THE LIBRARY 
 
 OF 
 
 THE UNIVERSITY 
 OF CALIFORNIA 
 
 LOS ANGELES
 
 ESSAYS 
 
 O N T H E 
 
 HISTORY OF MANKIND 
 
 IN 
 
 
 
 RUDE AND CULTIVATED AGES. 
 
 By JAMES DUNBAR, LL. D. 
 
 PROFESSOR OF PHILOSOPHY IN THE KING'S COLLEGE 
 AND UNIVERSITY OF ABERDEEN. 
 
 LONDON: 
 
 PRINTED FOR W. STRAHAN ; T. CADELL IN THE 
 STRAND J AND J. BALFOUR, EDINBURGH. 
 
 MDCCLXXX.
 
 
 
 
 * 
 
 
 .
 
 10! 
 
 PREFACE, 
 
 
 
 TO folve fome appearances in 
 civil life, and, by an appeal to 
 the annals of mankind,* to vindicate 
 the character of the fpecies from vul- 
 gar prejudices, and thofe of philo- 
 fophic theory, is the aim of the 
 Volume now delivered to the Public. 
 Its contents are digefted on a regular 
 plan; though the loofer form of EfTays 
 has been preferred to a more fyfte- 
 matic arrangement. 
 
 He who attempts to reform the 
 world is actuated by a wild enthu- 
 fiafm, or by a divine impulfe. To 
 flop the career of Vice, is the ultimate 
 end of well-directed ambition. That 
 a 3 ambition
 
 PREFACE. 
 
 ambition was felt by the great writers 
 of antiquity. They eredled a temple 
 to Virtue, and exhaufled on the op- 
 pofite character all the thunder of 
 eloquence. 
 
 ?/ moll *.T\J\ io dt&* 
 
 Animated with the views, not with 
 the genius of the ancients, I occupy 
 the fame ground ; for on that ground 
 the efforts of inferior men may be 
 of ufe. 
 
 Every Author is a candidate for 
 the public favour, and the Public 
 alone is the arbiter of his fate. With 
 fuch a fanction he will not need, 
 and without it he ought to decline, 
 even the patronage of kings. 
 
 The voice of the Public, like the 
 
 voice of an oracle, it becomes an 
 
 Author to hear with refpeftful iilence. 
 
 3 Even
 
 PREFACE. 
 
 Even while it mortifies, it inftru&s; 
 while it refufes approbation, it teaches 
 wifdom. It checks ambition in its wild 
 career; and reminds the candidate 
 for fame to return into that deceiving 
 path of life*) from which he ought 
 not to have deviated, and which, how 
 mortifying foever to the Author, is 
 perhaps the happieft for the Man. 
 
 $c5 Yfiill sTi'- < 
 
 * Fallentis femita vit*. 


 
 o 
 
 CONTENTS. 
 
 ESSAY I. Page 
 
 \J N the primeval Form of Society I 
 
 ESSAY II. 
 
 On Language, as an univerfal Accom- 
 plifhment 59 
 
 ESSAY III. 
 
 Of the Criterion of a poli/hed Tongue 1 09 
 
 ESSAY IV. 
 
 Of the Criterion of civilized Manners 141 
 
 ESSAY V. 
 
 Of the Rank of Nat ions 9 and the Re- 
 volutions of Fortune 15-3
 
 CONTENTS. 
 
 ESSAY VI. Page 
 
 Of the general Influence of Climate 
 
 on national Objects 207 
 
 ESSAY VII. 
 
 Of the farther Tendency of local Cir- 
 cumjlances to affecl the Proceed- 
 ings of Nations 2 43 
 
 ESS AY VIIT. 
 
 The J r amt Subject continued 279 
 
 "ESSAY ix. 
 
 Of the Relation of Man to the fur- 
 rounding Elements 303 
 
 ESSAY X. 
 
 . 
 Of Man t as the Arbiter of bis oivn 
 
 Fortune 335 
 
 ESSAY XI. 
 
 OfFo/Jjions that predominate among 
 various Tribes of Mankind 361
 
 CONTENTS. 
 
 ESSAY XII. Page 
 
 Of the Tendency of moral Character 
 to diver/if y the human Form 375 
 
 ESSAY XIII. 
 
 % 
 
 Of the hereditary Genius of Nations 399
 
 
 iai. ol 
 
 ERRATA. 
 
 Page 48, line 5. For natural t be, read /? natural* 
 Page 150, line 16. For exhibited* read expefted. 
 Page 15 1, line 21. For wwvf, read w/?f. 
 
 <.t-:ic lo yr 
 
 # 
 
 svi^do o 
 
 ^plf 
 
 Ulil-0
 
 E S SAYS 
 
 'o 2B ff^-'F" ' 9un! 
 O N T H E 
 
 HISTORY OF MANKIND.
 
 ON THE 
 
 HISTORY OF MANKIND. 
 
 ESSAY 1. 
 
 ON TfcE PRIMEVAL FORM OF SOdlETV. 
 
 HUMAN Nature, in fome refpects, 
 is fo various and fluctuating ; fo al- 
 tered, or fo difguifed by external things, 
 that its independent character has become 
 dark and problematical. The hiftory of 
 its exertions in their primeval form, would 
 reflect a light upon moral and political 
 fcience, which we endeavour in vain to 
 B collect
 
 2 ESSAYS ON THE 
 
 colled in the annals of polifhed nations. 
 What pity is it, that, the tranfactions of 
 this early period being configned to eternal 
 oblivion, hiftory is neceflarily defective in 
 opening the fcene of man ! 
 
 Confidently, however, with prefent ap- 
 pearances, and with the memorials of anti- 
 quity, the following changes, it is pretended, 
 may have arifen fucceffively to the fpecies. 
 
 Firft, Man may have fubfifted, in fome 
 fort, like other animals, in a feparate 
 and individual ftate, before the date of 
 language, or the commencement of any 
 regular intercourfe. 
 
 Secondly, He may be contemplated in 
 a higher ftage; a proficient in language, 
 and a member of that artlefs community 
 which confifts with equality, with freedom, 
 and independence. 
 
 Laft
 
 HISTORY OF MANKIND. 3 
 
 Laft of all, by flow and impercep- 
 tible tranfitions, he fubfifts and flourifhes 
 under the protection and difcipline of civil 
 government. It is the defign of this Eflay 
 to enquire into the principles which either 
 fuperfeded the firft, or haftened the fecond 
 ftate ; and led to an harmonious and focial 
 correfpondence, antecedently to the sera of 
 fubordination, to the grand enterprifes of 
 art, to the inftitution of laws, or any of 
 the arrangements of nations. But it is 
 the order of improvement merely, not the 
 chronological order of the world, that 
 belongs to this enquiry. Degeneracy, as 
 well as improvement, is incident to man : 
 and we are not here concerned with the 
 original perfection of his nature, nor with 
 the circumftances wherein he was placed 
 at the beginning by his Creator. 
 
 There is one general obfervation ftrongly 
 
 applicable, in all ages, to human nature : 
 
 the appearance of proper objects is eflential 
 
 B 2, to
 
 4 
 
 to the exertion of its powers. As there- 
 fore there are talents belonging to indivi- 
 duals, which, for want of their objects, 
 have lain for ever dormant ; fo perhaps there 
 are talents inherent in the fpecies which at 
 no time have been called forth into action, 
 and which may yet appear confpicuous in 
 fome fucceeding period. Any alteration 
 in the human fabric would feem to affect 
 the identity of our being; but from the 
 novelty and variety of the objects with 
 which it is converfant, the Soul of man 
 may become progreflive; and without un- 
 dergoing any actual transformation in its 
 powers, may open and expand itfelf in 
 energy through the fucceflive periods of 
 duration. The celebrated * diftinctions of 
 Ariftotle will then appear to have an ample 
 foundation in nature. Thus much is cer- 
 tain, a mutual intercourie gradually opens 
 latent powers ; and the extenfion of this 
 intercourfe is generally attended with new 
 
 iu and Av: **;;. 
 
 exertions
 
 HISTORY OF MANKIND. 5 
 
 exertions of intelleft. Withdraw this in- 
 tercourfe, and what is man ! " Let all the 
 powers and elements of nature (fays an 
 illuftrious philofopher) confpire to ferve 
 and obey one man : let the fun rife and fet 
 at his command : the fea and rivers roll as 
 he pleafes, and the earth furnifh fponta- 
 neoufly whatever may be ufeful or agree- 
 able to him : he will ftill be miferable till 
 you give him fome one perfon at leaft, 
 with whom he may {hare his happinefs, 
 and whofe efteem and friendmip he may 
 enjoy." 
 
 Society then is the theatre on which our 
 genius expands with freedom. It is eflential 
 to the origin of all our ideas of natural and 
 of moral beauty. It is the prime mover 
 of all our inventive powers. Every effort, 
 beyond what is merely animal, has a re- 
 ference to a community ; and the folitary 
 favage, who traverfes the defert, is fcarce 
 raifed fo far by nature above other animals, 
 B 3 as
 
 6 ESSAYS ON THE 
 
 as he is funk by fortune beneath the 
 ftandard of his own race. 
 
 The deftitute condition of man, as an ani- 
 mal, has been an ufual topic of declamation 
 among the learned ; and this alone, accord- 
 ing to fome theories, is the foundation both 
 of focial union and of civil combinations. 
 
 After the population of the world, and 
 the growth of arts, mutual alliances and 
 mutual fupport became indeed effential in 
 our divided fyftem : and it is no wonder if 
 certain appearances in the civil sera have 
 been transferred, in imagination, to all 
 preceding times. At rirft, however, it may 
 be queftioned, whether there reigned not 
 fuch an independence in our ceconomy, as 
 is obfervable in other parts of the creation. 
 
 It is the arts of life which, by enervat- 
 ing our corporeal powers, and multiplying 
 the objects of defire, have annihilated per- 
 
 fonal
 
 HISTORY OF MANKIND. 7 
 
 fonal independence, and formed an im- 
 menfe chain of connexions among col- 
 lective bodies. Nor is it perhaps fo much 
 the call of neceflity, or mutual wants, as 
 a certain delight in their kind congenial 
 with all -natures, which conftitutes the 
 fundamental principle of affbciation and 
 harmony throughout the whole circle of 
 being. But man, it is pretended, by 
 nature timid, runs lofociety for relief; and 
 finds an afylum there. Nor is he fmgular 
 in this : all animals in the hour of danger 
 crowd together, and derive confidence and 
 fecurity from mutual aid* 
 
 Danger, however, it may be anfwered, far 
 from fuggefting a confederacy, tends in moft 
 cafes to diflblve rather than to confirm the 
 union. Secure from danger, animals herd 
 together, and feem to difcover a compla- 
 cency towards their kind. Let but a flngle 
 animal of more rapacious form prefent 
 himfelf to view, they inftantly difperfe; 
 B 4 they
 
 8 ESSAYS ON THE 
 
 they derive no fecurity from mutual aid, 
 and rarely attempt to fupply their weak- 
 nefs in detail, by their collective ftrength. 
 This fingle animal is a match for thou- 
 fands of a milder race. The law of do- 
 minion in the fcale of life is the ftrength 
 of the individual merely, not the number 
 of the tribe ; and of all animals, man 
 almoft alone becomes confiderable by the 
 combination of his fpecies. 
 
 In fociety, animals are rather more prone 
 to timidity from the prevalence of the fofter 
 inftincls. Thofe of the ravenous clafs, gene- 
 rally the moft folitary, are accordingly the 
 moft courageous ; and man himfelf declines 
 in courage in proportion to the extent of his 
 alliances : not indeed in that fpecies of it 
 which is the genuine offspring of magna- 
 nimity and heroic fentiment; but in that 
 constitutional boldnefs and temerity which 
 refides, if I may fay fo, in our animal 
 nature. Hence intrepidity is a predomi- 
 nant
 
 HISTORY OF MANKIND. 9 
 
 nant feature in the favage character : hence 
 the favage himfelf, feparately bold and 
 undaunted, when he acts in concert with 
 his fellows is found liable to panic from 
 this public fympathy, this reciprocal col- 
 liiion of minds. And it is hence, perhaps, 
 according to the obfervation of a diftinguim- 
 ed writer [A], that the moft fignal victories 
 recorded in the annals of nations have 
 been uniformly obtained by the army of 
 inferior number. 
 
 But to return to the analogy of 
 animals : I am not ignorant that fome 
 are gregarious from neceflity, are formed 
 for offenfive or defend ve wars, and re- 
 quire joint labour for their fubfiftence or 
 accommodation. Yet in fuch examples 
 the common functions are directed by 
 inflinct rather than by art ; and evidence 
 lefs the policy of the animal, than, if I 
 may call it fo, the policy of nature. When 
 fhefe provinces \B] are well defined, many 
 
 of
 
 jo ESSAYS ON THE 
 
 of the appearances we fo much admire 
 will no longer be regarded as marks of 
 invention, or concerted plan. Where 
 there is no option, there is no agency ; 
 and within a contracted fphere, while 
 feparate acts of fagacity in various tribes 
 are fo often obfervable, their concurring 
 efforts are comparatively rare. Each 
 creature below us is conftituted the fole 
 guardian of its own privileges, feems, 
 as it were, a feparate fyftem, and the re- 
 fources of its own conftitution its natural 
 and its only fupport. Even the union 
 of the fexes, formed for the continuance 
 of the kind, is a temporary union, and 
 diffolves at the inftant when its operations 
 are no longer necefTary. As for larger 
 conventions, they are often purely cafual ; 
 and the invitation of the fame pafture will 
 at times folve fuch appearances, without 
 reforting to the ties either of dependence 
 or of love. It is thus tUe fowls of the air 
 alight fo often on the fame field. Thus the 
 
 ravens
 
 HISTORY OF MANKIND. u 
 
 ravens and other creatures of prey convene 
 around the body of a dead animal. And 
 thus the infect tribes are wont to aflemble 
 on the fame putrefaction in fuch amazing 
 fwarms, that naturalifts have been feduced, 
 by the appearance, into the belief of an 
 equivocal generation, as if thefe infects 
 were actually produced from the mafs of 
 corruption on which they feed. 
 
 An opinion of intercourfe in the lower 
 ranks of being is often fuggefted or 
 favoured by a propenfity there is in man, 
 to confer on every creature a portion of 
 his own nature. Suitable to this propen- 
 fity, in obferving a concourfe of animals, 
 however fortuitous, he magnifies every ap- 
 pearance in favour of the focial principle, 
 and prefumes a concert and government 
 where none in reality fubfift. It is the fame 
 propenfity which gives life to inanimate ob- 
 jects, and leads us fo irrefiftibly, on fome 
 occafions, to confider them as active and per- 
 
 1" ^3 
 
 cipient
 
 f2 ESSAYS ON THE 
 
 cipient beings. Withdraw the aid of ima- 
 gination, and the embelHfhments of fiction, 
 and much of that intercourfe is deftroyed, 
 which we prefume to reign in many de- 
 partments of the animal world. 
 
 Yet if urgent neceflity did not produce 
 a reparation, it is probable that the love of 
 herding would be univerfal. Animals, ac- 
 cordingly, that are folitary in one country, 
 are gregarious in another. Even the anti- 
 pathies among different tribes neceflity 
 often creates. For in fome regions of the 
 globe, where that neceflity does not fubfift, 
 animals of prey fufpend their hoftilities ; 
 and tribes, ufually accounted the moft im- 
 placable by nature, fulfil, in harmony, 
 their peculiar deftinations, without en- 
 croaching on each other's happinefs or 
 fecuriiy [C], 
 
 Upon the whole, we may pronounce 
 that interefted intercourfe in the animal 
 
 6 kingdom,
 
 HISTORY OF MANKIND* tj 
 
 kingdom, is greater in appearance than in 
 reality; that the concourfe of a tribe is 
 often accidental ; that all regular ceconomy 
 is under the direction of inftinct ; and that 
 in all the freer combinations, the fociety 
 is held together by the tie of affection or 
 confcious delight, more than by fear, or 
 mutual wants, or any neceflary call of 
 nature. 
 
 Such is the conftitution of the inferior 
 creation. Is the fame analogy obferved in 
 man ? Was he ever in this independent 
 and individual ftate ? Or wherein does his 
 pre-eminence confift ? Not, furely, in the 
 xnechanifm of thofe inftincts which direct 
 him to procure fubfiftence. The fenfes of 
 other animals are as acute as his. Not 
 in achievements by bodily ftrength. For, 
 in that particular, many of them far fur- 
 pafs him. Not in perform mgjoinffy, what 
 fo many other creatures can perform apart. 
 
 Mani-
 
 14 ESSAYS ON THE 
 
 Manifeftly, that would be no perfe&ion. 
 But in this his pre-eminence confifts, that 
 being as independent as they in all the cor- 
 poreal functions, impelled by no neceffity, 
 but by generous paffions, he rifes to im- 
 provements which flow from the union of 
 his kind. 
 
 In fome parts of our conftitution, it 
 cannot be denied, we refemble the other 
 animals. If therefore a time was when 
 thofe parts chiefly or alone were exer- 
 cifed, our obje&s, and purfuits, and habits 
 of living muft have been nearly fimi- 
 lar. I am far from affirming that ever 
 there was no diftinction. At all times, in 
 our walk, there is fome nobler aim. There 
 is fome inward confcioufnefs, fome decifive 
 mark of fuperiority in every condition of 
 men. But the line which meafures that 
 fuperiority is of very variable extent. 
 Let us allow but equal advantages from 
 5 culture
 
 HISTORY OF MANKIND. 15 
 
 culture to the mind and body; and it is 
 confequential to infer, that favages, in fome 
 of the wilder forms, muft be as inferior to 
 civilized man in intellectual abilities, and 
 in the peculiar graces of the mind, as they 
 furpafs him in the activity of their limbs, 
 in the command of their bodies, and in 
 the exertion of all the meaner functions. 
 Some ftriking inftances of favage tribes with 
 fo limited an underftanding, as is fcarce ca~ 
 pable of forming any arrangement for futu- 
 rity, are produced by an Hiftorian who 
 traces the progrefs of human reafon through 
 various ftages of improvement, and unites 
 truth with eloquence in his defcriptions of 
 mankind *. 
 
 In fome corners of the globe, if we may 
 credit report, man and beaft lead in the 
 foreft a fort of promifcuous life; and the 
 boundary is fcarce difcernible which divides 
 
 * Hiftory of America, v. i. pt 309. 
 
 the
 
 if ESSAYS ON THE 
 
 the rational from the animal world. This 
 fad, no doubt magnified by travellers and 
 hiftorians, and tortured in the theories of 
 philofophy, has however fome foundation, 
 and is in part confonant to our own expe- 
 rience. The progrefs of nations and of 
 men, though not exadly parallel, is found 
 in feveral refpects to correfpond : and in 
 the interval from infancy to manhood, 
 we may remark this gradual opening 
 of the human faculties. Firft of all, 
 thofe of fenfe appear, grow up fponta- 
 neoufly, or require but little culture. 
 Next in order, the propenfiti^s of the 
 heart difplay their force ; a fellow-feeling 
 with others unfolds itfelf gradually on the 
 appearance of proper objeds ; for man 
 becomes fociable long before he is a rational 
 being. Laft in the train, the powers of 
 intellect begin to bloflbm, are reared up 
 by culture, and demand an intercourfe of 
 minds. 
 
 When
 
 HISTORY OF MANKIND. $7 
 
 When we obferve, then, this analogy 
 between the individual and the fpecies ;' 
 when we obferve the gradation of improve- 
 ment, and the flow departure of man from 
 the confines of animal life; is there no 
 intimation here concerning his original 
 ftate, or rather concerning that ffate which 
 human nature uninformed, and unenlight- 
 ened by providence, muft have at firft af- 
 fumed ? When arts and dependence grow 
 together, and fubfift fo nearly in the fame 
 proportion, ought we not to regard them, 
 in the relation of caufe and effect, and con- 
 fequently allow of little or no dependence 
 before the birth of arts ? But the arts are 
 formed in the bofom of fociety. Society 
 therefore had another origin than mutual 
 dependence and mutual wants. It is not, 
 if I may fay fo, the fickly daughter of 
 calamity, nor even the production of an 
 afpiring understanding^ but the free and 
 legitimate offspring of the human heart. 
 
 C Yet
 
 i& ESSAYS ON THE 
 
 Yet the attempt were vain to refer the 
 origin of large communities to domeftic 
 relation and the ties of blood. 
 
 That natural affeftion * which belongs to 
 man belongs alfo to the inferior clafies, and 
 fubfifts among them with equal vigour. In 
 both, the mechanifm is the fame, and calcu- 
 lated with the fame defign. At firft therefore, 
 perhaps, it was proportioned to the exigency 
 of things, and as in them, fo in us like- 
 wife, of limited duration. The period of 
 geftation, in animals, is fo contrived as to 
 prevent all poffibility of incumbrance from 
 a fecond brood. But the period of preg- 
 nancy r , it is allowed, were by far too ihort 
 to difpenfe, in the human fpecies, with the 
 parental cares. The connexion, therefore, is 
 neceflarily more durable, its functions more 
 various and progreffive, and fuited to the 
 different ages and circumftances of a con- 
 nected and rifing progeny. Yet the im- 
 
 provements 
 

 
 HISTORY OF MANKIND. i 9 
 
 provements of focial life, by the intro- 
 duction of order, and by refining on all 
 the paflions and feelings of our frame, 
 have given to this inftinft a perpetuity un- 
 known in the primeval ftate. 
 
 Prior to fingle marriages, and the more 
 accurate afcertainment of families, an un- 
 certainty with regard to the progeny muft 
 have often fupprefTed the inftincl in the 
 breaft of the one parent ; and in the breaft 
 of the other parent, the equal licence of both 
 tended ultimately to its extinction or decay. 
 It is obfervable, even in our own times, 
 that the affections of a woman, mother to 
 feveral diftindt families, are exceedingly 
 liable to be eftranged from the children of 
 a former bed [Z)J. This remark on the 
 female character is at leaft as ancient as 
 Homer. 
 
 Even Ulyfles's queen was not prefumed 
 
 exempt from a frailty fo natural to her 
 
 C a fex.
 
 a<jr ESSAYS ON THE 
 
 fex. The yoking prince of Ithaca is ac- 
 cordingly warned by Minerva to return 
 home, before abfence and new engage- 
 ments had eftranged the heart of Penelope 
 from the fon of Ulyfles. 
 
 (( Thou know'ft the practice of the female 
 
 train. 
 
 ef Loft in the children of the prefent fpoufe,. 
 " They (light the pledges of their former 
 
 vows j 
 
 " Their love is always with the lover paft, 
 " Still the fucceeding flame expels the laft." 
 
 Odyfley, B. xv. v. 24. 
 
 Is love then at firft devoted to a fingle 
 object ? Is fuch abfolute confinement of 
 appetite a maxim of uninftru&ed nature I 
 The fuppofition, though it were not repug- 
 nant to every mode of appetite, and to the 
 wilder range of life, is irreconcileable with 
 the hiftory of the ruder ages. Some lati- 
 tude, in this refpeft, is almoft univerfal 
 after fociety has received a form ; and by 
 > 5 degrees
 
 HISTORY OF MANKIND. 21 
 
 degrees only is eftablifhed that ftri&er rule 
 which is fo often violated, when connected 
 with the moral harmony of the world, and 
 guarded by the fanctions of divine and 
 human laws []. The intereft of a fa- 
 mily, the order of foc'iety, juftifies the 
 reftraint. Even the amorous paffion, when 
 affociated with moral fentirnent, leads to 
 an exclufive and indiflbluble union ; and 
 the fweets of domeftic life make ample 
 amends for its moft fevere engagements. 
 But this adjuftment of things feems to be 
 an improvement, or refinement on the firfl 
 ceconomy ; owing its original either di- 
 rectly to divine command, or to the wifdom 
 of human policy. 
 
 In fome rude countries, according to the 
 information of modern travellers, rendered 
 credible by feveral paffages of antiquity, 
 the women are not only at the head of 
 domeftic government, but pofiefs a voice 
 C 3 and
 
 12 ESSAYS ON THE 
 
 and afcendency in public councils and de 
 liberations 
 
 Here then is probably difplayed a pecu- 
 liar and ftriking effect of gratitude and 
 natural authority ; and the weaker fex, 
 though deftined in the intermediate ages 
 of barbarifm to the moft deplorable fub- 
 jection, have derived from the love and 
 reverence of children, who know no other 
 parent, a rank and confideration fuperior 
 to what the rules of gallantry or genero- 
 fity prefcribe among the moft refined 
 nations, 
 
 On the commencement of domeftic order, 
 filial reverence, one of the flrongeft fenti- 
 ments that can touch the heart, fails not 
 to recognize its object, and ads with re- 
 doubled vigour when accumulated in one 
 direction. A variety of circumftances 
 augments its force ; and that natural love 
 
 which
 
 HISTORY OF MANKIND. 23 
 
 which feems not, in any other fpecies, to 
 afcend from the young to the parent, 
 afcends in ours with the firft dawnings of 
 reafon and morality, and forms a diftin- 
 guiming characteriftic of human kind. 
 
 But as, in fuch inftances, the paternal 
 inftincts are of more precarious exertion, 
 at an sera further back, the maternal in- 
 ftincts likewife may have been conftituted 
 in circumftances which render them fluctu^ 
 ating and temporary. 
 
 It is not then fuch partial principles 
 which could have formed or embodied 
 the larger communities of mankind. It is 
 not a parent, a child, or a brother, but 
 the fpecies itfelf, that is the object em- 
 braced by humanity. In fome cafes, per- 
 haps, the patriarchal government may have 
 furnifhed the model of a larger plan ; but 
 mankind were before in poffeflion of the 
 fweets of an independent fociety. The mem- 
 C 4 hers
 
 04- ESSAYS ON THE 
 
 bers of a family became members of this fo- 
 ciety, before they became members of a ftate. 
 A thoufand circumftances in the range of 
 being, convening numbers of the fpecies on 
 the fame ftage, muft have prefented the op- 
 portunities of focial life. The only queftion 
 is, how regular intercourfe was formed, 
 how ftrangers were converted into acquaint- 
 ance, and how thole who came together 
 at firft by accident came afterwards to 
 aflemble by appointment. 
 
 With fimilar appetites and congenial 
 paflions, the excurfions of individuals will 
 often coincide. They will be found occa- 
 fionally on the banks of the fame river, or 
 in the fame corner of the grove. The 
 reiterated appearance of the objects flowly 
 and imperceptibly calls forth new defires. 
 Each interview has its effect. The bruta- 
 lity of the favage begins to vanifh. Some 
 refinement appears. An appetite for fo- 
 ciety ripens, which afterwards muft be 
 
 gratified
 
 HISTORY OF MANKIND. 25 
 
 gratified as well as other appetites. Little 
 plans are carried on in concert ; and at a 
 time when no difcordant interefts, or va- 
 rious purfuits, had diverfified the fcene, a 
 fmall community might be kept together 
 by the tie of fociability and reciprocal love. 
 
 In thefe days of envy, and of intereft, we 
 are little able to conceive its force ; nor, if 
 the feelings remained, could artificial lan- 
 guage, in this refpect, fupply the language 
 of nature. When fimilar functions and 
 occupations in civil fociety prove fo often a 
 bond of union among thofe of the fame 
 order, how immenfe muft have been the 
 effect of an exact conformity of life ! That 
 'refemblance of difpofition and of character, 
 which is the cement of little aflbciations, 
 and is the principle of private friendfhip, 
 was the original bafis of public union. 
 The hiftory of the Soldurii in Gaul, 
 of the ancient Germans, and of other 
 public bodies, whereof there are fo many 
 
 examples
 
 2 6 ESSAYS ON THE 
 
 examples ia the fimple ages, evidences the 
 inability of thofe facred bonds and confede- 
 racies that originate in the heart. The 
 hiftory too of fome of the South Sea ifles, 
 which the late voyages of difcovery have 
 tended to difclofe, enables us to glance at 
 fociety in fome of its earlier forms, and to 
 mark, in fome ftriking examples, the in- 
 violable fidelity of focial love. 
 
 The principles of union are, in the 
 order of things, prior to the principles of 
 hoftility. The former are, in truth, pro- 
 dudive of the latter, which, in a more 
 advanced period, burning forth, like a tor- 
 rent, againft other tribes, disfigures the 
 character of uncivilized nations. 
 
 The afFedions of the heart are of limited 
 exertion ; and that mutual love, which is 
 confined within a narrow fphere, triumphs, 
 as it were, over the fentiment which gave 
 
 it
 
 HISTORY OF MANKIND. 27 
 
 it birth, and creates, in a competition of 
 interefts, fuch fierce animofity among con- 
 tending tribes. 
 
 As emigrants in rude ages ufually pafs 
 their own frontiers with hoftile minds, 
 they are regarded by others with a jealous 
 eye; and in the penury of language, a 
 Jlranger and an enemy may receive one 
 common name, It was thus the ancient 
 Romans, addicted to piracy and war, and 
 confequently jealous of the defigns of 
 others, ufed the fame term in both thefe 
 fenfes ; for this is more probable far, ac- 
 cording to the obfervation of an ingenious 
 modern, than the folution of Tulfy, who 
 takes occafion, from this coincidence, to 
 extol the humanity of his anceftors. But 
 fuch criticifms affedt not the general 
 hiftory of rude nations. When there is 
 no ground of variance, the original fenti- 
 ment revives in all its force, the rights of 
 
 hofpitality
 
 28 
 
 hofpitality are peculiarly revered, and an 
 unfufpected ftranger is embraced with a 
 fondnefs and cordiality which redeems the 
 character of the fpecies. 
 
 Thus have we reached that univerfal 
 principle which reigns, in fome degree, in 
 every diftrict of nature. The moft rapa- 
 cious of animals confefs its power; and, 
 while at war with the reft of the creation, 
 fympathize with each other, and refufe to 
 tafte the blood of any of their own kind. 
 This harmony of things, fo confpicuous in 
 the inferior orders of life, feems to affront 
 the conduct of the rational fpecies. Mo- 
 ' ralifts and poets have availed themfelves 
 of this topic, and inveigh with indignant 
 fpirit againft that proftitution of fentiment, 
 which, forming an exception to a law 
 almoft univerfal, requires the effufion of 
 human blood. Thus the Roman poet ex- 
 
 poftulates
 
 HISTORY OF MANKIND. 3$ 
 
 populates with a degenerate age in thefe 
 admirable lines : 
 
 Quando leoni 
 
 Fortior eripuit vitam leo ? quo nemore 
 
 unquam 
 
 Expiravit aper majoris dentibus apri ? 
 Indica tigris agit rabMa cum tigride pacem 
 Perpetuam : fevis inter fe convenit urfis. 
 Aft homini' 
 
 Juv. Sat. xv. lib. 5. 
 
