool, again 
 to appear at the clofe of the fixtcentb century, 
 ftrengthened with more certain proofs, by 
 which it now triumphed not only over the 
 repugnance of the fenfes, but over the pre- 
 judices of fuperilition, ftill more powerful 
 and dangerous. 
 
 The Pythagorean fchool was chiefly pre- 
 valent in Upper Greece, where it formed 
 legiflators, and intrepid defenders of the rights 
 of mankind. It fell under the power of the 
 tyrants, one cf whom burnt the Pythago-^ 
 reans in their own fchool. This was fufli- 
 cient, no doubt, to induce them not to abjure 
 philofophy, not to abandon the caufe of the 
 people, but to bear no longer a name become 
 fo dangerous, or obfervc forms that would 
 fcrvc only to wake the lion rage of the ene- 
 mies of liberty and of reafon, 
 
 A 
 
( 75 ) 
 
 ' A grand bafis of every kind of found phi* 
 lofophy is to form for each fcience a precife 
 and accurate language, every term of which 
 fhall reprefent an idea exactly determined and 
 circumfcribed ; and to enable ourfelves to de- 
 termine and circumfcribe the ideas with which 
 the fcience may be converfant, by the mode of 
 a rigorous analyfis. 
 
 The Greeks -on the contrary took advantage 
 of the corruptions of their common language 
 to play upon the meaning of words, to em- 
 barrafs the mind by contemptible equivoques, 
 and lead it aflray by exprefling fucceffively 
 different ideas by the fame fign : a practice 
 which gave acutenefs to the mind, at the 
 fame time that it weakened its ftrength againft 
 chimerical difficulties. Thus this philofophy 
 of words, by filling up the fpaces where 
 human reafon feems to flop before fome ob- 
 flacle above its ftrength, did not aifift imme- 
 diately its progrefs and advancement, but it 
 prepared the way for them ; as we fhall have 
 farther occafion to obferve. 
 
 The courfe of philofophy was flopped from 
 its firft introduction by an error at that time 
 indeed excufable. This was the fixing the 
 
 attention 
 
( 7<S ) 
 
 attention upon queftions incapable perhaps 
 for ever of being folvcd ; fullering the 
 mind o be led away by the importance or 
 fublimity of objects, without thinking whether 
 the means exifted of comparing them ; wilh- 
 ing to eftablifh theories, before fads had been 
 collected, and to frame the univerfe, before 
 it was yet known how to furvcy it. Ac- 
 cording 1 }- we fee Socrates, while he combated 
 the fophifts and expoied their vain fubtleties 
 to ridicule, crying to the Greeks to recal to 
 the earth this philofophy which had loll it- 
 felf in the clouds. Not that he defpifed 
 cither aftronomy, or geometry, or the ob- 
 fervation of the phenomena of nature ; not 
 that he entertained the puerile and falfe idea 
 of reducing the human mind to the fludy of 
 morality alone : on the contrarv, it was to 
 his fchool and his difciples that the mathema- 
 tical and phyfical iciences were indebted for 
 their progrefs ; in the ridicule attempted to 
 be thrown upon him in theatrical reprefen- 
 tations, the reproach which afforded moll: 
 plealantry was that of his cultivating geo- 
 metry, ftudying meteors, drawing geogra- 
 phical charts, and making experiments upon 
 
 burning- 
 
( 77 ) 
 
 burnlng-glaffes, of which, It is pleafant to 
 remark, the earlieft mention that has been 
 tranfmitted to us, we owe to a buffoonery 
 of Ariftophanes. 
 
 Socrates merely wifhed by his advice to 
 induce men to confine themfelves to obje&s 
 which nature has placed within their reach ; 
 to be fure of every ftep already taken before 
 they attempted any new one, and to ftudy the 
 fpace that furrounded them, before they pre- 
 cipitated themfelves at random into an un- 
 known fpace. 
 
 The death of this man is an important 
 event in the hiftory of the human mind. It is 
 the firft crime that the war between philofo- 
 phy and fuperftition conceived and brought 
 forth. 
 
 The burning of the Pythagorean fchool 
 had already fignalized the war, not lefs an- 
 cient, not lefs eager, of the oppreffors of 
 .mankind againft philofophy. The one and 
 the other will continue to be waged as long 
 as there fliall exift priefts or kings upon the 
 earth ; and thefe wars will occupy a confpi- 
 cuous place in the picture that we have ftill 
 to delineate. 
 
 Priefts 
 
( 78 ) • 
 
 Pried s friw with grief the appearance of 
 men, who, cultivating the pow r ers of reafon, 
 afcending to fir ft principles, could not but 
 difcover all the abfurdity of their dogmas, all 
 tli c extravagance of their ceremonies, all the 
 dclufion and fraud of their oracles and pro- 
 digies. This difcovery they were afraid thefe 
 philofophers would communicate to the diici- 
 ples that frequented their fchools ; from whom 
 it might pafs to all thofe who, to obtain autho- 
 rity or credit, were obliged to pay attention 
 to the improvement of their minds ; and thus 
 the prieftly empire be reduced to the moft ig- 
 norant clafs of the people, which might at 
 laft be itfelf alfo undeceived. 
 
 Hypocrify, alarmed and terrified, haftened 
 to bring accufations, againft the philofophers, 
 of impiety to the Gods, that they might not 
 have time to teach the people that thofe Gods 
 were the work of their priefts. The philo- 
 fophers thought to efcape perfecution by 
 adopting, in imitation of the prielts them- 
 felves, the practice of a double doctrine, and 
 they confided to fuch of their difciples only 
 whofe fidelity had been proved, doctrines that 
 too openly offended vulgar prejudices. 
 
 But 
 
( 79 ) 
 
 But the priefts reprefented to the people 
 the mod fimple truths of natural philofophy 
 as blafphemies ; and Anaxagoras was profe- 
 cuted for having dared to affert, that the fua 
 was larger than Peloponnefus. 
 
 Socrates could not efcape their fury. There 
 was in Athens no longer a Pericles to watch 
 over the fafety of genius and of virtue. Be- 
 fides, Socrates was ftill more culpable. His 
 enmity to the fophifts, and his zeal to bring 
 back the attention of mifguided philofophy 
 to the moft ufeful objects, announced to the 
 priefts that truth alone was the end he had in 
 view ; that he did not wifh to enforce upon 
 men a new fyftem, and fubjecl their imagi- 
 nation to his ; but that he was defirous of 
 teaching them to make ufe of their own rea- 
 fon : and of all crimes this is what facerdo- 
 tal gride knows leaft how to pardon. 
 
 It was at the very foot of the tomb of So- 
 crates that Plato dictated the leifons which 
 he had received from his mafter. 
 
 His enchanting ftile, his brilliant imagina- 
 tion, the cheerful or dignified colouring, the 
 ingenious and happy traits, that, in his dia- 
 logues, difpel the drynefs of philofophical 
 
 difcuffion ; 
 a 
 
( So ) 
 
 difcuffion ; the maxims of a mild and pure 
 morality which he knew how to infufe into 
 them ; the art with which he hrings his per- 
 S into action, and preserves to each his 
 diilincr... character ; all thole beauties, which 
 time and the revolutions of opinion have 
 been unable to tarnifh, muft doubtlefs have 
 obtained a lavourable reception for the viiion- 
 ary ideas that too often form the bafis of his 
 works, and that abufe of words which his 
 mailer had fo much cenfured in the fophifts, 
 but from which he could not preferve the firft 
 of his difciples. 
 
 In reading thefe dialogues we are aftonifhed 
 at their being the production of a philofophcr 
 who, by an infeription placed on the door of 
 his fchool, forbad the entrance of any o 
 who had not ftudied geometry ; and that he, 
 who maintains with fuch confidence fyftems* 
 fo far fetched and fo frivolous, fliould have 
 been the founder of a feci by whom, for the 
 firft time, the foundations of the certainty of 
 
 human knowledge were fubje£ted to a fevere 
 
 examination, and even Others made to trem- 
 ble that a more enlightened reafon might fa 
 been induced to refpe& 
 
 But 
 
( 8i ) 
 
 But the contradiction difappears when we 
 confider that in his dialogues Plato never fpeaks 
 in his own perfon ; that Socrates, his mafter, 
 is made to exprefs himfelf with the modefty of 
 doubt ; that the fy Items are exhibited in the 
 names of thofe who were, or whom Plato 
 fuppofed to be, the authors of them ; that 
 hereby thefe dialogues are a fchool of pyrrho- 
 nifm, and that Plato has known how to dis- 
 play in them at once the adventurous imagi- 
 nation of a learned man, amufing himfelf 
 with combining and diffe&ing fplendid hypo- 
 thefes, and the referve of a philofopher, giving 
 fcope to his fancy, but without fuffering him- 
 felf to be hurried away by it ; becaufe his 
 reafon, armed with a falutary doubt, had 
 wherewithal to defend itfelf againft illufions* 
 however feducing might be their charms. 
 
 The fchools, in which were perpetuated 
 the doctrine, and efpecially the principles and 
 forms of a firft inftitutor, to which however 
 the refpective fucceffors by no means obferved 
 a lervile adherence, thefe fchools pofTeffed 
 the advantage of uniting together, by the 
 ties of a liberal fraternity, men intent upon 
 penetrating the fecrets of nature. If the opi- 
 G nion 
 
( 32 ) 
 
 nion of the maflcr had frequently an influence 
 in them that ought to belong only to the 
 province of reafon, and the progrefs of know- 
 ledge was thereby fufpended ; yet did they 
 (till more contribute to its lpeedy and exten- 
 iive propagation, at a time when, printing 
 being unknown, and manufcripts exceedingly 
 rare, thefe inftitutions, the fame of which at- 
 tracted pupils from every part of Greece, 
 were the only powerful means of cherifhing 
 in that country a tafte for philofophy, and 
 of diffeminating new truths. 
 
 The rival fchools contended with a degree 
 of animofity that produced a fpirit of party 
 or feci ; and not feldom was the intereft of 
 truth facrificed to the fuccefs of fome tenet, 
 in which every member of the feci; confidered 
 Jiis pride in a manner as concerned. The per- 
 fonal paflion of making converts corrupted 
 the more generous one of enlightening man- 
 kind. But at the lame time, this rivalfhip 
 kept the mind in a Mate of activity that was 
 not without its ufc. The continual fight of 
 fuch difputes, the intereft that was taken ifi 
 thefc combats of opinion, awakened and at- 
 
 ied to the Rudy of philofophy a multitude 
 
 of 
 
( 8 3 ) 
 
 Of men, whom the mere love of truth could 
 neither have allured from their bufinefs and 
 pleafure, nor even have roufed from their 
 indolence. 
 
 Iri fhort, as thefe fchools, thefe feds, which 
 the Greeks had the wifdom never to intro- 
 duce into the public inftitutions, remained 
 perfectly free ; as every one had the power 
 of opening another fchool, or forming a new 
 fed, at his pleafure, there was no caufe to 
 appreherld that abafement of reafon, which, 
 with the majority of other nations, was an 
 infurmountable obftacle to the advancement 
 of the human mind. 
 
 Let us confider what was the influence of 
 the philofophers of Greece on the under- 
 Handing, manners, laws and governments of 
 that country; an influence that muftbe afcribed 
 in great meafure to their not having, and 
 even not wifhing to have, a political exift- 
 ence ; to its being held as a rule of condud 
 common to almoft all their feds, voluntarily 
 to keep aloof from public affairs ; and laftly, 
 to their affeding to diftinguifh themfelves 
 from other men by their lives, as well as 
 their opinions, 
 
 G 2 In 
 
( 84 ) 
 
 Iii delineating thcfe different fects, we fhall 
 attend lei's to the fyftcms, and more to the 
 principles of their philolbphy ; we fhall not 
 attempt, as has frequently been done, to ex- 
 hibit a precife view of the abfurd doctrines 
 which a language become almoft unintelli- 
 gible conceals from us ; but fhall endeavour 
 to fhew by what general e/rors they were fe- 
 ci need into thofe deceitful paths, and to find 
 the origin of thefe in the natural courfe of 
 the human mind. 
 
 Above all things we fhall be careful to dis- 
 play the progrefs of thofe fciences that really 
 deferved the appellation, and the fucceffivc 
 improvements that were introduced into them. 
 
 At thig epoch philofophy embraced them 
 all, medicine excepted, which was already 
 feparated from it. The writings of Hippo- 
 crates will fhew us what was at that period 
 the ftate of this fcience, as well as of thole 
 naturally connected with it, but which had 
 yet no cxiftencc diftindl from that connec- 
 tion. 
 
 The mathematical fciences had been culti- 
 vated with fuccefs in the fchools of Thale* 
 and of Pythagoras. Meanwhile they role 
 
 thert 
 
( s 5 ) 
 
 there very little above the point at which they 
 had flopped in the facerdotal colleges of the 
 eaftern nations. But from the birth of Plato's 
 fchool they foared infinitely above that bar- 
 rier, which the idea of confining them to an 
 immediate utility and .practice had erected. 
 
 This philofopher was the firft who folved 
 the problem of the^duplication of the cube, by 
 the hypothecs, indeed, of a continued mo- 
 tion ; but the procefs was ingenious, and 
 ftrictly accurate. His early difciples difco- 
 yered the conic fections, and demonftrated 
 their principal properties ; thereby opening 
 upon the human mind that vaft horifon of 
 knowledge, where, as long as the world 
 fliall endure, it may exercife its powers with- 
 -out ceafing, while at every ftep the horifon 
 retires as the mind advances. 
 
 The fciences connected with politics did 
 not derive from philofophy alone their pro- 
 grefs among the Greeks. In thefe fmall re- 
 publics, jealous of preferring both their in- 
 dependence and their liberty, the practice was 
 almoft generally prevalent of confiding to one 
 man, not the power of making laws, but 
 the function of digefting and prefenting them 
 G 3 to 
 
( 86 ) 
 
 to the people, by whom they were examined, 
 and from whom they received their direct 
 fa net ion. 
 
 Thus the people impofed a talk on the 
 philofopher, whole wifdom or whole virtues 
 had recommended him to their confidence, 
 but they conferred on him no authority : 
 they excreiled alone and of themfelves what 
 wc have fmce called by the name of legifla- 
 tive power. But the practice, fo fatal, of 
 calling fuperftition to the aid of political in- 
 flitutions, has too often corrupted the exe- 
 cution of an idea fo admirably fitted to give 
 that fyftematic unity to the laws of a country 
 which alone can render their operation fure 
 and eafy, as well as maintain the duration of 
 them. Nor had politics yet acquired prin- 
 ciples fuffieiently invariable not to fear that 
 the legislators might introduce into thefe in- 
 flitutions their prejudices and their paffion>. 
 
 Their object could not be, as yet, to found 
 upon the bafis of reafon, upon the rig] 
 which all men have equally received Iron 
 nature, upon the maxims of univerial jullicc, 
 the fupcrllruciure of a focicty of men equal 
 : but merely to eftablifh laws bj 
 
 which 
 
( 8 7 ) 
 
 which the hereditary members of a iociety, 
 already exifting, might preferve their liberty, 
 live fecure from injuftice, and, by exhibiting 
 an impofing appearance to their neighbours, 
 continue in the enjoyment of their independ- 
 ence. 
 
 As it was fuppofed that thefe laws, almoft 
 univerfally connected with religion, and con- 
 fecrated by oaths, were to endure for ever, 
 it was lefs an object of attention . to fecure to 
 a people the m^ans of effecting, in a pe?xe- 
 able manner, their reform, than to guard from 
 every poffible change fuch as were fundamen- 
 tal, and to take care that the reforms of de- 
 tail neither incroached upon the fyftem, nor 
 corrupted the fpirit of them. 
 
 Such inftitutions were fought for as were 
 calculated to cherifh and give energy to the 
 love of country, in which was included a 
 love of its Iegiflation and even ufages ; fuch 
 an organization of powers, as would fecure 
 the execution of the laws againft the negli- 
 gence or corruption of magiftrates, and the 
 reftlefs difpofition of the multitude. 
 
 The rich, who alone were in a capacity 
 
 of acquiring knowledge, by feizing on the 
 
 G 4 reins 
 
( 88 ) 
 
 reins of authority might opprcfs tlie poor, 
 and compel them to throw themfelves into 
 the arms of a tyrant. The ignorance and 
 ficklenefi of the people, and its jcalouly of 
 powerful citizens, might fuggeft to fuch citi- 
 zens both the defire and the means of cfla- 
 bliihing ariftocratic defpotifm, or of furren- 
 d ering an enfeebled ftatc to the ambition of its 
 neighbours. Obliged to guard at once againfl 
 both thefe rocks, the Greek legiflators had 
 recourie to combinations more or lefs happy, 
 but always bearing the (lamp of this faciei ty, 
 this artifice, which accordingly character! fed 
 the general fpirit of the nation. 
 
 It would be difficult to lind in modern re- 
 publics, or even in the plans fketched by phi- 
 lofophers, a fmgle inflitution of which the 
 Greek republics did not fuggeft the outlines, 
 or furniih the example. For, in the Am- 
 phiclyonic league, as well as in that of the 
 Etolians, Arcadians, Achacans, we have in- 
 ftances of federal conftitutions, of a union 
 more or Left clef, ; and therg were eftablifhed 
 a lcls barbarous Fight of nations, and im i 
 Hbe e between theft dif- 
 
 ferent pt >ple, connected by a common ori- 
 gin, 
 
( 8 9 ) 
 
 gin, by the ufe of the fame language, and by 
 a fimilarity of manners, opinions and religious 
 perfuafions. 
 
 The mutual relations of agriculture, in- 
 duftry and commerce, with the laws and con- 
 ftitution of a ftate, their influence upon its 
 profperity, power, freedom, could not have 
 efcaped the obfervation of a people ingenious 
 and active, and at the fame time watchful of 
 the public intereft : and accordingly among 
 them are perceived the firft traces of that 
 fcience, fo comprehenfive and ufeful, known 
 at prefent by the name of political economy. 
 
 The obfervation alone of eftabliflied go- 
 vernments was therefore fufficient fpeedily to 
 convert politics into an extenfive fcience. 
 Thus in the writings even of the philofo- 
 pliers, it is a fcience rather of fads, and, if I 
 may fo fpeak, empirical, than a true theory 
 founded upon general principles, drawn from 
 nature, and acknowledged by reafon. Such 
 is the point of view in which we ought to 
 regard the political ideas of Ariftotle and 
 Plato, if we would difcover their meaning, 
 and form of them a juft eftimate. 
 
 Almoft 
 
( 9° ) 
 
 Almoft all the Greek inftitutions fuppofe 
 the exiftence of flavery, and the poflibility 
 of uniting together, in a public place, the 
 whole community of citizens : two moil im- 
 portant diftinctions, of which we ought never 
 to lofe fight, if we would judge rightly of the 
 effect of thofe inftitutions, particularly on the 
 extenfive and populous nations of modern times. 
 But upon the firft we cannot reflect without 
 the painful idea, that at that period the molt 
 perfect forms of government had for object 
 the liberty or happinefs of at mod but half 
 the human fpecies. 
 
 With the Greeks, education was an im- 
 portant part of polity. Men were formed for 
 their country, much more than for them- 
 felves, or their family. This principle can 
 only be embraced by communities little po- 
 pulous, in which it is more pardonable to fup- 
 pofe a national intereft, feparatc from the 
 common intereft of humanity. It is practi- 
 cable only in countries where the moft painful 
 labours of culture and of the arts are per- 
 formed by (laves. This branch of education 
 w r as reftricted almoft entirely to fuch bodily 
 ewerciies, fuch manners and habits as were 
 
 calcife 
 
( 9i ) 
 
 calculated to excite an exclufive patriotifm : 
 the other branches were acquired, as a mat- 
 ter of free choice, in the fchools of the phi- 
 lofophers or rhetoricians, and the (hops of the 
 artifts ; and this freedom was a farther caufe 
 of the fuperiority of the Greeks. 
 
 In their polity, as in their philofophy, a 
 general principle is obfervable, to which hif- 
 tory fcarcely furnifhes any exceptions : they 
 aimed lefs in their laws at extirpating the 
 caufes of an evil, than deftroying its effects, 
 by oppofing thefe caufes one to another ; 
 they wifhed rather to take advantage of pre- 
 judices and vices, than to difperfe or fupprefs 
 them ; they attended more frequently to the 
 means by which to deform and brutalize 
 man, to inflame, to miflead his fenfibility, 
 than to refine and purify the inclinations and 
 defires which are the neceflary refult of his 
 moral conftitution : errors occafioned by the 
 more general one of miftaking for the man of 
 nature, him who exhibited in his character 
 the adtual ftate of civilization, that is to 
 fay, man corrupted by prejudices, by the in- 
 tereft pf factitious paffions, and by fpcial ha- 
 |t>its. 
 
 This 
 
( 9* ) 
 
 This obfcrvation is of the more imports 
 ance, and it will be the more neceflary tg 
 develope its origin, in order the better to de- 
 ftroy it, as k has l)een tranfmitted to our own 
 age, and frill too often corrupts both our mo- 
 rals and our politics. 
 
 If we compare the legiflation, and parti- 
 cularly the form and rules of judicature in 
 the Greek, or in the eaftern nations, we mail 
 find that, in fome, the laws are a yoke to 
 which force has bowed the necks of flaves ; 
 in others, the conditions of a common com- 
 pact between the members of the fociety. In 
 fome the object of legal forms is, that the 
 will of the mafter be executed ; in others that 
 the liberty of the citizens be not opprefled. In 
 fome the law is made for the party that im- 
 pofes it ; in others for the party that is to 
 fubmit to it. In fome the fear of the law is 
 enforced, in others the love of it inculcated. 
 And thefe diftinctions we alfo find in modern 
 nations, between the laws of a free people, 
 and thofe of a country of flaves. In Greece 
 we (hall find that man poilcfTed at Icaft a 
 confeioufnefs of his lights,- if he did not yet 
 know them, if he could not fathom the na- 
 ture, 
 
( 93 ) 
 
 ture, and embrace and circumfcrlbe the ex- 
 tent of them. 
 
 At this epoch, of the firft dawn of philo- 
 fophy and firft advance of the fciences among 
 the Greeks, the fine arts rofe to a degree of 
 perfection known at that time to no other 
 people, and fcarcely equalled fince by almoft 
 any nation. Homer lived at the period of 
 thofe diffentions which accompanied the fall 
 of the tyrants, and the formation of re- 
 publics. Sophocles, Euripides, Pindar, Thu- 
 eydides, Demofthenes^ Phidias, Apelles, were 
 the contemporaries of Socrates or of Plato. 
 
 We fhall give a delineation of the progrefs 
 of thofe arts ; we fhall enquire into its caufes ; 
 we fhall diftinguifh between what may be 
 confidered as a perfection of the art itfelf, 
 and what is to be afcribed only to the happy 
 genius of the artift : a diftinction calculated to 
 deftroy thofe narrow limits to which the im- 
 provement of the fine arts has been reftricled. 
 We fhall explain the influence that forms of 
 government, fyftems of legiflation, and the 
 fpirit of religious obfervances have exercifed 
 on their progrefs, and fhall examine what 
 they have derived from the advances of phi- 
 
 lo fophy, 
 
( 9+ ) 
 
 lofophy, and what philofophy itfelf has de- 
 rived from them. 
 
 We (hall fhew that liberty, arts, know- 
 ledge, have contributed to the fuavity and 
 melioration of manners ; that the vices of the 
 Greeks, fo often afcribed to their civilization, 
 were thofc of ruder ages, and which the ac- 
 quirements we have mentioned have in all 
 inftances qualified, when they have proved 
 unable to extirpate them. We (hall demon- 
 fixate that the eloquent declamations which 
 have been made againft the arts and fciences, 
 are founded upon a miftaken application of 
 hiftory ; and that, on the contrary, the pro- 
 grefs of virtue has ever accompanied that of 
 knowledge, as the progrefs of corruption has 
 always followed or announced its decline. 
 
 FIFTH 
 
95 ) 
 
 FIFTH EPOCH. 
 
 Progrefs of the Sciences, from their Divifwn to 
 
 their Decline. 
 
 JL LATO was ftill living when Ariftotle, his 
 difciple, opened, in Athens itfelf, a fchool, the 
 rival of that of his mallei - . 
 
 He not only embraced all the fciences, but 
 applied the method obferved in philofophy to 
 the arts of eloquence and poetry. He was 
 the firft whofe daring genius conceived the 
 propriety of extending this method to every 
 thing attainable by human intelligence ; fince, 
 as this intelligence exercifed in all cafes the 
 fame faculties, it ought invariably to be 
 governed by the fame laws. 
 
 The more comprehenfive was the plan he 
 formed, the more he felt the necefTity of 
 feparating the different parts of it, and of 
 fixing with greater precifion the limits of 
 each. And from this epoch the majority 
 of philofophers, and even whole feds, are 
 
 fcen 
 
( 96 ) 
 
 feen confining their attention to fome only 
 of thofe parts. 
 
 The mathematical and phyfical fciences" 
 formed of themfelves a grand divifion. As 
 they were founded upon calculation and the 
 oblervance of the phenomena of nature, as 
 what they taught was independent of the 
 opinions which embroiled the feds, they fe- 
 parated themfelves from philofophy, over 
 which thefe feds ftill reigned. They accord- 
 ingly became the ftudy of the learned, who 
 had the wifdom almoft univerfally to keep 
 aloof from the difputes of the fchools, which 
 were conducted in a manner calculated rather 
 to promote the tranfient fame of the pro- 
 feflbrs, than aid the progrefs of philofophy 
 itfelf. And foon this word ceafed to be em- 
 ployed, except for the purpofe of exprefling 
 the general principles of the fyftem of the 
 world, metaphyfics, logic, and morals, of 
 which the fcience of politics formed a part. 
 
 Fortunately the era of this divifion pre- 
 ceded the period in which Greece, after long 
 ftruggles, was deilined to lofe her freedom. 
 The feienees found, in the e'apital of ligypt, 
 an afylum, which, by the deipots who go- 
 verned 
 
( 97 ) 
 
 vefned it, would probably haW been refilled 
 to philofophy. But as the princes derived no 
 lnconfulerable portion of their riches and 
 power from the united commerce of the Medi- 
 terranean and Afiatic leas, it was their intereft 
 to encourage fciences ufeftil to navigation and 
 commerce. 
 
 Accordingly, they efcaped the fpeedy de- 
 cline that was foon experienced by philo- 
 fophy> the fplendour of which vanifhed with 
 the departure of liberty. The tyranny of the 
 Romans, fo regardlefs of the progrefs of 
 knowledge, did not extend to Egypt till a late 
 period, and when the town of Alexandria was 
 become neceflary to the fubfiftance of *Rome. 
 By its population, its wealth, the great influx 
 of ftrangers, the eftablifhments formed by the 
 Ptolemies, and which the conquerors did not 
 give themfelves the trouble to deitrov, this 
 town, the centre of commerce, and already 
 pofifefTing wherewith to be the metropolis of 
 the fciences, was furficient of itielf to the pre- 
 fervation of their facred flame. 
 
 The feci: of Academics, in which, from its 
 origin, the mathematics had been cultivated, 
 and which confined its philolbphical initnic- 
 
 H tion 
 
( 93 ) 
 
 tion almoft entirely to proving the utility of 
 doubt, and afecrtaining tlie narrow limits of 
 certainty, muft i f courie have been a fed of 
 men of learning ; and as the doctrine had no- 
 thing in it calculated to give alarm to defpots, 
 it fl ou ri died in the fchool of Alexandria. 
 
 The theory of conic lections, with the 
 method of employing it, whether for the 
 confiructing of geometrical loci, or for the 
 folution of problems, and the difcovery of 
 fome other curves, extended the limits, hi- 
 therto fo narrow, of the icience of geometry. 
 
 Archimedes difcovered die quadrature of 
 the parabola, and meafured the lurface of the 
 fphere. Thefe were the iirft advances in the 
 theory of limits which determines the ulti- 
 mate value of a quantity, or, in other words, 
 the value to which the quantity in an infinite 
 progreffion inceflantly approaches, but never 
 attains ; that theory which teaches how to 
 determine the ratios of evaneicent quantiti 
 and by other procefles to deduce from th( 
 ratios the proportions of finite taagnitucfc 
 in a word, that very calculus which the 
 
 derns, with more pride than :, have 
 
 termed the calculus of infinities. It was Ar- 
 
 chime 
 
( 99 T 
 
 rhimedes who firft determined the propo: .. 
 t>f the diameter of a circle to its circum- 
 ference in numbers nearly true ; who taught 
 us how to obtain values approaching nearer 
 and nearer to accuracy, and made known the 
 methods of approximation, that happy re- 
 medy for the defects of the known methods, 
 and frequently of the fcience itfelf. 
 
 He may, in fome refpecT:, be confidered as 
 the father of rational or theoretical mechanics. 
 To him we are indebted for the theory of the 
 lever, as well as the difcovery of that principle 
 of hydroftatics, that a body immerfed in any 
 fluid, lofes a portion of its weight equal to the 
 mafs of fluid it has difplaced. 
 
 The fcrew that bears his name, his burning 
 glafles, the prodigies of the fiege of Syracufe, 
 atteft his fkill in the art of conftrucliing me- 
 chanical inftrurnents, which the learned had 
 neglected, becaufe the principles of the theory 
 at that time known were inadequate to the 
 attainment. Thele grand difcoveries, thefe 
 new fciences, place Archimedes among thofe 
 happy geniufes whofe life forms an epoch in 
 the hiftory of man, and whofe exigence may 
 be confidered as one of the munificent gifts of 
 nature. 
 
 H 2 It 
 
( ioo ) 
 
 It is In the fchool of Alexandria that \\c 
 find the firft traces of algebra ; that is to fay, 
 of the calculation of quantities considered 
 (imply as fuch. The nature of the problems 
 propofed and refolved in the work of Dio- 
 phantus, made it necefliiry that number, 
 mould be conlidered as having a general value, 
 undetermined in their particular relations/and 
 fubjecT: only to certain conditions. 
 
 But this fcience had not then, as at prefent, 
 its appropriate iigns, methods and technical 
 operations. The general value of quantities 
 was reprefented by words ; and it was only 
 by means of a feries of reafonings that the 
 folution of problems was difcovered and de- 
 veloped. 
 
 The obfervations of the Chaldeans, trans- 
 mitted to Ariftotle by Alexander, accelerated 
 the progrefs of aftronomy. The moft bril- 
 liant portion of them was due to the genius 
 of Hipparchus. And if, after him in aftro- 
 nomy, as after Archimedes in geometry and 
 mechanics, we no longer perceive thole dii- 
 Coverics and acquisitions which change, as it 
 were, the whole face of a fcience, they yet 
 lor a long time continued to improve, ex- 
 " pand, 
 
( io, ) 
 
 panel, and enrich themfelves by the truths of 
 detail. 
 
 In his hiftory of animals, Ariftotle had 
 laid down the principles and furnifhed an 
 excellent model for obferving with accuracy, 
 and defcribing according to fyftem, the ob- 
 jects of nature, as well as for claffing thofe 
 obfervations, and catching with readinefs the 
 general remits which they exhibited. The 
 hiftory of plants and of minerals were treated 
 afterwards by others, but with inferior pre- 
 cifion, and with views lefs extenfive and lef$ 
 philofophical. 
 
 The progrefs of anatomy was very flow, 
 not only becaufe religious prejudices would 
 not admit of the dhTe&ion of dead bodies, 
 but from the vulgar opinion which regarded 
 the touch of fuch bodies as a fort of moral 
 defilement. 
 
 The medical fyftem of Hippocrates was 
 nothing more than a fcience of obiervation, 
 which as yet had led only to empirical me- 
 thods. The fpirit of feci:, and the love of hy- 
 pothetical pofitions foon infected it. But if 
 the number of errors was greater than that of 
 new truths, if the prejudices or fyftems of the 
 H 3 prac- 
 
( 102 ) 
 
 practitioners did more harm than their ob- 
 fervations were calculated to do good, yet it 
 cannot he denied that the fcience made, 
 during this epoch, a real, though very flight 
 progrefs. 
 
 Ariftotle introduced into natural philofophy 
 neither the accuracy nor tlie prudent refer ve 
 which characterise his hiftory of animals. 
 fie paid tribute to the cuftoms of his age, to 
 the tafte of the fehools, by disfiguring it with 
 thole hypothetical data, which, from their 
 vague nature, explain every thing with a fort 
 of readinefs, becauie they are able to explain 
 nothing with precifion. 
 
 Bcfides, obfervation alone was not enough ; 
 
 ixperimeuts were neceffary: thefe demanded 
 
 muniments ; and it appears that at that tim* 
 
 men had not fufficiently collected facts, had 
 
 not examined them with the proper minutc- 
 
 nefs, to fetl the want, to conceive the idea 
 
 this mode of interrogating nature, and 
 
 v to anfwer us. 
 
 At this epoch alio, the hiftory of the pro- 
 is of natural philofophy is confined to a 
 
 . I! number of truths, acquired by chance, 
 and derived from obier furnilhed b) 
 
 the 
 
( I0 3 ) 
 
 the practice of the arts, rather than from the 
 refearches of the learned. Hydraulics, and 
 efpecially optics, prefent us with a harveft 
 Ibmewhat lefs fterile ; but thefe aifo confift 
 rather of facts, which were remarked becaufe 
 they fell in the way and forced attention, than 
 of theories or phylical laws difcovered by 
 experiments, or obtained by meditation and 
 ftudy. 
 
 Agriculture had hitherto been confined to 
 the fimple routine and a few regulations, which 
 priefts, in tranfmitting them to the people, 
 had corrupted with their fuperftkion. It be- 
 came with the Greeks, and ftill more with 
 the Romans, an important and refpected art ; 
 and men of great eft learning employed them- 
 selves in collecting its ufages and precepts. 
 Thefe collections of facts, precifely defcribed 
 and judicioufly arranged, were ufeful to en- 
 lighten the practical cultivator, and to extend 
 fuch methods as had proved valuable ; but 
 the age of experiment and regular deduction 
 was ftill very far off, 
 
 The mechanic arts began to connect them- 
 selves with the fciences. Philofophers exa- 
 mined the labours, fought the origin, and 
 H 4 ftudied 
 
( *°4 ) 
 
 ftudied the hiftory of theie arts ; at the fame 
 tin;. bribed the pfocefies and fruits of 
 
 thofe whicl cultivated in different coun- 
 
 tries, and were induced to collect together 
 their observations, and tranlmit them to 
 pofterify. 
 
 Thus Plinv, in the comprehensive plan of 
 
 liis natural hiftory, includes man, nature and 
 the arts. This work is a valuable and com- 
 plete inventory of what at that time con- 
 stituted the true ilores of the human mind : 
 nor can his claims to our gratitude be fuper- 
 feded by the charge, however merited, ot I 
 having collected with too little difcriinination 
 and too much credulity, what the ignorance 
 or lying vanity of hiltorians prefented to his 
 avidity, not to be lariated, of knowing every 
 tiling. 
 
 In the midfl of the dee line of Greece, 
 Athens, which, in the duvs of its power, had 
 honoured philosophy and letters, owed to 
 them, in its turn, the preferring for a lorn 
 period Tome remains of its ancient fplendour. 
 In its tribune, indeed, the dellinies ofGltt 
 and Aiia were no longer decided ; it was, 
 however, in the fchools of Athens that the 
 
 Romans 
 
( loj ) 
 
 Romans acquired the fecrets of eloquence ; 
 and it was at the feet of Demofthenes' lamp 
 that the firft of their orators was formed. 
 
 The academy, the lyceum, the portico, the 
 gardens of Epicurus, were the nurfery and 
 principal fchool of the four fects that difputed 
 the empire of philofophy. 
 
 It was taught in the academy, that every 
 thing is doubtful ; that man can attain, as to 
 any object, neither abfolute certainty nor a 
 true comprehension ; in fine, and it was 
 difficult to go farther, that he could not be 
 fure of this very impoflibility of knowing 
 any thing, and that it was proper to doubt 
 even of the neceffity of doubting. 
 
 The opinions of different philofophers were 
 explained, defended and oppofed in this 
 fchool, but merely as hypothefes calculated to 
 exercife the mind and illuftrate more fully, 
 by the uncertainty which accompanied thefe 
 difputes, the vanity of human knowledge 
 and abfurdity of the dogmatical confidence of 
 the other feels. 
 
 This doctrine, if it go no farther than to 
 difcountenance reafoning upon words to 
 which we can affix no clear and precife ideas; 
 
 than 
 
( io6 ) 
 
 than to proportion our belief in any pro- 
 of probability it bears ; 
 in, as to every fpecies of know- 
 ledge, the bounds of certainty we are able to 
 acquire, — this fceptieifm is tlien rational ; bat 
 when it extends to demon ft rated truths; when 
 it attacks the principles of morality, it be- 
 comes either weaknefs or infanity : and fuch 
 is the extreme into which the fophifls have 
 fallen, who fucceeded in the academy the 
 jirll difciples of Plato. 
 
 We iliall follow the fteps of thefc fceptics, 
 and exhibit the caufe of their errors. We 
 mall examine what, in the extravagance of 
 their doctrine, is to be afcribed to the paffion, 
 lb prevalent, of diftinguifhing themfelves by 
 whimfical opinions ; and iliall fhew, that, 
 though fuiTiciently refuted by the infiincl of 
 other men, by the inland which directed 
 thefc fophiils themfelves in the ordinary con- 
 dud of life, they were neither properly r©r 
 futed, nor even undcrilond, by the philor 
 fophers of the day. 
 
 Meanwhile tl ptical mania did not 
 
 thi vs I f apadei . and the 
 
 . iu;l iu , [ -el)-, 
 
 honeil, 
 
( io 7 ) 
 
 fconeft, independent of the interefts and con- 
 ventions of men, and even of their exiftence, 
 an idea that, imprinted on the foul, becomes 
 the principle of duty and the law of our 
 actions, this doctrine, derived from the Dia^- 
 logues of Plato, was ftill inculcated in his 
 fchool, and conftituted the bafis of moral in- 
 struction, 
 
 Ariftotle was no better fkilled than his 
 mafter in the art of analyfing ideas ; that 
 is, of afcending ftep by ftep to the moil 
 iimple ideas that have entered into their com- 
 bination, of obferving the formation of thefe 
 fimple ideas themfelves, of following in thefe 
 operations the regular procedure of the mind, 
 and developement. of its faculties. 
 
 His metaphyfics, like thofe of the other 
 philofophers, confifted of a vague doctrine, 
 founded fometimes upon an abufe of word , 
 and fometimes upon mere hypothefes. 
 
 To him, however, we owe that important 
 truth, that firft ftep in the fcience of the 
 human mind, that our ideas, even such 
 
 AS ARE MOST ABSTRACT, MOST STRICTLY 
 INTELLECTUAL, lb tO fpeak, HAVE 
 ORIGIN I* OUR SENSATIONS. Ellt this 
 
 truth 
 
( io8 ) 
 
 truth he failed to fupport by any demon- 
 fixation, ft wras rather the intuitive perccp- 
 
 ■\ of a man of genius, than the refult of a 
 of obfervations accurately analyfed, 
 and fynxmatically combined, in order to de- 
 rive from them ibine general truth. Ac- 
 cordingly, this germ, caft in an ungrateful 
 foil, produced no ufeful fruit till after a pe- 
 riod of more than twenty centuries. 
 
 Ariftotle, in his dialectics, having reduced 
 *11 demonftrations to a train of arguments 
 drawn up in a fyllogiftical form, and then 
 divided all imaginable propofitions under four 
 heads, teaches us to difcover, among the 
 poffible combinations of propofitions of thefe 
 four claries in collections of three and three, 
 thofe which anfwer to the nature of con- 
 clulive fyllogifms, and may be admitted with- 
 out apprehenlion. In this wav we may judge 
 of the cogency or weaknefs of an argument, 
 merely by knowing to what daft it belongs j 
 and thus the art of right reafoning is iulv- 
 
 bed in (nine rueafure to technical rules. 
 
 This ingenious idea has hitherto remained 
 
 uielefs; but perhaps it may one day become 
 
 the leading ftep tow aids a perfection which 
 
 the 
 
( tog ) 
 
 the art of reafoning and difcuflion feems flili 
 to expect. 
 
 Every virtue, according to Ariftotle, is 
 placed between two vices, of which one is its 
 defed, and the other its excefs ; it is only, as 
 it were, one of thofe natural inclinations 
 which realbn equally forbids us too ftrongly 
 to refill, and too flavifhly to obey. 
 
 This general principle mull have been 
 fuggefted to him by one of thofe vague ideas 
 of order and conformity, fo common at that 
 time in philofophy ; but he proved its truth, 
 by applying it to the vocabulary of words 
 which, in the Greek language, exprefled what 
 were called the virtues. 
 
 About the fame period, two new feels, 
 founding their fyftems of morality, at leaft in 
 appearance, upon two contrary principles, 
 divided the general mind, extended their in- 
 fluence beyond the limits of their fchools, 
 and haftened the fall of Greek fuperflition ; 
 but, unhappily, a fuperftition more gloomy, 
 more dangerous, more inimical to knowledge, 
 was foon to fucceed it. 
 
 The ftoics made virtue and happinefs con- 
 fift in the pofleffion of a foul alike infeniible 
 
 to 
 
t <*> ) 
 
 to pleafurc and to pain, free from all 
 pafhons, fuperior to every fear, every weak* 
 nefs, knowing no abfolute good but virtue, no 
 real evil but remorfe. They believed that 
 man was capable of raifing liimfelf to this 
 elevation, if he pofTeffed a ftrong and conftant 
 cleiire of dping fo ; and that then, independent 
 of fortune, always mailer of himfelf, lie was 
 equally inacceflible to vice and calamity. 
 
 An individual mind animates the world : it 
 is prefent in every thing, if it be not every 
 thing, if there exift any other thing than 
 itlelf. The fouls of human beings are emana- 
 tions of it. That of the fage, who has not 
 defiled the purity of his origin, is re-united, 
 at the inftant of death, to this univerfal fpirit. 
 Accordingly, to the fage, death would be a 
 blefTing, if, fubmifTive to nature, hardened 
 againft what vulgar men call evils, it was not 
 more glorious in him to regard it with iii* 
 difference. 
 
 By Epicurus, happinefs is placed in the 
 enjoyment of pleafure, and in freedom from 
 pain. Virtue, according to him, confifts in 
 following the natural inclinations of the heart, 
 at the lame time taking care to purify and 
 
 direel 
 
( I" ) 
 
 dlred them. The practice of temperance, 
 which prevents pain, and, by preferving our 
 faculties in their full force, fecures all the en- 
 joyments that nature has provided for us; 
 the care to guard ourfclves againft hateful 
 and violent pafhons that torment and rend 
 the foul delivered up to their bitternefs and 
 fury ; the farther care to cultivate, on the 
 contrary, the mild and tender affections; to 
 be frugal of pleafures that flow from benevo- 
 lence ; to preierve the foul in purity, that we 
 may avoid the fhame and remorfe which 
 punifh vice, and enjoy the delicious fenti- 
 ment that is the reward of laudable actions : 
 fuch is the road that conducts at once both to 
 happinefs and virtue. 
 
