. „. ^ 2 .^P^ ^ J J i^l Jf!l )\ i ^o» >'* .^.nriAiiro/pA, ■^^\^'h iU '■ v_ ^ \^ ^\\\'<^ ■'^UiV;iH']-^^-' ■'VVviVMHin^^^ ■7 / ijrrr- ^i S-=p^d hence' Zimmermann, who doubtlefs experienced many fevere domeflic and perfonal misfortunes, felt far more than the generality of mankind under fmiilar circumftances. The fu- periority of his underftanding and the greatnefs of his genius were here of no avail : leffer minds would have medicined private grief by the con- fideration of public honours. But Zimmermann was not thus to be compenfated for a body la- bouring under the pangs of difeafe, and a mind fniarting under the agonizing ftrokes of domeflic affliction. The diilinguifhed honours conferred upon him by three of the greatefl potentates of the earth ; the various other well-earned fruits of his extraordinary celebrity, afforded him no iatisfadion ; anxiety and difeafe tortured him by turns, and overwhelmed every profpe£t ! With b 4 , him, <«• ( xxviii ) him, all was dark ! With him, " How widowed, every thought of every joy I'* The fits of melancholy ^nd anxiety which invariably accompany the difpofition of mind and frame of body already defcribed, and with which Dr. Zim- mermann was affailed from time to time, began early in 1795 to alTume a very unfavourable ap- pearance. The defpondency which had long op.- preifed him \vas incre^fed, by the diftreffing cir- cumftance of his much beloved wife being feized with a violent fit of illnefs. His anxiety became excefTive, and prevented him from lift^ning to the -confoling prognoftications of the favourable ter- mination of her s diforder. He had fo ofteti feen the mo ft fanguine expectations defeated ; he had fo often been the viftim of delufive hope, that his mind, already deprived of the greateft part of its energy, refufed to admit any confoling ideas. About this time the political hemifphere, to the ftudy of which he had devoted a confiderable de- gree of attention during the latter period of his literary life, became more and mqre embroiled and obfcure. The dedruflive deluge of barbarifm and anarchy that now recoiled from the conquered provinces of the Roman Empire back to the inhofpitable re- gions. ( xxix ) gions, whence In the fourth century it hkd emana- ted, threatened to overwhelm the whole of civilized Europe. Fears, were entertained for t)ae fafety of Hanover ; and Dr. Zimmermann, whp nourilh- ed and profeffed the utmoft deteftation for thefe difturbers of mankind, in the extreme perturbation pf mind into which he was now fallen, felt excef- fively alarmed, and he, could not conquer his dread of perfecution, to which his ftedfaft and known adherence to the principles of religion and of in- tegrity might poflibly fubjeft him. In his heated imagination, the evils of an invafion of the French were aggravated, if poffible, even beyond the hor- ror and difmay which thofe fons of rapine and def- triiftion uniformly fpread around them, wherever their baleful career condu<^ed their fanguinary footfleps. ** Oh what a noble mind was here o'erthrown!" In this deplorable ftate, and plunged In the deeped melancholy, it was judged advifable to try the efFeft of a change of air, and an excurfion to Eutin was accordingly recommended. Dr. Zimmermann pafTed two or three months in that charming retirement in the company of his friend Count Stolberg. It however produced no material alteration for the better, for on his return I© ( XXX ) to Hanover in July 1795, when-all fears of the enemy had fubfided, his erratic ideas took*another turn, and his infanity appears to Iiave been perfect- ly confirmed. Here, with Dr. Marcard of Oldenburg, we fin- cerely reprobate the unavailing and difagreeable re- cital of the various and melancholy inftances of a deranged brain, which Dr. Wichman, the phyfician .who attended this celebrated man during his lad illnefs, has thought fit to make public. He has given a puerile and difgufling detail of the wander- ings of a ruined mind ; and he has uttered them in a way as if he wilhed them to ferve as data whence to form cohclufions refpecling the life and character of the fufferer. Surely an impenetrable veil ought rather to have been thrown over this 'fcene of abafed humanity ! over this degradation of the hu- man foul ! Is it not enough that v/e behold with awful forrow, the outlines of the dark piclure, but muft we be made acquainted with all the minutias of the diftreffing fcene ? Is it not enough for the awal^:ening of folemn reflection, that we view the filent repofitOries of the dead, and the mouldering marble that announces the univerfal decay of every fublunary thing, but muil we alfo rake into the loathfome and feftering clay- that once ^a^ man? How ( xxxi ) How affe^ling to refle<5l on fhls grqjit example of the weaknefs of human nature ! " Why," fays this obfervant philofopher, who lived to become a memorable inftance of the frailty he deplores ; " Why fhould we pride ourfelves upon our under- flanding, when the fineft intellefts are liable to be deranged by the mofi; trivial phyfical accidents ? In- dependent of external circumftances ; a little ex- traneous air in the bowels, or an indigeflible lump in the ftomach, and lo, the divine light of the foul is extinguilhed !*' (Page ZS3') His mental diforder was now accompanied with the mod excruciating agonies of body ;. he vifibly declined from day to day, and the virulence of his malady was greatly heightened by his utter repug- nance to the taking of the medicines prefcribed. He likewife contracted an abhorrence of all food, and obftinately refufed to take a fufficient quantity of aliment for the fuftenfion of life. This unhappy turn produced a frightful ema^- elation, fo that from a tolerably corpulent man his body became literally a mere fkeleton. To cut fliort this diftrefling narrative, he wafted away till . the 7th of OiSlober 1 795, when all the powers of life failing, he expired without the leaft agitation, feem- ingly, wholly worn down by the inceflant operation 3 of ( xxxii ) of the complicated maladies of mind and of body under which he laboured. For fome days previous to the clofe of his exiflence, it does hot appear that he gave any proofs of a be- wildered mind, and it fhould feem that the total debihty of his natural powers had in fome degree contributed to reftrain the wanderings of his imagination. His lafl words, addrefled to Dr. Wichn>an,' with an emphatic prefTure of the hand, were, ^" Laiflez moi feul ; je me meurs." And refigning his breath with the utmofl calm- nefs, he feemed, as Seneca faid, Potius e vita mi-> p'are quam morL In the preceding pages we have already difcuffed his merits as an author. He was in every refpedl an elegant and emphatic writer ; the only fault we are inclined to admit, is a kind of redundancy of expreffion, arifmg from thje fire and force of his language, that fometimes declined into tautology. He' is likewife fuppofed to have written too much of himfelf, and to have made ufe of the fi,rfl perfon with too great a profufion in his writings ; he was himfelf fenfible of this defeft, and has in many paflages either tranfiently, or more at large, hinted his inducements for " converfmg familiarly," as he expreues it, " with his readers." He wrote, as be felt, from the genuine impulfe of a benevolent heart. ( Sixxm ) heart, which did not admit of the formal fettersf of a fcholaftic precifion of ftyle. In rejefting, how- ever, the application of thefe rules, it is only for writers like Zimmerm ann, who captivate with re- fiftlefs , energy the minds and the hearts of their readers, to be allowed to fhine, greatly eccentric. Thus, nobody feels the egotifm of Csefar's cele- brated laconic epiftle of 'veni, i}idi, vici, on account of the fuperior greatnefs of the writer, of the fubjeft, and of the fentiment ; but when Caligula fends a handful of cockle-lhells and pebbles to the Roman fenate with " behold the fpoils which / have achiev- ed on the ocean, behcild the proofs of my conqueft of the iflands of Britain,'* who does not ridicule and defpife the egregious egotifrii and effrontei")' of the Imperial buffoon ? We are given to underfland that he left many unfinifhed pieces behind him, which, it is much to be regretted, he did not live to complete. Thefe are now configned to obli\ion ; for by his will he ordered them all to be deflroyed, and exprefsly prohibited the publication of any pofthumous works. It is, however, to be wifhed, that his extenfive and valuable correfpondence with fo many literary cha- racters of the iirlt rank, may, in part, be rendered public; his letters would certainly afford an abund- ant fource of plcafure to the fcientific mind ; and we hope that thofe who are pofTeiTed of thefe pre- cious , ,( xxadv ) cious reIiquJ35 will not feel any repugnance to fele£t and publifh fuch of them as are adapted to meet the eye of the world. As gi phyfician, Zimmermann attained great ho- liour. In general it was fuppofed he followed the praitlce of TilTot ; but he always was the firft to adopt any new difcovery whenever he became fen- fible of its utility, and never, as many of the faculty are accufed of doing, rejefted improvement as in» novation. Upon thewhole, Dr.Zimmermann much Improved the practical part of the medical fcience at Hanover. During the lafl ten or fifteen years of his life, we have already remarked, he chiefly confined him- felf to his defk and ftudy. Yet he conftantly de- voted two hours every morning to attendance on his patients ; befjdes being often abroad during the day. The lead apprehenfion of danger called him inftantly away, and his compaihonate and fenfible heart made him difregard every thing for the fake of relieving his fellow creatures. Whenever he beheld the convulfions of expiring nature, he moft cordially fympathized with the fuf- ferer ; and this feeling and tender difpofition vras not a little prejudicial to his health. On this fub- }td: we are led to quote his ov/n words (page 32, ' ~ Englifh ( xxxy ^ Englilh Tranfl^tion of Solitude): *« A phyfidan, if he poffefles fenfibility, mulf , in his employment to -relieve the fuffcrings of others, frequently fgr- get his own. Bat alas! when fummoned, and obliged to attend, whatever pain of body or of mind he may endure, in maladies which are perhaps beyond the reach of his art, how much oftener lyiufl: his own fufferings be increafed by thofe which he fees others feel." And again (page, 7 5) : " At the bed of ficknefs, when I behold the efforts which the foul makes to oppofe its impend- ing diffolution from the body, and difcover by the inqreafing tortures the rapid advances of ap- proaching death j when I fee my unliappy patif nt extend his cold and trembling hands to thank the Almighty for the fmallcfl mitigation of his pains ; when I hear the utterance checked by intermingled groans ; and view the tender looks, the filent an- guifli of attending friends ; all my powers abandon mc ; my heart bleeds, and I tear myfelf from the forrowful fcene, only to pour my tears more freely over the unhappy, fufferings of humanity, tg lament my own inabifity, and the vain confidence placed in a feeble art.'* It has been unjuftly inferred, from the fatirical and fevere ftylc of fome of his writings, that his tem- per aiid converfation abounded with the overflow- ings of vindictive fplecn. — But here he has been. wron^red ( xxxvi ) wronged indeed 1 He wrote only to crimfoii thd cheek of error, and to fhow vice its own feature ; he was, on the contrary, diftinguifhed by art lirbanity of manners, and an amenity and mild- nefs of behaviour, the very reverfe of the far- caflic fpirit difplayed in his works, and which is levelled at the vices and follies of the world ; but when they obtruded upon his notice in fociety, they were ' ever treated with the mofl Chriftian meeknefs as frailties of human nature, deferving of compaflion and regret. The exemplary piety and firm belief in Chrifti- anity, which breathe throughout his writings where-* ever he treats of religious fubjefts, originated in a thorough conviction of the truth of the be* lief he profefied, and in a free and candid en- quiry into the grounds of, Gofpel dodrine. His was indeed found philofophy ; it did not lead him aftray into the paths of fcepticifni and of error ; whitlier the dekifive meteors arifing from fuperficial inveftigation have bewildered fo many, otherwife great and diftinguifhed minds. He obferved every moral as well as every religious duty ; he was beni- ficent and charitable from principle, as well as from nature; and the fame law of Chrift, which incul- cated the exercife of thefe duties, commanded him likewife to forbear the oftentatious difplay of them. • If ( xxxvii ) If we rightly conftrue the fcanty hints we have been able to collet from his writings, Dr. Zim- mermann was twice married. By his firft wife, to whom he was united in Switzerland, he had feve- ral children. The lady who lived to deplore his lofs was, we believe, married to him in .1782 at Hanover. For this amiable companion of his lad days, he was indebted to the friendfhip of Madame Doring, wife of the Counfellor of State of that name, and daughter of the celebrated Vice Chan- cellor Strube; to this lady he has dedicated his Eflay on Solitude. " It was you,** he fays in this Dedi- cation, " my ever efteemed friend, that fo happily chofe for me the amiable and beloved companion of the end of my life, and whom you brought with you to Hanover, when after an abfence of eight months you returned to complete the kindeft offices of friendfhip in making me happy with the deferving woman you had always wiflied I was united to, and whom you then made me acquainted with." His friend fliip and gratitude towards Madame Doring may be traced in the very cordial effufions of his mind, page 70 of the Englifh tranflation of Solitude ; where, fpeaking of himfelf, he fays,— • " Reprefent to yourfelf an unfortunate foreigner placed in a country where every one was fufpicious of his charafter, borne down by misfortune from every fide, attacked every moment by defpair, and, c during ( xxxviil ) during a long courfe of years, unable either to floop or fit to write without feeling the mod ex- cruciating pains ; in a country where, in the midft of all his afflidions, he was deprived of the obje£t which was dearell to him in the world. Yet it was in fuch a country, and under thefe circum- ftances, that he, at length, found a perfon who ex- tended the hand of affeftion towards him ; whofe voice, like a voice from heaven, faid to him, " Come, I will dry your tears, I will heal your wounded heart, be the kind comforter of your fufferings, enable you to fupport them, banifh the remem- brance of forrow from your mind, and recall your fenfibility. I will endeavour to charm away the filence of difguft by entertaining converfation, and, when tranquillity