 Such reproaches indeed are chargeable on 
 mankind ; but touch not the clear dictates 
 of morality, nor the primeval rectitude of 
 the heart. 
 
 The great lines of humanity are legible 
 in all communities ; and it is the defcrip- 
 tion of every country under heaven, 
 
 Sunt hie etiam fua prsemia laudi; 
 
 Sunt lachrymas rerum, et mentem mortalia 
 tangunt. 
 
 The love of the fpecies is the grand 
 principle of attraction, as eflential to the 
 
 rational,
 
 36 ESSAYS ON THE 
 
 rational, and, in fome degree, to the ani- 
 mal, as gravitation to the material world : 
 nor wilder were the attempt to expound 
 the harmony of the folar fyftem from the 
 limited attraction of magnetifm, than to 
 expound the combination of tribes, and the 
 moral harmony of nations, from the opera- 
 tion of partial inftincls. Even pride, the 
 paflion which divides mankind, was origi- 
 nally a principle of union. It was a fenfe 
 of the dignity of the fpecies, not an 
 opinion of fuperiority among individuals ; 
 and with exalted notions of their own 
 rank, they referved for the inferior crea- 
 tures that fovereign contempt which they 
 can now beftow fo liberally on their fellow 
 men. 
 
 In fuch circumftances it was impoflible 
 for mankind not to meditate, from the 
 beginning, a feparation from the life of 
 brutes. They muft have conceived the 
 plan of holding the dominion of the world; 
 
 and
 
 HISTORY OF MANKIND. 3* 
 
 and actuated with a decent pride, the con- 
 fcioufnefs of their own pre-eminence, they 
 became daily more and more fufceptible of 
 reafon, of morality, and of religion. Thus 
 are the foundations laid, upon which were 
 afterwards reared, by flow advances, the 
 fuperftructure of policy and arts. In fociety 
 the faculties have an object. The fprings 
 of ingenuity are put into motion ; and the 
 language of nature gradually participates 
 of art. The efforts of genius excite admi- 
 ration. The acquifitions of induftry, or 
 invention, confer a right which fuggefts 
 the idea of property; and the diftinctions 
 of natural talents lay a foundation for 
 correfponding diftinctions in fociety. 
 
 But thefe inventions and improvements, 
 which do honour to our nature, tended at 
 the fame time to divide mankind. On this 
 account it may be queftioned, whether the 
 enlargement of our faculties, and all the 
 6 advan-
 
 3* ESSAYS ON THE 
 
 advantages from arts, counterbalance the 
 feuds and animofities which they foon in- 
 troduced into the world. The ferene and 
 joyous interval between the rudenefs of 
 mere animal life, and the diflenfions of 
 civil fociety, conftituted, perhaps, that 
 ihort but happy period, to which antiquity 
 refers in her defcriptions of the golden age. 
 
 No theory, indeed, in morals, or in go- 
 vernment, was then devifed. Yet moral 
 lules were feldom broken, when an equal 
 and generous commerce was the rule of 
 government. And it is amufmg to obferve 
 into what abfurdities fpeculative men have 
 been fo often carried upon thefe fubjecls 
 by prefumption, by affe&ation, or by the 
 love of paradox. 
 
 Hence a variety of theories, ancient and 
 modern, concerning the origin of moral 
 fentiment. 
 
 Epicurus
 
 HISTORY OF MANKIND. 33 
 
 Epicurus obferving the external advan- 
 tages refulting to the individual from moral 
 tonduct, purfued the idea fo far as to allow 
 fuperior advantages, and pleafures of a 
 higher relifh, altogether to efcape his no- 
 tice. It is indeed ftrange that any obferver 
 fhould omit this obvious comment ori 
 human life, That to be the object of 
 love, of efteem, and of refpect, is in. 
 itfelf far more defirable than all the confe- 
 quences with regard to external eafe and 
 fecurity that can be derived from that 
 fountain. But Epicurus could contemplate 
 beauty neither in nature nor in man. And 
 what better could be expected from the 
 philofopher who had afcribed the origin 
 bf worlds to a fortuitous concourfe of 
 atoms ? 
 
 A Writer of the lafr. age, in the compo- 
 fition of a philofophical romance, is flill 
 more extravagant. 
 
 D All
 
 34 ESSAYS ON THE 
 
 All virtue, according to him, confifts in 
 obedience to the public magiftrate ; and all 
 moral obligations are the offspring of civil 
 government. 
 
 But has government, it may be afked, 
 any creative power ? Or whence the duty 
 of allegiance, if there was no primeval 
 law? Would not Amphion and Orpheus 
 have ftrung their lyres in vain ? 
 
 It is no wonder that the fame writer 
 jfhould arraign the genius of the ancient 
 republics, and condemn to the flames all 
 Greek and Roman learning as a fovereign 
 expedient for ftrengthening the hands of 
 government. 
 
 But I am not called upon, by my fub- 
 Jed, to explain or to refute fuch fyftems. 
 And I fhall content myfelf with obferving, 
 that a late publication, much read and 
 admired in our fafhionable world, is more 
 8 danger-
 
 HISTORY OF MANKIND. 35 
 
 dangerous than any fpeculative theory to 
 the morals of the rifing generation. As 
 patrons of licentioufnefs, Epicurus and 
 Hobbes, and even Machiavel and Mande- 
 ville, muft bow to the noble author. 
 
 It is in the fpirit of his performance to 
 feparate the honeftum from the decorum of 
 life ; to infult whatever is venerable in 
 domeftic alliance ; to fubftitute artificial 
 manners in the room of the natural; to 
 raife fuperficial above folid accomplishment, 
 and to hold up diffimulation and impofture 
 as the eflentials of character. 
 
 This is a fpecies of refinement avowed 
 in no former age. It contains a folecifm 
 in education, and in the oeconomy of civil 
 affairs. 
 
 To exalt the Graces above Virtue, is, if 
 
 I may fay fo, to exalt creatures above their 
 
 Creator. The Graces are chiefly amiable 
 
 as emblems of Virtue. Break this alliance, 
 
 D 2 and
 
 36 ESSAYS ON THE 
 
 and they are no more. Unite them with the 
 oppofite character, and this fantaftical con- 
 junction renders a monfter Hill more 
 deformed. For my own part, I had as 
 foon behold the monfter itfelf in all the 
 horrors of its native deformity, as in fuch 
 infolent attire. 
 
 The Graces are the handmaids of Virtue, 
 not the fovereigns ; and all their honours 
 are derived. But Virtue, though naked and 
 unadorned, were Virtue ftill. 
 
 Quam ardentes amores non excitaret fin, 
 fi videretur ! 
 
 How different was the conduct of a Ro- 
 man ftatefman, when, in the perfon of a 
 father, he delivered inftru&ions to youth ! 
 The inftrudions of the Roman fill the 
 young with rapture. Thoie of the Briton 
 excite indignation in the aged. But I afk 
 pardon of the reader, xvhen I name the 
 Britifh author iri the fame breath with 
 
 Cicero.
 
 HISTORY OF MANKIND. 37 
 
 Cicero. And if the fyftem of the noble 
 lord was defigned merely for the courtier, 
 with the courtier let it reft. Without the 
 formality of fyftem, the ftrit obfervance of 
 moral rules is difpenfed with in the nego- 
 piations of courts. 
 
 Let it be numbered then among courtly 
 privileges to patronize deceit. When per- 
 fidy and diffimulation are declared by 
 patent to belong to the members of the 
 diplomatic body, they will become, per- 
 haps, more emphatically, the reprefentatives, 
 of kings. 
 
 But while things are thus adjufted to the 
 meridian of courts; while the civil code^ 
 in many countries, is no more than the 
 breath of kings ; and, in all countries, 
 may be diflblved by legiflative power ; the 
 moral code, which is paramount to all civil 
 authority,- and from which all civil obli- 
 gations arife, remains eternally in force. 
 
 D< It
 
 38 ESSAYS ON THE 
 
 <<; , L ' ; * > ; - * - '- : > - jl& ' J - 
 
 vw 
 
 It was delivered from heaven to the 
 people, and to maintain its authority is the 
 jus divinum of nations. 
 
 With thefe fentiments I clofe the Efiay: 
 and fuch fentiments are addrefled more 
 particularly to the Britifh youth by one of 
 their public guardians, who then only 
 feels the full importance of his ftation 
 when he animates the rifmg generation in. 
 the purfuits of honour.
 
 HISTORY OF MANKIND. 39 
 
 NOTES. 
 
 NOTE (XJ, p. 9. 
 
 SI R William Temple, in an Eflay on Heroic 
 Virtue, defcends into the following detail, 
 which, on account of its importance, I lay 
 before my Readers, in the words of that intel- 
 ligent and agreeable Writer. 
 
 " The fecond obfervation I mail make upon 
 " the fubject of victory and conqueft is, that 
 " they have in general been made by the fmaller 
 " numbers over the greater; againft which I 
 " do not remember any exception in all the 
 " famous battles regiftered in ftory, excepting 
 " that of Tamerlane and Bajazec, whereof the 
 " firft is faid to have exceeded about a fourth 
 " part in number, though they were fo vaft on 
 " both fides that they were not very eafy to be 
 " well accounted. For the reft, the numbers 
 " of the Perfians with Cyrus were fmall to 
 ? thofe of the Aflyrians : thofe of the Mace- 
 D 4 donians
 
 40 ESSAYS ON THE 
 
 " donians were in no battle againft the Perfians 
 
 " above forty thoufand men, though fome- 
 
 " times againft three, four, or fix hundred 
 
 " thoufand. 
 
 " The Athenian army little exceeded ten 
 " thoufand, and fighting for the liberties of 
 " their country, beat above fix fcore thoufand 
 " Perfians at Marathon. 
 
 " The Lacedemonians, in all the famous 
 " exploits of that ftate, never had above twelve 
 " thoufand Spartans in the field at a time, and 
 " feldom above twenty thoufand men with their 
 " allies. 
 
 " The Romans ever fought with fmaller 
 
 " againft greater numbers, unlefs in the battles 
 
 " of Cannae and Thrafymene, which were the 
 
 * c only famous ones they loft againft foreign 
 
 " enemies ; and C^far's army at Pharfalia, as 
 
 " well as in Gaul and Germany, were in no 
 
 " proportion to thofe he conquered. That of 
 
 " Marius was not above forty thoufand againft 
 
 " three hundred thoufand (Timbers. The famous 
 
 " victories of ^Euus and Belifarius againft the 
 
 " barbarous northern nations were with mighty 
 
 " difproportion of numbers, as likewife the firfh 
 
 " victories
 
 HISTORY OF MANKIND. 4 < 
 
 f victories of the Turks upon the Perfian king- 
 * 6 dom -, of the Tartars upon the Chinefe : and 
 " Scanderbeg never faw together above fixteen 
 " thoufand men in all the renowned victories 
 " he achieved againft the Turks, though in 
 " number fometimes above a hundred thou- 
 V fand. 
 
 " To defcend to later times, the Englifh. 
 *' victories fo renowned at Crefly, and Poictiers, 
 " and Agincourt, were gained with difadvan- 
 " tages of numbers out of all proportion. The 
 " great achievements of Charles VIII. in Italy, 
 " of Henry IV. in France, and of Guftavus 
 " Adolphus in Germany, were ever performed 
 " with Tmaller againft greater numbers ; and 
 " among all the exploits which have fo juftly 
 " raifed the reputation and honour of Monf. 
 " Turenne for the greateft Captain in his time, 
 " I do not remember any of them were achieved 
 " without difad\ 7 antage of number ; and the 
 " late defeat of the Turks at the fiege of 
 " Vienna, which faved Chriftendom, and has 
 '* eternized the memory of the duke of Lor- 
 " raine, was too frefh and great an example of 
 " this aflertion to need any more, or leave it in 
 '* difpute." Upon thefe inconteftible fads the 
 argument proceeds thus : " If it be true, which 
 
 " I think
 
 42 E.SSAYS ON THE 
 
 " I think will not be denied, that the battle is 
 " loft where the fright firft enters, then the 
 " reafon will appear why victory has generally 
 " followed the fmaller numbers; becaufe, in a 
 *' body compofed of more parts, it may fooner 
 " enter upon one than in that which confilb of 
 " fewer, as likelier to find ten wife men toge- 
 " ther than an hundred, and an hundred fear- 
 *' lefs men than a thoufand. And thole who 
 " have the fmaller forces endeavour mo ft to 
 " fupply that defeat by the choice difcipline 
 *' and bravery of their troops , and where the 
 *' fright once enters an army, the greater the 
 " number the greater the diforder, and thereby 
 " the lofs of the battle more certain and 
 " fudden." 
 
 The truth of the above might be illuftrated 
 by more recent examples, and a more copious 
 induction. The obfervation, fince our Author's 
 time, is confirmed by the experience of another 
 century. In the memorable battle of Plafly, 
 the Englifh army under Lord Clive defeated 
 an enemy which outnumbered them ten to one. 
 
 The King of Pruffia's battles in the laft war 
 would form a feries of fplendid examples in 
 fupport of the fame conclufion, if the fuperior 
 
 abilities
 
 HISTORY OF MANKIND. 43 
 
 abilities of that great Prince were not alone 
 fufficient to account for his fuperiority in arms. 
 
 But the fac"ls above fpecified are fully fuffi- 
 cient for the afcertainment of fo curious a phe- 
 nomenon, on the caufes of which our Author 
 has defcanted with fo much ability. 
 
 NOTE [5], p. 9. 
 
 / T~ A HERE are certain principles in the con- 
 ftitution both of men and animals, which 
 lead blindly and irrefiftibly to unknown ends. 
 To thefe we give the name of inftinB-, and to 
 define its exertions in all their variety and extent, 
 forms one of the niceft queftions in philofophy. 
 The province of reafon having been confined 
 to abftract conclufions, it has been doubted 
 whether it belongs at all to animals ; and habits 
 and inftir.cts have been deemed fufficient to 
 account for their whole ceconomy. Jealous of 
 our prerogative, we would not have inferior 
 creatures to claim, in this particular, any kin- 
 dred with the human mind. 
 
 It is however certain, that animals are capable 
 of recollection, and of forefight ; and by confe- 
 quence poffefs the faculty which infers the 
 
 future
 
 44 ESSAYS ON THE 
 
 future from the paft. Many of them too dif- 
 cover an inventive faculty; and when drawn 
 into artificial circumftances beyond their ufual 
 tract of life, extricate themfelves with an addrefs 
 and fagacity that would be deemed rational in 
 man. Admitting then to animals fome degree 
 of reafon, as well as inftinct, it is of importance 
 to define their refpective functions. 
 
 It is one criterion of inftinR to be uniform in 
 . its proceedings : reafon is various, and fuppofes 
 a choice. The one principle, as far as it ex- 
 tends, is infallible in its determinations ; but 
 the other principle is liable to error. The one 
 acquires maturity at once, and fuperfedes expe- 
 rience, and is incapable of culture. The other 
 is guided by experience, and (lands in need of 
 culture, and arrives gradually at different flages 
 of perfection. 
 
 Infiintt is fixed and immutable, not in the 
 fabric only of a fingle animal ; the fame exer- 
 tions of it are common to the fpecies. But 
 reafon, which becomes more or lefs perfect in 
 the fame individual, is dealt out in various 
 meafure and proportion to the feveral indivi- 
 duals of the kind. 
 
 Thefe
 
 HISTORY OF MANKIND. 45 
 
 Thefe principles feem counterparts to each 
 other in the fyftem of creation. In proportion 
 as the one is denied, the other comes in aid of 
 the defect. 
 
 The perfection of reafon would fuperfede the 
 neceffity of inftinct ; but its imperfection calls 
 aloud for this auxiliary. 
 
 Inftinct accordingly is, in the human fpecles, 
 more confpicuous-in infancy than in manhood; 
 and reigns moft abfolutely in all the meaner 
 departments of animal life. The fowls of the 
 air, the fifties of the fea, and the infect tribes, 
 feem wifer, in this refpect, than he who ilyles 
 himfelf Lord of the Creation. 
 
 But is this the wifdom of the animal ? It is 
 rather the wifdom of nature. 
 
 Hinc ille avium concentus in agris, 
 
 Et laetae pecucles, & ovantes gutture corvi. 
 
 Nature has drawn a veil over this part of her 
 proceedings, and that veil what mortal can 
 remove ? At leaft fure I am, I may apply to 
 my own fpeculations on this myfterious theme 
 what the poet Simonides, when revolving on 
 
 the
 
 46 ESSAYS ON THE 
 
 the nature of the gods, obferved to the King of 
 Syracufe, 
 
 Quanto diutius confidero, tanto mihi res videtur 
 obfcurior. 
 
 NOTE [C], p. 12. 
 
 A Navigator, whofe prefent voyage, we hope, 
 for the honour of civilized nations, will 
 not be difturbed by the prefent hoftilities, thus 
 defcribes, in a former voyage, the condition of 
 animals on a fequeftered ifland, near Staten- 
 land in the South Sea. 
 
 " It is amazing to fee how the different ani- 
 mals which inhabit this little fpot are mutually 
 " reconciled. They feem to have entered into 
 < a league not to difturb each others, tranquil- 
 " lity. The fea-lions occupy moft of the fea- 
 " coaft ; the fea-bears take up their abode in 
 <c the ifle; the (hags have poft in the higheft 
 " cliffs ; the penguins fix their quarters where is 
 " the moft eafy communication to and from the 
 * fea ; and the other birds chnfe more retired 
 " places. We have feen all thefe animals mix 
 " together, like domeftic cattle and poultry in 
 *' a farm yard, without one attempting to moleft 
 
 " the
 
 HISTORY OF MANKIND. 47 
 
 66 the other. Nay, I have often obferved the 
 " eagles and vultures fitting in the hillocks 
 " among the fhags, without the latter, either 
 " young or old, being diflurbed at their pre- 
 " fence. It may be afked how thefe birds of 
 " prey live ? I fuppofe on the carcafes of feals, 
 " and birds which die by various caufes j and 
 " probably not a few, as they are fo nume- 
 " rous." 
 
 A Voyage towards the South Pole, &c. 
 By James Cooke. Vol. ii. p. 206. 
 
 NOTE [D], p. 19. 
 
 T T is the tendency of a fecond marriage to 
 weaken the ties of filial, as of parental love : 
 and this effect is by far more confpicuous in the 
 fecond marriage of a mother than of a father; 
 a circumftance which fuggefts a curious queftion 
 in the theory of moral fentiment, an ingenious 
 folution of which may be feen in the philofophy 
 of Hume. 
 
 Treatife of Hum. Nat. v. ii. p. 140. 
 
 NOTE
 
 48 ESSAYS ON THE 
 
 NOTE [], p. 21. 
 
 I E plan of domeftic fociety is various in 
 different ages and nations. In different 
 climates and fituations it becomes more or lefs 
 expedient to controul the love of variety, and 
 natural the licentioufnefs of defire. 
 
 A community of wives was allowed in Sparta. 
 A latitude of the fame kind was indulged at 
 Rome. Such communities were found efta- 
 blifhed among the ancient Britons, and take 
 place among various tribes of Barbarians. In 
 other cafes, the irkfome fituation of fathers 
 under an imprefiion of a dubious progeny has 
 led to a fyftem of reftraint, and prevention no 
 lefs barbarous than inhuman. Some nations, 
 diftruftful of all the moral guardians of female 
 virtue, prevent by phyfical expedients the pofii- 
 bility of tranfgreffion. The modern Arabians 
 in particular, among whom jealoufy is the reign- 
 ing paflion, are guilty of a fpecies of violence 
 too fhocking for defcription. 
 
 Polygamy,
 
 HISTORY OF MANKIND. 49 
 
 Polygamy however, in fome form or other, 
 appears to have been almoft univerfal. The 
 moderation indeed of the ancient Germans is 
 mentioned by Tacitus j yet among them a plu- 
 rality of wives was not without example. Even, 
 a plurality of bufbands, according to Strabo, 
 took place in certain provinces of the Medean 
 empire : and fuch plurality is recognized in the 
 Gentoo code. 
 
 The abolition therefore of polygamy has been 
 reprefented by fome writers as a fort of fump- 
 tuary law, founded on the exigencies of civil 
 fociety. 
 
 But againft one fpecies of polygamy the want 
 of the afcertainment of the father forms an 
 infuperable objection. Nor is it by any means 
 clear that polygamy, in its more admiffible form, 
 and how well foever regulated, is conducive to 
 population or public profperity ; and the near 
 equality in the number of each fex, fufficiently 
 arraigns the juftice of this eftablifhment. Where 
 that proportion fubfifts, a community of wives, 
 though defervedly exploded as tending to relax 
 or to annihilate the paternal tie, is, perhaps, 
 more defenfible than the exclufive poffeflion of 
 a plurality. But mould the proportion be in- 
 E terrupted
 
 5<x ESSAYS ON THE 
 
 terrupted or broken by peftilence, by war, or 
 other fignal calamity, a well ordered polygamy 
 might poffibly ferve as a temporary expedient 
 for repairing the depopulation of mankind. 
 
 On fuch emergency it was allowed at Athens ; 
 and from a conviction, no doubt, of its pro- 
 priety, Socrates and Euripides availed them- 
 felves of the indulgence. But fuch conjunctures 
 are rare; and an exclufive polygamy mud irt 
 general be regarded in a lefs favourable light, 
 as the moft dangerous monopoly that ever 
 claimed the protection of government, and in 
 its origin and progrefs as an ufurpation of the 
 powerful and opulent on the equal pretenfions 
 of mankind. 
 
 Perhaps the liberty of divorce tended, at leaft 
 in the more temperate climates, to reconcile ali 
 ranks to a more equal plan. 
 
 The inftitution vifingle marriages accordingly 
 was in Greece as ancient as Cecrops, and was 
 adopted by the Romans as the moft perfect 
 plan of domeftic life. Yet even under this 
 inftitution, the perpetuity of the marriage-union 
 may be vindicated on folid grounds : and a 
 rifing progeny, the offspring of mutual love, 
 
 tends
 
 HISTORY OF MANKIND. 51 
 
 tends to confolidate the alliance, as well as to 
 render its obligations indiffbluble. It is accord- 
 ingly remarkable, that divorces, though per- 
 mitted by law, were, during a period of five 
 hundred years, unprecedented in the annals of 
 Rome. 
 
 It is nolefs remarkable, according to the ob- 
 fervation of a learned prelate *, that the number 
 of divorces in the prefent reign equals the accu- 
 mulated number upon record, in all preceding 
 reigns, in the annals of England. 
 
 This decline of public manners is furely 
 alarming, and calls, perhaps, for the interpofi- 
 tion of legislative power. But it is feldom in 
 the power of government to mend the morals 
 of a people, while ill digefted attempts may 
 ferve rather to haften corruption. 
 
 Whether it is poffible for the wifdom of a 
 Bricifh Parliament, to recal, in our age, the 
 dignity of domeftic life, I pretend not to decide. 
 Let it fuffice to obferve that, in the difTolute 
 ages of antiquity, this liberty of divorce, autho- 
 rized on fo flight pretences by the legiflation of 
 Greece and Rome, and even tolerated under 
 
 * The Bifhop of Llandaff, 
 
 E 2 the
 
 52 ESSAYS ON THE 
 
 the Jevvifh ceconomy, became a fource of the 
 moil odious corruption. The circumftances of 
 the world called aloud for reformation. A 
 latitude in this article was found alarming to 
 
 o 
 
 the peace and order of fociety, and was finally 
 reprobated and abolilhed by the maxims of our 
 holy religion. 
 
 Upon the whole, it may be affirmed that the 
 inftitution of marriage, more or lefs perfect in 
 different countries, is regulated in the belt 
 manner poffible, under the Chriftian fyflem. 
 The liberty of divorce is dangerous, a com- 
 munity barbarous, and polygamy unjuft. 
 
 It may farther be obferved, that the laws of 
 moft countries, relative to inceft, though not 
 the immediate fuggeftions of inftincl:, are found- 
 ed on obvious views of expediency and public 
 order. Inceft in the afcending and defcending 
 lines is fo uniformly odious and fhocking, that 
 the prohibition may be regarded as the unalter- 
 able and declared fenfe cf mankind, wherever 
 thefe relations are known. The inceftuous 
 marriages of the Afiyrians, Perfians, and fome 
 others, which feem to militate againft this con- 
 clufion, are rightly afcribed to the dictates of 
 a falfe religion, which is found, in fo many 
 
 inftances,
 
 HISTORY OF MANKIND. 53 
 
 inftances, to triumph over the cleared maxims 
 of reafon and morality. 
 
 There is no ground then to accufe fuch falu- 
 tary regulations, or envying the unlimited in- 
 dulgence of other times, to exclaim in the 
 intemperate language of the poet, 
 
 ..... -Felices quibus ijia licent ! 
 
 ... humana malignas 
 
 Cura dedit leges : & quod natura remittit 
 Invida jura negant. 
 
 OVID. L. 10. 
 
 NOTE [F], p. 22. 
 
 r "pACITUS, Plutarch, and others, bear 
 teftimony to the honourable rank of the 
 other fex among the ancient Gauls. They are 
 even faid to have conferred the fupreme judica- 
 ture on their wives, fupplanted, however, in 
 that function by an artful priefthood. The 
 women were no lefs honoured among the ancient 
 Britons. They were not only fuffered to vote 
 in public affemblies, but raifed occasionally to 
 the fovereignty of provinces, and even to the 
 command of armies. Their importance among 
 the ancient Germans, and in general under the 
 E 3 Gothic
 
 54 ESSAYS ON THE 
 
 Gothic conflitutions, is eftablifhed by a writer 
 who has illuflrated the liberal genius of feudal 
 aflbciations, and vindicated, in fome material 
 points, the character of our remote anceftors *. 
 
 f 
 In feveral countries of Africa the women are 
 
 {Till permitted to vote in public ; and a multi- 
 tude of fimilar examples might be drawn from 
 the annals of uncivilized nations. But the 
 \ Author cf the Eflay on the Hiftcry of Civil 
 Society, in delineating the character of rude 
 nations, prior to the eftablimment of property, 
 explains the fads alluded to fomewhat dif- 
 ferently. 
 
 He admits, that children are confidered as 
 pertaining to the mother, with little regard to 
 dcfcmt on the father's fide. He admits, that 
 domeftic functions are committed to the women, 
 that the property of the houfhold is veiled in 
 them, and even that the hunter and the warrior 
 are numbered as a part of their treafure ; but 
 contends, " that this fpecies of property is in 
 ' reality a mark of fubjection j not, fays he, 
 as fome writers allege, of their -having ac- 
 & quired the afcendanr.." 
 
 * See a Vice/ of Society in Europe, by G. Stewart, LL. D. 
 f J)r. Adum Fergufbn. 
 
 But
 
 HISTORY OF MANKIND. 55 
 
 But Ihould we admit to this ingenious Author, 
 that the occupations allotted for the women are 
 accounted more inglorious than the toils of war, 
 and would even be thought to fully and debafe 
 the character of the warrior or hero ; yet fuch 
 arrangements, without derogating from the pre- 
 rogative of the fuperior fex, mufl render the 
 condition of the inferior more eligible far than 
 in feveral of the fucceeding ftages in civil fo- 
 ciety : " And if," to ufe the language of our 
 Author, " in this tender, though unequal alli- 
 ance, the affections of the heart prevent the 
 feverities pracYifed on (laves-, we have in the 
 cuftom itfelf, as, perhaps, in many other in- 
 ftances, reafon to prefer the firft fuggeftions of , 
 nature to many of her after-refinements." 
 
 In fuch circumftances too the matrons, as the 
 only afcertained parents of the riling generation, 
 could not fail to command exclufivcly that re- 
 fpect and reverence which is the ufual tribute 
 of filial love. The due balance of domeftic 
 authority being maintained by the equal afcer- 
 tainment of both parents, where the defcent is 
 dubious on one fide, the balance muft incline 
 ftrongly to the other ; and though it is fcarcely 
 credible that mankind ever carried their jealoufy 
 
 4 of
 
 56 ESSAYS ON THE 
 
 of this authority fo far, as to undermine its 
 foundations, by changing the children as foon 
 as born-, we may believe that uncertainty of 
 defcent on the fathers fide contributed to 
 the importance at which the women arrived 
 in Britain, in Gaul, in Sparta, and other 
 ftates. 
 
 When it was obferved by one of another 
 country to the wife of Leonidas, that at Sparta 
 alone the women ruled the men, (he replied, 
 with becoming fpirit, " we are the only women 
 who bring forth men." 
 
 The love of war and of women is combined, 
 according to Ariftotle, in the character of na-r 
 tions. And it muft be admitted, that a fpirit 
 of gallantly, and a generous protection of the 
 weaker fex, which form diftinguifhing features 
 of the heroic age, are by no means unexer- 
 cifed in the earlieft arrangements of the human 
 fpecies. 
 
 The fair fex commanded more veneration 
 among the ancrent Celtic nations of Europe 
 than among the Greeks and Romans, whom 
 we are accuftpmed to regard as the moft civil- 
 ized
 
 HISTORY OF MANKIND. 57 
 
 ized nations of antiquity. And their condi- 
 tion, though not to be envied, was lefs un- 
 happy among the rude tribes in North America, 
 than in the cultivated empires of Peru and 
 Mexico, in other refpefts the moil enlightened 
 governments of the new hemifphere.
 
 ESSAY II. 
 
 ON LANGUAGE, AS AN UNIVERSAL ACCOM- 
 PLISHMENT. 
 
 IN tracing the origin of arts and faiences, 
 it is not uncommon to afcribe to the 
 genius of a few fuperior minds, what 
 arifes necefiarily out of the fyflem of man. 
 The efforts of an individual are familiar 
 to the eye. The efforts of the fpecies are 
 more remote from fight, and often too 
 deep for our refearches. 
 
 The connexion, therefore, of events 
 with an individual, is a more popular 
 idea, while it gratifies an admiration 
 and enthufiafm natural to the human 
 mind. Hence the conduct of hiftorians, 
 who defcribe the origin of nations. Hence 
 z are
 
 60 ESSAYS ON THE 
 
 are celebrated among every people, the firft 
 inventors of arts, the founders of fociety, 
 and the inflitutors of laws and govern- 
 ment. 
 
 Such revolutions, however, in the con- 
 dition of the world, are more juftly reputed 
 the flow refult of fituations than of regular 
 defign, and have, perhaps, lefs exercifed 
 the talents of fuperior genius, than thofe 
 of mankind at large. Ufages there furely 
 are of mere arbitrary inflitution ; inventions 
 there furely are which originate with one 
 only, or with a few authors. But other 
 ufages and inventions as neceflarily refer 
 themfelves to the multitude; nor ought 
 the cafual exertions of the former to be 
 confounded with the infallible attainments 
 of the fpecies. 
 