 Epicurus regarded the univerfe only as 
 a collection of atoms, the different combina- 
 tions of which were fubjectcd to neceffary 
 laws. The human foul was itfelf one of thoie 
 combinations. The atoms which compcfed ir, 
 united when the body began to live, were 
 difperfed at the moment of death, to unite 
 themfelves again to the common mafs, and 
 enter into new combinations. 
 
 Unwilling too violently #to {hock popular 
 prejudices, he admitted of Gods; but, in- 
 different 
 
( l« ) 
 
 different to the actions of men, ftrangers to 
 the order of the univerfe, and governed, like 
 othef beings, by the general laws of its me- 
 chanifm, they were a fort of excrefcence of 
 the fyftem. 
 
 Men of morofe, proud, and unjuft cha- 
 racters, fereened themfclves under the mafk 
 of ftoicifm, while voluptuous and corrupt 
 men frequently ftole into the gardens of Epi- 
 curus. Some calumniated the principles of 
 the Epicureans, who were accufed of placing 
 the fovereign good in the gratification of 
 fenfual appetites. Others turned into ridicule 
 the pretenfions of the fage Zeno, who, whether 
 a flave at the mill, or tormented with the gout, 
 was equally happy, free, and independent. 
 
 The philofophy that pretended to foar 
 above nature, and that which wiihed only to 
 obey nature ; the morality which acknow- 
 ledged no other good than virtue, and that 
 which placed happinefs in the indulgence of 
 the natural inclinations, led to the lame prac- 
 tical coniequcnccs, though departing from 
 fuch Oppofite principles, and holding lb con- 
 trary a language. This rcfcmblancc between 
 the moral prcceprt of all fyftcms 01 religion, 
 
 and 
 
( "3 )' 
 
 and all fe£ls of philofophy, would be fufflcient 
 to prove that they have a foundation inde- 
 pendent of the dogmas of thofe religions, or 
 the principles of thofe feels ; that it is in the 
 mora! conftitution of man we muft feek the 
 bails of his duties, the origin of his ideas of 
 juftice and virtue : a truth which the feci: of 
 Epicureans approached more nearly than any 
 other ; and no circumftance perhaps fo much 
 contributed to draw upon it the enmity of all 
 clafles of hypocrites, with whom morality was 
 no commercial object of which they ambi- 
 tioufly contended for the monopoly. 
 
 The fall of the Greek republics involved 
 that of the political fciences. After Plato, 
 Ariftotle, and Xenophon, they almoft ceafed 
 to be included in the fyftem of philofophy. 
 
 But it is time to fpeak of an event that 
 changed the lot of a confiderable part of the 
 world, and exercifed on the progrefs of the 
 mind an influence that has reached even to 
 ourfelves. 
 
 If we except India and China, the city of 
 Rome had extended its empire over every 
 nation in which human intelligence had rifen 
 above the weakneis of its earlieft infancy. 
 
 I It 
 
( "4 ) 
 
 It gave laws to all the countries into which 
 the Greeks bad inti d their language, 
 
 their fcienees, and their philofophy ; and thefe 
 nations, held by a chain which victory had 
 fattened to the foot of the capitol, no longer 
 exilled but by the will of Rome, and for the 
 palTions of its chiefs. 
 
 A true picture of the conftitution of this 
 fovereign city will not be foreign to the oh 
 of this work. We mall there fee the origin of 
 hereditary patrician rank, and the artful means 
 that were adopted to give it greater mobility 
 and force, by rendering it left odious ; we 
 fhall there fee a people inured to arms, hut 
 never employing them in domeftic difientions ; 
 uniting real power to legal authority, yet 
 fcarcelydefendingthemfelves againft a haughty 
 fenate, that, while it rivetted the chains of fu- 
 perftition, dazzled them at the lame time with 
 the fplendor of their victories ; a great nation, 
 the fport in turn both of its tyrants and its de- 
 fenders, and the patient dupe, for four centu- 
 ries, of a mode of taking votes, abfurd but 
 confecratcd. 
 
 We mall fee this conftitution, made for a 
 fingle city, change its nature without changing 
 
 its 
 
( "5 ) 
 
 its form, when it was neceffary to extend it to 
 a great empire, unable to maintain itfelf but 
 by continual wars, and prefently deftroyed by 
 its own armies ; and laftly, the people, the 
 fovereign people, debafed by the habit of 
 being maintained at the expence of the public 
 treafury, and corrupted by the bounty of the 
 fenators, felling to an individual the imaginary 
 remains of their ufelefs freedom. 
 
 The ambition of the Romans led them to 
 fearch in Greece for matters in the art of elo- 
 quence, which in Rome was one of the roads 
 to fortune. That tafte for exclufive and re- 
 fined enjoyments, that want of new plea- 
 fures, which fprings from wealth and idlenefs, 
 made them court other arts of the Greeks, 
 and even the converfation of their philofo- 
 phers. But the fciences, philofophy, and the 
 arts connected with painting, were plants fo- 
 reign to the foil of Rome. The avarice of the 
 conquerors covered Italy w : h the mafter- 
 pieces of Greece, taken by violence from the 
 temples, from cities of which they conftituted 
 the ornament, and where they ferved as a 
 confolation under flavery. But the produc- 
 tio ns of no Roman dared mix. with them. 
 
 I 2 Cicero 
 
( "6 ) 
 
 ero, Lucretius and Seneca wrote eloquently 
 in their language upon philofophy, but it v. 
 upon Grecian philofophy ; and to reform the 
 barbarous calendar of Numa, Cedar was obliged 
 to employ a mathematician from Alexandria. 
 
 Rome, long torn by the factions of ambi- 
 tious generals, bufied in new conquefts, or 
 agitated by civil difcords, fell at Lift from its 
 reftlefs liberty into a military defpotifm ftill 
 more reftlefs. And where, among the chiefs 
 that afpired to tyranny, and foon after under 
 the defpots who feared truth, and equally 
 hated both talents and virtue, were the 
 tranquil meditations of philofophy and the 
 fciences to find a place ? Befides, the feience^ 
 and philofophy are neceffarily neglected as 
 barren and unprofitable in every country 
 where fome honourable career, leading to 
 wealth and dignities, is open to all whom their 
 natural inclination may difpofe to ftudy : and 
 iuch at Rome was that of juriiprudence. 
 
 When laws, as in the eaft, are allied to re- 
 ligion, the right of interpreting them becomes 
 one of the llrongeft fupports of facerdotal ty- 
 ranny. In Greece they had constituted a part 
 of the code given to each city by its refpective 
 
 legifla- 
 
( "7 ) 
 
 legiflator, who had affimilated them to the 
 fpirit of the conftitution and government 
 which he eftabliflied. They experienced but 
 few alterations. The magistrates frequently 
 abufed them, and individual inftances of in- 
 juftice were not lefs frequent ; but the vices of 
 the laws never extended in Greece to a regu- 
 lar fyftem of robbery, reduced to the cold 
 forms of calculation. In Rome, where for a 
 long time no other authority was known but 
 the tradition of cuftoms, where the judges de- 
 clared every year by what principles difputes 
 would be decided during the continuance of 
 their magiflracy, where the firft written laws 
 were a compilation from the Greek laws, 
 drawn up by the decemvirs, more anxious 
 to preferve their power than to honour it 
 by prefenting a found code of legiflation : 
 in Rome, where, after that period, laws, 
 dictated at one time by the party of the 
 fenate, and at another by the party of the 
 people, fucceeded each other with rapidity, 
 and were inceflantly either deftroyed or con- 
 firmed, meliorated or aggravated by new de- 
 clarations, the multiplicity, the complication 
 and the obfcurity of the laws, an inevitable 
 
 I 3 con- 
 
( "8 ) 
 
 confequcncc of the flu&uatLon of the language, 
 
 foon made of this ftudy a part The 
 
 ite, taking advantage df the refpefl: of the 
 
 people for the ancient inftitutions, foon felt 
 thftt the privilege of interpreting laws was 
 nearly equivalent to that of making new ones ; 
 and accordingly this body abounded with 
 lawyers. Their power fnrvived that of the 
 ;tc itfelf : it increafed under the emperors, 
 becaufe it is neceflarily greater as the code of 
 legiflation becomes more anomalous and un- 
 certain. 
 
 Jurifprudence then is the only new feience 
 for which we are indebted to the Romans. 
 We fhall trace its hiftory, (ince it is connected 
 witli the progrefs which the feience of legifla- 
 tion has made among the moderns, and parti- 
 cularly with the obftaclcs which that legifla- 
 tion has had to encounter. 
 
 \Yc fhall mow, that reipeel: for the pofitive 
 law of the Romans has contributed to prclerve 
 ioiue ideas of the natural law of men, in or-r 
 cler afterwards to prevent thele ideas from in- 
 crcafing and extending thcmfelves ; and that 
 while we are indebted to their code for a 
 final! quantity of truths, it has furniihed us 
 
 with 
 
( "9 ) 
 
 with a far greater portion of tyrannical pre- 
 judices. 
 
 The mildnefs of the penal laws, under the 
 republic, is worthy our notice. They in a 
 manner rendered facred the blood of a Roman 
 citizen. The penalty of death could not be 
 inflicted, without calling forth that extraordi- 
 nary power which announced public calami- 
 ties and danger to the country. The whole 
 body of the people might be claimed as' 
 judge between a fingle individual and the re- 
 public, It was found that, with a free people, 
 this mildnefs was the only way to prevent 
 political difTentions from degenerating into 
 cruel maffacres ; the object: was to correct:, by 
 the humanity of the laws, the ferocious manners 
 of a people that, even in its fports, fquandered 
 profulely the blood of its flaves. Accordingly, 
 flopping at the times of the Gracchi, in no 
 country have ftorms fo numerous and violent 
 been attended with fo few crimes, or coll fo 
 little blood. 
 
 No work of the Romans upon the fubjecT: of 
 politics has defcended to us. That of Cicero 
 upon laws was probably but an embellifhed 
 extract from the books of the Greeks* It 
 
 I 4 was 
 
( 120 ) 
 
 was not amidlt the convuliions of expiring 
 liberty, that moral fcience could refine and 
 perfect itfelf, Under the defpotifm of the 
 
 Cacfars, ftudy would have experienced no 
 other conitruction than a confpiracy againft 
 their power. In fhort, nothing more clearly 
 proves how much the Romans were ignorant 
 of this fcience, than the example they furnifh 
 us, not to be equalled in the annals of hift< 
 of an uninterrupted fucceffion, from Nerva to 
 Marc Antony, of five emperors, pofTefTmg at 
 once virtue, talents, knowledge, a love of 
 glory, and zeal for the public welfare, with- 
 out a iingle inflitution originating from them 
 that has marked the defire of fixing bounds to 
 defpotifm, of preventing revolutions, and of 
 cementing by new ties the parts of that huge 
 mafs, of which every thing predicted the ap- 
 proaching difiblution. 
 
 The union of fo many nations under one 
 fovcreignty, the fpread of two langi 
 which divided the empire, and which were 
 alike familiar to almofl every well-informed 
 mind, theie caufes, acting in concert, mult 
 have contributed, no doubt, to the more ecpial 
 diiluiion of knowledge over a greater fpacc. 
 
 Another 
 
( 121 ) 
 
 Another natural' effect muft have been to 
 weaken by degrees the differences which fo 
 parated the philofophical feels, and to unite 
 them into one, that fhould contain fucli opi- 
 nions of each as were moft conformable to 
 reafon, and which a fober inveftigation had 
 tended to confirm. This was the point to 
 which reafon could not fail to bring philofo- 
 phers, when, from the effect of time on the 
 enthufiafm of fectaries, her voice alone was 
 fuffered to be heard. Accordingly, we find 
 already, in Seneca, marks of this philofophy : 
 indeed it was never entirely diftinct from the 
 feci: of the academics, which at length ap- 
 peared to become entirely the fame with it ; 
 and the moft modern of the difciples of Plato 
 were the founders of the feci: of eclectics. 
 
 Almoft every religion of the empire had 
 been national ; but they all poffeffed ftrong 
 lines of refemblance, and in a manner a fa-* 
 mily likenefs. No metaphyfical doctrines ; 
 many ftrange ceremonies, of the meaning of 
 which the people, and frequently the pricfts, 
 were ignorant ; an abfurd mythology, in 
 which the multitude read the marvellous hif- 
 tory of its Gods only ? but which men better 
 
 enlightened 
 
( Hi 
 
 enlightened fufpected to be an allegory of 
 
 doctrines more fublimc ; bloody facrifices ; 
 idols reprefenting Gods, and of which fome 
 poffefied a celeftial virtue; pontiffs devoted to 
 
 the worfliip of eacli divinity, but without 
 forming a political corps, and even without 
 being united in a religious communion ; ora- 
 cular powers attached to certain temples, re- 
 iiding in certain ftatues ; and laftly, myfte- 
 ries, which their hierophants never revealed 
 without impofing an inviolable law of fe- 
 crefy. Thefe were the features of refem- 
 blancc. 
 
 Let us add, that the priefts, arbiters of the 
 religious confidence, had prefumed to ailert 
 no claim upon the moral conference ; that 
 they directed the practice of worihip, but 
 not the actions of private life. They fold 
 oracles and auguries to political powers ; they 
 could precipitate nations into war ; they could 
 dictate to them crimes ; but they exerciild 
 no influence either over the government or 
 the laws, 
 
 When the different nations, fubjects now 
 of the fame empire, enjoyed an habitual in* 
 tercourfe, and knowledge had every where 
 
 Z made 
 
( **3 ) 
 
 made nearly an equal progrefs, it was foon 
 difcovered, by well-informed minds, that all 
 this multifarious worfhip was that of one only 
 God, of whom the numerous divinities, the 
 immediate objeds of popular adoration, were 
 but the modifications or the minifters. 
 
 Meanwhile, among the Gauls, and in fomc 
 cantons of the eaft, the Romans had found 
 religions of another kind. There the priefts 
 were the arbiters of morality ; and virtue 
 confifted in obedience to a God, of whom 
 they called themfelves the fole interpreters* 
 Their power extended over the whole man ; 
 the temple and the country were confounded ; 
 without being previoufly an adorer of "jehova, 
 or OEfus, it was impoffible to be a citizen or 
 iubjecT: of the empire ; and the priefts deter- 
 mined to what human laws their God exadtcd 
 obedience. 
 
 Thefe religions were calculated to wound 
 the pride of the matters of the world. That 
 of the Gauls was too powerful for them not 
 to feek immediately its deftruction. The 
 Jewifh nation was even difperied. But the 
 vigilance of government either difdained, or 
 £lfe was unable to reach, the oblcure fects that 
 
 fecretly 
 
( »*4 ) 
 
 fecrctly formed themfclves out of the Wreck of 
 the old fy items of worfhip. 
 
 One of the benefits refulting from the 
 propagation of the Greek philofophy, had 
 
 been to put an end to a belief in the popular 
 divinities in all claffes of men who had re- 
 ceived any tolerable education. A vague kind 
 of deifm, or the pure mechanifm of Epicu- 
 rus, was, even at the time of Cicero, the 
 common doctrine of every enlightened mind, 
 and of all thofe who had the direction of pub- 
 lic affairs. This clafs of men was neceilarily 
 attached to the old religion, which however 
 it fought to purify from its drofs ; for the mul- 
 tiplicity of Gods of every country had tired 
 out even the credulity of the people. Then 
 were feen philofophers forming fyftems upon 
 the idea of intcrpoiing genii, and fubmitting 
 to preparatory obfervances, rites, and a reli- 
 gious difcipline, to render thcmfelvcs more 
 worthy of approaching thefc fupcrior eflenc* ; 
 and it was in the dialogues of Plato they fought 
 the principles of this doctrine. 
 
 The inhabitants of conquered nations, the 
 children of misfortune, men of a weak but 
 fanguinc imagination, would from preference 
 
 attach 
 
( "5 ) 
 
 attach themfelves to the facerdotal religions ; 
 becaufe the intereft of the ruling priefts dic- 
 tated to them that very doctrine of equality 
 in flavery, of the renunciation of temporal 
 enjoyments, of rewards in heaven referved for 
 blind fubmiffion, for fufferings, for mortifica- 
 tions infli&ed voluntarily, or endured without 
 repining ; that doctrine fo attractive, fo con- 
 dolatory to oppreffed humanity ! But they 
 felt the neceffity of relieving, by metaphyfical 
 fubtleties, their grofs mythology : and here 
 again they had recourfe to Plato. His dia- 
 logues were the arfenal to which two oppofite 
 parties reforted to forge their theological arms. 
 In the fequel we mail fee Ariftotle obtaining a 
 fimilar honour, and becoming at once the 
 mafter of the theologians, and chief of the 
 atheifts. 
 
 Twenty Egyptian and Jewiih fects, uniting 
 their forces againft the religion of the empire, 
 but contending againft each other with equal 
 fury, were loft at length in the religion of 
 Jefus. From their wreck were compofed a 
 hiftory, a creed, a ritual, and a fyftem of mo- 
 rality, to which by degrees the mafs of thefe 
 fanatics attached themfelves, 
 
 They 
 
( i*6 ) 
 
 They all believed in a Chrift, a Mcfii 
 fent from God to reftore the human race. 
 This was the fundamental dodtrlne of every 
 feci that attempted to raife Ltfclf upon the 
 ruins of the ancient feels. They difputed 
 refpecling the time and place of his appear- 
 ance, and his mortal name : but a prophet, 
 faid to have ftartcd up in Palcltine, in the 
 reign of Tiberius, eclipfed all the other ex- 
 pected prophets, and the new fanatics rallied 
 uacler the ftandard of the ion of Mary. 
 
 In proportion as the empire weakened, the 
 progrefs of this religion of Chrift became 
 more rapid. The degraded (late of the ancient 
 conquerors of the world extended to their 
 Gods, who, after preliding in their victor' 
 were no longer regarded than as the impotent 
 witneffes of their defeat. The fpirit of the 
 new feci was better fuited to periods of de- 
 cline and misfortune. Its chiefs, in fpite of 
 their impoftures and their vices, were enthu- 
 fiafls ready to fuffer death for their doctrine. 
 The religious zeal of the philofophers and of 
 the great, was only a political devotion: and 
 c\\v\ religion which men permit themielves 
 to defend as a creed ufeful to be left to the 
 
 people? 
 
( "7 ) 
 
 people, can expect no other fate than a diflb- 
 lution more or lefs diftant. Chriftianity foon 
 became a powerful parly ; it mixed in the 
 quarrels of the Caefars : it placed Conftantine 
 on the throne ; where it afterwards feated it- 
 felf, by the fide of his weak fucceffors. 
 
 In vain did one of thofe extraordinary men 
 whom chance fometimes exalts to fovereign 
 power, Julian, wifh to free the empire from 
 this plague which was calculated to haften its 
 tall. His virtues, his indulgent humanity, 
 the fimplicity of his manners, the dignity of 
 his foul and his character, his talents, his 
 courage, his military genius, the fplendor of 
 his victories, every thing feemed to promife 
 him fuccefs. No other reproach could be 
 caft upon him than that of mowing for a reli- 
 gion, become ridiculous, an attachment un- 
 worthy of him if fincere, indifcreet from its 
 extravagance if political : but he died in the 
 midft of his glory, after a reign of two years. 
 The CoforTus of the Roman empire found its 
 arms no longer fufficiently ftrong to fupport 
 the weight of it ; and the death of Julian broke 
 down the only mound that might yet have 
 oppofed itfelf againft the torrent of new fu- 
 
 peniitions, 
 
( «*8 ) 
 
 perditions, and the inundations of fa 
 nan . 
 
 [itempt for human fciences was one of the 4 
 
 firft features of Chriflianity. It had to avenge 
 itfelf of the outrages of philofophy ; it fe 
 that fpirit of ihveftigation and doubt, that 
 confidence of man in his own reafon, the peft 
 alike of all religious creeds. The light of the 
 natural fciences was even odious to it, and 
 was regarded with a fufpieious eye, as being 
 a dangerous enemy to the iiiccefs of mi- 
 racles : and there is no religion that does not 
 oblige its feclaries to fwallow fome phyfical 
 abfurdities. The triumph of Chriftianity was 
 thus the fignal of the entire decline both of 
 the ieienccs and of philofophy. 
 
 Had the art of printing been known, the 
 fciences would have been able to preferve 
 their ground ; but the exifting manufcripts 
 of any particular book were few in number ; 
 and to procure works that might form the en- 
 tire body of a fcicnee, required cares, and often 
 journies and an expence to which the rich onh 
 were competent. It was eaiy for the ruling 
 party to iupprefs the appearance of bo< 
 which {hocked itfi prejudices, or unmaiked its 
 
 impoflures. 
 
( i*9 ) 
 
 impoftures. An incurfion of barbarians mighty 
 in one day, deprive for ever a whole country of 
 the means of knowledge* The deftrudtion of 
 a fingle manufcript was often an irreparable 
 and univerfal lofs* Befides, no works were 
 copied but fuch as were recommended by the 
 names of the authors. All thofe inveftiga- 
 tions which can acquire importance only from 
 their affemblage, thofe detached obfervations, 
 thofe improvements of detail, that ferve to 
 keep the fciences flowing in a level channel, 
 and that prepare their future progrefs ; all 
 thofe materials which time amaffes, and 
 which await the birth of genius, were con- 
 demned to an eternal obfcurity. That con- 
 cert of learned men, that combination of all 
 their forces, fo advantageous, fo indifpenfible 
 at certain periods, had no exiftence. It was 
 neceffary for the fame individual to begin and 
 complete a difcovery ; and he was obliged 
 to combat with his fingle ftrength all the ob- 
 ftacles which nature oppofes to our efforts. 
 The works which facilitate the ftudy of the 
 fciences, which throw light upon difficulties, 
 which exhibit truths under more commodious 
 and more fimple forms, thofe details of obfer- 
 
 K. vation, 
 
( '3° ) 
 
 vation, thofe devclopements which fcrve to 
 detect erroneous inferences, and in which the 
 reader frequently catches what the author 
 himfelf has not perceived ; fuch works would 
 find neither cooyifts nor readers. 
 
 It was then impoifible that the feiences, ar- 
 rived at a point in which the progrefs, and 
 even the iludy of them were ftill difficult, 
 ihould be able to fupport themfelvcs, and re- 
 fift the current that bore them rapidly towards 
 their decline. Accordinglv it oupht not to 
 ailoniiri us that Chriftianity, though una] 
 in the lequel to prevent their re-appearaae< 
 fplendor, after the invention of printing, was 
 at this period fufficiently powerful to accom- 
 pli fh their ruin. 
 
 If we except the dramatic art, which flou- 
 rifhed only in Athens, and mud have been 
 involved in her fail, and eloquence, which 
 cannot breathe but in a free air, the language 
 and literature of the Greeks preferved for a 
 long time their lultre. Lucian and Plutarch 
 would not difparage the age of Alexander. 
 Rome, it is true, rofe to a level with Greece 
 in poetry, eloquence, hiftory, and the art of 
 treating with dignity, elegance and fafci na- 
 tion. 
 
( 'it ) 
 
 tion, the dry fubjects of philofophy and the 
 fciences. Greece indeed had no poet, that 
 evinced fo fully as Virgil, the idea of perfec- 
 tion, and no hiftoriah to be compared with 
 Tacitiis. But this inftant of fplendor was 
 followed by a fpeedy decline 1 . From the time 
 of Lucian, Rome had fcarcely any writers 
 above" barbarilm. Chryfiftom ftill fpeaks the 
 language of Demofthenes. We f ecognife no 
 longer that of Cicero or of Livy, either iri 
 Auftitl, or even in Jerome, who has not to 
 plead in his excufe the influence of African 
 barbarity* 
 
 The caufe is, that at Rome the ftudy of 
 letters and love of the arts were never the real 
 tafte of the people ; that the tfanfient per- 
 fection of its language was the work, not of 
 the national genius, but of a few individuals 
 whom Greece had been the inftrument of 
 forming. The caufe is, that the Roman ter- 
 ritory was always, as to letters, a foreign 
 foil, to w r hich an affidtiotts culture had been 
 able to naturalife them, but where they muft 
 neceffarily degenerate the moment they were 
 abandoned to themfelves. 
 
 K 2 The 
 
( **? ) 
 
 The importance fo long affixed, in Greece* 
 and in Rome, to the tribune and the bar, in- 
 Creafed in thole countries the elafs of rheto- 
 ricians. Their labours have contributed to 
 the progrefl of the art, of which they, have 
 developed the principles and fubtletics. But 
 they taught another art too much neglected by 
 the moderns, and which at prefent it has been 
 thought proper to transfer from fpeeches for 
 the tribune, to compofitions for the prefs : I 
 mean that of preparing with facility, and in a 
 fhort fpace of time, diicourfes, which, from 
 the arrangement of their parts, from the me- 
 thod confpicuous in them, from the graces 
 with which they may be embellifhed, fhall at 
 leaft become fupportable : I mean the art of 
 being able to fpeak almoft inftantaneoufly, 
 without fatiguing the auditors with a medley 
 of ideas, or a diffuie ftyle ; without difgufting 
 them with idle declamation, quaint conceits, 
 nonienfe and fopperies. How ufeful would 
 be this art in every country where the func- 
 tions of office, public duty, or private intereit 
 may oblige men to fpeak and write, without 
 having time to fludy their fpeeches or their 
 compofitions ? its hiftory is the more deferr- 
 ing 
 
( *33 ) 
 
 ing our attention, as the moderns, to whom 
 in the mean time it muft often be neceflary, 
 appear only to have known it on the fide of 
 abfurdity. 
 
 From the commencement of the epoch of 
 which I mail here terminate the delineation, 
 manufcripts were tolerably numerous ; but 
 time had fpread over the performances of the 
 firft Greek writers a fufficient number of ob- 
 icurities, for the ftudy of books and opinions, 
 known by the name of erudition, to form an 
 important portion of the occupations of the 
 mind ; and the Alexandrian library was 
 crowded with grammarians and critics. 
 
 In what has been tranfmitted to us of their 
 productions, we perceive a propenfity in thefe 
 critics to proportion their degree of confidence 
 and admiration of any book to its antiquity, 
 and the difficulty of understanding and pro- 
 curing it ; a difpofition to judge opinions not 
 by themfelves, not according to their merits, 
 but from the names of their authors ; to found 
 their belief upon authority, rather than upon 
 reafon ; in fliort, that falfe and deftructive 
 idea of the deterioration of the human race, and 
 fuperiority of ancient periods. The folution 
 K 3 and 
 
( *34 ) 
 
 and excufc of this error, an error in which 
 the antiquarians of every country have had a 
 greater or lefs fhare, are to be found in the 
 importance Which men affix to what has been, 
 the object of their attention, and called forth 
 the energies of their mind. 
 
 The Greek and Roman antiquarians, and 
 even their literati and philofophers, are charger 
 able with a total neglect of that fpirit of doubt 
 which fubjefts to a rigorous invefligation both 
 fads, and the proofs that eftablifh them. In 
 reading their accounts of the hiftory of events 
 or of manners, of the productions and phenor 
 mena of nature, or of the works and pror 
 cefFes of the arts, we are aftonifhed at the 
 compofure with which they relate the moft 
 palpable abfurdities, and the mod fulfomc 
 and difgufling prodigies. A hcarfay or rur 
 mour which they found tacked tp any event, 
 was fuilicient, they conceived, to fcreen them 
 from the cenfure of childish credulity. This 
 indifference, which fpoiled their fludy of hif- 
 tory, and was an obltruction to their advance- 
 ment in the knowledge of nature, U to be 
 afcribed to the misfortune of the art of print- 
 ing not being known. The certainty of ouy 
 
 having 
 
( *3S ) 
 
 having colle&ed, refpefting any faft, all the 
 authorities for and againft it, a facility in 
 comparing the different teftimonies, the op* 
 portunity of throwing light upon the fubjedt 
 by the difcuffions to which thnt difference 
 may give rife, are means of afcertaining truth 
 which can only exift when it is poffible to 
 procure a great number of books, when cou- 
 ples of them may be indefinitely multiplied, 
 and when no fear is entertained of giving them 
 too extenfive a circulation. 
 
 How were the relations and defcriptions 
 of travellers, of which there frequently exifted 
 but a fingle copy, defcriptions that were not 
 fubje&ed to public judgment, to acquire that 
 {lamp of authority, founded upon the circum- 
 fiance of fuch judgment not having, and not 
 being able, to contradict them { Accordingly, 
 every thing was recorded alike, becaufe it was 
 impoffible to afcertain with any certainty what 
 was deferving of record. But we can have 
 no right to aftonifhment at this practice of 
 reprefenting with equal confidence, and as 
 founded upon equal authorities, facts the 
 moft natural, and miracles the moil ftupend- 
 cus : the fame error is ftill inculcated in our 
 K 4 fchooU 
 
( 136 ) 
 
 fchools as a principle of philofophy, while, in 
 another fcnfc, an overweening incredulity 
 leads us to reject without examination what- 
 ever appears to us to he out of nature ; nor 
 has the fcience in our days begun to exift, that 
 can alone teach us to find, between thefe two 
 extremes, the point at which reafon direct- 
 to flop. 
 
 SIXTH 
 
i37 
 
 SIXTH EPOCH. 
 
 Decline of Learnings to its Ref oration about 
 the Period of the Crufades. 
 
 AN the difaftrous epoch at which we are 
 now arrived, we fhall fee the human mind 
 rapidly defcending from the height to which 
 it had raifed itfelf, while Ignorance marches 
 in triumph, carrying with her, in one place, 
 barbarian ferocity ; in another, a more refined 
 and accomplished cruelty ; every where, cor-, 
 ruption and perfidy. A glimmering of talents, 
 fome faint fparks of greatnefs or benevolence 
 of foul, will, with difficulty, be difcerned 
 amidft the univerfal darknefs. Theological 
 reveries, fuperftitious delufions, are become 
 the fole genius of man, religious intolerance 
 his only morality ; and Europe, crufhed be- 
 tween facerdotal tyranny and military def- 
 potifm, awaits, in blood and in tears, the mo- 
 ment when the revival of light mall reflore it 
 to liberty, to humanity, and to virtue, 
 
 2 We 
 
( '38 ) 
 
 Wc mall divide die picture into two diftinct 
 part?. The fir ft will embrace the Weft, where 
 the decline was more rapid and more ab- 
 
 ite, but where the light of reafon is 
 again to make its appearance, never more to 
 be extinguished. The fecond will be con- 
 fined to the Eaft, where the decline was more 
 flow, and, for a long time, lefs univerfal, but 
 where the day of reafpn has not yet dawned, 
 that fhall enlighten it, ana 1 enable it to break 
 in pieces its chains. 
 
 Chriftian piety had fcarcely overthrown the 
 altars of victory, when the Weft became the 
 prey of barbarians. They embraced the new 
 religion, without adopting the language of the 
 vanquished. This the priefts alone preferved; 
 but, from their ignorance and contempt for 
 human learning, they exhibited none of thofe 
 appearances which might have been cxpe&ed 
 from a pcrufal of the Latin books, particularly 
 when they Qfftj were capable of reading 
 them. 
 
 The illiterate dbara&er, nnc\ rude manners 
 of the cu iently known: 
 
 ile, i. was to the mid ft of this fero-r 
 clous fUipkhty that the JeftrucUon of t\r- 
 
 mcftic 
 
( *39 ) 
 
 meftie flavery took place ; a flavery that had 
 difgraced the beft days of Greece, when a 
 country diftinguifhed for learning and li- 
 berty. 
 
 The rural flaves, ferfs of the glebe, culti- 
 vated the lands of the conquerors. By this 
 opprefled clafs of men, their houfes were fup- 
 plied with domeftics, whofe dependent fitua~ 
 tion anfwered all the purpofes of their pride 
 or their caprice. Accordingly, the object of 
 their wars was not {laves, but lands and 
 colonies, 
 
 Befide,the domeftic flaves which they found 
 in the countries they invaded, were in a great 
 meafure either prifoners taken from fome 
 tribe of the victorious nation, or the children 
 of thofe prifoners, Many, at the moment of 
 conqueft, had fled, or elfe joined themfelve* 
 to the army of the conquerors. 
 
 The principles of general fraternity, which 
 conftituted a part of the Chriftian morals, alfo 
 condemned flavery ; and, as the priefts faw no 
 political reafon for contradicting, in this par- 
 ticular, maxims that did honour to their caufe, 
 they contributed, by their difcourfes, to a 
 downfall which otherwise events and man- 
 ner* would neceflarily have accomplifhed. 
 
 1 TbU 
 
( '4* ) 
 
 This change has proved the generative 
 principle of a revolution in the deftinies of 
 mankind. To this men are indebted for the 
 
 knowledge of true liberty. But its influence 
 on the lot of individuals was at firft almoft 
 infenfible. We Ihould form a very falfe idea of 
 domeftic (lavcry as it cxiftcd at this period and 
 among the ancients, if we compared it to that 
 of our negroes. The Spartans, the grandees of 
 Rome, and the fafraps of the Eaft, were, no 
 doubt, barbarous m afters. Avarice difplayed 
 all its brutality in the labours of the mines : 
 but, on the other hand, intereft had almoft 
 every where foftened the Mate of ilavery in 
 private families. The impunity granted for 
 violences committed againft the rural Have, 
 was carried to a high pitch, fince the law had 
 exa&ly fixed its price. His dependence was 
 as great as that of the domeftic, without being 
 compenfated by the fame attentions. He was 
 left perpetually under the eye of his matter ; 
 but he was treated with a more lordly arro- 
 gance. The domeftic was a flavc whom for- 
 tune had reduced to a condition to which 
 a fimilar fortune might one day reduce his 
 mafter, The rural flave, on the contrary, - 
 
 cor> 
 
( Hi ) 
 
 confidered as of a lower clafs, and in a ftate 
 of degradation. 
 
 It is principally, then, in its remote conie- 
 quences that we nuift coniider this annihila- 
 tion of domeftic flavery. 
 
 Thefe barbarian nations had all nearly the 
 fame form of government, conlifting of a 
 common chief, called king, who, with a coun- 
 cil, pronounced judgments, and gave decifions, 
 that it would have been dangerous to delay ; 
 of an affembly of private chiefs, confulted upon 
 all refolutions of a certain importance ; and, 
 laftly, of an afTembly of the people, in which 
 meafures interefting to the general community 
 were deliberated. The principal difference 
 was the greater or lefs degree of authority 
 affixed to thefe three powers, which were not 
 diftinguimed by the nature of their functions, 
 but by the rank of affairs confided to them ; 
 and, above all, by the value of that rank in 
 the minds of the majority. of the citizens. 
 
 Among the agricultural tribes of thefe bar- 
 barians, and particularly thofe who had al- 
 ready formed an eftablifhment on a foreign 
 territory, thefe conftitutions had affumed a 
 more regular and more folid form, than 
 
 among 
 
( 14a ) 
 
 among paftoral tribes. The individuals of 
 fuch tribes alfo were difperfed over the foil, 
 and did not live, like the others, in encamp- 
 ments more or lefs numerous. 7'he king 
 therefore had not always an army affembled 
 about his pdfon ; and defpotifm could not fo 
 immediately follow upon conqueft, as in the 
 revolutions of Afia. 
 
 The victor ions nation was thus not en (laved. 
 At the fame time, thefe conquerors kept the 
 towns, but without inhabiting them. As they 
 were not held in awe by an armed force, no 
 permanent force of that kind exifting, they 
 acquired a fort of power ; and this power 
 was a point of fupport for the liberty of the 
 conquered nation. 
 
 Italy was often invaded by the barbarians ; 
 but they were able to form there no durable 
 eftablifhments, from its wealth continually 
 exciting the avarice of new conquerors, and 
 becaufe the Greeks entertained the hope, for a 
 confiderable period, of uniting it to the em- 
 pire. It was never, by any people, entirely or 
 permanently fubdued. The Latin language, 
 which was there the only 1 mguage of the 
 people, degenerated more ilowly j and igno- 
 rance 
 
( H3 ) 
 
 ranee alfo was lefs complete, fuperftkion lefs 
 fenfelefs, than in the other parts of the 
 Weft. 
 
 Rome, which acknowledged mafters only 
 to change them, maintained a fort of in- 
 dependence. This city was the refidence of 
 the chief of the religion. Accordingly, while 
 in the Eaft, fubje&ed to a fingle prince, the 
 clergy, fometimes governing, and fome times 
 confpiring againft the emperors, fupported 
 defpotifm, though relifting the defpot, and pre- 
 ferred availing themfelves of the whole power 
 of an abfolute mafter, to difputing a part of it ; 
 we fee them, on the contrary, in the Weil, 
 united under a common head, erecting a 
 power, the rival of that of kings, and forming 
 in thefe divided ftates a fort of diftincT: and 
 independent monarchy. 
 
 We fhall exhibit this ruling city trying the 
 experiment upon the univerfe of a new fpe- 
 cies of chains; its pontiffs fubjugating igno- 
 rant credulity by acts grofsly forged ; mixing 
 religion with all the tranfactions of civil life, 
 to render them more fubfervient to their 
 avarice or their pride ; punifhing by anathe- 
 mas, from which the people (hrunk with 
 
 horror, 
 
( *44 ) 
 
 horror, the leaft oppofition to their laws, I 
 fmalleit refiftance of their abfurd pretenfldns \ 
 
 having an army of monks in every (late, 
 their impoftures, to enhance the 
 terrors of fuperftition, thereby to feed the 
 flame of fahaticifm ; depriving nations of their 
 worfhip arid ceremonies, upon which de- 
 pended their religious hopes, to kindle civil 
 war ; difturbing all, to govern all ; com- 
 manding, in the name of God, treafon and 
 perfidy, aflaifination and parricide ; making 
 kings and warriors now the inftruments, and 
 now the victims, of their revenge ; difpofing 
 of force, but never poflefTing it ; terrible to 
 their enemies, but trembling before their own 
 defenders; omnipotent to the very extremi- 
 ties of Europe, yet infulted with impunity 
 at the foot even of their altars ; finding 
 heaven the point upon which to fix the lever 
 for moving the world, but without discovering 
 on earth the regulator that is to direct and 
 continue its motion at their will ; in fhort, 
 Colotfus, but with legs of clay, 
 that, after firft opprcdmg Europe, is after- 
 wards to wcarv it, lor a long period, with 
 the weight of its ruins and fcattered ira o - 
 
 men 
 
 Conqueft 
 
( HS ) 
 
 - ConqucR had introduced into the Weft 
 a tumultuous anarchy, in which the people 
 groaned under the triple tyranny of kings, 
 leaders of armies, and priefts ; but this anarchy 
 carried in its womb the feed of liberty. In 
 this portion of Europe muft be comprehended 
 the countries into which the Romans had not 
 penetrated. Partaking of the general com- 
 motion, conquering and conquered in turn, 
 having the fame origin, the fame manners as 
 the conquerors of the empire, thefe people 
 were confounded with them in the common 
 mafs. Their political ftate muft have ex- 
 perienced the fame alterations, and followed 
 a fimilar route. 
 
 We fhall give a fketch of the revolutions 
 of this feodal anarchy : a name that may 
 furnifh an idea of its character. 
 
 Their legiflation was incoherent and bar- 
 barous. If we find in its records many laws 
 apparently mild, this mildnefs was nothing 
 elfe than an unjuft and privileged impunity. 
 Meanwhile we trace among them fome in- 
 ftitutions of a true temper, which, though as 
 being intended to confecrate the rights of 
 the oppreffor, were an additional outrage to 
 
 L the 
 
( U* ) 
 
 the rights of men, yet tended to preferve 
 fonic feeble idea of thefe laft, and were 
 dellined one day to i'erve as an index to their 
 recognition and rcftoration. 
 
 In this legiflation two lingular cuftoms arc 
 obiervable, characteriftic at once both of the 
 infancy of nations, and the ignorance of the 
 rude ages. A criminal might purchafe exemp- 
 tion from punifhment by means of a fum of 
 money fixed by law, which eftimated the 
 lives of men according to their dignity or 
 their birth* Crimes were not confidered as a 
 violation of the fecurity and rights of citizens, 
 which the dread of punifhment was to pre- 
 vent, but as an outrage committed on an in- 
 dividual, which himfelf or his family might 
 avenge, if they pleafed, but of which the law 
 offered a more advantageous reparation. Men 
 had lb little notion of afcertaining the proofs 
 by which a facl might be fubftantiatcd, that 
 it was thought a more fimple mode of pro- 
 ceeding to rcqucft of Heaven a miracle, when- 
 ever the qucftion was to difcriminate between 
 guilt and innocence; and the fuccefs of a 
 Jnperftitious experiment, or the chance event 
 fcf a combat, were regarded as the fureft 
 
 means 
 
 
( 147 ) 
 
 means of detecting falfhood and arriving at 
 the truth. 
 
 With men who made no diftin&ion be- 
 tween independence and liberty, the quarrels 
 arifing among thofe who ruled over a portion, 
 however fmall,of the territory, muft degenerate 
 into private wars ; and thefe wars extending 
 from canton to canton, from village to village, 
 habitually delivered up the whole furface of 
 each country to all thofe horrors which, even 
 in great invafions, are but tranfient, and in 
 general wars defolate only the frontiers. 
 
 Whenever tyranny aims at reducing the 
 mafs of a people to the will of one of its 
 portions, the prejudices and ignorance of the 
 vicYims are counted among the means of 
 effecting it : it endeavours to compenfate, by 
 the compreffion and activity of a fmaller 
 force, for the fuperiority of real force, which, 
 one might fuppofe, cannot fail to belong, at 
 all times, to the majority of numbers. But the 
 principal foundation of its hope, which how- 
 ever it can feldom attain, is that of eftablifh- 
 ing between the matters and flaves a real dif- 
 ference, which fliall in a manner render na- 
 ture herfelf an accomplice in the guilt of 
 
 political inequality. 
 
 L 2 Such 
 
( 148 ) 
 
 Such wa* 5 , in remote period?, the art of tUs? 
 Eaftcrn priefts, who veere at once, kings, 
 
 pontiff' , furvevors, artills 
 
 and phyiicians. But what they owed to the 
 lufive pofleflion of intellectual powers, the 
 grofler tyrants of our w T eak progenitors ob- 
 tained by their inltitutions and their warlike 
 habits. Clothed with an impenetrable ar- 
 mour, fighting only upon horfes as invul- 
 nerable as themfelvcs, acquiring, by dint of a 
 long and painful difcipline, the neceflary 
 ftrength and addrefs for guiding and govern- 
 ing them, they might opprefs with impunitv, 
 and murder without rifk, an individual of the 
 commonalty, too poor to purchafe thefe ex- 
 penfive accoutrements, and whofe youth, ne- 
 ccflarily occupied by ufeful labours, could 
 not have been devoted to military exer- 
 cife . 
 
 Thus the tyranny of the few acquired, by 
 the practice of this mode of fighting, a real 
 fupcriority of force, which mull have excluded 
 all idea of rciiilancc, and which rendered for a 
 long time fhritlefs even the efforts of defpair, 
 Thus the equality of nature difappeared be- 
 fore this factitious inequality of ftrength. 
 