returns, colled for you all the flowers which adorn the paths of life; difcourfe \vith you on the charms of virtue ; think of you with love ; treat you with efleem ; rely upon you with conjfidence; prove to you that the people among whom you are lituated, are not fo bad as you conceive them ; and perhaps that they are not fo at all. I will remove from your mind all anxiety about domeflic concerns ; do ev-ery thing to relieve and pleafe you : you fhall tafle all the happinefs of an eafy tranquil life. I will dili- gently endeavour to point out your faults, and you, in gratitude, fhall alfo correft mine : you Ihall form my mind, communicate to me your knowledge, and preferve ( XXXIX ) preferve to me, by the alTiftance of God and your own talents, the felicities of my life, together with thofe of my hufband and my children^ we will love our neighbours with the fame heart, and unite our endeavours to afford confolation to the afflicted, and fuccour to the diflreffed." Zimmermann's perfonal appearance was impre{^v€^ and noble; he was above, what is termed, tha middle fize, and rather inclining to corpulence; his countenance was manly and open, with an exprcf-' live and keen eye which beamed intelligence. He poffeffed a perfuafive and modulated voice, and in his language, whether German or French, both of which he fpoke with equal fluency, he united both energy and force with harmony and polifhed exprefSon. Such was the man we have attempted to def- cribe ; as fuch our readers will venerate his me- mory, and drop over his alhes a tear of gra- titude and concern ! It is in-the mean time, until an hiftorian furniflied with more correct and more copious information (hall favour the public with a complete biography of this celebrated charader, that thefe few memoirs, collected in a country, which, notwithflanding Dr. Zimmermann's connections with it, is to him a fo- ( xl ) reign one, and in a very circumfcribed fpace of time, are offered to the world as an introduftion to this work, the intrinfic merit whereof, in its original language, has procured the greateft eulo- giums from the beft judges ; whence it is hoped the tranflation will be perufed with fome degree of pleafure, and if it may be allowed to form a com- panion to the EfTay on Solitude, it will be confi- dered as the moft flattering mark of approbation which an indulgent Public can poffibly bellow upon it. AN CONTENTS. CHAP. 1 C C I. \Jf national pride in general, - i II, Of individual pride, and the pride of dif- ferent clafles, _ - . y III. Of the pride of whole nations, - 29 IV, Of pride arifing in nation* from imaginary advantages, - ' - - 4g w V. Of the pride arifing from the imaginary antiquity of a nation, - - 49 VI. Of religious pride, - - 59 VII. Of national pride, as arifing from a fuppof^d liberty, valour, power, or confideration, 77 VIII. Of pride refulting from an ignorance of foreign affairs, - - 87 IX. Of pride, as arifing from ignorance in general, - - - g^ X. Refle£lions on the benefits and evils of national pride, founded upon imaginary advantages, - - ■• 113 XI. Of pride grounded on real advantages, - 139 XII. Of pride which is produced in a nation by the remembrance of the heroifm and valour of its anccflors, - - 147 XIJI, Of pride arifing in a nation from the repu- tation acquired by arts and fciences, - 163 d XIV. Of xlii CONTENTS, CHAP. PAGE XIV, Of pride proc^ced in a nation by its conftitution, - - 185 XV. Of republican pride, - - 187 XVI. Of pride in monarchies, - - 207 XVII. Reflexions on fome advantages and difad- vantages of national pride, as founded upon real excellencies, - - 219 NATIONAL PRIDE. CHAPTER THE FIRST. OF NATIONAL PRIDE lU GENERAL. * X HERE Is no paffion more unlverfal than Pride, It pervades all orders of fociety : from the throne to the cottage, every individual in fome point or other conceives himfelf fuperior to the reft of his fpecies, and looks down with contempt or haughty compaflion on all who are placed beneath his ima- ginary fuperiority. Every nation contemplates itfelf through the medium of fclf-conceit, and draws conclufions to its own advantage, which individuals adopt to themfelves with complacency, becaufe they , confound and interweave their private with their national character. The inhabitants of moft ^ countries, great or fmall, powerful or otherwifci, \ value, themfelves upon a certain fomething, of [ which they believe themfelves to be exclufively \ polTefled, and are apt to view every tiling that re- | lates to this particular point of honour, both in themfelves and others, with prejudice and prepoflef- B fion. Jf"' ON NATIONAL !»RlDt» iion. Thus humility, which forbids afcribing to our-* felves greate? worth than w€ really poffefs, and equity, which enjoins us to beftow the tribute of praife wherever it is due, have with refped to the judgment paffed by nations upon each other become antiquated virtues. A powerful ftate may overawe, may dellroy the independence of its weaker neighbour, but can never bring its inhabit- ants to be humble; every thing elfe may be taken away, but their good opinion of themfelves will remain. The Doge of Genoa, who had the ho- nour of fubmiffively begging pardon of the haughty Lewis the fourteenth in his palace at Verfallles, for the trouble that Prince had been put to in bom- barding his native city, faw nothing, amidft all the fplendor of that magnificent court, fo worthy of admiration, as the Doge himfelf. National advantages are either imaginary or real : in the former cafe, when a nation unjuflly pretends to the poffeflion of great advantages, its pride is arrogance ; in the latter, the pride arifmg from the confcioufnefs of poffeffing greater worth than others, when well founded, may be called a noble pride, which arrogance can never be ; for that alv/ays implies an unjuft, an overweening, pre- ference of ourfelves. [^ Self-efteem proceeds from a fenfe of our own imaginary or real perfeftions, con- tempt for others from a fenfe of their imaginary or real ON NATIONAL PRIDE. 3 teal defeats ; and the union of thefe two fentiments in the mind, by the partial comparifon which a na- tion makes between the advantages it poffefles, or believes itfelf to poflefs, and the deficiencies of other countries in the fame refpeds, begets national pride. "1 The nature of my fubjecl requires uncommon liberality of fentimcnt, and the flridefl regard to equity, to avoid giving any reafonable caufe of com* plaint againft me. It is an arduous and difficult undertaking to attack men in their tendereft point, to delineate with forcible flrokes the foibles and ridiculous characleriilics of the mofl confiderable nations, and, penetrating through the eiJiterlor ap- pearances and prejudices of mankind, to lay before the reader a true picture of their actions and mo- tives, fo as not to offend any one, and to fteer at an equal diilance between the oppofite extremes of fawning flattery and wanton fatire. Mifmterpretatlons,! am aware, can hardly be avoid- ed. I may often appear to exemplify a national foible by that v/hich may have been remarkable in one of its. individuals ; yet to allege, on that account, that I draw general inferences from few and partial ob- fervations, or that I call on a whole nation the odium refulting from the defects of a few perfona, would be doing me injuitice. I believe I have not B 2 oliended 4 ON NATIONAL PRIDE. offended any man of underftanding ; and the fenfi- " ble part of mankind in every country, I am fure, will not take umbrage at the expofure of the weak- neffes which tarnifh the better qualities of its inha- bitants. Illuftrious charaflers of all profeffions are every where to be met with ; and, in this work, I de- fend the juft claims of all nations to common fenfe and a good underftanding, againft the felfilh mo- nopoly which has been exercifed by the vanity of a few. I efteem and love perfons of merit of what- ever clime or religion, and glory in their regard ; but this does not prevent my cenfuring as ridicu- lous whatever really is fo among the generality of their countrymen : this remark may peculiarly be applied to what I fay refpefting the Spaniards. It would be to form from niy writings a very im- proper idea of my real fentiments, and of the whole tenour of my life, to fuppofe that I entertain an aver- fion to the Engiifii, whom I hold to be the wor- thieft nation of the globe, notwithftanding the ill I have to fay of them : amidft ail my cenfures, I love the French, and highly refpeft many individu- als among them : the Italians too are well worthy of my regard, on account of the fertility of their ge- nius and the vivacity of their conceptions : yet none of thefe nations will 1 fpare. A re- ON NATIONAL PRIDE. $ A remark in a certain Paris review, though it made me fmile, requires fome explanation to the public. It flates, that I have not indifcriminately pafled my fatirical cenfure on all nations j that I ought to have looked nearer round me, and might full as eafily have traced in Germany, inftances of the fame ridiculous pride with which I made myfeif fo merr)' when I find it in the French, the Spani- ard, or the Englifh, if I had but deigned to cafl an eye on the circle more immediately within my own obfervation. Inftances of the moft laughable perfonal pride, it is true, are plentifully to be met with in the German univerfities, in the German cities, in the German nobility, and in Ihort in every thing that may be called German ; but inftances of filly na- tional pride occur but very feldom in people, who defpife the works of their own artifts, who give the preference to foreign manufactures and to foreign learning, and occafionally confole themfelves by a comparifon with the petty nation of the Swifs. With what aflurance could I have expofed the flight traces of national pride to be met with among the honeft Germans, when one of the moft learned men of our age reproaches them Avith the want of this ufeful folly as a very great national defe£l ? This gentleman fays, in. his preface to the hiftory of the frogs, " In Eu- rope there exifts a great nation, diftinguiflied by laborioufnefs and induftry, pofleiling men of inven- B 3 tive 6 ON NATIONAL PRIDE, tive faculties and of great genius in as great a nunv. ber as any other, little addidted to luxury, and the moft valiant among the brave. This nation never^ thelefs hates and defpifes itfelf,- purchafes, praifes, and imitates only what is foreign ; it imagines that no drefs can be elegant, no food or wine delicious or even palatable, no dwelling commodious, unlefs ftuff, taylor, clothes, cook, wine, furniture, and architeft, come to it at an excelTive expence from abroad ; and what adds a zeft to all, from a coun^ try inhabited by its natural enemies. This fmgular nation exalts and praifes folely and above meafure the genius and wit of foreigners, the poetry of fo-. reigners, the paintings of foreigners ; and efpeci- ally with regard to literature, foreign books written in the moll miferable flyle are folely purchafed, read, and admired by thefe infatuated people, who know little even of their own hiftory, fave from the faulty, unfaithful, and malicious relations of fo- reign authors." Let others decide on the juflice of this well- meant reproach ; for me it only remains to inform the Parifian cenfor, that I am really no German, although I write German, and yield, in his opinion, to none in the humility with which I addrefs the Auftrian and Swabian nobility, according to the cuftom of the country, ufing the title of Gracious Lord, and feem to him to facrifice truth at the ihrine of iervile adulation* dN NATIONAL PRID£^ CHAPTER THE SECOND. OF lUDIVIDtJAL PRIDE, AND THE PRIDE OF DIFFERENT - ^ CLASSES. x* OLLY is the queen of the world, and we all, more ot lefs, wear her livery, her ribands, het flars, and her bells. Moll men, being partial to fhemfelves, efteem only their own image in others. The predominancy of vanity among mankind is what caufes the number of the proud to be fo great, fmce it is from vanity that all pride arifes, while felf-conceit which begets this vainity iS' by no means originally implanted in human nature, like that rieceflary felf-love, which incites every crea- ture to attend to its own prefervation. It feemi rather an adventitious quality which mufl hav6 arifen in a ftate of fociety, when the mind became capable of comparing itfelf with others, and which, in confequence, has been interwoven with out ether alTumed opinions, and pervades all out adlions and motives. We generally have too good an opinion of our perfbnal qualities, not to take pleafure in comparing ourfelves with others ; and the man of fenfe equally with the fool en- tertains the fame complacent ideas of himfelf, founded on this comparifon j only in the laft it id B 4 always > ON NATIONAL PRIDE. always more abfurd, in proportion to the futility and injuflice of his parallel. Self-conceit begets arrogance, haughtinefs, vanity, frivolity, and oftentation, and appears in various Ihapes, according to the difference it meets with in the natural intelleds, in the mode of edu- cation and of living, in the fociety, in the ftation, and in the rank, and fortune, of men. In little minds, whatever form it affumes, it is always folly ; in minds .more enlightened, it fometimes is linked with knowledge ; in all, it fubfifts either openly or in fecret at the expence of others, efpecially where it is the only antidote againll the malice with which a number of fools depreciate one wife man. The felf-conceit of every one muft of neceflity clafh with that of his neighbour, and of courfe in- treafe by oppofition ; for whoever is not as much valued by others, as he thinks he deferves, efteems himfelf the more, by comparing their fuppofed ig- norance with his ideal worth j while, by openly con- temning his competitor, this lafl is likewife induced to. fall into the fame train of thinking with refpeft to his own advantages, which he, by the fame mode of arguing, conceives to be fuperior to thofe of his neighbour, for exa many trees, in order to let fly at any poor hare that may happen to run that way: for this reafon, the negroes paiisrt their devils white and their god black : for this reafon, certain nations painted the goddefs of love with monftrous breads hanging down almeft to her knees : ^nd for this fame reafon it was, that on endeavouring to make an honeft Swifs comprehend the extent of kingly wealth and magnificence, he afked with a prou4 confcioufnefs of the importance of his rufiic riches, ^' whether a king had a hundred head of cattle on the hill ?" Whoever is of confequence in his hamlet muft be a refpeftable perfon every where. At the Congrefs of Baden in 17 14, all the feveral plenipo^ tentiaries dined one day in public, and many people afTembled round the table out of curiofity. Marfhal Villars difcovered among them a very pretty young woman from Zurich, and went up to her to give her a kifs, when inf^ntaneoufly a thick-headed crook-legged dapperling of a.Zuricker, prelTed for- ward through the crowd and cried out like a demoniac. ON NATIONAL PRIDE. 