 Under this precaution, then, let us intro- 
 duce the queftion concerning language. Is 
 language, it may be aiked, derived to us 
 
 at
 
 HISTORY OF MANKIND. 61 
 
 at firft from the happy invention of a few, 
 or to be regarded as an original accom- 
 plifhment and inveftiture of nature, or to 
 be attributed to fome fucceeding effort of 
 the human mind ? 
 
 _ 
 
 The fuppofed tranfition of the fpecies 
 from filence to the free exercife of fpeech, 
 were a tranfition indeed aftonifhing, and 
 might well feem difproportioned to our in- 
 tellectual abilities. Neither hiftory nor 
 philofophy are decifive upon this point ; 
 and religion, with peculiar wifdom, refers 
 the attainment to a divine original. Suit- 
 able to this idea, language may be ac- 
 counted in part natural, in part artificial: 
 in one view it is the work of providence, 
 in another it is the work of man. And 
 this difpenfation of things is exactly con- 
 formable to the whole analogy of the 
 divine government. With refpecT: to the 
 organs of fpeech, what is there peculiar to 
 
 boaft ?
 
 62 ESSAYS ON THE 
 
 boaft ? The fame external apparatus is 
 common to us and to other animals. In 
 both the workmanfhip is the fame. In 
 both are difplayed the fame mechanical 
 la^ws. And in order to confer on them 
 fimilar endowments of fpeech, nothing 
 more feems neceflary than the enlargement 
 of their ideas, without any alteration of 
 anatomical texture. In like manner, to 
 diveft, or to abridge mankind of thefe en- 
 dowments, feems to imply only the degra- 
 dation of the mental faculties, without any 
 variation of external form. 
 
 t! 
 
 It is not then fuppofed that the organs 
 of man alone are capable of forming fpeech. 
 The voice of fome animals is louder, and 
 the voice of other animals is more melo- 
 dious than his. Nor is the human ear alone 
 fufceptible of fuch impreffions. Animals 
 are often confcious of the import, and even 
 recognize the harmony of found. Thus 
 
 far
 
 HISTORY OF MANKIND. 63 
 
 far there fubfifts a near equality. Vifible 
 figns are likewiie pofiefled in common ; 
 and language, in every fpecies, is the 
 power of maintaining focial intercourfe 
 among creatures of the fame order. 
 
 By the fame medium man is able to 
 converfe, in fome fort, with the brute 
 creation ; and there the various tribes with 
 each other. But befides fome general figns 
 conftituted to preferve harmony .and corre- 
 fpondence among connected fyftems, there 
 are others of a more myfterious kind 
 deftined for the ufe and accommodation of 
 each particular clafs. In this fcience the 
 fagacity of the philofopher has hitherto 
 made no difcoveries. The myftery of ani- 
 mal correfpondence will, probably, be al- 
 ways hid ; and it is often no more poffible 
 to defcend into the recefles of their inter- 
 courfe, than to open a communication with 
 a higher fyftem. 
 
 In
 
 64 ESSAYS ON THE 
 
 In the great fcale of life, the intelligence 
 of fome beings foars, perhaps, as high 
 above man as the objects of his under- 
 ftanding foar above animal life. Let us 
 then imagine a man, in fome other planet, 
 to refide among a people of this exalted 
 character. 
 
 Inftru&ed in the founds of their lan- 
 guage, as the more docile animals arc 
 inftru&ed to articulate ours, he might arti- 
 culate too, but could acquire no more. 
 He might admire the magnificence of 
 founds louder or more melodious than he 
 had heard before. But by reafon of a dif- 
 fimilarity and difproportion of ideas, thefe 
 founds could never conduct him to the 
 fenfe ; and the fecrets of fuch a people 
 would be as fafe in his ears, as ours in the 
 ears of any of our domeftic animals. 
 
 For the fame reafons, if one of fupe- 
 rior race were to drop into our world, our 
 
 language
 
 HISTORY OF MANKIND. 65 
 
 language might be, in fome refpefts, im- 
 penetrable even to his underftanding, be- 
 caufe deftitute perhaps of fome perceptions 
 eflential to our meaner fyftem. 
 
 Thus each order poflefles fomething pe- 
 culiar, which is denied to every other ; and 
 it belongs to the author of the univerfe 
 alone to exhauft that immenfity of know- 
 ledge which he has diffufed in various 
 kind and proportion through the whole 
 circle of being. 
 
 Here is an arrangement of providence 
 coeval with the birth of things ; and con- 
 fidering the fimilarity of organical texture, 
 the taciturnity of the other animals is a 
 problem to be accounted for, as well as the 
 loquacity of man. 
 
 Whence comes it that he alone fo far 
 
 extends the original grant as almofttocon- 
 
 fider it as his peculiar and exclufive privi- 
 
 F lege?
 
 6 ESSAYS ON THE 
 
 lege ? Between the lower claffes and him 
 there fubfifts one important diftinction. 
 ,They are formed ftationary ; he progref- 
 five. Had the exaft meafure of his ideas, 
 as of theirs, been at firft afligned, his lan- 
 guage muft have flood for ever as fixed and 
 immutable as theirs. But time and mutual 
 intercourfe prefenting new ideas, and the 
 fcenes of life perpetually varying, the ex- 
 prefFion of language muft vary in the fame 
 proportion ; and in order to trace out its 
 original, we muft go back to the ruder 
 ages, and beginning with the early dawn, 
 follow the gradual illuminations of the 
 human mind. 
 
 Man, we may obferve, is at firft poflefled 
 of few ideas, and of ftill fewer defires. 
 Abforbed in the prefent object of fenfe, he 
 feldom indulges any train of reflexion on 
 the paft ; and cares not, by anxious antici- 
 pation, to antedate futurity. 
 
 All
 
 HISTORY OF MANKIND. 67 
 
 .All his competitions with his fellows 
 are rather exertions of body than trials of 
 mind. He values himfelf on the command 
 of the former, and is dextrous in the per- 
 formance of its various functions, foo 
 impatient for flow enterprife; too bold 
 and impetuous for intrigue, he ufes the 
 refources of inftincl, rather than the lights 
 of the underftanding ; is fcarce capable of 
 abftraction, and a ftranger to all the com- 
 binations and connexions of fyftematic 
 thought. 
 
 o 1 
 
 In this fituation of the world there is 
 no need for the details of language* The 
 feelings of the heart break forth in vifible 
 form : fenfations glow in the countenance, 
 and paffions flafh in the eye. Nor are 
 thefe filent movements the only vehicles of 
 focial intercourfe.. . 
 
 Prior to the contexture of language, and 
 
 the ufe of arbitrary fign, there is-eflablifhed 
 
 F $ a mecha-
 
 68 ESSAYS ON THE 
 
 a mechanical connexion between the feel- 
 ings of the foul and the enunciation of 
 found. The emotions of pleafure and pain, 
 hope and fear, commiferation, forrow, de- 
 fpair, indignation, contempt, joy, exulta- 
 tion, triumph, affiime their tones ; and 
 independently of art, by an inexplicable 
 mechanifm of nature, declare the purpofes 
 of man to man. Thefe aflbciations are 
 neither accidental nor equivocal ; not form- 
 ed by compact, or the effecT: of choice, but 
 are parts of an original eftablifhment cal- 
 culated, in the firft ceconomy, for all the 
 occafions of focial life. And happy furely, 
 in one refpet, was this conftitution of 
 things, when men were not only devoid 
 of the inclination, but unfurnifhed with 
 the means of deceit ; and fentiment and 
 expreffion were thus conjoined, by the in- 
 diffoluble ties of nature. 
 
 Such accents and exclamations compofe 
 the firft elements of a rifmg language. 
 
 And
 
 HISTORY OF MANKIND. 69 
 
 And in thefe diftant times, when artificial 
 figns have fo far fupplanted the natural, 
 interjeftion is a part of fpeech which retains 
 its primeval character, is fcarce articulated 
 in any tongue, and is exempted from arbi- 
 trary rule. 
 
 After the introduction of artificial figns, 
 the tone and cadence of the natural were 
 long retained; but thefe fell afterwards 
 into difufe ; and it became then the pro- 
 vince of art to recal the accents of nature. 
 
 The perfection of eloquence is allowed 
 to confift in fuperadding to fentiment and 
 diction, all the emphafis of voice and 
 gefture. And enunciation, or action, as 
 it is called, is extolled by the moft ap- 
 proved judges of antiquity as the capital 
 excellence. 
 
 The decifive judgment of Demofthenes 
 
 is well known : and the Roman orator, 
 
 F 3 who
 
 7 ESSAYS ON THE 
 
 who records that judgment, expatiates 
 himfelf in almoft every page, on that coin- 
 prehenfive language, which, independently 
 of arbitrary appointment, addrefies itfelf to 
 all nations, and to every underftanding*. 
 
 In a certain period of fociety, there 
 reigns a natural elocution, which the great- 
 eft matters afterwards are proud to imi- 
 tate, and which art can fo feldom fupply. 
 At firft, the talent of the orator, as of the 
 poet, is an inborn talent. Nor has De- 
 mofthenes, or Tully, or Rofcius, or Gar- 
 rick, in their moft animated and admired 
 performances, reached, perhaps, that viva- 
 city and for-ce which accompany the rude 
 accents of mankind. 
 
 In the fame original connexion of things 
 refides the expreflion of mufic, or the 
 irrefiftible tendency of the modulations of 
 
 * Vide Cic. de Orat. L. 3. et paffim. 
 
 found
 
 HISTORY OF MANKIND. 71 
 
 found to ftir and agitate the different 
 paffions [A]. Hence the aftonifhing effect 
 afcribed to mufic in ancient times, and the 
 empire it ftill maintains, in a peculiar man- 
 ner, over rude and unpolifhed nations. 
 
 A Writer*, who exhaufts on his fa- 
 Tourite fcience fo much ingenuity and 
 learning, has affigned indeed other caufes 
 for the empire of mufic among the an- 
 cients, befides its mtrinfic excellence 
 
 I oppofe not fuch refpectable authority. 
 But though the fcience of harmony is pro- 
 greffive ; though Jtmultdneous -harmony, or 
 mufic in parts, is entirely modern, yet the 
 union of found and fenfe is an original 
 union ; and the moft wonderful effects of 
 that union are prior to the age of refine- 
 ment. 
 
 * Dr. Barney's Gen. Hift. of Mufic. 
 
 F 4 " The
 
 72 ESSAYS ON THE 
 
 <c The recitative in mufic, according to 
 the obfervation of an exquinte judge *, is 
 only a more tuneable fpeaking ; it is a kind 
 of profe in mutic ; its beauty confifts in com- 
 ing nearer nature, and improving the natu- 
 ral accents of words by more pathetic and 
 emphatical tones." The fcale of mufic in 
 different countries is the fame ; and all the 
 variety of its expreffion throughout the 
 earth forms but fo many dialects of one 
 univerfal language as unalterable as the 
 human paflions. 
 
 Such caufes then, in the infancy of 
 mankind, operating alone, or with little aid, 
 feemed to fuperfede all motives to inven- 
 tion ; while affairs, however, were gradually 
 approaching towards a different ftage. 
 
 Next to the impulfes of appetite, and 
 the focial paffions, the talent of imitation 
 difplays its force. Nor is this talent the 
 gift of heaven to man alone. He (hares 
 
 * Congreve. 
 
 it
 
 HISTORY OF MANKIND. 73 
 
 it in common with the creatures below 
 him, fome of whom avail themfelves of 
 its exertions in the purfuit of their prey. 
 That even the mulical notes of birds are 
 not altogether innate, but rather acquired 
 by imitation, is a propofition fupported by 
 late obfervanons. Yet in confequence of a 
 predilection, not eafily explained, fimilar 
 or kindred notes appear to be univerfally 
 characleriftic of the fame fpecies, varying 
 only in different regions of the globe, like 
 different dialects of the fame tongue. One 
 fpecies of birds excels in imitation, and in 
 a variety of note ; another in the .perfec- 
 tion of mufical organs ; and hence, by 
 combining the peculiar excellencies of dif- 
 ferent fpecies, an ingenious natural ift has 
 fuggefted a method of improving upon the 
 mufic of the grove [Cj. 
 
 Among animals, however, the talent of 
 imitation occurs more rarely, or is limited 
 to a few performances, and thefe reforted 
 
 to
 
 74 ESSAYS ON THE 
 
 to as an expedient, rather than as an ulti- 
 mate end. 
 
 But the performances of man are con- 
 fpicuous, and various, and almoft without 
 bounds. He is prompted to imitation from 
 a love of the effecT:, and exclufive of all 
 reference to farther end, enters it into the 
 lift of his pleafures. Often this fecondary 
 pleafure exceeds the primary. And there 
 are few, I imagine, who would reject an 
 entertainment of this fort, on the fame 
 principle with Agefilaus of Sparta. When 
 invited to hear a performer who mimicked 
 the nightingale to great perfection, the 
 faftidious king replied, " I have heard the 
 ** nightingale herfelf." The entertain- 
 ment might be unworthy of a king ; but it 
 was declined, on a principle that forms an 
 exception to the general tafte. And imita- 
 tion may be juftly called the firft intel- 
 lectual amufement congenial with our be- 
 ing : in confirmation of which we might 
 
 appeal
 
 HISTORY OF MANKIND. 75 
 
 appeal to the firft effays of infancy, to the 
 tafte for the imitative arts fo predominant 
 in youth, and to the earl left compofitions 
 of antiquity [13]. 
 
 Man alone is capable of imitating every 
 creature, while he is, if I may fay fo, him- 
 felf a creature which no other can pretend to 
 imitate. In the indulgence then of this 
 talent, he adopts, as it were, every mode 
 of inftindt, and re-echoes every voice in 
 the foreft. Even ftill life attracts his at-* 
 tention ; and the application of the fame 
 talent to every fubjecl, renders him a matter 
 in expreffion, and ripens his genius while 
 it exercifes his mechanical powers. 
 
 Thus is he occupied in borrowing not 
 only from his own fpecies, but in tranfcrib- 
 ing, for his amufement, the appearances 
 of the natural and of the animal world; 
 in collecting materials, without knowing 
 their importance, and in laying with an 
 
 active,
 
 76 ESSAYS ON THE 
 
 active, though undefigning hand, the 
 foundations of all arts and fciences. 
 
 This imitative faculty operates fo vigo- 
 roufly on the organs of fpeech, that in 
 fome cafes found in general feems to be- 
 come an object of imitation, without any 
 particular archetype. Hence the mechani- 
 cal trials of children in the eafier expref- 
 fions, when their organs are incapable of 
 other articulation. And hence the fame 
 founds run uniformly through all lan- 
 guages, to denote either parent, to whom 
 the earlieft expreffions are prefumed to be 
 addrefled. 
 
 By fuch exertions are we rendered capa- 
 ble of indicating, by intelligible figns, the 
 more ftriking and familiar objects. But 
 to give an additional compafs to the powers 
 of fpeech was referved for another prin- 
 ciple allied to the former, and often undif- 
 tinguimed in its operations, which may be 
 
 deno-
 
 HISTORY OF MANKIND. 77 
 
 denominated the analogical faculty. A 
 faculty which has vaft power in binding 
 the aflbciations of thoughts, and in all the 
 mental arrangements ; but with whofe 
 influence on language alone we are at pre- 
 fent concerned. 
 
 Hitherto language confided in the voice 
 of inftincl, or was drawn by imitation from 
 an adual fimilarity in the nature of things. 
 Now analogical connexions fupply the 
 place of real refemblance. No<w inftincT: 
 borrows aid from imagination ; and it is 
 the weaknefs of this principle which im- 
 pofes the law of filence, and excludes all 
 poffibility of improvement in the animal 
 world. Here commences the reign of in- 
 vention, and here perhaps we fhould ftop, 
 and draw the boundary of art and nature. 
 
 There is not an object that can prefent 
 itfelf to the fenfes, or to the imagination, 
 
 which
 
 7 ASSAYS QN THE 
 
 which the mind, by its analogical faculty? 
 cannot affimilate to fomething antecedently 
 in its pofleffion. By confequence, a terra 
 already appropriated, and in ufe, will, by 
 no violent tranfhion s be fnaped and ad- 
 jufted to the new idea. And thus the 
 divifion and compofition of the primary 
 figns will conftitute relations in found, 
 correfpondent with thofe relations, real or 
 imaginary, which fubfift among the objects 
 of human knowledge. Thus the language 
 of the Chinefe confifts of a few words only, 
 which, by a variation of tone merely, 
 become the reprefentati.ves of all the ideas 
 of that enlightened people. 
 
 This mode of proceeding is fo confpi- 
 cuous in our firft attempts, that it is with 
 reluctance children adopt a word altogether 
 new, fo long as they can affimilate the 
 object to any of their former acquaintance. 
 And it is wonderful to obferve with what 
 2 prompti-
 
 HISTORY OF MANKIND. 79 
 
 promptitude, facility, and apparent inge- 
 nuity, they can draw fuch various expref- 
 fion. out of their little ftore. It is accord- 
 ingly no illiberal entertainment in prefent- 
 ing ftrange objects to their fight, to wait by 
 way of experiment for their own conclu- 
 fions, and to caufe them to diftinguifh 
 each by names of their own invention [E]. 
 This would be, perhaps, no improper 
 exercife in training their infant faculties ; 
 and it feems to have been upon the fame 
 principle that the firft of mankind, at the 
 defire and with the approbation of his 
 Creator, was able to name fo readily all 
 the beafts of the field, and the fowls of 
 heaven. 
 
 Many fubfequent innovations in lan- 
 guage may be traced up to the fame fource j 
 and figns apparently the mod arbitrary 
 are either the refult of fome more refined 
 connexioji, or are feparated from, their 
 primitives by a longer chain of analogy. 
 
 By
 
 8o ESSAYS ON THE 
 
 By this power the fame natural fign* 
 befides its primary, admits of a fecondary* 
 and even of Various import; and what 
 Originally denoted an outward object, is 
 by a certain fubtlety of apprehenfion tranf- 
 ferred to the qualities of the mind L F]. Thus 
 language becomes figurative ; and, without 
 any extenfion of the vocabulary, takes in 
 the compafs of our intellectual ideas. It 
 is this principle likewife which conducts 
 the fame fign from the individual to the 
 fpecies, and by the frequent application of 
 it, on fimilar occafions, confers on it a 
 larger and a larger import, till at laft it 
 acquires a general acceptation, without any 
 painful or laborious effort. 
 
 This procefs of the mind accounts for 
 the generation of all the different parts of 
 fpeech, as might be Ihewn more particu- 
 larly in the rife of that effential conftituent 
 of language, which by reafon of its import- 
 ance is denominated the verb. 
 
 Not
 
 HISTORY OF MANKIND. Si 
 
 Not only are emotions of different kinds 
 excited by the objects of fenfe, but the 
 fame kind of emotion is wonderfully modi- 
 fied, according to the circumftances of its 
 birth. How various, even in the favage 
 breaft, are the modes of love ! how various 
 the emotion of fear ! 
 
 Let us then fuppofe that the lion and 
 the ferpent are confidered by the favag 
 as the mod hoftile and formidable among 
 animals. A certain fpecies of terror 
 would be excited by the approach of the 
 one ; a different modification of the fame 
 emotion would be excited by the approach 
 of the other. 
 
 Now, in the firft ftage of language* 
 the natural figns of thefe kindred emotions* 
 it is prefumed, would be employed to indi- 
 cate, and to diftinguifh the approach of 
 thefe animals. In the mean while, let it 
 be fuppofed that the other inhabitants of 
 G the
 
 2 ESSAYS ON THE 
 
 the foreft have received their names. In 
 thefe circumftances it is abundantly natural 
 for the favage to join the term, indicating 
 the dread of the lion or ferpent, with a 
 proper name, in order to notify the ap- 
 proach of any other offenfive creature. 
 This term, by an eafy extenfion, will be 
 transferred from offenfi ve to other creatures ; 
 and hence by a gradual tranfition, even to 
 inanimate objects, till it is charged at 
 length with a general affirmation, and 
 poflefles all the power of the verb [GJ. 
 
 Such fteps as thefe, we may believe, have 
 led to the more regular combinations of 
 found ; and, under this afped of things, 
 we may conceive language ftrong indeed, 
 and animated, but probably remaining long 
 without much compafs, or coherence, or 
 order. It confifted chiefly of detached 
 phrafe. And though every found formed 
 not a complete fentence, as at the begin- 
 ning, yet the more artificial arrangements 
 
 were
 
 HISTORY OF MANKIND. 83 
 
 were unknown. Thofe connective particles 
 which intimate the relations of thought 
 were not yet brought into exiftence ; and 
 
 the relations ihemfelves were rather infi- 
 
 i 
 
 huated to the underftanding than expfefled 
 in form. Nor is this abrupt mode of 
 expreflion unfuitable to the circumftancea 
 of the finiple ages. Sentiment, as well as 
 its drefs, hung then extremely loofe ; and 
 men were not accuftomed to a chain of 
 reafoning, or to any complex fyftem of 
 thought. Nor is it lefs conformable to 
 the experience of our early life, the trueft 
 perfpective, perhaps, in which to contem- 
 plate the rifing genius of mankind. In 
 the firft dialects of children, the particles 
 are but little attended to, if not totally 
 difregarded. They reject the texture of 
 artificial language, even while they adopt 
 its words, prefenting the capital objects in 
 immediate fucceffion, without the interven- 
 tion of terms which are of a more obfcure 
 and abftract original. It is the fame mode 
 G * of
 
 84 ESSAYS ON THE 
 
 of proceeding which is fo often obfervable 
 in vehement fpeakers, who, in the hurry 
 of declamation, or of paflion, have no- 
 leifure to attend to the rules of grammar, 
 or logic. The language of paflion accord- 
 ingly, which confifts of broken periods, 
 has been happily imitated by the poets, 
 and might be here illuftrated, were it necef- 
 fary, by examples from the greateft mailers, 
 whofe prerogative it is to difpenfe in favour 
 of nature with the eftablifhed rules of art. 
 
 It is alfo remarkable in all the ancient 
 tongues, that the moft important diftinc- 
 tions and relations of objects are indicated 
 by an inflexion of the voice, or a flight 
 variation of the fame found, without re- 
 forting fo often to the little engines, which 
 fupport the modern fyftems. 
 
 Even this inflexion of voice is not always 
 indifpenfable ; and in the oriental tongues 
 no inconveniency is perceived from the 
 
 want
 
 HISTORY OF MANKIND. 85 
 
 want of the genitive cafe j though there is 
 neither an inflexion, nor any intervening 
 particle to fuggeft the relation. 
 
 Let it not then be imagined, that ab- 
 firaOt confiderations have entered far into 
 the firft formation of fpeech. Such labo- 
 rious effort had been ill fuited to the genius 
 and circumftances of the firft inventors; 
 and even the particles themfelves, though 
 of more doubtful origin, have crept into 
 exiftence, without any fevere application 
 of metaphyfical force. 
 
 Thofe talents alone exercifed by every 
 human creature, in acquiring his firft lan- 
 guage, have been exercifed by the original 
 inftitutors. In both cafes the love of imi- 
 tation is often the prime mover, without 
 any farther defign. Taught by parents, 
 children learn to utter found, to which 
 afterwards they affix a meaning. Taught 
 by inftincT:, men utter found at the begin- 
 Q 3 ning,
 
 86 ESSAYS ON THE 
 
 ning, which the underftanding afterwards 
 renders more fignificant. la both cafes, 
 the act of the underftanding is pofterior to 
 a fort of organica! impulfe ; and in both 
 cafes there feems to be lefs abftradion 
 than is contended for in the fchools of 
 philofophy. 
 
 Is a man, for example, to be reputed 
 ignorant of the force of particles, becaufe. 
 he is incapable to give a metaphyfical ac- 
 count of their origin ? And if without 
 metaphyflcs he apprehends thefe particles, 
 y?hy not invent them too ? 
 
 If we fuppofe but one of the moft obvious 
 relations to be diftinctly marked by any 
 particle, that particle will, as it were fpon- 
 taneoufly, offer itfelf upon all fimilar occa- 
 fions ; and from the law of analogy will 
 be gradually extended in its fignification, 
 until it includes under it a vaft variety of 
 relation : for it is transferred from objec"l 
 
 to
 
 HISTORY OF MANKIND. 87 
 
 to object in the concrete, without any ab- 
 ftrad confideration of its powers. 
 
 It is eafier for the mind to perceive re- 
 femblance, than to fpecify the minute dif- 
 ferences of things. Hence the fame par- 
 ticles are ufed to denote various relations, 
 without our attending to their fpecific 
 differences. And hence f thefe terms, in all 
 languages, are fo liable to be confounded, 
 ^nd carry often a fort of vicarious import, 
 mutually participating of the fame powers. 
 
 When the analogy lofes itfelf in refine- 
 ment, new particles are devifed, and in- 
 verted with a different office. And were 
 an ordinary man called upon to define the 
 prepofitions, or other little conftituents of 
 any modern tongue, without a certain pre- 
 paration of his faculties, the anfwer with 
 regard to the greater number would be 
 indefinite, or evafive, or merely negative. 
 This particle, might he fay, differs in it? 
 G 4
 
 88 ESSAYS ON THE 
 
 import from that other : that other from a 
 third. They feverally denote relations air 
 together diffimilar. It is eafier to fay what 
 they are not, than what they are. 
 
 Should a more explicit anfwer be required, 
 he refers to others more learned than him- 
 felf, or involves himfelf in a labyrinth, in 
 which the primary conftrudors of language 
 fiever were involved, and from which the 
 logician or the philologift can hardly ex- 
 tricate him. " -The particles, fays a * writer 
 jn whom thefe characters are united, are 
 among all nations applied with fo great 
 latitude, that they are not eafily reducible 
 under any regular fcheme of application. 
 This difficulty is not lefs, nor, perhaps, 
 greater in Englifh than in any other lan- 
 guage. I have laboured them with dili- 
 gence, I hope with fuccefs ; fuch at 
 leaft as can be expeded in a tafk, which 
 no man however learned or fagacious has 
 yet been able to perform [//]." 
 
 Dr. S. Johnfon. 
 
 He
 
 HISTORY OF MANKIND. 89 
 
 He muft be born then with a texture of 
 brain as ftrong as that of Johnfon : he muft 
 be a Hercules in metaphyfics, who can de- 
 clare, in their metaphyfical character, the 
 full import of thefe elements of fpeech. 
 
 Yet the relations of its own thoughts the 
 mind clearly apprehends. The figns of 
 thefe relations, when once inftituted> it 
 apprehends with equal eafe. But thefe 
 relations, clear as the light in the prefence 
 of particular objects, in their abfence are 
 involved in obfcurity. 
 
 The vulgar find little difficulty to appre* 
 hend the foul itfelf in an embodied ftate ; 
 but it is referved for the philofopher to 
 apprehend its feparate and abftrad exift-, 
 ence. And as well might it be contended 
 that this fublime apprehenfion had, in 
 every age, entered into the imagination of 
 our forefathers, as that the nicer relations 
 of thought had exhibited themfelves naked 
 to the underftanding, and received names 
 
 in
 
 in artificial language, disjoined from the 
 other members which compofe the body of 
 this complex machine. 
 
 With reafon therefore we conclude, that 
 the laws of analogy, by one gentle and 
 uniform effect, fuperfeding or alleviat- 
 ing the efforts of abftraction, permit lan- 
 guage to advance towards its perfection 
 free of the embarraffments which feemed to 
 pbftruct its progrefs. 
 
 In moft fpeculations upon this fubject, 
 there reigns a fundamental error. It con- 
 fifts in referring the rife of ideas and the 
 invention of language to a different asra, 
 as if a time had ever been when mankind 
 laboured for utterance, yet fought in 
 vain to open intellectual treafures, and 
 to be exonerated from the load of their 
 own conceptions. Under this imprefiion 
 we are apt to imagine fome great projectors 
 in an early age, balancing a regular plan 
 for the conveyance of fentiment, and the
 
 HISTORY OF MANKIND. 91 
 
 eftablifhment of general intercourfe. In 
 fuch circumftances, indeed, they muft have 
 revolved in imagination all the fubtleties 
 of logic, and entered far into the fcience 
 of grammar, before its objects had any 
 exiftence. Profound abftraction and gene- 
 ralization muft have been conftantly exer- 
 cifed ; all the relations of thought canvaff- 
 ed with care, compared with accuracy, 
 and arranged with propriety, and with 
 order: a defign competent, perhaps, tq 
 fuperior beings, but by no means com- 
 patible with the limited capacity of the 
 human mind. Now thefe difficulties and 
 incumbrances, in a great meafure, difap- 
 pear, by contemplating ideas and language 
 as uniformly in clofe conjunction; and the 
 changes in the former, and the innovations 
 in the latter of the fame chronological 
 flate. 
 
 A few ideas, in the ruder ages, are fub- 
 jected to expreffion with the fame facility, 
 
 as
 
 92 ESSAYS ON THE 
 
 as a greater number in fucceeding periods. 
 And hence fpeech, in all its different parts, 
 is already formed, when the vocabulary is 
 exceeding fcanty, and there is no variety 
 or abundance in any one clafs. Thus a 
 Grammar even of the Lapland tongue con- 
 tains all the grammatical parts of fpeech *. 
 Hence too the eafe with which a language 
 is attained in infancy, or early youth, and 
 the difficulty attending it in maturer age. 
 When the idea and the fign are contempo- 
 rary attainments, and coincide in their firft 
 impreffions, they take root together, and 
 ferve reciprocally the one to fuggeft the 
 other. But where this coincidence is want- 
 ing, it becomes more difficult, if not im- 
 poffible, for the mind to collect its naked 
 thoughts, and fubjet them afterwards in 
 all their variety to the arbitrary impofitions 
 of language. 
 
 * See a Laplandifh Grammar, lately published by. Mr. 
 J .?em, Profeflbr of th? Lapland tongue.
 
 HISTORY OF MANKIND. 93 
 
 A more equal ceconomy, therefore, has 
 been maintained by the direction of that 
 principle of analogy to which we fo often 
 refer; and the connexion is more eafily 
 eftablifhed, when, from the fimplicity and 
 uniformity of favage life, the fame figns 
 return fo often ; when the whole compafs 
 of the vocabulary is exhaufted upon fami- 
 liar objects, and almoft comprized in the 
 hiftory of a day's adventures. Thus a 
 vocabulary, confiding of about twenty 
 words, is faid to be fufficient, in all their 
 ordinary tranfadions, for the purpofes of 
 fome favage nations. 
 