 The 
 
( 149 ) 
 
 The morality of this period, which it was 
 the province of the priefts alone to inculcate, 
 comprehended thole univerfal principles which 
 no feci: has overlooked ; but it gave birth to a 
 multitude of duties purely religious, and of 
 imaginary fins 4 . Thefe duties were more 
 ftrongly enforced than thofe of nature ; and 
 actions indifferent, lawful, and even virtuous ? 
 were cenfured and puniihed with greater fe- 
 verity than actual crimes. Meanwhile a mo- 
 mentary repentance, confecrated by the abfo- 
 lution of a prieit, opened the gates of heaven 
 to the wicked ; and donations to the church, 
 with the obfervance of certain practices flat- 
 tering to its pride, fufficed to atone for a life 
 crowded with iniquity. Nor was this all : 
 ablblutions were formed into a regular tariff. 
 Care was taken to include in the catalogue of 
 fins, all the degrees of human infirmity, from 
 fimple defires, from the mod innocent in- 
 dulgences of love, to the refinements and 
 exceffes of the moft intemperate debauchery. 
 This was a frailty from which, it was well 
 known, few were able to efcape ; and it was 
 accordingly one of the moft productive 
 branches of the facerdotal commerce. There 
 L 3 was 
 
( 150 ) 
 
 was even a hell of a limited duration in- 
 vented, which priefta had the power of abridge 
 ing, and from which they could grant dif- 
 penfations ; a favour which they firft obliged 
 the living to purchafe, and afterwards the 
 relations or friends of the deceafed. They 
 fold fo much land in heaven for an equal 
 quantity of land upon earth ; and they had 
 the extreme modefty not to afk any thing to 
 boot. 
 
 The manners of this epoch were unfor- 
 tunately worthy of a fyftem fo pregnant with 
 Corruption, fo rootedly depraved. Their na- 
 ture may be learned from the progrefs of this 
 very fyftem itfelf ; from the monks, fome- 
 times inventing old miracles, fometimes fabri- 
 cating new ones, and nourifhing with pro- 
 digies and fables the ftupid ignorance of the 
 people, whom they deceived in order to rob 
 them ; from the doctors of the church, cm- 
 ploying the little imagination they poffefled 
 in enriching their creed with farther abfurdi- 
 
 , and exceeding, if poffible, thole which 
 had been tranfmitted to them; from the 
 pridls, obliging princes to confign to the 
 flames, not only the men who prefumed either 
 
 to 
 
( W ) 
 
 to doubt any of their dogmas, or inveftigate 
 their impoftures, or blufh for their crimes, 
 but thofe who mould depart for an in- 
 ftant from their blind obedience ; and even 
 iheologifts themfelves, when they indulged in 
 dreams different from thofe of the umpires of 
 the church, enjoying mod influence and con- 
 trol. Such, at this period, are the only traits 
 which the manners of the Weft of Europe 
 can furnifh to the picture of the human 
 fpecies. 
 
 In the Eaft, united under a fingle defpot, 
 we fhall obferve a flower decline accompany- 
 ing the gradual debility of the empire ; the 
 ignorance and depravity of every age ad- 
 vancing a few degrees above the ignorance 
 and depravity of the preceding one ; while 
 riches diminifh, the frontiers ally themfelves 
 more clofely to the capital, revolutions be- 
 come more frequent, and tyranny grows more 
 daftardly and more cruel. 
 
 In following the hiftory of this empire, in 
 reading the books that each age has pro- 
 duced, the mod fuperficial and leaft attentive 
 pbferver cannot avoid being ftruck with the 
 refemblance we have mentioned. 
 
 L4 The 
 
( ■* ) 
 
 The people tin lulged themfelvcs more 
 
 frequently in tin Theft 
 
 cordingly occupy a more conhderable portion 
 of its hiitory, have a greater influence upon 
 political events, and the dreams of pri 
 acquire a fubtlcty which the jealoufy of the 
 Weft could as yet not attain. Religious in- 
 tolerance was equally oppreflive in both 
 quarters of Europe ; but, in the country we 
 are confidering, its afpe£t was lefs ferocious. 
 
 Meanwhile the works of Photius evince 
 that a tafte for rational itudy was not extinct. 
 A few emperors, princes, and even fomc fe- 
 male fovereigns, are found feeking laurels out 
 of the boundaries of theological controverly, 
 and deigning to cultivate human learning. 
 
 The Roman legiflation was but flowly cor- 
 rupted by that mixture of bad laws which 
 avarice and tyranny chelated to the em- 
 perors, or which fupcrftition extorted from 
 their weaknefs. The Greek language loft its 
 purity and character; but it prekrveJ its 
 richneis, its forms and its grammar ; and the 
 of Conllantinoplc could fill] read 
 Homer and Sophocles, ThtiCydides and Plato, 
 Ainhemius explained the conilruction of the 
 
 burning 
 
( *53 ) 
 
 burning glafles of Archimedes, which Proclus 
 employed with fuccefs in the defence of the 
 capital. Upon the fall of the empire, this city- 
 contained fome literary characters, who took 
 refuge in Italy, and whofe learning was ufeful 
 to the progrefs of knowledge. Thus, even at 
 this period, the E,aft had not arrived at the 
 laft itage of ignorance ; but at the fame time 
 it furmfhed no hope of a revival of letters. It 
 became the prey of barbarians ; the feeble re- 
 mains of intellectual cultivation diippeared ; 
 and the genius of Greece ftill waits the hand 
 of a deliverer. 
 
 At the extremities of Afia, and upon the 
 confines of Africa, there exifted a people, who, 
 from its local fituation and its courage, efcaped 
 the conquefts of the Perfians, of Alexander, 
 and of the Romans. Of its numerous tribes, 
 fome derived their fubfiitance from agricul- 
 ture, while others obferved a paftoral life ; 
 all purfued commerce, and fome addi&ed 
 themfelves to robbery. Having a fimilarity 
 of origin, of language and of religious habits, 
 they formed a great nation, the different parts 
 of which, however, were held together by no 
 political tie. Suddenly th,ere ftartcd up among 
 
 them 
 
( '54 ) 
 
 them a man of an ard M cnthufiafm and moft 
 profound po it H the talents of a 
 
 poet, as well as th< fe of a warrior. This man 
 conceived the bold proje& of uniting the 
 Arabian tribes into one body, and he had the 
 courage to execute it. To fucceed in im- 
 pofmg a chief upon a nation hitherto in- 
 vincible, he began with erecting upon the 
 ruins of the ancient w r orfhip a religion more 
 refined. At once legislator, prophet, prieft, 
 judge, and general of the army, he was in 
 pofTcilion of all the means of fubjugating the 
 mind ; and he knew how to employ them 
 with addrefs, but at the fame time with com- 
 prehenfion and dignity. 
 
 He promulgated a mafs of fables, which lie 
 pretended to have received from heaven ; but 
 he-alfo gained battles. Devotion and the 
 pleafures of love divided his leifure. After en- 
 joying for twenty years a power without 
 bounds, and of which there exifts no other 
 example, he announced publicly, that, if he 
 had committed any act of injuftice, he a 
 ready to make reparation. " All were filent : 
 one woman only had the boldnefs to claim a 
 fmall fum of money. lie died 3 and the 
 
 cnth.iH 
 
( 155 ) 
 
 enthufiafm which he communicated to his 
 people will be feen to change the face of three 
 quarters of the globe. 
 
 The manners of the Arabians were mild 
 and dignified ; they admired and cultivated 
 poetry : and when they reigned over the fineft 
 countries of Alia, and time had cooled the 
 fever of fanaticifm, a tafte for literature and 
 the fciences mixed with their zeal for the 
 propagation of religion, and abated their 
 ardour for conquefts. 
 
 They ftudied Ariftotle, whofe works they 
 tranflated. They cultivated aftronomy, optics^ 
 all the branches of medicine, and enriched the 
 fciences with fome new truths. To them we 
 owe the general application of algebra, which 
 was confined among the Greeks to a iingle 
 clafs of queftions. If the chimerical purfuit 
 of a fecret for the tranfmutation of metals^ 
 and a draught for the perpetuating of life de- 
 graded their chymical refearches, they were 
 the reftorers, or more properly fpeaking the 
 inventors, of this fcience, which had hitherto 
 been confounded with medicine and the fludy 
 of the proceffes of the arts. Among them it 
 appeared for the firft time in its iimple form, 
 
 a ftria 
 
( IJfi ) 
 
 a Ariel: analylis of bodies for the purpol'e of 
 afcertaining their dements, a theory of the 
 CombinatL the laws to which 
 
 fchofe combift ted 
 
 r fhe feiences were free, and to that freedom 
 they owed their being able to revive fome 
 fpatlds of the Grecian genius; but the people 
 were fubjeclcd to the u ited defpotiirn 
 
 of religion. Accordingly this light ihone for 
 a few moments only to give place to a thicker 
 darknefs ; and thefe labours of the Arabs 
 would have been loft to the human race, if 
 they had not ferved to prepare that more 
 durable reftoration, of which the Welt will 
 preicntly exhibit to us the picture. 
 
 We thus fee, for the fecond time, genius 
 abandoning nations whom it had enlightened; 
 but it was in this, as in the preceding in- 
 itancc, from before tyranny and fupcrflitiou 
 that it was obliged to difappear. Born in 
 Greece, by the fide of liberty, it was neither 
 able to arreft the fall of that country, nor dc- 
 fend reafbn igainft the prejudices of the 
 people already degraded by llavery. Born 
 among the Arabs, in the midft of dcipotifm, 
 and, as it were, in the cradle of a fanatical 
 
 religion. 
 
( '57 ) 
 
 religion, it has only, like the generous and 
 brilliant character of that people, furnifhed a 
 tranfient exception to the general laws of na- 
 ture, that condemn to brutality and ignorance 
 en/laved and fuperftitious nations. 
 
 But this fecond example ought not to 
 terrify us reipe&ing the future : it mould 
 operate only as a warning upon our contem- 
 poraries not to neglect any means of pre- 
 ferving and augmenting knowledge,- if they 
 wifh either to become or to remain free ; and 
 to maintain their freedom, if they would not 
 lofe the advantages which knowledge has pro- 
 cured them. 
 
 To the account of the labours of the Arabs, 
 I fhall fuggeft the outlines of the fudden rife 
 and precipitate fall of that nation, which, after 
 reigning from the borders of the Atlantic 
 ocean to the banks of the Indus, driven by the 
 barbarians from the greater part of its con- 
 quefts, retaining the reft only to exhibit 
 therein the fhocking fpectacle of a people de- 
 generated to the loweft ftate of fervitude, cor- 
 ruption and wretchednefs, ftill occupies its 
 ancient country, where it has preferved its 
 manners, its fpirit and its character, and 
 
 learned 
 
( iS* ) 
 
 learned to regain and defend its former in- 
 dependence. 
 
 1 fliall add that the religion of Mahomet, 
 die moll iimple in its dogmas, the lead ahfurd 
 in its practices, above all others tolerant 
 in its principles, feems to have condemned to 
 an eternal flavcry, to an incurable flupiditv, 
 all that vafl portion of the earth in which it 
 has extended its empire ; while we are about 
 to fee the genius of fcience and of liberty 
 blaze forth anew under fuperftitions more 
 abfurd, and in the midfl of the mod bar- 
 barous intolerance. China exhibits a fimilar 
 phenomeaon, though the effects of this ftupe- 
 fying poifon have there been lefs fatal* 
 
 SEVENTH 
 
( 159 ) 
 
 SEVENTH EPOCH. 
 
 i 
 
 From the fir ft Progrefs of the Sciences about the 
 Period of their Revival in the Weji^ to the 
 Invention of the Art of Printing. 
 
 XX. Variety of circumftances have concurred 
 to reftore by degrees that energy to the 
 human mind, which, from chains fo degrading 
 and fo heavy, one might have fuppofed was 
 crufhed for ever. 
 
 The intolerance of priefts, their eagernefs 
 to grafp at political power, their abominable 
 avarice, their difiblute manners, rendered more 
 difgufting by their hypocrify, excited againft 
 them every honeft heart, every unbiaffed un- 
 derftanding, and every courageous character. 
 It was impoflible not to be ftruck with the 
 contradiction between their dogmas, maxims 
 and conduct, and thofe of the evangelifts, from 
 which their faith and fyftem of morals had 
 originated, and which they had been unable 
 totally to conceal from the knowledge of the 
 people* 
 
 Accord- 
 
( *fo ) 
 
 Accordingly, ] i were 1. 
 
 ."mil them* In the centre of Trance whole 
 
 united for the adoption of a more 
 
 fimple duclrinc, a pur m of Chriilianitv, 
 
 in which, iubjcclcd only to the worfhip of a 
 
 fingle Divinity, man was permitted to jud 
 
 m his own rcafon, of what that Divinity 
 had condefcended to reveal in the books faid 
 to have emanated from him. 
 
 Fanatic armies, conducted by ambitious 
 chiefs, laid wafle the provinces, hxecutioners, 
 under the guidance of legates and priefts, put 
 to death thole whom the foldiers had (pared. 
 A tribunal of monks was eilablithed, with 
 powers of condemning to the flake whoever 
 ihould be fuipe&ed of making ufe of his 
 real* 
 
 Meanwhile they could not prevent a fpirit 
 of freedom and enquiry from making a filent 
 and furtive progrefs. Crufhed in one country, 
 in which it had the temerity to ihew itfelf, 
 in which, more than once, intolerant hypo- 
 '.'.ndled the moll fanguinary wars, it 
 (larted up, or fpread fecretly in another. It is 
 ) at every interval, till the peri en, 
 
 aided by the invention of the prefs, it gained 
 
 fufficient 
 
( tfr ) 
 
 fufficient power to refcue a portion of Europe 
 from the yoke of the court of Rome. 
 
 Even already there exifted a clafs of men, 
 who, freed from the inglorious bondage of 
 fuperftition, contented themfelves with fe- 
 cretly indulging their contempt, or who at 
 moil went no farther than to call upcn it, for- 
 tuitoufly as it were, lbme traits of a ridicule, 
 which was by fo much the more ftriking on 
 account of the uniform refpect with which 
 they took care to clothe it. The pleafantry of 
 the writer obtained favour for the boldneffes 
 of his pen. They were fcattered with mo- 
 deration through works deftined for the 
 amufement of men of rank or of letters, and 
 which never reached the mafs of the people ; 
 for which reafon they did not excite the re- 
 fentment of the bigot. 
 
 Frederic the fecond was fufpected of being 
 what our priefts of the eighteenth century have 
 fmce denominated a philofopher. He was ac- 
 cufed by the Pope, before all the nations of 
 Europe, of having treated the religions of 
 Mofes, Jefus, and Mahomet, as political fa- 
 bles. To his chancellor, Pierre des Vignes, 
 was attributed the imaginary book of the 
 M Three 
 
( Ift ) 
 
 Tlirce Impoflors, which never hr.d any cxift- 
 ence but in the calumnies of fome, or the in- 
 genious fportivenefi of others, but of which 
 the very title announced the exiftence of an 
 opinion, the natural refult of an ex I filiation 
 ofthefe three creeds, which, derived from the 
 fame fource, were only a corruption of a leis 
 impure worlhip rendered by the moft remote 
 nations of antiquity to the univerial foul of 
 the world. 
 
 Our collections of traditional tales, and the 
 Decameron of Bocace, are full of traits cha- 
 raeleriftic of this freedom of thought, this 
 contempt of prejudices, this inclination to 
 make them the fubject of fecret and acrimo- 
 nious derifion. 
 
 Tims we are furnifhed in this epoch, at one 
 and the fame period, with tranquil fatirilts of 
 all degrees of fuperflition, and enthuiiaftical 
 reformers of its ^rolfeM: abufes ; and the hi (lory 
 of thefe obi cure inveclives, thefe protells in 
 favour of the rights of reafon, may be almolt 
 conceded with that ci^ the moft modern dif- 
 ciplcs of the-fehool of Alexandria. 
 
 We lhall enquire if, when philofophical 
 profelytifin was attended with fuch peril, fe- 
 cret 
 
( 1 63 ) 
 
 cret focieties were not formed, whofe object 
 was to perpetuate, to fpread filently and with- 
 out rifk, among fome difciples and adepts, 
 a few iimple truths which might operate as a 
 prefervative againft prevailing prejudices. 
 
 We mail examine whether we ought not 
 to rank in the number of fuch focieties that 
 celebrated order, which popes and kings con- 
 fpired againft with fuch meannefs, and de- 
 ftroyed with fo much barbarity. 
 
 Priefts, either for felf-defence, or to invent 
 pretexts by which to cover their ufurpations 
 over the fecular power, and to improve them- 
 felves in the art of forging paffages of fcrip- 
 ture, were under the neceffity of applying 
 themfelves to ftudy. Kings, on the other 
 hand, to conduct with lefs difadvantage this 
 war, in which the claims were made to reft 
 upon authority and precedent, patronifed 
 fchools, that might furniih civilians, of whom 
 they flood in need to be en an equality with 
 the enemy. 
 
 In thefe difputes between the clergy and the 
 
 governments, between the clergy of each 
 
 country and the fupreme head of the church, 
 
 thofe of more honeft minds, and of a more 
 
 M 2 frank 
 
( 1 64 ) 
 
 frank and liberal character, vindicated the 
 caufe of men againft that of priefts, the caufe 
 of the national clergy againft the defpotifm of 
 the foreign chief. They attacked abufes and 
 ufurpations, of which they attempted to un- 
 veil the origin. To us this boldnef> fcarcely 
 appears at preicnt fuperior to fervile timidity ; 
 we fmile at feeing fuch a profulion of labour 
 employed to prove what good fenfe alone was 
 competent to have taught ; but the truths to 
 which I refer, at that time new, frequently 
 decided the fate of a people : thefe men fought 
 them with an independent mind ; they de- 
 fended them with firmnefs ; and to their in- 
 fluence is it to be afcribed that human reafon 
 began to recover the recollection of its rights 
 and its liberty. 
 
 In the quarrels that took place between the 
 kings and the nobles, the kings fecured the 
 fupport of the principal towns, either by 
 granting privileges/ or by reftoring fome of 
 the natural rights of man : they endeavoured, 
 by means of emancipations, to increafe the 
 number of thofe who enjoyed the common 
 right o{ citizens. And theie men, re-bom 
 as it were to liberty, felt how much it be- 
 hoved 
 
( i«5 ) 
 
 hoved them, by the ftudyof law and of hiftory, 
 to acquire a fund of information, an authority 
 of opinion, that might ferve to counterbalance 
 the military power of the feodal tyranny. 
 
 The rivalfhip that exifted between the 
 emperors and the popes prevented Italy from 
 uniting under a iingie mafter, and prefer ved 
 there a great number of independent focieties. 
 In thefe petty ftates, it was necefiary to add 
 the power of perfuafion to that of force, and 
 to employ negociation as often as arms : and 
 as this political war was founded, in reality, in 
 a war of opinion, and as Italy had never ab- 
 iblutely loft its tafte for ftudy, this countiy 
 may be confidered, refpecting Europe, as a 
 feedplot of knowledge, inconfiderable indeed 
 as yet f but which promifed a fpeedy and vi- 
 gorous increafe. 
 
 In fine, hurried on by religious enthu- 
 fiafm, the wefterh nations engaged in the con- 
 dueft of places-rendered holy, as it was faid, 
 by the miracles and death of Chrift ; and this 
 fceal, at the fame time that it was favourable 
 ro liberty, by weakening and impoverishing 
 4 he nobles, extended the connection of the 
 people of Europe with the Arabians, a con- 
 JVI 3 ne&ioa 
 
( 1 66 ) 
 
 necYion which their mixture with Spain had 
 before formed, and their commerce with Pifa, 
 Genoa, and Venice cemented. Their lan- 
 guage was fludied, their books were read, 
 part of their difcoveries was acquired ; and if 
 the Europeans did not foar above the point in 
 which the fciences had been left by the Ara- 
 bians, they at leaft felt the ambition of rival- 
 ing them. 
 
 Thcfe wars, undertaken with fuperftitious 
 views, ferved to deftroy fupcrftition. 1 he 
 fpeclacle of fuch a multitude of religions ex- 
 cited at length in men of i'enic a total indiffer- 
 ence for creeds, alike impotent in refining the 
 pafhons, and curing the vices of mankind ; a 
 uniform contempt for that attachment, equally 
 fincere, equally obftinate, of fe&aries, to opi- 
 nions contradictory to each other. 
 
 Republics were formed in Italy, of which 
 f )me were imitations of the Greek republics, 
 while others attempted to reconcile the icrvi- 
 tudc of a fubject people with the liberty and 
 democratic equality of 9 tbvereign cue. In 
 Germany, in the north, fome towns, obtain- 
 
 almoft e tire in lependence, were governed 
 
 by their own laws. In certain parts of Switzcr-* 
 
 land, 
 
( i6 7 ) 
 
 land, the people threw off the chains both of 
 feodal and of royal power. In almoft all 
 the great ftates imperfect cohftitutions %rung 
 up, in which the authority of raifing fubfi- 
 
 dies, and of making new laws, was divided 
 fometimes between the king, the nobles, the 
 clergy and the people, and fometimes between 
 the king, the barons and the commons ; in 
 which the people, though not yet exempt 
 from a ftate of humiliation, were at leaft fe- 
 cure from oppreflion ; in which all that truly 
 compofed a nation were admitted to the right 
 of defending its interefts, and of being heard 
 by thofe who had the regulation of its deftiny. 
 In England a celebrated act, folemnly fworn 
 by the king, and great men of the realm, fe- 
 cured the rights of the barons, and fome of 
 the rights of men. 
 
 Other nations, provinces, and even cities, 
 obtained alfo charters of a iimilar nature, but 
 lefs celebrated, and not fo ftrenuoufly defended. 
 They are the origin of thofe declarations of 
 rights, regarded at prefent by every enlightened 
 mind as the bafis of liberty, and of which the 
 ancients neither had nor could have an idea, 
 becauie their inftitutions were fuilied by do- 
 M 4 meltic 
 
( i63 ) 
 
 mei'tic ilavcry, becaufe with them the right of 
 citizenlhip was hereditary, or conferred by 
 voluntary adoption, and becaufc they never 
 arrived at the knowledge of rights which are 
 inherent in the ipecies, and belong with a 
 llrict equality to all mankind. 
 
 Iu Trance, England, and other great na- 
 tions, the people appeared defuous of re- 
 fuming their true rights ; but blinded by the 
 fenfe of oppreihon, rather than enlightened 
 by reafon, the only fruit of its efforts were 
 outrages, that were foon expiated by acU of 
 -» engcancc more barbarous, and particularly 
 more unjuR, and pillages accompanied with 
 greater miiery than either. 
 
 In England the principles of WicklifTc, the 
 reformer, had given rife to one of thefe com- 
 motions, carried on under the direction of 
 fome of his difciples, and which afforded a 
 prefagc of attempts, more fy Hematic and bet- 
 ter combined, that would be made by the 
 people under other reformers, and in a more 
 enli d age. 
 
 The difeoveryofa manuiViipt pfthejufti* 
 • code produced the revival of the ihidy 
 'iriiprudencc, as well as of h^ilatioit, and 
 
 fcrVcd 
 
( i6 9 ) 
 
 ferved to render thefe lefs barbarous even 
 among the people who knew how to derive 
 profit from the difcovery, without treating the 
 code as of facred obligation* 
 
 The commerce of Pifa, Genoa, Florence, 
 Venice, forne cities of Belgia, and free towns 
 of Germany, embraced the Mediterranean, 
 the Baltic, and the coafts of the European 
 ocean, The precious commodities of the Le- 
 vant were fought by the merchants of thofe 
 places in the ports of Egypt, and at the extre- 
 mities of the Black Sea. 
 
 Polity, legiflation, national economy, were 
 not yet converted into fciences ; the principles 
 of them were neither enquired after, invefti- 
 gated, nor developed ; but as the mind be- 
 gan to be enlightened by experience, obferva- 
 tions were collected tending to lead thereto, 
 and men became verfed in the interefts that 
 muft caufe the want of them to be felt, 
 
 Ariftotle was only known at firft by a tran- 
 ilation of his works rnade from the Arabic, 
 His philpfophy, perfecuted at the beginning, 
 foon gained footing in all the fchools. It in- 
 troduced there no new light, but it gave more 
 regularity, more method to that art of rea- 
 
 foning 
 
( '70 ) 
 
 foning which theological difputes had called 
 into cxiflcncc. This fcholaftic discipline did 
 not lead to the difcovery of truth ; it did not 
 even ferve for the difeuflion and accurate va- 
 luation of its proofs, but it whetted the minds 
 of men ; and the tafte for fubtle diftincYions, 
 the neceffity of continually dividing and fab- 
 dividing ideas, of feizing their niceft fhades, 
 and exprefling them in new words, the appa- 
 ratus which was in the firft inftance employed 
 to embarrafi one's enemy in a difpute, or to 
 efcape from his toils, was the original fource 
 of that philoiophical analyfis to which we 
 have iince been lb highly indebted for our 
 intellectual progrefs. 
 
 To theie difciplinarians we are indebted for 
 the greater accuracy that may have been ob- 
 tained respecting the Supreme Being and his at- 
 tributes ; refpe&ing the diftinction between the 
 firft caufe,and the univerie which it is fuppoied 
 to govern ; refpecting the farther diftinclion 
 between ttlkld and matter ; refpecling the dif- 
 ferent fenfes that may be affixed to the word 
 rty ; refpe&ing the meaning of the word 
 ./ n ; refpe&ing the manner of difttnguifh* 
 ing from each other the different operate 
 
 of 
 
( *** ) 
 
 of the human mind, and of claffing the ideas 
 it forms of objects and their properties. 
 
 But this method could not fail to retard in 
 the fchools the advancement of the natural 
 fciences. Accordingly the whole picture of 
 thefe fciences at this period will be found 
 merely to comprehend a few anatomical re- 
 fearches ; fome obfcure productions of chy- 
 miftry, employed in the difcovery of the 
 grand fecret alone ; a flight application to 
 geometry and algebra, that fell fhort of the 
 difcoveries of the Arabians, and did not even 
 extend to a complete underftanding of the 
 works of the ancients ; and laftly, fome aftro- 
 nomical ftudies and calculations, confined to 
 the formation and improvement of tables, and 
 depraved by an abfurd mixture of aftrology. 
 Meanwhile the mechanical arts began to ap- 
 proach the degree of perfection which they 
 had preferved in Afia. In the fouthern coun- 
 tries of Europe the culture of filk was intro- 
 duced ; windmills as well as paper-mills were 
 eitablifhed ; and the art of meafuring time 
 furpalTecl the bounds which it had acquired 
 either among the Ancients or the Arabians, 
 
 In fhort, two important difcoveries cha- 
 ra&erife this epoch. The property pofleflH 
 
 by 
 
( I 7 2 ) 
 
 fry the Ioadftone, of pointing always to the 
 lame quarter of the heavens, a property known 
 to the Chinefe, and employed by them in 
 fleering their veffcls, was alfo obferved in 
 Europe. The compafs came into hfe, an in- 
 ftrument which gave activity to commerce, 
 improved the art of navigation, fbggefted the 
 idea of voyages to which w r e have fince owed 
 the knowledge of a new world, and enabled 
 man to take a furvey of the whole extent of 
 the glob.e on which he is placed A chymiit, 
 by mixing an inflammable matter with falt- 
 petre, dilcovered the fecret of that powder 
 which has produced (o unexpected a revolu- 
 tion in the art of war. Notwithstanding the 
 terrible effect of fire-arms, in difperling an 
 army, they have rendered war left murder- 
 ous, and jts combatants lefs brutal. Military 
 expeditions are more expenfive ; wealth can 
 balance force ; even the mod warlike people 
 feel the neceflity of providing and fecuring 
 the means />f combating, by the acquiiition of 
 the riches of commerce and the arts, Polilhed 
 nations have no longer any thing to appre- 
 hend from the blind courage of barbarian 
 tribes. Great conquefls, and the revolutions 
 which follow, are become almoll impoffible. 
 
 3 T '' 
 
( *73 ) 
 
 That fupenority which an armour of iron, 
 which the art of eon dueling a horie almoft 
 invulnerable from his accoutrements, of ma- 
 naging the lance, the club, or the fword, gave 
 the nobility over the people, is completely 
 clone away ; and the removal of this impedi- 
 ment to the liberty and real equality of man- 
 kind, is the refult of an invention, that, at the 
 firft glance, feemed to threaten the total extir- 
 pation of the human race. 
 
 In Italy, the language arrived almoft at ks 
 perfection about the fourteenth century* The 
 ftyle of Dante is often grand, precife, ener- 
 getic. Boccace is graceful, fimple, and ele- 
 gant. The ingenious and tender Petrarch has 
 not yet become obfolete. In this country, 
 whofe happy climate nearly refembles that of 
 Greece, the models of antiquity were ftudied ; 
 attempts were made to transfufe into the new 
 language fome of their beauties, and to pro- 
 duce new beauties of a fimilar ftamp. Al- 
 ready fome productions gave reafon to hope 
 that, roufed by the view of ancient monu- 
 ments, inlpired by th<*fe mute but eloquent 
 IciTbns, genius was about, for the (econd time, 
 to cmbellifh the exiftence of man, and provide 
 
 tor 
 
( '74 ) 
 
 for him thofe pure pleafures, the enjoyment of 
 which is free to all, and becomes greater in 
 proportion as it is participated. 
 
 The reft of Europe followed at an humble 
 diftarice ; but a taite for letters and poetry- 
 began at lead to give a poliih to languages 
 that were ftill in a Hate almoit of barbarity. 
 
 The fame motives which had routed the 
 minds of men from their long lethargy, mult 
 alio have directed their exertions. Reafon 
 could not be appealed to for the decifion of 
 queftions, of which oppofite interefts had 
 compelled the diicuflion. Religion, far from 
 acknowledging its power, boafted of having 
 fubjected and humbled it. Politics confidered 
 as juft what had been confecrated by compact, 
 by conftant practice, and ancient cuftoms. 
 
 No doubt was entertained that the rights of 
 man were written in the book of nature, and 
 that to confult any other would be to depart 
 from and to violate them. Meanwhile it was 
 only in the facred books, in refpected authors, 
 in the bulls of popes, in the refcripts of kings, 
 in regiiters of old ufages, and in the annals of 
 the church, that maxims or examples were 
 fought from which to infer thole rights. The 
 buiinefs was never to examine the intriniic 
 
 merits 
 
( 175 ) 
 
 merits of a principle, but to interpret, to ap- 
 preciate, to fupport or to annul by other texts 
 thofe upon which it might be founded. A 
 proportion was not adopted becauie it was 
 true, but becauie it was written in this or that 
 book, and had been embraced in fuch a coun- 
 try and fuch an age. 
 
 Thus the authority of men was everywhere 
 fubftituted for that of reafon : books were 
 much more ftudied than nature, and the opi- 
 nions of antiquity obtained the preference 
 over the phenomena of the univerie. This 
 bondage of the mind, in which men had not 
 then the advantage of enlightened criticiiVn, 
 was ftili more detrimental to the progrefs of 
 the human fpecies, by corrupting the method 
 of ftudy, than by its immediate effects. And 
 the ancients were yet too far from being 
 equalled, to think of correcting or furpafling 
 them. 
 
 Manners preferved, during this epoch, their 
 corruption and ferocity ; religious intolerance 
 was even more active ; and civil difcords, and 
 the inceffant wars of a crowd of petty feve- 
 rcigns, fucceeded the invafions of the barba- 
 rians, and the pelt, ftili more fatal, of iangui- 
 
 nary 
 
( '7* ) 
 
 nary feuds. The gallantry indeed of the min- 
 ftrcls and the troubadours, the inftitution of 
 orders of chivalry, pfofeifing generofity and 
 franknefe, devoting themfelves to the main- 
 tenance of religion, the relief of the op- 
 preflcd, and the fervice of the fair, were cal- 
 culated to infufe into manners more mildnefs, 
 decorum, and dignity. But the change, con- 
 fined to courts and caftles, reached not to the 
 bulk of the people. There refulted from it a 
 little more equality among the nobles, lefs 
 perfidy and cruelty in their relations with 
 each other ; but their contempt for the peo- 
 ple, the infolence of their tyranny, their au- 
 dacious robberies, continued the fame ; and 
 nations, oppreffed as before, were as before 
 ignorant, barbarous and corrupt. 
 
 This poetical and military gallantry, this 
 chivalry, derived in great meafure from the 
 Arabians, whofe natural generoiity long re- 
 fitted in Spain fuperftition and defpotifm, had 
 doubtlefs their ufe : they difTufed the feeds 
 of humanity, which were deftined in happier 
 periods to exhibit their fruit ; and it was the 
 general character of this epoch, that it dil- 
 poied the human mind for the revolution 
 
 which 
 
( *77 ) 
 
 which the difcoveiy of printing could not 
 but introduce, and prepared the foil which 
 the following ages were to cover with fo' rich 
 and fo abundant an harveft. 
 
 N EIGHTH 
 
i;8 
 
 EIGHTH EPOCH. 
 
 From the Invention of Printings to the P> 
 
 when the Sciences and Philofoply threw off' 
 the Yoke of Authority. 
 
 JL HOSE who have reflected but fuperficially 
 upon the march of the human mind in the 
 difcovery, whether of the truths of fcience, 
 or of the proceffes of the arts, muft be afto- 
 nifhed that fo long a period mould elapfe be- 
 tween the knowledge of the art of taking im- 
 preffions of drawings, and the difcovery of 
 that of printing characters. 
 
 Some engravers of plates had doubtlefs con- 
 ceived this idea of the application of their art ; 
 but they were more ftruck with the difficulty 
 of executing it, than with the advantages of 
 fuccefs : and it is fortunate that they did not 
 comprehend it in all its extent ; fince priefts 
 and kings would infallibly have united to 
 ftifle, from its birth, the enemy that was to 
 unmafk their hypocrify, and hurl them from 
 
 their thrones. 
 
 The 
 
( *79 ) 
 
 The prefs multiplies indefinitely, and at 3 
 fmall expence, copies of any work. Thofe 
 who can read are hence enabled to furnifli 
 themfelves with books fuitable to their tafte 
 and tlieir wants ; and this facility of exercifing 
 the talent of reading, has increafed and pro- 
 pagated the defire of learning it. 
 
 Theie multiplied copies, fpreading them- 
 felves with greater rapidity, fa£ts and difco- 
 veries not only acquire a more extenfive pub- 
 licity, but acquire it alfo in a fhorter fpace of 
 time. Knowledge has become the object of 
 an active and univerfal commerce. 
 
 Printers were obliged to feek mariufcripts, 
 as we feek at prefent works of extraordinary 
 genius. What was read before by a few in- 
 dividuals only, might; now be perufed by a 
 whole people, and ftrike almoft at the fame 
 inftant every man that underftood the fame 
 language. 
 
 The means are acquired of addrefling re- 
 mote and difperfed nations. A new fpecies of 
 tribune is eftablifhed, from which are com- 
 municated impreffions lefs lively, but at the 
 fame time more folid and profound ; from 
 which is exercifed over thepaffions an empire 
 N 2 lefs 
 
( i So ) 
 
 lefs tyrannical, but over rcaibn a power more 
 certain and durable ; where all the adv 
 is on the fide of truth, fiace what the art may 
 lofe in point of induction, is more than c( 
 terbalanced by the illumination it conveys. A 
 public opinion is formed, powerful by the 
 number of thofe who ihare in it, energetic, be- 
 caufe the motives that determine it act upon 
 all minds at once, though at confiderable dis- 
 tances from each other. A tribunal is creeled 
 in favour of reafon and juftice, independent 
 of all human power, from the penetration of 
 which it is difficult to conceal any thing, from 
 whole verdict there is no efcape. 
 
 New inventions, the hiflory of the firft fteps 
 in the road to a difcovery, the labours that 
 prepare the way for it, the views that fuggeft 
 the idea or give rife merely to the wifh of pur- 
 fuing it, thefe, communicating themfelves with 
 celerity, furnifh every individual with the 
 united means which the efforts of all have 
 been able to create, and genius appears to 
 have more than doubled its powers. 
 
 Every new error is refilled from its birth: 
 frequently attacked before it has diileminated 
 iticlf, it has not time to take root in the mind. 
 
 Thofe 
 
( iSi ) 
 
 Thofe which, imbibed from infancy, are iden- 
 tified in a manner with the reafon of every in- 
 dividual, and by the influence of hope or of 
 terror endeared to the exiftence of weak un- 
 derstandings, have been fhaken, from this cir- 
 cumftance alone, that it is now impoffible to 
 prevent their difcuffion, impoffible to conceal 
 that they are capable of being examined and 
 rejected, impoffible they fhould withftand the 
 progrefs of truths which, daily acquiring new 
 light, muft conclude at laft with difplaying all 
 the abfurdity of fuch errors, 
 
 It is to the prefs we owe the poffibility of 
 fpreading thofe publications which the emer- 
 gency of the moment, or the tranfient fluctu- 
 ations of opinion, may require, and of in- 
 terefting thereby in any queftion, treated in a 
 fingle point of view, whole communities of 
 men reading and underftanding the fame lan- 
 guage. 
 
 All thofe means which render the progrefs 
 of the human mind more eafy, more rapid, 
 more certain, are alfo the benefits of the prefs. 
 Without the inftrumentality of this art, fuch 
 books could not have been multiplied as are 
 adapted* to every clafs of readers, and every de-i 
 N 3 gre§ 
 
( i82 ) 
 
 gree of inflruclion. To the pi owe t! 
 
 continued ions which alone can en- 
 
 fa] queftibns, and fix upon an 
 immov . tilths too abftradt, too iuh- 
 
 , top remote from the prejudices of the 
 peo] te, i i the common opinion of the learned, 
 not to he loon forgotten and loft. To the pi 
 
 e thole books purely elementary, die- 
 tionaries, ks in which are collecled, with 
 all their details, a multitude of fads, obferva- 
 tions, and tments, in which all their 
 
 proof:, are dc\ I, all their difficulties in- 
 
 veftigated. To the prefs we owe thole valu- 
 able compilations, containing fometimes all 
 that lias been difcovcred, written, thought, 
 upon a particular branch of fcience, and fome- 
 times the refult of the annual labours of all the 
 literati of a country. To the prefs we owe 
 thoi 5, thole catalogues, thofe pidhil 
 
 of every kind, of which fome exhibit a view 
 of inductions which the mind could only hi 
 
 d by, the moft tedious operath 
 
 otlu at will the fad, the ery, 
 
 the number, the method, which we 
 
 defirpus of afceitaining; v. bile others again 
 
 nib, in a more commodious form, and a 
 
 z m< 
 
( i8 3 ) 
 
 more arranged order, the materials from which 
 genius may fafhion and derive new truths. 
 
 To thefe benefits we mail have occafion to 
 add others, when we proceed to analyfe the 
 effects that have arifen from the fubftitution 
 of the vernacular tongue of each country, in 
 the room of the almoft exclufive application, 
 which had preceded, fo far as relates to the 
 fciences, of one language, the common me- 
 dium of communication between the learned 
 of all nations. 
 
 In fhort, is it not the prefs that has freed 
 the inftruction of the people from every poli- 
 tical and religious chain ? In vain might either 
 defpotifm invade our fchools ; in vain might 
 it attempt, by rigid inftitutions, invariably to 
 fix what truths lhall be preferved in them, 
 what errors inculcated on the mind ; in vain 
 might chairs, confecrated to the moral in- 
 ftrudtion of the people, and the tuition of 
 youth in philofophy and the fciences, be 
 obliged to deliver no doctrines but fuch as are 
 favourable to this double tyranny : the prefs 
 can diffufe at the fame time a pure and inde^ 
 pendent light. That inftru&ion which is to 
 t>e acquired from books in filence and folitude, 
 N 4 c«* 
 
( 1 8 4 ) 
 
 can never be univerfally corrupted : a fingle 
 corner of the earth free to commit their leaves 
 to the pre(% would be a fufficient fecurity. 
 How amidft that variety of productions, 
 amidft that multitude of exifting copies of the 
 fame book, amidft imprefTions continually 
 renewed, will it be poffible to fhut fo clofcly 
 all the doors of truth, as to leave no opening, 
 no crack or crevice by which it may enter ? 
 If it was difficult even when the bufinefs was 
 to deftroy a few copies only of a manufcript, 
 to prevent for ever its revival, when it was 
 fufficient to profcribe a truth, or opinion, for 
 a certain number of years to devote it to eter- 
 nal oblivion, is not this difficulty now ren- 
 dered impoffible, when it would require a 
 vigilance incefiantly occupied, and an activity 
 that mould never flumbcr ? And even fhould 
 fuccefs attend the fuppreffion of thofe too 
 palpable truths, that wound directly the in- 
 tcrefts of inquifitors, how are others to be pre- 
 vented froaa penetrating and fpreading, which 
 Include thofe profcribed truths without fuller- 
 ing them to be perceived, which prepare the 
 ., and mull one day infallibly lead tu 
 them ? Could it be done without obliging the 
 
 per- 
 
( iSs ) 
 
 perfonages in queftion to throw off that mafk 
 pf hypocrify, the fall of which would prove no 
 Jefs fatal than truth itfelf to the reign of error ? 
 We fhall accordingly fee reafon triumphing 
 over thefe vain .efforts : we mail fee her in 
 this war, a war continually reviving, and fre- 
 quently cruel, fuccefsful alike againft violence 
 and ftratagem ; braving the flames, and refill- 
 ing fedu&ion ; cruihing in turn, under its 
 mighty hand, both the fanatical hypocrify 
 which requires for its dogmas a fincere adora- 
 tion, and the political hypocrify imploring on 
 its knees that it may be allowed to enjoy in 
 peace the profit of errors, in which, if you 
 will take its word, it is no lefs advantageous 
 to the people than to itfelf, that they ihould 
 for ever be plunged. 
 
 The invention of the art of printing nearly 
 coincides with two other events, of which one 
 lias exercifed an immediate influence on the 
 progrefs of knowledge, while the influence of 
 the other on the deftinyof the whole human 
 fpecies can never ceafe but with the fpecies 
 itfelf, 
 
 I refer to the taking of Conftantinople by 
 the Turks, and the discovery both of the new 
 
 world, 
 
( iS6 ) 
 
 world, and of the route which has opened 
 to Europe a direct communication with the 
 eaftern parts pi and Ai 
 
 The Greek literati, flying from the fo- 
 vcreignty of the Tartars, fought an afylum in 
 Italy. They acquired the ability of reading, 
 in their original language, the poets, orators, 
 liiftorians, philofophers, and antiquarians of 
 Greece. They iirft furniihed manufcripts, 
 and foon after editions of the works of thole 
 authors. The veneration of the ftudious was 
 no longer confined to what they agreed in 
 calling the doctrine of Ariftotlc. They ftudied 
 this doctrine in his own writings. They ven- 
 tured to inveftigate and opnole it. They 
 contrafled him with Plato : and it was ad- 
 vancing a ftep towards throwing ofF the yoke, 
 to acknowledge in thcmlelves the right of 
 choofing a mailer. 
 