25 demoniac, " Hold, hold, Marflial, let her alone, for fhe is my fifler, ^nd her hufband is warden of our company.'* The fmlller and more infulated the place or fo- ciety is in which we live, the lower and more con- traded are the opinions we form in confequence ; and when we are ignorant of every thing beyond our narrow fphere of life, whereby to form a juft eftimate of things, we look upon our tenets as the only proper rule of judgment, being unacquainted with the exiflence, much lefs ^\dth the probable merits, of any other. The more abridged a man is in his knowledge, the higher does he value himfelf, and the more infolent does he behave towards others. He condemns every thought that does not flow from his own fruitful brain, and everv a6lion and fafhion, of which he has not fet the example. He perfecutes as much as he can with impunity every man of genius, whom he fuppofes, on ac- count of the fuperiority of his talents, necelTarily inimical to his manner of thinking and projefts ; he ftyles an uniform coincidence with his ideas, good fenfe ; blindnefs towards his failings, friend- fhip ; and in any cafe, not to further his views, is treachery, and a crime ; he fancies his repu- tation is firmly eftablifbcd, when he is ftared at and admired by a number of clowns ; and like the commander of a ihip, who rul6s over his little wooden 2^ ON NATIONAL PRIDE; wooden realm with defpdtic fway, he is almoit convinced, that the axis of the globe muft quake before him, like the table which he' ftrikes in the vehemence of his rhetorick. This defect is incurable in every man of note who inhabits a fmall town, when his mind is not more ex- panded than the place of his refidence ; for he who is the man of mofl confideration in a little circle, will naturally deteft: extenfive feciety, where he is fure to lofe his pre-eminence, he will particularly be hoftile to men of commanding underftandings, and will avoid their converfation, for his foul will j(hrink from their fcrutiny. Men are infinitely more pleafed with the company of fuch as out of com- plaifance or ignorance accede to their abfurd pro- pofitions, than of thofe.who infmuate that they are erroneous. The half animated' oyfiier, confined within its fhell, knov/s as much of the world, as a man in- volved in this intellectual mill does of the real fitu- ation or value of things. Always furrounded by the fame objefts, he will never alter his creed ; he will ever efteem his own belief as an incontrovert- ible argument in every difpute ; he is in himfelf all in all, and thofe who hold other principles, are blinded by falfehood.. Such men ever adhere to the axiom, that relative confequence is real confe- quencc ; ON NATIONAL PRIDE. ,27 quence ; in vain you may put a ftandard into their hands to meafure themfelves by, they indignantly caft it away, they have forfooth already meafured themfelves, and muft, to be fure, be great and con- fequential men throughout the world, for they are of weight and importance on their own dunghill. This exceflive felf-efleem makes them look at all other perfons and things through the wrong end of the perfpedive glafs ; and the value of all who are not of their ftamp is imperceptible to their perverted vifion. On this account the moil unimportant trifles fwell in their hands to matters of great mo- ment ; and thence alfo proceeds their opinion, that no one ever was, or ever will be capable of rivalling them in the greatnefs or ufefulnefs of their exploits. It is the prevalence of this infatuation that folcly oc- cafions the big fwoln gravity, which is the foul of ad- miniitration in the petty jurifdiftion of all co untries. Every thing mufl bow down and vaniih be fore the tremendous authority of a judge of this defciiption ; when he fmooths his countenance into ail-fuffici- ency, and with an elevation of ihoulder;;, throws his ftraddling legs full length before hini, clears his lungs with a loud and awful hem, then gracioufly declines his face from the con tcmplation of the ceiling, and Howry bending his eyes down- ward, cafls them with ineffable difdain 011 the circle of bob-wigs and uncombed locks around him, all which feem unanimoufly to exclaim, " the world fure 28 ON NATIONAL PRIDE. fure mufl confefs this man is great, for he is the greateil in our town-hall !" Thefe true and unexaggerated obfervations prove, that the generality of mankind are proud; that felf-conceit is the fountain-head of pride ; and that pride generates the moft ridiculous arrogance; when flupidity and confined knowledge of things become by outward circumftances the companions of felf- conceit. ON NATIONAL PRID£. 29 CHAPTER THE THIRD. OF THE PRIDE OF WHOLE NATIONS. VV HOLE nations think jufl as the generality of individuals do Of their own ad\^ntages. We might fafely conclude from the thoughts and opinions of fmgle perfons, what their combined effects arc in the community they belong to, did we not alfo direftly know, that every nation mull have the fame manner of falhioning its ideas with the individuals who com- pofe it. All hillories are memorials of the par- tiality of nations for themfelves ; the moft civilized and the mod favage people fhew, that they believe they poffefs certain advantages, which they dif- allow to others ; either the religious tenets they hold, their cuftoms, their government, or fome other peculiarity, is a pleafmg fubjeft of contemplation to them. As individuals, fo villages, cities, provinces, nations, are infected with this darling felf-conceit, and their own particular vain glory ; and every member of the community, by a very natural chain of ideas, takes part in the general vanity, and joins with his village or his nation in railing at other villages and nations of the world. About fifty years ago, the inhabitants of a certain fmall vil- lage 30 ON NATIONAL PRIDE. lage in Rhelnthal, a fmall diftri^l, and one of thofe called the dependances of Switzerland, being pof- felTed by all the SA?i'ifs Cantons, urged a complaint to the judge, that the parfon had on the preceding Sunday audacioufly uttered thefe reprehenfible words, " that hardly one hundred fouls out of the •whole of their illuftrious community would be laved." Every nation Is exceedingly pleafed with itfelf, and confiders all other focieties of men, more or lefs, as beings of an inferior nature. A foreigner and a barbarian were fynonymous terms among the Greeks ; and were employed as fuch among the Romans ; and are flill fo with the majority of the French nation. It happened at the court of Zell, in the time of the late duke, that the duchefs (who was of the French family of d'Olbreufe) with fome French noblemen were the only company at his highnefs*s table; one of the Frenchmen fuddenly exclaimed, " It is' very droll indeed !'* " What is fo droll ?** faid the duke. " That your highnefs is the OTiXy foreigner at table," was the anfwer. Even the Greenlanders pronounce the word Stranger with an air of contempt, and in fome of the towns of the Swifs Cantons, the word Anjhurger or alien has the fame degrading fignifi cation, as is exempli- fied by the anfwer given a few years ago, by an honell fruiterer in one of thofe towns, to the in- timation DN NATIONAL PRIDE. ^€ timation that he received, that his daughter, a very pretty maiden, had captivated the heart of a certain Gerixian prince, *' No, no," fays he, *'^ no, no, I know be|t^ than to let my daughter have to do with an Au/lurgcr.'* National contempt oftener arifes from what flrikes the fcnfes than the underdanding. At Vienna, at Paris, and at Rome, a Swifs and a brute were long efleemed equivalent denominations, and to fpeak honeftly, I have myfelf felt abaflied, when at VerfaiUes I have compared the ftill and formal gait of the Swifs halberdiers, with the airy flippancy of the monkeys, who danced attendance at the levee. Mod people ridicule foreign manners, becaufe they differ from their ownj and in this point, few are lefs blind and arrogant than the French courtiers, who, inftead of feeing in Peter the Great, a monarch of genius, who travelled for the fake of improvement, and who had defcended from his throne to attain the qualifications neceffary to enable him to fill it , again worthily, beheld in him no more than a foreigner, a brute, who being ig- norant of French cuiloms, and a ftranger to their affectation and grimace, ought as foon as he came among tliem, to have ftudied their manners, and have taken a pattern of their undillinguifted urba- nity wherewith to civilize his Ruffian bear?. The 32 ON NATIONAL PRIlilE. The mutual contempt between nations too often appears even in members of fociety who ought to be far above fuch illiberal prejudices. There arc few authors who hear with temper a comparifon between the writers of their own nation and foreign literati j and let them be ever fo unfair and virulent towards each other, they are at all times ready to unite in attacking a foreigner, who Ihould dare to find fault with any one among them. The arrogant Greeks owed all their advantages, nay, their civilization, to foreigners : the< Phenici- ans taught them the ufe of letters, inllrufted them in the arts and fciences, gave them laws ; the Egyp- tians lent them the mythology on which they 6uilt their religion ; yet Greece, favoured Greece, was in their eyes, the mother of all nations. It is remark- ed, that the Greek hillorians feldom make ufe of foreign names, fometimes totally omitting them, but more commonly altering them with the moll fcrupulous attention to give them a Grecian turn and a more harmonious found ; and it is therefore not furprifing, that in fucceeding times, this vain- glorious people adopted the perfuafion, that nearly all the other nations of the earth were colonies from Greece. The modern Italians confidently place themfelves upon a level with the ancient Romans, without re- 3 fie^'ng ON NATIONAL PRIDE. ^^ Ing that the defcendants of thefe conquerors of the world are the moft infigrtiiicant among the flaves of caprice and-fuperftition ; or that the cities, whofe priftine fame tfi^" glory in, and even many of thofe whofe names have been renowned in the middle and latter ages, are now nearly uninhabited, and their unfrequented flreets overgrown with weeds. Many fmall towns in the Campania of Rome were the na- tive places of Roman confuls, generals, and em- perors, and the prefent fqualid inhabitants of fuch .places fpeak of them as their townfmen and relations. The peafant, who can point out the fpot where fuch or fuch an eminent character was born, firmly believes, in common with all the inhabitants round the facred barn or hog-llye, or whatever elfe the Roman villa has been metamorphofed into, that their countryman, their progenitor, was the great- eft man hiftory ever made mention of. A fmgle fenator of Rome, deciding without appeal on the petty fquabbles and difputes of the loweft order of citizens, is the actual reprefentative of that tribunal to which the impreffive majefty of the ancient fe- nate and of the Roman people is dwindled. He has four affelTors called confervators, who are changed every quarter. Thefe confervators, as well as the fenator himfelf, are nominated by the pope, who does not even leave the Romans that remnant of liberty which many cities enjoy, even under abfo- lute monarchies, the free election of their own ma- D giftrates 5 34 ON NATIONAL PRIDE. giflrates ; yet, nevertheiefs, both the fenator and thefe confervators idly conceive themfelves the fuc- ceffors of that auguft body whofe feats they at pre- fent occupy, and that they are entitled to all the refpeft due to a Roman fenate, and to all its invalu- able privileges, while the vicegerent of heaven him- felf muft be highly honoured by feeing at his feet that aflembly before whom fo many kings and princes had bowed their necks. The Traftaverini, that is the wretched militia of the ward of Trafta- vera in modern Rome, the ancient Regio Tranjlihu- rma, abfolutely call themfelves defcendants of the Trojans of remote antiquity, and look upon the inhabitants of the other quarters of Rome as a mob of fpurious Latians ; and yet they value both, in the midfl of their poverty and bigotry, as being citizens of ancient Rome, from whofe former courage and inflexibility they are fo far degene- rated, that the very rare occurrence among them of the execution of a malefactor almoft frightens them into fits. All the modern inhabitants of Rome of the lower clafs, confole themfelves with the remembrance of the noble anions of their ima- ginary progenitors, and this makes even mifery in .Rome alTume the air of pride and difdiiin. In a tu- mult that had arilen there, in confequence of the high price of corn, it once happened that the fon of a poor baker's widow of the Traftavera ward was killed ; the pope, v.'ho feared the word: confe- Guences ON NATIONAL PRIDE. ^S quences from the popular eiFervefcence encreafed by this accident, immediately deputed a cardinal and feveral of the nobility to fee the widow, and offer whatever fhe required as an atonement for the in- jury fhe had fuftained ; to which the Roman ma- tron indignantly replied, " I do not fell my blood." Towards the approach of a public feflival, a whole family fometimes pinch themfelves in every necef- fary, in order to have wherewithal to ride about in a coach. Such families as cannot, even with the utmoft ceconomy, attain the pleafure of hiring one, adopt another expedient to exhibit themfelves : the mo- ther dreffes herfelf in the habit of a chambermaid, and in that charader accompanies her daughter, tricked out in her holiday clothes, while the father follows in proceflion with the proper accoutrements of a lackey. Englilhmen themfelves acknowledge, that they inherit from their anceftors a ftupid prepoffeffion againft all other inhabitants of the globe. When- ever one of them is engaged in any quarrel with a foreigner, he is fure to begin his addrefs with fome reproachful nick-name, which he appropri- ates to the native country of the perfon he is con- tending with. Foreigners are on fuch an occafion refpedively faluted with the appellation of French puppy y Italian monkey^ Dutch ox, or German hog. As to the word French, the national antipa- D 2 thy ^6 ON NATIONAL PRIDE.' thy againft their oppofite neighbours is fo great, that to call a foreigner, dog, is not infulting enough, but he mufl be called French dog, to convey the higheft degree of detcftation. The national preju- dices of the Englifh are alfo too confpicuous in their conduct towards the natives of their two fifter king- doms, that compofe the Britifh empire, who live un- der the fame king and the fame government, and fight with them for one common caufe. Nothing is more frequently heard in England, than, " thou beggarly Scott ;" " thou blood-thirfly impudent Irifli lout :" and, in general, an Englifhman well- ftuifed with beef, pudding, and porter, heartily de- fpifes every other nation of Europe. The Yorklhire fox-hunter efteems himfelf co-equal with all the princes of the earth ; for his fox-hounds are the bed in the whole county. An Englifhman to be fure, too, muft folely, by being born a Briton, have an innate tafte for works of genius, and be a thorough connoifTeur in the fine arts ; and although the pope has exprefsly prohibited the fale of any of the paint- ings or fculptures of famous artifts to ftrangers, yet thefe proud iflanders on their vifits to Italy expend yearly as much at Rome in flatues and paintings as they ufed to do before ; that is to fay, they pur- chafe as much dawbed canvafs and broken marble, as the money they have fet apart for the acquifition of curiofities will command. Let ON NATIONAL PRIDE. 