 Language then, conftructed with fuch 
 fcanty materials, increafes with the expe- 
 rience and difcernment of mankind. On a 
 more exact furvey, the mind difcriminates 
 its objects, and breaks the fyftem of analogy 
 by attending to the minute differences of 
 things. As therefore the analogical faculty 
 enlarges the fenfe of words, the difcrimi- 
 
 '." mating
 
 94 ESSAYS ON THE 
 
 natmg faculty augments them in number. 
 It breaks fpeech into fmaller divifions, and 
 beftows a copioufnefs on language by a 
 more precife arrangement of the obje&s. 
 Thus by the diftribution of our ideas, as 
 well as by the enlargement of the fund, 
 language is conftantly enriched ; and its 
 barrennefs or fertility among a rifing people 
 may be always eftimated by the number of 
 the objects, and the accuracy with which 
 they are clafled* 
 
 At a time when utility was almoft re- 
 garded as the whole of beauty, and perfpi- 
 cuity was the fole aim of fpeech, nothing 
 fuperfluous would ever be admitted there. 
 Afterwards the coalition and interferences 
 of different tribes confounded the fimpli- 
 city of the inflitution, by the admiffiori 
 of foreign, identical, and fupernumerary 
 terms. The love of novelty and variety 
 eftablifhed their currency : a fpecies of 
 luxury is indulged in the commerce cf 
 3 words/
 
 HISTORY OF MANKIND. 95 
 
 words. Each fimple inftitution fuftained a 
 fhock from the collifion of contending 
 fyftems, and out of thefe jarrings there 
 arofe more copious and mixed eftablifh- 
 ments. 
 
 By fuch caufes is language diverfified by 
 degrees, in its words, in its texture, and 
 in its idiom. What is at firft only a variety 
 of dialecls, produces diftinct languages in 
 fucceeding generations. And after fepara- 
 tion from the fountain the differences 
 among them become more confiderable in 
 proportion to the length of their courfe. 
 Thus the Englifh, the French, and Italian 
 tongues have borrowed their vocabulary 
 from the Greeks and Romans, while in 
 their texture and idiom they are allied tcr 
 the Celtic and to the Hebrew, or claim a 
 very diftant original. 
 
 But the confideration of thefe differences 
 would carry us beyond the limit of the 
 
 prefent
 
 96 ESSAYS ON THE 
 
 prefent defign, which permits us only t6 
 touch on the gradations of a fimple inftitu- 
 tion referring to thofe faculties of the 
 mind which appear principally concerned 
 in conducting its fucceffive improvements. 
 In the execution of the enterprife the mind, 
 no doubt, has exerted collectively, at all 
 times, various powers ; but thefe are ex- 
 erted in unequal proportion, according to 
 the circumftances of the world j and the 
 order here affigned appeared to our judge- 
 ment moft confonant to the probability of 
 things, to the experience of early life, and 
 to the genius and complexion of the ruder 
 ages. 
 
 By fuch efforts, or at leaft by efforts 
 competent to the abilities of every fociety 
 of mankind, fome rude fyftem is con- 
 ftructed on the foundations of nature. 
 The fuperftrudure becomes vaft and mag- 
 nificent, like the conceptions of the human 
 mind; but that fuperftruclure is the work 
 
 of
 
 HISTORY OF MANKIND. 97 
 
 bf ages, and is as complicated and various, 
 in the different regions of the globe, as 
 the modes of civil life, as the afpect of 
 nature, and as the genius of arts and 
 fciences. 
 
 Having therefore confidered fpeech in 
 its lower forms, we proceed to enquire 
 into thofe fuperior marks of refinement 
 and art which conftitute the criterion of a 
 polifhed tongue* 
 
 H
 
 ESSAYS ON THE 
 
 NOTES. 
 
 NOTE [./f], p. 71. 
 
 THOUGH the modulations of found de- 
 clare in general the feelings of the heart, 
 mufic imitates the focial paffions with the hap- 
 pieft fuccefs. A diftinction which intimates the 
 fociability and generofity of man, and is well 
 illuflrated by Dr. Smith in the Theory of moral 
 Sentiment. 
 
 " When mufic imitates the modulations of 
 " grief, or joy, it either actually infpires us 
 <c with thofe paffions, or at leaft puts us in the 
 *' mood which dilpofes us to conceive them. 
 " But when it imitates the notes of anger, it 
 " infpires us with fear. Joy, grief, love, ad- 
 " miration, devotion, are all of them pafllons 
 " which are naturally mufical. Their natural 
 ** tones are all foft, clear, and melodious; and 
 " they naturally exprefs themfelves in periods 
 " which are diftinguilhed by regular paufes, 
 " and which upon that account are eafily adapt- 
 
 " ed
 
 HISTORY OF MANKIND. 99 
 
 " ed to the regular returns of the correfpond- 
 " ing airs of a tune. The voice of anger, 
 " on the contrary, and of all the pafilons 
 " which are akin to it, is harfh and difcord- 
 " ant. Its periods too are irregular, fome- 
 " times very long, fometimes very Ihort, and 
 <c diftinguifhed by no regular paufes. It is 
 " with difficulty therefore that mufic can imi- 
 " tate any of thofe pafiions, and the mufic 
 " which does imitate them is not the molt 
 " agreeable. A whole entertainment may con- 
 " lift, without any impropriety, in the imitation 
 " of the focial and agreeable pafiions. It would 
 " be a ftrange entertainment which confifted 
 " altogether of the imitations of hatred and 
 " refentment." 
 
 Pa,rt I. fed ii. ch. 3. 
 
 NOTE [5], p. 71. 
 
 T)ERHAPS the fimplicity of ancient mufic 
 
 contributed to its effect. Perhaps from its 
 
 union with poetry it derived its moft alluring 
 
 charms. Yet thefe arts may, on fome occafions, 
 
 encumber each other, and ought, in the opinion 
 
 of fome good judges, to hold a divided empire. 
 
 This is a problem in the hiftory of mufic which 
 
 an adept in the fcience is alone capable to de- 
 
 H 2 cide.
 
 reo ESSAYS ON THE 
 
 cide, and I am ready to adopt the opinion and 
 language of Dr. Burney, that ** mufic and 
 " poetry, like man and wife, or other aflb- 
 " ciates, are bed afunder, if they cannot agree; 
 " and, on many occafions, it were to be wifhed, 
 ** that the partnership were amicably diflblved." 
 
 The danger at prefent feems to be, that 
 mufic in preference to poetry, and inftrumental 
 mufic in preference to vccal, to which it is fo 
 far inferior, mould ufurp an improper dominion 
 in all the politer circles. An oblervation of 
 Mr. Gay to Dr. Swift, in the year 1723, rela- 
 tive to the fafhionable tafte of the metropolis, 
 is now applicable in a much larger extent. 
 " As for the reigning amufement of the town,** 
 fays he, " it is entirely mufic ; real fiddles, 
 " bafs viols, and hautboys ; not poetical harps, 
 *' lyres, and reeds. There is nobody allowed 
 " to fay / fing, but an Eunuch, or an Italian 
 " woman. Every body is grown now as great 
 " a judge of mufic as they were in your time 
 ** of poetry; and folks that cculd not diftin- 
 guifh. one tune from another, now daily 
 " difpute about the different ftyles of Handel* 
 " Eononcini, and Attilio. People have now for- 
 " got Homer, and Virgil^ and C<efar^ or, at leafl-, 
 '* they have loft their ranks ; for in London and 
 
 " WtfL-
 
 HISTORY OF MANKIND. 101 
 
 " Weftminfter^ in all polite conventions, Sens- 
 " fino is daily voted the greateft man that ever 
 " lived." But without reflecting on the national 
 tafte, let it be fufficient to obferve, that mufic 
 is not the only imitative art, which, in the 
 progrefs of refinement, ceafes to be fo figni- 
 ficant. 
 
 N'eft il pas fmgulier, fays Monf. 1'Abbe 
 Reynal, que dans les premiers ages du monde, 
 & chez les fauvages, la danfe foit un art d'imi- 
 tation, & qu'elle ait perdu ce caradere dans 
 les pays polices, oil elle femble reduite a une 
 certaine nombre de pas executes fans action, fans 
 fujet, fans conduite? Mais il en eft des danfes 
 comme des langues : elles deviennent abftraites, 
 ainfi que les idees dont elles font compofees. 
 
 Tom. vi. p. 27. 
 
 NOTE [C], p. 73. 
 
 T Refer the reader to Experiments and Obfer- 
 vations on the finging of Birds, by the Hon. 
 Daines Barrington, inferced in the Philofophical 
 Tranfa&ions of the year 17/3. 
 
 " Thefe experiments," fays Mr. Barrington, 
 
 < may be fakt to be ufeful to all thofe who 
 
 H 3 " happen
 
 102 ESSAYS ON THE 
 
 " happen to be pleafed with finging birds. 
 " Becaufe it is clear, that, by educating a bird 
 " under feveral forts, we may often make fuch 
 " a mixture as to improve the notes which 
 " they would have learned in a wild ftate. 
 
 " It refults alfo from the experiment of the 
 " linnet being educated under the vengolina, 
 " that we may introduce the notes of Afia, 
 " Africa, and America into our own woods ; 
 *' 'becaufe if that linnet had been fet at liberty, 
 * the neltlings of the next fealbn would have 
 " adhered to the vengolina fong, who would 
 *' again tranfmit it to their defendants." 
 
 The mufical notes of birds, if we believe 
 Lucretius, a naturalifl as well as a poet, firft 
 fuggefted to man the elements of a fcience in 
 which he afterwards fo far excels them. For 
 the notes of birds, however melodious, are not 
 only deftitute of fiarmony, but deficient in ex- 
 preflion, which in mufic is the capital excel- 
 lence. 
 
 NOTE [D], p. 75, 
 
 JT is, perhaps, not foreign from the fubject 
 to obferve, that men of genius, though no 
 poets or painters by profeffion, fo often dif- 
 5 cover,
 
 HISTORY OF MANKIND. 103 
 
 cover, in early life, a pronenefs to the imitative 
 arts, which yield to more ferious occupation in 
 maturer years. Even the matters themfelves, 
 in the decline of life, no longer court the mufes 
 with equal affiduity. It is then the poet, tranf- 
 formed into the phiiofopher, abandons his for- 
 mer walk 
 
 Hinc itaque & verfus & caetera ludicra pono. 
 
 The Biography of the Englifti Poets, to 
 which a writer of the firft rank in literature 
 now calls the attention of the public, affords a 
 variety of examples of this predilection in early 
 life. Cowley and Milton, as well as Pope, 
 " lifped in numbers." Cowley had read all 
 Spenfer, while under twelve, had commenced 
 a poet at thirteen, and an author at fifteen, 
 when his poetical Hoffoms appeared. In the 
 Comus of Milton, a juvenile production, we 
 behold the dawn of an immortal day. 
 
 The author of Gondibert compofed a poem 
 on the death of Shakefpeare, at the age of ten. 
 
 Dr. Jortin was a poet in youth, and a critic 
 in maturer age. 
 
 H 4. Lord
 
 104 ESSAYS ON THE 
 
 Lord Lanfdown compofed moft of his poetical 
 pieces when a p.rfect child, the correction of 
 which afforded employment to his riper years. 
 
 Voltaire commenced poet at twelve, com- 
 pofed the Henriade while under twenty-four, 
 and his Brutus^ which he regarded " comme fa 
 tragedie la plus fortement ecrite," at thirty-fix. 
 
 The prefent Imperial Laureat*, an appellation 
 which his merit alone might almoft extort from 
 his contemporaries, is an aftonifhing inftance of 
 the premature infpiration of the mufes. And 
 not to multiply inftances among foreign nations, 
 the Poems afcribed to Thomas Rowley, a fecu- 
 lar prieft of Briftol, who flourifhcd in the fif- 
 teenth century, are probably the production of 
 a youth who died Anno 1770, at the age of 
 eighteen, a prodigy of genius ; and who, 
 in the opinion of no contemptible judge, 
 would have proved the firft of Engliih poets, 
 had he reached the ful-l manhood of his days. 
 u From his childhood," fays Mr. Warton, " he 
 " was fond of reading and writing verfes, and 
 " fome of his early compofitions, which he 
 " wrote without any defign to deceive, have 
 " been judged to be moft aftonifiiing produc- 
 '* tions by the firft critic of the prefent age.'* 
 
 * Metafiauo. 
 
 Walkr
 
 HISTORY OF MANKIND. 105 
 
 Waller indeed is recorded a fingular inftance 
 of a poet, who began late the exercife of a 
 poetic talent. " At an age," fays Lord Claren- 
 don, " when other men ufed to give over writ- 
 *' ing verfes (for he was near thirty years of age 
 * c when he ficft engaged hjmfelf in that exercife, 
 " at leaft that he was known to do fo), he fur- 
 " prifed the town with two or three pieces of 
 " that kind, as if a tenth mufe had been newly 
 " born to cherilh drooping poetry." 
 
 Bat this evidence is not conclufive; nor is 
 the noble hiftorian perfectly correct in point of 
 fact. For the mufe of Waller had even acquired 
 a name in the twenty-fourth year of his age. 
 It is reafonable, however, to expect that the 
 more perfect performances of a great matter will 
 be of later date. A correct judgment is a 
 quality fo effential to great execution in the 
 imitative arts, that, according to the Abbe du 
 Bot, it is about the age of thirty that the 
 greateft geniufes, whether in poetry or painting, 
 have produced their matter-pieces. 
 
 But to this Dryden is an eminent exception. 
 
 His lateft performances are the bed. His fire, 
 
 fays Pope, like the fun's, fhone cleared towards 
 
 jts fetting. Addifon adorns him with fimilar 
 
 4 praife j
 
 io6 ESSAYS ON THE 
 
 praife; and he merited the following encomium 
 from the illuftrious patron of his declining age : 
 
 Not all the blafts of time can do you wrong, 
 Young fpite of age, in fpite of weaknefs ftrong j 
 Time, like Alcides^ ftrikes you to the ground - t 
 You, like Antaus> from each fail rebound. 
 
 NOTE [], p, 79. 
 
 M I A H, the Otaheitean, circumfcribed as a 
 child in the number of his ideas, though 
 in underftanding and in years a man, proceeded 
 on fimilar principles in the acqujfition of the 
 Englilh tongue. 
 
 The butler he called king of the bottles, 
 Captain Fourneaux was king of the (hip, Lord 
 Sandwich was king of all the (hips. The whole 
 language of his own country exceeds not a 
 thoufand words. 
 
 NOTE [F], p. 80. 
 
 Q UCH is the natural order of analogy in the 
 generation of fpeech. But the reverfe order, 
 where words expreflive of ideas purely intel- 
 lectual, are transferred to corporeal objects, is 
 
 fome-
 
 HISTORY OF MANKIND. 107 
 
 fomenmes obfervable in a cultivated language; 
 inftances of which are produced in Melange ds 
 Literature par Monf. XAkmbert. 
 
 NOTE [G], p. 82. 
 
 T N elucidating this part of fpeech, it has been 
 * well obferved by Dr. Smith, that " imper- 
 <e fonal verbs, which exprefs in one word a 
 " complete event, which preferve in the ex- 
 <{ prefllon. that perfect fimplicity and unity 
 " which there always is in the object and in the 
 * 5 idea, and which fuppofe no abltraction or 
 " metaphyfical divifion of the event into its 
 u feveral conftituent members of fubject and 
 *' attribute, would, in all probability, be the 
 *' fpecies of verbs firft invented." 
 
 But afterwards, in the progrefs of language, 
 by the divifion of every event into its metaphy- 
 fical elements, imperfonal verbs difappear. In 
 modern tongues, accordingly, they are unknown. 
 Yet they make a figure in the languages of 
 antiquity, and efpecially in the Hebrew, where 
 the radical words, from which all others are 
 derived, are traced up by grammarians to that 
 Original. 
 
 See Confiderations concerning the firft For- 
 mation of Languages, &c. 
 
 NOTE
 
 log ESSAYS ON THE 
 
 NOTE [#], p. 88. 
 
 '"TPHE ill fuccefs of all former grammarians 
 ** ancient and modern, has not intimidated 
 a writer in the gloom and folitude of a prifon, 
 from undertaking fo arduous a tafk. 
 
 See a letter to John Dunning, Efq; by Mr. 
 Home. In this letter the conjunctions of the 
 Englim tongue are traced up to a fource unob- 
 ferved or unacknowledged by any grammarian. 
 The fame analogy is prefumed to be univerfal ; 
 and conjunctions, according to this plan, no 
 longer rank among the grammatical elements, 
 but are derived in one uniform manner, in all 
 languages, from the other parts of fpeech.
 
 ESSAY III. 
 
 OF THE CRITERION OF A POLISHED TONGUE. 
 
 THE connexion of language and 
 manners is an obvious connexion. 
 They run parallel with each other, through 
 different periods of their progrefs. Yet 
 language, from various caufes, may arrive 
 at a pitch of refinement, unauthorifed by 
 the tone of public manners. And on the 
 other hand, public manners may acquire a 
 fuperior caft of refinement, which the lan- 
 guage alone would not authorife us to 
 expect. 
 
 So various and equivocal are the marks 
 either of rudenefs or refinement in the lan- 
 guage and manners of a people, that to 
 form, on fuch fubjefts, a confiftent theory, 
 is no eafy tafk. In both cafes, however, 
 
 a man
 
 116 ESSAYS ON THE 
 
 a man of tafte and obfervation mutt feel 
 and recognize diftindions, though he were 
 unable to fpecify them, or to aflign with 
 precifion the laws by which they are go- 
 verned. 
 
 We have attempted to approach the com- 
 mon fountain of all languages, but pretend 
 not to purfue the meanders of their courfe. 
 
 Articulation, if not an univerfal attri- 
 bute of human fpeech, is an excellence at 
 which it foon arrives [^f]. Of rudenefs, 
 therefore, or refinement, this particular 
 can form no criterion. Language too, in 
 both extremes, may be fubjedted to rules 
 of fyntax nearly fimilar ; and by confe- 
 quence the principles of grammar will not 
 carry us far into the origin of thefe diftinc- 
 tions. Is there an appeal to the ear ; fome 
 diftintion is perceived, and a rougher tone 
 and cadence are found to correfpond beft 
 with the temper and manners of Barba- 
 rians. 
 
 At
 
 HISTORY OF MANKIND. m 
 
 At firft ferfplcuity is chiefly or alone 
 regarded. Nothing conducive to that end 
 is offenfive to the organ ; but afterwards 
 perfpicuity is in part facrificed to ornament. 
 Some indulgence is fhewn to the ear; and 
 its perceptions acquire refinement, as well 
 as all our other perceptions. Hence arifes, 
 by infenfible gradations, a new fyftem of 
 founds. 
 
 Words fluctuate with the modes of life. 
 They are varied, or exterminated as harfti 
 and diflbnant, upon_the fame principle that 
 any mode or fafhion is varied or extermi- 
 nated as rude and vulgar. And the pre- 
 valence of this principle ultimately tends 
 to the eftabiifhment of a general diftinction. 
 Hence the fmoothnefs of the Ionic dialect, 
 rather than the roughnefs of the Doric, 
 recommends itfelf to a polifhed age. 
 
 Peter the Great confidered the German 
 as a fmooth and harmonious tongue, and 
 
 ordered
 
 til ESSAYS ON THE 
 
 ordered it as fuch to be ufed at Court. It! 
 proportion as the Court of Peterfburgh 
 became more polifhed, the German was 
 difcarded, and the French fubftituted in its 
 room. 
 
 In general the fuperior refinement of the 
 French eftablifhed its currency in all the 
 politer circles of the North of Europe. 
 And upon the fame principle the Greek, 
 which had no charms for the Romans in 
 the ruder ages of the republic, ravifhed the 
 ears of imperial Rome, 
 
 Hoc fermone pavent; hoc iram, gaudia, curas, 
 Hoc cuncta effundunt animi fecreta. 
 
 Juv. Sat. vi. 
 
 In the production of the founds of lan- 
 guage climate [B] is concerned, as well as 
 the degrees of civilization. But this natural 
 caufe operating upon manners alfo, and 
 through that medium upon fpeech, its 
 dired and fimple influence upon the organs 
 
 ought
 
 HISTORY OF MANKIND. 
 
 Ought not to be confounded with its reflet 
 and more complicated operations. 
 
 Climate, in both ways, may favour or 
 obftrud: refinement in founds, or derive to 
 them a peculiar character. 
 
 If the language of the Malats, a people 
 barbarous and fierce, is however rightly 
 celebrated as the fofteft in * Afia, the cli- 
 mate, in fuch inftances, by an irrefiftible 
 application to the organs, acts in oppofition 
 to manners, and controuls their natural 
 tendency. If the'jargon of the Hottentots 
 is, on the other hand, the harmed jargon 
 in the world, it feems an effect rather 
 chargeable on manners with which the 
 climate is not immediately concerned. 
 
 In periods, however, of equal refinement, 
 the articulation and accents of the North 
 
 * Voyez Les Voyages d'un Philofophe, par M. Le 
 JPoivre. 
 
 1 are.
 
 ESSAYS ON THE 
 
 are, in our hemifphere, diftinguifliable 
 from the articulation and accents of the 
 fouthern regions. Inarticulate found is 
 governed by fimilar rules, and a different 
 ftyle and compofition in mufic are found 
 beft accommodated to the genius of dif- 
 ferent nations. 
 
 The French mufic accordingly, as well as 
 the Italian, is univerfally exploded among 
 the Turks ; and whether from the texture 
 of their organs, or from climate, or from 
 certain habitudes of life, poffefles no power 
 to ravifh their ears with harmony, or to 
 intereft the paffions. 
 
 In general European mufic is difrelifhed, 
 or exploded in the Eaft. " Your mufic,*' 
 faid a native of Egypt to M. Niebuhr, " is 
 a wild and offenfive noife which a ferious 
 man can hardly endure." Nor is this an 
 anomalous example. When Ifmenias, the 
 greateft matter in mufic at the Court of 
 
 Macedon,
 
 HISTORY OF MANKIND. 113 
 
 Macedon, was commanded to perform be- 
 fore the king of Scythia ; the king [C\ 
 having heard the performance* far from 
 acquiefcing in the public admiration^ fwore 
 that to him the neighing of a horfe was 
 more agreeable : fo little acceptable to Scy- 
 thian ears, and to a barbarous monarch, were 
 the moft admired compofitions of the Greeks. 
 
 :;*; ||P 
 
 Even among nations of equal refine- 
 ment there is to each appropriated a ftyle 
 in mufic refulting from local circutn- 
 itances, or from certain peculiarities of 
 character ; and national mufic, becaufe 
 more intelligible, will ever be more accept- 
 able than foreign [D], to the inhabitants 
 of every country. Thus the fame founds, 
 though in fome reTpects intelligible to all, 
 excite perceptions which are merely rela- 
 tive, and therefore variable with the me- 
 . chanifm of our organs, with the aflbciationd 
 of fancy, and with the cultivation of tafte. 
 It is the fame with words. Words adopted 
 I 2 into
 
 n6 ESSAYS ON THE 
 
 into language, in the age of barbarifm, 
 and whofe harfhnefs then is either not dif- 
 cernible, or not offenfive, will of courfe 
 be relinquished, or abolifhed in a more 
 difcerning and cultivated period. And by 
 confequence, fentences conftrucled with 
 fuch different materials, though the vehicle 
 of the fame ideas to the underftanding, will 
 imprefs our organs with characteriftical and 
 diftincl: perceptions. 
 
 It is a remark of Voltaire, in celebrating 
 the illuftrious founders of Helvetian liberty, 
 that the difficulty of pronouncing fuch 
 names had injured their fame with pofte- 
 lity. 
 
 A fimilar remark might be formed with 
 regard to certain fciences and arts, where 
 technical terms abound, and a difcourage- 
 ment arifes from the coarfenefs of the lan- 
 guage in which they are delivered. Not 
 to mention the ufelefs jargon of the fchools, 
 
 grown
 
 HISTORY OF MANKIND. 117 
 
 grown fo juftly ofFenfive to the public ear, 
 the barbarifm of its fcientific terms proves 
 in the prefent age, at leaft in the fafhion- 
 able world, rather unfriendly to the Lin- 
 naean fyftem. This naturalifts confefs. 
 The late Mr. Gray, whofe mufical parts 
 were fo delicate and correct, was fo ftruck 
 with this deformity in a fyftem in other 
 refpe&s fo worthy of admiration, as to 
 have attempted to make the German Latin 
 of Linnseus purely claffical * : a tafk which 
 perhaps Gray alone was able to. perform. 
 But though this fpecies of deformity may 
 be an object of regret, faftidtous furely, or 
 rather to the laft degree fantastical, is the 
 tafte which can be diverted, by fuch fri- 
 volous confideration, from the ftudy of 
 nature. 
 
 The fenfe of harmony in a well confti- 
 tuted mind, difpenfes with its objects, in 
 
 * See Gray's Works by Mafon. 
 
 I 3 favour
 
 U8 ESSAYS ON THE 
 
 favour of more liberal and manly induU 
 gence. And in the expreffion of found, 
 in the intimation it brings, in the fenti- 
 ments and feelings, which, independently 
 of arbitrary appointment, it calls up in the 
 Jiuman underftanding, or imprefles on the 
 human heart, confifts the chief importance 
 of thofe modulations which prevail in dif- 
 ferent fyftems of language. 
 
 When the Emperor Charles the Fifth [E] 
 fo pleafantly character i fed the feveral lan- 
 guages of Europe, this general effect of 
 found alone exhaufted the criticifm. He 
 infmuated no other comparifon, nor en- 
 quired into their artificial fabric. The 
 criterion, however, of a polifhed tongue 
 feems principally to refide there. 
 
 Idiom and analogical texture prefent 
 confiderations of far greater importance 
 than can be drawn from any general theory 
 
 pf found. 
 
 After
 
 HISTORY OF MANKIND. 119' 
 
 / 
 
 After a language has arrived at confider- 
 able refinement, there may be remarked in 
 provincial phrafe, or in the variety of its 
 dialects, the character iftics of primitive 
 barbarifm. In this variety, its alliance 
 with manners cannot efcape the moft fuper- 
 ficial obferver. For, in the progrefs of a 
 ftate, the lower ranks often fall back ; or 
 at leaft not moving forward in exact pro- 
 portion with their fuperiors, their lan- 
 guage, like their manners, remains long 
 nearly ftationary. The vulgar, accord- 
 ingly, of the fame country, almoft as widely 
 differ in their vocabulary from the more 
 polifhed, as the more barbarous differ in 
 theirs from the more polifhed nations ; or 
 as the fame language differs from itfelf in 
 its fucceffive ftages. And from hence a 
 prefumption arifes, that the diftinction in 
 queftion lies not fo much in found, or in 
 grammatical texture, as in the analogy of 
 terms which, in different periods of fociety, 
 I 4 are.
 
 ESSAYS ON THE 
 
 are engrafted on a different flock. At one 
 period there is a coarfenefs and rufticity 
 which governs the idioms, runs through 
 the etymology, and adheres to all the allu- 
 fions. . At another period the allufions 
 carry us more immediately and diredly to 
 the arts of life. In circumftances fo diffi- 
 milar, the vocabulary is extended in oppo- 
 fite lines, and purfues its progrefs through 
 a different feries of analogy. 
 
 Suitable to this tendency of things, the 
 rough, the boifterous, and the loud, the 
 true reprefentatives of barbarians in a cul- 
 tivated age, are peculiarly averfe from re- 
 finement in fpeech, and difcover an apti- 
 tude and predilection for vulgar allufions. 
 
 Even when the accidents of birth and 
 fortune lead to its more polifhed forms, it 
 is difficult for art to file off, in this refpect, 
 the roughnefs of nature; and they relapfe 
 
 into
 
 HISTORY OF MANKIND. 121 
 
 into barbarifms better adapted to their mode 
 of thinking, and to the conftitutional inde- 
 licacy of their moral frame. To perfons of 
 an oppofite defcription, the grofs allufions of 
 the vulgar are peculiarly offenfive. A re- 
 formation in this point is more or lefs the 
 aim of the civilifing part of fociety ; till 
 at length the reigning propenfities of one 
 become reigning antipathies in another age. 
 
 The fyftem of allufions, therefore, the 
 courfe of etymology, or the filiation of 
 words, muft be variable, in every tongue, 
 with the manners, with the arts, with the 
 turn of thinking among mankind. And 
 befides thefe intrinfic differences, which 
 rife up fyftematically out of the prevailing 
 fcheme of thought, words acquire dignity 
 or meannefs from accidental combinations, 
 and even from the organs through which 
 they pafs. They are fandified, if one 
 may fay fo, by venerable lips, or contract 
 a fort of ideal debafement in the mouths of 
 4 the
 
 122 ESSAYS ON THE 
 
 the vulgar. And hence the poets of all 
 nations, the firft refiners of the elements 
 of fpeech, depart the fartheft from vulgar 
 phrafe, and even aflfect a dialect of their 
 own, confecrated in a peculiar manner to 
 the mufes 
 
 Such caufes directly tend to difcriminate 
 languages, and to fix the degrees of their 
 refinement. 
 
 But refinement in language, as in man- 
 ners, may be exceffive, or ill governed. 
 And comparative excellence is by no 
 means included in comparative refine- 
 ment [G], 
 
 Language, in its earlier forms, has been 
 taxed with an obfcurity, from which it is 
 afterwards exempt. This obfcurity, which 
 reigns in fome degree in all the languages 
 of antiquity, has been more particularly 
 objected to thofe of the Eaft. It feems 
 
 princi-
 
 HISTORY OF MANKIND. 123 
 
 principally to arife from the want of thofe 
 connective particles whofe introduction is 
 of a later date. And from hence it fhould 
 feem that perfpicuity is a growing virtue. 
 But the criticifm, if not deftitute of foun- 
 dation, muft be confined, in a great degree, 
 to written compofition. For, in the act of 
 fpeaking, the fuperior vivacity, which ac- 
 companies a rude tongue, often fuperfedes 
 the occafion of particles, or fcorns their 
 aid. If then particles, in the fullnefs of 
 their dominion, give only to perfpicuity 
 what an inferior animation takes away, 
 there is upon the whole no abfolute gain : 
 and according as you fix the proportion, 
 you refer the virtue to rude or cultivated 
 fpeeck. 
 
 Without inftituting a minute compari- 
 fon, it may in general be maintained, that 
 the great excellence of a rude tongue con- 
 fifts, if not in perfpicuity^ at leaft in <uiva- 
 
 3
 
 124 ESSAYS ON THE 
 
 city and Jlrength. In thefe modes of ex- 
 cellence our moft remote progenitors far 
 furpafled us. And the advantages of a 
 cultivated tongue, when oppofed to thefe, 
 will confift chiefly in copioufnefs of ex- 
 preffion, in the grace of allufion, and in 
 
 the combination of more melodious found. 
 