 The perulal of Euclid, Archimedes, Dio- 
 phantus, and Ariftotle's philofophical hook 
 upon animals, rekindled the genius of natu- 
 ral philofo] d of geometry ; while the an- 
 tichrilli f philofophers awakened 
 ideas that were almoft extinct of the ancu 
 prerogatives of human reafon, 
 
 Intrer'ul 
 
( -i8 7 ) 
 
 r' 
 
 Intrepid individuals, jnftigated by the love 
 of glory and a paflion for difcoveries, had 
 extended for Europe the bounds of the uni- 
 verfe, had exhibited a new heaven, and 
 opened to its view an unknown earth. Gama 
 had penetrated into India, after having pur- 
 fued with indefatigable patience the immenfe 
 extent of the African coafts ; while Columbus, 
 configning him to the waves of the Atlantic 
 ocean, had reached that country, hitherto un- 
 known, extending from the weft of Europe 
 to the eaft of Alia. 
 
 If this paflion, whofe reftlefs activity, em- 
 bracing at that period every object, gave pro- 
 mife of advantages highly important to the 
 progrefs of the human fpecies, if a noble cu- 
 yiofity had animated the heroes of navigation, 
 a mean and cruel avarice, a ftupid and brutal 
 fanaticifm governed the kings and robbers who 
 were to reap the profits of their labour. The 
 unfortunate beings who inhabited thefe new 
 countries were not treated as men, becaufe 
 they were not chriftians. This prejudice, 
 more degrading to the tyrants than the vic- 
 tims, ftifled all fenfe of remorfe, and aban- 
 doned, without controul, to their inextinguifh- 
 
 able 
 
( i88 ) 
 
 able thirft for gold and for blood, tliofe greedy 
 and unfeeling men that Europe difgorged from 
 her bofom. The bones of five millions of 
 human beings have covered the wretched 
 
 countries to which the Spaniards and Portu- 
 gueze tranfportcd their avarice, their fupcr- 
 ftition, and their fury. Thcfe bones will 
 plead to everlafting ages againft the do&ri 
 
 of the political utility of religions, which is 
 {till able to find its apologifls in the world. 
 
 It is in this epoch only of the progrefs of 
 the human mind, that man has arrived at the 
 knowledge of the globe which he inhabits ; 
 that he has been able to ftudy, in all its coun- 
 tries, the fpecies to which he belongs, modi- 
 fied by the continued influence of natural 
 caufes, or of focial inftitutions ; that he has 
 had an opportunity of obferving the produc- 
 tions of the earth, or of the fea, in all tempera- 
 tures and climates. And accordingly, among 
 the happy confequences of the difcovenes in 
 quedion, may be included the refources of 
 every kind which thofe productions afford to 
 mankind, and which, fo far from being ex- 
 handed, men have yet no idea of their ex- 
 tent j the truths which tVj knowledge of 
 
 (lpfg 
 
( »«$ ) 
 
 thofe objects may have added to the fciences, 
 or the long received errors that may thereby 
 have been deltroyed ; the commercial activity 
 that has given new life to induftry and navi- 
 gation, and, by a neceffary chain of connec- 
 tion, to all the arts and all the fciences : and 
 laftly, the force that free nations have acquired 
 from this aclivity by which to refift tyrants, 
 and, fubjected nations to break their chains, 
 and free themfelves at leaft from feodal defpo- 
 tifm. But thefe advantages will never ex- 
 piate what the difcoveries have coft to fuller- 
 ing humanity, till the moment when Europe, 
 abjuring the fordid and opprefllve fyftem of 
 commercial monopoly, mall acknowledge that 
 men of other climates, equals and brothers 
 by the will of nature, have never been formed 
 to nouriih the pride and avarice of a few pri- 
 vileged nations ; till, better informed refpedt- 
 ing its true interefts, it fhall invite all the peo- 
 ple of the earth to participate in its independ- 
 ence, its liberty, and its illumination. Un- 
 fortunately, we have yet to learn whether 
 this revolution will be the honourable fruit 
 of the advancement of philofophy, or only, 
 as we have hitherio feen, the fhameful con- 
 
 fequence 
 
( *9° ) 
 
 fequence of national jealoufy, and tne enor- 
 mous execfles of tyranny. 
 
 Till the prqfent epoch the crimes of 
 priefthood had efcaped with impunity. 1 
 cries ofopprdTed humanity, of violated teafonj 
 had heen Rifled in llames and in blood. The 
 fpirit which dictated thofe cries was not e 
 tinct : but the filence occafioned by the opera- 
 tion of terror emboldened the priefthood to 
 farther outrages. At laft, the lcandal of farm- 
 ing to the monks the privilege of felling in 
 taverns and public places the expiation of fins* 
 occafioned a new explolion. Luther, holding 
 in one hand the facred books, expofed With 
 the other the right which the Pope had arro- 
 gated to himfelf of abfolving crimes and felling 
 pardons ; the infolent defpotifm which he 
 exefcifed over the bifhops, for a long time 
 his equals ; the fraternal iupper of the primi- 
 tive chriftians, converted, under the name of 
 mafc into a fpecies of magical incantation and 
 an object of commerce ; priefts condemned 
 to the crime of irrevocable celibacy ; the lame 
 cruel and fcaridaloua law extended to the 
 monks and nuns with which pontifical am- 
 bition had inundated and polluted the church ; 
 
 all 
 
( i9i ) 
 
 oil the fecrcts of the laity configned, by means 
 of confeffion, to the intrigues and the paffions 
 of priefts ; God himfelf, in fhort, fcarcely 
 retaining a feeble mare in the adorations be- 
 llowed in profufion upon bread, men, bones 
 and ftatues. 
 
 Luther announced to the aitonifhed mul- 
 titude, that thefe difgufting inftitutions formed 
 no part of chriftianity, but on the contrary 
 were its corruption and fhame ; and that, to 
 be faithful to the religion of Jefus, it was 
 firft of ail necelTary to abjure that of his prieftsi 
 He employed equally the arms of logic and 
 erudition, and the no lefs powerful weapon of 
 ridicule. He wrote at once in German and 
 in Latin. It was no longer as in the days of 
 the Abigenfes, or of Joh,n Hufs, whofe doc- 
 trine, unknown beyond the walls of their 
 churches, was fo eafily calumniated. The 
 German books of the new apoftles penetrated 
 at the fame time into every village of the em- 
 pire, while their Latin productions roufed all 
 Europe from the fhameful fleep into which 
 fuperftition had plunged it. Thofe whofe 
 reafon had outftripped the reformers, but 
 whom fear had retained in filence ', thdfewho 
 
 were 
 
were tormented with fecret doubts, but which 
 they tr I to avow even to th h bn* 
 
 fciences j thole who, more iimple, wert uri-* 
 acqi with all the extent of theological 
 
 tlbfurdities ; who, having never reflected upon 
 queftions of controvert}-, were aftonifhed to 
 learn that they had the power of chufing be- 
 tween different opinions ; entered eagerly into 
 thefe difcuflions, upon which they conceived 
 depended at once their temporal interefts and 
 their eternal felicity. 
 
 All the chriftiari part of Europe, from Swe- 
 den to Italy, and from Hungary to Spain, was 
 in an inftant covered with the partiians of the 
 new doctrines ; and the reformation would 
 have delivered from the yoke of Rome all the 
 nations that inhabited it, if the miftaken policy 
 of certain princes had not relieved that very 
 facerdotal fceptre which had fo frequently 
 fallen upon the heads of kings. 
 
 This policy, which their fucceflbrs unhappily 
 have yet not abjured, was to ruin their ftates 
 by feekmg to add to them, and to mealure 
 their power by the extent of their territory, 
 rather than by the number of their iubjects. 
 
 Thus, 
 
( *93 ) 
 
 Thus, Charles the fifth and Francis the firft, 
 while contending for Italy, facrificed to the 
 intereft of keeping well with the Pope* that 
 fuperior intereft of profiting by the advan- 
 tages offered by the reformation to every 
 country that fhould have the wifdom to 
 adopt it. 
 
 Perceiving that the princes of the empire 
 were favourable to opinions calculated to aug- 
 ment their power and their wealth, the empe- 
 ror became the partifan and fupporter of the 
 old abufes, actuated by the hope that a reli- 
 gious war would furnifh an opportunity of 
 invading their ftates, and deftroying their in- 
 dependence ; while Francis imagined that, by 
 burning the proteftants, and protecting at the 
 fame time their leaders in Germany, he mould 
 preferve the friendihip of the Pope, without 
 lofing his valuable allies. 
 
 But this was not their only motive. Def- 
 potifm has alfo its inftincl: ; and that inftindl: 
 fuggefted to thefe kings, that men, after fub- 
 je&ing religious prejudices to the examination 
 of reafon, would foon extend their enquiries 
 to prejudices of another fort ; that, enlightened 
 upon the ufurpations of popes, they might 
 O wifh 
 
( 194 ) 
 
 wiili at laft to be equally enlightened upon 
 thole of princes ; and that the reform of eccle- 
 JKiftical ahuies, beneficial as it was to royal 
 
 a er, Blight involve the reform of abufes, 
 it ill more opprcflive, upon which that power 
 Was founded. Accordingly, no king of any 
 confidcrable nation favoured voluntarily the 
 party of the reformers. Henry the eighth, 
 terrified at the pontifical anathema, joined in 
 the pcrfecntion againft them. Edward and 
 Elizabeth, unable to embrace popery without 
 pronouncing themfclves ufurpcrs, eftablifhed 
 in England the faith and worfhip that ap- 
 proached neareft to it. The proteftant mo- 
 narchs of Great Britain have indeed uniformly 
 favoured the catholic religion, whenever it 
 has ceafed to threaten them with a pretender 
 to the crown. 
 
 In Sweden and Denmark, the eftablifhmcnt 
 of the religion of Luther was coniidered by 
 their kings only as a neceflary precaution to 
 fecure the expulfion of the catholic tyrant, to 
 whole defpotiim they lucceeded ; and in the 
 Pruflinn monarchy, founded by a philolbphi- 
 
 prince, we already perceive his fucceflbr 
 unable to dilguifc bis fecret attachment to this 
 religion, fo dear to the hearts of ibvereigns. 
 
 Reli- 
 
( «95 ) 
 
 Religious intolerance was common to every 
 feci, and communicated itfelf to all the go- 
 vernments. The papifts perfecuted the re- 
 formed communions; while thefe,pronouncing 
 anathemas againft each other, joined at the 
 fame time againft the anti-trinitarians, who, 
 more confident in their conduct, had tried 
 every doctrine, if not by the touchftone of 
 reafon, at leaft by that of an enlightened cri- 
 ticifm, and who did not fee the necefhty of 
 freeing themfelves from one fpecies of abfur- 
 dity, to fall into others equally difgufting. 
 
 This intolerance ferved the caufe of popery. 
 For a long time there had exifted in Europe, 
 and efpecially in Italy, a clafs of men who, re- 
 je&ing every kind of fuperftition, indifferent 
 alike to all modes of worfhip, governed only 
 by reafon, regarded religion as of human in- 
 vention, at which one might laugh in fecrct, 
 but towards which prudence and policy dic- 
 tated an outward refpedt 
 
 This free-thinking aflumed afterwards fu- 
 perior courage ; and, while in the fchools the 
 philofophy of Ariftotle, imperfectly undgr- 
 flood, had been employed to improve the fub- 
 tleties of theology, and render ingenious what 
 O 2 would 
 
( ! 9 G ) 
 
 would naturally have borne the features of 
 abfurdity, fome men of learning eflablifhed 
 upon his true dodrine a fyftem dcftrucYive of 
 every religious idea, in "which the human 
 foul was confidered only as a faculty that 
 vanifhed with life, and in which no other 
 providence, no other ruler of the world \ 
 admitted than the neceflary laws of nati 
 This fyftem was combated by the Platoni 
 whofe fentiments, refembling what has fince 
 been called by the name of deifm, were more 
 terrifying flill to iacerdotal orthodoxy. 
 
 But the operation of punifliment foon put 
 
 a Hop to this impolitic boldnefs. Italy and 
 
 Lee were polluted with the blood of thofe 
 
 martyrs to the freedom of thought. All feels, 
 
 all governments, every fpecres of authority, 
 
 inimical as they were to each other in every 
 
 ted to be of accord in granting 
 
 quarter to the exercife of reafon. It v. 
 
 necefliry to cover it with a veil, which, 
 
 ng it from the pbfervation of tyrants, 
 
 it ftill permit it to be i'ecii by the eye of 
 
 philofophy. 
 
 ! the moil timid caution was 
 
 . rved rcfpccling this iecret doctrine, which 
 
 had 
 
( *97 ) 
 
 liad never failed of numerous adherents. It 
 had particularly been propagated among the 
 heads of governments, as well as among thofe 
 of the church ; and, about the period of the 
 reformation, the principles of religious Ma- 
 chiavelifm became the only creed of princes, 
 of minifters, and of pontiffs. Thefe opinions 
 had even corrupted philofophy. What code 
 of morals indeed was to be expected from a 
 fyftem, of which one of the principles is, that 
 it is neceffary to fupport the morality of the 
 people by falfe pretences ; that men of en- 
 lightened minds have a right to deceive them, 
 provided they impofe only ufeful truths, and 
 to retain them in chains from which they have 
 themfelves contrived to efcape ? 
 
 If the natural equality of mankind, the 
 principal bafis of its rights, be the foundation 
 of all genuine morality, what could it hope 
 from a philofophy, of which an open con- 
 tempt of this equality and thefe rights is a 
 diftinguifhing feature ? This fame philofophy 
 has contributed no doubt to the advancement 
 of reafon, whofe reign it filently prepared ; 
 but fo long as it was the only philofophy, its 
 fole effect was to fubftitute hypocrify in 
 O 3 the, 
 
( 198 ) 
 
 the place of fanaticism, and to corrupt, at the 
 fame time that it raifed above prejudices, thofe 
 who prefided in the deftiny of ftates. 
 
 Philofophers truly enlightened, ftrangers 
 to ambition, who contented themfelvcs with 
 undeceiving men gradually and with cau- 
 tion, but without fuffering themfelves at the 
 fame time to confirm them in their errors, 
 thefe philofophers would naturally have 
 been inclined to embrace the reformation : 
 but, deterred by the intolerance that every 
 where difplayed itfelf, the majority were of 
 opinion that they ought not to cxpofe them- 
 felvcs to the inconveniences of a change, 
 when, by fo doing, they would Mill be fub- 
 je&ed to fimilnr reftraint. As they mud have 
 continued to fhew a refpeel: for abfurdities 
 which they had already rejected, they law 
 no mighty advantage in having the num- 
 ber fomewhat diminifhed ; they were fear- 
 ful alio of expofing themfelves, by their 
 abjuration, to the appearance of a volun- 
 tary hvpocrify : and thus, by perfevering 
 in their attachment to the old 
 II rengthened it with the ai V of their 
 
 utatlon. 
 
 The 
 
( *99 ) 
 
 The fplrit which animated the reformers 
 did not introduce a real freedom of fenti- 
 ment. Each religion, in the country in which 
 it prevailed, had no indulgence but for cer- 
 tain opinions. Meanwhile, as the different 
 creeds were oppofed to each other, few opi- 
 nions exifted that had not been attacked or 
 fupported in fome part of Europe. The new 
 communions had befide been obliged to relax 
 a little from their dogmatical rigour. They 
 could not, without the groffefl contradiction, 
 confine the right of examination within the 
 pale of their own church, fince upon this right 
 was founded the legitimacy of their fepara- 
 tion. If they refufed to reftore to reafon its 
 full liberty, they at leaft confented that its pri- 
 fon fhould be lefs confined : the chains were 
 not broken, but they were rendered lefs bur- 
 thenfome and more permanent. In fhort, in 
 thofe countries where a fingle religion had 
 found it impracticable to opprefs all the 
 others, there was eftablifhed what the info- 
 lence of the ruling feci: called by the name of 
 toleration, that is, a permiffion, granted by 
 lome men to other men, to believe what their 
 reafon adopts, to do what their confcience 
 O 4 dictates 
 
( 200 ) 
 
 dictates to them, to pay to their common God 
 the homage they may think belt calculated to 
 pleafe him : and in thefc countries the tole- 
 rated doctrines might then be vindicated with 
 more or lefs freedom. 
 
 We thus fee making its appearance in 
 Europe a fort of freedom of thought, not for 
 men, but for chriftians : and, if we except 
 France, for chriftians only does it any where 
 cxift to this day. 
 
 But this intolerance obliged human reafon 
 to feek the recovery of rights too long for- 
 gotten, or which rather had never been pro- 
 perly known and underftood. 
 
 Afhamed at feeing the people opprefTed, in 
 the very fanftuary of their confeience, by 
 kings, the fuperftitious or political flaves of 
 the priefthood, fome generous individuals 
 dared at length to inveftigate the foundations 
 of their power ; and they revealed this grand 
 truth to the world : that liberty is a bleffing 
 which cannot be alienated ; that no title, no 
 convention in favour of tyranny, can bind a 
 nation to a particular family ; that magiftral 
 
 whi be their appellation, their fun<S 
 
 3, or their power, are the agents, not the 
 
 .mailers, 
 
( 20X ) 
 
 mafters, of the people ; that the people have 
 the right of withdrawing an authority origi- 
 nating in themfelves alone, whenever that 
 authority mall be abufed, or mail ceafe to be 
 thought ufeful to the interefts of the commu- 
 nity : and laftly, that they have the right to 
 punifh, as well as to cafhier their fervants. 
 
 Such are the opinions which Althufius and 
 Languet, and afterwards Needham and Har- 
 rington, boldly profefled, and inveftigated tho- 
 roughly. 
 
 From deference to the age in which they 
 lived, they too often build upon texts, autho- 
 rities, and examples ; and their opinions ap- 
 pear to have been the refult of the ftrength 
 of their minds, and dignity of their characters, 
 rather than of an accurate analyfis of the true 
 principles of focial order. 
 
 Meanwhile other philofophers, more timid, 
 contented themfelves with eftablifhing, be- 
 tween the people and kings, an exacl: reci- 
 procity of duties and rights, and a mutual 
 obligation to preferve inviolate fettled conven- 
 tions. An hereditary magiftrate might in- 
 deed be depofed or punifhed, but it was 
 pnly upon his having infringed this facred 
 
 contract, 
 
( 2°2 ) 
 
 contract, which was not the Iefs binding on 
 his famrly. This doctrine, which facrificed 
 natural right, by bringing every thing under 
 pofitivc inftitution, was fupported both by 
 civilians and divines. It was favourable to 
 perwerful men, and to the projects of the am- 
 bitious, as it {truck rather at the individual 
 who might be inverted with fovereignty, than 
 at fovereignty itfelf. For this reafon it was 
 almoft generally embraced by reformifts, and 
 adopted as a principle in political diflcntions 
 and revolutions. 
 
 Hiflory exhibits few fteps of actual pro- 
 grefs towards liberty during this epoch ; but 
 we fee more order and efficacy in govern- 
 ments, and in nations a.ftronger and particu- 
 larly a more juft fenfe of their rights. Laws 
 better combined ; they appear lefs fre- 
 quently to be the immature and ihapelefs pro- 
 duction of circumftances and caprice ; they 
 are the offspring of men of learning, if they 
 cannot be laid as yet to be the children of 
 philofoj 
 
 The popular commotions and revolutions 
 which agitated England, Trance, and the re- 
 publics of Italy, attracted the notice of phi- 
 
 lofophers 
 
( 203 ) 
 
 Iofophers to that branch of politics which con- 
 lifts in obferving and predicting the effects 
 that the conftitution, laws and eftablifhments 
 of a country are likely to produce upon the 
 liberty of the people, and the profperity, 
 ftrength, independence, and form of govern- 
 ment of the flate. Some, in imitation of 
 Plato, as More, for inftance, and Hobbes, 
 deduced from general pofitions the plan of an 
 entire fyftem of focial order, and exhibited 
 the model towards which it was neceffary in 
 practice continually to approach. Others, 
 like Machiavel, fought, in a profound invefti- 
 gation of hiftorical facts, the rules by which 
 were to be obtained the future maftery of 
 nations. 
 
 The fcience of political economy did not, 
 in this epoch, exift. Princes eftimated not the 
 number of men, but of foldiers, in the ftate ; 
 finance was the mere art of plundering the 
 people, without driving them to the defpera- 
 tion that mould end in revolt ; and govern- 
 ments paid no other attention to commerce 
 but that of loading it with taxes, of re- 
 finding it by privileges, or of difputing for 
 its monopoly. 
 
 The 
 
( ~°4 J 
 
 The nations of Europe, occupied by the 
 common intermits that mould unite, or the 
 oppofite ones that they conceived ought to di- 
 vide them, felt the necefTity of obferving cer- 
 tain rules of conduct which, independently of 
 treaties, were to operate in their pacific in- 
 tercourfe ; while other rules, refpected even 
 in the midft of war, were calculated to foften 
 its ferocity, to diminifh its ravages, and to 
 prevent at Icaft unproductive and unnecefTary 
 calamities. I refer to the fcience of the law 
 of nations : hut thefe laws unfortunately were 
 fought, not in reafon and nature, the only 
 authorities that independent nations may ac- 
 knowledge, but in eftablilhed ufages and the 
 opinions of antiquity. The rights of huma- 
 nity, juftice towards individuals, were left 
 confulted, in this buiinefs, than the ambition, 
 the pride, and the avarice of governmeril 
 
 In this epoch we do not bbferve moralifts 
 interrogating the heart of man, analyfing liis 
 faculties and his feelings, thereby to difc< 
 his nature, and the origin, law and fapcTdon 
 of his d ( );i the contrary, we fee them 
 
 employing all the fubtlety of tl to 
 
 ducover, refpe&iag actions the lawfulncis of 
 
 which 
 
( 205 ) 
 
 which is uncertain, the precife limit whers 
 innocence ends, and fin is to begin ; to afcer- 
 tain what authority has the proper degree of 
 weight to juftify the practice of any of thefe 
 dubious fort of actions ; to affift them in 
 darling fins methodically, fometimes into 
 genus and fpecies, and fometimes according to 
 the refpe&ive heinoufnefs of their nature ; and 
 laftly, to mark thofe in particular of which 
 the comirmTion of one only is fufficient to 
 merit eternal damnation. 
 
 The fcience of morals, it is apparent, could 
 not at that time have being, fince priefts alone 
 enjoyed the privilege of being its interpreters 
 and judges. Meanwhile, as a fkilful mecha- 
 nic, by ftudying an uncouth machine, fre- 
 quently derives from it the idea of a new one, 
 lefs imperfect and truly ufeful ; fo did thefe 
 very fubtleties lead to the difcovery, or afTift 
 in afcertaining the degree of moral turpitude 
 of actions or their motives, the order and 
 limits of our duties, as well as the principles 
 that fhould determine our choice whenever 
 thefe duties fhall appear to clafh. 
 
 The reformation, by destroying, in the 
 countries in which it was embraced, con- 
 
 fcffion, 
 
( 206 ) 
 
 feffion, indulgences, and monks, refined the 
 principles of morality, and rendered even man- 
 ners lefs corrupt. It freed them from facer- 
 dotal expiations, that dangerous encourage- 
 ment to vice, and from religious celibacy, the 
 bane of every virtue, becaufe the enemy of the 
 domeftic virtues. 
 
 This epoch, more than all the reft, was blotted 
 and disfigured with acts of atrocious cruelty. 
 It was the epoch of religious maffacres, holy 
 wars, and the depopulation of the new world. 
 There we fee eftablifhed the flavery of an- 
 cient periods, but a flavery more barbarous, 
 more productive of crimes againft nature ; and 
 that mercantile avidity, trafficking with the 
 blood of men, felling them like other commo- 
 dities, having firft purchafed them by trea- 
 fon, robbery, or murder, and dragging them 
 from one hemifphere to be devoted in ano- 
 ther, amidft humiliation and outrages, to the 
 tedious punifhment of a lingering, a cruel, but 
 infallible deftruction. 
 
 At the fame time hvpocrify covers Europe 
 with executions at the ilake, and allallinations. 
 The monfter, fanaticii'm, maddened by the 
 
 4 wounds 
 
( 207 ) 
 
 wounds it has received, appears to redouble 
 its fury, and haftens to burn its vi&ims in 
 heaps, fearful that reafon might be approach- 
 ing to deliver them from its hands. 
 
 Meanwhile we may obferve fome of thofc 
 mild but intrepid virtues making their appear- 
 ance which are the honour and confolation of 
 humanity. Hiftory furnifhes names which 
 may be pronounced without a blufh. A few 
 unfullied and mighty minds, uniting fuperior 
 talents to the dignity of their characters, re- 
 lieve, here and there, thefe fcenes of perfidy, 
 of corruption, and of carnage. The picture 
 of the human race is ftill too dreary for the 
 philofopher to contemplate it without ex- 
 treme mortification ; but he no longer de- 
 fpairs, fince the dawn of brighter hopes is ex- 
 hibited to his view. 
 
 The march of the fciences is rapid and 
 brilliant. The Algebraic language becomes 
 generalized, fimplified and perfe&ed, or rather 
 it is now only that it was truly formed. The 
 firft foundations of the general theory of equa- 
 tions are laid, the nature of the folutions 
 which they give is afcertained, and" thole of 
 the third and fourth degree are reiblved. 
 
 The 
 
( 208 ] 
 
 Tlic ingenious invention of logarithm 
 abridging the operations of arithmetic, faci- 
 litates the application of calculation to the va- 
 rious objects of nature and art, and thus ex- 
 tends the fphere of all thole fciences in which 
 a numerical procefs is one of the means of 
 comparing the refults of an hypothefis or 
 theory with the actual phenomena, and thus 
 arriving at a diftind knowledge of the laws 
 of nature. In mathematics, in particular, the 
 mere length and complication of the numeri- 
 cal procefs practically confidered, bring us, 
 upon certain occafions, to a term beyond 
 which neither time, opportunity, nor even 
 the ftretch of our faculties, can carry us ; this 
 term, had it not been for the happy interven- 
 tion of logarithms, would have alfo been the 
 term bevond which icience could never pafs, 
 or the efforts of the proudeft genius proceed. 
 
 The law of the defcent of bodies was difco- 
 vered by Galileo, from which he had the in- 
 genuity to deduce the theory of motion uni- 
 formly accelerated, and to calculate the curve 
 defcribed by a body impelled into the air 
 
 with a velocity, and animated by a 
 
 force conltantly acling upon it in parallel 
 
 direction*. 
 
 Coper- 
 
( *-°9 ) 
 
 Copernicus revived the true fyftcm of the 
 %vorld, fo long^buried in oblivion, deftroyed* 
 by the theory of apparent motions, what the 
 fenfes had found fd" much difficulty in recon- 
 ciling, and oppofed the extreme fimplicity of 
 the real motions refulting from this fyftem, 
 to the complication, bordering upon abfur- 
 dity, of the Ptolemean hypothefis. The mo- 
 tions of the planets were better underftood ; 
 and by the genius of Kepler were difcovered 
 the forms of their orbits, and the eiternal laws 
 by which thofe orbits perform their evolu- 
 tion?* 
 
 Galileo, applying to afironomy the recent 
 difcovery of telefcopes, which he carried to 
 greater perfection, opened to the view of man- 
 kind a new firmament* The fpots which he 
 obferved on the difk of the fun led him to 
 the knowledge of its rotation, of which he 
 afcertained the precife period, and the laws by 
 which it was performed. Hd demonstrated 
 thephafes of Venus, and difcovered the fouf 
 iatellitcs that furround and accompany Jupiter 
 in his immenfe orbit. 
 
 He alfo furnifhed an accurate mode of mea- 
 luring time, by the vibrations of a pendu- 
 lum, * 
 
 P Thus 
 
( 2IO ) 
 
 Thus man owes to Galileo the firft mathe- 
 matical theory of a motion that is not at once 
 uniform and rectilinear, as well as one of the 
 mechanical laws of nature ; while to Kepler 
 he is indebted for the acquifition of one of 
 thofe empirical laws, the difcovery of which 
 has the double advantage of leading to the 
 knowledge of the mechanical law of which 
 they exprefs the refult, and of fupplying fuch 
 degrees of this knowledge as man finds him- 
 felf yet incapable of attaining. 
 
 The difcovery of the weight of the air, and 
 of the circulation of the blood, diftinguifh the 
 progrefs of experimental philofophy, born in 
 the ichool of Galileo, and of anatomy, already 
 too far advanced not to form a fcience diftinc'l 
 from that of medicine. 
 
 Natural hiftory, and chymiflry, in fpite of 
 its chimerical hopes and its enigmatical lan- 
 guage, as well as medicine and furgery, aflo- 
 niih us by the rapidity of their progrefs, 
 though we are frequently mortified at the fight 
 of the monftrous prejudices which thele 
 fciences ftill retain. 
 
 Without mentioning the works of Gefner 
 and Agricola, containing fuch a fund of real 
 Information! with Jfo flight a mixture of 
 
 fcicntific 
 
( ail ) 
 
 Scientific or popular errors, we obferve Ber- 
 nard de Palifli fometimes difplaying to us the 
 quarries from which we derive the materials 
 of our edifices ; fometimes mafies of ftone 
 that compofe our mountains, formed from the 
 fkeletons of fea animals, and authentic monu- 
 ments of the ancient revolutions of the globe ; 
 and fometimes explaining how the waters, 
 raifed from the fea by evaporation, reftored 
 to the earth by rain, flopped by beds of clay, 
 aflembled in fnow upon the hills, fupply 
 the eternal ftreams of rivers, brooks, and 
 fountains : while John Rei difcovered thofe 
 combinations of air with metallic fubftances, 
 which gave birth to the brilliant theories by 
 which, within a few years, the bounds of chy- 
 miftry have been fo much extended. 
 
 In Italy the arts of epic poetry, painting 
 and fculpture, arrived at a perfection unknown 
 to the ancients. In France, Corneille evinced 
 that the dramatic art was about to acquire a 
 ftill nobler elevation ; for whatever fuperiority 
 the enthufiaftical admirers of antiquity may 
 fuppofe, perhaps with juflice, the chefs- 
 d'oeuvresof its iirft geniufes to poflefs, it is by 
 P 2 no 
 
( 2.2 ) 
 
 no means difficult, by comparing their works 
 with the productions of France and of Italy, 
 for a rational enquirer to perceive the real 
 progrefs which the art itfelf has attained in 
 the hands of the moderns. 
 
 The Italian language was completely formed, 
 and in thole of other nations we fee the mark* 
 of their ancient barbarifm continually difap- 
 pearing. 
 
 Men began to feel the utility of mctaphy- 
 fics and grammar, and of acquiring the art 
 of analyiing and explaining philofophically 
 both the rules and the procefles eitabliihed 
 by cuftom in the compofition of words and 
 phrafes. 
 
 We every where perceive, during this 
 epoch, reafon and authority ftriving for the 
 maftery, a conteft that prepared and gave 
 promife of the triumph of the former. 
 
 This alfo was the period aufpicious to the 
 birth of that fpirit of criticifm which alone 
 can render erudition truly productive. It 
 \\\h frill ncceflTary to examine what had been 
 done by the ancients ; but men were aware 
 that, however they might admire, they were 
 entitled to judge them. Reaibn, which fomc- 
 2 time* 
 
C 213 ) 
 
 times fupported itfelf upon authority, and 
 againft which authority had been fo frequently 
 employed, was defirous of appreciating the va- 
 lue of the affiftance fhe might derive therefrom, 
 as well as the motive of the facrifice that 
 was demanded of her. Thofe who affumed 
 authority for the bails of their opinions, and 
 the guide of their conduct, felt how important 
 it was that they fhould be fure of the ftrength 
 of their arms, and not expofe themfelves to 
 the danger of having them broken to pieces 
 upon the firft attack of reafon. 
 
 The habit of writing only in Latin upon 
 the fciences, philofophy, jurifprudence, and 
 even hiftory, with a few exceptions, gra- 
 dually yielded to the practice of employing 
 the common language of the refpe&ive coun- 
 try. And here we may examine what influ- 
 ence upon the progrefs of the human mind 
 was produced by this change, which ren- 
 dered the fciences more popular, but dimi- 
 nifhed the facility with which the learned 
 were able to follow them in their route ; 
 which caufed a book to be read by more in- 
 dividuals of inferior information in a particular 
 country, but by fewer enlightened minds 
 P 3 through 
 
( M4 ) 
 
 through FAiropc in general ; which fuper- 
 feded the nccciTity of learning Latin in a great 
 number of men defirous of inilruclion, without 
 having the lcifure or the means of founding 
 the depths of erudition, but at the fame time 
 obliged the philofopher to confume more time 
 in acquiring a knowledge of different lan- 
 guages. 
 
 We may fhow that, as it was impoffible to 
 make the Latin a vulgar tongue common to 
 all Europe, the continuance of the cuflom of 
 writing in it upon the fciences would have 
 been attended with a tranfient advantage only 
 to thofe who fludied them ; that the exiftencc 
 of a fort of fcientific language among the 
 learned of all nations, while the people of 
 each individual nation fpoke a different one, 
 would have divided men into two claffes, 
 would have perpetuated id the people preju- 
 dices and errors, would have placed an infur- 
 mountable impediment to true equality, to 
 an equal life of the fame reafon, to an equal 
 knowledge of neceffary truths ; and thus by 
 flopping the progref? pf the mafs of man- 
 Id, Would haw laft, as in the E \ 
 | itting a period to the advancement of the 
 fcjences themfelvfcs, 
 
 v. | 
 
( 2I 5 ) 
 
 For a long time there had been no inftruo 
 tion but in churches and cloifters. 
 
 The univerfities were ftill under the domi- 
 nation of the priefts. Compelled to refign to 
 the civil authority a part of their influence, 
 they retained it without the fmalleft defalca- 
 tion, fo far as related to the early inftruclion 
 of youth, that inftruclion which is equally 
 fought in all profeflions, and among all claffes 
 of mankind. Thus they pofTefled themfelves 
 of the foft and flexible mind of the child, of 
 the boy, and directed at their pleafure the firft 
 unfinifhed thoughts of man. To the fecular 
 power they left the fuperintendence of thofe 
 ftudies which had for their object jurifpru- 
 dence, medicine, fcientifical analyfis, litera^ 
 ture and the humanities, the fchools of which 
 were lefs numerous, and received no pupils 
 who were not already broken to the facerdo- 
 tal yoke. 
 
 In reformed countries the clergy loft this 
 influence. The common inftruction, however, 
 though dependent on the government, did not 
 ceafe to be directed by a theological fpirit ; 
 but it was no longer confined to members of 
 £he priefthood. It ftill corrupted the minds 
 
 P^ of 
 
( ?tl ) 
 
 of men by religious prejudices, but it did not 
 bend them to the yoke of iacerdotal authority ; 
 it flill made fanatics, vifionaries, fophifts, but 
 it no lunger formed flaves for fuperflition. 
 
 Meanwhile education, being every where 
 fubjugated, had corrupted every where the 
 general underftanding, by clogging the reafon 
 of children with the weight of the religious 
 prejudices of their country, and by flifling in 
 youth, deftined to a fuperior courfe of inftruc- 
 tion, the fpirit of liberty by means of poli- 
 tical prejudices. 
 
 Left to himfelf, every man not only found 
 between him and truth a clofe and terrible 
 phalanx of the errors of his country and age, 
 but the moft dangerous of thofe errors were 
 in a manner already rendered perfonal to him. 
 Before he could difTipate the errors of another, 
 it was neceflary he fhould begin with afcer- 
 taining his own ; before he combated the 
 difficulties oppofed by nature to the difcovery 
 of truth, his underftanding, fo to fpeak, was 
 obliged to undergo a thorough repair, In- 
 ftrudtion at this period conveyed fome know- 
 ledge ; but to render it ufeful, the operation 
 of refining mull take place, to feparate it from 
 
 the 
 
t 217 ) 
 
 the drofs in which fuperilition and tyranny 
 together had contrived to bury it. 
 
 We may fhow what obftacles, more or lefs 
 powerful, thefe vices of education, thofe re-* 
 ligious and contradictory creeds, that infiu^ 
 ence of the different forms of government, 
 oppofed to the progrefs of the human mind. 
 It will be feen that this progrefs was by fo 
 much the flower and unequal, in proportion 
 as the objects of fpeculative enquiry inti- 
 mately affected the ftate of politics and reli- 
 gion ; that philofophy, in its moft general 
 fenfe, as well as metaphyfics, the truths of 
 which were in direct hoftility to every kind 
 of fuperilition, were more obftinately retarded 
 than political enquiry itfelf, the improvement 
 of which was only dangerous to the authority 
 of kings and ariftocratic affemblies ; and that 
 the fame obfervation will equally apply to the 
 fcience of material nature. 
 
 We may farther develope the other fources 
 of this inequality, as they may be traced in 
 the objects of which each fcience treats, and 
 the methods to which it has recourfe. 
 
 In the fame manner the fources of inequa- 
 lity and counteraction, which operate refpect- 
 
 ing 
 
( *i8 ) 
 
 ing the very fame fcicnce in different coun- 
 tries, are alfo the joint effect of political and 
 natural caufes. We may enquire, in this 
 inequality, what it is that is to be afcribed to 
 the different modes of religion, to the form of 
 government, to the wealth of any nation, to 
 its political importance, to its perfonal cha- 
 racter, to its geographical lituation, to the 
 events and viciffitudes it has experienced, in 
 fine, to the accident which has produced in 
 the midft of it any of thofe extraordinary men, 
 whofe influence, while it extends over the 
 whole human race, exercifes itfelf with a dou- 
 ble energy in a more retrained fphere. 
 
 We may diftinguiih the progrefs of each 
 fcience as it is in itfelf, which has no other 
 limit than the number of truths it includes 
 within its fphere, and the progrefs of a na- 
 tion in each fcience, a progrefs which is re- 
 gulated firft by the number of men who are 
 acquainted with its leading and moft import- 
 ant truths, and next by the number and na- 
 ture of the truths fo known. 
 
 In fine, we are now come to that point of 
 civilization, at which the people derive a profit 
 from intelle&ual knowledge, not only by the 
 
 feryices 
 
( 2I 9 ) 
 
 ftrvices it reaps from men uncommonly in- 
 ftru£ted, but by means of having made of intel- 
 lectual knowledge a fort of patrimony, and 
 employing it dire&ly and in its proper 
 form to refift error, to anticipate or fupply 
 their wants, to relieve themfelves from the 
 ills of life, or to take off the poignancy of thefe 
 ills by the intervention of additional pleafure. 
 
 The hiftory of the perfecutions to which 
 the champions of liberty were expofed, during 
 this epoch, ought not to be forgotten. Thefe 
 perfecutions will be found to extend from the 
 truths of philofophy and politics to thofe of 
 medicine, natural hiftory and aftronomy. la 
 the eighth century an ignorant pope had per- 
 fected a deacon for contending that the earth 
 was round, in oppofition to the opinion of the 
 rhetorical Saint Auftin. In the feventeenth, 
 the ignorance of another pope, much more 
 inexcufeable, delivered Galileo into the hands 
 of the inquifition, accufed of having proved 
 the diurnal and annual motion of the earth. 
 The greateft genius that modern Italy has 
 given to the fciences, overwhelmed with age 
 and infirmities, was oblieed to purchafe his 
 releafe from punifhment and from priibn, by 
 
 aiking 
 
( 220 ) 
 
 afking pardon of God for having taught mq* 
 better to underhand his works, and to ad- 
 mire him in the Simplicity of the eternal laws 
 by which he governs the univcrie. 
 
 Meanwhile, fo great was the abfitrdity of 
 the theologians, that, in condefcenfion to hu- 
 man underftanding, they granted a permhTion 
 to maintain the motion of the earth, at the 
 fame time that they infiited that it mould be 
 only in the way cf an hypothecs, and that 
 the faith mould receive no injury. The 
 aftronomers, on the other hand, did the 
 exact oppolite of this ; they treated the mo- 
 tion of the earth as a reality, and fpoke of its 
 immoveablenefs with a deference only hypo- 
 thetical. 
 
 The traniition from the epoch we have 
 been coniidering to that which follows, has 
 been diilinguiihed by three extraordinary per- 
 fonages, Bacon, Galileo, and Dcfcartes. Ba- 
 con has revealed the true method of ftudying 
 nature, by employing the three inh\ruments 
 with which fhe has furnilhcd us for the dis- 
 covery of her fecrets, obfervation, experi- 
 ment and calculation. He was defirous that 
 the philofopher, placed in the midft of the bhU 
 
 verfe, 
 
( «* ) 
 
 *erfe, fhould, as a firft and neceflary ftep in his 
 career, renounce every creed he had received, 
 and even every notion he had formed, in or- 
 der to create, as it were, for himfelf, a new un- 
 derflanding, in which no idea fhould be ad- 
 mitted but what was preciie, no opinion but 
 what was juft, no truth of which the degree of 
 certainty or probability had not been fcrupu- 
 loufly weighed. But Bacon, though poffefs- 
 ing in a mod eminent degree the genius of 
 philofophy, added not thereto the genius of 
 the fciences ; and thefe methods for the dis- 
 covery of truth, of which he furnifhed no 
 example, were admired by the learned, but 
 produced no change in the march of the 
 fciences. 
 
 Galileo had enriched them w T ith the moll 
 ufeful and brilliant difcoveries ; he had taught 
 by his own example the means of arriving 
 at the knowledge of the laws of nature in a 
 way fure and productive, in which men were 
 not obliged to facrifice the hope of fuccefs to 
 the fear of being milled. He founded the 
 firft fchool in which the fciences have been 
 taught without a mixture of fuperftition, pre- 
 judice, or authority • in which every other 
 
 means 
 
( 222 ) 
 
 means than experiment and calculation have 
 been rigoroufly proscribed : but confining him- 
 fdf excluiively to the mathematical and phyii- 
 cal fciences, he was unable to communicate to 
 the general mind that impuHion which it 
 feemed to want. 
 
 This honour was referved for the daring 
 and ingenious Defcartes. Endowed with a 
 matter genius for the fciences, he joined 
 example to precept, in exhibiting the method 
 of finding and aicertaining truth. This me- 
 thod he applied to the difcovery of the laws 
 of dioptrics, of the collifion of bodies, and 
 finally of a new branch of mathematical Sci- 
 ence, calculated to extend and enlarge the 
 bounds of all the other branches. 
 
 He vrifhed to extend his method to every 
 object of human intelligence; God, man, the 
 cniverfe, were in turn the fubject of his me- 
 ditations. If, in the phyfical fciences, his 
 march be Left fure than that of Galileo, if his 
 philolbphy be lefs wary than that of Bacon, 
 if he may be accuied of not having iufiieiently 
 availed himielf of the lotions of the one, and 
 the example of the Other, to ditlruft his ima- 
 gination, to interrogate nature by experi- 
 ment 
 
( 223 ) 
 
 merit alone, to have no faith but in calcula- 
 tion, to obferve the univerfe, inftead of con- 
 Unicting it, to ftudy man, inftead of trufting 
 to vague conjectures for a knowledge of his 
 nature ; yet the very boldnefs of his errors 
 was inftrumental to the progrefs of the hu- 
 man fpecies. He gave activity to minds 
 which the circumfpecYion of his rivals could 
 not awake from their lethargy. He called 
 upon men to tl .row off the yoke of authority, 
 to acknowledge no influence but what reafon 
 fhould avow : and he was obeyed, becaufe 
 he fubjected by his daring, and fafcinated by 
 his enthufiafm. 
 