37 Let me likewife give the reader the ftatement of the parallel drawn by Engliflimen of approved learn- ing and talents, between them and other nations, in their own ftile. They fay, " The French are po- lite, witty, and eifily elated, but they are a parcel of hungry flaves, and cannot call either their time, their purfes, or their perfons their own, for all is the property of their king. The Italians are with- out liberty, morals, or religion. The Spaniards are brave, devout, and jealous of their honour, but poor and opprefled ; and for all their bragging, that the fun never rifes or fets in the Spanifh dominions, they never dare make their freedom, learning, arts, manufaclures, commerce, or achievements, the fub- jefts of their boafts. The Portuguefe, too, are all ignorant and fuperftitious flaves. The Germans are always either in aftual war, or recovering from its devaftations. The Dutch lag behind in every vir- tue, are deeply funk in avarice, and are only roufed from their natural fupinenefs, to take an active part in trade, by the lufl: of gain. Switzerland is fcarcely perceptible in the map of the world ; and to draw our attention, the virtues of the Swifs ought to fhine forth with the luflre of a diamond ; but the diamond, if there be any, is by no means of the firfl water, and indeed tolerably opaque.'* Thus it is, that all nations, when put in the balance by the fleady hand of a prejudic£?d Engliftiman, are found too light ; and hence proceeds the remarkable cold- D 3 nefs 3'8 ON NATIONAL PRIDE. nefs and indifference they all evince toward a fo- reigner on their firft acquaintance. The French in their own eflimation are the only- thinking beings in the univerfe"^ They vouchfafe fometimes to converfe with ftrangers ; but it is, as fcreatures of a fuperior nature may be conceived to converfe with men, who of courfp derive the great- eft emolument and importance from fuch conde- fcenfion. Such among them are peculiarly difguft- ing, who with pretended compaffion, and an hate- ful difplay of nice equity, deign to allow a few grains of genius or virtue to other nations ; although it very plainly appears, that this favourable opi- nion is not given to their merits ; but is a fponta- neous effufion of the exuberant politenefs in thefe moft courteous people. Thefe men furely will not have the effrontery to deny, that they look upon all nations who do not equal the French in power, or who are fomewhat beneath them in fmartnefs, or in a tafte for the frivolous arts, that are the fludy and the glory of Frenchmen, as barbarians, and defpife them accordingly. Their geflures, converfations, and writings, daily betray their firm perfuafion, that there is nothing great, noble, or amiable out of their empire, and that nothing perfeft can be produced any where elk, but under the foflering patronage of their grand Monarque. The ON NATION AX PRIDE. 39 The French think themfelves entitled to give laws to every nation, becaufe all Europe implicitly follow the dilates of their milliners, taylors, hair- drelTers, and cooks. Where is the Frenchman who will deny, that his countrymen think themfelves the firft and greateft people of the globe? How ill can Mr. Lefranc, in one of the difcourfes he addrefl'es to the king, brook the audacity of the EngUfli, who dare to put themfelves on a level with the French ; for Patin himfelf has faid, " That the Britons were among men, what wolves are among the qua- drupeds ?'* How many numberlefs times have not the French fliled their fovereign, the firfl monarch of the world ? Eileeming themfelves the firfl-born fons of nature, they will fometimes deign to look on their neighbours as their younger brethren, and will allow them to be laborious, tolerably good colleftors, or epitomizers ; nay, occafionally, men of penetration. But why is Newton defpifed in France for his ufeful difcoveries, becaufe he did not efpy all things ? Why is Raphael himfelf called fo poor and fpiritlefs, and his divine pidure of the transfiguration weak and lifelefs ? Innumerable in- ftances of that national pride, which allows no great men out of France, are too well known not to be the ridicule of other nations. The French repeatedly prefer their fuperficlal trifler^Boileau,to the harmoni- ous verfification,the folid and ethic reafoning,and the glowing unfading tints, with which Pope has de- D /\ , lincated 40 OK NATIONAL PRIDE. Hneated the nature, foibles, and frailties of mankind. And let us only recolleft, that it is a truth in the hiflo- ry of the progrefs of genius, that at the fame time that Italy poffefled the mofl inimitable poets and actors, and that Shakefpeare, the bright morning ftar of the drama, broke forth in England, France could boaft of none but the mofl wretched rhy- mers. Upon the whole, vanity and felf-conceit are equal- ly predominant in all nations. The Greenlander, who laps with his dog in the fame platter, defpifes the invaders of his country, the Danes. The Cof- facks and Calmucks pofTefs the greatell contempt for their mafters, the Ruffians. The Negroes too, though the mofl flupid among the inhabitants of the earth, are exceffively vain. Aik the Caribbee In- dians, who live at the mouth of the Oronoque, from what nation they derive their origin ; they anfwcr, " why, we only are men." In fhort, there is hardly any nation under the fun, in which inftances of pride, vanity, and arrogance, do not occur. They all, more or lefs, refemble the Canadian, who thinks he compliments an European, when he fays, " He is a man as well as I :'* or the Spanifh preacher, who,dif- courfmg upon the temptation of Jeius by the devil, enthufiaflically exclaimed, " But happily for man- kind, and fortunately for the Son of God, the lofty tops of the Pyrennees hid the delightful country of ON NATIONAL PRIDE. 4I of Spain from the eyes of the Redeemer, or the temptation had afluredly been too ftrong for our bleffed Lord !'* Each nation, too, fafhions its ideas of beauty or deformity by the refemblance or difference it per- ceives between itfelf and others. The Indian fabu- lifls recount, that there is in thofc regions a country, all the inhabitants of which are hump-backed. A well-fhaped youth happened to vilit this traft, whom the honefl crookbacks no fooner faw, than they ga- thered round him to fee the monftrous deformity of the flranger's figure, their aflonifhment at which was vifible in every countenance, extending its effe(5ls even to the extremities of their hunches, and the ri- dicule it occafioned burft forth in loud fits of laughter and derifion. As the youth's good luck would have it, there was a wife man among this gibbous fra- ternity, who perhaps had before feen fuch a liifus na- tures, as flraight-fhouldered rtien ; he addreifed the multitude as follows : " My good friends, what are you about ? let us not infult the unfortunate. Heaven created us well made and beautiful, and adorned our backs with graceful protuberances ; let us then rather repair to the temple, and give thanks to the Eternal for thefe ineflimable bleflings." * Whoever, therefore, would not in his own coun- try be efteemed a foreigner, or who would not incur th«' 4^ ON NATIONAL PRIpE. the general contempt of the intelleclually deformed focjety in which he lives, muft hold the fame opinions as are held around him, muft fall in with all the reigning prejudices, and muft, as much as pof- fible, botp- his back to the fafliion of the national humour ; for if he ftiould have the humility to think meanly, however defervingly fo, of his coun- try or its manners, he will be reckoned an unnatu- ral calumniator. ON NATIONAL PRIDE, 43 CHAPTER THE FOURTH. OF PRIDE ARISING IN NATIONS FROM IMAGINARY ADVANTAGES. Jl he various appearances of national pride all converge to two diflind genera, each of them fub- divifible into feveral fpecies. The advantages on which national pride is founded, are either imagi- nary or real, which diftinftion forms the grand dif- ference between the two original kinds of pride ; both of them are difcoverablci n the moft confider- able nations, for every one has its prejudices, which are the foundation of its particular vanity : its pride, however, is often grounded on a true and juft conception of its own advantages ; and in this cafe it is materially different from that refulting from prejudices : and, on the other hand, the pride arifmg from imaginary advantages is ever, more than the other fort, fure to appear in an over- bearing fenfe of pre-eminence and contempt for others. Self-conceit often makes^ men think they per- taive advantages where none exift, or attribute qua- lifications to thcmfclves, in which they are evidently 3 deficient. /; 44 ON NATIONAL PRIDE. deficient. / Our vanity is never more pleafed than when our imperfections are glolTed over, except when they are even exalted into the very contrary advantages by the deUifive power of adulation. 'Proceeding on this principle, a poet once ventured to compare the ftature of a lady of high rank, who had no other perfonal defecl than being very di- ' minutive, to the towering cedar : the little creature, on hearing the author recite his verfes, could not control the lively fenfations his flattery excited, but fat fmiling on her chair. " Go no further," faid a byftander to the poet, whofe fnnile of the cedar recurred every moment ; " go no further, for fear the good lady in the heat of her happinefs fhould ftart up, and at once difcover her natural de- fecl and thy abominable deception." Self-conceit builds on imaginary advantages or perfections the mofh ridiculous pride ; hke that with which a Spaniard or a Portuguefe flruts, when he compares his nut-brown complexion with the fwarthy hide of a Moor ; or which puffs into confequence a burgher of Bern, when he can fill his belly to the utmoft. The inhabitants of the Ladrones believe, that their language is the only one in the world, and therefore that all the other nations of the earth are dumb. An Indian tribe on the banks of the Ohio in North America have hair of an extra- ordinary length ; they therefore fuppofe all people with ON NATIONAL PRIDE. 45 with fhort hair are Haves. The Turks, who are reproached for the inconfiftency with which they diftribute offices and places to fuch as cannot be fuppofed to have the proper qualification for filling them ; when, for inilance, they are accufed with having put a toll-gatherer at the head of an army ; reply with the greatell indignation, " That a Turk is fit for every thing :*' nay, fultan Ofman once made one of his gardeners viceroy of Cyprus, becaufe he had feen him plant out cabbages in a particular clever manner. When the Ruffian general, Apraxin,was up- braided with having fuffered himfelf to be furprized by Marffial Lehwald, he coolly rejoined, " The Ruf- fians never employ either fcouts or fpies.'* An in- habitant of the province of Maine in France, proud of the temperate genial warmth with which his native country is blelTed, has lately produced a phyfical hiftory of climates, according to the tafte of the old fchools, in which he pr^iifes the inha- bitants of the warmer, and depreciates thofe of the colder countries ; of courfe, giving the preference in every thing good iwA great to the happy tem- perature refulting from the middle fituation in which he places his native land. To this blefieu region belong Upper Germany, part of Spain, the civilized countries of Wallachia and Molda\Ja, and the humane and peaceful inhabitants of the Iron- tiers of the Auflrian and TurkiHi empires; tcether \^lih 46 ON NATIONAL PRIDE. with the ColTacks, Calmucks, Afghans, and other people equally celebrated for knowledge and fen- timent. Self-conceit towers to fuch an amazing height, and has withal fo narrow a bafis, that it is very eafily overthrown, and its evident futility is often too great to require a refutation. Heartily welcome, therefore, for my part, are the Myrmidons who affiiled at the fiege of Troy, to the fatisfaftion of knowing that they were defcended from induf- trious ants ; and the kings of Madura, to the honour of deriving their pedigree, in a right line, from a jack afs, on which account they always treat every long-eared brayer as a brother, and never fail when it rains to hold an umbrella over him, which they would not on any account do to his driver, as that would be a derogation of their dignity, for he is not a branch of their highly illuflrious houfe. I can- not but fmile at the national vanity of many among the French, who even yet trumpet forth the conquefl of Mahon, when the whole world knows that this reduction of a fmall garrlfon, left entirely to its own exertions, and deftitute of fuccour, was followed by a war pregnant with difafters to France, which feverely fmarted in every quarter of the globe *. * This feiuence the French tranflator has omitted. I read ON NATIONAL PRIDE. 