 
 An entire union of thefe qualities, with 
 
 thofe others, would conftitute the utmoft 
 perfection. But the exiftence of the for- 
 mer, in an eminent degree, is rather in- 
 compatible with the latter ; and confe- 
 quently there is a certain point of refine- 
 ment from which all languages begin to 
 decline [H]. 
 
 In forming a particular eftimate, the 
 inherent advantages and difadvantages of 
 grammatical texture would alfo deferve 
 attention. It is the genius of fome to 
 admit of inflexion, and confequently of 
 tranfpofition, and a vaft latitude of arrange- 
 ment.
 
 HISTORY OF MANKIND. 125 
 
 ment. Others, circumfcribed by particles, 
 admit of no variety of order. 
 
 The one fyftem is more fertile of har- 
 mony and elegance, and even of ftrength ; 
 and by operating more fuccefsfully on the 
 imagination, feems better adapted to the 
 purpofes of eloquence and polite literature. 
 The other fyftem, more allied to perfpicuity 
 and precifion, is, on that account, more 
 approved by the underftanding as a com- 
 modious vehicle for philofophy and the 
 fciences. Any greater latitude of arrange- 
 ment, than that permitted in the Greek 
 and Latin, might probably be deftructive of 
 perfpicuity. Any clofer confinement, than 
 that required in the French and Italian, 
 might be deftruclive of elegance and force. 
 In perfpicuity, the Englifh tongue is per- 
 haps fuperior both to the Greek and Latin, 
 while it falls confiderably fhort of the 
 French. In elegance and force it is more 
 
 perfect
 
 126 ESSAYS ON THE 
 
 perfect than the French, while infinitely 
 inferior to the Greek and Latin. 
 
 The German is an example of a lan- 
 guage which admits of large tranfpofition, 
 while cuftom exacts much uniformity in 
 the arrangement of words. Should the 
 Germans then ever arrive at that elegance 
 and tafte which diftinguifhed the politer 
 ages of Greece and Rome, their writers 
 would indulge in a variety of arrangement 
 hitherto unprecedented, and which, though 
 not repugnant to the fundamentals of their 
 grammar, muft wait the flow variation 
 of idiom, the fanction of cuftom and efta- 
 blifhed ufe. 
 
 Quern penes arbitrium eft, & jus, & 
 norma loquendi. 
 
 Such innovations, however, would be 
 juftly numbered among the ornaments of 
 fpeech, and the refinements of a polimed 
 age. And other languages more mela- 
 
 dioufly
 
 HISTORY OF MANKIND. 12; 
 
 dioufly conftruded, equally adorned, and 
 fufceptible, perhaps, in other refpects of 
 fuperior refinements, may be debarred, by 
 the fundamental laws and conftitution of 
 their grammar, from fuch eventual tran- 
 fitions. 
 
 But the critical examination of fuch par- 
 ticulars, or of the comparative excellence 
 of ancient and modern tongues, belongs to 
 the grammarian, or philologift, not to a 
 writer who looks through their province 
 into the progress of manners, and the 
 viciffitude of civil life.
 
 128 ESSAYS ON THE 
 
 NOTE S. 
 
 XT r ^ 
 
 NOTE [yfj, p. no. 
 
 ?,Vj r\"* HHlt I 
 
 TH E language of the Hottentots, though 
 not abfolutely deftitute of articulation, 
 is, however, defective in this quality. And 
 the language of the Troglodytes, a favage 
 people, who fubfitled in ancient Egypt, re- 
 fembled, according to Herodotus, the fhrieking 
 of bats, and confuted of no articulate founds. 
 But in this inftance, as in that of the Hotten- 
 tots, and other favage nations, it is probable 
 there is not a total abfence of the quality,, but 
 only a more imperfect articulation, which re- 
 quires fome acquaintance with the language to 
 render it palpable to fenfe. 
 
 NOTE [5], p. 112. 
 
 'TpHE celebrated Signora Gabrieli, whofe 
 *** power ot voice is fo various and bewitch- 
 ing, is confcio.us of the irrefiilible influence of 
 
 phyfical
 
 HISTORY OF MANKIND. 129 
 
 phyfical caufes on her exertions. They clifarm 
 her occafionally of the power to excel, and ac- 
 count for that reluctance to perform, which is 
 generally afcribed to caprice alone. 
 
 See Brydone's Tour; 
 
 NOTE [C], p. 115. 
 
 TH E anecdote of Atheas king of Scythia 
 is thus related by Plutarch : 
 
 'Area?' ' icpwia.* $t) rev ctpurrov a 
 Aav, atj^/xaXwTOVj rxtAfimv atAtirai; Oaupa^oi*- 
 ruv & T> aAXwv, auro? w/*o<T yhov outztut t* 
 
 fans %pl[AlTlfy]tTOS 
 
 Plut. in Apophth. 
 
 It may even be queftioned* whether the ac- 
 complifhed king of Macedon himfelf, though 
 fufceptible of mufical gratification beyond the 
 reach of a Scythian, had a full relilh of the 
 performances of the great matter he affected to 
 admire. But it was the policy of Philip to 
 countenance at his court, a degree of refinement 
 in the elegant and polite arts, which was little 
 adapted to the circumftances of Macedon* 
 though highly worthy of a prince who had an- 
 nexed his kingdom to the Hellenic body, and 
 K afpired
 
 i 3 d ESSAYS ON THE 
 
 afpir-ed to the fovcreignty of nations highly 
 civilized. 
 
 The Macedonians held a fort of middle 
 ftation between the Grecian and Barbarian world. 
 Rude, when compared with the Greeks-, culti- 
 vated and refined, when compared with the 
 Scythian nations. 
 
 
 
 NOTE [D], p. 115. 
 
 HOUGH mufical expreffion is certainly 
 relative to the peculiar ideas of a people, 
 it cannot hence be inferred, that there is no 
 ground of abfolute preference in judging of the 
 mufic of nations. All languages, in their pe- 
 culiar idioms, have fuch a reference, yet a judg- 
 ment may be formed concerning their compa- 
 rative perfection. But to inftitute fuch compa- 
 rifon belongs not to the crowd. 
 
 " the admiration," fays a late popular writer, 
 " pretended to be given to foreign mufic in 
 " Britain is, in general, defpicable affe&ation: 
 " In Italy we fee the natives tranfported at the 
 " opera with all that variety of delight and 
 " paffion which the compofer intended to pro- 
 " duce. The fame opera in England is feen 
 
 ** with 
 I
 
 HISTORY OF MANKIND. r 3 i 
 
 66 with the moft remarkable liftleflhefs and in- 
 " attention. It can raife no paflion in the 
 audience, becaufe they do not underftand the 
 " language in which it is written." 
 
 The fame writer, after enumerating feveral 
 caufes which conferred pre-eminence on the 
 mufic of the ancients, proceeds to obferve, " That 
 " if we were to recover the mufic which once 
 " had fo much power in the early periods of the 
 " Greek ftates, it might have no fuch charms 
 " for modern ears as fome great admirers of 
 " antiquity imagine." 
 
 Gregory's Comparative View. 
 
 The extent of thefe charms^ we will prefumc 
 to .add, even for the ears of Greeks, is magni- 
 fied beyond the truth. It can hardly be imagin- 
 ed, that their mufical education was eflential to 
 public morals, or to the frame of their govern- 
 ments ; though it might contribute, in fome 
 degree, to fway the genius of the youth, to 
 counterbalance the tendency of their gymnaftic 
 exercifes, and to heighten the fenfibilities of that 
 refined and ingenious people. 
 
 K a NOTE
 
 ?ri< **.c- '^^ 
 
 __ .- _ -Sl'i'rK'* T*: 
 
 NOTE [], p. 1 18. 
 
 FR A NC E S E ad un amico Tudefco al fuo 
 cavallo Italiano alia fua fignora Spa- 
 gniiolo a Dio Inglefe a gli uccelli. 
 
 \? Mftnacpo - 
 This apothegm, like an imperial edi<5b, has 
 
 been rung, for above two centuries, in the ears 
 of Europe. Though rather pleafant than fe- 
 rious, it intimates from high authority the ge- 
 neral effects of found. Serious criticifm, on the 
 ftructure of the European languages, leads to 
 more important diftin&ions, founded in the di- 
 verfity of national charader. 
 
 " It is Certain," fays Addifon, " that the 
 <c light talkative genius of the French has not 
 * c a little infefted their tongue, which might 
 " be (hewn by many inftances -, as the genius 
 <c of the Italians, which is fo much addicted to 
 " mufic and ceremony, has moulded all their 
 <c words and phrafes to thofe particular ufes. 
 " The ftatelinefs and gravity of the Spaniards 
 cc (hews itfelf to perfection, in the folemnity.of 
 " their language ; and the blunt, honeft humour 
 
 *' of .the Germans founds better in the rough- 
 
 " - - - - - ' ..... " . 
 
 ' nef<i 
 
 ._ neis
 
 HISTORY OF MANKIND. xj 3 
 
 " nefs of the high Dutch, than it would in a 
 * politer tongue." 
 
 Spec"lator ? No. 135. 
 
 NOTE [F], p. 122. 
 
 HPHE embellifhment of a poetic dialect is 
 eminently confpicuous in the Greek and 
 Latin , the languages ancient and modern moft 
 eminent for every fpecies of refinement. 
 
 Whatever theory is embraced concerning the 
 origin of this dialect among the Greeks, the 
 advantages hence derived to the Greek mufe arc 
 univerfally acknowledged. And the advantages 
 derived to the Italian mufe, from the fame foun- 
 tain, are thus defcribed by Mr. Addifon in his 
 Remarks on Italy. 
 
 " The Italian poets, befides the celebrated 
 " fmoothnefs of their tongue, have a particular 
 ' advantage above the writers of other na- 
 " tions in the difference of their poetical and 
 ** profe language. There are indeed fets of 
 4 * phrafes that in all countries are peculiar to 
 *' the poets j but, among the Italians^ there 
 '* ? are not only fentences, but a multitude 
 K "of
 
 I 
 
 I 
 
 '34 
 
 ESSAYS ON THE 
 
 " of particular words that never enter into 
 " common difcourfe. They have fuch a dif- 
 " ferent turn and polilhing for poetical ufe, 
 * { that they drop feveral of their letters, and 
 *' appear in another form when they come to 
 * c be arranged in verfe. For this reafon, the Ita- 
 " lian opera feldom finks into a poornefs of 
 ? l language, but amidft all the meannefs, and 
 " familiarity of the thoughts, has fomething 
 " beautiful and fonorous in the exprefiion. 
 ** Without this natural advantage of the tongue, 
 " their prefent poetry would appear wretchedly 
 " low and vulgar, notwithstanding the many 
 " drained allegories that are fo much in ufe 
 te amongft the writers of this nation.'* 
 
 Thus far Mr. Addifon. Suitable to the de- 
 fign of this note, it may farther be obferved, 
 that the Provencal tongue, embellilhed by the 
 happy genius of the Troubadours, was, dur- 
 ing a period of two centuries, the moft ap- 
 proved of any in Europe. It was the forming 
 hand of Dante, that firft gave fo fine a polifh 
 to the Italian as rendered it fuperior to the Pro- 
 vencal, at a time when the Spanifh and French 
 were emerging more (lowly from barbarifm. 
 
 See Millet's Hiftory of the Troubadours. 
 
 The
 
 HISTORY OF MANKIND. 135 
 
 The Englifh tongue cannot indeed boaft of 
 a poetic dialed of equal advantage with that of 
 the Greek or Italian, yet is it not unacquainted 
 with a fimilar fpecies of refinement. The merit 
 of fuch refinement is eminently Dryden's, who 
 felected, with peculiar delicacy, fo many flow- 
 ing and fonorous words, and appropriated them 
 excluflvely to the mufes. 
 
 t J ^f"'i ;: ; 
 
 " There was," fays his biographer and critic, 
 ** before the time of Dryden, no poetical dic- 
 ** tion, no fyftem of words at once refined from 
 " the groflhefs of domeilic ufe, and free from 
 " the harfhnefs of terms appropriated to parti- 
 " ;cular arts. Words too familiar or too re- 
 " mote, defeat the purpofe of a poet. From 
 " thofe founds whicfy we hear on fmajl or 
 " coarfe occafions, we do npt eafily receive 
 " ftrong impreffions or delightful images ; and 
 " words to which we are nearly ftrangers, when- 
 '* ever they occur, draw that attention on them- 
 *' felves,. which t^ey fh(3jujd. convey to things. 
 
 pns, of ^ \yords, which 
 <s diftinguifh poetry fron^ proie, h^d ^>een rarely 
 " attempted-, we had frw elegancies o flowers 
 w of fpeech , the roies had not yet been plucked 
 K 4 " from
 
 i S 6 ESSAYS ON THE 
 
 " from the bramble, or different colours had 
 *' not been joined to enliven one another." 
 
 1 ft .A^ 
 
 Waller and Denham, it will readily be owned 
 by every cultivator of Englifh literature, claim 
 on the fame account a due proportion of praife. 
 But Dryden, certainly, has eclipfed their fame. 
 
 Waller was fhiooth ; but Dryden taught to join ) 
 The varying verfe, the full refounding line, > 
 
 The lone maieftic march, and energy divine. J 
 
 o v. .... 
 
 *"T"* H E fimple and original qualities of ftyle, 
 * confidered as an object to the underftand- 
 ing, the imagination, the paffions, and the ear, 
 are reduced by Dr. Campbel, in the Philofophy of 
 Rhetoric, to five, perfpicuity, vivacity, elegance, 
 animation, and mufic, 
 
 
 
 If of thefe qualities perfpicuity is, as it furely 
 is, the moft eflential, the aptitude of a language 
 to promote perfpicuity, would feem to conftitutc 
 its chief perfection. But we may apply, per- 
 haps, to perfpicuity, which is the firft end of 
 fpeech, what is applicable to fome of the moral 
 
 virtues.
 
 HISTORY OF MANKIND. 
 
 virtues. The abfence of the virtue implies the 
 moft palpable defect j its prefenee is no capital 
 excellence. 
 
 hbnvp3dv! : h^T- -v - P -^iSV 
 
 Befides, the cafes of ftyle and of a language 
 are not exactly parallel. In judging of the one, 
 we pronounce on the execution ; in judging of 
 the other, rather on the materials. The archi- 
 tect may not always be refponfible for the ma- 
 terials with which he builds. A language full 
 of perfpicuity, within a narrow province, may, 
 from the fcantinefs of the vocabulary, be with- 
 out variety, or compafs, or extent. 
 
 As to the analyfis of ftyle, it is foreign to 
 this difcufiion. But if fo curious a fubject 
 Ihould appear interefting to the reader, we can 
 refer him with pleafure to the work above 
 mentioned, which enters into minute as well as 
 important diftinctions, and which entitles its 
 author to no inferior rank among the critics and 
 
 jnetaphyficrans of the pfefent age. 
 
 f ' - , 
 
 V *-! -tJti.f'-'.^ ^ 
 
 
 NOTE
 
 ESSAYS ON THE 
 
 NOTE [#], p. 124. 
 
 a language has touched the higheft 
 point of attainable perfection, it is open 
 to corruption from various fources, which no 
 human fagacity is able fully to explore. 
 
 It can be fhewn from the doctrine of combi- 
 nations, that it is poffible, in the nature of 
 things, for a language to exbaujl it/elf^ fo as to 
 be utterly incapable of prefenting any #<?zaidea 
 to the human underftanding. 
 
 In any fyftem of words, the various combi- 
 nations, and combination of combinations, can- 
 not be infinite. But though not infinite^ they 
 are, it muft be owned, indefinite; and there- 
 fore, the fuppofition we have made, is barely 
 poffible in the conception of the mind. Some- 
 thing, however, actually approaching to this 
 takes place, to a certain degree, in a highly 
 cultivated tongue, and is a principal caufe of 
 its decline. 
 
 Modes of fpeech, the moft elegant and 
 adorned, by returning often upon the ear, are 
 
 liable
 
 HISTORY OF MANKIND. 139 
 
 liable to be anticipated, or ceafe to afford their 
 wonted gratification. To aim therefore at new, 
 though inferior forms of excellence, becomes an 
 object in an age of refinement. Words of fin- 
 gular fabric, foreign idioms, and combinations 
 lefs familiar to the public ear, are fought after 
 with avidity. The genius of the language is 
 tortured j and the love of novelty and variety 
 produces a conftant deviation from the pure!): 
 models. 
 
 The corruption arifing from this principle^ 
 was realized among the Romans after the 
 Auguftan age, and begins perhaps to be rea- 
 lized in theprefent period of Englilh literature.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 .:. 
 
 ..ora 
 
 .- 
 
 i
 
 ESSAY IV. 
 
 TH E epithets barbarous and cwilifed 
 occur fo frequently in converfation 
 and in books, that whoever employs his 
 thoughts in contemplation of the manners 
 and hiftory of* mankind, will have occafion 
 to confider, with fome attention, both 
 what ideas thefe words are commonly 
 meant to convey, and in what fenfe they 
 ought to be employed by the hiftorian, and 
 moral philofopher. 
 
 It is of fome importance furely, in every 
 difcuflion relative to human affairs, to have 
 afcertained before-hand what are thofe 
 qualities in the manners and characters of 
 
 different
 
 142 ESSAYS ON THE 
 
 different nations, which, according to the 
 eftimation of reafon, after an impartial fur- 
 vey of mankind, as they are and have been, 
 may juftify the impofition of names imply- 
 ing almoft unlimited cenfure or applaufe. 
 
 ..-fcF :.M7I3 T6.K91 Milt* ft 3,41*$ W.il 
 
 / 
 
 Perhaps, on examination, it will not 
 appear that any fjmple criterion of civili- 
 zation and barbarity, taken either from 
 laws, or manners, or any other circum- 
 flance in human aiFairs, can be fixed upon, 
 as arifing from the general ufe which is 
 made of thefe terms, and fitted to explain 
 their application in particular cafes. 
 
 That civilization fo highly extolled, is 
 plainly underftood by its admirers to be 
 fomewhat of a mixed and complicated na- 
 ture, comprehending various conftituent 
 parts, fome effential to its very exiftence, 
 fome only acceflbry and ornamental. In 
 the total abfence of the former of thefe, 
 
 Barbarity >
 
 HISTORY OF MANKIND. 143 
 
 Barbarity, according % to the general ac- 
 ceptation of the word, feems to be under - 
 ftood to confift, 
 
 Warm and fteady affections in private 
 life, an honourable fidelity to engagements, 
 whether exprefs or implied, the order of 
 internal laws, equity and humanity in 
 their conduct toward ftrangers,' and fo- 
 reign nations, will be infifted upon by all 
 as eflential to the character of a civilized 
 people. The fciences, and fine arts, 
 though not indifpenfably eflential, muft be 
 efteemed very requifite : yet is not their 
 influence exempted from fome uncertainty 
 
 and fufpicion. 
 
 
 
 The cultivation of real fcience, the 
 love and ftudy of the fine arts, while 
 uncorrupted, add, no doubt, to the po- 
 litenefs, and improve the enjoyments of 
 
 civilized
 
 144 ESSAYS ON THE 
 
 civilized nations ; but an attachment to* 
 falfe fciences (feveral of which, like aftro- 
 logy and magic, unfufpecled while they 
 flourifh, have prevailed, and perhaps pre- 
 vail), or a pafficn for fpurious andgrotefque 
 imitations of the fine arts, as pantomimes, 
 puppet- fhows, mafquerades, or the labour- 
 ed decoration of gardens and parterres, 
 cannot improve, and may degrade and 
 impair the juft eftimadon of thofe nations 
 by whom they are cherifhed. 
 
 The vulgar and commercial arts, fub- 
 fervient to the plenty, accommodation, and 
 elegance of ordinary life, feem almoft of 
 an indifferent nature. 
 
 Although by thefe the manners of civi- 
 lized nations may be embellished, yet the 
 higheft degrees of generous virtue, and 
 the trueft politenefs of mind, may be 
 found among nations to whom thefe arts 
 
 are almoft totally unknown. 
 
 If
 
 HISTORY OF MANKIND. 14$ 
 
 -JOT;-.,-. 
 
 If this be a full enumeration of the qua- 
 lities which, in the general fenfe of man- 
 kind, are underftood to conftitute civilized 
 manners, and a juft account of their re- 
 fpective importance ; it deferves to be ad- 
 verted to, that no nation has ever poflefled 
 them all in their higheft excellence, nor 
 has any fubfifted as a people (fhort periods 
 of convulfion and anarchy excepted) with* 
 out a very confiderable degree of one or 
 more of thofe which are to be accounted 
 moft eflential. 
 
 Were it not then better to fet afide from 
 correct reafoning the too general terms of 
 
 barbarous and civilized, fubftituting in 
 
 f 
 their room expreffions of more definite cen- 
 
 fure and approbation ? 
 
 Indeed the common acceptation of 
 thefe words is founded upon a very 
 general, but very falfe and partial opi- 
 nion of the ftate of mankind. It fup- 
 L pofes
 
 I 4 6 ESSAYS ON THE 
 
 pofes that the difference between one 
 nation and another may be prodigioufly 
 great ; that fome happy and diftinguifhed 
 tribes of men are, in all refpe&s, generous, 
 liberal, refined, and humane ; while others, 
 from their hard fate, or their perverfenefs,, 
 remain in all refpe&s illiberal, mifchievous> 
 and rude. 
 
 This general fuppofition with regard to 
 the condition of human nature, is implied 
 in that opinion of their own fuperiority 
 ever other nations which Europeans are 
 prone to entertain : a fuperiority which, 
 like that affumed by the Greeks, the Ro- 
 mans, and the Chinefe, is fuppofed by 
 thofe who claim it to be abfolute and im- 
 inenfe ; yet, if brought to the ftandard of 
 virtue and felicity, it may appear very 
 inconfiderable in refpect xrf the populous 
 Afiatic nations, who have flourimed long 
 under extenfive monarchies, and not very 
 great in refped even of the fimpleft and 
 
 rudeil
 
 HISTORY OF MANKIND. 147 
 
 rudeft race of men inhabiting the frozen 
 fhores of Greenland, or placed beneath the 
 fervour of a vertical fun, along the Guinea 
 coaft, or on the Banks of the Orinoco. 
 
 It ought to be fuppofed that, if other 
 nations were as far inferior to us, as we 
 are willing to imagine, their condition 
 would evidently tend to decay and exter- 
 mination. "With regard to the inferior 
 orders of being, both animal and vege- 
 table, it feems to be a law of nature, that, 
 wherever they cannot attain, in fome very 
 confiderable degree, the honours, if I may 
 fo fpeak, and the emoluments of their 
 exiftence, .there they gradually decline, and 
 at laft ceafe to exift at all. Is man an ex- 
 ception from the general law? or may it 
 not rather be believed, that, wherever any 
 tribes of mankind fubfift, and do not mani- 
 feftly decay and haften to extermination, 
 there, though appearances belie it, they 
 muft have attained a meafure of wqrth 
 L 2 and
 
 548 ESSAYS ON THE 
 
 and of felicity not much inferior to that 
 which the moft admired nations have 
 actually attained ? 
 
 ... I" 1 
 
 The opinions of the vulgar fuggefted by 
 inftindive propenfities, not formed by rea- 
 foning, always afcribe to the progrefs of 
 fcience and of art, wherever they have once 
 apprehended the idea of this progrefs, a fu- 
 periority of the moft decifive kind, in all 
 that is fortunate and defirable in the lot of 
 man. But fpeculative reafoners are not 
 wholly agreed on this head. 
 
 The greater number indeed have em- 
 braced, and by their eloquence they illuf- 
 trate and enforce, this opinion fo natural 
 to the crowd, and, with them, they extol 
 this progrefs as eflential to the very exif- 
 tence of the human character. 
 
 But of late a few *, not inferior in fa- 
 gacity to any, and more inquifitive per- 
 
 Rouffeau, and thofe who have embraced his opinions. 
 
 haps,
 
 HISTORY OF MANKIND. 149 
 
 haps, in this refearch, than thofe who 
 have followed the generally received opi- 
 nion, have found reafon to decry this pro- 
 grefs as the fertile fource of corruption, 
 debafement and infelicity. 
 
 Between thefe oppofite opinions the 
 truth, as in many other cafes, will pro- 
 bably be found. The beneficial influence 
 of this progrefs is real, yet far inferior to 
 what the panegyrifts of fcience and art 
 have reprefented it to be, and juft barely 
 enough to reward that continual purfuit 
 which it folicits from every nation once en- 
 gaged in this career. 
 
 It will not however follow, if the con- 
 dition of the moft improved and refined 
 nations be admitted very little to excel 
 in felicity or worth the fimpleft and 
 rudeft tribes of men, that the inducements 
 to further progrefs in purfuit of improve- 
 ment are taken away, or indeed diminifhed. 
 L 3 To
 
 j 5 o ESSAYS ON THE 
 
 To nations of men, as to individuals, it 
 happens often, that they are allured by 
 the fplendor of a diftant object, to purfue 
 it with more ardour than it appears on at- 
 tainment to have deferved. They are then 
 apt to complain of fallacious appearances, 
 and to wonder that the fyftem, of which 
 they are a part, fhculd expofe them to 
 fuch delufions. But though their induftry 
 may have been roufed and excited by a 
 certain degree of delufive fplendor, with- 
 out the charms of which it might not 
 have been awakened at all, they are never 
 cheated of its proper reward. 
 
 Some real good, however inferior to 
 that exhibited, or different from it, is 
 generally obtained at the clofe of every 
 purfuit ; and whatever may appear de- 
 ficient then, has been before enjoyed in 
 detail, as it accompanied the progrefs of 
 their endeavours. 
 
 Were
 
 HISTORY OF MANKIND. 151 
 
 Were indeed both the progrefiive re- 
 ward of well-dire&ed induftry, and that 
 which is obtained at the termination of its 
 . endeavours, much inferior to their ufual 
 amount, one powerful reafon would ftill re- 
 main to impel mankind to the purfuit of 
 every attainable object, and to make them 
 afpire after every apparent improvement 
 of their actual condition, whatever it may 
 be. 
 
 Omnia fatis 
 
 In pejus ruere, ac retro fubiapfa referri, 
 Ni vis humana 
 
 The filent courfe of time is continually 
 taking away from that which we poflefs, 
 and from the high perfection of whatever 
 we have cultivated and refined. Nothing 
 ever ftands ftill. If progrefs is not made, 
 we muft decline from the good ftate already 
 attained, and as it is fcarcely ever in our 
 power to replace the work of time and 
 of chance in thofe very refpects in which 
 
 L 4 they
 
 i 5 2 ESSAYS ON THE, &c. 
 
 they have impaired our condition, we 
 ought to endeavour to compenfate thefe in- 
 evitable lofles, by the acquifition of thofe 
 other advantages and augmentations of good, 
 which the fame courfe of things brings 
 forward to our view, and feems to prefent 
 to us as the object of reafonable defirc.
 
 
 "to 
 
 E s s A Y v. 
 
 . -v . ^--A. t . >*ro ' - , r - *- 
 
 OF TtfE RANK OF NATIONS, AND THE REVO- 
 LUTIONS OF FORTUNE. 
 
 * I ^HE philofopher, who ftudies hu- 
 Jl man nature in the clofet, will be 
 aftonHhed when he looks abroad into 
 life, and examines, by his theory, the 
 conduct of mankind. 
 
 Yet to him who, in the courfe of obfer- 
 vation, and in the commerce of active life, 
 has learned to make no ferious appeals to 
 his own conftitution, the hiftory of the 
 world will be no lefs dark and myfterious. 
 
 The one is deficient in experience, the 
 other in reflexion; and both alike unqua- 
 lified
 
 r 
 
 154 ESSAYS ON THE 
 
 lified to judge confidently of the human 
 character. 
 
 Had there reigned from the beginning 
 an exact fimilarity among men, laws had 
 been unneceffary, and government with- 
 out all foundation. A wide diffimilarity, 
 on the other hand, muft have indifpofed 
 them for fociety, and rendered them in- 
 congruous parts of the fame fyftem. 
 
 Diftindions then there are, and ought 
 to be. But thefe, at firft few and incon- 
 fiderable, have grown immenfe in the re- 
 volutions of time ; and the natural hiftory 
 of the fpecies is fcarce able to folve the ap~ 
 pearances in civil life. 
 
 The operation of climate, in the pro- 
 duction of thefe appearances, feems to 
 have been magnified by the Greeks and 
 Romans. The genius of the Afiatics was 
 fuppcfed to difappear in the climates of 
 
 Europe,
 
 HISTORY OF MANKIND. 155 
 
 Europe, and the genius of Europe to eva- 
 porate in the climates of Afia. Thus the 
 genius of the human mind feeme.d to 
 fluctuate with every migration, and to gra- 
 vitate to the foil [A]. 
 
 Mechanical and local caufes, which, in 
 fome refpects, fo vifibly predominate, the 
 imagination invefts with a dominion that 
 reaches the very effence of our frame. 
 Hence the mutual contempt of nations. 
 Hence the rank which Europe, at this day, 
 ufurps over all the communities of mankind. 
 
 She affects to move in another orbit from 
 the reft of the fpecies. She is even offend- 
 ed with the idea of a common defcent ; and 
 rather than acknowledge her anceftors to 
 have been co-ordinate only to other races 
 of Barbarians, and in parallel circum- 
 ftances, fhe breaks the unity of the fyftem, 
 and, by imagining fpecific differences among 
 men, precludes or abrogates their common 
 claims. 
 
 According
 
 I 5 6 ESSAYS ON THE 
 
 According to this theory, the oppreffion 
 or extermination of a meaner race, will 
 no longer be fo fhocking to humanity. 
 Their diftrefles will not call upon us fo 
 loudly for relief. And public morality, and 
 the laws of nations, will be confined to a 
 few regions peopled with this more exalt- 
 ed fpecies of mankind. 
 
 Upon the difcovery of America, doubts 
 were entertained whether the natives of 
 that country ought not to be accounted a 
 race of the Ourang Outangs. But the in- 
 fallible edift of a Roman pontiff foon efta- 
 blifhed their doubtful pedigree [B] ; and 
 our right of dominion, in both hemifpheres, 
 was aflerted, on other pretences, by the 
 cafuifts of thofe days. 
 
 The inveftiture of America was con- 
 ferred on Ferdinand and Ifabella by Pope 
 Alexander the Sixth. 
 
 In
 
 HISTORY OF MANKIND. 157 
 
 In general all countries difcovered to the 
 weft of a meridian line, were by this pope 
 affigned to the Spaniards, as all difcovered 
 to the eaft of this line were declared, by 
 the fame authority, to be vefted in the 
 Portuguefe. 
 