 The human mind was not yet free, but it 
 knew that it was formed to be free. Thofe 
 who perfifted in the defire of retaining it in. 
 its fetters, or who attempted to forge new 
 ones, were under the neceflity of proving that 
 they ought to be impofed or retained, and it 
 requires little penetration to forefee that from 
 that period they would foon be broken in 
 pieces. 
 
 NINTH 
 
( « 4 ) 
 
 NINTH EPOCH. 
 
 From the T'imc of Defcartes y to the Forme' 
 of the French Republic. 
 
 W E have ittw human l*eafon forming 
 itfelf flowly by the natural progrefs of civili- 
 zation ; fuperflition ulurping dominion over 
 it, thereby to corrupt it, and defpotifm de- 
 grading and ftupifying the mental faculties 
 by the operation of fear, and actual infliction 
 of calamity. 
 
 One nation only efeaped for a while this 
 double influence. In that happy land, where 
 liberty had kindled the torch of genius, the 
 human mind, freed from the trammels of in- 
 fancy, advanced towards truth with a firm 
 and undaunted flop. But conqucft foon in- 
 troduced tyranny, fure to be followed by fu- 
 perftition, its infeparable companion, and the 
 whole race of man was re-plunged into dark- 
 nefe, deftined, from appearance, to be eter- 
 nal. The dawn, however, at length was ob- 
 served 
 
( 225 ) 
 
 ferved to peep ; the eyes, long condemned to 
 bbfeurity, opened and ftiut their lids,, inuring 
 themfelves gradually till they could gaze at 
 the light, and genius dared once again to fhine 
 Forth upon the globe, from which, by fana- 
 ticifm and barbarity, it fo long had been ba- 
 iiifhed. 
 
 We have feen reafon revolting at, and 
 fhaking off part of its chains, and by the con- 
 tinual acquilition of new ftrength preparing 
 and haflening the epoch of its liberty. 
 
 We have now to run through the period in 
 which it compleated its emancipation ; in 
 which, fubje&ed ftill to a degree of bondage, 
 it throws off, one by one, the remainder of its 
 fetters ; in which, free at length to purfue its 
 courfe, it can no longer be flopped but by 
 thofe obftacles the occurrence of which is ine- 
 vitable upon every new progrefs, as being 
 the remit of the conformation of the mind 
 itfelf, or of the connection which nature has 
 eftablifhed between our means of dii covering 
 truth, and the obftacles me oppofes to our 
 efforts. 
 
 Religious intolerance had obliged feven 
 
 of the Belgic provinces to throw off the yoke 
 
 O^ of 
 
( "6 ) 
 
 ►pain, and to form thcmiclvcs into a fede- 
 ral republic. The fame caufe had revived in 
 jland a fpirit of liberty, which, tired of long 
 and (anguinary commotions, fat down at lail 
 contented with a conftitution, admired for a 
 while by philofophers, but having at prefent 
 no other fupport than national fupcrftition and 
 political hypocrify. 
 
 To facerdotal perfecution is it likewife to 
 be afcribed that the Swedes had the fortitude 
 to regain a portion of their rights. 
 
 Meanwhile, amidft the commotions occa- 
 fioned by theological contefts, France, Spain, 
 Hungary and Bohemia faw the feeble remains 
 of their liberty, or of what, at leaft, bore the 
 femblance of liberty, totally vanilh from their 
 fight. 
 
 Even in countries laid to be free, it is in vain 
 to look for that freedom which violates none 
 of the natural rights of man, and which fc- 
 cures their indefeafible poiTeflion and uncon- 
 trouled cxercife. On the contrary, the liberty 
 cxi fling there, founded upon a politive right 
 unequally lliared, confers upon an indivi- 
 dual \v greater <^r left according to 
 the town which he inhabits, the clais in which 
 
 hi 
 
( 227 ) 
 
 lie is born, the fortune he poffefies, or the 
 trade he may exercife ; and a concife picture 
 of thefe fantaftical diftinclions in different na- 
 tions, will furnifh the beft anfwer to thofe 
 men who are ftill difpofed to vindicate the ad- 
 vantage and neceffity of them. 
 
 In thefe countries, however, civil and per- 
 fonal liberty are guarantied by the laws. I£ 
 man be not all that he ought to be, ftill the 
 dignity of his nature is not totally degraded ; 
 fome of his rights are at leaft acknowledged ; 
 it can no longer be faid of him that he is a 
 flave, but only that he does not yet know 
 how to become truly free. 
 
 In nations among whom, during the fame 
 period, liberty may have incurred lories more 
 or lefs real, fo reftri&ed were the political 
 rights enjoyed by the generality of the peo- 
 ple, that the annihilation of the ariftocracy, 
 almoft defpotic, under which they had groaned, 
 feems to have been more than a compenfa- 
 tion. They have loft the title of citizen, 
 which inequality had nearly rendered illufory ; 
 but the quality of man has been more re- 
 fpe&ed, and royal defpotifm has faved them 
 from a ftate of feodal oppreflion, an oppref- 
 Q^2 fton 
 
( »*8 ) 
 
 fion fo much the more painful and humi- 
 liating, as the number and prefence of the ty- 
 rants arc continually reviving the fentiment 
 of it. 
 
 In nations partially free the laws muft ne- 
 ceffarily have improved, becaufe the interefts 
 of thofe who hold therein the reins of power, 
 aie not in all cafes at variance with the gene- 
 ral interefts of the people ; and they muft 
 alfo have improved in defpotic ftates, either 
 becaufe the intereft of the public profperity 18 
 fometimes confounded with that of the de£» 
 pot, or becaufe, feeking to deftroy the re- 
 mains of authority in the nobles or the clergy, 
 the defpot himfelf thereby communicates to 
 the laws a fpirit of equality, of which the mo- 
 tive indeed was the cftablifhment of an equa- 
 lity of fiavery, but which has often been at' 
 tended with falutary confequences. 
 
 We may here minutely explain the caufes 
 which have produced in Europe that fpecics of 
 dufpotifm, of which neither the ages that pre- 
 ceded, nor the other quarters of the world, 
 hare fumilhud an example ; a deipotiim al- 
 moft abfolute, but which, rLllrained by opi- 
 nion, influenced by the (late of knowkr 
 
 and 
 
( 229 ) 
 
 and tempered in a manner by its own intereft, 
 has frequently contributed to the progrefs of 
 wealth, induftry, inftrudHon, and fometimes 
 even to that of civil liberty. 
 
 The manners of men were meliorated by 
 the mere decay of thofe prejudices which had 
 kept alive their ferocity, by the influence 
 of commerce and induftry, the natural ene- 
 mies of diforder and violence, from which 
 wealth takes its flight, by the fear and terror 
 occafioned by the recollection^ {till recent, of 
 the barbarities of the preceding period, by a 
 more general diffufion of the philofophical 
 ideas of juftice and equality, and laftly, by 
 the flow but fure effect of the progrefs of 
 mental illumination* 
 
 Religious intolerance dill furvived 5 but it 
 was merely in the way of precaution, as a 
 homage to the prejudices of the people, or as 
 a fafeguard againft their inconftancy. It had 
 loft its fierceft features. Executions at the 
 flake, feldom. reforted to, were replaced by 
 other modes of directing religious opini 
 which, if they frequently proved more arbi- 
 trary, were however lefs barbarous, till at 
 length perfecution appeared only at inter- 
 Q.3 
 
( 2 3 ) 
 
 vals, and rcfultcd chiefly from the inveteracy 
 of former habit, or from temporary wetknefs 
 and complaifance. 
 
 In every nation, and upon every fubject, 
 the policy of government followed the fteps 
 not only of opinion, but even of philoibphy ; 
 it was however flowly, and with a fort of 
 reluctance : and we fhall always find that, in 
 proportion as there exifts a confiderable dii- 
 tance between the point at which men of 
 profound meditation arrive in the fcience of 
 politics and morals, and that attained by the 
 generality of thinking men, whole fentiments, 
 when imbibed by the multitude, form what 
 is called the public opinion, fo thofe who 
 direct the affairs of a nation, whatever may 
 be its form of government, are uniformly 
 feen below the level of this opinion ; they 
 walk in its path, they purlue its courfc ; but 
 it is with fo fluggifh a pace, that, lb far from 
 OUtftrippillg, they never come up with it, 
 and are always behind by a confiderable num- 
 ber of years, and by a portion, no lels confi- 
 derable, of truths. 
 
 And now we arrive at the period when 
 philoibphy, the moll general and obvious 
 
 effeSa 
 
( 2 3 l ) 
 
 effe&s of which we have before remarked, 
 obtained an influence on the thinking clafs of 
 men, and thefe on the people and their go- 
 vernments, that, ceafing any longer to be gra- 
 dual, produced a revolution in the entire mafs 
 of certain nations, and gave thereby a fecure 
 pledge of the general revolution one day to 
 follow that fhall embrace the whole human 
 fpecies. 
 
 After ages of error, after wandering in all 
 the mazes of vague and defective theories, 
 writers upon politics and the law of nations 
 at length arrived at the knowledge of the 
 true rights of man, which they deduced from 
 this fimple principle : that he is a being endo-i 
 with fenfation^ capable of reafoning upon and 
 under jianding his interejis, and of acquiring 
 moral ideas. 
 
 They faw that the maintenance of his rights 
 was the only .object of political union, and 
 that the perfection of the focial art confifted 
 in preferring them with the moft entire 
 equality, and in their fulleft extent. T 
 perceived that the means of fecuring 
 rights of the individual, confiding of genera} 
 rules to be laid down in every communis. , 
 0^4 ** 
 
( ^32 ) 
 
 the power of chpofing thefe means, and de- 
 termining thefe rules, could veft only in the 
 majority of the community ; and that for t) 
 
 reafon, as it is impoilible for any individual 
 in this choice to follow the dictates of his 
 own underftanding, without fubjecling that 
 of others, the will of the majority is the 
 only principle which can be followed by all, 
 without infringing upon the common equa- 
 lity. 
 
 Each individual may enter into a previous 
 engagement to comply with the will of the 
 majority, which by this engagement becomes 
 unanimity ; lie can however bind nobody 
 but himfelf, nor can he bind himfelf except 
 fo far as the majority fhall not violate his in- 
 dividual rights, after having rccognifed them. 
 Such are at once the rights of the majority 
 
 r individuals, and the limits of thefe rights ; 
 
 h is the origin of that unanimity, which 
 
 renders the engagement of the majority bind- 
 
 i all ; 4 bond that ceafes to operate 
 
 when, by tl inge of individuals, this Ipe- 
 
 inimity ceafes to T*here are 
 
 pbjects, no doubt, upon which the majority 
 
 uld pronounce perhaps oftener in favour 
 
( 233 ) 
 
 of error and mifchief, than in favour of truth 
 and happinefs ; ft ill the majority, and the 
 majority only, can decide what are the ob- 
 jects which cannot properly be referred to its 
 own deciiion ; it can alone determine as to 
 the individuals whofe judgement it refolves 
 to prefer to its own, and the method which 
 thefe individuals are to purfue in the exercife 
 of their judgement ; in fine, it has alfo an in- 
 difpenfible authority of pronouncing whether 
 the deciftons of its officers have or have not 
 "wounded the rights of all 
 
 From thefe fimple principles men difco- 
 yered the folly of former notions refpe&ing 
 the validity of contracts between a people and 
 its magiftrates, which it was fuppofed could 
 only be annulled by mutual confent, or by a 
 violation of the conditions by one of the par- 
 ties ; as well as of another opinion, lefs fer- 
 yile, but equally abfurd, that would chain 
 a people for ever to the provifions of a con- 
 stitution when once eftablifhed, as if the right 
 of changing it were not the fecurity of every 
 other right, as if human inftitutions, necef- 
 iarily defective, and capable of improvement 
 as wp become enlightened, were to be con- 
 demned 
 
( 2 34 ) 
 
 demncd to an eternal monotony. Accordin 
 the gov. wthemfelves obliged 
 
 to rend policy , which, 
 
 forgetting that all men derive from nature an 
 equality of rights, would (bfnetimes m 
 the extent of thole which it might think pro- 
 per to grant by the fize of territory, the 
 temperature of the climate, the national cha- 
 racter, the wealth of the people, the ftate of 
 commerce and induflry ; and fometimes cede 
 them in unequal portions among fferent 
 
 claffes of focletv, a . rdiujr to their birth, their 
 fortune, or their profeffion, thereby creating 
 contrary interefls and jarring powers, in or- 
 der afteiwards to apply correctives, which, 
 but for theie inftitutions > would not be wanted, 
 and which, after all, are inadequate to the 
 end. 
 
 It was now no longer practicable to divide 
 mankind into two ipecies, one deftined to go- 
 vern, the other to obey, one to deceive, the 
 ether to be dupes : the doctrine was obliged 
 mriverfally to be acknov , that all h 
 
 an equal right r> be enlightened ling 
 
 , to ft acquisition of 
 
 truth, and that no political authorities ap- 
 
 poi. 
 
( ns ) 
 
 pointed by the people for the benefit of the 
 people, can be entitled to retain them in ig- 
 norance and darknefs. 
 
 Thefe principles, which were vindicated 
 by the generous Sydney, at the expence of 
 his blood, and to which Locke gave the au- 
 thority of his name, were afterwards deve- 
 loped with greater force, precifion, and ex- 
 tent by RouiTeau, whofe glory it is to have 
 placed them among thofe truths henceforth 
 impoffible to be forgotten or difputed. 
 
 Man is fubject to wants, and he has facul- 
 ties to provide for them ; and from the ap- 
 plication of thefe faculties, differently modi- 
 fied and diftributed, a mafs of wealth is de- 
 rived, deftined to fupply the wants of the 
 community. But what are the principles by 
 which the formation or allotment, the pre- 
 fervation or confumption, the increafe or di- 
 minution of this wealth is governed ? What 
 are the laws of that equilibrium between the 
 wants and refources of men which is conti- 
 nually tending to eftablifh itfelf ; and from 
 which remits, on the one hand, a greater faci- 
 lity of providing for thofe wants, and or con- 
 fequence an adequate portion of general feli- 
 city, 
 
( 2 3 6 ) 
 
 city, when wealth increases, til! It has reached 
 Its highcli . c cement- and on the 
 
 other, as weahh diminishes greater difficult 
 and of confequence proportionate mi- 
 and wretched nefs, till abitinence or de- 
 flation (kali have again reftored the ba- 
 le? How, in this aftonifhing multiplicity 
 €>f labours and their produce, of wants and 
 resources ; in this alarming-, this terrible coin- 
 plication of interefis, which connects the fub- 
 fiftence and well-being of an obfeure Indivi- 
 dual with the general fyftem of fed el c.sift- 
 ence, which renders him dependent on all 
 the accidents of nature and every political 
 event, and Is in a manner to. the whole 
 
 globe his faculty of experiencing privations 
 or enjoyments ; how is it that, in this feem- 
 ing chaos, we Mil perceive, by a general law 
 of the mo rid, the efforts of each indi- 
 
 vidual for himfelf conducing to the good of 
 die whole, and, not with (landing the o; 
 conflict, of inimical intcrefts, the public weU 
 requiring that each lhould undeKtand 
 
 puriue it 
 and uncontrolled I 
 Hei ne of the rig* ' 
 
 CD 
 
{ *37 > 
 
 man that he mould employ his faculties, d 
 pole of his wealth, and provide for his. wants 
 in whatever manner he mall think beft. The 
 general intereft of the fociety, fo far front 
 reftraining him in this refpecl, forbids, on the 
 contrary, every fuch' attempt-; and in this de- 
 partment of public adminiitration, the care 
 of iecuring to every man the rights which he 
 derives from nature, is the only found po- 
 licy, the only controid which the general 
 will can exercife over the individuals of the 
 community. 
 
 But this principle acknowledged, there are 
 ftill duties incumbent upon the administra- 
 tors of the general will, the fovereign autho- 
 rity. It is for this authority to eftablifh 
 the regulations which are deftined to afcer- 
 fcain, in exchanges of every kind, the weight, 
 the bulk, the length, and quantity of things 
 to be exchanged. 
 
 It is for this authority to ordain a common 
 ftandard of vahiation, that may apply to all 
 commodities and facilitate the calculation of 
 their valuations and comparison, and which, 
 bearing itfelf an intrinfic value, maybe em- 
 ployed in all cafes as the medium of exchange ; 
 
 a regu- 
 
( *J« ) 
 
 a regulation without which commerce, re* 
 (trained to tlic mere operations of barter, can- 
 not acquire the ncceflary a&ivity. 
 
 The growth of every year pi US with 
 
 a fupererogatory value, which isdeftined i 
 ther to remunerate die labour of which 
 growth is the fruit, nor to fupply the flock 
 which is to fecure an equal and more abund- 
 ant growth in time to come. The pofTc 
 of this fupererogatory value does not owe it 
 immediately to his labour, and poflefles it in r 
 dependently of the daily and indifpeniible life 
 of his faculties for the fupply of his wants* 
 This fupererogatory growth is therefore the 
 flock to which the fovereign authority may 
 have recourfe, without injuring the rights of 
 any, to fupply the expences which are requi- 
 fite for the fecurity of the ftate, its intrinfic 
 tranquillity, the preservation of the rights of 
 all, the exercife of the authorities inftituted 
 for the cftabliihment or adminiftration of law, 
 In line, of the maintenance through all its 
 branches of the public profperity. 
 
 There are certain operations, cllablifh- 
 ments and inflitutions, beneficial to the com- 
 munity at large, which it is the office of the 
 
 commu- 
 
{ -39 ) 
 
 community to introduce, direct, and fuper- 
 Intend, and which are calculated to fupply 
 the defecls of perfonal inclination, and to 
 parry the ftruggle of oppofite interefts, whether 
 for the improvement of agriculture, induftry, 
 and commerce, or to prevent or diminifh the 
 evils entailed on our nature, or thofe which 
 accident is continually accumulating upon us* 
 
 Till the commencement of the epoch we 
 are now confidering, and even for fome time 
 after, thefe objects had been abandoned to 
 chance, to the rapacity of governments, to 
 the artifices of pretenders, or to the preju- 
 dices and partial interefts of the powerful 
 claffes of fbciety ; but a difciple of Defcartes, 
 the illuftrious and unfortunate John de Witt, 
 perceived how neceflary it was that political 
 economy, like every other fcience, fhould be 
 governed by the principles of philofophy, 
 and fubje&ed to the rules of a rigid calculation. 
 
 It made however little progrefs, till the peace 
 of Utrecht prornifed to Europe a durable 
 tranquillity. From this period, neglected as 
 it had hitherto been, it became a fubjecT: of 
 almoft general attention; and by Stuart, Smith, 
 and particularly by the French economifts, 
 
 k 
 
it was luddenly elevated, at lead as to prccl/ioil 
 and purity of principles* to a degree of per- 
 fection, not to have been expected after 
 long and total indifference which had prevailed 
 upon the fubjedt. 
 
 The ca ife however of fo unparalleled a 
 progrefs is chiefly to be found In the ad- 
 vancement of that branch of philofophy com- 
 prehended in the term metaphyfics, taking the 
 word in its moft extenfive fignification. 
 
 Defcartes had reftored this branch of phy- 
 lofophy to the dominion of reafon. He per- 
 ceived the propriety of deducing it from thole 
 fimple and evident truths which are revealed 
 to us by an inveftigation of the operations of 
 the mind. But fcarcely had he difcovered 
 this principle than his eager imagination led 
 him to depart from it, and philofophy ap- 
 peared for a time to have relumed its in- 
 dependence only to become the prey of new 
 errors. 
 
 At length Locke made himfelf mailer of 
 the proper clew. He (hewed that a precife 
 and accurate analyfis of ideas, reducing them 
 to ideas earlier in their origin or more iimple 
 in their ftruciure, was the only means to avoid 
 
 the 
 
4 ( H 1 ) 
 
 the being loft in a chaos of notions incom- 
 plete, incoherent, and undetermined, difor- 
 derly becaufe fuggefted by accident, and after- 
 wards entertained without reflecting on their 
 nature. 
 
 He proved by this analyfis, that the whole 
 circle of our ideas refults merely from the 
 operations of our intellect upon the fenfations 
 we have received, or more accurately fpeak- 
 ing, are compounded of fenfations offering 
 themfelves iimultaneoufly to the memory, and 
 after fuch a manner, that the attention is 
 fixed and the perception bounded to a par- 
 ticular branch or view of the fenfations them- 
 felves. 
 
 He fhewed that by taking one fingle word 
 to reprefent one fingle idea, properly analifed 
 and defined, we are enabled to recal conftantly 
 the fame idea, that is, the fame fimultaneous 
 refult of certain fimple ideas, and of confe- 
 quence can introduce this idea into a train of 
 reafoning without rife of mifleading ourfelves. 
 
 On the contrary, if our words do not re- 
 prefent fixed and definite ideas, they will at 
 different times fuggeft different ideas to the 
 mind and become the mod fruitful fource of 
 error. 
 
 R In 
 
( 242 ) 
 
 In line, Locke was the firft who ventured 
 to prefcribe the limits of the human under- 
 ftanding, or rather to determine the nature of 
 the truths it can afecrtain and the objects it 
 can embrace. 
 
 It was not long before this method waa 
 adopted by philofophers in general, in treating 
 of morals and politics, by which a degree of 
 certainty was given to thofc fciences little in- 
 ferior to that which obtained in the natural 
 faiences, admitting only of fuch conclufions 
 as could be proved, feparating thefe from 
 doubtful notions, and content to remain igno- 
 : .mt of whatever is out of the reach of human 
 coinpreheniion. 
 
 In the fame manner, by analifing the 
 faculty of experiencing pain and pleafure, 
 men arrived at the origin of their notions of 
 morality, and the foundation of thofe gene- 
 ral principles which form the neceffary and 
 immutable laws of juftice ; and confequcntly 
 difcovered the proper motives of conforming 
 their conduct to thofe law,% which, being de- 
 duced from the nature of our fecli'UT, may not 
 improperly be called our moral conflitution. 
 
 The fame fyftcm became, in a manner, a 
 general inftrument of acquiring knowledf 
 
( 243 ) 
 
 It was employed to afcertain the truths of na- 
 tural philofophy, to try the fads of hiftory, 
 and to give laws to tafte. In a word, the 
 procefs of the human mind in every fpecies of 
 enquiry was regulated by this principle ; and 
 it is this lateft effort of fcience which has 
 placed an everlafting barrier between the hu- 
 man race and the old miftakes of its infancy, 
 that will for ever preferve us from a relapfe 
 into former ignorance, fince it has prepared 
 the means of undermining not only our pre- 
 fent errors, but all thofe by which they may 
 be replaced, and which will fucceed each other 
 only to poffefs a feeble and temporary influ- 
 ence. 
 
 In Germany, however, a man of a vaft and 
 profound genius laid the foundations of a new 
 theory. His bold and ardent mind difdained 
 to reft on the fuppofitions of a modeft phifo- 
 phy, which left in doubt thofe great ques- 
 tions of fpiritual exiftence, the immortality of 
 the foul, the free will of man and of God, 
 and the exiftence of vice and mifery in a 
 world framed by a being whofe infinite wif- 
 dom and goodnefs might be fuppofed to ba- 
 nifh them from his creation. Leibnitz cut 
 R 2 the 
 
( *44 ) 
 
 the knot which a timid fyftem had in vain 
 attempted to unloofe. He fuppofed the uni- 
 verfe to be compofed of atoms, which were 
 firople, eternal, and equal in their nature. 
 He contended that the relative iituation of 
 each of thefe atoms, with refpect to e very- 
 other, occafioned the qualities didinguifhing 
 it from all others ; the human foul, and the 
 minuted particle of a mafs of done, being 
 each of them equally one of thefe atoms, 
 differing only in confequence of the refpective 
 places they occupy in the order of the uni- 
 verfe. 
 
 He maintained that, of all the poiTible com- 
 binations which could be formed of thefe 
 atoms, an infinitely wife being had preferred, 
 and could not but prefer, the mod perfect ; 
 and that if, in that which exids, we are af- 
 flicted with the prefence of vice and mifery, 
 ftill there is no other poffible combination that 
 would not be productive of greater evils. 
 
 Such was the nature of this theory, which, 
 fupported by the countrymen of Leibnitz, re- 
 tarded in that part of the world the prog: 
 of philoiophy. Meanwhile there darted up 
 in England an entire feci, who embraced with 
 
 eal. 
 
( HS ) 
 
 zeal, and defended with eloquence, the fcheme 
 of optimifm : but, lefs acute and profound 
 than Leibnitz, who founded his fyftem upon 
 the fuppofition of its being impoffible, from 
 his very nature, that an all-wife being fhould 
 plan any other univerfe than that which was 
 belt, they endeavoured to difcover in the 
 terraqueous part of the world the proofs of 
 this perfection, and lofing thereby the advan- 
 tages which attach to this fyftem, confidered 
 generally and in the abftract, they frequently 
 fell into abfurd and ridiculous reafonings. 
 
 Meanwhile, in Scotland, other philofo- 
 phers, not perceiving that the analyfis of the' 
 developement of our actual faculties led to a 
 principle which gave to the morality of our 
 actions a bafis fufficiently folid and pure, at-* 
 tributed to the human foul a new faculty, 
 diftind: from thofe of fenfation and reafon, 
 though at the fame time combining itfelf 
 with them ; of the exiftence of which they 
 could advance no other proof, than that it 
 was impoifible to form a conliftent theory 
 without it. In the hiftory of thefe opinions. 
 it will be feen, that, while they have proved 
 injurious to the progrefs of philofophy itfelf, 
 R 3 they 
 
( 2 4 6 ) 
 
 they have tended to give a more rapid md 
 exteniive fpread to ideas truly fcicntific, con- 
 nected w ith philofophy. 
 
 Hithertp we have exhibited the ftate of 
 philofophy only among men by whom it 
 has in a manner been ftudied, inveftigated, 
 and perfected. It remains to mark its influ- 
 ence on the general opinion, and to mow, 
 that, while it arrived at the certain and infal- 
 lible means of discovering and recognifing 
 truth, reafon at the fame time detected the 
 delulions into which it had fo often been led 
 by a refpedt for authority or a miiguided ima- 
 gination, and undermined thofe prejudices in 
 the mafs of individuals which had fo long 
 been the fcourge, at once corrupting and in- 
 flicting calamity upon the human fpecies. 
 
 The period at length arrived when men 
 no longer feared openly to avow the right, fo 
 long withheld, and even unknown, of fub- 
 jediflg every opinion to the teft of reafon, 
 or, in other words, of employing, in their 
 fearcfa niter truth, the only means they pof- 
 fefs for its difcoverv. Every mau learned, 
 with a degree of 'pride and exultation, that 
 nature hud not condemned him to fee with 
 
 the 
 
( 247 ) 
 
 the eyes and to conform his judgement to 
 the caprice of another. The fuperftitions of 
 antiquity accordingly difappeared ; and the 
 debafement of reaibn to the fhrine of fuper- 
 natural faith, was as rarely to be found in 
 focie'y as in the circles of metaphyfics and 
 philofophy. 
 
 A clafs of men fpeedily made their appear- 
 ance in Europe, whofe object was lefs to dis- 
 cover and inveftigate truth, than to deffemi- 
 nate it; who, purfuing prejudice through all 
 the haunts and aiylums in which the clergy, 
 the fchools, governments, and privileged cor- 
 porations had placed and protected it, made 
 it their glory rather to eradicate popular er- 
 rors, than add to the ftores of human know-^ 
 ledge ; thus aiding indirectly the progrefs of 
 mankind, but in a way neither lefs arduous, 
 nor lefs beneficial. 
 
 In England, Collins and Bolingbroke, and 
 in France, Bayle, Fontenelle, Montefquieu, 
 and the refpective" difciples of thefe celebrated 
 men, combated on the fide of truth with all 
 the weapons that learning, wit and genius 
 were able to furnifh ; afFuming every lhape, 
 employing every tone, from the fublime and 
 R 4 pathetic 
 
( MS ) 
 
 pathetic to pfeafantry and fatire, from the moft 
 laboured investigation to an interefting ro- 
 mance or a fugitive eflay : accbcnitiodating 
 
 truth to thofe eyes that wire too weak to beaf 
 its effulgence ; in treffing pn .the 
 
 more ealily to ftrangle it ; never aiming a 
 direct bl< w at errCrs, attacking more 
 
 than one at a time, nor even that one in all 
 its fortreffes ; fometitnes foothing the enemies 
 of reafon, by pretending to require in religion 
 but a partial toleration, in politics bat a li- 
 mited freedom ; Tiding with defpotifm, when 
 their nihilities were directed againft the 
 priefthood, and with pricfls, when their ob- 
 ject was to unmafk the defpot ; lapping the 
 principle of both thefe pefts of human hap- 
 pinefs, finking at the root of both thefe bane- 
 ful trees, while apparently wifliing for the 
 reform only of glaring abufes and fecmingly 
 confining themiclves (o lopping off the exu- 
 berant brandies ; fometimes reprcienting to 
 the partifans of liberty, that fuperftition, which 
 covers defpetifm as with ;* ooat ofmailj is the 
 firfl viclim which ought to be facrificed, the 
 chain that ought to be broken ; and fome- 
 times denouncing it to tyrants as the true 
 
 enemy 
 
( 249 ) 
 
 enemy of their power, and alarming them with 
 recitals of its hypocritical conipiracies and its 
 fanguinary vengeance. Thele writers, mean- 
 while, were uniform in their vindication of free-r 
 dom of thinking and freedom of writing, as pri-r 
 vilcges upon which depended the falvation of 
 niankind. They declaimed, without cefTa- 
 tion or wearinefs, againft the crimes both of 
 fanatics and tyrants, expofing every feature of 
 feverity, ot cruelty, of oppreffion, whether in 
 religion, in adminiftration, in manners, or in , 
 laws ; commanding kings, foldiers, magit- 
 trates and priefts, in the name of truth and of 
 nature, to refpedt the blood of mankind ; call- 
 ing upon them, with energy, to anfwer for the 
 lives ftill profufely facrificed in the field of bat- 
 tle or by the infliction of punifhments, or elfe 
 to correct this inhuman policy, this murderous 
 infenlibility ; and laftly, in every place, and 
 upon every occafion, rallying the friends of 
 mankind with the cry of reafon^ toleratio??^ 
 and humanity ! 
 
 Such was this new philofophy. Accordingly 
 to thofe numerous claffes that exifl by preju- 
 dice, that live upon error, and that, but for 
 the credulity of the people, would be power- 
 
 lefs 
 
( *9° ) 
 
 left and extinct, it became a common objed 
 of deteftation. It was every where received, 
 and eve y where periccuicd, having kings, 
 priefts, nobles and magistrates among the 
 number of its friends as well as of its ene- 
 mies. Its leaders, however, had almoft al- 
 ways the art to elude the purfuits of ven- 
 geance, while they expoied themfelvcs to 
 hatred ; and to fcreen themfelvcs from perse- 
 cution, while at the fame time they fufficiently 
 difcovered themfelves not to lofe the laurels 
 of their glory. 
 
 It frequently happened that a government 
 rewarded them with one hand, and with the 
 other paid their enemies for calumniating 
 them ; profcribed them, yet w r as proud that 
 fortune had honoured its dominions with 
 their birth ; punifhei their opinions, and at 
 the fame time woul 1 have been afnamed not 
 to be fuppofed a convert thereto. 
 
 Thefc opinions were fhortly embraced by 
 every cnli I mind, By fome they were 
 
 n!) avowi ethers concealed under 
 
 an hypocrify more or left apparent, according 
 to the timidity or Brmnefs of their charac- 
 ters, and accordingly as they were influenced 
 
 by 
 
( *5* ) 
 
 by the contending interefts of their profeflion 
 or their vanity. At length the pride of 
 ranging on the fide of erudition became pre- 
 dominant, and fentiments were profeffed 
 with the flighteft caution, which, in the ages 
 that preceded, had been concealed by the 
 molt profound diffimulation, 
 
 Look to the different countries of Europe 
 into which, from the prevalence of the French 
 language, become almoft univerfal, it was im- 
 poffible for the inquilitorial fpirit of govern- 
 ments and priefts to prevent this philofophy 
 from penetrating, and we mall fee how rapid 
 was its progrefs. Meanwhile we cannot over- 
 look how artfully tyranny and fuperftition 
 employed againft it all the arguments in- 
 vented to prove the weaknefs and fallibility 
 of human judgement, all the motives which 
 the knowledge of man had been able to fug- 
 geft for miftrufting his fenfes, for doubting 
 and fcrutinizing his reafon ; thus converting 
 fcepticifm itfelf into an inftrument by which 
 to aid the caufe of credulity. 
 
 This admirable fyftem, fo fimple in its 
 principles, which confiders an unreftricted 
 freedom as the fureft encouragement to com- 
 merce 
 
( 252 ) 
 
 mercc and induftry, which would free the 
 people from the deftru&ive peftilence, the 
 humiliating yoke of thofe taxes apportioned 
 with fo great inequality, levied with fo im- 
 provident an expcncc, and ofi en ith 
 circumftances of fuch atrocious barbarity, by 
 fiibftituting in their room a mode of contri- 
 bution at once equal and juft, and of which 
 the burthen would fcarcely be felt ; this 
 theory, which connects the power and wealth 
 of a ftate with the happ'nefs of individuals, 
 and a refpedt for their rights, which unites by 
 the bond of a 71 common felicity the dilTerent 
 claffes into whic I cicties naturally divide 
 themielves •, this benevolent idea of a frater- 
 nity of the whole human race, of which no 
 national intereft (hall ever more intervene to 
 flillurb the harmony ; thefe principles, fo att- 
 ractive from the generous fpirit that pervades 
 them, as well as from their limplicity and 
 comprthenfion, were propagated with enthu- 
 fiafm by the French economifts. 
 
 The fuccefs of thefe writers was leis rapid 
 and kfs general than that of the philoib- 
 phers ; they had to l prejudices more 
 
 refined, eflrors i:h tly tin y 
 
 \\ ere 
 
( *53 ) 
 
 were obliged to enlighten before they could 
 undeceive, and to inftrudt good fenfe before 
 they could venture to appeal to it as their 
 judge. 
 
 If, however, to the whole of their doctrine 
 they gained but a fmall number of converts ; 
 if the general nature and inflexibility of their 
 principles were difcouraging to the minds of 
 many ; if they injured their caufe by affecting 
 an obfcure and dogmatical ftyle, by too much 
 poftponing the interefts of political freedom 
 to the freedom of commerce, and by infifting 
 too magifterially upon certain branches of their 
 fyftem, which they had not fufficiently invef- 
 tigated ; they neverthelefs fucceeded in ren- 
 dering odious and contemptible that daftardly, 
 that bafe and corrupt policy, which places 
 the profperity of a nation in the fubjeclion 
 and impoverishment of its neighbours, in the 
 narrow views of a code of prohibitions, and 
 in the petty calculations of a tyrannical re- 
 venue. 
 
 But the new truths with which genius 
 had 'enriched philofophy and the fcience of 
 political economy, adopted in a greater or lefs 
 degree by men of enlightened understandings, 
 extended ftill farther their falutary influence. 
 
 The 
 
( 254 ) 
 
 The art of printing had been applied to fa 
 many fubjects, books had fo rapidly incrcafed, 
 they yrtTt fo admirably adapted to every tafte, 
 every decree of information, and every fitua- 
 tion of life, they afforded fo eafy and fre- 
 quently fo delightful an inftrinfiion, they had 
 opened fo many doors to truth, which it was 
 impoflible ever to clofe again, that there was 
 no longer a clafs or profeflion of mankind 
 from whom the light of knowledge could ab- 
 folutely be excluded. Accordingly, though 
 there ftill remained a multitude of individuals 
 condemned to a forced or voluntary ignorance, 
 yet was the barrier between the enlightened 
 and unenlightened portion of mankind nearly 
 effaced, and an infcnfible gradation occupied 
 the fpace which feparates the two extremes of 
 genius and ftupidity. 
 
 Thus there prevailed a general knowledge 
 of the natural rights of man ; the opinion even 
 that thefe rights are inalienable and impre- 
 fcriptible ; a decided partiality for freedom of 
 thinking imd writing ; for the enfranchife- 
 llient of induftry and commerce ; for the me- 
 lioration of the condition of the people; for 
 the repeal of penal ftatutes againft religious 
 nonconforming ; for the abolition of torture 
 
 and 
 
( *5S ) 
 
 and barbarous punifhments ; the defirc of a 
 milder fyftem of criminal legiflation ; of a 
 jurifprudence that mould give to innocence a 
 complete fecurity ; of a civil code more Am- 
 ple, as well as more conformable to reafon and 
 juftice ; indifference as to fyftems of religion, 
 confidered at length as the offspring of fuper- 
 ftition, or ranked in the number of political 
 inventions ; hatred of hypocrify and fanati- 
 cifm ; contempt for prejudices ; and laftly, a 
 zeal for the propagation of truth. thefe 
 principles, paffing by degrees from the writings 
 of philofophers into every clafs of fociety whole 
 inftruction was not confined to the catechifm 
 and the fcriptures, became the common creed, 
 the fymbol and type of all men who were not 
 idiots on the one hand, or, on the other, af- 
 fertors of the policy of Machiavelifm. In 
 fome countries thefe fentiments formed fo 
 nearly the general opinion, that the mafs even 
 of the people feemed ready to obey their dic- 
 tates and act from their impulfe. 
 
 The love of mankind, that is to fay, that 
 active compaffion which interefts itfelf in all 
 the afflictions of the human race, and regards 
 with horror whatever, in public inltitntions, 
 
 in 
 
( f* ) 
 
 in the acts of government, or the purfuits of 
 individuals, adds to the inevitable misfor- 
 tunes of nature, was the neceffary refult of theie 
 principles. It breathed in every work, it 
 prevailed in every converfation, and its be- 
 nign effects were already vifible even in the 
 laws and ad mini fixation of countries fubject 
 to defpotifm. 
 
 The philofophers of different nations em- 
 bracing, in their meditations, the entire inte- 
 rests of man, without diftin&ion of country, 
 of colour, or of feet, formed, notwithstand- 
 ing the difference of their fpeculative opi- 
 nions, a firm and united phalanx againft every 
 defcription of error, every fpecies of tyranny. 
 Animated by the lentiment of univerfal phi- 
 lanthropy, they declaimed equally againft in- 
 juftice, whether exifting in a foreign country, 
 or exercifed by their own country againft a 
 foreign nation. They impeached in Europe 
 the avidity which ftained the mores of Ame- 
 , Africa, and Alia with cruelty and crimes. 
 The philofophers of France and England glo- 
 ried in allium ng the appellation, and fulfilling 
 the duties, of friends to thofe very negroes 
 whom their ignorant oppreilbrs dildained to 
 
 rank 
 
( 257 ) 
 
 rank in the clafs of men. The French writers 
 bellowed the tribute of their praife on the tole- 
 ration granted in Ruffia and Sweden, while 
 Beccaria refuted in Italy the barbarous maxims 
 of Gallic jurifprudence. The French alfo 
 endeavoured to open the eyes of England re- 
 fpedting her commercial prejudices, and her 
 fuperftitious reverence for the errors of her 
 conftitution ; while the virtuous Howard re- 
 monftrated at the fame time with the French 
 upon the cool barbarity which facrificed fo 
 many human vi&ims in their prifons and 
 hofpitals. 
 
 Neither the violence nor the corrupt arts 
 of government, neither the intolerance of 
 priefts, nor even the prejudices of the people 
 themfelves, pofleffed any longer the fatal 
 power of fuppreffing the voice of truth ; and 
 nothing remained to fcreen the enemies of 
 reafon, or the oppreflbrs of liberty, from the 
 ientence which was about to be pronounced 
 upon them by the unanimous fuffrage of Eu- 
 rope. 
 
 While the fabric of prejudice was thus tot- 
 tering to its foundations, a fatal blow was 
 given to it by a do&rine, of which Turgot, 
 
 S Price, 
 
( * 5 8 ) 
 
 Price, and Prieftley were the firfl: and moll 
 illuflrious advocates : it was the doctrine of 
 the infinite perfectibility of the human mind. 
 The consideration of this opinion will fall 
 under the tenth diviiion of our work, where 
 it will be developed with fufficient minute- 
 nefs. But we fhall embrace this opportunity 
 of expofing the origin and progrefs of a falfe 
 fyftem of philofophy, to the overthrow of 
 which the doctrine of the perfectibility of man 
 is become fo necefTary. 
 
 The fophiftical doctrine to which I allude, 
 derived its origin from the pride of fome 
 men, and the felfifhnefs of others. Its real, 
 though concealed object, was to give dura- 
 tion to ignorance, and to prolong the reign 
 of prejudice. The adherents of this doctrine, 
 who have been numerous, fometimes at- 
 tempted to delude the reafon by brilliant pa- 
 radoxes, or to feduce it by the fpecious 
 charms of an univcrfal pyrrhonifm. Some- 
 times they aflumed the boldnefs peremptorily 
 to declare, that the advancement of know- 
 ledge threatened the mod fatal conicquences 
 to human happinefs and liberty ; at other 
 times they declaimed, with pompous enthu- 
 
 Qafxa 
 
( *59 ) 
 
 fiafm, in favour of an imaginary wifdom and 
 fublimity, that difdained the cold progrefs of 
 analyfis, and the tardy mechanical path of 
 experience. Upon one occafion, they were 
 accuftomed to fpeak of philofophy and the 
 abftrufe fciences as theories too fubtle for the 
 inveftigation of the human underftanding, 
 urged as we are by daily wants, and fub- 
 je&ed to the moft fudden viciflitudes ; at ano- 
 ther, they treated them as a mafs of blind and 
 idle conjectures, the falfe eftimation of which 
 was fure to difappear from the mind of a man 
 habituated to life and experience. Inceffantly 
 did they lament the decay and decrepitude of 
 knowledge, in the midft of its moft brilliant 
 progrefs ; the rapid degradation of the human 
 fpecies, at the moment that men were ready 
 to affert their rights and truft to their own 
 underftandings ; an approaching sera of bar- 
 barifm, darknefs and flavery, when evidence 
 was fo perpetually accumulating, that the re- 
 vival of fuch an sera was no longer to be 
 feared. They feemed humbled by the ad- 
 vances of their fpecies, either becaufe they 
 could not boaft of having contributed to them, 
 ©r becaufe they faw themfelves menaced with 
 S 2 a fpeedy 
 
( 26o ) 
 
 a ipeedy termination of their influence or im- 
 portance. In the meanwhile, a certain num- 
 ber of intellectual mountebanks, more fkilful 
 than thofe who delperately endeavoured to 
 prop the edifice of declining fupcrftition, at- 
 tempted, out of the wreck of fupcrftition, to 
 erect a new religious creed which fhould no 
 longer demand of our reafon any more than 
 a fort of formal fubmifiion, and which in- 
 dulged us with a perfect liberty of confeience, 
 provided we would admit fome flight frag- 
 ment of incomprehenfibility into our fyftem. 
 A fecond clafs of thefe mountebanks allayed 
 to revive, by means of fecret aflbciations, the 
 forgotten myfteries of a fort of oriental theurgy. 
 The errors of the people they left undifturbed : 
 upon their own difciples they entailed new 
 dogmas and new terrors, and ventured to 
 hope, by a procefs of cunning, to reftore the 
 ancient tyranny of the facerdotal princes of 
 India and Kgypt. In the mean time, philo- 
 sophy, leaning upon the pillar which fcience 
 had prepared, fmiled at their efFprts, and law 
 one attempt vanifh after another, as the waves 
 retire from the foot of an immoveable rock. 
 By comparing the n of the public 
 
 mind, 
 
( *6l ) 
 
 mind, which I have already fketched, with 
 the prevailing fyftems of government, we 
 fhall perceive, without difficulty, that an im- 
 portant revolution was inevitable, and that 
 there were two ways only in which it could 
 take place : either the people themfelves would 
 eftablifh a fyftem of policy upon thofe princi- 
 ples of nature and reafon, which philofophy 
 had rendered fo dear to their hearts ; or go- 
 vernment might haften to fuperfede this event, 
 by reforming its vices, and governing its con- 
 dud: by the public opinion. One of thefe re- 
 volutions would be more fpeedy, more radi- 
 cal, but alfo more tempeftuous ; the other 
 lefs rapid, lefs complete, but more tranquil : 
 in the one, liberty and happinefs would be 
 purchafed at the expence of tranfient evils ; 
 in the other, thefe evils would be avoided ; 
 but a part of the enjoyments neceffary to a 
 ftate of perfect freedom, would be retarded in 
 its progrefs, perhaps, for a confiderable pe- 
 riod, though it would be impoffible in the end 
 that it fhould not arrive. 
 