47 I read with the fame fenfations, the before-men- tioned French author of the phyfical hiftory of climates revile the northern nations. " They, to be fure, have invented the moft fenfelefs forms of government that ever exifted, namely, the Eng- lifh, and its attendant, liberty; from them pro- ceeds the practice of duelling ; while, forfooth, murder and aflaffination are more manly, for they are more pradifed in the favoured warmer regions : in fhort, thofe who live beyond a certain degree of la- titude deferve the loweft rank among men." This is certainly highly ridiculous. Nor does the vanity of the Italians more move my fpleen, who call the Germans downright blockheads, becaufe they do not know how to prepare any other poifons than can be counterafted by the phyfical art, or which appear in manifold fymptoms ; I'ach as the inflam- mation of the throat, the fiomach, or the inteftines, or the difcoloration and incruftation of the fkin ; while, on the contrary, the cunning Italian can kill with poifons infinitely more powerful, fubtle, and irremediable. It is impofTible to recount all the imaginary advantages from which national pride, in its widclv extended field of exiilence, is or has been derived : I fiiall only touch upon fuch as are mofl prominent ; and by particularizing them, re- fiecl as much glory on the nation to which thefe appertain, as a French general does, when he drags along 48 ON NATIONAL PRIDE. along with him into the field two thoufand * cooks, and efteems it due to his confequence and fame to have a hundred dilhes ferved up at his table. * The French tranflator has " twenty," and inftead of a hundred difhes, has " plates for a hundred guefts." We fhall have many other occafions to remark the wilful errors into which this national Frenchman has fallen ; hoping that we our- felves, in every refpeft, have done juftice to the original fron> which it is tranflated. bJt i^ATIONAL PRIDE. 4^ CHAPTER THE FIFTEl. OF THE PRIDE ARISING FROM THE IMAGINARY ANTl- qUITY OR NOBILITY OF A NATIQNl JL HE vtinity of mankind has dVer filled the im- "^ menfe vacuity beyond the Authentic memorials of" the origin of every nation, with fabulous hiftory ; at pleafure removing their antiquity to the remoteft ages, in order proportionally to increafe its luftre. Whatever an itinerant bard fung, of an orator raved, became frequently an univerfal tradition, and iri procefs of time almoft an article of religion. The probability of thefe flattering inventions could no more be called in queflion, -w^en revered ages had fandioned the opinion. A prodigy of antient times becomes too eafily, in the eyes of purblind pofterity, an undeniable truth, while the remotenefs of the age precludes a proper fearch by which to dlftin- guifh falfehood from probability, and this again from certainty ; and we are ever more averfe to attempt thefe difquifitions, if pride find its account in the well-invented fidion. The fuperlatively intelligent and fuperlatlvely ^andiloquous Athenians conceived they had fprung B up. JO ON NATIONAL PRIDE. up, like mufhrooms, from the Attic foil, and there- fore cheriflied the moft fovereign contempt for colonies. The Arcadians rejected with contemp- tuous difdain the fcience of aftrology, becaufe they believed themfelves antecedent to the moon. The Egyptians were perfuaded they were the moft an- cient inhabitants of the earth : according to their chronology, their empire exifted forty-eight thoufand eight hundred and fixty-three years before the age of Alexander ; it was firft peopled by gods who were hatched from eggs, then by demi-gods, and laftly by men. The Japanefe in the fame manner fuppofe them- felves to be lineally defcended from gods. They are much offended when their origin is deduced from the Chinefe, or any other oriental nation ; but they have, neverthelefs, the modefty to fix the com- mencement of thefe gods, and do not entirely veil them in the darknefs of eternity. Kuni-Toko-Dat-Sii-No-Mikotto, the firll deity who arofe from Chaos, fixed his refidence in Japan, which he created prior to all other countries : this divinity, with his fix fuccefTors, form the dynafly of heavenly fpirits who took Japan under their par- ticular protedion, the duration of which is flated to be an innumerable feries of ages. The three firft of thefe gods had no wives, but impregnated them- felves. 6^ NATIONAL PRll>fil ^| felves, and brought forth what they had begotten. The four laft provided themfelves with women, yet propagated one another in a fupernatural way ; till Ifanagi-No-Mikotto learnt of the bird Ifiatadakld, our by no means contemptible method of gene* ration ; but the line of heavenly intelligences in Japan was hereby broken and put an end to, for the race of the Ifanagi loft its divine nature by this carnal innovation* :. i.^ v Ifanagi was tranflated, like his predeceflbrs, from earth to heaven ; and his fon Tenfio-Dai-Dfm, who is the fame with the fun, commenced the dynafly of the five demi-gods, or gods incarnate, who, ac- cording to the (Chronology of the Japanefe, refgned in all, without interruption, for the fpace of two millions, three hundred, forty-two thoufand, four hundred, and fixty-feven, years ; from thefe it is pre- tended that the whole nation defcends, without ex- ception ; and the great pre-eminence of their Dairo arifes from his being reputed the offspring of the eldeft fon of the firft demi^god. The hiflory of this dyndfty of god-men is preferved in the archives of the prieft of the Sinto ; and exceeds, in puerile tales and romantic fictions, all that ever the moft extra- vagant imagination engendered. In many towns and villages in Japan, memorials of thefe heroes are fhewn ; and their armour is hung up in their temples for the edification and adoration of the multitude. E 2 China gt ON NATIONAL PRIDI* China is exceflively vain of the numerous cen* turies its monarchy is fuppofed to have fubfifled. The voluminous hiftory of this empire begins, ac- cording to du Halde, with the reign of the emperor Fo-Hi, who muft have lived about two thoufand five hundred years before the birth of Chrift, at a time when the Aflyrians were poffeffed of a feries of aftronomical obfervations. Notwithftanding the obfcurity of this origin, the Chinefe chronology defcends from the reign of Yao in an uninterrupted fucceflion of twenty-two dynafties to our times : fome of them even carry back the commencement of their empire to an sera far beyond the creation of the world. But this whole account, copied by fa- ther du Halde from Chinefe fuperflition, and though, for well-known reafons, fupported by Voltaire, has been wholly overthrown by a very learned Tartar, a man free from all Chinefe prejudices, Nyen-Hy-Jao, viceroy of Canton, and with it its vail fuperftruc- ture of vanity and pride. The inhabitants of Indoftan penetrate flill deeper into the fabulous world. Bernier made many en- quiries of the learned men at Benares, a city on the Ganges, which he calls the Athens of India, about their chronology ; they immediately and readily counted millions of years on their fingers to him, in order to mark their remote origin; and the an- tiquity of their Sanfcrit, or the language of the learned. learned, in which their God revealed his will to them through Brama, was fixed at many thoufands of years. The hiftory of the Malabars extends to an infi- nite time : they will tell you of Darma, of Schoren, of Pandyen, and of many other kings, who muft have lived long before the beginning of the world according to our computation : but you muft not aflc them the names of princes who reigned only three hundred years ago, £jr uf thcui they arc totally ignorant. The yet uncivilized inhabitants of Paraguay give to the moon the endearing appellation of mother ; and when their parent is eclipfed, they run out of their huts with the greateft activity, and making the moft hideous lamentations, they fhoot a vaft number of arrows into the air in order to defend the moon from the dogs who attack her, and want to tear her in pieces, which they take to be the caufe of the obfcuration of that luminary, and the (hooting continues till it refumes its wonted brightnefs. The Swedes have a long table of kings, in an uninterrupted chain of fucceflion from Noah down to his prefent Majefty. The Edda and Wolufpo are, next to the holy Scriptures, efteemed the moft valuable monuments of antiquity by every one who « 3 is 54 ON NATIONAL PRIBB. is a true Swede, Rudbeck, more concerned for the imaginary honour of his country than for hi£» toric truth, gives the Swediih monarchy a duration of twenty centuries before the birth of Chrifl ; whereas Rabenius expreffes his doubts whether Sweden was ■even peopled fo late as the -beginning of the fifth century ; and that, even according to Dalin*s hypothefis, Sweden only emerged from the ocean about four hundred years before our sera. The Laplanders derive their origin immediately Irom a god, who produced at the fame time both their anceftor, and the anceftor of the Swedes ; but the latter in a violent thunder-ftorm crept under a tree for flielter, while the courageous progenitor of the Laplanders remained inflexible and intrepid, ex* pofed t^, the whole force of the tempeft under the fcowling brow of heaven. The pride which arifes from the imaginary nobi* lity of a nation, flows from the fame fource witl^ that founded on antiquity, for we always think our nobility more antient the lefs we are acquaint* ed with its real age. Nobility is, in reality, great and honourable, when it is built on our own merit, or upon the exalted virtues and tranfcendent adions of our anceftors ; but the pride of nobility is ridiculous and abfurd, ^hen one only glories in a title or a coat of arms, % an4 ON NATIONAL PRID2. £^ and prefumes fo much on the deferts of one*s fore- fathers, as to conceive that the acquifition of per- fonal efteem can be difpenfed with. A noble birth, when accompanied by a weak underflanding, pro- duces in the right honourable owner nought but arrogance ; and felf-conceit becomes noblemen who have the honour to be defcended from heroes, and the misfortune to be diffimilar in every thing to the worthy founders of their race, as little as family pride does the man who boafts of the noble blood that runs in his veins, while he is without a pair of breeches. In Spain, every farmer and every tradefman has his genealogical tables, which begin generally, as thofe of Welchmen do, at Noah's ark. This imaginary anceflry forbids a Spanilh countryman to plough his own ground ; labour is, in his opinion, only fit for flaves ; and the man who works two hours during the day, is of greater confideration and more noble blood, than he who employs fix out of the twenty-four in ufeful occupation : he therefore gets a foreigner to take off his hands the agricultural part, and at the fame time the profits arifing from it, while he lounges at home thrumming over a tink- ling guitar. But when fuch an illuflrious peafant debafes himfelf fo far as to hold the plough, he yet knows how to give an air of grandeur to this mean employment j he flicks a couple of cocks* feathers E 4 X in ^6 .ON..NATIONAI. PRIDE. in his hat, and has his cloak and fword lying be- fide him, fo that as foon as he perceives a traveller or a ftranger, he inftantly abandons the plough, throws the cloak over his fhoulders, claps on his toledoj ftrokes his muflachios, and ftruts over the field with the appearance of a cavalier taking the air. The common people in Spain think the French all beggars, becaufe there is many a Frenchman who earns a livelihood there by manual labour: the Swifs will foon have the fame reputation, for with heartfelt concern, even while now writing, J fee whole droves of honeft, flurdy, Roman Catholig Switzers, with their buxom wives and numerous children, pafs by my windows in their way to Spain, to avoid, as they then^felves fay, ft^rving at home. The Florentine noblefTe are uncommonly referv-r ed and haughty towards ftrangers, who cannot prove their nobility, and may, perchance, be mere tradefmen ; yet it is an acknowledged fad, that there IS a little window towards the flreet in every palace or large houfe in Florence, with an iron knocker and an empty flafk hung over it, as a fign, that wine is to be fold there by the bottle. It is not thought inconfiftent for a Florentine nobleman to fell a pound of figs, or half a yard of ribbon, or to take money for a bottle of four wine ; yet it would be a difparagement to his nobility, if he were to introduce a meritorious, but untitled Enghlhman, into ON NATIONAL PRIDE. £J into a public company where every one, however infignlficant otherwife, who is of any tolerable family, inherits, or affumes the title of prince, count, or marquis. At Verona, the perfon who condufts ftrangers to vifit what is worthy of remark in that city, is a de- cayed nobleman of one of the firfl: families of the place. When one of my friends entered with this man into a coffee-houfe, he found his conductor* was addrefled, by his brother nobles, by the title of Excellence : fuch Eccellenza*s abound in the public places of Naples, where they walk about in worn-out gold waiftcoats, with well darned (lock- ings. In the mountains of Piedmont, and in the county of Nice, there are fome reprefentatives of very an- cient and noble femilies, reduced to the condition of common peafants j but they ftill retain the ancient pride of their houfes, and boaft of the noble blood that runs in their veins. A gentleman, in travelling through thefe mountains, was obliged to pafs the night in the cottage of one of thefe rullicated nobles, who called to his fon in the evening, " Chevalier^ a tu donjie a manger aux cochons V* The nobles of the nation of the Natches, In Louifiania, ftile the common people Miche Mkhe ^lipi^ which mean, ftinkards j they themfelves are, in ^8 ON NATIONAL PftlDE. in different ranks, funs, noblemen, and honourable gentlemen : the funs are fuch as are defcended from a man and woman, who pretended to have imme- diately iffued from the fun ; this man and woman became lawgivers to the Natches, from the com- monality of whom they ordained that their race ihould for ever be feparated. In order, however, to prevent their blood being adulterated by any mixture with that of the lower ranks, and to pro- vide againfl the flippery conduft of their wives, they enafted, that nobility fhould only defcend in the female line. Their children, both male and female, were ftiled funs, and refpefted as fuch, but with this diftindion, that in the males this privilege appertained only to one man, and became extin<^ at his death ; the females were all born funs, and their male offspring are funs equally with their mothers, but the iffue of thefe are not funs, but noblemen ; their grandfons, honourable gentlemen ; and their great grandfons, flinkards. National pride, founded on imaginary antiquity, is, therefore, a great folly ; which, however, many enlightened nations give into, and which pleafes them as much, as a genealogical parchment does a country gentleman, who, filled with ham and peafe, plumes himfelf on his long line of ancellors. ON NATIONAL PRIDE, 59 CHAPTER THE SIXTH. OF RELIGIOUS PRIDE. J. RUE and falfe religion has ever been, among all nations, in narrow minds, an object of a particular pride, which foon becomes a branch of national pride : a bigot not only accounts his religion the only true one, but hates and defpifes every other, and pronounces fentence of eternal damnation on all who do not think, in this refpeft, exadly as he does. Religious pride confifts in the prepoffeffion vre entertain of the infallibility of our religion, and the idea that it is the only one conducting to falvation ; in confeqijence whereof the followers