 :\V(tt li'- ity* '!- 
 
 It became accordingly a queftion after- 
 wards between the two crowns of Spain 
 and Portugal, to which of them the Mo- 
 lucca Iflands mould belong. For it had 
 not occurred to this arbiter of the rights 
 of kings, that the grants were as non- 
 fenfical as unjuft, and that the eaftern and 
 weftern navigators might poffibly inter- 
 fere in taking pofleffion of their refpecTive 
 allotments. But the court of Rome, which 
 authorifed fo abfurd a partition of empire, 
 vindicated, during another pontificate, the 
 honours of the Indian race. The thunder 
 of the Vatican was heard, for once, on the 
 fide of humanity; and Europe, in the 
 fixteenth century, was permitted only to 
 
 ufurp
 
 j 5 8 ESSAYS ON THE 
 
 ufurp the fovereignty, not to infult the 
 pedigree, of nations. 
 
 The theory, then, we have mentioned, 
 is, in its utmoft extent, of more modern 
 invention. But the opinions which lead 
 to it are of high antiquity; and, being 
 congenial with the paffions of a divided 
 world, have refifted the experience of ages. 
 There is fcarce any folly or vice, fays a 
 late author *, more epidemical among 
 the fons of men, than that ridiculous and 
 hurtful vanity, by which the people of 
 each country are apt to prefer themfelves 
 to thofe of every other ; and to make their 
 own cuftoms and manners and opinions 
 the ftandards of right and wrong, of true 
 and falfe. The fame propenfity, fays an- 
 other author f, is the moft remarkable in 
 the whole tfefcription of mankind. 
 
 Lftters on the Study of Hiftory, p. 29. 
 Hillory of Civil Society, p. 145. 
 
 National
 
 HISTORY OF MANKIND. 159 
 
 National vanity is indeed confined to 
 no sera in civil life. If the epithets Greek 
 and Barbarian are oppofed to each other 
 in the Greek tongue, epithets, exactly 
 equivalent, are oppofed to each other in 
 an Indian tongue, fpoken on the coaft of 
 Labrador ; and, in general, the names by 
 which the rude American tribes wifh to be 
 diftinguiflied, are aflumed from an idea 
 of their own pre-eminence *. If the learn- 
 ed Chinefe were mortified with the figure 
 their empire made in the general map of 
 the world, the poor natives of Congo pro- 
 nounce themfelves highly favoured among 
 mortals: and the moft wretched of African 
 tribes folace themfelves, under all their 
 misfortunes, with the fond perfuafion that, 
 whitherfoever they go, they fhall, one 
 day, return, in life or in death, to their 
 native mores. 
 
 * Hiftory of America, rol. i. p. 412. 
 
 3 Such
 
 166 ESSAYS ON THE 
 
 Such partiality, when not carried into 
 an extreme, anfwers a noble end : and the 
 pureft patriotifm is often founded on local 
 circumftances, and a predilection for efta- 
 blifhed forms. But that preference of af- 
 fection to our own country, which is the 
 true definition of patriotifm, is compatible, 
 furely, with fuitable regard and allowances 
 for the various afpecls of humanity. 
 
 Profound ignorance, and a contrariety, 
 or repugnancy of cuftoms and manners, 
 account for that averfion, or contempt for 
 ftrangers and foreigners, implied in the 
 partial fentiments of favage and untutor- 
 ed tribes. No information, no experience, 
 no conviction can always conquer early 
 prejudice : and the Hottentot, who re- 
 turned from Europe, relapfed, we may 
 believe, with all imaginable eafe, perhaps 
 with additional fatisfaction, into the efta- 
 blimed habits of his country. 
 
 But
 
 HISTORY OF MANKIND. 161 
 
 But fuch examples are balanced by others 
 of an oppofite nature, no lefs remarkable, 
 which hiftory prefents to our view: ex- 
 amples of docility, of emulation, of mag- 
 nanimous preference. Some of thefe it 
 will be proper to recite, if we would not 
 belie the character of the ruder ages. 
 
 . i ;.-;f*. /$ vp. 
 
 The Romans, while yet a rude people, 
 difdained not to appoint an embafly to 
 enquire into the jurifprudence of the 
 Greeks, and to fupply, from that fountain> 
 the deficiencies in their civil code. 
 
 This embafly feems to have been fug- 
 gefted by Hermodorus, an exiled citizen of 
 Ephefus, who afterwards eminently aflifted 
 in interpreting the collection of laws 
 brought from Greece. His public fervices 
 met with a public reward. A ftatue was 
 erected to him in the Comitia at the public 
 expence : an honour which the jealoufy 
 of Rome would have denied to a ftranger 
 
 M in
 
 ESSAYS ON THE 
 
 in a lefs generous age. But, at this period, 
 fhe adted from a nobler impulfe ; and the 
 flatue ereded to Hermodorus was ere&ed, 
 in reality, to her own honour. Yet the 
 name of this Ephefian, which cafts a luftre 
 upon Rome, feemed to caft a fhade upon 
 his native city; and that people, according 
 to Heraclitus, deferved to have been extir- 
 pated, to a man, who had condemned fuch 
 a citizen to exile [C], 
 
 The Romans, in other inftances, were 
 capable of acling with the fame humble 
 dignity. 
 
 They difdained not to refer to the court 
 of Areopagus at Athens, the decifion of 
 fuch queftions as were too complex or 
 intricate for their own tribunals. This re- 
 ference, that embafly, may feem worthy of 
 a people who were deftined, one day, to be 
 the rulers of mankind. But the policy of 
 rude nations, though feldom called into 
 
 view
 
 HISTORY OF MANKIKD. 163 
 
 view unlefs by that fortune which renders 
 their pofterity illuftrious, is often, we may 
 believe, conducted with the fame fpirit. 
 
 In the reign of Hadrian, and Antoninus 
 Pius, references, from the fierceft barba- 
 rians, to Rome, were not uncommon. 
 And there occurs an example of policy, in 
 modern ages, lefs celebrated indeed, but 
 more liberal, perhaps, and magnanimous 
 than any recorded in Roman annals. It 
 relates to religion, an object: certainly the 
 moft fublime and interefting that can enter 
 into public councils and deliberations. 
 
 A duke of Ruffia, while his fubjects 
 were yet pagans, fent abroad commiffioners 
 to inform themfelves, on the fpot, concern- 
 ing the religion of Rome, the religion of 
 the Greek church, and the religion of 
 Mahomet, that he might determine, upon 
 the report of thefe commiffioners, which 
 of thefe feveral religions it became him to 
 M 3 embrace
 
 1 64 ESSAYS ON THE 
 
 embrace and eftablifh, as the guardian of 
 his people. So much modefty in acknow- 
 ledging domeftic infufficiency; fo much 
 candour in weighing the pretenfions of 
 foreign inftitutions, are rarely to be met 
 with in the proceedings of nations reputed 
 civilized. And if we compare the fenti- 
 ments which thofe under a different ftate 
 of the arts are difpofed to entertain, we 
 fliall find that undiftinguifhing contempt, 
 though mutual in fome refpects, fubfifts 
 between them by no means in an equal 
 degree. It is commonly mitigated, on the 
 one fide, by credulity and admiration, to 
 which the ruder nations are peculiarly 
 prone [Z>]; while it is heightened, on the 
 other, by antipathies, which the pageantry 
 of rank, and the exterior of poliflied life, 
 are apt to infpire. 
 
 The congrefs of mankind, at Conflan- 
 tinople, during the period of the crufades, 
 opened perhaps a fairer field for this com- 
 
 parifon,
 
 HISTORY OF MANKIND. 165 
 
 parifon, than any other occurrence in 
 the annals of the world. Various people 
 in different ftages of civil culture, con- 
 vened, as it were, at a general rendezvous, 
 and pafling in review before each other, 
 mufthave imprefled the mind with emotions 
 and fentiments correfponding to the variety 
 of their conditions. Hiftorians, fpeclators 
 of the fcene, and animated with the paflions 
 of their contemporaries, have defcribed the 
 impreflion of this fmgular interview; and 
 from the defcriptions of thefe hiftorians we 
 may colled the judgment of nations. 
 
 The Greeks exulting in their unrivalled 
 fuperiority in arts, looked down on all the 
 ftrangers afiembled in their capital, with 
 fupercilious contempt, and, on fome, even 
 with deteftation. The Latins, on the other 
 hand, and in general the ruder ftrangers of 
 the Weft, with more modeft ideas of their 
 own accomplimments, recognized a degree 
 of refinement in manners and in arts, fa 
 M far
 
 i66 ESSAYS ON THE 
 
 far fuperid^ to their own, and regarded 
 with an admiration approaching to enthu- 
 fiafm, the fplendor and magnificence of the 
 Greek empire. 
 
 The leaders of the crufades, accordingly, 
 on their return from the Holy Land, aban- 
 doned in fome fort the rufticity of their 
 manners, and aimed at fome reformation 
 in the tafte and fciences of Europe. And 
 to thefe wild expeditions, fays an admired 
 hiftorian*, the effect of fuperftition or folly, 
 we owe the fir ft gleams of light, which 
 tended to difpel barbarity and ignorance. 
 
 In general it may be affirmed, that rude 
 nations are touched with fome degree 
 of reverence or admiration at the fight 
 of dignified appearances; that they ho- 
 nour, at fome diftance, that flate of the 
 arts towards which they are tending ; and 
 that it is only in cafes where the diftance 
 is too immenfe for their profpect or 
 * Hiftory of Charles V. vol. i. 
 
 conception,
 
 HISTORY OF MANKIND. 167 
 
 conception, that they acquigfce in their 
 condition with an apparent infenfibility, 
 and allow their fuperiors to poflefs unen- 
 vied greatnefs. 
 
 Saracens, notwithftanding the de- 
 folatitin of literature at Alexandria, which 
 marked their fir ft conquefts, foon appeared 
 in the fcene, as its moft zealous champions. 
 Eager to preferve, as before active to de- 
 ftroy, they cultivated its precious remains 
 with unexampled ardour. A novelty was 
 even to appear in public negociations : a 
 people contending for erudition as for em- 
 pire, and actually demanding the works of 
 the antients, by exprefs articles, in treaties 
 with the Greek emperors []. 
 
 Modefty is confiftent with the moft 
 afpiring views. It is the actual pofieffion 
 of refinement and civil arts, not the efforts 
 made towards acquiring them, which en- 
 genders extravagance and conceit. A few 
 M 4 frivolous,
 
 i68 ESSAYS ON THE 
 
 frivolous, or at bed ornamental diftin&ions, 
 are miftaken for real differences: and if 
 we furvey the circle of human things, the 
 illufions of vanity, and the infolence of 
 pride, will be found moft inherent to na- 
 tions and to ages intoxicated with profpe- 
 rity and affluence. 
 
 Commerce, the boaft of modern policy, 
 by enlarging the fphere of obfervation and 
 experience, promifed to undeceive the 
 world, and to diffufe more liberal and equal 
 fentiments through the feveral parts of an 
 extended fyftem. But commerce, it is to 
 be feared, has, in fome inftances, been pro- 
 duftive of the very contrary effeds; and 
 by expofing, if I may fay fo, the nakednefs 
 of fociety, and uniting, in one profped, its 
 mod diftant extremes, has heightened the 
 infolence of nations, and rendered their 
 original and natural equality, to a fupeiii 
 cial obferver, more incredible.
 
 HISTORY OF MANKIND, 169 
 
 In judging of nations, as well as of in- 
 dividuals, our obfervations are more fre- 
 quently directed to circumftances of pomp 
 and outward fplendor, than to intrinfic 
 excellence. And countries, accordingly, 
 where no fuch appearances are to be found, 
 we too haftily conclude to be the manfions 
 of people, who, from a natural inferiority 
 of talent, are incapable of producing 
 them. 
 
 This conclufion was drawn firft by the 
 Egyptians, and afterwards by the Greeks. 
 The Greeks, more efpecially, regarded 
 their own country as the feat of every per- 
 fection ; and policy, and refinement, and 
 arts, as their exclufive privilege. 
 
 Extravagant as the opinion now appears, 
 it was the opinion of free and of polifhed 
 ftates, in the meridian of their courfe. It 
 was fupported by a comparifon with the 
 neighbouring nations ; nor then, perhaps, 
 
 directly
 
 170 ESSAYS ON THE 
 
 directly contradicted or difproved by any 
 authentic memorials. 
 
 Such preemption, therefore, was more 
 excufable in the antients; but having 
 been, long fince, reprobated by the fulleft 
 experience, ought to afford a leffon of 
 wifdom and moderation to all fucceeding 
 ages. 
 
 When it is obferved that, in proportion 
 to the age of the world, the known re- 
 gions of civility are of larger extent; it is 
 not being too fanguine to expect, that, in the 
 lapfe of time, the whole habitable globe ihall 
 be found compatible with the fame improve- 
 ments. 
 
 What avails it that experience refutes fo 
 amply the errors of paft times, if it corrects 
 not our judgment of the future, nor difen- 
 gages the mind from the dominion of its 
 former prejudices ? 
 
 3 Could
 
 HISTORY OF MANKIND. 171 
 
 Could the perpetual greatnefs of one 
 people be fet in oppofition to the perpetual 
 meannefs of another, the plea of natural 
 pre-eminence were exceedingly fpecious. 
 But it is great conjunctures only which 
 form great men ; and there are certain pe- 
 riods in the annals of the moft diftinguilh- 
 ed nations, wherein they appear in no de- 
 gree fuperior to their contemporaries. 
 
 In that long interval, which elapfed 
 from the age of Alexander to the conqueft 
 of Greece by the Romans, there is fcarcely 
 an Athenian of eminence upon record. 
 And the obfervation, with a few excep- 
 tions, is applicable, perhaps, to the whole 
 of Greece, from the above age as far down 
 as the Achaean league, when Agis, and 
 Cleomenes of Sparta, and Aratus, and Phi- 
 lopaemen give us fome idea of their illuf- 
 trious anceftors. 
 
 When
 
 I 7 2 ESSAYS ON THE 
 
 \ -^ 
 
 When we revolve, therefore, the rife and 
 
 decline of nations, and the fluctuating 
 character of the fame people at different 
 seras, we muft necefiarily allow to mankind, 
 in thofe countries at leaft which have been 
 the principal fcene of civil hiftory, an equal 
 rank and importance in the fcale of being. 
 
 Let us then examine the plea of humble 
 and unafpiring nations, not hitherto fup- 
 pofed to have emerged into diftindion, 
 or to have touched the neareft verge of 
 fcience and the liberal arts. Conftituted 
 fb long in circumftances fo far beneath the 
 ftandard of our ideas, it may be deemed 
 not unreafonable to impute to them an 
 original inferiority of nature, or a degrada- 
 tion of rank, occafioned by the infallible 
 operation of phyfical laws. 
 
 Were the fads fully afcertained, and 
 otherwife inexplicable, fuch conclufion 
 might be embraced and warranted upon 
 
 the
 
 HISTORY OF MANKIND. 173 
 
 the principles of found philofophy. But 
 the fads are deftitute of evidence; and, 
 even if we admitted their reality, none of 
 thefe hypothefes would be necefiary to 
 folve the hiftory of the world. 
 
 Let us carry our imagination back to an 
 3era more antient than the birth of arts. 
 Let us then fuppofe an obfeiver, of pro- 
 found difcernment, to predict, from a feries 
 of calculation, the eventual fortune of the 
 world, exclufively of all regard to foil 
 or climate, or at leaft to the (uppofed in- 
 fluence of the heavens on the human 
 mind. His fagacity, perhaps, might not 
 determine where civil artsihould firft arife, 
 or fhine forth with the fulleft luftre : yet 
 far, furely, from expecting them, in all 
 countries, to be coincident in their origin, 
 or to flourim, at once, in the fame degree, 
 he would expect confiderable intervals be- 
 tween the arrival of different people at 
 points of equal advancement. 
 
 4 So
 
 174 ESSAYS ON THE 
 
 So various are the caufes which concur 
 to the full eftabliftiment of regular and 
 well-conftituted government ; that no evi- 
 dence decifive of the relative capacity of 
 any people could be derived from the com- 
 mencement of their civil sera. Even after 
 the firft movements have been fuccefsfully 
 made, there are a thoufand difafters, which 
 may annoy a political conftitution, in its 
 infancy or early youth, and not fuffer its 
 principles to ripen into perfection. Cir- 
 cumftances in no degree affecting the 
 genius of a people, are often fufficient to 
 circumfcribe their progrefs ; and confiftent- 
 ly with the full ftrength and vigour of 
 the human powers, the reign of ignorance 
 and fimplicity may endure for ages. 
 
 Although great attainments indeed im- 
 ply great talents, the want of talent is not 
 implied in difappointment. In the re- 
 fearches, for inftance, of fcience and phi- 
 
 lofophy,
 
 HISTORY OF MANKIND; 175 
 
 lofophy, the moderns have not only 
 equalled, but furpafled the antients: yet 
 who, upon this foundation, will arraign the 
 genius of antiquity ? 
 
 Fortune governs events : and the mag- 
 nitude of genius or capacity, in individuals 
 or in tribes, cannot be fully eftimated by 
 the fuccefs of its exertions. Even the 
 actual promoters of the moft important in- 
 terefts of mankind have feldom anticipated, 
 in idea, the progreflive confequences of 
 their own plans. In eftimating human 
 attainments, their origin, progrefs, and 
 perfection, muft not be totally afcribed to 
 human wifdom. And, with all due ho- 
 nour to the memory of our forefathers, 
 this judgment may be pronounced on all 
 the arts, fciences, and governments they 
 have delivered down to pofterity ; 
 
 ," Quod divum promittere nemo 
 Auderet, volvenda dies en attulit ultroJ 
 
 But,
 
 176 ESSAYS ON THE 
 
 But, if the approaches to civility are 
 eafily made, whence then, it may be afked, 
 have we fo many embarrafling theories 
 concerning the origin of language, the rife 
 of political union, and the eflential arrange- 
 ments of focial life ? While fuch proceed- 
 ings, in the judgment of the learned, feern 
 to exhauft all human wifdom and inge- 
 nuity, is it not, in reality, more wonderful 
 to find fo many nations already emerged 
 from obfcurity, within the compafs of a 
 few thoufand years, than to find fo many 
 others ftill hovering on the confines of a 
 {late of nature ? 
 
 But, in farther illuftration of this point, 
 let us indulge a few arbitrary fuppofitions. 
 
 Let us fuppofe the number of men, 
 born with the high prerogative of conduct- 
 ing a people eventually within the line of 
 civilized life, is to the reft of the fpecies in 
 a certain fixed proportion. 
 
 Let
 
 HISTdRY t> MANKIND. 177 
 
 Let the chance of fuch men being placed 
 in circumftances favourable to the enter- 
 prize, form another proportion. And in 
 circumftances thus favourable, let the 
 chance againft difappointment by natural 
 or violent death, or other contingency, 
 form likewife an element in the problem. 
 Then, by compounding thefe proportions,- 
 it follows that one only, out of a deter- 
 minate number of men, is born to exe- 
 cute this great defign. 
 
 Now let us imagine the earth already 
 peopled before civilization began, and that 
 the number upon earth, at any one time, 
 is equal or inferior to the number which 
 refults from the above proportions; then, 
 judging from the probability of things, 
 one or more generations muft pafs away, 
 after the earth is fully peopled, before 
 civilization is any where introduced. And, 
 after its introduction into any one corner, 
 the numbers in the uncivilized part of the 
 N earth,
 
 I 7 8 ESSAYS ON THE 
 
 earth, being then lefs than the whole fpe- 
 cies, ftill more generations, commencing 
 from the former sera, muft pafs away, 
 before the aera of civility to any other 
 people. 
 
 In proportion therefore to the nations 
 already emerged> the chance for the emerg- 
 ing of any new people muft conftantly 
 decreafe. 
 
 
 
 The computation indeed fuppofes no 
 intercourfe between the civilized and the 
 barbarous nations. By reafon of that in- 
 tercourfe the chance of extending civility 
 rifes, no doubt, in an eminent degree. 
 
 Hence, with regard to countries poiTefling 
 
 ~ m 
 
 intercourfe, the progrefs may be exceedingly 
 rapid. But in the other, and fequeflered 
 corners of the globe, calculation determines 
 that there is a growing chance againft the 
 appearance of a .cultivated or polifhed 
 nation. And, if we reafon from actual 
 
 expe-
 
 HISTORY OF MANKIND. 179 
 
 experience, it is far more probable that, 
 in any barbarous land, the civil arts will 
 owe their original to foreign operations, 
 either hoftile or commercial, than to inte- 
 rior efforts. 
 
 The Romans were no lefs the legiflators, 
 than the conquerors of the world. While 
 fpreading defolation with their arms, and 
 trampling on the liberties of mankind, 
 they were actually anticipating, in every 
 country, the progrefs of legiflation, and the 
 arts of government: and the fame people, 
 in their fall, left to their barbarous con- 
 querors the traces of a jurifprudence, td 
 which Europe was principally indebted for 
 its future progrefs. 
 
 Nor are we to regard the Romans as 
 inventors of arts, or as the founders of 
 their own policy. The elements of both 
 were drawn from a foreign fource. Even 
 the Greeks, in forming their plans, copied 
 N 2 more
 
 i8o ESSAYS ON THE 
 
 more diftant originals. Pythagoras and 
 Plato, Lycurgus and Solon, had read the 
 Pillars of Egypt : and the maxims of the 
 Greeks were drawn from the philofophy, 
 if not from the legiflation, of the Eaft. 
 
 Similar obfervations are applicable to all 
 the freer ftates : and if, according to Mr. 
 Hume, pure defpotifm, once eftablifhed, 
 cannot poflibly, by its own native force 
 and energy, refine and polifh itfelf, and re- 
 publican and free governments are the 
 only proper nurfery of arts and fciences, 
 we have hence an additional principle to 
 account for their late appearance or ftag- 
 nation in fo many parts of the earth. 
 Perhaps then, fince the world began, there 
 are a few only, perhaps but a fingle people, 
 who owe their rife and illuftration to bold 
 and original efforts of the human mind. 
 
 If therefore a concurrence of fuch va- 
 rious caufes is found requifite, if not to 
 
 produce,
 
 HISTORY OF MANKIND. 181 
 
 produce, at leaft to accelerate the progrefs 
 of refinement and arts ; that progrefs muft 
 be proportionably retarded by a different 
 contexture of events. But the habitations 
 
 of barbarifm, at any one period, muft in 
 
 i 
 
 fjpeculation appear immenfe, when we 
 farther reflect, that the tranfition from 
 barbarifm to civility is not more incident to 
 mankind than the contrary tranfuion [ F]. 
 
 How many nations have certainly fallen 
 from that importance, which they had 
 formerly borne among the focieties of man- 
 kind, let the annals of the world declare ! 
 flow many more \\yieprobably experienced 
 as fatal a reverfe, we aflume not the pro- 
 vince of determining. But revolutions, to 
 us unknown, various nations may have 
 undergone; wjiile, being expofed to our 
 view only in their decline, a judgment has 
 been formed of their general character! 
 frpm what is peculiar to a certain age. 
 
 N * In
 
 ESSAYS ON THE 
 
 In examining into the antient (late of a 
 country, our opinions may be guided by 
 tradition, or by hiftory, by the genius of 
 language, or of arts, or by the declaration 
 of external monuments. In dubious cafes 
 rational conjecture may reft on one of 
 thefe modes of evidence, or may be ba- 
 lanced nicely on them all. 
 
 Let us imagine a modern traveller to 
 perform the tour of the Eaft. He finds 
 there a country, under the gloom of bar- 
 barifm, prefenting no traces of erudition 
 or civil arts, and without all tradition or 
 memorial of anceftors fuperior to the rude 
 inhabitants. Yet hiftory might inform 
 him, that the natives of this country had 
 once been as confpicuous and flourifhing, 
 as their pofterity are now obfcure. Such 
 perhaps is the condition of Babylon, once 
 the wonder of the world. Such is the 
 condition of the antient Colchis, which 
 once, if we believe the writings of Pliny or 
 
 of
 
 HISTORY OF MANKIND. 183 
 
 of Strabo, abounded in riches and in 
 people, and formed the centre of a great 
 commercial fyftem. 
 
 Let us next imagine our traveller to 
 arrive in a land as barbaroufly peopled, and 
 unmentioned, or undefcribed, in the writ- 
 ings of any hiftorian. There however, we 
 will fuppofe, are preferved feme monuments 
 of art and grandeur, far difproportioned to 
 the general afpect of things, and to the 
 actual pofture of affairs. Might he not 
 hence diftinguifh a ftate of depreffion from 
 a ftate of nature, and the laft from the firft 
 movements of civil fociety? 
 
 Nor is the fuppofition purely imagi- 
 nary. Within the prefent century, difco- 
 veries have been made in the wilds of Tar- 
 tary, which feem to declare that country to 
 have been the manfion of a great people ; 
 or, at leaft, to indicate a fall from fome of 
 N4 the
 
 184 ESSAYS ON THE 
 
 the more elevated forms of fociety. The 
 fcene of thefe difcoyeries, lying between 
 Siberia and the Cafpian Sea, is now filled 
 with a nation of Calmucs fubject to the 
 Ruffian empire : and on fuch evidence the 
 Czar Peter founded his opinion, that thje 
 arts had made the tour of the globe [G]. 
 
 On principles exactly fimilar, more re- 
 cent difcoveries ferve to confirm the large 
 advances of the antient Etrurians, in ele- 
 gant and polite attainments, before the 
 fettlement of any Grecian colony within 
 the limits of Italy. 
 
 Nor are fuch indications confined to any 
 latitude or climate. 
 
 The country of Cambodia *, in the tor- 
 rid zone, uncultivated as the natives now 
 are, prefents appearances to the traveller, 
 which, unfupported by hiftory or tradition, 
 
 * Les Voyages d'un Philofophe, par M de Poivre, p. 102. 
 
 6 may
 
 HISTORY OF MANKIND. 185 
 
 may be regarded as memorials of former 
 greatnefs. 
 
 Even in the new continent, though, 
 in all probability, more recently peopled 
 than the old, there are indications of a 
 fimilar import. 
 
 The account, publifhed by Mr. Kalm, 
 of an expedition acrofs North America, 
 contains fome curious information. The 
 expedition was undertaken by a French 
 party from Canada, under the protec- 
 tion of the French government. After 
 traverfing immenfe deferts, a country of a 
 more promifing appearance, retaining vef- 
 tiges of agriculture and civil life, opened 
 to their view. Amidft the wildnefs of na- 
 ture, they perceived an artificial face, and 
 recognized the relics of a former age [ H]. 
 
 The teftimony of other travellers is no 
 
 lefs decifive. On the fliores of the Midi- 
 
 . . ' - - 
 
 fippi,
 
 186 ESSAYS ON THE 
 
 fippi, and in other parts of the new con- 
 tinent, there have been found works of 
 great antiquity, which evidence an ac- 
 quaintance with military icience, far above 
 the capacity of rude and untutored tribes *. 
 
 Well then may it be inferred, that there 
 are large chafms in the annals of many 
 countries ; and that we have obtained but 
 an imperfect acquaintance with the fortune 
 of governments, and the viciffitudes of the 
 fpecies. 
 
 There are certain correfponding points in 
 the rife and decline of nations, which are 
 liable to be confounded. And apparent mo- 
 tion may be as different from the real, in 
 the political as in the natural world. 
 
 Unacquainted therefore as we are with 
 the ftated returns of the civil period, we 
 may miftake the evening for the morning 
 
 * See Carver's Travels through North America. 
 
 I twilight;
 
 HISTORY OF MANKIND. 187 
 
 twilight ; and imagine a people to be juft 
 emerging from the fhade, who have, long 
 before, pafled their meridian, and are 
 haftening back within the limit of dark- 
 rrefs. 
 
 The clear teftimony of profane hiftory 
 reaches no higher than the Greeks and 
 Romans. There is no piercing through 
 the gloom, of remoter ages. And even 
 the contemporary fituation of other go- 
 vernments is faintly defcribed, or mifrepre- 
 fented, or pafled over in contemptuous 
 filence. 
 
 Such facts as the above, it is not pre- 
 tended, can fupply the defect. They may 
 rectify fome errors; 'they may fhed fomc 
 .feeble rays of light on nations of dubious 
 exiftence, but cannot redeem their memory 
 from oblivion. They furnifh however 
 new matter to the antiquarian, and a new 
 topic in the circle of the learned. 
 
 They
 
 iS8 ESSAYS ON THE 
 
 They do more. They ferve to vindicate 
 the prerogatives of the fpecies, and to fug- 
 geft confiderations of fome weight in the 
 deductions of philofophy. 
 
 Other fources of information unopened 
 by the Qreeks remain ftill to be explored. 
 The grand annals of China, the books of 
 the Bramins, and other immenfe collections 
 of Oriental records, may form a valuable 
 fupplement to the general hiftory of the 
 world. Yet, amidft the darknefs and un- 
 certainty in which hiftory and chronology 
 are involved, it appears that the wide dif- 
 ferences which have fubfifted, or fubfift at 
 prefent, in the actual condition, of tribes 
 and nations, are fuch as, without prejudice 
 to our nature, and exclufive of the unequal 
 influence of the heavens, might, in part, 
 be apprehended from the nice contexture 
 of events, and the complicated operation 
 of moral caufes.
 
 HISTORY OF MANKIND. 1*9 
 
 But if the honours of nations were, in 
 reality, to be eftimated by riches, by popu- 
 lation, by the antiquity of arts, or by the 
 {lability and duration of civil government, 
 it is not any of the European nations, it is 
 the Chinefe, and the Indians, who muft be 
 placed at the head of the fpecies. 
 
 Let the lovers of paradox* contend that 
 thefe antient people are merely the depo- 
 fitaries of fciences delivered to them, in 
 greater perfection, by a people who flou- 
 rifhed in the North of Afia, but have long 
 fmce difappeared in the political fcene. 
 
 Let others contend that China was colo- 
 nized by Egypt, and inherited the fciences 
 from the parent ftate, who diffufed them 
 over the eaftern as over the weftern world. 
 Fix their original manfion in the high la- 
 titude of Siberia, or in the torrid zone, it 
 is certain that they devolved on the Chi- 
 
 * L'Hiftoire de Aftronomie ancienne, par M. Bailly. 
 
 nefe
 
 I 9 o ESSAYS ON THE 
 
 * % 
 
 nefe and the Indians in an early age ; and 
 the uninterrupted pofleflion of fo noble an 
 inheritance is their diftinguifhing privi- 
 lege. 
 
 But the confequences of this privilege 
 are, it muftbe owned, of an ambiguous na- 
 ture. And, if the criterion of civility has 
 been rightly defined *, many an obfcure 
 people have pofleflfed it in a degree of per- 
 fection which the proudeft nations in Afia, 
 or in Europe, could not boaft in the days 
 of their fplendor. 
 