 The corruption and ignorance of the 
 rulers of nations have preferred, it feems, 
 the former of thefe modes ; and the Hidden 
 
 S 3 triumph 
 
( 262 ) 
 
 triumph of rcafon and liberty has avenged 
 the human race. 
 
 The fimplc dictates of good fenfe had 
 taught the inhabitants of the Britifh colo- 
 nics, that men born on the American fide of 
 the Atlantic ocean had received from nature 
 the fame rights as others born under the me- 
 ridian of Greenwich, and that adiFerenceof 
 fixty-fix degrees of longitude could have no 
 power of changing them. They underftood, 
 more perfectly perhaps than Europeans, what 
 were the rights common to all the individuals 
 of the human race ; and among thefe they 
 included the right of not paying any tax to 
 which they h d not confented. But the Bri- 
 tidi Government, pretending to believe that 
 God had created America, as well as Afia, 
 for the gratification and good pleafure of the 
 inhabit tot of London, refolved to hold in 
 bondage a fubjec~r. nation, fituatcd acrofs the 
 feas at the diftance of three thoufand miles, 
 intending to make her the inurnment in due 
 time of enflaving the mother country itfelf. 
 Accordingly, it commanded the fervile rcprc- 
 fentatives of the people of England to violate 
 the rights of America, by fubjc&ing ber to a 
 
 com- 
 
( ^3 ) 
 
 compulfory taxation. This injuftice, {he con- 
 ceived, authorifed her to diflolve every tie of 
 connection, and fhe declared her independ- 
 ence. „ • 
 
 Then was obferved, for the fir ft time, the 
 example of a great people throwing off at once 
 every fpecies of chains, and peaceably framing 
 for itfelf the form of government and the laws 
 which it judged would be moft conducive to 
 its happinefs ; and as, from its geographical 
 pofition, and its former political ftate, it was 
 obliged to become a federal nation, thirteen 
 republican conftitutions were feen to grow up 
 in its bofom, having for their bafis a folemn 
 recognition of the natural rights of man, and 
 for their firft object the prefervation of thofe 
 rights through every department of the union. 
 
 If we examine the nature of thefe conftitu- 
 tions, we fhall difcover in what refpecl: they 
 were indebted to the progrefs of the political 
 fciences, and what was the portion of error, 
 refulting from the prejudices of education, 
 which formed its way into them ; why, for 
 jnftance, the fimplicity of thefe conftitutions 
 is disfigured by the fyftem of a balance of 
 powers -, and why an identity of interefts, 
 S 4 rather 
 
( 264 ) 
 
 rather than an equality of rights, is adopted as 
 their principle. It is manifeft that this prin- 
 ciple of identity of interefts, when made the 
 rule of political rights, is not only a violation 
 of fuch rights, with refpect to thofe who are 
 denied an equal fhare in the exercife of them, 
 but that it ceafes to exifl the very inftant it 
 becomes an actual inequality. We infill the 
 rather upon this, as it is the only dangerous 
 error remaining, the only error refpe&ing 
 which men of enlightened minds want ftill to 
 be undeceived. At the fame time, however, 
 we fee realized in thefe republics an idea, at 
 that time almoft new even in theory ; I mean 
 the neceflity of eftablifhing by law a regular 
 and peaceable mode of reforming the confti- 
 tutions themfelves, and of placing this bufi- 
 nefs in other hands than thofe entrufted with 
 the legiflative power. 
 
 Meanwhile, in confequence of America 
 declaring herielf independent of the Britifh 
 govcrnmemt, a war enfucd between the r 
 enlightened nations, in which one contended 
 for the natural rights of mankind, the ether 
 fi 1 that impious do&rinc which fubje&S th< 
 fights to prescription, to political intcreils, 
 
 and 
 
( *6J ) 
 
 and written conventions. The great caufe at 
 iflue was tried, during this war, in the tribu- 
 nal of opinion, and, as it were, before the 
 affembled nations of mankind. The rights 
 of men were freely inveftigated, and ftre- 
 nuoufly fupported, in writings which circu- 
 lated from the banks of the Neva to thofe of 
 the Guadalquivir. Thefe difcuffions pene- 
 trated into the molt enflaved countries, into 
 the moft diftant and retired hamlets. The 
 fimple inhabitants were aftonifhed to hear cf 
 rights belonging to them : they enquired into 
 the nature and importance of thofe rights ; 
 they found that other men were in arms, to 
 re-conquer or to defend them. 
 
 In this ftate of things it could not be long 
 before the tranfatlantic revolution mull find 
 its imitators in the European quarter of the 
 world. And if there exifted a country in 
 which, from attachment to their caufe, the 
 writings and principles of the Americans 
 were more widely difleminated than in am 
 other part of Europe-.; a country at once the 
 moft enlightened, and the leaft free ; in which 
 philofophers had foared to the fublimeft pitch 
 of intellectual attainment, and the government 
 
 was 
 
( 266 ) 
 
 was funk in the decpeft and moft intolerable 
 ignorance ; where the fpirit of the laws was 
 fo far below the general fpirit and illumina- 
 tion, that national pride and inveterate preju- 
 dice were alike afhamed of vindicating the old 
 inftitutions : if, I fay, there exifted fuch a 
 country, were not the people of that country 
 deftined, by the very nature of things, to 
 give the firft impnlfe to this revolution, ex- 
 pected by the friends of humanity with fuch 
 eager impatience, fuch ardent hope? Accord- 
 ingly it was to commence with France. 
 
 The impolicy and unfkilfulnefs of the French 
 government haftened the event. It was guided 
 by the hand of philofophy, and the popular 
 force deftroyed the obftacles that otherwife 
 migliL have arrefled its progrefs. 
 
 It was more complete, more entire than 
 that of America, and of coniequence was at- 
 tended with greater convulfions in the inte- 
 rior of the nation, becaufe the Americans, fa- 
 tisfied with the code of civil and criminal k- 
 giflation which they had derived from Kng- 
 land, having no corrupt fyftcm of finance to 
 reform, no feoda] tyrannies, no hereditary 
 diiUnctions, no privileges of rich and power- 
 ful 
 
( *6 7 ) 
 
 ful corporations, no fyftem of religious into- 
 lerance to deftroy, had only to direct their 
 attention to the eftablifhment of new powers 
 to be fubftituted in the place of thofe hitherto 
 exercifed over them by the Britim govern- 
 ment. In thefe innovations there was no- 
 thing that extended to the mafs of the people, 
 nothing that altered the fubfifting relations 
 formed between individuals \ whereas the 
 French revolution, for reafons exactly the re- 
 verfe, had to embrace the whole economy of 
 fociety, to change every focial relation, to 
 penetrate to the fmalleft link of the political 
 chain, even to thofe individuals, who, living 
 in peace upon their property, or by their in- 
 duftry, were equally unconnected with public 
 commotions, whether by their opinions and 
 their occupations, or by the interefts of for- 
 tune, of ambition, or of glory. 
 
 The Americans, as they appeared only to 
 combat againft the tyrannical prejudices of the 
 mother country, had for allies the rival powers 
 of England ; while other nations, jealous of 
 the wealth, and difgufted at the pride of that 
 country, aided, ij their fecret afpirations, the 
 triumph of juftice : thus all Europe leagued, 
 
 as 
 
( 268 ) 
 
 as it were, againft the opprcflbr. The French, 
 on the contrary, attacked at Once the deipo- 
 tifm of kings, the political inequality of confti- 
 tutions partially free, the pride and preroga- 
 tives of nobility, the domination, intolerance, 
 and rapacity of priefls, and the enormity of 
 feodal claims, ftill refpected in almoft every 
 nation in Europe ; and accordingly the powers 
 we have mentioned, united in favour of ty- 
 ranny ; and there appeared on the fide of 
 the Gallic revolution the voice only of fome 
 enlightened fages, and the timid wifhes of 
 certain opprefled nations : fuccours, mean- 
 while, of which all the artifices of calumny 
 have been employed to deprive it. 
 
 It would be eafy to fliow how much more 
 pure, accurate, and profound, are the prin- 
 ciples upon which the conftitution and laws 
 of France have been formed, than thole which 
 directed the Americans, and how much more 
 completely the authors have withdrawn them- 
 (elves from the influence of a variety of pre- 
 judices ; that the great bafis of policy, the 
 equality of rights, has never been iupcrieded 
 I • that fictitious identity of intcrcfls, which 
 has fo often been made its feeble and hypocri- 
 tical 
 
( 269 ) 
 
 tical fubftitute ; that the limits prefcribed to 
 political power have been put in the place of 
 that fpecious balance which has fo long been 
 admired ; that we were the firft to dare, in a 
 great nation neceiTarily difperfed, and which 
 cannot perfonally be aflembled but in broken 
 and numerous . parcels, to maintain in the 
 people their rights of fovereignty, the right 
 of obeying no laws but thofe which, though 
 originating in a reprefentative authority, fhall 
 have received their laft fanction from the na- 
 tion itfelf, laws which, if they be found in- 
 jurious to its rights or interefts, the nation is 
 always organized to reform by a regular a£t of 
 its fovereign will. 
 
 From the time when the genius of De- 
 fcartes imprefled on the minds of men 
 that general impulfe, which is the firft prin- 
 ciple of a revolution in the deftiny of the 
 human fpecies, to the happy period of entire 
 focial liberty, in which man has not been 
 able to regain his natural independence till 
 after having paiTed through a long feries of 
 ages of misfortune and flavery, the view of 
 the progrefs of mathematical and phyfical 
 fcience prefents to us an immenfe horizon, of 
 
 which 
 
( * 7 ) 
 
 which it is neceflary to diftribute and aflbrt 
 the fevera! parts, whether we may be defirous 
 of fully comprehending the whole, or of ob- 
 ferving their mutual relations. 
 
 The application of algebra to geometry not 
 only became the fruitful fource of difco- 
 veries in both fciences, but they prove, from 
 this ftriking example, how much the method 
 of computation of magnitudes in general may 
 be extended to all queftions, the object of 
 which confifts in meafure and extenfion. Def- 
 eases firft announced the truth, that they 
 would be employed with equal fuccefs here- 
 after upon all objects luiceptiblc of precife va- 
 luation ; and this great difcovery, by fhewing 
 for the firft time the ultimate purpofe of thefe 
 fciences, that is to fay, the ftricl: calculation of 
 every fpecies of truth, afforded the hope of 
 attaining this point, at the fame time that it 
 exhibited the means. 
 
 This difcovery was foon fucceeded by that 
 of a new method of computing, which teacher 
 118 to find the ratios of the fucceflive incre- 
 ments or decrements of a variable quantity, 
 or to deduce the quantity itfelf when this ra- 
 tio is given ; whether the increments be fup- 
 
 poied 
 
( 2 7* ) 
 
 pofed of finite magnitude, or their ratio be 
 fought for the inftant only of their vanifh- 
 ment ; a method which, Selng extended to 
 all the combinations of variable magnitudes, 
 and to all the hypothefes of their variations, 
 leads to a determination, with regard to all 
 things precifely menfurable, of the ratios of 
 their elements, or of the things themfelves, 
 from the knowledge of thofe proportions 
 which they mutually have, provided the ra- 
 tios of their elements only be given. 
 
 We are indebted to Newton and Leibnitz 
 for the invention of thefe methods ; but the 
 labours of the geometers of the preceding age 
 prepared the way for this difcovery. The 
 progrefs of thefe fciences, which has been un- 
 interrupted for more than a century, is the 
 work, and eftablifhes the reputation, of a num- 
 ber of men of genius. They prefent to the 
 eyes of the philofopher, who is able to ob- 
 ferve them, even though he may not follow 
 their fteps, a ftriking monument of the force 
 of the human mind. 
 
 When we explain the formation and prin- 
 ciples of algebraic language, which alone is 
 accurate and truly analytic ; the nature of the 
 
 technical 
 
( *> ) 
 
 technical procefTes of this fcience ; and the 
 companion of thefe proceffes with the natural 
 operations of the human mind, we may 
 prove that, if this method he not itfelf a pe- 
 culiar inftrument in the fcience of quantity, 
 it certainly includes the principles of an uni- 
 verfil inftrument applicable to all poflible 
 combinations of ideas. 
 
 Rational mechanics foon became a vaft and 
 profound fcience. The true laws of the col- 
 liiion of bodies, refpedYmg which Defcartes 
 was deceived, were at length known. 
 
 Huyghens difcovered the laws of circular 
 motions ; and at the fame time he gives a 
 method of determining the radius of curva- 
 ture for every point of a given curve. By 
 uniting both theories, Newton invented the 
 theory of curve-lined motions, and applied it 
 to thofe laws according to which Kepler had 
 difcovered that the planets defcribe their ellip- 
 tical orbits. 
 
 A planet, fuppofed to be projected into 
 fpace at a given inltant, with a given velocity 
 and direction, will defcribe round the km an 
 ellipiis, by virtue of a force directed to that 
 ftar, and proportional to the inverfc ratio of 
 I the 
 
r 2 73 ) 
 
 the fquares of the diftances./ The fame farce 
 retains the fatellites in their orbits round the 
 primary planets : it pervades the whole fyf- 
 tem of heavenly bodies, and adts reciprocally 
 between all their component parts. 
 
 The regularity of the planetary ellipfes is 
 difturbed, and the calculation precifely ex- 
 plains the very flighted degrees of thefe per- 
 turbations. It is equally applicable to the 
 comets, and determines their orbits with fuch 
 precilion, as to foretel their return. The pe- 
 culiar motion dbferved in the axes of rota- 
 tion of the earth and the moon, affords addi- 
 tional proof of the exiftence of this univerfal 
 force. Laftly, it is the caufe of the weight of 
 terreftrial bodies, in which effect it appears to 
 be invariable, becaufe we have no means of 
 obferving its action at diflanees from the cen- 
 tre, which are fufficiently remote from each 
 other. 
 
 Thus we fee man has at laft become ac- 
 quainted, for the firft time, with one of the 
 phyfical laws of the univerfe. Hitherto it 
 ftands unparalleled, as does the glory of him 
 who difcovered it. 
 
 An hundred years of labour and inveftiga- 
 T tion 
 
( 2 74 ) 
 
 tion have confirmed this law, to which all 
 the ecleftial phenomena are fubjecled, with 
 an accuracy which may be faid to be miracu- 
 lous. Every time in which an apparent de- 
 viation has prefented itfelf, the traniient un- 
 certainty has foon become a fubjedt of new 
 triumph to the fcience. 
 
 The philofopher is, in almoft every inftance, 
 compelled to have recourfe to the works of a 
 man of genius for the fecret clue which led 
 him to difcovery ; but here intereft, infpired 
 by admiration, has discovered and preferred 
 anecdotes of the greater!: value, fince they per- 
 mit us to follow Newton ftep by ftep. They 
 ferve to mew how much the happy combina- 
 tions of external events, or chance, unite with 
 the efforts of genius in producing a great dif- 
 covery, and how eafily combinations of a leis 
 favourable nature might have retarded them, 
 or referred them for other hands. 
 
 But Newton did more, perhaps, in favour 
 of the progrefs of the human mind, than 
 merely difcovering this general law of nature j 
 he taught men to admit in natural philo- 
 lophy no other theories but fuch as are pre- 
 tife, and iliiceptible of calculation m } which give 
 
 au 
 
( *75 ) 
 
 an account not only of the exigence of a 
 phenomenon, but its quantity and extent. 
 Neverthelefs he was accufed of reviving the 
 occult qualities of the ancients, becaufe he 
 had confined himfelf to refer the general caufe 
 of celeftial appearances to a fimple fact, of 
 which obfervation proved the inconteftable 
 reality ; and this accuiation is itlelf a proof 
 how much the methods of the fciences ftill 
 require to be enlightened by philofophy. 
 
 A great number of problems in ftatics and 
 dynamics had been fuccefhvely propofed and 
 refolved, when Alembert difcovered a general 
 principle adequate to the determination of the 
 motions of any number of points acted on by 
 any forces, and connected by conditions. He 
 foon extended the fame principle to finite bo- 
 dies of a determinate figure ; to thofe which, 
 from elafticity or flexibility, are capable of 
 changing their figure, but according to cer- 
 tain laws and preferving certain relations be- 
 tween their parts ; and laftly to fluids them- 
 felves, whether they preferve the fame den- 
 fity, or exift in a ftate of expanfibility. A 
 new.calculation was neceiTary to refolve thefe 
 laft queftions ; the means did not efcape him, 
 
 T 2 and 
 
( 2 7 6 ) 
 
 and mechanics at prefent form a feience of 
 pure calculation. 
 
 Thdc uiicoveries belong to the mathema- 
 tical faiences ; but the nature of the law of 
 univerfal gravitation, or of thefe principles 
 of mechanics, and the confequences which 
 may thence be drawn and applied to the 
 eternal order of the univerfe, belong to phi- 
 lofophy. We learn that all bodies are iubjeel 
 to neceflary laws, which tend of themfelvesu 
 to produce or maintain an equilibrium, which 
 eaufes or preferves the regularity of their 
 morions. 
 
 The knowledge of thofe laws which go- 
 vern the celeftial phenomena, the difcoverie>. 
 of that mathematical analyfis which leads to 
 the moft precile methods of calculating the 
 appearances, the very unexpected degree of 
 perfection to which optical and goniometrical 
 iuftruments have been brought, the precifion 
 of machines for meafuring time, the mni 
 
 ieral tafte for the fciences which unite' 
 
 itlelf with the intereft of governments, to 
 
 multiply the number of aftronomers and ob- 
 
 fcrvations ; all thefe cauies unite to fecure the 
 
 'els of aftronomy. 
 
 The 
 
( 277 ) 
 
 The heavens are enriched for the man of 
 fcience with new ftars, and he applies his 
 knowledge to determine and foretel with ac- 
 curacy their pofition and movements. Na- 
 tural phjlofophty, gradually delivered from the 
 vague explanations of Defcartes, in the fame 
 manner as it before was diiembaiTofTed from 
 the abfurdities of the fchools, is now nothing 
 more than the art of interrogating nature by 
 experiment, for the purpofe of afterwards 
 deducing more general fa els by computation. 
 
 The weight of the air is known and mea- 
 fured : it is known that the tranfmifTion of 
 light is not inftantaneous ; its velocity is deter- 
 mined, with the effects which muft refult from 
 that velocity, as to the apparent pofition of 
 the celeftial bodies ; and the decompofition of 
 the folar rays into others of different refrangi- 
 bility and colour. The rainbow is explained, 
 and the methods of caufing its colours to be 
 produced or to difappear are fubjecled to cal- 
 culation. Ele&ricity, formerly confidered as 
 the property of certain fubitances only, is 
 now known to be one of the moft general 
 phenomena in the univerfe. The caufe of 
 Uiunder is no longer a fecret ; I ; ranklin baa 
 T 3 taught 
 
( 2 7 S ) 
 
 taught the artift to change its courfe, and di- 
 rect it at pleafure. New initrumcnts are em- 
 ployed to meafurc the variations of weight 
 and humidity in the atmofphere, and the tem- 
 perature of all bodies. A new fcience, under 
 the name of meteorology, teaches us to know, 
 and fometimes to foretel, the atmofpheric ap- 
 pearances of which it will hereafter difclofe to 
 us the unknown laws. 
 
 While we prefent a fketch of thefe difco- 
 veries, we may remark how much the me- 
 thods which have directed philofophers in 
 their reiearches are Amplified and brought to 
 perfection ; how greatly the art of making 
 experiments, and of conftructing inftruments, 
 has iucceflively become more accurate ; fo 
 that philosophy is not only enriched every 
 day with new truths, but the truths already 
 known have been more exactly afecrtained ; 
 fo that not only an immenfe mafs of new 
 facts have been obferved and analyfed, but the 
 wh '■• has been fubmitted in detail to methods 
 of greater Uriel n els. 
 
 Natural philofophy has been obliged to 
 combat with the prejudice^ of the ichooN, and 
 the attraction of general hypothecs, io le- 
 
 ducing 
 
( 2/9 ) 
 
 ducing to indolence. Other obftacles re* 
 tarded the progrefs of chemiftry. It was 
 imagined that this fcience ought to afford the 
 iecret of making gold, and that of rendering 
 man immortal. 
 
 The effed of great interefts, is to render 
 man fuperftitious. It was not fuppofed that 
 fuch promifes, which flatter the two ftrongeft 
 paflions of vulgar minds, and befides roufe 
 that of acquiring glory, could be accomplished 
 by ordinary means ; and every thing which 
 credulity or folly could ever invent of extra- 
 vagance, feemed to unite in the minds of che- 
 mifts. 
 
 But thefe chimeras gradually gave place to 
 the mechanical philofophy of Defcartes, which 
 in its turn gave place to a chemiftry truly ex- 
 perimental. The obfervation of thofe facts 
 which accompany the mutual compofition and 
 decompofition of bodies, the refearch into the 
 laws of thefe operations, with the analyiis of 
 fubflances into elements of greater iimplicity, 
 acquire a degree of precifion and ftridtnefs 
 ever increafing. 
 
 But to thefe advances of chemiftry we mull 
 
 add others, which embrace the whole fyftem 
 
 T 4 of 
 
( 280 ) 
 
 of the feiencc, and rather by extending the 
 methods than immediately increafing the mafs 
 of truths, forctel and prepare a revolution of 
 the happreft kind. Such has been the difco- 
 very of new means of confining and examining 
 thole elaftic fluids, which formerly were fuf- 
 fered to efcape ; a difcovcry which, by per- 
 mitting us to operate upon an entire clafs 
 of new principles, and upon thofc already 
 known, reduced to a ftate which efcaped our 
 refearches, and by adding an element the 
 more to almoft every combination, has 
 changed, as it were, the whole fyftcm of 
 chemiftry. Such has been the formation of 
 a language, in which the names denoting 
 fubftances fometimes exprefs the refemblance 
 or differences of thofe which have a common 
 clement, and fometimes the clafs to which 
 they belong. To thefe advantages we may 
 add the ufe of a fcientific method, wherein 
 thefe iubftances are reprefented by characters 
 ; tically combined, and moreover capable 
 of expreffing the molt common operation* and 
 the general laws of affinity* And, again, 
 this icicncc is enriched by the ufe of all the 
 jncano and all the inftruments which philofo- 
 
 phero 
 
( 281 ) 
 
 phers have applied to compute with the uu 
 moft rigor the refults of experiment ; and 
 laftly, by the application of the mathematics to 
 the phenomena of chryftalrzation, and to the 
 laws according to which the elements of cer- 
 tain bodies tiTecl: in their combination regular 
 and conftarit forms. 
 
 Men wh ) long had poffeffed no other 
 knowledge th in that of explaining by fuper- 
 ftitic i or philosophical reveries the forma- 
 tion of the earth, before they endeavoured to 
 be o i acquainted with its parts, have at 1 aft 
 perceived the neceffity of ftudying with the 
 moft fcrupulous attention the furfacc of 
 the jrourid, the internal parts of the earth 
 into which neceffity hns urged men to pene- 
 trate, the fubftances there found, their, for- 
 tuitous or regular diftribution, and the difpofi- 
 tion of the mafles they have formed by their 
 union. In y have learned to ascertain the 
 effects of the flow and long-continued adion of 
 the waters of the fea, of rivers, and the effecl; of 
 volcanic fires ; to diftinguifh thofe parts of the 
 furface and exterior cruft of the globe, of 
 which the inequalities, difpofition, and fre- 
 quently the materials themfelves, are the work 
 
 of 
 
( »»? ) 
 
 of thefe agents ; from the other portion of the 
 furfacc, formed for the mod part of heteroge- 
 neous fubdanccs, bearing the marks of more 
 ancient revolutions by agents with which we 
 are yet unacquainted. 
 
 Minerals, vegetables, and animals arc di- 
 vided into various fpecies, of which the indi- 
 viduals differ by infenhble variations fcarcely 
 conflant, or produced by cauies purely local. 
 Many of thefe fpecies referable each other 
 by a greater or lefs number of cpmmon qua- 
 lities,' which ferve to edablifh fucceffivc divi- 
 fions regularly more and more extended. Na- 
 turaliils have invented methods of claffing the 
 objects of fcience from determinate characters 
 eafily afcertained, the only means of avoiding 
 confufion in the midft of this numberlefs 
 multitude of individuals. Thefe methods are, 
 indeed, a real language, wherein each object 
 is denoted by ibme of its mod condant qua- 
 lities, which, when known, are applicable to 
 the difcovcry of the name which the article 
 may bear in common language. Thefe gene- 
 ral languages, when well compofed, likewife 
 indicate, in each clafs (^i" natural objects, the 
 truly effential qualities which by their union 
 
 caufe 
 
( *8 3 ) 
 
 caufe a more or lefs perfect refemblance in the 
 reft of their properties. 
 
 We have formerly feen the effects of that 
 pride which magnifies in the eyes of men the 
 objects of an exclufive ftudy, and knowledge 
 painfully acquired, which attaches to thefe 
 methods an exaggerated degree of importance, 
 and miftakes for fcience itfelf that which is 
 nothing more than the dictionary and gram- 
 mar of its real language. And fo likewife, 
 by a contrary excefs, we have feen philofo- 
 phers falfely degrade thefe fame methods, and 
 confound them with arbitrary nomenclatures, 
 as futile and laborious compilations. 
 
 The chemical analyiis of the fubftances in 
 the three great kingdoms of nature ; the de- 
 fcription of their external form ; the expofi- 
 tion of their phyfical qualities and ufual pro- 
 perties ; the hiftory of the developement of 
 organized bodies, animals, or plants ; their nu- 
 trition and reproduction ; the details of their 
 organization ; the anatomy of their various 
 parts ; the functions of each ; the hiftory of 
 the manners of animals, and their induftry to 
 procure food, defence, and habitation, or to 
 fcize their prey, or efcape from their enemies ; 
 
 the 
 
( 58 4 } 
 
 the focicties of family or fpecies which arc 
 formed amongft them ; that great mafs of 
 truth to which wc arc led by meditating on 
 the immenfe chain of organ ifed beings ; the 
 relation which fucceflive years produce from 
 brute matter at the mod feeble degree of orga- 
 nization, from organiicd matter to that which 
 affords the firft indications of fenfibility and 
 fpontaneous motion 5 and from this ftation to 
 that of man himfelf ; the relation of all thcic 
 beings with him, whether relative to his wants, 
 the analogies which bring him nearer to them, 
 or the differences by which he is ieparated : 
 fuch is the fketch prefented to the mind by 
 modern natural hiflory. 
 
 The phyfical man is himfelf the objeel of a 
 icparate icicncc, anatomy, which, in its ge- 
 neral acceptation, includes phyfiology. This 
 fcicncc, which a hipcrflitious refpeel for the 
 dead had retarded, has taken advantage of the 
 general dilappearance of prejudice, and has 
 happily oppofed the intereft of the preferva- 
 tion of man, which has lecured it the patr<>- 
 e of men of eminence. Its p has 
 
 been inch, that it feema in feme fort to be at 
 a Hand, in the expectation of more perfect 
 
 inftru-i 
 
( 2% ) 
 
 inftruments and new methods. It is nearly 
 reduced to feek, in the comparative anatomy! 
 of the parts of animals and man, in the organs 
 common to the different fpecies, and the man- 
 ner in which they exercife iimilar functions, 
 thofe truths which the direct, ohfervation of 
 the human frame appears to refule. Almoft 
 every thing which the eye of the obferver, 
 affifted by the microfcope, has been able to dis- 
 cover, is already afcertained. Anatomy ap- 
 pears to ftand in need of experiments, fo uie- 
 ful to the progrefs of other iciences ; but the 
 nature of its object: deprives it of this means, 
 l*o evidently neceffary to its perfection. 
 
 The circulation of the blood was long fince 
 known ; but the difpofition of the veffels 
 which conveyed the chyle to mix with it, 
 and repair its loffes ; the exiftence of a gaftric 
 fluid which difpofes the elements to the de- 
 compofition neceffary to feparate from orga- 
 nifed matter, that portion which is proper to 
 become affimilated with the living fluids; the 
 changes undergone by the various parts and 
 organs in the interval between conception and 
 birth, and afterwards during the different 
 ages of life j the diftin&ion between the parts 
 
 poffefling 
 
( 236 ) 
 
 poflcfling fenfibility and thole in which irri- 
 tability only refides, a property diicovercd by 
 I Jailor, and common to almoft ever- or „nic 
 fubftancc : thcJe fa&s arc the whole of what 
 phyliology has been enabled to difcover, by 
 indubitable obfervations, during this brilliant 
 epoch ; and theie important truths may b 
 as an apology for the numerous explanations, 
 mechanical, chemical, and organical, which 
 have fuccceded each other, and loaded this 
 fcience w r ith hypothefes deftru&ive to its pro- 
 grefs, and dangerous'when uied as the ground 
 of medical practice. 
 
 To the outline of the fciences we may add 
 that of the arts, which, being founded upon 
 them, have advanced with greater certainty, 
 and broken the fhackles of cuftom and com- 
 mon practice, which heretofore impeded their 
 progrefs. 
 
 We may fliew the influence which the pro- 
 is of mechanics, of aftronomy, of optics, 
 and of the art of mcaiuring time, has exh- 
 aled on the art of conftru&ing, moving, and 
 directing veflela at lea. We may fhew how 
 greatly an increalc of the number of obfervcrs, 
 and a greater degree of accuracy in the aftro- 
 
 nomical 
 3 
 
( **j ) 
 
 i 
 
 nomical determinations of pofitions, and in 
 topographical methods, have at laft produced 
 an acquaintance with the iurface of the globe, 
 of which fo little was known at the end of 
 the laft century. 
 
 How greatly the mechanic arts, properly 
 fo called, have given perfection to the pro- 
 cerus of art in conftructing inftruments and 
 machines in the practice of trade, and thefe 
 laft have no leis added force to rational me- 
 chanifm and philofophy. Thefe arts are alfo 
 greatly indebted to the employment of iirft 
 movers already known, with leis of expence 
 and lofs, as well as to the invention of new 
 principles of motion. 
 
 We have beheld architecture extend its 
 refearches into the fcience of equilibriums and 
 the theory of fluids, for the means of giving 
 the moft commodious and leaft expenfive form 
 to arches, without fear of altering their foli- 
 dity ; and to oppofe againft the effort of water 
 a refinance computed with greater certainty ; 
 to direct the courfe of that fluid, and to em- 
 ploy it in canals with greater (kill and fuc- 
 cefs. 
 
 We have beheld the arts dependent on 
 
 chemiftry 
 
( *8S ) 
 
 ehemillry enriched with new procerus; the 
 cient methods have been fimpliiied, and cleared 
 from ufelefs or noxious fubftances, and from 
 
 abfurd or imperfed practices introduced from 
 former rude trials ; means have been invented 
 to avert thole frequently terrible dangers to 
 which workmen were expofed. Thus it is 
 that the application of fcience has fecured to 
 us more of riches and enjoyment, with much 
 lefs of painful iacriiice or of regret. 
 
 In the mean time, chemiftry, botany, and 
 natural hiitory, have very much enlightened 
 the economical arts, and the culture of vege- 
 tables deftined to fupply our wants ; iiich as the 
 art of fupporti ng, multiplying, and preferving 
 domeftic animals ; the bringing their races to 
 perfection, and meliorating their products ; 
 the art of preparing and preferving the pro- 
 ductions of the earth, or thofe articles which 
 are of animal product. 
 
 Surgery and pharmacy have become almoft 
 new arts, from the period when anatomy and 
 chemiftry have offered them more enlightened 
 and more certain direction. 
 
 The art of medicine, for in its practice it 
 mull be coulidered as an art, is by this means 
 
 deli- 
 
( *H ) ■ 
 
 delivered at leaft of its falfe theories, its pedan- 
 tic jargon, its deftruftive courfe of practice, 
 and the fervile fubmiffion to the anthority of 
 men, or the doctrine of colleges ; it is taught 
 to depend only on experience. The means 
 of this art have become multiplied, and their 
 combination and application better known ; 
 and though it may be admitted that in fome 
 parts its progrefs is merely of a negative kind, 
 that is to fay, in the deftruction of dangerous 
 practices and hurtful prejudices, yet the new 
 methods of ftudying chemical medicine, and 
 of combining obfervations, give us reafon to 
 expect more real and certain advances. 
 
 We may endeavour more efpecially to trace 
 that practice of genius in the fciences which 
 at one time defcends from an abftract and pro- 
 found theory to learned and delicate applica- 
 tions ; at another, Amplifying its means, and 
 proportioning them to its wants, concludes by 
 fpreading its advantages through the moft or- 
 dinary practices ; and at others again being 
 rouzed by the wants of this fame courfe of 
 art, it plunges into the mofc remote fpecula- 
 tions, in fearch of refources which the ordi- 
 nary Hate of our knowledge mult have refufed. 
 
 U ' We 
 
( 2 9 o ) 
 
 We may remark that thofe declamations 
 which are made againit the utility of theo- 
 ries, even in the molt iimple arts, have never 
 {hewn any thing but the ignorance of the 
 declahncrs. We may prove that it is not to 
 the profundity of thefe theories, but, on the 
 contrary, to their imperfection, that we 
 ought to attribute the inutility or unhappy 
 cfie&s of fo many ufelefs applications. 
 
 Thefe observations will lead us to one ge- 
 neral truth, that in all the arts the refults of 
 theory are neceffarily modified in practice ; 
 that certain fources of inaccuracy exift, which 
 arc really inevitable, of which our aim ihould 
 be to render the effect inieniible, without in- 
 dulging the chimerical hope of removing them; 
 that a great number of data relative to our 
 wants, our means, our time, and our ex- 
 penses, which are neceffarily overlooked in 
 the theory, mult enter into the relative prob- 
 lem of immediate and real practice; and that, 
 Liftly, by introducing thefe requiikes with 
 that {kill which truly conititutes the genius 
 of the practical man, we may at the fame 
 time go beyond the narrow limits wherein 
 prejudice againil theory threatens to detain 
 
 the 
 
( 2 9 I ) 
 
 the arts, and prevent thofe errors into which 
 an improper ule of theory might lead us. 
 
 Thofe fciences which are remote from each 
 other, cannot be extended without bringing 
 them nearer, and forming points of contact 
 between them. 
 
 An expofition of the progrefs of each fci- 
 ence is fufficient to fhew, that in feveral the 
 intermediate application of numbers has been 
 ufeful, as, in almoft all, it has been employed 
 to give a greater degree of precifion to expe- 
 riments and obfervations ; and that the fcien- 
 ces are indebted to mechanics, which has 
 fupplied them with more perfect and more 
 accurate inftruments. How much have the 
 difcovery of microfcopes, and of meteorolo- 
 gical inftruments, contributed to the perfec- 
 tion of natural hiftory. How greatly is this 
 fcience indebted to chemiftry, which, alone* 
 has been fufficient to lead to a more profound 
 knowledge of the objects it confiders, by 
 difplaying their moft intimate nature, and 
 moft effential properties — by fhewing their 
 compofition and elements ; while natural his- 
 tory offers to chemiftry fo many operations 
 to execute, fuch a numerous fet of combina- 
 U 2 tions 
 
( n ~9 2 ) 
 
 tlons formed by nature, the true elements or 
 which require to be fcparated, and ibmetimes 
 difcovered, by an imitation of the natural 
 proceffes : and, laftly, how great is the mu- 
 tual affiftance afforded to each other by che- 
 miftry and natural philofophy ; and how 
 greatly have anatomy and natural hiftory 
 been already benefited by thefe fciences. 
 
 But we have yet expofed no more than a 
 fmall portion of the advantages which have 
 been received, or may be expected, from 
 thefe applications. 
 
 Many geometers have given us general 
 methods of deducing, from obfervations of 
 the empiric laws of phenomena, methods 
 which extend to all the fciences ; becaufe 
 they are in all cafes capable of affording us 
 the knowledge of the law of the fucceffive 
 values of the fame quantity, for a feries of 
 inftants or pofitions ; or that law according 
 to which they are diftributed, or which is 
 followed by the various properties and values 
 of a fimilar quality among a given number 
 of objects. 
 
 Applications have already proved, that 
 the feience of combination may be fuccefs- 
 
 fully 
 
( 2 93 ) 
 
 fully employed to difpofe obfervations, in 
 fuch a manner, that their relations, refults, 
 and fum may with more facility be feen. 
 
 The ufes of the calculation of probabilities 
 foretel how much they may be applied to 
 advance the progrefs of other fciences ; in 
 one cafe, to determine the probability of ex- 
 traordinary fads, and to fhew whether they 
 ought to be rejected, or whether, on the 
 contrary, they ought to be verified ; or in 
 calculating the probability of the return of 
 thofe facts which often prefent themfelves in 
 the practice of the arts, and are not con- 
 nected together in an order, yet confidered 
 as a general law. Such, for example, in 
 medicine, is the falutary effect of certain re- 
 medies, and the fuccefs of certain preferva- 
 tives. Thefe applications likewife fhew us 
 how great is the probability that a feries of 
 phenomena fhould refult from the intention 
 of a thinking being; whether this being 
 depends on other co-exiftent, or antecedent 
 phenomena ; and how much ought to be 
 attributed to the neceffary and unknown 
 caufe denominated chance, a word the fenfe 
 of which can only be known with precision 
 by fludying this method of computing. 
 
 U 3 The 
 
( *94 ) 
 
 The fcienccs have likewife taught us to 
 ^certain the feveral degrees of certainty to 
 which <rc may hope to attain ; the probabi- 
 lity according to which we can adopt an 
 opinion, and make it the bafis of our reaibn- 
 mgs, without injuring the rights of found 
 argument, and the rules of our conduct — 
 without deficiency in prudence, or offence to 
 juftice. They fhew what are the advantages 
 or diiadvantages of various forms of election, 
 and modes of decifion dependant on the 
 plurality of voices ; the different degrees of 
 probability which may refult from fuch pro- 
 ceedings ; the method which public intereft 
 requires to be followed, according to the na- 
 ture of each queflion ; the means of obtain- 
 ing it nearly with certainty, when the deci- 
 fion is not abfolutely neceffary, or when the 
 inconveniences of two conclufions being un- 
 equal, neither of them can become legitimate 
 until beneath this probability ; or the ailur- 
 ance beforehand of molt frequently obtaining 
 this lame probability, when, on the contrary, 
 a decifion is neceffary to be made, and the 
 mod feeble preponderance of probability i* 
 fufficicnt to produce a rule of practice. 
 
 Among 
 
( 295- ) 
 
 Among the number of thefe applications 
 we may likewife ftate, an examination of the 
 probability of facts for the ufe of fuch as 
 have not the power, or means, to fupport 
 their conclufions upon their own obfervations; 
 a probability which refults either from the 
 authority of witnefles, or the connection of 
 thofe facts with others immediately obferved. 
 
 How greatly have inquiries into the dura- 
 tion of human life, and the influence in this 
 refpect of fex, temperature, climate, profef- 
 fion, government, and habitudes of life j on 
 the mortality which refults from different di- 
 feafes ; the changes which population expe- 
 riences ; the extent of the action of different 
 caufes which produce thefe changes ; the 
 manner of its diftributjon in each country, 
 according to the age, fex, and occupation. : — 
 how greatly ufeful have thefe refearches been 
 to the phyfical knowledge of man, to medi- 
 cine, and to public economy. 
 
 How extenfively l>ave computations of 
 this nature been applied for the eftabliihment 
 of annuities, tontines, accumulating funds, 
 benefit focieties, and chambers of affurance 
 of every kind. 
 
 U 4 h 
 
( 2 9 6 ) 
 
 Is not the application of numbers alio ne- 
 ceflary to that part of the public economy 
 which includes the theory of public meafures, 
 of coin, of banks and financial operations, 
 and laftly, that of taxation, as eftablifhed by 
 law, and its real diftribution, which lb fre- 
 quently differs, in its effects on all the parts 
 of the focial fyftem. 
 
 What a number of important queftions in 
 this fame fcienee are there, which could not 
 have been properly refolved without the 
 knowledge acquired in natural hiftory, agri- 
 culture,* and the philofophy of vegetables, 
 which influence the mechanical or chemical 
 arts. 
 
 In a word,' fuch has been the general pro- 
 grefs of the fciences, that it may be laid 
 there is not one which can be confidered as 
 to the whole extent of its principles and de- 
 t ail, without our being obliged to borrow the 
 ■JY\ (lance of all the others. 
 
 In pitfenting this {ketch both of the new 
 facts which have enriched the fciences res- 
 pectively, and the advantages derived in each 
 from the application of theories, or methods, 
 which fefem to belong more particularly to 
 
 another 
 
( 297 ) 
 
 another department of knowledge, we may 
 endeavour to afcertain what is the nature and 
 the limits of thofe truths to which obferva- 
 tion, experience, or meditation, may lead us 
 in each fcience ; we may likewife inveftigate' 
 what it is precifely that conflitutes that talent 
 of invention which is the firft faculty of the 
 human mind, and is known by the name 
 of genius ; by what optrations the under- 
 ftanding may attain the difcoveries it purfues, 
 or fometimes be led to others not fought, or 
 even poflible to have been foretold ; we may 
 fhew how far the methods which lead to 
 difcovery may be exhaufted, fo that fcience 
 may, in a certain refpecl, be at a fland, till 
 new methods are invented to afford an addi- 
 tional inftrument to genius, or to facilitate 
 the ufe of thofe which cannot be employed 
 without too great a confumption of time and 
 fatigue. 
 