of every other doflrine are pofitively no other than fteaks ready prepared for the devil's gridiron. A religion need not at all be true to lead its followers to this point, for falfities are embraced with no lefs obftinacy than truths. But let the religion on which you pride yourfelf proceed immediately from the gofpel of Jefus and his Apoftles, and be of courfe true ; yet to condemn others who have not had the fame op- portunity of receiving inflrudion, or who have not the 6o ON NATIONAL PRIDE. the capacity to comprehend a fyftem of religion "which is diametrically oppofite to all they have feen, heard, or been taught from their earlieft youth, is, in my opinion, utter infanity. Men ought not to pronounce fo lightly on each other. The fame God of love and charity will judge us all, and he will judge us according to the inte- grity and fmcerity with which we fhall have ferved him. If every one does not exaftly take the nearefl and bed path, he is notwithftanding in a road that leads to the fame end, which he will undoubtedly attain if he believes in revelation ; whereby we are all taught to pafs a virtuous and unfpotted life, by which we become partakers of all the promifes of religion. The hope of falvation is grounded on the moral character of a man, and not on his theology ; not fo much on his opinions and his knowledge, as on the worthinefs, purity, and honefty of his Hfe. In all religions, therefore, we may be really pious, if we habituate ourfelves to the examination and purification of our hearts and conduft, and make the honour and fervice of that God whom we ac- knowledge, the chief motive of all our ferious ac- tions *. * The French- tranflator in a note condemns this whole paf- fege, and declares, " That none can be faved but Catholics, as is proved in a multitude of excellent works." That ON NATIONAL FRI1>E. 6l That felf-deception and prejudices, however, are iio where fo glaringly violent, as in religious matters, has been moft juftly a caufe of univerfal complaint, Priefts, of all religions, have ever vociferated to their followers over the whole world, " We only are in the right ; it is our religion only that is the true one, and all others confift of nothing but the greateft abfurdities, and the moft abominable doftrines.** Even in the church of love, gentlenefs, and long- fuffering, every party and every fed; anathematize the dodrine which differs but a hair's breadth from their own. One fyftem refutes the theology main- tained and afferted by another fyftem, and each dif- proves what the other aiErms. There is fcarcely any error that is not defended by one fed or other as an undoubted truth. Each party glories in its proofs, and derides its antagonifts moft triumphantly; each writes and affirms as if it were infallible, though they write and affirm the moft contrary tenets ; as the force of their arguments is derived from the country in which they are adduced; for what in one place is accounted a divine truth, is twenty miles off efteemed a moft palpable falfehood. All this appears to me the lefs extraordinary, as, according to the teftimony of unprejudiced church hiftorians, the fpirit of party, of prepoffeffion, and the opinion entertained of the fanftity and infalli* bility of the particular do<^rine they adhere to, often fo 6z ON NATIOlfAL PRIDE. fb much dazzles divines of great erudition and pene* tration, that they overlook common fenfe in defend- ing their opinions. It has often with the juftell con- cern been obferved, that difputes are continually en- tertained without foundation, and that the Bible is proved from a polemic fyftem, inftead of the fyflem being proved from the Bible ; that the Scriptures are often only known by the pafTages and quotations which have been adduced to confirm a certain profef- fion of faith by the teachers of that profeflion, in their fermons and writings ; and when they have faid fuch and fuch vi^ords occur in fuch a particular part of the Bible, it has been imphcitly believed, nay, the quotation has been read in exaftly the fame expref- fions, or the leaders of religious parties have dil^ torted and mutilated the pafTages, taken words ab- ftraftedly, and without their connexion, fo that they have been wrefted from their original meaning ; and, when by torturing them, in every fenfe, with the mod pitiful fophiftry, they have at length adapt- ed them to their own peculiar interpretation, imme- diately each party has fet up a loud te deum for their imaginary vidory. And it is from fuch oracles, as from the purcft fprings, that mofl Chriftians feek to be informed of eternal truth ; and thereby they only increafe the bigotry and zeal which has been inftilled into them, in their earliefl youth, by their inconfiderate teachers : whatever ON NATIONAL PRIDE. 63 whatever they have been taught to look upon as holv, inviolable truths, always remain fo ; they find proofs where there are abfolutely none, and hold the principles of their opponents to be futile and ungrounded, nay irreUgious and profane, before they have ever examined them. By this unreafon- ablenefs of both fides their animofity increafes, and combatants and controverfies, errors, herefies, here- tics, and heretic^ revilers, multiply ad infinitum. All fe£ls and religious parties have accordingly conceived themfelves infallible ; each entertains the miferable opinion, that among all the many religious communities, theirs alone pofTefs the knowledge of divine truth in its purity, without confidering that, in fome foints, others may be nearer the truth than themfelves. They reciprocally contemn, abhor, and reproach each other with blindnefs, obftinacy, hardnefs of heart, or ^deceit ; they all believe them- felves in the ftraight road to Heaven, and that all others are wandering in the path that leads to hell and perdition j they all call upon the teftimony of one omnifcient God, which when it comes to be narrowly looked mto, proves to be no other than the teflimony of their own feft. Every man of confined underilanding prides himfelf on his re- ceived opinions, and looks upon all who do not agree with him in religious principles, as impure and defpicable ; fo that to revile another fyftem of religion. 64 ON NATIONAL PRIDE. religion, always implies the praife of our own J fof it ever is, in this refped, as with our watches ; we all depend on the truth of the one we poffefs, which alone points out the exad time of the day, while all others go either too flow or too fall. This conceit of the excellency of religious opi- nions is often carried fo far, that all great men are held to belong to our own perfuafion. The Turks are morally convinced that Adam, Noah, Mofes, the Prophets, nay, Chrift himfelf, were all good Mahometans ; and according to the Alkoran, Abra- ham was neither a Jew nor a Chriftian, but a true believing MulTulman. In Voltaire's opinion,^ Fenelon is a deift. In that of the peafants in the neighbourhood of Naples, Virgil was a faint; and a little edifice near his grave, a chapel where he ufed to read mafs. On the other hand, a contempt for a different religion is often occafioned or increafed by the ob- fcurity and mifconception of its rites and tenets, Tacitus fays, that the Jews adore, in their holy of holies, the image of an afs; becaufe an animal of that fpecies had been their guide in the wildernefs, when they had loft their way, and had brought them to frefh water when they were perifhing with thirft. Plutarch relates, that the Jews pay divine hop.ours to fwinej becaufe thefe creatures had taught them ON NATIONAL PRIDE. Qj, them hulbandry ; that their feaft of the tabernacles* is celebrated in honour of Bacchus, and their fab- bath inftituted for the Hke purpofe. . The cuftoms of the very beft among men, the primitive Chrif- tians, either mifunderftood, or wholly unknown, became handles for the mod fenfelefs contempt and the moft cruel perfecution : the Jews alleged they were guilty of the fouled crimes ; the Heathens affirmed, that an afs, with eagle's talons, was the ©bjeft of their adoration; that a new bom in- fent, entirely covered over with confecrated flour, was prefented, hke fome myftic fymbol of initiation, to the knife of the profelyte, who, unknowingly, infli£led many a fecret wound on the innocent vic- tim of his error ; that as focn as the cruel deed was perpetrated, the fe£laries drank up the blood, greedily tore afunder the quivering members, and pledged themfelves to eternal fecrecy, by a mutual confcioufnefs of guilt. It was as confidently aver- red, that this inhuman facrifice was fucceeded by a. fuitable entertainment. In which intemperance jDsrved as a provocative to brutal luft ; till at the ap- pointed moment thf Ughts were exlinguifhed, fliame was baniflied, nature was forgotten, and, as acci- dent might diredl, the darknefs of the night was polluted by the inceftuous commerce of fillers and brothers, of mothers and of fens y it Wfis afi'erted that they threatened to involve in a general con- llagratiou the whole earth, and all the heavenly F bodiei, 66 ON NATIONAL PRIDE. bodies, by means of their infernal magic : in fine, that they were murderers, adulterers, committers of inceft, and enemies of the gods, of the emperor, of chaflity, and of human nature. It too often happens, that the revilers of a reli-t gion, are not acquainted with it, becaufe they hate it ; and, vice ver/a, that they hate it, becaufe they are unacquainted with it: they attribute to its profef- fors dodrines which, perhaps, they abhor, and in- ftitutions of which they never once had an idea: they fcatter the moft contradiftory and abfurd ca- lumnies againfl the followers of an oppofite creed, as we have already proved by many inftances ; to which I fhall add but one more. A Franconian catholic of quality believed that his fon, a very in- telligent young man, was infefted with the princi- ples of Proteftantifm, as he was particularly inqui- fitive and ftudious ; as an antidote to this fuppofed venom, the right honourable, free, and imperial fool, hit upon the following precept, which he fo» lemnly charged his fon to obferve, as he was fetting out on his travels ; " Take care, my fon," fays he, ** to avoid the company of Proteftant divines, for they are all fodomites." A people, who conceive they alone profefs the true religion, will not only believe themfelves under the immediate protection, and objefts of the pecu- 5 liar ON NATIONAL PRID-E. ^ liar favour of the Supreme Being, but will exprefs, the mofi: ill-natured abhorrence for the followers of another religion, whom they even do not treat with common humanity. The Ifraelites always looked upon themfelves as the Lord's anointed people ; and, in the time of our Saviour, they accounted the Sa- maritans unworthy of their regard or converfation ; their Rabbins held it an unlawful and indecorous thing, either to requefl a favour of a Samaritan, or to accept of any civility from one of that fed:. Evtn to this day the Jews refufe to receive any wine from Chrlftlans, for fear the errors and vices of Chrlftianlty fhould be infufed together with the liquor into their Hebraic purity. According to the precepts of the Talmud, no Jew muft fa|ute a Chrif^ tian without inwardly curfing him, nor wifh him a good journey without a fecret tacit addition, like that of Pharaoh to the Red Sea, or of Haman to the gallows. The Mahometan religion Is excellently adapted, to infill into its followers the greateft arrogance. Mahomet, their holy prophet, is, according to the Turks, the man whom God and his angels daily converfed with ; to whom the ilars paid obeifance ; whom the trees and ftones advanced to greet; who fplit the moon with his fmger ; who made roafted fhoulders of veal to fpeak ; the apofUe of the Lord, who in the twelfth vear of his divine F 2 mifiion 68 ON NATIONAL PRIDE. miffion was taken up into heaven, and was taught the fecrets of Omnipotence from the mouth of Om- nipotence itfelf ; add to this, the promifes made by- Mahomet, to all his followers, of the future fplen- dour of his empire in this world, and the voluptu- oufnefs and magnificence of it in the next : hence it naturally follows, that a Turk entertains a fovereign contempt for all other humbler fyftems of religion. The Turks, far removed from connecting them- felves with the followers of Ali, apply to them the mofl opprobrious epithets ; they call themfelves Sunni, or true believers ; but thefe they ftile Schias, which is as much as to fay, a defpicable and reprobate fed, A Turk very feldom will affirm a notorious falfehood; wherefore, v/henever any proof is required of what he relates, his general anfwer is, " Dofl thou" think I am a Chriftian ?" All who are not true believers are, in the eyes of the Turks, fo many dogs, whofe very approach would defile an orthodox MulTulman 5 on which ac- count, no infidel is allowed to enter a certain tradl of l^nd fituated between Mecca and Medina, which is fo exceedingly holy, and the regulation which forbids its entrance to any but true believers fo flriclly obferved, that fhould the ambaffador or legate of any infidel prince, on his journey to Mecca, fet his foot on this confecrated earth, the Xerif is obliged, by his ofiice, to interdift him from advancing, and to ON NATIONAL PRIDE. 6g to order him to retire, and if he is not feared away by thefe menaces, to ufe violence. No Chriflian ig allowed to refide in the whole of the country of Hejaz in Arabia, bccaufe the holy cities of Mecca and Medina are fituated there. Neither Jews nor Chriftians are allowed in Egypt to be prefent at the opening of the canals of the Nile, left the water fhould be kept back by their uncleannefs. - In the bofom of Mahometanifm too, as well as in the Chriftian religion, the feveral feds accufe and re- vile each other, that they have falfified and perverted the doctrine of their prophet, by which the mutual hatred of the people is nurtured, and the idea of toleration exploded. The'Perfians annually cele- brate a feftival in honour of their prophet Ali, in which two oxen are exhibited ; the one, which they take care to be the ftrongeft, is called Ali, and the other, always very inferior in ftrength to his anta- gonift, Omar ; thefe are made to fight, and as Ali always obtains the victory, the fpectators from thence conclude that they alone are orthodox Mahometans, and the Turks hereticks. The Turks, on the other hand, maintain that the Perfians are the identical faddle-affes on which the Jews are to canter away to hell at the day of judgment. As the Mahometans are unjuft towards the Chrif- tians, fo the latter are equally unjuft towards the F 3 former. ^O ON NATIONAL PRIDE. "former. No Turk ever entertained the leaft doubt, •or attempted to fpeak ill of the unity of the God* head; and 3ret they have very often in Chriftendom been called idolaters and worfhippers of the ftars s '\vhile they are fuch ftrenuous advocates for one God, that mifunderftanding one of our fundamental doftrines, they upbraid us with polytheifm; and yet they have in many Chriflian books been ftiled Pagans, and their empire Paganifm. The Arab, in the convidion that his caliph is infallible, laughs at the ftupid credulity of the Tar- tar, who holds his Lama to be immortal. A feather, a horn, a ihell, the claw of a lobfter, a root, or any thing elfe that has been confecrated by a few unintelligible words, is an object of adoration to the negroes, and the folemn prototype on which they take their oaths : they find in the earth they tread on an immenfe number of gods, and ridicule the Europeans for their poverty in this refpedl. Thofe who inhabit mount Bata believe, that whoever de- vours a roafled cuckow before his death is a faint ; and, firmly perfiiaded of the infallibility of this mode of fanftification, deride the Indians, who drag a cow to the bed of a dying perfon, and pinching her tail, are fure, if by that method they can make the crea- ture void her urine in the face of the patient, he is immediately tranllated into the third heaven ; they feoff at the fuperflition of the Tartarian princes who think ON NATIONAL PRIDE. 