 If the pidure of manners delineated in a 
 performance, which is now read and ad- 
 mired in almoft all the languages of Europe, 
 is a faithful copy of an original, it is no 
 paradox to affirm, that the court of Fingal 
 was as highly civilized as the court of 
 Lewis XIV. 
 
 * EOky IV. 
 
 In
 
 HISTORY OF MANKIND. 191 
 
 In the one the arts were totally un- 
 known; in the other they were at the 
 height of their fplendor. But the want of 
 thofe graces which the arts confer, was 
 more than compenfated at the one court, 
 by virtues in which the other was defi- 
 cient. And if fidelity, generofity, true 
 dignity of mind, are preferable to dif- 
 ingenuity, perfidy, fervile adulation; if 
 the former qualities are to be numbered 
 among polite accomplimments, and the 
 latter to be placed in the oppofite column, 
 who would not prefer the civilization of 
 Fingal's court to that of the other, though 
 embellilhed by all arts and fciences [/] ? 
 
 Without prefuming then to decide the 
 dubious pretenfions of mankind, it is our 
 defign, in profecuting thefe general views, 
 to enquire in what manner the progrefs 
 of fociety is connected with local circum- 
 ftances which do not immediately affect 
 genius, or capacity. And from hence a 
 
 more
 
 ESSAYS ON THE 
 
 more accurate judgment will be formed 
 concerning their direct and original influ- 
 ence on the human fpecies. 
 
 Such difcuffion will lead us to enquire 
 how far local circumftances, which, in a 
 variety of ways, may prove beneficial or 
 malignant, are rendered fubject to our do- 
 minion and controul. And, having thus 
 p contemplated man as, in fome fort, the arbi- 
 ter of his own fortune, a queftion will arife, 
 no lefs curious than important, whether 
 the perfections and imperfections of his 
 character in one age, may not act, with a 
 direct influence, on the original fabric of 
 pofterity. 
 
 This is the field of {peculation, which, 
 in the order here ftated, it is propofed to 
 touch in the following pages.
 
 HISTORY OF MANKIND. 193 
 
 NOTES. 
 
 NOTE (X|, p. 155. 
 
 LIVY, in the perfon of a Roman Conful, 
 has defcribed in flrong colours the dege- 
 neracy of the antient Gauls fettled in Afia, and 
 of the Macedonians difperfed over-various cli- 
 mates of the world. 
 
 Galli, fays he, jam degeneres funt ; mixti et 
 Gallograsci vere, quod appellantur. Sicut in 
 frugibus pecudibufque, non tantum femina ad 
 fervandam indolem valertt, quantum terras pro- 
 prietas caslique, fub quo aluntur, mutat. Ma- 
 cedones, qui Alexandriam in ^Egypto, qui 
 Seleuciam ac Babyloniam, quique alias fparfas 
 per orbem terrarum colonias habent, in Syros, 
 Farthos, ^Egyptios degenerarunt. 
 
 Liv. lib. 38. cap. 17. 
 
 Thefe are perhaps the exaggerations of Roman 
 
 <Joquence. But if the degeneracy exifted in 
 
 O the
 
 j 9 4 ESSAYS ON THE 
 
 the full extent of the defcription, it may pro- 
 bably be afcribed not more to phyfical than to 
 moral caufes : and it is not climate, but rather 
 a communication of manners that affimilates 
 the different races of mankind. 
 
 If the antient Gauls, who emigrated into 
 Afia, enervated by the reigning manners of 
 Bithynia, degenerated, according to Livy, from 
 the character of their hardy anceftors ; the mo- 
 dern French, who have occupied the Ifle of 
 Bourbon for a full century, are defcribed, by a 
 well-informed writer, as equal to the mod athle- 
 tic of the European nations. 
 
 Orm's Military Tranfactions, vol. i. p. 95. 
 
 NOTE [5], p. 156. 
 
 THIS memorable edict was iiftied by Paul 
 the Third, in the year 1537. But, ^ c ^ e 
 doctrine of fome late publications had made its 
 appearance in the fixteenth century, it might 
 have fuperfeded the neceffity of this edict, by 
 i| fhewing that Ourang-outangs are, in reality, the 
 V aborigines of all nations. 
 
 Such is the illitftrious pedigree of mankind ! 
 
 NOTE
 
 HISTORY OF MANKIND. 195 
 
 NOTE [CJ, p. 162. 
 
 ALTHOUGH there is no mention of 
 *-** Hermodorus in Livy, it is clear, from the 
 teftimony of other writers, that this citizen of 
 Ephefus was very inftrumental in directing the 
 attention of the Romans to the Grecian jurif- 
 prudence. 
 
 Whatever relates to this celebrated embafly is 
 an object of learned curiofity. The felection. 
 therefore of a few paffages from antient authors, 
 tending to authenticate the particulars mentioned 
 in the text, may not prove unacceptable to fome 
 of my readers. 
 
 The pretenfions of Hermodorus are acknow- 
 ledged, in the Pandects of Juftinian, in the fol- 
 lowing paflage : 
 
 Alias duas ad eafdem tabulas adjecerunt : 
 Et ita ex accidentia appellatae funt leges duo- 
 decim tabularum : quarum ferendarum aucto- 
 rem fuifle Decemviris' Hermodorum quemdam 
 Ephefium exulantem in Italia quidam retulerunt. 
 Digeft. lib. i. tit. 2. feet. 4. 
 
 The erection of the flatue is mentioned by 
 Pliny : 
 
 O 2 Fuit
 
 196 ESSAYS ON THE 
 
 Fuit et Hermodori Ephefii in comitio legum 
 quas Decemviri fcribebant, interpretis, public! 
 dicata (viz. ftattia). , 
 
 Plin. Nat. Hift. lib. 34. cap. n. 
 
 Cicero quotes Heraclitus thus : 
 
 Eft apud Heraclitum phyficum de principe 
 Ephefiorum Hermodoro ; univerlos ait Ephe- 
 fios efie morte multandos, quod, cum civitate 
 expellerent Hermodorum, ita locuti funt : Nemo 
 de nobis unus excellat : fin quis extiterit, alio 
 in loco et apud alios fit. 
 
 Tufc. Difput. lib. 5. cap. 36. 
 
 The Tame quotation from Heraclitus I find 
 in Strabo, lib. 14. with only this difference, that 
 the Ephefians under age are not involved in the 
 condemnation. 
 
 The fame anecdote is likewife related by 
 Diogenes Laertius, in the Life of Heraclitus. 
 
 NOTE [D], p. 164. 
 
 IN ages of ignorance and fimplicity, mankind 
 are fo prone to credulity and admiration ; 
 that thefe propenfities, prior to reafoning, feem 
 to lead favages into the acknowledgment and 
 adoration of invifible powers, and to introduce, 
 
 in
 
 HISTORY OF MANKIND. 197 
 
 in every country, the rude elements of popular 
 fuperftition. 
 
 From hence, therefore, a cultivated people 
 derives an importance, which has often been 
 abufed, though fo capable of being directed to 
 the beft interefts of fociety. 
 
 The natives of the Weft Indies regarded 
 Columbus and his companions as fuperior 
 beings, fprung from heaven, who had defcended 
 to vifit the earth, and were worthy of divine 
 honours. 
 
 Nova progenies ccelo dimittitur alto. 
 
 How honourable then would it have been for 
 the European nations, had they extended their 
 authority in the new hemifphere by perfuafion, 
 not by arms, and had a reverence for their re- 
 ligion, their virtue, and fuperior wifdom, con- 
 ducted them to empire, 
 
 NOTE [], p! 167. 
 
 HERE is but one occurrence in the hif- 
 tory of public negotiations, more fplendid 
 than this conduct of the Saracens ; the conduct: 
 of that king of Syracufe, who made it an ex- 
 prefs condition in a treaty with the Carthagi- 
 O 3 nians 3
 
 198 ESSAYS ON THE 
 
 nians, that they Ihould abftain from human 
 facrifices. 
 
 It is noble in a people to demand fcience 
 from their enemies. It is nobler to demand of 
 enemies not to be to themfelves inhuman. 
 
 NOTE [F], p. 1 8 1. 
 
 U R phyfical and moral fyftems, fays a 
 writer whofc eloquence is not always fuf- 
 ficient to fupport his philofophy, are carried 
 round, in one perpetual revolution, from gene- 
 ration to corruption, and from corruption to 
 generation ; from ignorance to knowledge, and 
 from knowledge to ignorance ; from barbarity 
 to civility, and from civility to barbarity. Arts 
 and fciences grow up, flourifh, decay, die, and 
 return again, under the fame or other forms, 
 after periods which appear long to us, however 
 fliort they may be, compared with the immenfe 
 duration of the fyftems of created being. Thefe 
 periods are fo difproportionate to all human 
 means of preferving the memory of things, that, 
 when the fame things return, we take fre- 
 quently for a new difcovery, the revival of an 
 art or fcience long before known. 
 
 Bolingbroke's Phil. Works, vol. ii. p. 224. 
 3 The
 
 HISTORY OF MANKIND. 199 
 
 The moderns, however, may frequently be 
 confidered as original in difcoveries and in- 
 ventions anticipated by the genius of a former 
 age. 
 
 The true folar fyftem was taught probably by 
 Pythagoras, above two thoufand years ago ; 
 yet Copernicus was not indebted for his know- 
 ledge of it to the Pythagorean fchools. Nor 
 would it neceflarily derogate from the merit of 
 modern, difcoveries, fhould we admit a propo- 
 fuion maintained in a late performance, which 
 abounds in curious erudition, Qu'il n'cft 
 prefque pas une des decouvertes attributes aux: 
 modernes, qui n'ait ete, nonfeuiement connne, 
 mais meme appuyee par de folides raifonne- 
 mens des anciens. 
 
 Recherches par M. Dutens. 
 
 It is well obferved by a writer, who illuftrates 
 the nature of genius with the happy precifioh 
 of a philofopher, that more of it is often exerted 
 in perfecting an art than in the firft invention. 
 On this account he ranks the Greeks above the 
 Egyptians in the fcale of genius ; and feems to 
 queftion the frequency of its appearance among 
 the Chinefe, who have not hitherto been able to 
 O 4 advance
 
 joo ESSAYS ON THE 
 
 advance the arts beyond that mediocrity to 
 which they had attained in ages the mod re- 
 mote. 
 
 See Dr. Gerard's Eflay on Genius, p, 19 
 and 25. 
 
 NOTE [G], p. 184. 
 
 MR. VOLTAIRE, in his defcription of 
 the country of the Calmucs, gives the 
 following account of thefe difcoveries. C'eft-la 
 qu'on a trouve en 1720, une maifon fov.teraine 
 de pierres, des urnes, des lampes, des pendans 
 d'oreilles, une ftatue equeftre d'un prince Orien- 
 tal portant un diademe fur fa tete, deux femmes 
 aflifes fur des trones, un rouleau de manufcrits, 
 envoye par Pierre le Grand a 1' Academic des 
 Infcriptions de Paris, et reconnu pour etre en 
 langue du Tibet : tous temoignages finguliers 
 que les arts ont habite ce pays aujourd'hui bar- 
 bare, et preuves fubfiftanr.es de ce qu'a dit 
 Pierre le Grand plus d'une fois, que les arts 
 avoient fait le tour du monde. 
 
 Hift. de PEmpire du Ruffie, tcm. i. 
 
 The fubterraneous houfe mentioned in this 
 pafifage by Mr. Voltaire, is defcribed more par- 
 ticularly,
 
 HISTORY OF MANKIND. 201 
 
 ticularly, by our Englifh traveller Mr. Bell, 
 as a regular edifice, fituated in the midft of 
 a defert, on the banks of the river Irtifh, 
 and diftinguilhed by the name of the Seven 
 Palaces. 
 
 According to the tradition of fome Tartars, it 
 was built by Tamerlane the Great : according 
 to that of others, by Gengifchan. But certain 
 countries of Tartary, of a more northern fitua- 
 tion, which, according to Mr. Bell's informa- 
 tion, the arms of Tamerlane had in vain at- 
 tempted to fubdue, appear to have been once 
 the fcene of great tranfactions ; and contain the 
 fpoils of nations of high antiquity, and no 
 ftrangers to the arts. 
 
 Some Calmuc manufcripts were purchafed 
 by Mr. Bell at Tobolfky , and, having been 
 prefented by him to Sir Hans Sloan, are now 
 tfepofited in the Britifh Mufeum. 
 
 See Bell's Travels, vol. i. p. 209. 
 
 There is another fpecies of evidence, which, 
 in the opinion of fome writers, is ftill more 
 tonclufive. 
 
 The
 
 202 ESSAYS ON THE 
 
 The exiftence of a great nation in the north 
 of Afia, long before the dates of our moft 
 antient memorials, has been lately contended 
 for, on aftronomical principles, by M. Bailli, a 
 writer of great learning and ingenuity. He 
 contends, that the original feat of mankind was 
 fituated in the high latitude of 49 or 50; 
 that the primitive migrations were from North 
 
 to South , and that we find in the Eaft the fracr- 
 - 
 
 ments only of ftiences which were carried thither 
 
 by the primitive emigrants, but which were 
 never generally known to the Indians or other 
 Orientals. 
 
 I cannot attempt in a note to examine the 
 foundations of this theory. It is fufficient 
 to obferve, that it has not as yet been able 
 to (hake the eftablifhed conviction of the 
 learned. 
 
 M. Bailli, in a feries of letters addrefied to 
 the late M. Voltaire, labours to convert that 
 author to his opinions ; and from a fympathy, 
 no doubt, which reigns among congenial fpirits, 
 he efpoufes an hypothefis of Monf. Buffon, 
 concerning the eanh and the whole planetary 
 fyftem, (till more fanciful than his own con- 
 cerning
 
 HISTORY OF MANKIND. 203 
 
 cerning the origin of nations, and the progrefs 
 of arts and fciences. 
 
 NOTE [HJ, p. 185. 
 
 r T^HESE intelligent travellers, having fo- 
 journed in the country for fome time, had 
 an opportunity of examining it with attention. 
 
 The country is fituated at the diftance of nine 
 hundred French miles weft of Montreal. And, 
 befides other monuments of antient cultivation, 
 there were found in it pillars of ftone, of great 
 magnificence, manifeftly creeled by human 
 hands, but of which there remained no tradi- 
 tion among the Indian tribes. Unfortunately, 
 thefe pillars contained no infcriptions, whence 
 any conjecture could be formed concerning 
 their original. At length, however, a large 
 ftone, in the form of a pillar, was difcovered, 
 and fixed in it a fmaller ftone covered with un- 
 known characters. This ftone, fevered from 
 the larger mafs, being carried to Canada, and 
 from thence to France, was delivered into the 
 cuftody of M. Maurepas, at that time fecretary 
 of ftate. 
 
 NOTE
 
 204 ESSAYS ON THE 
 
 NOTE [/], p. 191. 
 
 A WELL known writer in politics afTefts 
 to have ideas of the ftate of mankind fo 
 mathematically precife, that he divides the In- 
 dians of America into three claffes, mere favages 9 
 "half -favages^ and aim oft civilized. 
 
 The favages he defcribes, in all refpevfls, as 
 a blood-thirfty, unfeeling race, deftitute of 
 every human virtue. But miracles have not 
 yet ceafed. The miflionaries of Paraguay, we 
 are told, can transform thefe infernal favages 
 into the mod benevolent race under heaven, 
 A metamorphofis which, though celebrated by 
 a dignitary of the church, will hardly com- 
 mand belief in this fceptical age : yet it ferves 
 to fupport a new theory of government, which 
 is founded on the total debafement of human 
 nature, and is now oppofed to a theory that 
 aflerts its honours, and derives from a happier 
 origin the image of a free people. 
 
 See a work by Dean Tucker, Part II. con- 
 taining, as the writer modejily declares* the true 
 bafis of civil government, in oppofuion to the 
 fyflem of Mr, Locke and his followers. 
 
 When
 
 HISTORY OF MANKIND. 205 
 
 When the benevolence of this writer is ex- 
 alted into charity, when the fpirit of his religion 
 corrects the rancour of his philofophy, he will 
 learn a little more reverence for the fyftem to 
 which he belongs, and acknowledge, in the 
 moft untutored tribes, fome glimmerings of 
 humanity, and fome decifive indications of a 
 moral nature.
 
 ESSAY VI. 
 
 OF THE GENERAL INFLUENCE OF CLIMATE 
 UPON NATIONAL OBJECTS. 
 
 TH E influence of climate on the policy, 
 if not on the character of nations, 
 is acknowledged by every obferver of hu- 
 man affairs. 
 
 To eftimate this influence, in the various 
 regions of the globe, were an arduous 
 problem. But, by attending to the diftincT: 
 modes of its operation, we may be able, 
 perhaps, to fet bounds to its empire. 
 
 Climate then may be regarded either as 
 a natural principle, acting with powerful 
 energy, or with irrefiftible impulfe, on the 
 
 fabric
 
 203 ESSAYS ON THE 
 
 fabric of our being ; or it may be regarded 
 merely as a local circumftance leading to a 
 variety of action in the ceconomy of civil 
 life. Viewed in this fecondary light alone* 
 it will appear eminently to affect the pro- 
 grefs of arts and government. 
 
 The means of fubfiftence, the fubject of 
 art, the incitements to induftry, the fcene 
 of its operations, fo diverfified in the feve- 
 ral diftricts of the earth, muft affect pro- 
 portionably the courfe of affairs. And in 
 circumftances fo diffimilar, it would be 
 ftrange, if the conduct of the actors were 
 governed precifely by the fame laws, or 
 every where attended with the fame fuc- 
 cefs. 
 
 The genius of mankind, far from being 
 equal, muft have been as various as the 
 fituations in which they are placed, did we 
 obferve all nations exalted to an equal 
 
 pitch
 
 HISTORY OF MANKIND. 209 
 
 pitch of civility, or of eminence in arts 
 and fciences. 
 
 To a peculiarity of fituation, and often 
 to the urgency of occafions, nations as 
 well as individuals owe their greatnefs. 
 Prefled with no difficulties, and not confcious 
 of wants, mankind in general love repofe* 
 The calls muft he loud and frequent, which 
 animate their exertions, and urge them 
 forward in adive or laborious purfuits. 
 
 In countries therefore of original afflu- 
 ence, fupplying fpontaneoufly, or with 
 little culture, the neceflaries of life; arts 
 will remain long neglected, or will be cul- 
 tivated flowly, and with inferior ardour. 
 But in countries, more penurious by nature, 
 the deficiency is fupplied by the refources 
 of induftry and invention. 
 
 In the former fituation the genius qf 
 
 mankind lies dormant, or is feebly exer- 
 
 P cifed,
 
 ESSAYS ON THE 
 
 cifed, or evaporates upon fubjecls which 
 make but little figure in the hiftory of civil 
 fociely: Of confequence, many charac- 
 teriftics of primitive fimplicity will be long 
 preferved : and a people may increafe and 
 flourifh, to a high degree, before they 
 have recourfe to the partition of land, the 
 divifion of labour, and the diftinctions of 
 private property; circumftances which firft 
 open domeftic commerce, diverfify and 
 embellim the ranks of life, and furnim out 
 the objects of a regular ceconomy. 
 
 Unacquainted with thefe objects, men 
 foothed by indolence, or immerfed in the 
 gratifications of fenfe, are furely in no con- 
 dition to eftablifti a plan of government 
 upon rational or juft foundations. Yet 
 the habits formed among them, in the in- 
 fancy of fociety, gradually break the mind 
 for political fervitude. The defne of 
 equality is balanced by a regard to exterior 
 accommodations; and the love of fafety, 
 
 of
 
 HISTORY OF MANKIND. alt 
 
 of pleafure, or of eafe, triumphs* in every 
 competition, over the paflions which are 
 the natural guardians of law and liberty. 
 
 j-Y/ T *0l*uj9j 
 
 Such, in fome climates of the world, is 
 the real defcription of mankind. Habits 
 chiefly incident to polifhed ages, vitiate 
 and enfeeble the favage life. And the 
 ufual effefts of refined and commercial arts 
 in the decline of civilized government, are 
 caufes, in thefe climates, which, operating 
 from the beginning, fuperfede their origin, 
 of obftruct their growth. 
 
 To be unaflifted then by arts, yet ob- 
 noxious to the evils with which they are 
 commonly aflbciated, is, confidered in a 
 moral or in a political light, one of the 
 
 hardeft difpenfations of fortune. 
 
 , M <-,; <:; 
 
 In other countries, the imbecility of 
 
 government derives often a temporary 
 
 fupport from the very arts which tend to 
 
 P 2 its
 
 212 ESSAYS ON THE 
 
 its definition. Thus the commercial opu- 
 lence of Carthage prolonged her exiftence 
 for half a century, by fatiating the avarice 
 of Rome. Thus Rome herfelf, when no 
 longer able to defend her empire by arms, 
 was able by fubfidies to poftpone her fate. 
 
 Rome indeed, in her better days, could 
 refift the moft defperate onfets of barba- 
 rians: for to equal enthufiafm in arms, 
 (he added fuperior {kill in the art of war. 
 When the Cimbri and Teutones, in the 
 career of glory and of victory, were pre- 
 paring to crofs the Alps, Marius, by one 
 decifive blow, crumed that formidable in- 
 vafion. Yet the deftroyers of the Roman 
 name were one day to come from the fame 
 quarter. The nations of Scythia, fituate 
 between the Euxine and Cafpian feas, hav- 
 ing been exterminated by Pompey, directed 
 their courfe, under the conduct of Odin, 
 towards the north and weft of Europe. 
 They eftablifhed themfelves in the almoft 
 
 evacuated
 
 HISTORY OF MANKIND. 113 
 
 evacuated fettlements of the Cimbri and 
 Teutones, where incorporating with the 
 feeble remnant of the fpecies, they repaired 
 the ftrength and population of the North. 
 And it was their defccndants, now con- 
 founded with the northern nations, who, 
 returning fome ages after, retaliated on 
 
 the Romans the calamities inflicted on 
 
 . < , 
 their forefathers, and on mankind. 
 
 A people, however, fo long progreflive 
 as the Romans, could fall only by degrees. 
 The refources of the Roman government 
 
 - 
 
 were not exhaufted with Roman virtue. 
 
 The Goths, who, by the memorable 
 defeat of the Emperor Decius, had be- 
 come matters of the Illyrian provinces, 
 were induced by the pecuniary conceffions 
 of the fucceeding emperors, to abandon 
 their conquefts. Conceffions fo pufillani^ 
 mous, I am not ignorant, have been fup 
 pofed to haft en the fall of Rome : but they 
 P 3 feem,
 
 214. ESSAYS ON THE 
 
 feem, at this conjuncture, to have been as 
 neceflary as they were inglorious, and the 
 feeble expedients of a declining empire in 
 the crifis of its fate. 
 
 A variety of fuch expedients, in calami- 
 tous periods, policy and arts afford. But 
 the communities of mankind, in the cli- 
 mates above defcribed, by a cruel fatality, 
 are deftitute of the ordinary refources of 
 government, whether in a rude or culti- 
 vated age. 
 
 Their peculiar circumftances, then, with 
 regard to foreign powers deferve attention. 
 The fame original and luxuriant profu- 
 fion which fo long exempts them from 
 labour, and difpenfes with arts, and poft- 
 pones the affignation of property, expofes 
 them the more to the envy and hoftile 
 defigns of other ftates. In proportion to 
 the fertility of their fettlement, the poflef- 
 fion of it is the more precarious. To de- 
 fend
 
 HISTORY OF MANKIND. 215 
 
 fend that fettlement, is almoft the fole end 
 of public union : nor will the apprehen- 
 fion of danger from abroad allow their at- 
 tention to fix upon the objects of interior 
 government. Implicit fubmiflion to the com- 
 mand of a fuperior, an idea fo requifite iA 
 the conduct of armies, and in the fcience of 
 war, infmuates itfelf into the frame of their 
 political conftitution. In fupporting po- 
 litical exiftence, they part with all the ideas 
 of natural liberty: and the rigour of de- 
 fpotifm alone, controuling the tendency of 
 their manners, can fecure that command of 
 the national force which, in times of pub- 
 lic danger, is neceffary for the protection 
 of their country. To avoid therefore the 
 condition of a conquered people, they ac- 
 quiefce in a conftitutional tyranny, perhaps 
 
 not lefs oppreffive. 
 
 ! - 
 
 Thus danger from abroad concurs with 
 their domefticcircumftances in the fubverfion 
 of their natural rights ; and neither the ope- 
 P 4 rations
 
 ESSAYS ON THE 
 
 rations of peace nor of war fupply the 
 cafions which animate a riling people. 
 
 The fpirit of liberty, in its full ftrength, 
 is not always fuperior to the fenfe of public 
 danger. 
 
 When thirty cities of Latium, confede- 
 rated with the Sabines, threatened to crufh 
 in its infancy the Roman commonwealth, 
 confternation and terror feized all ranks of 
 men. And the diclatorfhip, a fort of tem- 
 porary defpotifm, and a folecifm in a free 
 government, owed its original eftablifh- 
 jnent to this alarming conjuncture. The 
 confederacy, however, was quickly diflblv- 
 ed: the battle at the lake Regillus was of a 
 ciecifive nature ; and the men who had ex- 
 pelled the Tarquins were able to rule the 
 ilorm. But had fuch perils, which were 
 tranfient and accidental, been inherent in 
 the foil ; had the Romans been more liable 
 to fuffer, than prone to commence hoftili- 
 
 ties;
 
 HISTORY OF MANKIND. 217 
 
 ties ; had the pofleffion of a more produc- 
 tive or extenfive fettlement drawn upon 
 them at firftthe envy of mankind, inftead of 
 animating their own ambition, the neceflity 
 of public affairs muft have foon rendered 
 that magiftracy perpetual, which was at 
 firft of fo limited a duration, reforted to 
 only in great emergencies, and during the 
 flourifhing ages of the commonwealth al- 
 together difcontinued. 
 
 s 
 
 Let us imagine, then, the fpirit of liberty 
 already languifhing, menaced with danger 
 like that which made the Romans tremble, 
 but arifmg from fixed and permanent 
 caufes, and we imagine the circumftances 
 of mankind, in climates which eftablifh 
 and perpetuate a defpotifm more abfolute, 
 more formidable, and more degrading, 
 than the diclatorfhip of Rome[ A]. 
 
 A nation determined by external fitua- 
 tion to embark in fchemes of dominion, 
 
 pofleffes
 
 ESSAYS ON THE 
 
 poflefles immenfe advantages in war over 
 any other nation who arms merely for de- 
 fence. The principles of intereft, of am- 
 bition, of glory, embolden the defigns of 
 the former, and give to their efforts irre- 
 iiftible impetuofity. The efforts of the 
 latter are more conftrained and reluctant; 
 and the moft profperous fuccefs ultimately 
 terminating in a temporary fecurity rather 
 than in pofitive acquifitions, produces not 
 the martial ardour and enthufiafm which 
 actuate heroic minds. 
 
 Hence the formidable incurfions of the 
 antient Scythians, and the unequal oppo- 
 fition of the Aliatic dates. Hence the dif- 
 ficulties encountered by the Romans in ex- 
 tending their conquefts in Europe, and their 
 more eafy triumphs on the theatre of Afia. 
 Hence we may oblerve, on the one hand, 
 the aftoniftiing career of the northern con- 
 querors, who overturned all the govern- 
 ments of Europe, and on the other, the 
 
 feeble
 
 HISTORY OF MANKIND. 219 
 
 feeble refiftance made to their progrefs by 
 more opulent and luxurious nations. 
 
 The Spartans are almoft the only in- 
 ftance of a warlike people who, by fyftem, 
 abftained from conqueft. Yet was it con- 
 fonant with the maxims of Spartan policy 
 to transfer every war to a diftance from 
 the feat of government. And during a 
 period of fix hundred years, which elapfed 
 from the firft eftablimment of the Dorians 
 in Lacedsemon to the reign of Agefilaus, 
 no foreign enemy had dared to fet foot in 
 Laconia. To render that country the 
 theatre of war, was referved for Epaminon- 
 das. 
 
 " Many of you," faid an Argive to a 
 Spartan, *' fleep on the plains of Argos." 
 " Not one of you," replied the Spartan, 
 " fleeps on the plains of Lacedaemon." 
 
 Sparta,
 
 220 ESSAYS ON THE 
 
 Sparta, though great in war, was fingu- 
 larly formed for peace, for virtue, and for 
 harmony. The rigour of domeftic difci- 
 pline rendered war a relaxation from toil. 
 And : the duration of its civil government 
 was owing, in a great degree, to the con- 
 finement of territory, to the love of juftice, 
 to the exclufion of luxury, of money, of 
 commerce, and of arts and fciences. 
 
 There is a nation too, defcrihed by Ta- 
 citus, who feem to have been diftinguifhed 
 among the antient Germans, as the Spar- 
 tans were diftinguifhed among the antient 
 Greeks ; and though their territory was 
 more extenfive, to have refembled the 
 Spartans in the maxims of their policy, 
 and in fome features of their national cha- 
 racter [B]. But though fuch examples of 
 
 wifdom and moderation fometimes occur, 
 
 ' 
 
 and adorn hiftorical annals, the rules of 
 
 diftributive juftice are commonly little re- 
 
 X garcled
 
 HISTORY OF MANKIND. 221 
 
 garded by nations in the career of military 
 glory. 
 
 The nature of climates, the comparative 
 fertility of countries, by determining the 
 courfe of offenfive war, and by affecting 
 the meafure of fubordination in civil fo- 
 ciety, muft be allowed no inconfiderable 
 fway over the general fortune of the 
 world: and circumftances apparently the 
 rnoft favourable prove often, in their con- 
 fequences, the moft adverfe to the great 
 proceedings of nations. 
 
 Nature, in fome climates, like an over- 
 indulgent parent, enervates the genius of 
 her children, by gratifying at once their 
 moft extravagant demands. In other cli- 
 mates (lie difpenfes her bounty with a more 
 frugal hand, and, by impofing harder 
 conditions, impels them to induftry, trains 
 
 them up to enterprize, and inftruds them 
 
 ' 
 
 10
 
 222 ESSAYS ON THE 
 
 in the advantages of arts and regular go- 
 vernment. 
 
 But the extremes of munificence and ri- 
 gour, by withholding the motives to in- 
 duftry, or by rendering the ends defperate, 
 often produce fimilar effects. A middle 
 fituation between thofe extremes is perhaps 
 the moft eligible in a moral light, as well 
 as the moft aufpicious for civil progrefs. 
 
 Mankind, however, in the various cli- 
 mates where they have fixed their habita- 
 tions, will long preferve a genius and cha- 
 racter wonderfully correfponding with the 
 various difcipline of nature. One people, 
 enured to difficulties, become addicted to 
 hardy enterprize. Another people, blefled 
 with eafe, exert their talents in refined fpe- 
 culation, rather than in active purfuits. 
 