 If we confine ourfelves to exhibit the ad- 
 vantages deduced from the fciences in their im- 
 mediate ufe or application to the arts, whether 
 for the welfare of individuals or the profperity 
 of nations, we fhall have fhewn only a fmall 
 part of the benefits they afford. The moft 
 
 important 
 
 4 
 
( 2 9 S ) 
 
 important perhaps is, that prejudice has been 
 deftroyed, and the human underftanding in 
 fome fort rectified ; after having been forced 
 into a wrong direction by abfurd objects of 
 belief, tranfmitted from generation to gene- 
 ration, taught at the misjudging period of 
 infancy, and enforced with the terrors of fu- 
 perftition and the dread of tyranny. 
 
 All the errors in politics and in morals are 
 founded upon philofophical miftakes, which, 
 themfelves, are connected with phyfical er- 
 rors. There does not exift any religious 
 fyftem, or fupernatural extravagance, which is 
 not founded on an ignorance of the laws of 
 nature. The inventors and defenders of thefe 
 abfurdities could not forefee the fucceflive 
 progrefs of the human mind. Being per- 
 fuaded that the men of their time knew every 
 thing, they would ever know, and would al- 
 ways believe that in which they then had fixed 
 their faith ; they confidently built their re- 
 veries upon the general opinions of their own 
 country and their own age. 
 
 The progrefs of natural knowledge is yet 
 
 more deftructive of thefe errors, becaufc it 
 
 frequently deftroys them without fceming to 
 
 c attack 
 
( 299 ) 
 
 attack them, by attaching to thofe who obfti-. 
 nately defend them the degrading ridicule of 
 ignorance. 
 
 At the fame time, the juft habit of reafon- 
 ing on the object of thefe fciences, the pre- 
 cife ideas which their methods afford, and 
 the means of afcertaining or proving the 
 truth, muft naturally lead us to compare the 
 fentiment which forces us to adhere to opi- 
 nions founded on thefe real motives of credi- 
 bility, and that which attaches us to our ha- 
 bitual prejudices, or forces us to yield to au- 
 thority. This comparifon is fufficient to 
 teach us to miftruft thefe laft opinions, to 
 fnew that they were not really believed, even 
 when that belief was the moft earneftly and 
 the moft fincerely profefled. When this 
 difcovery is once made, their deftruclion be- 
 comes much more fpeedy and certain. 
 
 Laftly, this progrefs of the phyfical fciences, 
 which the paflions and intereft do not inter- 
 fere to difturb ; wherein it is not thought 
 that birth, profeflion, or appointment have 
 given a right to judge what the individual is 
 not in a fituation to underftand ; this more 
 pertain progrefs cannot be obferved, unlefs 
 
 enlightened 
 
( 3°° ) 
 
 enlightened men fhall fcarch in the other 
 fciences to bring them continually together. 
 This progrefs at every ftep exhibits the model 
 they ought to follow ; according to which 
 they may form a judgment of their own ef- 
 forts, afcertain the falfe fteps they may have 
 taken, prefefve thcmfelves from pyrrhenifm 
 as well as credulity, and from a blind miftruft 
 or too extenlive fubmiilion to the authorities 
 even of men of reputation and knowledge. 
 
 The metaphyfical analyfis would, no doubt, 
 lead to the fame refults, but it would have 
 afforded only abftract principles. In this 
 method, the fame abftracl: principles being 
 put into aclion, are enlightened by example 
 and fortified by fuccefs. 
 
 Until the prefent epoch, the fciences have 
 been the patrimony only of a few ; but they 
 are already become common, and the mo- 
 ment approaches in which their elements, 
 their principles, and their mod fimple prac- 
 tice, will become really popular. Then it 
 will be feeQ how truly univertal their utility 
 will be in their application to the arts, and 
 their influence on the general reditude oi 
 the mind. 
 
 We 
 
( 3°i ) 
 
 We may trace the progrefs of European 
 nations in the inftrudion of children, or of 
 men ; a progrefs hitherto feeble, if we attend 
 merely to the philofophical fyftem of this 
 inftru&ion, which, in moft parts, is ftill con- 
 fined, to the prejudices of the fchools ; but 
 very rapid if we confider the extent and na- 
 ture of the objects taught, which no longer 
 comprehending any points of knowledge but 
 fuch as are real, includes the elements of 
 almoft all the fciences ; while men of all 
 defcriptions find in di&ionaries, abridgments, 
 and journals the information they require, 
 though not always of the pureft kind. We 
 may examine the degree of utility refulting 
 from oral inftruction in the fciences, added 
 to that which is immediately received by 
 books and ftudy ; whether any advantage has 
 refulted from the labour of compilation hav- 
 ing become a real trade, a means of fubfift- 
 ence, which has multiplied the number of 
 inferior works, but has likewife multiplied 
 the means of acquiring common knowledge 
 to men of final) information. We may mark 
 the influence which learned focieties have 
 exercifed on the progrefs of the human 
 
 mind, 
 
( 3°2 ) 
 
 mind, a barrier which will long be ufeful to 
 oppofe againft ignorant pretenders and falfe 
 knowledge: and laftly, we may exhibit the 
 hiftory of the encouragements given by go* 
 vernments to that progreis, and the obftacles 
 which have often been oppofed to it in the 
 fame country and at the fame period. We 
 may fhew what prejudices or principles of 
 Machiavelifm have directed them in this op- 
 pofition to the advances of man towards 
 truth ; what views of interefted policy, or 
 even public good, have directed them when 
 they have appeared, on the contrary * to be 
 deiirous of accelerating and protecting therm 
 The picture of the fine arts offers to our 
 view refults of no lefs brilliancy. Mulic is 
 become, in a certain refpect, a new art; 
 while the fcience of combination, and the ap- 
 plication of numbers to the vibrations of ib- 
 norous bodies, and the ofcillations of the air, 
 have enlightened its theory. The arts of 
 defign, which formerly palled from Italy to 
 Flanders, Spain, and France, elevated them- 
 felves in this laft country to the fame degree 
 that Italy carried them in the preceding 
 cpocha ; where they have been fupported 
 
 with 
 
( 303 ) 
 
 with more reputation than in Italy itfelfl 
 The art of our painters is that of Raphael 
 and CarrachL All the means of the art be- 
 ing preierved in the fchools, are fo far from 
 being loft, that they have become more ex- 
 tended. Neverthelefs, it muft be admitted, 
 that too long a time has elapfed without 
 producing a genius which may be compared 
 to them, to admit of this long fterility being 
 attributed to chance. It is not becaufe the 
 means of art are exhaiifted that great fuccefs is 
 really become difficult ; it is not that nature 
 has refufed us organs equally perfecT: with 
 thofe of the Italians of the fixth age; it is 
 merely to the changes of politics and man- 
 ners that we ought to attribute, not the de- 
 cay of the art, but the mediocrity of its pro- 
 ductions. 
 
 Literary productions cultivated in Italy, 
 with lefs of fuccefs, but without having de- 
 generated, have made fuch progrefs in the 
 French language, as has acquired it the ho- 
 nour of becoming, in fome fort, the univer- 
 fal language of Europe. 
 
 The tragic art, in the hands of Corneille, 
 Racine, and Voltaire, has been raifed, by 
 
 fucceffive 
 
( 3°4 ) 
 
 fuccefTive progrcfs, to a perfection before un- 
 known. The comic art is indebted to Mo- 
 liere for hiving fpecdily arrived to an eleva- 
 tion not yet attained by any other people. 
 
 In England, from the commencement of the 
 fame epoch, and in a ftill later time in Ger- 
 many, language has been rendered more per- 
 fect. The art of poetry, as well as that of 
 profe writing, have been fubje&ed, though 
 with lefs docility than in France, to the uni- 
 verfal rules of reafon and nature, which 
 ought to direct them. Thefe rules are equally 
 true for all languages and all people, though 
 the number of men has hitherto been few 
 who have fucccedcd in arriving at the know- 
 ledge of them, and rifing to the juit and 
 pure tafte which refults from that knowledge. 
 Thefe rules prefided over the compofitions of 
 Sophocles and Virgil, as well as thofe of Pope 
 and Voltaire ; they taught the Greeks and 
 Romans, as well as the French, to be ftruck 
 with the fame beauties, and mocked at the 
 fane faults. We may alio inveitigate what 
 it is in each nation that has favoured or re- 
 tarded the progrcfs Clf thefe arts ; by what 
 caufes the different kinds of poetry, or works 
 
 in 
 
( 3°5 ) 
 
 in profe, have attained in the different coun- 
 tries a degree of perfection fo unequal ; and 
 how far thefe univerfal rules may, without 
 offending their own fundamental principles, 
 be modified by the manners and opinions of 
 the people who are to poffefs their produc- 
 tions, and even by the nature of the ufes to 
 which their different fpecies are defigned. 
 Thus, for example, a tragedy daily recited 
 before a fmall number of fpe&ators, in a 
 theatre of confined extent, cannot follow the 
 fame practical rules as a tragedy exhibited on 
 an immenfe theatre, in the folemn feftivals 
 to which a whole people was invited. We 
 may attempt to fhew, that the rules of tafle 
 poffefs the fame generality and the fame con- 
 ftancy, though they are fufceptible of the 
 fame modifications as the other laws of the 
 moral and phyfical univerfe, when it is ne- 
 ceffary to apply them to the immediate prac- 
 tice of a common art. 
 
 We may fhew how far the art of print- 
 ing, by multiplying and diffeminating even 
 thofe works which are defigned to be pub- 
 licly read or recited, tranfmit them to a 
 number of readers incomparably greater than 
 
 X that 
 
( 3°6 ) 
 
 that of the auditors. We may fhew how 
 molt of the important decifions by numerous 
 ailemblies, having been determined from the 
 previous inftru&ion their members had re- 
 ceived by writing, there mud have reiiiltcd 
 in the art of pcrfuafion among the ancients 
 and among the moderns, differences in the 
 rules, analogous to the effect intended to be 
 produced and the means employed ; and how, 
 laftly, in the different fpecies of knowledge, 
 even with the ancients, certain works were 
 for perufal only — Inch as thofe of hiftory or 
 philoibphy. The facility which the inven- 
 tion of printing affords, to enter into a more 
 entenfive detail and more accurate develope- 
 ment, muft have likewife influenced the 
 lame rules. 
 
 The progrefl of philoibphy and the fci- 
 o\cc$ have extended and favoured thofe of 
 letters, and thefe in their turn have ferved 
 to render the ftudy of the fcienccs more ealy, 
 and philoibphy itfelf more popular. They 
 hive lent mutual afliftancc to each other, in 
 fpite of the efforts of ignorance and folly to 
 iliiunite and render them inimical. L'.rudi- 
 fion, which a refpect for human authority 
 
 and 
 
{ 3°7 ) > 
 
 and ancient things feemed to have deftined 
 to iiipport the caufe of hurtful prejudices ; 
 this erudition has, nevertheleis, affifted in 
 deftroying them, becaufe the fciences and 
 philofophy have enlightened it with a more 
 legitimate criticifm. It already knew the* 
 method of weighing authorities, and com- 
 paring them with each other, but it has at 
 length fubmitted them to the tribunal of rea- 
 fon ; it had rejected the prodigies, abfurd 
 talcs, and fads contrary to probability ; but, 
 by attacking the tefiimony upon which they 
 were fupported, men have learned to reject 
 them, in fpite of the force of thefe w r itneffes, 
 that they might give w r ay to that evidence 
 which the phyfical or moral improbability of 
 extraordinary fads might carry with them. 
 
 Hence it is {cen that all the intellectual 
 occupations of men, however differing in 
 their object, their method, or the qualities 
 of mind which they require, have concurred 
 in the progrefs of human reafon. It is the 
 fame with the entire fyrtem of the labours 
 of 'men ^s with a well-compofed work ; of 
 which the parts, though methodically diftinct, 
 muft, neverthelef>, be clofely conneded to 
 X 2 form 
 
( 308 ) 
 
 form one fingle whole, and tend to one Tingle 
 object. 
 
 While we thus take a general view of the 
 human ipecics, we may prove that the dif- 
 covery of true methods in all the ieiences ; 
 the extent of the theories they include ; their 
 application to all the objects of nature, and 
 all the wants of man ; the lines of commu- 
 nication eilablifhcd between them ; the great 
 number of thofe who cultivate them ; and, 
 laftly, the multiplication of printing prefles, 
 are fufficicnt to allure us, that none of them 
 will hereafter defeend below the point to 
 which it lias been carried. We may (hew 
 that the principles of philolbphy, the maxims 
 of liberty, the knowledge of the true rights 
 of man, and his real intereft, are fpread over 
 too many nations, and in each of thofe na- 
 tions direct the opinions of too great a num- 
 ber of enlightened men, for them ever to fall 
 in into oblivion. 
 
 What fear can be entertained when we 
 find that the two Ian the moft univer- 
 
 fally extended, are, likewife, the languaj 
 
 of two people who pofiefs the moll extend- 
 ed liberty ; who have beft known its prin- 
 ciples. So that no coofederacy of tyrants, 
 
 nor 
 
( 3°9 ) 
 
 nor any poflible combination of policy, can 
 prevent the rights of reafon, as well as thofe 
 of liberty, from being openly defended in 
 both languages. 
 
 But if it be true, as every profpec~t aflures 
 us, that the human race mall not again re- 
 lapfe into its ancient barbarity ; if every 
 thing ought to affure us againft that pufil- 
 lanimous and corrupt fyftem which condemns 
 man to eternal ofcillations between truth and 
 falfhood, liberty and fervitude, we muft, at 
 the fame time, perceive that the light of 
 information is fpread over a fmall part only 
 of our globe ; and the number of thofe who 
 poffefs real inftruction, feems to vanifh in 
 the comparifon with the mafs of men con- 
 figned over to ignorance and prejudice. We 
 behold vaft countries groaning under flavery, 
 and prefenting nations, in one place, de- 
 graded by the vices of civilization, fo corrupt 
 as to impede the progrefs of man -> and in 
 others, ftill vegetating in the infancy of its 
 early age. We perceive that the exertions 
 of thefe laft ages have done much for the 
 progrefs of the human mind, but little for 
 the perfection of the human ipecies ; much 
 X 3 for 
 
( 3*° ) 
 
 for the glory of man, fomewhat for his li- 
 berty, but fcarcely any thine; yet for his hap- 
 pinefa. In a few directions, our eyes are 
 {truck with a dazzling light ; but thick dark- 
 ncis Hill covers ?.\\ immenfe horizon. The 
 mind of the philofopher repofes with fatis- 
 faclion upon a fmall number of objecls, but 
 the fpeftacle of the ftupidity, the flavery, 
 the extravagance, and the barbarity of man, 
 afflicts him ftill more ftrongly. The friend 
 of humanity cannot receive unmixed pleafun: 
 but by abandoning himfclf to the endearing 
 hope of the future. 
 
 Such arc the objects which ought to enter 
 into an hiftorical fketch of the progrefs of 
 the human mind. We may endeavour, while 
 we hold them forward, to fhew more efpe- 
 cially the influence of this progrefs upon the 
 opinions and the welfare of the general mafs 
 of different nations, at the different epochas 
 of their political cxiiknee ; to fhew what 
 truths they have known, what errors have 
 been dcltroycd, what virtuous habits con- 
 led, what nee/ developeipent of their fa- 
 culties has cftabliihed a happier proportion 
 n their i ) and their wants : And, 
 
 un'de 
 
( 3" ) 
 
 under an oppofite point of view, what may- 
 be the prejudices to which they have been 
 enilaved ; what religious or political fuperfti- 
 tions have been introduced ; by what vices, 
 of ignorance or defpotifm, they have been 
 corrupted ; and to what miferies, violence or 
 their own degradation have fubjedled them. 
 
 Hitherto, political hiftory, as w T ell as that 
 of philofophy and the fciences, has been 
 merely the hiftory of a few men. That 
 which forms in truth the human fpecies, the 
 mafs of families, which fubfift almoft en- 
 tirely upon their labour, has been forgotten ; 
 and even among that clafs of men. who, de- 
 voted to public profeflions, act not for them- 
 felves but for fociety ; whofe occupation it is 
 to inftruct, to govern, to defend, and to 
 comfort other men, the chiefs only have fixed 
 the attention of hiflorians. 
 
 It is enough for the hiftory of individuals 
 that fads be collected, but the hiftory of a 
 mafs of men can be founded only on obfer- 
 vations ; and, in order to felect them, and to 
 feize the eiTential traits, it is requifite the 
 hiftorian iliould pofTefs confiderable informal 
 tion, and no lefs of philofophy, to make a 
 proper ufe of them. 
 
 X 4 Again, 
 
( 3 12 ) 
 
 Again, thcfc observations relate to common 
 things, which ftrike the eyes of all, and 
 which every one is capable himfelf of know- 
 ing when he thinks proper to attend to them. 
 Hence the greater part have been collected 
 by travellers and foreigners, becaufe things 
 very trivial in the place where they cxift, have 
 become an object of enriofity to ftrangers. 
 Now it unfortunately happens, that thefe 
 travellers are almoft always inaccurate ob- 
 fervers; they fee objects with too much 
 rapidity, through the medium of the preju- 
 dices of their own country, and not unfre- 
 qucntly by the eyes of the men of the coun- 
 try they run through : their conferences are 
 held with fuch men as accident has connected 
 them with ; and the anfwer is, in almoft 
 every cafe, dictated by intereft, party fpirit, 
 national pride, or ill-humour. 
 
 It is not alone, therefore, to the bar 
 of hiftorians, as 1 n jnftly urged againft 
 
 thofe of monarchies, that we are t btite 
 
 the want of monuments from which we 
 may trace this moft important part of the 
 hiftory of men. 
 
 The defect cannot he fupplied but very 
 
 imperfectly by a knowledge of the la^ 
 
 I pra&i&l 
 
( 3*3 ) 
 
 practical principles of government and public, 
 economy, or by that of religion and general 
 prejudices. 
 
 In fad:, the law as written, and the law 
 as executed; the principles of thofe who go- 
 vern, and the manner in which their action 
 is modified by the genius of thofe who are 
 governed ; the inftitution fuch as it has flow- 
 ed from the men who formed it, and fuch as 
 it becomes when realized by practice ; the 
 religion of books, and that of the people; 
 the apparent univerfality of prejudice, and 
 the real reception which it obtains, may differ 
 to fuch a degree, that the effects mall abfo- 
 lutely ceafe to correfpond to thefe public and 
 known cauies. 
 
 To this part of the hiftory of the human 
 fpecies, which is the moft obfcure, the moft 
 neglected, and for which facts offer us fo 
 few materials, it is that we mould more par- 
 ticularly attend in this outline ; and whether 
 an account be rendered of a new difcovery, 
 an important theory, a new fyftem of laws, 
 or a political revolution, the problem to be 
 determined will confift in afcertaining what 
 effects ought to have arifen from the will of 
 
 the 
 
( 3H ) 
 
 the moft numerous portion of each focietv. 
 This is the true object of philofophy ; becaufe 
 all the intermediate effects of thefe fame 
 caufes can be confidered only as means of 
 acting, at lead upon this portion, which 
 truly conftitures the mafs of the human race, 
 
 It is by arriving at this laft link of the 
 chain, that the obfervation of part events, as 
 well as the knowledge acquired by medita- 
 tion, become truly uleful. It is by arriving 
 at this term, that men learn to appreciate 
 their real titles to reputation, or to enjoy, 
 with a well-grounded pleafure, the progrefs of 
 their reafon. Hence, alone, it is, that they 
 can judge of the true improvement of the 
 human fpecies. 
 
 The notion of referring every thing to this 
 latter point, is dictated byjuftice and by reafon ; 
 but it may be fuppofed to be without founda- 
 tion. The fuppofition, neverthelefs, is not 
 true; and it will be enough if we prove it in 
 this place by two ftriking examples. 
 
 The poifcffion of the mod common objects 
 
 of confumptkm, however abundantly they 
 
 now fatisfy the wants of man ; of thole 
 
 objects which the ground produces in conie- 
 
 quei 
 
( 3*5 ) 
 
 quence of human effort, is due to the con- 
 tinued exertions of induftry, affifted by the 
 light of the fciences ; and thence it follows, 
 from hiftory, that this poffeflion attaches it- 
 felf to the gain of the battle of Salamis, 
 without which the darknefs of oriental def- 
 potifm threatened to cover the whole of the 
 earth. And, again, the accurate obfervation of 
 the longitude, which preferves navigators from 
 ihipwreck, is indebted to a theory which, by 
 a chain of truths, goes as far back as to dis- 
 coveries made in the fchool of Plato, though 
 buried for twenty centuries in perfect inu- 
 tility. 
 
 TENTH 
 
( 3^ ) 
 
 TENTH EPOCH. 
 
 Future Progrefs of Mankind. 
 
 IF man can predict, almoft with certainly, 
 
 thofc appearances of which he underftands the 
 laws ; if, even when the laws are unknown 
 to him, experience of the paft enables him to 
 forefee, with confiderable probability, future 
 appearances ; why mould we fuppofe it a chi- 
 merical undertaking to delineate, with fome 
 degree of truth, the picture of the future 
 delliny of mankind from the refults of its 
 hiftory ? The only foundation of faith in the 
 natural fciences is the principle, that the gene- 
 ral laws, known or unknown, which regulate 
 the phenomena of the univerie, are regular 
 and conftant ; and why ihould this principle, 
 applicable to the other operations of nature, 
 be lcis true when applied to the de velopement 
 of the intellectual and moral faculties of man \ 
 \w limn, as opinions formed from experience, 
 relative to the fame clafs of objects, are the 
 only rule by which men of foundcil under- 
 
 (landing 
 
( 3*7 ) 
 
 Handing are governed in their conduct, why 
 ihould the philofopher be profcribed from 
 fupporting his conjectures upon a fimilar bafis, 
 provided he attribute to them no greater 
 certainty than the number, the confiftency, 
 and the accuracy of actual obfervations fliall 
 authorife ? 
 
 Our hopes, as to the future condition of 
 the human fpecies, may be reduced to three 
 points : the definition of inequality between 
 different nations ; the progrefs of equality in 
 one and the fame nation ; and laftly, the 
 real improvement of man. 
 
 Will not every nation one day arrive at the 
 ftate of civilization attained by thofe people 
 who are moft enlightened, molt free, mod 
 exempt from prejudices, as the French, for 
 inftance, and the Anglo-Americans ? Will not 
 the flavery of countries fubjected to kings, the 
 barbarity of African tribes, and the ignorance 
 of favages gradually vanifh ? Is there upon the 
 face of the globe a fingle fpot the inhabitants 
 of which are condemned by nature never to 
 enjoy liberty, never to exercife their reafon ? 
 
 Does the difference of knowledge, of 
 means, and of wealth, obfervable hitherto in 
 
 all 
 
( 3i8 ) 
 
 all civilized nations, between the clafies intd 
 which the people conftituting thofe nations are 
 divided; does that inequality, which the earlicit 
 
 progrefa of fociety has augmented, or, to 
 
 (peak more properly, produced, belong to ci- 
 vilization iticlf, or to the imperfections of the 
 ibcial order ? Mud it not continually weaken, 
 in order to give place to that actual equality, 
 the chief end of the focial art, which, diminiih- 
 ing even the effects of the natural difference 
 of the faculties, leaves no other inequality 
 fublifting but what is ufeful to the intereft of 
 all, becaufe it will favour civilization, inftruc- 
 tion, and induftry, without drawing after it 
 either dependence, humiliation or poverty ? 
 In a word, will not men be continually verging 
 towards that ftate, in which all will poffefs 
 the requifite knowledge for conducting them- 
 felves in the common affairs of life by their 
 own rcafon, and of maintaining that reafon 
 uncontaminared by prejudices ; in which they 
 will underlland their rights, and excrciie them 
 according to their opinion and their con- 
 fience; in which all will be able, by the 
 devclopement of their faculties, to procure 
 the certain means of providing for their wants ; 
 
 laftly, 
 
( m ) 
 
 laftly, in which folly and wretchednefs 
 will be accidents, happening only now and 
 then, and not the habitual lot of a confider- 
 able portion of fociety r 
 
 In fine, may it not be expected that the 
 human race will be meliorated by new difco- 
 veries in the fciences and the arts, and, as an 
 unavoidable coniequence, in the means of 
 individual and general profperity ; by farther 
 progrefs in the principles of conduct, and in 
 moral practice ; and laftiy, by the real im- 
 provement of our faculties, moral, intellectual 
 and phyfical, which may be the refult either 
 of the improvement of the inflruments which 
 increafe the power and direct the exercife of 
 thofe faculties, or of the improvement of our 
 natural organization itfelf ? 
 
 In examining he three queftions we have 
 enumerated, we fhall find the ftrongeft rea- 
 fons to believe, from paft experience, from 
 obfervation of the progrefs which the fciences 
 and civilization have hitherto made, and from 
 the analyfis of the march of the human un- 
 derftanding, and the developement of its fa- 
 culties, that nature has fixed no limits to our 
 hopes. 
 
 I If 
 
( 3 2 ° ) 
 
 If we take a furvey of the exilting ftatc of 
 the globe, wc ihall perceive, in the iirft place, 
 that in Europe the principles of the French 
 conftitution are thofe of every enlightened 
 mind. We mall perceive that they are too 
 widely difieminated, and too openly profefTed, 
 for the efforts of tyrants and priefls to pre- 
 vent tli em from penetrating by degrees into 
 the miferable cottages of their flaves, where 
 they will foon revive thofe embers of 
 good fenfe, and roufe that filent indignation 
 which the habit of fuffering and terror have 
 failed totally to extinguilh in the minds of the 
 oppreffed. 
 
 If we next look at the different nations, we 
 ihall obferve in each, particular obftacles op- 
 poling, or certain difpolitions favouring this 
 revolution. We . fliall diitinguifli fome in 
 which it will be effected, perhaps flowly, by 
 the wiidom of the refpeclive governments ; 
 and others in which, rendered violent by re- 
 iiitancc, the governments them lei ves will 
 nccclfarilv be involved in its terrible and 
 rapid motions. 
 
 Can it be fuppofed that either the wifdom 
 or the fcnfelcis feuds of European nations, 
 
 co-operating 
 
( W ) ' 
 
 co-operating with the flow but certain effects 
 of the progrefs of their colonies, will not 
 fhortly produce the independence of the en- 
 tire new world ; and that then, European po- 
 pulation, lending its aid, will fail to civilize 
 or caufe to difappear, even without conqueft, 
 thole lavage nations ftill occupying there im- 
 menie tracts of country ? 
 
 Run through the hiftory of our projects 
 and eftablifhments in Africa or in Afia, and 
 you will fee our monopolies, our treachery, 
 our fanguinary contempt for men of a dif- 
 ferent complexion or a different creed, and 
 the profelyting fury or the intrigues of our 
 priefts, deftroying that feiitiment of refpect 
 and benevolence which the fuperiority of our 
 information and the advantages of our com- 
 merce had at firft obtained. 
 
 But the period is doubtlefs approaching, 
 when, no longer exhibiting to the view of 
 thefe people corruptors only or tyrants, we 
 mall become to them inftruments of benefit, 
 and the generous champions of their redemp- 
 tion from bondage. 
 
 The cultivation of the fugar-cane, which 
 is now eftablifhing itfelf in Africa, will put 
 
 Y an 
 
( 3" ) 
 
 an end to the fhameful robbery by which, for 
 two centuries, that country has been depopu- 
 lated and depraved. 
 
 Already, in Great Britain, fome friends of 
 humanity have let the example ; and if its 
 Machiavelian government, forced to refpeel 
 public reafon, has not dared to oppofe this 
 meafure, what may w r e not expect from the 
 fame fpirit, when, after the reform of an abject 
 and venal conftitution, it fhall become worthy 
 of a humane and generous people ? Will not 
 France be eager to imitate enterpriies which 
 the philanthropy and the true intereft of Eu- 
 rope will equally have dictated ? Spkes are al- 
 ready introduced into the French iflands, Gui- 
 ana, and fome Englilh fettlements ; and we 
 fhall foon witnefs the fall of that monopoly 
 which the Dutch have fupported by fuch a 
 complication of perfidy, of oppreflion, and of 
 crimes. The people of Europe will learn in 
 time that exclufive and chartered companies 
 are but a tax upon the refpe&ive nation, 
 granted for the purpofe of placing a new in- 
 urnment in the hands of its government for 
 the maintenance of tyrannv. 
 
 Then will the inhabitants of the European 
 
 quarter 
 
( 3 n ~3 ) 
 
 quarter cf the world, fatisfied with an uiire- 
 ftricted commerce, too enlightened as to their 
 own rights to fport with the rights of others, 
 refpect that independence which they have 
 hitherto violated with men audacity. Then will 
 their eftablifhments,inftead of being filled by the 
 creatures of power, who, availing themfelves 
 of a place or a privilege, batten, by rapine 
 and perfidy, to amafs wealth, in order to 
 purchafe, on their return, honours and titles, 
 be peopled with induftrious men, feeking in 
 thole happy climates that eafe and comfort 
 which in their native country eluded their pur- 
 fuit. There will they be retained by liberty, 
 ambition having loft its allurements ; and thofe 
 fettlements of robbers will then become colo- 
 nies of citizens, by whom will be planted in 
 Africa and Alia the principles and example 
 of the freedom, reafon, and illumination of 
 Europe. To thofe monks alfo, who inculcate 
 on the natives of the countries in queftion 
 the moft fhameful fuperftitions only, and who 
 excite difguft by menacing them with a new 
 tyranny, will fucceed men of integrity and be- 
 nevolence, anxious to fpread among thefe 
 people truths ufeful to their happinefs, and 
 Y 2 to 
 
( 3H ) 
 
 to enlighten them upon their intcrcfts as well 
 as their rights : for the love of truth is alfb a 
 paffipn ; and when it fhall have at home no 
 groN prej uclices to combat, no degrading er- 
 rors to diffipate, it will naturally extend its 
 regards, and convey its efforts to remote and 
 foreign climes. 
 
 Thefe immenfe countries will afford am- 
 ple fcope for the gratification of this paffion. 
 In one place will be found a numerous peo- 
 ple, who, to arrive at civilization, appear 
 only to wait till we (hall furnifli them with 
 the means ; and who, treated as brothers by 
 Europeans, would initantly become their 
 friends and difeiples. In another will be feen 
 nations crouching under the yoke of facred 
 defpots or ltupid conquerors, and who, for fo 
 many ages, have looked for fome friendly 
 hand to deliver them : while a third will ex- 
 hibit either tribes nearly lavage, excluded 
 from the benefits of fuperior civilization by 
 the feverity of their climate, which deters 
 thole who might otherwile be difpofed to com- 
 municate thefe benefits from making the at- 
 tempt ; or elle conquering hordes, knowing 
 no law but no trade but robbery. The 
 
 advances 
 
( 3*5 ) 
 
 advances of thefe two laft claffes will be more 
 flow, and accompanied with more frequent 
 florins ; it may even happen that, reduced in 
 numbers in proportion as they fee themfelves 
 repelled by civilized nations, they will in the 
 end wholly difappear, or their fcanty remains 
 become blended with their neighbours. 
 
 We might fhew that thefe events will be 
 the inevitable confequence not only of the 
 progrefs of Europe, but of that freedom 
 which the republic of France, as well as of 
 America, have it in their power, and feel it 
 to be their intereft, to reftore to the com- 
 merce of Africa and Afia ; and that they muft 
 alfo neceffarily refult alike, whether from the 
 new policy of European nations, or their ob- 
 ftinate adherence to mercantile prejudices. 
 
 A fmgle combination, a new invafion of 
 Afia by the Tartars, might be fufficient to 
 fruftrate this revolution ; but it may be fhewn 
 that fuch combination is henceforth impofli- 
 ble to be effected. Meanwhile every thing 
 feems to be preparing the fpeedy downfal of 
 the religions of the Eaft, which, partaking of 
 the abje&nefs of their minifters, left almoft 
 exclulively to the people, and, in the majo- 
 Y 3 rity 
 
( r-c> ) 
 
 rity of countries, considered by powerful men 
 
 as political inilitutions only, no longer threaten 
 to retain human rcalon in a (late of hopclefs 
 bondage, and in the eternal fhackles of in- 
 fancy. 
 
 The march of thefe people will be left 
 flow and more fure than ours has been, be- 
 caufe they will derive from us that light 
 which wc have been obliged to difcover, and 
 becaufe for them to acquire the fimple truths 
 and infallible methods which we have ob- 
 tained after long wandering in the mazes of 
 error, it will be iufficient to feize upon their 
 developemcnts and proofs in our difcouries 
 and publications. If the progrefsof the Greeks 
 was loft upon other nations, it was for want of 
 a communication between the people ; and 
 to the tyrannical domination of the Romans 
 mud the whole blame be aicribed. But, 
 when mutual wants mall have drawn dofer 
 the intercourfe and ties of all mankind ; when 
 the moft powerful nations (hall have efta- 
 hed into political principles equality be- 
 tween foei. ■ between individuals, and 
 refpefl for the independence 'of feeble dates, 
 I] as COmpaflion for ignorance and 
 
 wretched-- 
 
( 3 2 7 ) 
 
 vvretchednefs ; when to the maxims which 
 bear heavily upon the fpring of the human fa- 
 culties, thofe mall fucceed which favour their 
 a&ion and energy, will there ftill be reafon to 
 fear that the globe will contain fpaces inac- 
 ceflible to knowledge, or that the pride of 
 defpotifm will be able to oppofe barriers to 
 truth that will long be infurmountable ? 
 
 Then will arrive the moment in which the 
 fun w r ill obferve in its courfe free nations 
 only, acknowledging no other mafter than 
 their reafon ; in which tyrants and (laves, 
 pricfts and their ftupid or hypocritical inftru- 
 ments, will no longer exift but in hiftory and 
 upon the ftage ; in which our only concern 
 will be to lament their paft victims and dupes, 
 and, by the recolle&ion of their horrid enor- 
 mities, to exercife a vigilant circumfpection, 
 that we may be able inftantly to recognife and 
 effectually to flifle by the force of reafon, the 
 feeds of fuperftition and tyranny, fhould they 
 ever prefume again to make their appearance 
 upon the earth. 
 
 In tracing the hiftory of focieties we have 
 
 had occafion to remark, that there frequently 
 
 exifts a confiderable diftincYion between the 
 
 Y 4 rights 
 
( 328 ) 
 
 rights which the law acknowledges in the citi- 
 zens of a itatc, and thole which they really 
 enjoy ; the equality eftablifhcd hy 
 
 political inflitutions, and that which takes 
 place between the individual members : and 
 that to this difproportion was chiefly owing 
 the deilruclion of liberty in the ancient repub- 
 lics, the dorms which they had to encounter, 
 and the weaknefs that furrendered them into 
 the power of foreign tyrant-. 
 
 Three principal caufes may be aiTigned for 
 thefe diftinctions : inequality of wealth, ine- 
 quality of condition between him whofe re- 
 fources of fubfiilance are fecured to himfelf 
 and defcendable to his family, and him whole 
 refources are annihilated with the termination, 
 of his life, or rather of that part of his life in, 
 which he is capable of labour ; and laftly, in- 
 equality of initruction. 
 
 It will therefore behove us to fhew, that 
 thefe three kinds of real inequality mult con- 
 tinually diminifh ; but without becoming ab- 
 folutely extind, fince they have natural and 
 nccellary c;iufcs, which it would be abiurd as 
 well as dangerous to think of deflro> iiig ; I 
 
 I we attempt even to deftroy entirely tl 
 
 efll 
 
( V-9 ) 
 
 effects, without opening at the lame time nv re 
 fruitful fources of inequality, and giving to 
 the rights of man a more direct and more fa- 
 tal blow. 
 
 It is eafy to prove that fortunes naturally 
 tend to equality, and that their extreme difpro- 
 portion either could not exift, or would quickly 
 ceafe, if pofitive law had not introduced facti- 
 tious means of amaffing and perpetuating them ; 
 if an entire freedom of commerce and induftry 
 were brought forward to fuperiede the advan- 
 tages which prohibitory laws and iifcal rights 
 neceffarily give to the rich over the poor ; if 
 duties upon every fort of transfer and con- 
 vention, if prohibitions to certain kinds, and 
 the tedious and expenfive formalities prefcribed 
 to other kinds ; if the uncertainty and expence 
 attending their execution had not paired the 
 efforts of the poor, and fwallowed up their 
 little accumulations ; if political inflitutions 
 had not laid certain prolific fources of opu- 
 lence open to a few, and fliut them againft 
 the many ; if avarice, and the other preju- 
 dices incident to an advanced age, did not 
 prefi.de over marriages ; in fine, if the iimpli- 
 
 city 
 
( 33° ) 
 
 citv of our manners and the wifdom of our 
 inftitutions were calculated to prevent riches 
 from operating as the means of gratifying ▼*■ 
 nity or ambition, at the lame time that an 
 ill-judged aufterity, by forbidding us to ren- 
 der them a means of coftly pleafures, fhould 
 not foree us to prcferve the wealth that had 
 once been accumulated. 
 
 Let us compare, in the enlightened nations 
 of Europe, the actual population with the ex- 
 tent of territory ; let us obferve, amidft the 
 fpcctacle of their culture and their induftry, 
 the way in which labour and the means of 
 fubiiftance are diftributed, and we fhall fee 
 that it will be impofiible to maintain thefe 
 means in the fame extent, and of confequence 
 to maintain the fame mafs of population, if 
 any confulcrable number of individuals ceafe 
 to have, as now, nothing but their induftry, 
 and the pittance nccclTary to let it at work, ot- 
 to render its profit equal to the fupplying their 
 own wants and thofe of their family. But 
 
 ther this induftry* nor the fcanty referve 
 wr hive mentioned, can be perpetuated, ex- 
 rent fo long as the life and health of each head 
 
 a family is perpetuated. Their little for- 
 tune 
 
( 33 l ) 
 
 tune therefore is at beft an annuity, but in 
 reality with features of precarioufnefs that an 
 annuity wants : and from hence refults a moft 
 important difference between this clafs of fo- 
 ciety and the clafs of men whole refources 
 confift either of a landed income, or the in- 
 tereft of a capital, which depends little upon 
 perfonal induftry, and is therefore not fub- 
 jecl: to fimilar riiks. 
 
 There exifts then a necefTary caufe of in- 
 equality, of dependence, and even of penury, 
 which menaces without ceafing the moft nu- 
 merous and active clafs of our focieties. 
 
 This inequality, however, may be in great 
 meafure deftroyed, by fetting chance againft 
 chance, in fecuring to him who attains old 
 age a fupport, arifing from his favings, but 
 augmented by thofe of other perfons, who, 
 making a fimilar addition to a common ftock, 
 may happen to die before they mall have oc- 
 cafion to recur to it ; in procuring, by a like 
 regulation, an equal refource for women who 
 may lofe their hufbands, or children who 
 may lofe their father ; laftly, in preparing for 
 thofe youths, who arrive at an age to be ca- 
 pable of working for themfeiveSj and of giving 
 
 birth 
 
( 33^ ) 
 
 birth to & new family, the benefit of a capi- 
 tal fufficient to employ their induftry, and 
 increafed at the expence of thofe whom pre- 
 mature death may cut off before they arrive 
 at that period. To the application of mathe- 
 matics to the probabilities of life and the in- 
 tereft of money, are we indebted for the hint 
 of thefe means, already employed with fome 
 degree of fuccefs, though they have not been 
 carried to fuch extent, or employed in fucli 
 variety of forms, as would render them truly 
 beneficial, not merely to a few families, but 
 to the whole mais of fociety, which would 
 thereby be relieved from that periodical ruin 
 obfervable in a number of families, the ever- 
 flowing fource of corruption and depravity. 
 
 Thcfc eftabliihments, which may be formed 
 in the name of the focial power, and become 
 one of its greateft benefits, might alfo be the 
 refult of individual aflbciations, which maybe 
 inftituted without clanger, when the principles 
 by which the eftabliihments ought to be or- 
 ganiied, (hall have become more popular, and 
 the , by which a great number of fuch 
 
 aflbciations hare I>em deftroyed, (hall ceafe to 
 ;t of apprehenlion. 
 
 We 
 
( 333 ) 
 
 We may enumerate other means of fecuring 
 the equality in queftion, either by preventing 
 credit from continuing to be a privilege ex- 
 clusively attached to large fortunes, without 
 at the fame time placing it upon a lefs folid 
 foundation ; or by rendering the progrefs of 
 induftry and the activity of commerce more 
 independent of the exiftence of great capi- 
 talifts : and for thefe refources alfo we fhall be 
 indebted to the fcience of calculation. 
 
 The equality of inftru&ion we can hope to 
 attain, and with which we ought to be 
 iatisfied, is that which excludes every fpecies 
 of dependence, whether forced or voluntary. 
 We may exhibit, in the actual ftate of human 
 knowledge, the eafy means by which this end 
 may be attained even for thofe who can devote 
 to ftudy but a few years of infancy, and, in 
 fubfequent life, only fome occafional hours of 
 leifure. We might fhew, that by a happy 
 choice of the fubjecls to be taught, and of the 
 mode of inculcating them, the entire mafs of 
 a people may be inftrucled in every thing ne- 
 ceifary for the purpofes of domeftic economy ; 
 for the tranfa&ion of their afFairs ; for the 
 free developement of their induftry and their 
 
 faculties j 
 
( 334 ) 
 
 facilities ; for t' Wtedge, ekercift and picw 
 
 tecYion of their rights ; tot a fertfe of their 
 duties, and the power of idifcharging them ; 
 for the capacity of judging both their own 
 actions, and the actions of Others, by their own 
 underftanding ; for the acquiiition of all the 
 delicate or dignified fentiments that are an 
 honour to humanity ; for freeing themfelves 
 from a blind confidence in thofe to whom they 
 may entruft the care of their interefts, and the 
 fecurity of their rights ; for chufing and watch- 
 ing over them, fo as no longer to be the dupes 
 of thofe popular errors that torment and 
 way-lay the life of man with fuperftitious 
 fears and chimerical hopes ; for defending 
 thcmfelves againft prejudices by the fole 
 energy of reafon ; in fine, for efcaping from 
 the delufions of impoflure, which would 
 fpread mares for their fortune, their health, 
 their freedom of opinion and of confeience, 
 under the pretext of enriching, of healing, and 
 of faving them. 
 
 The inhabitants of |he fame country being 
 then no longer dillinguifhcd among themlelves 
 by the alternate ufe of a re fried or a vulgar lan- 
 guage ; being equally governed by their own 
 
 under- 
 
( 335 ) 
 
 underftandings ; being no more confined to 
 the mechanical knowledge of theproceffes of 
 the arts, and the mere routine of a profeffion ; 
 no more dependent in the moft trifling affairs, 
 and for the flighted information, upon men 
 of fkill, who, by a neceffary afcendancy, 
 controul and govern, a real equality mud be 
 the refult ; fince the difference of talents and 
 information can no longer place a barrier be- 
 tween men whole fentiments, ideas, and 
 phrafeology are capable of being mutually 
 underftood, of whom the one part may de- 
 iire to be inftrutted, but cannot need to be 
 guided by the other ; of whom the one part 
 may delegate to the other the office of a ra- 
 tional government, but cannot be forced to 
 regard them with blind and unlimited confi- 
 dence. 
 