7I think their beatification fecured, provided they can eat of the holy excrements of their Lama ; and they ridicule the Bramins, who, for the better purifica- tion of their new converts, require them to eat row dung for the fpace of fix months ; while thefe would, one and all, in their turn, if they were told the cuckow-method of falvation, as heartily de* fpife and laugh at it. In the kingdom of Tanjore there are Bramins, who, deriving their origin from their god Brama, hold themfelves fuperior to all earthly power ; they are fo very holy, that the bare touch of one of an inferior caft, a Parea, would defile them ; nay, the latter muft not prefume to worlhip the fame deities. Thefe Bramins can in no cafe be punifhed with death, and are in poffeffion of fo many, and fuch extraordinary privileges, that they rule without con- troul or oppofition over the lower clafles of the inhabitants of Malabar, who quietly fubmit to the mandates of thefe inflated and indolent priefts. In Japan, the devotees of the fedl of Insja-Fufe, had the fame ridiculous idea of their own imma- culate fanclity, and retreated with abhorrence from any communication with other men. The priefts of the Sinto, or primeval religion of Japan, are equally infected with the pride of this tranfcendent holinefs, and avoid, with the utmoll haughtinefs, F 4 both ^2 ON NATIONAL PRIDE* both the laity and the clergy profeffing the Budlbv or new religion of Japan, whom they take great care to hold no correipondence with, which would be the lowed degradation of their dignity ; while the natural reciprocal contempt of the Budfo divines for thofe of the Sinto, is by n£> means inferior. The Dairo, or pope of Japan, is refpefted almofi: as a god in his life-time : the earth is not worthy the touch of his feet, and the fun is not allowed the favour of fhining on his head ; the holinefs of hrs hair, his beard, and his nails, is fo great, that to cut off or pare them is not permitted except during his fleep ; for the Japanefe believe, that all that which the body of their Dairo then lofes is only ftolen from him, and that fuch a robbery is by no means fo facrilegious as to take them from him while awake, for that would argue in him a too near ap- f * Dach to mortality. In former times the Dairo was obliged to fit a few hours every morning on his throne, like a flatue, without moving his hands, his feet, his head, his eyes, or any part of his body, in order that the empire mJght enjoy the mod profound tranquillity ; peflilence, famine, or war, v/ould, agreeable to the opinion then entertained, immediately have afflifted that unlucky province to- wards which the Dairo had cad a look. The firft v/ho was properly emperor of Japan, was fliled the man of fublinic extracdon, the prince of heaven, the fon of ON NATIONAL PRIDE. 73 of the gods ; and thefe titles have remained to the Dairo, who on his death enjoys, in common with the Roman emperors, the honour of an apotheolis ; whil^.the. Gubofoma, or worldly fovereign of Japan, ;who is the territorial lord, like the prefent kings of France, Spain, Portugal, and Naples, contents him- ^felf with the more folid honours of earthly power. The court of his Japanefe holinefs is compofed of highly illuftrious perfonages,. who though they are not above exerciiing themfelves in the manu- facture of ftraw-baikets, horfe-lhoes, or any other little handicraft, to keep themfelves from ftarving ; neverthelefs, proud of their pedigree from the firll demi-god of the fecond dynafty of Japan, they treat the reft of manldnd as dogs; nay, the dignity, fandity, and purity of every thing that relates to the Dairo is i^o great, that the meanell fervant-boyi^ who perform the loweft offices in the temple, and in the religious ceremonies of Japan, and whofe ftation exa£lly anfwers to that of candle-fnuffer in a play-houfe, are equally vain of their fuper-eminence over the reft of the world. As to the univerfal opinion entertained by the. Japanefe of the Chrif- tians, I ihall only illuftrate the low degree of ellima- ticn in which they are held, by the obligation they impofed on the Dutch, to caft all their dead into thQ fea, off the harbour of Nangafaki, for their carcafcs were deemed unworthy a burial in the foil of 74 ON NATIONAL PRIDE. of Japan, although thofe lucre-loving fouls affured them they were not Chriftians, but only Hollanders. Thus do mankind ridicule and defpife, execrate and condemn each other, becaufe each conceives himfelf to belong to the only religion which leads to falvation, or to be a being of exclufive and un- defiled holinefs. The total feparation of our own, from every other religious fociety, is efteemed ne- ceflary and indifpenfable to fandification, and we are, therefore, never able to be impartial or equitable towards others ; this feparation ; the yet exifting predominant opinion in every feet of the infallibi- lity of its own tenets ; the unhappy fpirit of per- fecution of many refpeftable theologians ; the un- timely zeal, which incites us blindly to repel all attacks on the doiflrines embraced by our relations and progenitors ; and, above all, the great multi- tude of holy champions, who are continually on foot, armed at all points, ready to throw the gauntlet of defiance, and inconfiderately and unmercifully to lay about them, like the too zealous Peter, againfl every one who might fhew the leaft defign of at- tacking the principles of their church : all this compels mankind reciprocally to abhor and condemn their fellow-creatures ; becaufe one fet chufes to jog- on to heaven by a different road than the other, and which, alas ! is carried to fuch extravagance, that, among other inftances, a reformed clergyman, de- tected ON NATIONAL PRIDE. 75 tefted preaching his articles of belief in France, would be hanged ; and a jefuit, if caught in Sweden, would be emafculated. Thus do we, poor miferable worms ! in our little fpan of life, prefume to hate and perfecute our brother, only becaufe we happen to differ from hiin in opinion refpefting an unneceiTary, and nearly imperceptible refinement, or a matter that is be- yond human conception : thus do we, creatures of the duft ! arrogate the power of circumfcribing the councils of the Almighty, and prefumptuoufly dare to ftamp our paflions and prejudices, our priefts and prieftly pride, with the counterfeit image of the Lord of Heaven and of Earth. ON NATIONAL PRIDE. 77 CHAPTER THE SEVENTH. OF NATIONAL PRIDE, AS ARISING FROM A SUPPOSED LIBERTY, VALOUR, POWER, OR CONSIDERATION. xIere and there we may find nations who, like the ancient Greeks, overvalue themfelves on account of their real freedom ; or like the modern inha- bitants of Greece, treafure up the memory of the former liberty of their country, on which they equally pride themfelves. The mofl: notorious flaves in Italy boaft of their glorious freedom. This infatuating dream begets a moft ludicrous elevation of mind, which is the de- rifion of the fubftantial republican citizen, whofe con- folation does not, like that of thefe conceited flaves, confifl in mere empty founds or unmeaning words. A citizen of San Marino luiows nothing that can be compared with ancient Rome, fave the petty re- public of which he is a member. The nobles of Genoa, who are almoft ail engaged in trade, out of mercantile jealoufy, make ufe of the moft inte- refted and felfifli policy, and every kind of artifice, to keep the coafts, which are under their dominion, in poverty and dependence, in order that the trade of ^8 ON NATIONAL PRir>E. of the capital may not be injured ; yet the poor devils at San Remo and Noli believe mofi: Impli- citly that they are free. Another effe6b of Ideal liberty, is the laughable contempt and oppofition which a conquered people have for the laws and cuftoms of their conquerors, which, though ever fo eligible in themfelves, it would be difgraceful for them to adopt. The Engliih have taken the trouble of making fmooth, broad, and ftraight roads both in Ireland and In Minorca, yet they have never been able to per- fuade either the Irifh or the Minorcans to ufe thefe infinitely more commodious roads in preference to their oid, crooked, or miry lanes, in which, ftupidly averfe to innovation, they continue to plunge with an elevated mien and jaded body, proud of thefe flill remaining vefliges of their ima- ginary independence. A third effeft, refulting from the idea of freedom, which is the chief glory of a certain great nation in Europe, is the negleft of ceremony, and the opinion that the dictates of good breeding need not be farther followed, than as they are confiftent with our own convenience, or our own inclinations j in confequence of which latitude, it is no harm to throw one's felf back in an elbow-chair, when tired of fitting upright ; you may invite your friends to eat ON NATIONAL PRIDE. 79 cat and drink with you at all hours, and at all fea- fons, whether to breakfaft, dinner, or fupper, or whether you have roaft or boiled meat to give them : you may frankly fay the wine is good for nothing, when it is really fo ; and, when a lady happens in a coach, with feveral gentlemen, to feel a certain. prefTmg want of nature, fhe may, confidently with the freedom of her nation, fend for a chamber-pot from the next houfe, and eafe herfelf in the coach without blufhing *. The pride founded upon imaginary valour, ap- pears in an exceflive ellimation of our own courage, • In this paflage, which alludes to the Englifh, Mr. Zim- merman has fallen into a very great miftake, for, however well founded his affertions may be with refpeft to the general blunt- nefs of our charafter, and the little ceremony with which men treat each other, both our regard for the fair fex, and their delicacy, is unimpeachable : nay, fo far from any immcdcfty of the kind the author mentions being ever heard of in Eng- land, the very tale he exhibits has, in other words, been the fubjeft of fatire among us upon the ladies of France ; and Eng- lifhmen generally turn, with difguft, from the manners of foreign females, when compared to the elegant nicety, and delicate fenfibilit^ of their fair countrywomen. The undeniable notoriety of this circumfiance, added to the penetration and found judgment which otherwife always accompany Mr. Zim- merman's obfervations, would almoft induce one to fuppofe he had fome other nation in view in this pafTage ; but the other parts of it feem not fo applicable to any other. and go ON NATIONAL PRIDE. and aij unjuft contempt for our enemies. A nation that thinks itfelf brave, when it does not poffefs any bravery, or not in fuch a fuperlative degree as it imagines, looks down with conceited vanity on its foes, which no difappointment, no defeat, no lofs, no unequivocal proof of its weaknefs, can remove. Tigranes was funk in the deepeft indolence and fecurity, when Lucullus marched to attack him. It was firmly believed that the Roman general, as foon as he came within fight only of his formidable enemy, would be panic flruck, and fly even beyond Afia. The Romans appeared : Tigranes exprelTed his vexation that all their generals did not come to face him at once ; his army amounted to two hun- dred and fixty thoufand men, the Roman legions to fcaixely ten thoufand ; a handful of men, too infignificant and too contemptible to be worth the regard of the numerous hofh of Armenians. Ti- granes obferved to his courtiers, that they came in too great number for ambafladors, and by far too few for enemies : there v/as not one of his generals, who did not requefl his leave to go and catch this covey that had imprudently ventured itfelf within the fowler's reach. By break of day, the next morning, when the Armenians were intent on furrounding the Romans, they perceived a move- ment in the camp of Lucullus. Tigranes thought he was about to begin his flight ; fuddenly the eagles ON NATIONAL PRiDE. 8l tagles of the firft legion wheeled to the right, and the cohorts followed them. Are thefe people coming againft us ? faid Tigranes, awakened at once from his long trance. They immediately fell lipon the Ar- menians, and foon, as ordered by Lucullus, they engaged in clofe fight, which quickly difconcerted and routed this large hoft, who were only competent to combat at a diftance : the cavalry fell back on the infantry, and put it into diforder, and the whole army was, in a fhort time, completely routed ; the battle did not laft longer than that of Rofbach, and this fignal defeat of the Armenians coll the Romans no more than fix killed, and about one hundred wounded. An imaginary valour of another kind,is that of the Abyflinians. When father Lobo waited on a king of that country to pay his refpefts, juft as he was about to open his mouth, about twenty fturdy fel- lows fell upon him and gave him a hearty drub- bing J the father flew to the door, where he was mofl refpedfully treated, and was told, that this beating was an immemorial cuftom, which had been adopted to fliew to every ftranger, that the Abyffinians were the mod courageous people of the earth, and that therefore every oth^r ought to be humbled before them. The 82 ON NATIONAL PRIDE. The pride arifmg from imaginary power, confifta in too high an eflimate of our ftrength. Xerxes, for example, caufed chains to be thrown into the fea in order to fetter it, and had three hundred ftripes inflided on its turbulent waves for having broken down one of his bridges. He wrote to mount Athos, " Haughty Athos, thou who lifteft up thy head to the Ikies, prefume not to oppofe to my labourers rocks through which they cannot pene- trate, or I will hew thee down, and hurl thee into the ocean.'* Oriental pride retains, in our days, the fame character of hyperbolical inflation ; fo that to take their exprefTions according to their literal meaning, the Afiatic princes would fupply on earth the place of the Divinity in every point. The king of Malacca ftiles himfelf lord of the winds, and of the eaftern and weftern oceans. The Mogul aflfumes the title of conqueror of the world, and king of the earth ; and the grandees of his court are no lefs than rulers of the thunder-jftorm, fteerfmen of the whirlwind, or exterminators of hofts. The petty infignificant tribe of the Natches was, according to their own tradition, the mofl powerful nation of the continent of North America j its chief nobility confilled of five hundred Suns, under the control of one great Sun. The prefent fovereign of this little people has a particularity in his pride, which caimot fail to excite much merriment: every morning ON NATIONAL PRIDE. S^ morning he ftalks out of his hovel, bids the fun good morrow, offers him his pipe to fmoke, and points out to him uith his finger the courfe which he is to take that day. In like manner a too exalted opinion entertain- ed of the national confideration conftitutes pride. It has been obferved, that there is hardly a Frenchman who does not attribute to himfelf part of the honour of the Siam embaffy, of which he is particularly vain. The French, in this refpeft, often render the national pride which is otherwife juftly founded on the grandeur of their kings, or the condud and fame of their minifters and gene- rals, ridiculous, by applying to themfelves the per- fonal merit of thofe eminent charaders. A French colonel, once paffing through Brufiels as a traveller, and having a leifure day, took it into his head to go to the great affembly ; he was told, that it was held at the palace of a prince ; tant mieux, fays hej *' What is that to me V* — "But princes only frequent it, fir ; and unlefs you are a prince** — " Oh, thefe princes are the moft good-natured people in the world," interrupted the officer j " when the city was taken laft year, I had a dozen of them dancing attendance in my antichamber, and they were all cxcelfively complaifant." o 2 The ^4 ON NATIONAL PRIDE. The abbot of Muri in Switzerland is a priilce of the holy Roman empire, and he has his four great officers of ftate ; his hereditary marfhals are the noble and illuftrious the lords of Thurn ; his here- ditary chamberlains, the lords of Wittenbach ; his hereditary cup-bearers, the noble family of the Rup- plins ; and his hereditary grand carvers, that of Niderofl : while the falary of the chief of thefe offi- cers, the hereditary marfhal, is twenty florins * a year. Strangers are invited to court to dinner, which though ferved up in great ftate, is no better than a tradefman*s ordinary. His ferene highnefs has his own covered body-diflies fet before him, which no one of the guefts is to touch ; he drinks of his own high and illuftrious body-wine ; while both the ftrangers and the domeftics muft be content with new wine of the laft vintage. When the Khan of Tartary, who has not fo much as a houfe, and who fubfifts folely on rapine, has finiflied his repaft of mare's-milk and horfe-flefh in his tent, he caufes an herald to proclaim, that all kings, princes, and potentates of the earth, now have his permiiTion to go to dinner. But I do not recollect a more glaring inftance of pride, arifmg from an imaginary confideration, nor • A florin is 2od. do ON NATIONAL PRIDE. 85 do I think it can well be carried farther, than in a negro king on the coafl of Guinea, whofe memory^ has been perpetuated by the celebrated author of the Perfian Letters. Some Frenchmen, who land- ed in his dominion to buy frefh provifions, were carried before the king, who was adminiftering the weighty concerns of his realm under a tree ; he fat on his throne, which was a log of wood, with the fame majefty and confequence as if it had been the golden feat of the ^Great Mogul, glittering with jewels ; clofe to him flood his regiment of body guards, confiding of three or four fellows armed with hedge-Hakes ; his canopy of ftate was an um- brella held over his head; both his majefty and his royal confort were embellilhed with the infigni* of their regal power, a few copper rings and trin- kets, and they fhone forth above their fubjeds, in the jetty gloflinefs of their Ikins. This auguil monarch, underftanding the native country of his vifitors, aiked with much ferioufnefs, " Am not I much talked of in France ?" I could have added numberlefs other inftances of folly appertaining to the kind of pride I have treated of in this chapter, in which I have not at all pleafed myfelf ; for it feems to me both too fhort, and too barren, inftead of being of a proper length, and full of ftriking remarks ; but I have juft thought of the anfwer given by Vitellius to a very critical quef- o 3 tion B6 ON NATIONAL PRIDE. tion of the Emperor Caligula, who was fhamelefs enough, not only publicly to maintain that he was defcended from the gods, but to confirm this idea, he alked Vitellius, " If he had not feen him in bed with the moon?'' Vitellius, with downcaft eyes, anfwered, '' Moft illuflrious emperor, you gods are only vifible to gods, the feeble fight of mortal inan cannot reach you/* ON NATIONAL PRIDE. Zf CHAPTER THE EIGHTH. or PRIDE, RESULTING FROM AN IGNORANCE OF FOREIOM AFFAIRS. JL HE Utter ignorance of foreign affairs, is a foft cufhion from which a nation, repofmg in eafe and felf-complacency, cafts an indolent look through the medium of felf-conceit on every other ; defpifes what it cannot comprehend, and (hews its want of knowledge and judgment as ridiculouily as the Paris bookfeller, who hearing foraething of the king of Pruflia's attachment to books, afked with an ap- pearance of great aftonilhment, " What ! has the king of Prulha alfo a library ?'* The Italians, though in our times they know bet- ter, were long perfuaded that all the inhabitants of the countries beyond the Alps were mere barba- rians ; fince, after the taking of Conftantinople by the Turks, the fciences firfl fettled themfelves ia Italy, and thence fpread abroad into other countries. An Italian writer faid of the Germans, that their brains did not lie in the head, as was the cafe with other people, but in their back and fhoulders ; and their univerfuies might be compared to Itables where Minerva kept her mules. Baillet, who quotes c 4. this 88 ON NATIONAL PRIDE*' this fentence, ddds, that It is therefore not to be wondered at, that the wit and fpirit which we ad- mire in the produftions of the modern Italians, as well as thofe of the ancient Romans and Greeks, are not to be found in German poetry. Martinelli, another Italian author, who fome years ago lived in London, affirms, that Germany has not, to this day, produced either a poet or a phyfician. It is but a little while ago fince I read in a pamphlet, publifhed by one Count Roncalli, an Italian phyfi- cian, that inoculation had not been adopted by any nation of learning. Did not the right honourable fcribbler then know, that the practice is become general throughout Europe, and that, in our en« lightened times, every European nation that is in its right fenfes, takes for itfelf the lead in litera- ture, and that all unanimoully affign to the Englifh the fecond place, among whom inoculation is uni- ^verfally pradifed? The Germans have by mofl people been abufed, as the beafts of burden of the literary world, the cinder-fifters and hod-men, raking together and preparing the mortar and materials for the edifice of letters. I read a few years ago, in one of the beft Englifh reviews, that the German writers have, from time immemorial pofTelTed the fame privi- lege with theologifls, that of writing many books, and faying little in them ; that they are famous for fcraping together matter wherewith to fill many unwieldy ON NATIONAL PRIDE. 89 unwieldy folios, fpinning out their works to a for- midable length, and wearying the patience of their reader without informing his underftanding ; and finally, that every German head contained a con- fufed medley of books, ever in a litter, and the more looked into the lefs underilood. Full as in- jurious would it be in me to call all the Englifh •barbarians, only becaufe, even in thefe days of knowledge, at the public difputations at Oxford on Afh-Wednefday, a young Englifh pedant, draft out like a mafquerader at Shrove-tide, mounts the rof- trum, and lifts the impenetrable (hield of Ariftotelian quirks and quibbles, againft the leaden darts which his opponents, reprefenting the fons of Scotus, Burgerdicius, and Smiglefius, aim at the doughty champion. A minifter of ftate in Perfia knows as much of European affairs, as he does of what is tranfacled in the moon. Moft of the Perfians think our part of the world is a fmall ifland in the northern waters, v.'hich produces nothing that is good or beautiful ; for why elfe, fay they, do the Europeans fetch fuch things from us, if they were to be got in their own country ? The Chinefe underftand by the four quarters of the globe little more than their empire ; they have the moft unbounded contempt for all other coun- tries, and they entertaia a notion that all the hea- venly 90 ON NATIONAL PRIDE. venly bodies watch over China alone, without any- kind of concern for any other land. They take the earth to be a vafl horizontal fquare; and they look upon China, which they fay lies in the middle, as occupying not only the beft, but the largefl portion of it. Accordingly they ftile their country Chong-que, or the kingdom of the middle, and Ticn-Hia, or all under the heavens. A jefuit mif- . fionary, to flatter thefe opinions, in a map of the world which he made for the Chinefe, placed China in the middle, an artifice well worthy of the inven- tion of a jefuit. As to their own maps, in them the Chinefe give their empire the greateft extent on earth, and fcatter the reft of the world in the form of very fmall iflands, here and there all round China. Their geographers give thefe iflands or king- doms the moft ludicrous names, and tell the moft ridiculous ftories about them ; one they call Seao- ginque, or the region of the dwarfs, of whom they relate, that they are obliged to live as clofely toge* ther as bees in a hive, for fear of being fnatched away by the eagles and vultures ; another is Chuen- fmque, or the kingdom whofe inhabitants have a large hole in their breafts, into which they put a {lick, and carry one another about on their backs ; and a pack of the like nonfenfe. However, fmce the Chinefe, by their communication with us, know a little more of Europe, they have advanced it in their maps to the fize of one of the Canary iflands. All ON NATIONAL PRIDE. 9! All other nations mud efteem it a very great honour, if they are admitted to be accounted the fubjeds of Chmaj they are, themfelves, exceed- ingly fhy of fending any ambafladors abroad, be- caufe they look upon an embaffy, a prefent, or even a letter from any foreign country, as a moft pofi- tive proof of reljpedful fubmifTion, and an acknow- ledo-meni of the right of China to exa6t tribute of thac nation ; accordingly its name is immediately infcribed in a regifter kept for the purpofe, and appears in the annals of China as a tributary king- dom, the number whereof is very confiderable; as every mu4 who brings a letter to China from any prmce or ftate, is called an ambaifador, and his fovereign a flave of China. The emperor Yong-Tching faid in a fpeech to the jefuits : " I am the abfolute lord of the king- dom of the middle ; all other ftates, great and fmall, fend me tribute ; it amufes me fometimes to inftrud: them; if they receive and attend to my lelTons, well and good, if not, I turn them adrift." It was in 1758 that the jefuits tried to bring the min liters of the Chinefe empire to admit of an em- baffy from France, but they were refufed it, as they had fecretly given them to underfland, " that his moft chriftian majcfty was not tributary to the empe-. ror of China; that the prefents, which the emperor might fend to the king of France, would not be looked on as proceeding folely from the bounty of 9 the 92 ON NATIONAL PRIDE. the imperial donor, and that the king's letters were not to be accounted petitions, nor the emperor's anfwers, commands.'* The Japanefe are fools of the fame, flamp. NIphon, the name which they commonly give to their country, imports light of the fun, becaufe, be- ing unacquainted with any lands to the eaftward, they fuppofe the fun rifes to them the firfl ; they are ignorant of the fpheric form of the earth, and that every country lies eaft and weft with refpecl to them. Another name of Japan, which occurs in their books, is Tenka ; but this feems to be not fo much a proper name, as a figurative appellation, which is adopted by the Japanefe out of vanity : it means, the region that is under the heavens ; whence, likewife, comes the title that is alfo given to the emperor of Japan, of Tenka-fama, or the monarch under the heavens ; which is very appli- cable to the idea formerly entertained by this peo- ple, that theirs was the only inhabited country, themfelves the only human beings, and all other lands the refidence of devils and unclean fpirits. We thus fee, that the Itfs any nation is acquainted uith foreign alFairs, the more it exalts itfelf ; and its vanity finds its account in this ignorance, on which it grounds the moft foolifh contempt for all other countries. ON NATIONAL PRID£. 93 CHAPTER THE NINTH. OF PRIDE AS ARISING FROM IGNORANCE IN GENERAL. J\^s ignorance and a want of felf-knowledge en- gender felf-complacency and an unjuft contempt for others ; fo the pride that refults from general ignorance in a nation, is the fame with too high an eftimation of its own knowledge, however con- tracted and defective this may be. The French have been accufed, that they think their laws are fo excellent, that they ought to be followed by every other nation; they would not be fo vain of their laws, if the multitude knew that there is fcarcely any knowledge of the law of nature or of nations to be met with in France, where we fliould the mofl expect to meet with it; that in the numerous fchools and univerfities with which that kingdom abounds, where fo many things of no real worth are taught with the greatefl afllduity and pe- dantry, there is not one profelTorfhip for the law of nations ; and that of courfe the French are the only nation who feem to believe that this fcience is of no utility. They 94 ON NATIONAL I'Ult)E. They would not, I fay, be fo vain of their Iz-Wi^ if the opinion of one of their own great men waS more commonly known among them ; who main- tains that their whole legiflature, formed out of the confufion of the feudal fyftem, is a monftrous and unwieldy ftru