 Then it is that this fuperiority w r ill become 
 an advantage even for thofe who do not par- 
 take of it, iince it will exift not as their 
 enemy, but as their friend. The natural dif- 
 ference of faculties between men whofe un- 
 derftandings have not been cultivated, pro- 
 duces, even among favages, empirics and 
 dupes, the one {killed in delufion, the others 
 2 eafy 
 
( J3<3 ) 
 
 eafy to be deceived : the fame difference will 
 douUIefs cxi!l among a people where instruc- 
 tion (hall be trul) general ; but it will be here 
 between men Lalted underftandings and 
 
 men of found minds, who can admire the 
 radiance of knowledge, without fullering 
 themfelves to be dazzled by it ; between ta- 
 lents and genius on the one hand, and on the 
 other the good fenfe that knows how to 
 preciate and enjoy them : and mould this 
 difference be even greater in the latter cafe, 
 comparing the force and extent of the facul- 
 ties only, iliil would the effects of it not be the 
 lefs imperceptible in the relations of men with 
 each other, in whatever is interefting to their 
 independence or their happinefs. 
 
 The different caufes of equality we have 
 enumerated do not act diftinctly and apart ; 
 they unite, they incorporate, they fupport 
 one another ; and from their combined influ- 
 ence refults an action proportionably forcible, 
 fure, and conflant. If inftruction become 
 more equal, induftry thence acquires greater 
 equality, and from induftry the edict is com- 
 municated to fortunes ; and equality of for- 
 tunes neccilarily contributes to that of inftruc- 
 tion, 
 
( 337 ) 
 
 tion, while equality of nations, like that efta- 
 blifhed between individuals, have alio a mu- 
 tual operation upon each other. 
 
 In fine, inftru&ion, properly directed, cor- 
 rects the natural inequality of the faculties, in- 
 ftead of ftrengthening it, in like manner as 
 good laws remedy the natural inequality of 
 the means of fubfi fiance ; or as, in focieties 
 whole inftitutions Ihall have effected this equa- 
 lity, liberty, though fubjected to a regular 
 government, will be more extenfive, more 
 complete, than in the independence of favage 
 life. Then has the focial art accomplished its 
 end, that of fecuring and extending for all 
 the enjoyment of the common rights which 
 impartial nature has bequeathed to all 
 
 The advantages that rauft refult from the 
 ftate of improvement, of which I have proved 
 we may almoft entertain the certain hope, can 
 have no limit but the abfolute perfection of the 
 human fpeci.es, fince, in proportion as different 
 kinds of equality Ihall be eftablifhed as to the 
 various means of providing for our wants, as 
 to a more univerfal inftructioji, and a more 
 entire liberty, the more real will be this equa- 
 lity, and the nearer will it approach towards 
 Z embracing 
 
( 33§ ) 
 
 embracing every thing truly important to the 
 happinefs of mankind. 
 
 It is then by examining the progrefiion and 
 the laws of this perfection, that we can alone 
 arrive at the knowledge of the extent or boun- 
 dary of our hopes. 
 
 It has never yet been fuppofed, that all the 
 fads of nature, and all the means of acquiring 
 precifion in the computation and analyfis of 
 thofe fads, and all the connections of objects 
 with each other, and all the poffible combi- 
 nations of ideas, can be exhaufted by the hu- 
 man mind. The mere relations of magnitude, 
 the combinations, quantity and extent of this 
 idea alone, form already a fyftem too im- 
 jnenfe for the mind of man ever to grafp the 
 whole of it ; a portion, more vaft than that 
 which he may have penetrated, will always 
 remain unknown to him. It has, however, 
 been imagined, that, as man can know a part 
 only of the objects which the nature of his 
 intelligence permits him to investigate, he 
 muft at length reach the point at which, the 
 number and complication of thofe he already 
 knows ha Vltkg abforbed all his powers, farther 
 progrefs will become abiolutely impollible. 
 
 But, 
 
( 339 ) 
 
 But, in proportion as facts are multiplied, 
 man learns to clafs them, and reduce them 
 to more general facts, at the fame time that 
 the inftruments and methods for obferving 
 them, and regiftering them with exactnefs, 
 acquire a new prccifion : in proportion as 
 relations more multifarious between a greater 
 number of objects are difcovered, man con- 
 tinues to reduce them to relations of a wider 
 denomination, to exprefs them with greater 
 fimplicity, and to prefent them in a way 
 which may enable a given ftrerigth of mind, 
 with a given quantity of attention, to take in 
 a greater number than before : in propor- 
 tion as the underftanding embraces more com- 
 plicated combinations, a fimple mode of an- 
 nouncing thefe combinations renders them 
 more eafy to be treated. Hence it follows 
 that truths, the difcovery of which was ac- 
 companied with the moft laborious efforts, 
 and which at firft could not be comprehended 
 but by men of the fevered attention, will after 
 a time be unfolded and proved in methods 
 that are not above the efforts of an ordinary 
 capacity. And thus mould the methods that 
 led to new combinations be exhaufted, mould 
 Z 2 their 
 
( 34° ) 
 
 their applications to queftions, ftill unrcfolvcd, 
 demand exertions greater than the time or the 
 powers of the learned can beftow, more ge- 
 neral methods, means more fimple would 
 foon come to their aid, and open a farther 
 career to genius. The energy, the real ex- 
 tent of the human intellect may remain the 
 fame ; but the inftruments which it can em- 
 ploy will be multiplied and improved ; but 
 the language which fixes and determines the 
 ideas will acquire more precifion and com- 
 pais ; and it will not be here, as in the fcience 
 of mechanics, where, to increafe the force, 
 we mull diminifh the velocity ; on the con- 
 trary the methods by which genius will ar- 
 rive at the difcovery of new truths, augment 
 at once both the force and the rapidity of its 
 operations. 
 
 In a word, thefc changes being themfelves 
 the necefTary confequences of additional pro- 
 grefs in the knowledge of truths of detail, 
 and the caufe which produces a demand for 
 new refourccs, producing at the fame time 
 the means of (applying them, it follows that 
 the actual mafs of truths appertaining to the 
 feiences of obicrvation, calculation and ex- 
 periment 
 2 
 
( 34i ) 
 
 periment, may be perpetually augmented, and 
 that without fuppofing the faculties of man 
 to poffefs a force and activity, and a fcope of 
 action greater than before. 
 
 By applying thefe general reflections to the 
 different fciences, we might exhibit, refped- 
 ing each, examples of this progreffive im- 
 provement, which would remove all poffibi- 
 lity of doubt as to the certainty of the further 
 improvement that may be expected. We 
 might indicate particularly in thofe which pre- 
 judice confiders as neareft to being exhaufted, 
 the marks of an almoft certain and early ad- 
 vance. We might illuftrate the extent, the 
 precifion, the unity which muft be added to 
 the fyftem comprehending all human know- 
 ledge, by a more general and philofophical 
 application of the fcience of calculation to the 
 individual branches of which that fyftem is 
 compofed. We might mew how favourable 
 to our hopes a more univerfal inftruction 
 would prove, by which a greater number 
 of individuals would acquire the elementary 
 knowledge that might infpire them with a 
 tafte for a particular kind of ftudy ; and how 
 much thefe hopes would be further heightened 
 Z 3 * 
 
( 34^ ) 
 
 if this application to ftudy were to be reru 
 dered ftill more extenfive by a more general 
 eafe of circumftances. At prcfent, in the 
 moft enlightened countries, fcarcely do one 
 in fifty of thofe whom nature has bleffed 
 with talents receive the necefTary inftrucYion 
 for the developement of them : how different 
 would be the proportion in the cafe we are 
 fuppofing ? and, of confequence, how dif- 
 ferent the number of men deftined to extend 
 the horizon of the fciences ? 
 
 We might mew how much this equality 
 of inftruclion, joined to the national equality 
 we have fuppofed to take place, would ac- 
 celerate thofe fciences, the advancement of 
 which depends upon obfervations repeated in 
 a greater number of inftances, and extending 
 over a larger portion of territory ; how much 
 benefit would be derived therefrom to mine- 
 ralogy, botany, zoology, and the doctrine 
 of meteors ; in fhort, how infinite the dif- 
 ference between the feeble means hitherto 
 enjoyed by thefe fciences, and which yet 
 e led to ufeful and important truths, and 
 the magnitude of thole which man would 
 a it in his power to employ. 
 
 Laillv., 
 
( 343 ) 
 
 Laftly, we might prove that, from the 
 advantage of being cultivated by a greater 
 number of perfons, even the progrefs of 
 thofe fciences, in which difcoveries are the 
 fruit of individual meditation, would, alfo, 
 be confiderably advanced by means of mi- 
 nuter improvements, not requiring the ftrength 
 of intellect, neceflary for inventions, but that 
 prefent themfelves to the refle&ion of the 
 leaft profound underftandings. 
 
 If we pafs to the progrefs of the arts, 
 thofe arts particularly the theory of which 
 depends on thefe very fame fciences, we 
 fhall find that it can have no inferior limits ; 
 that their proceffes are fufceptible of the fame 
 improvement, the fame Amplifications, as the 
 fcientific methods ; that inftruments, machines, 
 looms, will add every day to the capabilities 
 and fkill of man — will augment at once the 
 excellence and precifion of his works, while 
 they will diminifh the time and labour ne- 
 ceflary for executing them ; and that then 
 will difappear the obftacles that ftill oppofe 
 themfelves to the progrefs in queftion, acci- 
 dents which will be forefeen and prevented ; 
 and, laftly, the unhealthineis at prefent at- 
 Z 4 tend ant 
 
( 344 ) 
 
 tendaat upon certain operations, habits and 
 climj 
 
 A fmaller portion of ground will then be 
 made to produce a portion of provifions of 
 higher value or greater utility ; a greater 
 quantity of enjoyment will be procured at a 
 fmaller expence of confumption ; the fame 
 manufactured or artificial commodity will be 
 produced at a fmaller expence of raw mate- 
 rials, or will be ftronger and more durable ; 
 every foil will be appropriated to productions 
 which will fatisfy a greater number of wants 
 with the lead labour, and taken in the fmall- 
 eft quantities, Thus the means of health 
 and frugality will be encreafed, together with 
 the inftruments in the arts of production, of 
 puling commodities and manufacturing their 
 produce, without demanding the facrifice of 
 one enjoyment by the confumer. 
 , Thm, not only the fame fpecies of ground 
 will nouriih a greater number of individuals, 
 but ca 11 individual, with a le-fs quantity of 
 labour, will labour more fuccefsfullv, and be. 
 
 ■rounded with greater conveniences. 
 
 It may, however, be demanded, whether, 
 
 idii this improvement in induftry and 
 
 happinch; ? 
 
( 345 ) 
 
 happinefs, where the wants and faculties of 
 men will continually become better propor- 
 tioned, each fucceffive generation poffefs more 
 various ftores, and of confequence in each 
 generation the number of individuals be 
 greatly increafed ; it may, I fay, be demand- 
 ed, whether thefe principles of improvement 
 And increafe may not, by their continual 
 operation, ultimately lead to degeneracy and 
 deftruction ? Whether the number of inha- 
 bitants in the univerfe at length exceeding 
 the means of exiftence, there will not refult 
 a continual decay of happinefs and popula- 
 tion, and a progrefs towards barbarifm, or at 
 leaft a fort of ofcillation between good and 
 evil ? Will not this ofcillation, in focieties 
 arrived at this epoch, be a perennial fource 
 of periodical calamity and diftrefs ? In 
 a word, do not thefe confiderations point 
 out the limit at which all farther improve- 
 ment will become impo/Tible, and confcquent- 
 Jy the perfectibility of man arrive at a period 
 which in the immenfity of ages it may attain, 
 but which it can never pafs ? 
 
 There is, doubtlefs, no individual that does 
 flOt perceive how very remote from us will 
 
 be 
 
( 346 ) 
 
 be this period : but muft it one day arrive r 
 It is equally impofliblc to pronounce on either 
 fide refpecling an event, which can only be 
 realized at an epoch when the human fpecies 
 will neccfiarily have acquired a degree of 
 knowledge, of which our fhort-iighted un- 
 derftandings can fcarcely form an idea. And 
 who fhall prefume to foretel to what perfec- 
 tion the art of converting the elements of 
 life into fubftances fitted for our ufe, may, 
 in a progreffion of ages, be brought ? 
 
 But fuppofing the affirmative, fuppofing it 
 actually to take place, there would refult 
 from it nothing alarming, either to the hap- 
 pinefs of the human race, or its indefinite 
 perfectibility 5 if we confider, that prior to 
 this period the progrefs of reafon will have 
 walked hand in hand with that of the fci- 
 ences ; that the abfurd prejudices of fuper- 
 flition will have ecafed to infufe into morality 
 a harfhnefs that corrupts and degrades, in- 
 flcad of purifying and exalting it ; that men 
 will then know, that the duties they may be 
 under relative to propagation will confift not 
 in the qucflion of giving exigence to a greater 
 number of beings, but bappineji\ will have for 
 
 their 
 
( 347 ) 
 
 their objecl,the general welfare of the human 
 fpecies ; of the fociety in which the y live ; 
 of the family to which they are attached ; 
 and not the puerile idea of encumbering the 
 earth with ufelefs and wretched mortals. Ac- 
 cordingly, there might then be a limit to the 
 poffible mafs of provifion, and of confequence 
 to the greateft poffible population, without 
 that premature deftru&ion, fo contrary to 
 nature and to focial profperity, of a portion 
 of the beings who may have received life, 
 being the refult of thofe limits. 
 
 As the difcovery, or rather the accurate 
 folution of the firft principles of metaphyfics, 
 morals, and politics, is ftill recent ; and as 
 it has been preceded by the knowledge of a 
 confiderable number of truths of detail, the 
 prejudice, that they have thereby arrived at 
 their higheft point of improvement, becomes 
 eafily eftablifhed in the mind ; and men fup- 
 pofe that nothing remains to be done, be- 
 caufe there are no longer any grofs errors 
 to deftroy, or fundamental truths to eftablifh. 
 
 But it requires little penetration to per- 
 ceive how imperfect is ftill the developement 
 of the intellectual and moral faculties of 
 
( 348 J 
 
 man ; how much farther the fphere of his 
 duties, including therein the influence of his 
 actions upon the welfare of his fellow-crea- 
 tures and of the fociety to which he belongs, 
 may be extended by a more fixed, a more 
 profound and more accurate obfervation of 
 that influence ; how many queftions ftill re- 
 main to be folved, how many focial ties to 
 be examined, before we can afcertain the 
 precife catalogue of the individual rights of 
 man, as w r ell as of the rights which the focial 
 ftate confers upon the whole community with 
 icgard to each member. Have we even ai- 
 certained with any precifion the limits of 
 thefe rights, whether as they exift between 
 different focieties, or in any fingle fociety, 
 over its members, in cafes of divifion and 
 hoftility ; or, in fine, the rights of individuals, 
 their fpontaneous unions in the cafe of a pri- 
 mitive formation, or their fcparations when 
 fcparation becomes neceffary ? 
 
 If wc pais on to the theory which ought 
 to direel the application of thefe principles, 
 and fervc as the bafis of the focial art, do we 
 HOt fee the neccflity of acquiring an exact neis 
 of which firft truths, from their general na- 
 ture, 
 
( 349 ) 
 
 ture, are not fufceptible ? Are we fo far ad- 
 vanced as to confider juftice, or a proved and 
 acknowledged utility, and not vague, uncer- 
 tain, and arbitrary views of pretended politi- 
 cal advantages, as the foundation of all infti- 
 tutions of law ? Among the variety, almoft: 
 infinite, of poflible fyftems, in which the 
 general principles of equality and natural 
 rights mould be refpected, have we yet fixed 
 upon the precife rules of afcertaining with 
 certainty thofe which belt fecure the prefer- 
 vation of thefe rights, which afford the 
 freeft fcope for their exercife and enjoyment, 
 which promote mofl effectually the peace and 
 welfare of individuals, and the ftrength, re- 
 pofe, and profperity of nations ? 
 
 The application of the arithmetic of com- 
 binations and probabilities to thefe fciences, 
 promifes an improvement by fo much the 
 more confiderable, as it is the only means of 
 giving to their refults an almoft mathematical 
 precifion, and of appreciating their degree of 
 certainty or probability. The facts upon 
 which thefe refults are built may, indeed, 
 without calculation, and by a glance only, 
 lead to fome general truths ; teach us whether 
 
 the 
 
( 3So ) 
 
 the effects produced by fuch a caufe have 
 been favourable or the reverie : hut if thefe 
 facts have neither been counted nor eftimated; 
 if thefe effects have not been the object of 
 an exact admcaiurement, we cannot judge of 
 the quantity of good or evil they contain : if 
 the good or evil nearly balance each other, 
 nay, if the difference be not confiderable, we 
 cannot pronounce with certainty to which 
 fide the balance inclines. Without the ap- 
 plication of this arithmetic, it would be al- 
 moft impoffiblc to chufe, with found reafon, 
 between two combinations propofing to them- 
 felves the fame end, when their advantages 
 are not diftinguifhable by any confiderable 
 difference. In fine, without this alliance, 
 thefe feiences would remain for ever grofs 
 and narrow, for want of inftruments of fuf- 
 ficient polifli to lay hold of the fubtility of 
 truth — for want of machines fufliciently ac- 
 curate to found the bottom of the well where 
 it conceals its wealth. 
 
 Meanwhile this application, notwithftand- 
 ing the happy efforts of certain geometers^ 
 is ftill, if I may fo fpeak, in its firlt rudi- 
 ments; and to the following generations mult 
 
 it 
 
( 35} ) 
 
 it open a fource of intelligence inexhauftible 
 as calculation itfelf, or as the combinations, 
 analogies, and fads that may be brought 
 within the fphere of its operations. 
 
 There is another fpecies of progrefs, ap- 
 pertaining to the iciences in queftion, equally 
 important ; I mean, the improvement of 
 their language, at prefent fo vague and fo ob- 
 fcure. To this improvement mud they owe 
 the advantage of becoming popular, even in 
 their firft elements. Genius can triumph 
 over thefe inaccuracies, as over other obfta- 
 cles ; it can recognife the features of truth, in 
 fpite of the mafk that conceals or disfigures 
 them. But how is the man who can devote 
 but a few leifure moments to inftruction to do 
 this ? how is he to acquire and retain the 
 moft fimple truths, if they be difguifed by 
 an inaccurate language ? The fewer ideas he 
 is able to collect and combine, the more re- 
 quifite it is that they be juft and precife. 
 He has no fund of truths ftored up in his 
 mind, by which to guard himfelf againft 
 error ; nor is his underftanding fo ftrength- 
 ened and refined by long exercife, that he 
 can catch thofe feeble rays of light which 
 
 efcape 
 
( y^ ) 
 
 efcape under the obfeure and ambtgtfi 
 chefs of an ftnperfeft and vicious phrafe- 
 olog\ . 
 
 It will l)c impoffible for men to become 
 enlightened upon the nature and develope- 
 ment of their moral fentiments, upon the 
 principles of morality, upon the mo- 
 tives for conforming their conduct to thofe 
 principles, and upon their interefts, whether 
 relative to their individual or focial capacity, 
 without making, at the fame time, an ad- 
 vancement in moral practice, not lefs real 
 than that of the fciencc itfelf. Is not a mif- 
 taken intereft the mod frequent cauie of ac- 
 tions contrary to the general welfare? Is 
 not the impetuofity of our paflions the con- 
 tinual refult, either of habits to which we 
 addict ourfelves from a falfe calculation, or 
 of ignorance of the means by w T hich to re- 
 fill: their firft impulie, to divert, govern, 
 and direct their action ? 
 
 Is not the practice of reflecting upon our 
 conduct ; of trying it by the touchitone of 
 rcafon and conicience ; of excrcifing thofe 
 humane fentiments which blend our happi- 
 Qefs with that of others, the neceffary confe- 
 
 quence 
 
( 353 ) 
 
 quence of the well-directed ftudy of morality, 
 and of a greater equality in the conditions of 
 the focial compact ? Will not that confci- 
 oufnefs of his own dignity, appertaining to 
 the man who is free, that fyftem of educa- 
 tion built upon a more profound knowledge 
 of our moral conftitution, render common to 
 almoft every man thofe principles of a Uriel: 
 and unfullied juftice, thofe habitual propen- 
 fities of an active and enlightened benevo- 
 lence, of a delicate and generous fenfibility, 
 of which nature has planted the feeds in our 
 hearts, and which wait only for the genial 
 influence of knowledge and liberty to ex- 
 pand and to fructify ? In like manner as 
 the mathematical and phyfical fciences tend 
 to improve the arts that are employed for 
 our mofl fimple wants, fo is it not equally 
 in the neceflary order of nature that the mo- 
 ral and political fciences fhould exercife a 
 fimilar influence upon the motives that di- 
 rect our fentiments and our actions ? 
 
 What is the object of the improvement 
 of laws and public inftitutions, confequent 
 upon the progrefs of thefe fciences, but to 
 reconcile, to approximate, to blend and unite 
 into one mafs the common intereft of each 
 
 A a indi- 
 
( 354 ) 
 
 individual With the common intereft of all ? 
 What is the end of the focial art, but to 
 
 'troy the oppofition between thefe two ap- 
 parently jarring Sentiments ? And will not 
 the conftitution and laws of that country bed 
 accord with the intentions of reafon and na- 
 ture where the practice of virtue (hall be leaft 
 difficult, and the temptations to deviate from 
 her paths lead numerous and leaft powerful. 
 
 What vicious habit can be mentioned, what 
 practice contrary to good faith, what crime 
 even, the origin and firft caule of which 
 may not be traced in the legiflation, ioftitU- 
 tions, and prejudices of the country in which 
 We oblenre Such habit, fuch practice, or fuch 
 crime to be committed ? 
 
 In fhort, docs not the well-being, the pros- 
 perity, leSulting from the progrefs that will 
 be made bv tlic ufeful arts, in confequence 
 of their being founded upon a found theory, 
 refuhing, alio, from an improved legiflation, 
 
 t upon the truths of the political Scien- 
 ces, naturally difpoie men to humanity, to 
 benevolence, and to jullice ? Do not all the 
 obfervations, in Sine, which we propofed to 
 
 elope in this work prove, that the moral 
 
 duels of man, the ncccllarv confequence 
 
 of 
 
( 35S ) 
 
 of his organization, is, like all his other fa- 
 culties, fufceptible of an indefinite improve- 
 ment ? and that nature has connected, by a 
 chain which cannot be broken, truth, happi- 
 nefs, and virtue ? 
 
 Among thofe caufes of human improve- 
 ment that are of mod importance to the ge- 
 neral welfare, muft be included, the total an- 
 nihilation of the prejudices which have eftab- 
 limed between the fexes an inequality of 
 rights, fatal even to the party which it fa- 
 vours. In vain might we fearch for motives 
 by which to juftify this principle, in differ- 
 ence of phyfical organization, of intellect, ox 
 of moral fenfibility. It had at firft no other 
 origin but abufe of ftrength, and all the at- 
 tempts which have fince been made to fuppovt 
 it are idle fophifms. 
 
 And here we may obferve, how much the 
 abolition of the ufages authorized by this 
 prejudice, and of the laws which it has 
 dictated, would tend to augment the hap- 
 pinefs of* families ; to render common the 
 virtues of domeftic life, the fountain-head of 
 all the others ; to favour initruction, and, 
 efpeciaJly, to make it truly general, either 
 becaufe it would be extended to both fexes 
 A a 2 with 
 
( 356 ) 
 
 with greater equality, or becaufe it cannot 
 become general, even to men, without the 
 concurrence of the mothers of families. 
 Would not this homage, fo long in paying, 
 to the divinities of equity and good ienfe, 
 put an end to a too fertile principle of in- 
 juftice, cruelty, and crime, by fuperfeding 
 the oppoiition hitherto maintained between 
 that natural propenlity, which is, of all 
 others, the moft imperious, and the moft 
 difficult to iubdue, and the interefts of man, 
 or the duties of fociety ? Would it not 
 produce, what has hitherto been a mere chi- 
 mera, national manners of a nature mild and 
 pure, formed, not by imperious privations, 
 by hypocritical appearances, by referves im- 
 pofed by the fear of fhame or religious ter- 
 rors, but by habits freely contracted, infpired 
 by nature and avowed by reafon ? 
 
 The people being more enlightened, and 
 having relumed the right of diipofing for 
 thcmlelves of their blood and their treafure, 
 will learn by degrees to regard war as the 
 mo ft dreadful of all calamities, the moft ter- 
 rible of all crimes. The firft wars that will 
 be fu] erfcded, will be thole into which the 
 ufurpers of ibveregnty have hitherto drawn 
 
 their 
 
( 357 ) 
 
 their fubjeSs for the maintenance of rights 
 pretendedly hereditary. 
 
 Nations will know, that they cannot be- 
 come conquerors without lofing their free- 
 dom ; that perpetual confederations are the 
 only means of maintaining their independ- 
 ance ; that their object fhould be fecurity, 
 and not power. By degrees commercial pre- 
 judices will die away ; a falfe mercantile in- 
 tereft will lofe the terrible power of imbuing 
 the earth with blood, and of ruining nations 
 under the idea of enriching them. As the 
 people of different countries will at laft be 
 drawn into clofer intimacy, by the principles 
 of politics and morality, as each, for its own 
 advantage, will invite foreigners to an equal 
 participation of the benefits which it may 
 have derived either from nature or its own 
 induftry, all the caufes which produce, en- 
 venom, and perpetuate national animofities, 
 will one by one difappear, and will no more 
 furnifh, to warlike infanity either fuel or 
 pretext. 
 
 Inftitutions, better combined than thofe 
 projects of perpetual peace which have oc- 
 cupied the leifure and confoled the heart of 
 certain philofophers, will accelerate the pro- 
 A a 3 grefs 
 
( 358 ) 
 
 grefs of this fraternity of nations ; and wars, 
 like aflaflinations, will he ranked in the num- 
 ber of thofe daring atrocities, humiliating 
 and loathfome to nature ; and which fix up- 
 on the country or the age whofe annals arc 
 flamed with them, an indeliable opprobrium. 
 In (peaking of the fine arts in Greece, in 
 Italy, and in France, we have obferved, that 
 it is neccflary to diftinguifh, in their produc- 
 tions, what really belongs to the progrefs of 
 the art, and what is due only to the talent 
 of the artift. And here let us enquire what 
 progrefs may ftill be expected, whether, in 
 conference of the advancement of philofo- 
 phy and the feiences, or from an additional 
 ftore of more judicious and profound obfer- 
 vations relative to the objec~l, the effects and 
 ihe means of theft arts thcmlelves ; or, laft- 
 ]y, from tlie removal of the prejudices that 
 have cbntra&ed their inhere, and that ftill 
 n them in the fhackles of authority, from 
 feiences and philofophy have at 
 d themfehres. Let us afk, whether, 
 [uently been fuppofed, thefe means 
 ma eonfidered as exhaufted? or, if not 
 
 hether, becaufc the moil fub- 
 Btic beauties have been iie/cu j 
 
 the 
 
( 359 ) 
 
 the moll happy fubjects treated ; the moft 
 fimple and ftriking combinations employed ; 
 the moft prominent and general characters 
 exhibited ; the moft energetic paflions, their 
 true expreflions and genuine features deli- 
 neated ; the moft commanding truths, the 
 moft brilliant images difplayed ; that, therer 
 fore, the arts are condemned to an eternal and 
 monotonous imitation of their firft models ? 
 
 We fhall perceive that this opinion is 
 merely a prejudice, derived from the habit 
 which exifts among men of letters and artifts 
 of appreciating the merits of men, inftead of 
 giving themfelves up to the enjoyment to be 
 received from their works. The fecondJiand 
 pleafure which arifes from comparing the 
 productions of different ages and countries, 
 and from contemplating the energy and fuc- 
 cefs of the efforts of genius, will perhaps be 
 loft ; but, in the mean time, the pleafure 
 arifing from the productions confidered in 
 themfelves, and flowing from their abfolute 
 perfection, need not be lefs lively, though 
 the improvement of the author may lefs ex- 
 cite our aftonifhment. In proportion as ex- 
 cellent productions fhall multiply, every fuc- 
 ceflive generation of men will direct it? atr 
 A a ^ tention 
 
( fr ) 
 
 tention to thoic wliich are moft perfect, and 
 the reft will infcniibly fall into oblivion ; 
 while the more fimple and palpable traits, 
 which were feized upon by thofe who firft 
 entered the field of invention, will not the 
 lefs cxift for our poftcrity, though they {hall 
 be found only in the lateft productions. 
 
 The progrefs of the fciences fecures the 
 progrefs of the art of inftru&ion, which 
 again accelerates in its turn that of the fci- 
 ences ; and this reciprocal influence, the ac- 
 tion of which is inceffantly increafed, muft be 
 ranked in the number of the moft: prolific 
 and powerful caufes of the improvement of 
 the human race. At preient, a young man, 
 upon finifhing his Itudies and quitting our 
 fchools, may know more of the principles of 
 mathematics than Newton acquired by pro- 
 found ftudy, or difcovered by the force of 
 his genius, and may exercile the inftrument 
 of calculation with a readinefs which at that 
 period was unknown. The fame obfervation, 
 with certain reflricYions, may be applied to 
 I;i proportion as each ihall 
 
 race, the meant of compreffing, within a 
 
 circle, the proofs oi\i rafter number 
 : ruths and of facilitating their compre- 
 hension. 
 
( 3<M ) 
 
 henfion, will equally advance. Thus, not- 
 withflanding future degrees of progrefs, not 
 only will men of equal genius find them- 
 felves, at the fame period of life, upon a 
 level with the actual ftate of fcience, but, 
 refpecting every generation, what may he 
 acquired in a given fpace of time, by the 
 fame ftrength of intellect and the lame de- 
 gree of attention, will neceflarily increafe, 
 and the elementary part of each fcience, that 
 part which every man may attain, becoming 
 more and more extended, will include, in a 
 manner more complete, the knowledge nc- 
 ceffary for the direction of every man in the 
 common occurences of life, and for the free 
 and independant exercife of his reafon. 
 
 In the political fciences there is a defcrip- 
 tion of truths, which, particularly in free 
 countries (that is, in all countries in cer- 
 tain generations), can only be ufeful when 
 generally known and avowed. Thus, the 
 influence of thefe fciences upon the freedom 
 and profperity of nations, muft, in fome 
 fort, be meafured by the number of thofe 
 truths that, in confequence of elementary in- 
 ftruction, mall pervade the general mind : 
 and thus, as the growing progrefs of this 
 
 ele- 
 
( 3^ ) 
 
 elementary inilrucliori is conne&ed with the 
 ncceilary progrefs of the fciences, we may 
 expect a melioration in the doctrines of the 
 human race which may he regarded as inde- 
 finite, fmce it can have no other limits than 
 thole of the two fpecies of progrefs on which 
 it depends. 
 
 We have ftill two other means of general 
 application to confuler, and which muft in- 
 fluence at once both the improvement of the 
 art of inftru&ion and that of the fciences, 
 One is a more cxtenfive and more perfect 
 adoption of what may be called technical 
 methods ; the other, the inftitution of an 
 univerlal language. 
 
 By technical methods I underftand, the 
 ' art of uniting a great number of objects in 
 an arranged and fyltcinatic order, by which 
 may be enabled to perceive at a glance 
 their bearings and connections, feize in an 
 inftant their combinations, and form from 
 them the more readily new combinations. 
 
 Let us develope the principles, let us ex- 
 an. e utility of this art, as jret in itfl 
 
 ,, and we (hall find that, when im- 
 proved and perfected, we might derive from 
 i:, either the advantage of polleHing within 
 
 the 
 
( 3^3 ) 
 
 the narrow compafs of a pi&uie, what it 
 would be often difficult for volumes to ex- 
 plain to us fo readily and fo well ; or the 
 means, ftill more valuable, of prefenting ifo- 
 lated facts in a difpofition and view beft 
 calculated to give us their general remits. 
 We fhall perceive how, by means cf a fmall 
 number of thefe pictures or tables, the ufe of 
 which may be e'afily learned, men who have 
 not been able to appropriate fuch ufeful de- 
 tails and elementary knowledge as may apply 
 to the purpofes of common life, may turn to 
 them atthe fhorteft notice; and how elementary 
 knowledge itfelf, in all thole fcienc.es where this 
 knowledge is founded either upon a regular 
 code of truths or a feries of obfervations and 
 experiments, may hereby be facilitated. 
 
 An univerfal language is that which ex- 
 preffes by figns, either the direct objects, or 
 thofe well-defined collections conftituted of 
 fimple and general ideas, which are to be 
 found or may be introduced equally in the 
 understandings of all mankind ; or, laftljr, 
 the general relations of thefe ideas, the ope- 
 rations of the human mind, the operations 
 peculiar to any fcience, and the mode of 
 procefs in the arts, Thus, fuch perfons as 
 
( 3<H ) 
 
 fhall have become matters of thefe figns, the 
 method of combining and the rules for con- 
 flrucYmg them, will underftand what is writ- 
 ten in this language, and will read it with 
 fimilar facility in the language of their own 
 country, whatever it may happen to be. 
 
 It is apparent, that this language might 
 be employed to explain either the theory of 
 a fcience or the rules of an art ; to give an 
 account of a new experiment or a new ob- 
 fcrvation, the acquisition of a fcientific truth, 
 the invention of a method, or the difcovery 
 of a procefs ; and that, like algebra, when 
 obliged to make ufe of new figns, thofe al- 
 ready known would afford the means of as- 
 certaining their value. 
 
 A language like this has not the inconve- 
 nience of a fcientific idiom, different from the 
 vernacular tongue. We have before obferved, 
 that the life of luch an idiom neceflarily di- 
 vides locietics into two extremely unequal 
 claflcs ; the one compofed of men, under- 
 filling the language, and, therefore, in 
 pofleffion of the key to the faiences; the 
 of thofe who, incapable of learning it, 
 
 [elves reduced ahnofi to an abfolute 
 inipoflibility of acquiring knowled On 
 
 the 
 
( 3% ) 
 
 the contrary, the univerfal language we are 
 fuppofmg, might be learned, like the language 
 of algebra, with the fcience itfelf ; the fign 
 might be known at the lame inftant with the 
 object, the idea, or the operation which it 
 exprefles. He who, having attained the ele- 
 ments of a fcience, mould wiih to profecute 
 farther his enquiries, would find in books, 
 not only truths that he could underftand, by 
 means of thole figns, of which he already 
 knows the value, but the explanation of the 
 new figns of which he has need in order to 
 afcend to higher truths. 
 
 It might be fhown that the formation of 
 fuch a language, if confined to the expreffing 
 of fimple and precife propofitions, like thofe 
 which form the fyflem of a fcience, or the 
 practice of an art, would be the reverie of 
 chimerical ; that its execution, even at pre- 
 fent, would be extremely practicable as to a 
 great number of objects ; and that the chief 
 obftacle that would ftand in the way of ex- 
 tending it to others, would be the humiliating 
 neceflity of acknowledging how few precife 
 ideas, and accurately defined notions, under- 
 ftood exa&ly in the fame fenfe by every 
 mind, we really poffefs, 
 
 * It 
 
( 3& ) 
 
 It might be fliown that this language, inl- 
 proving ( , acquiring inceflantly 
 
 greater extent, would be the means of giv- 
 ing to every object that comes within the 
 
 reach of human intelligence, a rigour, and 
 precihon, that would facilitate the knowledge 
 of truth, and render error almoft impoflible. 
 Then would the march of every fcience be 
 as infallible as that of the mathematics, and 
 the propofitions of every fyftem acquire, as 
 far as nature will admit, geometrical demon- 
 ilration and certainty. 
 
 AIL the caufes which contribute to the im- 
 provement of the human fpecies, all the ma 
 we have enumerated that infure its progrefs, 
 mull, from their very nature, exercifc an in- 
 fluence always a&ive, and acquire an extent for 
 r increafmg. The proofs of this have been 
 exhibited, and from their developcment in the 
 work iticlf they will derive additional force : 
 accordingly we may already conclude, that 
 the perfectibility of man is indefinite. Mean- 
 while we have hitherto confidered him as pof- 
 f effing only the fame natural faculties, as en- 
 dowed with the lame organization. How 
 much greater would be the certainty, how 
 much wider the compuis of our hopes, could 
 
 we 
 
( 3«7- ) 
 
 we prove that thefe natural faculties themfelves, 
 that this very organization, are alio fuicep- 
 tible of melioration ? And this is the laft ques- 
 tion we fliall examine. 
 
 The organic perfectibility or deterioration 
 of the dalles of the vegetable, or fpecies of 
 the animal kingdom, may be regarded as one 
 of the general laws of nature. 
 
 This law extends itfelf to the human race ; 
 and it cannot be doubted that the progreft of 
 the fanative art, that the ufe of more whole- 
 fome food and more comfortable habitations, 
 that a mode of life which mail develope the 
 phyfical powers by exercife, without at the 
 fame time impairing them by excels ; in fine, 
 that the deftru&ion of the two moft active 
 caufes of deterioration, penury and wretched- 
 nefs on the one hand, and enormous wealth 
 on the other, muft necefTarily tend to prolong 
 the common duration of man's exiftence, and 
 It fecure him a more conflant health and a more 
 robuft conftitution. It is manifeft that the 
 improvement of the practice of medicine, be- 
 come more efficacious in confequence of the 
 progrefs of reafon and the focial order, muft 
 in the end put a period to tranfmiiTible or con- 
 tagious diforders, as well to thofe general ma- 
 ladies refulting from climate, aliments, and the 
 
 nature 
 
( 368 ) 
 
 nature of certain occupations. Nor would it 
 be difficult that this hope might be 
 
 extended to almofl every other malady, of 
 which it is probable we (hall hereafter difco- 
 ver the mo ft remote caufes. Would it even 
 be ahfurd to fuppofe this quality of meli< 
 tion in the human fpecies as fuiceptihle of ail 
 indefinite advancement ; to fuppofe that a pe- 
 riod muft one day arrive when death will 
 be nothing more than the effedt either of ex- 
 traordinary accidents, or of the flow and gra- 
 dual decay of the vital powers ; and that the 
 duration of the middle fpace, of the interval 
 between the birth of man and this decay, will 
 itfelf have no affignable limit ? Certainly man 
 will not become immortal ; but may not the 
 diftance between the moment in which he 
 draws his firft breath, and the common term 
 when, in the courfe of nature, without ma- 
 lady, without accident, he finds it impoflible 
 any longer to cxift, be necellarily protracted ? 
 As we are now fpeaking of a progreis that is 
 capable of being reprefented with preeifion, 
 by numerical quantities or by lines, we fliall 
 embrace the opportunity of explaining the 
 two meanings that may be affixed to the word 
 indefinite. 
 
 In reality, this middle term of life, which 
 
( 3^9 ) 
 
 in proportion as men advance upon the ocean 
 of futurity, we have fuppofed inceffantly to 
 increafe, may receive additions either in con- 
 formity to a law by which, though approach- 
 ing continually an illimitable extent, it could 
 never poffibly arrive at it ; or a law by which, 
 in the immenfity of ages, it may acquire a 
 greater extent than any determinate quantity 
 whatever that may be afligned as its limit. In 
 the latter cafe, this duration of life is indefinite 
 in the ftrifteft fenfe of the word, fince there 
 exift no bounds on this fide of which it muft 
 neceflarily flop. And in the former, it is 
 equally indefinite to us ; if we cannot fix the 
 term, it may for ever approach, but can never 
 furpafs ; particularly if, knowing only that 
 it can never flop, we are ignorant in which of 
 the two fenfes the term indefinite is applicable 
 to it : and this is precifely the ftate of the 
 knowledge we have as yet acquired relative to 
 the perfectibility of the fpecies. 
 
 Thus, in the inftance we are confidering, 
 we are bound to believe that the mean dura- 
 tion of human life will for ever increafe, unlefs 
 its increafe be prevented by the phyfical revo- 
 lutions of the fyftem : but we cannot tell what 
 ' Bb is 
 
( 37° ) 
 
 Is the bound which the duration of human life 
 can never exceed ; we cannot even tell, whe- 
 ther there be any circumftance in the laws of 
 nature which has determined and laid down 
 its limit. 
 
 But may not our phyfical faculties, the 
 force, the fagacity, the acutenefs of the 
 fenfes, be numbered among the qualities, the 
 individual improvement of which it will be 
 practicable to tranfmit ? An attention to the 
 different breeds of domeftic animals muft lead 
 us to adept the affirmative of this queftion, and 
 a direct obfervation of the human fpecies it- 
 felf will be found to ftrengthen the opinion. 
 
 Laftly, may we not include in the fame 
 circle the intellectual and moral faculties ? 
 May not our parents, who tranfmit to us the 
 advantages or defects of their conformation, 
 and from whom we receive our features and 
 fhape, as well as our propenfities to certain 
 phyfical affections, tranfmit to us alio that 
 part of organization upon which intellect, 
 h of underftandingi energy of foul or 
 al fcnfibility depend ? Is it not probable 
 that education, by improving the 1 c qualities, 
 will at the fame time have an iuiluence up<;.ji, 
 
 will 
 
( 37 1 ) 
 
 will modify and improve this organization 
 itfelf ? Analogy, an inveftigation of the hu- 
 man faculties, and even fome facts, appear 
 to authorife thefe conjectures, and thereby to 
 enlarge the boundary of our hopes. 
 
 Such are the queftions with which we fhall 
 terminate the laft divifion of our work. And 
 how admirably calculated is this view of the 
 human race, emancipated from its chains, re- 
 leafed alike from the dominion of chance, as 
 well as from that of the enemies of its progrefs, 
 and advancing with a firm and indeviate ftep 
 in the paths of truth, to confole the philofo- 
 pher lamenting the errors, the flagrant acts 
 of injuftice, the crimes with which the earth 
 is ftill polluted ? It is the contemplation of 
 this profpecl: that rewards him for all his ef- 
 forts to affift the progrefs of reafon and the 
 eftablifhment of liberty. He dares to regard 
 thefe efforts as a part of the eternal chain of 
 the deftiny of mankind ; and in this perfuafion 
 he finds the true delight of virtue, the pleafure 
 of having performed a durable fervice, which 
 no viciffitude will ever deftroy in a fatal ope- 
 ration calculated to reftore the reign of pre- 
 judice and flavery. This fentiment is the afy- 
 
 lum 
 
( 37^ ) 
 
 lum into which he retires, and to which the 
 memory of his perfecutors cannot follow him : 
 he unites himfelf in imagination with man 
 rcftored to his rights, delivered from oppref- 
 fion, and proceeding with rapid ftrides in the 
 path of happinefs: he forgets his own misfor- 
 tunes while his thoughts are thus employed ; 
 he lives no longer to adverfity, calumny and 
 malice, but becomes the affociate of thefe 
 wifer and more fortunate beings whofe en- 
 viable condition he fo earneftly contributed to 
 produce. 
 
 THE END. 
 
B1993.E7 
 
 Outlines of an historical view of the 
 
 ncfton Theological Semmary-Speer Library 
 
 III 
 1 1012 00102 0132