 The fpeculative fciences accordingly can 
 be traced back to infancy in Chaldsea, in 
 
 India,
 
 HISTORY OF MANKIND. 215 
 
 India, in Egypt, and countries that verge 
 to the torrid zone ; while we obferve them 
 attain to full growth and perfection only 
 in the higher latitudes. 
 
 In thefe latitudes their connexion with 
 arts is recognized, their importance to fo- 
 ciety more fteadily kept in view, and a 
 rank and eftimation affigned them, regulat- 
 ed in part by that ftandard. But in thofe 
 lower latitudes, cultivated from other con- 
 fiderations, they retain long their primeval 
 form, and with little reference to mecha- 
 nical or vulgar arts, command, on their 
 own account alone, the veneration of the 
 people. Yet rendered fubfervient perhaps 
 to the ends of fuperftition, or an engine of 
 defpotic power, they may have contributed 
 more to fink and debafe, than to improve 
 and dignify the fpecies. 
 
 Religious fentiments and opinions, which 
 are coeval with the beginnings of refine- 
 ment,
 
 224 ESSAYS ON THE 
 
 ment, and which, when duly regulated, are 
 fo beneficial and ornamental to fociety, may 
 thus, by falfe aflbciations, aflume a form, 
 and inftil paffions which difgrace reafon 
 and humanity. Accordingly in the coun- 
 tries firft enlightened by fcience, the reli- 
 gious paffions have ever fermented with 
 the greateft violence, and produced the 
 moft aftonifhing effects. 
 
 Under their impreffion, a wild race from 
 Arabia proved an overmatch for valiant 
 and hardy nations. For, by this fpirit, 
 the Saracens arofe ; and turning the tide 
 of conqueft, which had run fo generally 
 from north to fouth, into an almoft oppo- 
 fite direction, threatened, by the progrefc 
 of their arms, to reverfe the hiftory of the 
 
 In the fame climates have reigned, at 
 different periods, the moft abject fuper- 
 ilition, the wildeft fanaticifm, the moft fub- 
 
 lime
 
 HISTORY OF MANKIND. 225 
 
 lime theology : and, exclufive of the pure 
 and divine inftitutions of the true religion, 
 many of the rites and obfervances propa- 
 gated over various and diftant regions have 
 originally centered there. 
 
 But to account for fo ftriking an efTecl: in 
 any latitude or climate, there is no need to 
 recur to the pofitive and direct influence of 
 the outward elements on the human mind. 
 The feries of events, once begun, is go- 
 verned more perhaps by moral than by 
 phyfical caufes : and this propenfity of 
 genius and temper may owe its original to 
 the primary direction of the fciences, and 
 their early alliance with theology and civil 
 government. 
 
 The fciences corrupted in their fource, 
 or perverted in their application, were 
 early inftrumental, among the nations of 
 the Eaft, in confecrating abfurdity,. and 
 giving confiftency to error. Drefled up in 
 the folemn airs of myftery, they abette^ 
 
 religious
 
 226 ESSAYS ON THE 
 
 religious impofture ; and ferved, in the 
 hands of priefts and civil rulers, as a charm 
 to allure and fafcinate the crowd. Augury, 
 divination, and fuch wretched literature as 
 tended rather to corrupt than toim-prove 
 the underftanding, were, above all other 
 learning, admired and cultivated. The 
 motions of the heavens were ftudied, in 
 order to difcover the imaginary influences 
 of ftars : and a fcience which opens the 
 nobleft view of the univerfe, and is fo ca- 
 pable of being directed to valuable ends in 
 civil life, was connected in its origin with 
 the credulity and fuperflition of mankind. 
 
 In Chaldaea, the moft antient feat of 
 aftronomical obfervation and difcovery, 
 judicial aftrology was held in fupreme and 
 univerfal efteem. Pythagoras, the moft 
 accomplifhed mafter that ever flourifhed in 
 Greece or Italy, borrowed his ideas from 
 the Magi of Chaldsea, from the Gymno- 
 fophifts of India, or from Egyptian priefts, 
 was admitted into their colleges, initiated 
 
 into
 
 HISTORY OF MANKIND. 227 
 
 into the myfteries of their religion, and by 
 them inftruded in the true fyftem of the 
 world. 
 
 But the myfterious fciences of Pytha- 
 goras were foon forgotten in the Italic 
 fchool. The Romans occupied, from the 
 inftitution of their commonwealth, in 
 fcenes of action, had no tafte or leifure for 
 fuch purfuits. With invincible prejudices 
 againft the Chaldaeans, and other Orientals, 
 and with no turn towards aftrology, they 
 regarded their character and erudition with 
 equal and undiftinguifhing contempt. 
 From the reign of Numa there had elapfed 
 a period of above five hundred years, when 
 Julius Cxfar, aided by the fuperior learning 
 of the Eaft, adjufted the civil year, with 
 fome accuracy, to the true annual period, 
 and eftablifhed, on aftronomical principles, 
 the reformation of the Roman calendar. 
 
 Yet the Romans as far excelled . thofe 
 other nations of antiquity in the fabric of 
 
 their
 
 228 ESSAYS ON THE 
 
 their jurifprudence, and in the application* 
 of the true principles of government, as 
 they were excelled by them in aftronomy, 
 in geometry, in phyfics, in theological 
 refinements, and in all the abflract deduc- 
 tions of philofophy. 
 
 In general, fertile and luxuriant coun- 
 tries feem peculiarly fitted to be the 
 nurfery of refinement: becaufe leifure 
 awakens curiofity; and curiofity leads to 
 purfuits that fill up the vacancies in human 
 life. Every new fituation prefents to man 
 new objects of folicitude and care. The 
 demands of animal nature no longer bound 
 his deiires. The fcene now opens to the 
 intellectual eye. He marks the relations, 
 and dependencies of things ; and learns 
 to contemplate the world and himfelf. 
 
 Conftituted in fuch circumftances, what 
 more natural to a mind, fomewhat elevated 
 above common life, than this foliloquy : 
 
 " Where
 
 HISTORY OF MANKIND. 229 
 
 <{ Where am I! Whence my original! 
 What my deftiny ! Is all around me dif- 
 cord, confufion, chaos ! or is there not 
 foine principle of union, confiftency, and 
 order? Am I accountable to any fuperior? 
 connected with any great fyftem of being ? 
 
 Is this contracted fpan of life the 
 
 whole of man ? or was he born with higher 
 expectations, and for nobler ends ? Is 
 there a power above tojuftify that hope!" 
 
 Various opinions will afterwards arife, 
 in the courfe of philofophical generations, 
 concerning the ceconomy of invifible 
 powers. Various rites will be inftituted 
 to render the Divinity propitious, and, 
 fmce fear predominates in moft religions, 
 more to avert his wrath. But thofe 
 queftions are the fuggeftions of nature, 
 and, in the more productive regions of 
 Afia and Africa, gave a beginning to the 
 philofophic age. Yet, in fuch regions, 
 Q 3 from
 
 23 o ESSAYS ON THE 
 
 from the want of the chief incentives to 
 action, the improvements of civil life will 
 feldom arrive at a high pitch of eminence 
 or perfection. 
 
 Countries of a different defcription will 
 be flower in their fir ft improvements; be- 
 caufe an attention to theneceflary functions 
 of life allows not fufficient leifure for obfer- 
 vation, or the fublimer culture of the un- 
 derftanding. But fciences and arts tranf- 
 planted hither in a maturer form, take root 
 and flourifh ; and alleviating the toils or 
 enlarging the accommodations of fociety, 
 grow up to an extraordinary height, gra- 
 dually removing the obftacles which pre- 
 vented their more early eftablifhment. 
 
 Here too the mechanical arts, which 
 owe their maturity, if not their birth, to 
 the more prefling occafions, or increafing 
 demands of mankind, become fubfidiary to 
 
 the
 
 HISTORY OF MANKIND. 231 
 
 the fublimer fciences, and advance them 
 beyond the limit afligned them in their 
 antient feats. To this fortunate alliance, 
 the labours of the learned in modern 
 Europe have been indebted for one half of 
 their fuccefs : and, this alliance broken, the 
 fciences, in our climates, would fink down 
 to the level at which they have flood fo 
 long in the climates of Afia. 
 
 The genius of nations is more or lefs 
 turned to peace or war, to fpeculation or 
 action. The more fpeculative begin im- 
 provements; and the active conquer; yet 
 improve often upon the improvements of 
 the vanquifhed. 
 
 Thus the fituation of the fpecies in one 
 country is more advantageous to the firft 
 openings of refinement, from circumftances 
 which allow a freedom to genius, and an 
 exemption from animal toil: while their 
 
 circum-
 
 232 ESSAYS ON THE 
 
 circumftances, in another country, con- 
 duce more effe&ually to the farther ex- 
 tenfion and cultivation of the liberal arts. 
 And thefe effeds, frequently refuhing 
 from foil and climate, whofe temper de- 
 pends fo often upon the pofition of the 
 globe, mark a fundamental and fixed dif- 
 tinction between the communities of man- 
 kind in the lower and higher latitudes. 
 
 The temperament indeed of countries is 
 diverfified by a variety of caufes, natural 
 and artificial, which we fhall not attempt 
 to enumerate. Elevation above the level 
 of the fea has fometimes a decifive influ- 
 ence, and confers many of the advantages 
 of the temperate zone on countries that 
 approach almoft to the equator. But not- 
 withftanding a number of exceptions, the 
 more general chara&er of climates corre- 
 fponds with the aftronomical divifions of 
 the earth. And fuitably to this courfe of 
 
 nature,
 
 HISTORY OF MANKIND. 233 
 
 f 
 
 nature, the fame civil order of things, 
 which we have remarked in the antient 
 continent, feemed to have been preparing 
 in the new. 
 
 The fun of fcience arofe there, as on our 
 fide the globe, on the confines, or within 
 the limit of the torrid zone. Civilization 
 had begun, and even made fome progrefs, 
 in the empires of Peru and Mexico, while 
 mankind in all the upper latitudes were 
 utter ftrangers to refinement, in the loweft 
 ilage of political union, and, like the an- 
 tient Germans, fcarce acquainted with fub- 
 ordination in civil or domeftic government. 
 
 Their sera of civility has not yet arrived. 
 The fyftem to which they belonged was 
 unhinged by violence. But had the Pe- 
 ruvian and Mexican arts been tranfplanted 
 into thofe regions of the new hemifphere, 
 they would, in all probability, have flou- 
 nfhed there, from the fame combination of 
 
 caufes
 
 234 ESSAYS ON THE 
 
 caufes as in Europe, with a degree of vi- 
 gour and fuccefs unknown in the more 
 productive and fertile climates which gave 
 them birth. 
 
 The new world, from its connexion 
 with the old, opens to the arts and fciences 
 an oppofite career. And in contradiction 
 to the firft arrangements, and the apparent 
 order of phyfical laws, they will be car- 
 ried by a more impetuous current, along 
 the ftream of political events, from the 
 northern to the fouthern climates. 
 
 Itbecomesnot,perhaps,aBriton,aprivate 
 citizen, at fuch a crifis, to anticipate this 
 order of things ; to predict the revolutions 
 of government, or the eventual glory of a 
 future age. 
 
 This chapter of accidents fhould be read 
 in the cabinets of Europe. 
 
 3 It
 
 HISTORY OF MANKIND. 235 
 
 It is local circumftances alone whofe 
 tendency we are contemplating in both 
 hemifpheres : and to open the extent of 
 that influence in the general fyftem, it is 
 neceffary, as in the following Eflay, to de- 
 fcend into fome farther detail. 
 
 NOTES.
 
 236 ESSAYS ON THE 
 
 NOTES. 
 
 n 
 
 NOTE (X|, p. 217. 
 
 T HAVE mentioned the office of Roman 
 Dictator, as being the moft extraordinary 
 conceffion, which the exigency of public affairs 
 ever extorted from a free people. 
 
 Had fuch an accumulated jurifdiction been 
 transferred to one man, by a folemn acl of the 
 whole legiflature, it might be vindicated, per- 
 haps, on the principles of flate neceffhy. But 
 when the right of nomination was vefted in a 
 fingle conful, without the confent, againft 
 the will of the people; and without even a de- 
 cree of the fenate, though that fanction was 
 indeed neceflary to confirm the conful's nomi- 
 nation ; we obferve, with aftoniftiment, among a 
 people jealous of their rights, an engine of 
 government one of the moft tremendous, in 
 
 appearance, that ever hung over the liberties of 
 
 t j 
 mankind. 
 
 It
 
 HISTORY OF MANKIND. 137 
 
 It deferves however to be remembered, that 
 the authority of Di&ator, while it annihilated 
 in a moment every other authority in the ftate, 
 left the tribunitial power untouched, whofe 
 influence formed a fort of conftkutional con- 
 troul on the proceedings of that formidable 
 magiftrate. Yet more admirable far is the 
 policy of the Britifh government, in fuch extre- 
 mities as called for a Dictator under the 
 Roman. 
 
 In England, to borrow the language of a late 
 noble author, well read in the conftitution e 
 his country, " In England, where a mixed con- 
 " flitution of government unites the powers of 
 " monarchy, ariftocracy, and democracy, much 
 " more happily than that of Rome ever did, 
 " even in its beft flate, if extraordinary dangers 
 " require that the Habeas Corpus law (the 
 *' great fecurity of our freedom) fhould for a 
 ' time be fufpended, it can only be done by the 
 " joint advice and authority of the whole legif- 
 ." lature. And if, in any cafe where delay 
 " would be fatal, the fafety of the public appa- 
 " rently obliges the king, in whom alone the 
 " executive power refides, to aft againft this 
 " or any other law, without having been pre- 
 ^ vioufly impowered fo to do by both houfes 
 
 "of
 
 4 3 8 ESSAYS ON THE 
 
 " of parliament, his minifters are refponfible 
 " for it to their country, and can no otherwife 
 " be fecured than by a bill of indemnity, which, 
 " if the necefilty pleaded for their justification 
 " is found to have been real, the Lords and 
 " Commons will not refufe to pafs. But, in 
 " Rome, a fingle conful, agreeing with the fe- 
 " nate to name a dictator, without the concur- 
 *' rence, and againft the will of the people, 
 " might fubjeft, at any time, the liberty and the 
 " life of every Roman citizen to the arbitrary 
 " power of one man, fet above all the laws, and 
 " in no way refponfible, for the exercife of his 
 et fovereignty, to the juftice of the ftate. In- 
 " deed after the end of the fecond Punic war, 
 c the fenate itfelf grew fo jealous of the danger 
 " of this office, that, for an hundred and 
 " twenty years before Sylla took it up, no Die- 
 " tator was appointed." 
 
 Lord Lyttelton's Works, p. 36". 
 
 In one inftance, perhaps the only one to be 
 met with in the Roman annals, the fenate re- 
 ferred the choice of a Dictator to the people ; 
 and the Conful Marcellus named Quintus Ful- 
 vius in obedience to their order. 
 
 Liv. 1. 27, c. 5. 
 
 NOTE
 
 HISTORY OF MANKIND. 239 
 
 NOTE [5], p. 220. 
 
 THE Spartans are not degraded by a com- 
 panion with this virtuous people, whofe 
 character is thus delineated by the Roman 
 hiflorian: 
 
 Tam immenfum terrarum fpatium non tenent 
 tantum Chattel^ fed et implent : populus inter 
 Germanos nobiliflimus, quique magnitudinem 
 fuam malit juftitia tueri. Sine cupiditate, 
 fine impotentia, quieti fecretique, nulla provo- 
 cant bella, nullis raptibus aut latrociniis popu- 
 lantur. Idque prascipuum virtutis ac virium 
 argumentum eft, quod ut fuperiores agant, non 
 per injurias afiequuntur. Prompta tamen om- 
 nibus'arma, ac fi res pofcat, exercitus : pluri- 
 mum virorum equorumque : et quiefcentibus 
 eadem fama. 
 
 Tacit, de Morib. Germ, c, 35. 
 
 NOTE [C], p. 224." 
 
 HAD the Saracens, actuated 'by the fame 
 fanatical fpirit, begun their career fome 
 centuries fooner, they might have met, with 
 equal force, the barbarians of the North, and 
 
 contended
 
 24 ESSAYS ON THE 
 
 contended with them for the fpoils of the weftern 
 empire. Or perhaps the encounter of fuch 
 armies might have prolonged its date. 
 
 When the Saracens, in the eighth century, 
 after the conqueft of Africa, appeared in Spain, 
 the Goths fettled there, degenerated from the 
 valour of their anceflors, were in no condition 
 to make head againft fuch invaders. The 
 conteft would have been very differently 
 maintained by thofe Goths, who, in the fifth 
 century, patted the Pyrenees, and bid de- 
 fiance to the matters of the world. But now 
 the empire of the Caliphs was foon eftablifhed in 
 Spain. And the Saracens, after the reduction 
 of that country, meditated the conqueft of 
 all Europe. They became matters of tha.t part 
 of Languedoc which had been fubject to the 
 Goths -, and were marching on, in confidence 
 and triumph, to complete their defigns, when 
 fortunately for the Chriftian world, in the year 
 731, they were defeated in a pitched battle by 
 Charles Martel, the champion of the faith, and 
 the moft renowned general of the age. 
 
 To eftablim the Mahometan religion all over 
 the earth by the fword, was conformable with 
 its avowed maxims. Predeftination too was an 
 
 article
 
 HISTORY OF MANKIND. 24! 
 
 article of faith that ferved to heighten the con- 
 flitutional valour of the Saracens, which was 
 ftill farther enfiamed by an opinion inculcated 
 by their leaders, that to die in battle fecured 
 infallibly to every Muflfulman an immediate 
 entrance into paradife, and an introduction to 
 the beatific vifion. 
 
 Their valour however had been fignalized 
 before the age of Mahomet ; and it is not pre- 
 tended that religious enthufiafm adled alone, 
 without the co-operation of other caufes, in 
 the eftablifhment of the Moflem yoke. 
 
 " Pour expliquer, fays Montefquieu, cet eve- 
 nement fameux de la conquete de tant de pays 
 par les Arabes, il ne faut pas avoir recours au 
 feul enthoufiafme, Les Sarrafins etoient, de- 
 puis long temps, diftingues parmi les auxiliaires 
 des Romains, et des Perfes: les Ofroeniens, et 
 eux etoient les meilleurs hommes de trait qu'il 
 y cut au monde : Severe, Alexandre, et Maxi- 
 min en avoient engage a leur fervice autant 
 qu'ils avoient pu, et s'en etoient fervis, avec un 
 grand fucces, contre les Germains, qu'ils defo- 
 loient de loin: fous Valens, les Goths ne pou- 
 voient leur reftfter ; enfin, ils etoient, dans cts 
 ;emps-la, la meilleure cavalerie du monde." 
 Grandeur et Decadence des Romains, ch. 22. 
 
 R
 
 ESSAY VIJ. 
 
 OF THE FARTHER TENDENCY OF LOCAL CIR- 
 CUMSTANCES TO AFFECT THE PRO- 
 CEEDINGS OF NATIONS. 
 
 *-^. 
 
 E SIDES the comparative fertility of 
 foils, the nature of their productions, 
 and the pofition of the globe, there -is a 
 variety of local circumftances, which, by 
 affecting the feries of public events, are 
 intimately connected with the civil order 
 of the world. 
 
 The divifion of a country by mountains, 
 by lakes, or rivers, the vicinity or diftance 
 of the fea, infular or continental fituation, 
 and the relative condition of the furround- 
 ing nations, are caufes which affect, in an 
 R 2 eminent
 
 244 ESSAYS ON THE 
 
 eminent degree, the nature and fuccefs of 
 public enterprize. 
 
 A fixed fettlement is, in the order of 
 things, an indifpenfable preliminary to the 
 improvements of civil life. Men unat- 
 tached to any foil, but accuftomed to 
 perpetual migration, are in no condition to 
 cultivate arts, and feem incapable of con- 
 ducting, for a length of time, any well- 
 ordered fyftem of operations. Such loofe 
 and disjointed members cpmpofe no regular 
 body. Individuals incorporated into no, 
 fleady form, nor kept together by any 
 local ties, can maintain only a temporary 
 and precarious union, and deferve not the 
 name of a nation. The progrefs then of 
 mankind in every climate is confiderably 
 affected by the form and extent of their 
 original fettlement. And the occupants of 
 an immenfc tract of country, where nature 
 has fet no bounds to difperfion, nor erected 
 barriers againft the incurfions of other tribes, 
 
 feem
 
 245 
 
 feem to be moft inaufpicioufly conftituted 
 for the maintenance of civil liberty, or the 
 growth of civil arts. 
 
 Unhappily, the genius of man, in the 
 ruder ages, is peculiarly turned for war. 
 The internal diflenfions among the fame 
 people, or the hoftile defigns of different 
 tribes, gave occafion, we may believe, to 
 the firft arrangements of political fociety. 
 
 The ideas of property ripen by flow 
 degrees; and the maxims of jurifprudence 
 are regulated by the fortune of arms. 
 
 In a country, therefore, affording no re- 
 treat to the vanquimed, it is fcarce poffible, 
 in the ruder ages, long to preferve the free- 
 dom of mankind. And while fervitude is 
 the only alternative compatible with fub- 
 fiftence, in this extremity, the moft relucl:- 
 ant fpirits will finally bend under the yoke 
 of dominion. 
 
 R 3 Such
 
 246 ESSAYS ON THE 
 
 Such caufes operating at firft within a 
 narrow fphere, will afterwards prevail 
 with a more diffufive influence. In pro- 
 portion to the number of the vanquished 
 tribes, the fubjeclion of other tribes will 
 be accomplifhed with greater eafe : till at 
 length various and diftant nations, whofe 
 pofieffions were feparated only by imagi- 
 nary lines, falling fucceflively under one 
 dominion, the manfion of a little common- 
 wealth becomes the capital of a vaft em- 
 pire. 
 
 Thus reluctant nations coalefce into a 
 fyftem. The fame caufes which proved 
 deftrudtive of their rights, in the firft 
 ftruggles of political life, will render fu- 
 ture attempts for the recovery of them 
 extremely hazardous ; and the enlarge- 
 ment of territory beyond the antient limit, 
 will more effectually prevent that union 
 and concert, in the operations of fubjects, 
 
 which
 
 HISTORY OF MANKIND. 247 
 
 which lead to ihe introdu&ion of the 
 more liberal plans of government. 
 
 The voice of liberty will be heard no 
 more. She can no longer arm her aflb- 
 ciates in the caufe of humanity. The 
 monarch of a great empire fits fecure upon 
 the throne, and fets at defiance the mur- 
 muring of the people and the revolt of 
 provinces. 
 
 In this pofture of things, the reign of 
 defpotifm may long endure. The rival- 
 fhip and jealoufy, which animate independ- 
 ent ftates, ceafe to animate this larger 
 fyftem : nor can the fciences and arts 
 which raife and adorn fociety, be prefumed 
 to flourifh under the malignant influence 
 of a conftitution tending fo manifeftly to 
 the debafement of the human fpecies. 
 
 Such confequences then 'may be traced 
 
 up to a geographical fource. Nor will the 
 
 R 4 evils
 
 248 ESSAYS ON THE 
 
 evils hence refulting, exl^uft their force in 
 the open trads of country where they be- 
 gan to flow. The torrent which covered 
 the plains rolls on, with increafmg vio- 
 lence, and the beft fenced territories are no 
 longer able to refift its progrefs. Nations, 
 accordingly, fituated with many advantages 
 for interior policy, and whofe frontiers 
 feem little expofed to external annoyance, 
 may have thefe advantages more than ba- 
 lanced by a dangerous vicinity to a grow- 
 ing empire. 
 
 We obferve the nations of Tartary not 
 only deftitute of arts, but, notwithstanding 
 barrennefs of foil, and the pofleflion of a 
 climate accounted favourable to the inde- 
 pendency of man, condemned to all the 
 rigour and tyranny of defpotic power [A], 
 A country, the nurfe of heroes, that has fo 
 often fent forth tribes to be the conquerors 
 of Afia, fees herfelf involved in the general 
 
 fervitude;
 
 HISTORY OF MANKIND. 249 
 
 fervitude; and an acceffion to empires fub- 
 dued by her own arms. 
 
 The Arabians perhaps are the only 
 people under heaven who have remained, 
 in all ages, exempt from a foreign yoke. 
 Confident againft the world on Arabian 
 ground, they refifted the fucceflive attempts 
 of the Aflyrian, Perfian, Grecian, and Ro- 
 man arms. Yet the vicinity of thefe em- 
 pires was not regarded with indifference. 
 It filled them with continual alarms, it 
 circumfcribed their projects, confined their 
 genius to defenfive war, and retarded the 
 cultivation of the liberal arts. But when, 
 in the decline of the Roman power, other 
 nations prefumed to be ambitious, the 
 Arabians were capable of forming exten- 
 five plans of military and civil enterprize. 
 Yet, in their own deferts alone, they are 
 invincible, and there the race of Ifhmael 
 maintain to this day an independence on 
 the Ottoman empire. There the human 
 
 mind
 
 S 5 o ESSAYS ON THE 
 
 mind is ftill capable of bold and liberal 
 efforts. A new fed of religion has, of 
 late, appeared in thofe regions, of a genius 
 uncommonly elevated*. It explodes every 
 fpecies of idolatry. It enjoins the be- 
 lief and worfhip of one eternal Being, the 
 fovereign of the world, and eftablifhes the 
 doctrines of pure theifm on the fole foun- 
 dation of reafon and nature. It confiders 
 Mofes and a number of his fucceflbrs in the 
 Eaft, as fublime teachers of wifdom, and, 
 as fuch, worthy of refpecT: and reverence. 
 But it rejects all revelations, and denies 
 that any book was ever penned by the 
 angel Gabriel. How far this religion may 
 diffufe itfelf is yet uncertain. But, though 
 it may breathe a while in the free air of 
 Arabia, it never can be cherimed or tole- 
 rated in the Ottoman empire, where fuper- 
 ftition is fo neceffary to conduct the ma- 
 chine of government. 
 
 * Defcription de 1'Arabie, par M. Niebuhr. 
 
 Thus
 
 HISTORY OF MANKIND. 251 
 
 Thus the fortune of the Arabians corre- 
 fponds with the defcription of their country, 
 which fecures them from foreign conqueft, 
 and determines the meafure of their obedience 
 to civil power. And whether the hiftory of 
 this extraordinary people is accounted for 
 by natural caufes, or by a fpecial interpofi- 
 tion of Providence, the prediction concern- 
 ing them is equally fulfilled : nor can it 
 derogate from the authority of holy writ, 
 that we obferve the determinations of hea- 
 ven to coincide with a regular and efta- 
 blifhed order of fecond caufes. 
 
 But the connexion of a fettlement with 
 the more general fortune of mankind is 
 
 chiefly difcernible in the production of 
 
 * 
 extended government. 
 
 As the political divifions of territory, 
 though fluctuating and precarious, have, 
 however, at all times, fqme neceflary de- 
 pendence on the natural and permanent 
 
 divifions
 
 ESSAYS ON THE 
 
 divifions of the terraqueous globe, the! 
 confequences arifing from the magnitude 
 of ftates and empires may often be re- 
 ferred ultimately to a geographical fource. 
 Local circumftances alone have fet bounds to 
 the devaluation of conqueft, and to the rage 
 of war ; have checked the tyranny of go- 
 vernments, and prevented the eftablifhment 
 of an univerfal empire : an eftablifhment of 
 fuch alarming tendency, that we can fcarce 
 refift fuppofing it to have been one defign 
 of Providence, in the natural divifions of 
 the earth, to fuperfede the poffibility of an 
 event that would have proved fo fatal to 
 the improvement and liberties of mankind. 
 Inftead of thofe happy diftin&ions which 
 furnifh incentives to genius ; inftead of 
 that variety of arts and fciences which owe 
 their exiftence to bold and original efforts 
 of divided nations, there muft have fub- 
 fifted, throughout the earth, an uniformity 
 of conduct and manners fubverfive of all 
 liberal enterprize. 
 
 The
 
 HISTORY OF MANKIND. 253 
 
 The different ages of fociety, like the dif- 
 ferent ages of man, require different dif- 
 cipline and culture. The maxims of po- 
 licy applicable to one part of the world, are 
 not always applicable to another; nor are the 
 full ad vantages of any local occonomy recon- 
 cileable. perhaps, with fubordination to a 
 general fyftem. If therefore the beft in- 
 ftituted government falls fhort of perfec- 
 tion, in order to improve its advantages it 
 is neceffary to circumfcribe its dominion. 
 To fix indeed mathematically the propor- 
 tion of territory or of people, which is 
 moft confiftent with public profperity, and 
 with the benefits of civil life, is an impof- 
 fible problem in the fcience of government. 
 But it is certain there are limits with re- 
 gard to both ; and all the inconveniencies 
 of univerfal dominion will be felt, in an 
 inferior degree, throughout an extended 
 empire. 
 
 Public affairs there fink into a quiefcent 
 form, genius is fettered by authority, or 
 
 borne
 
 254 ESSAYS ON THE 
 
 borne down by the weight of the pre- 
 vailing fyftem. 
 
 In fmall ftates men of wifdom have 
 arifen, whofe credit with the community 
 has enabled them to patronize arts, arid 
 to conduct plans of public utility to the 
 moft fuccefsful iflue. Legiflators and politi- 
 cians, acting at fome favourable crifis, have 
 been known, within a narrow circle, to 
 controul eftablifhed cuftoms and manners, 
 to reform civil inftitutions, and to innovate 
 in all the eflcntials of government. But 
 the reformation of a wide domain is an 
 immenfe and laborious work, that needs a 
 long preparation of time, and prefuppofes 
 an intercourfe with regions enlightened by 
 philofophy and learning. 
 
 The reformation by Peter the Great is 
 one of the moft memorable in the annals 
 of extended government. The flourifhing 
 condition of the arts in the fyftem of na^ 
 
 tiontj
 
 HISTORY OF MANKIND. 255 
 
 tions, with which he connected his empire, 
 was peculiarly favourable to the grandeur 
 of his views. 
 
 The Czar availed himfelf of the con- 
 juncture. Like the founders of antient 
 ftates, he travelled into foreign nations to 
 fludy mechanical and commercial arts, and 
 legiflative wifdom, and the whole fcience 
 of government. By inviting artifts and 
 manufacturers from thofe nations to refide 
 in his empire, he tried, by their example, 
 to allure his people into the occupations 
 of civil life. To a profound difcernment 
 of his true interefts, and to confummate 
 fagacity in forming . commercial and civil 
 plans, he added all the qualifications moft 
 conducive to their fuccefs. Boldnefs, 
 vigour, perfeverance, he poflefled in an 
 eminent degree. And the example of a 
 fovereign, who was himfelf a proficient in 
 the detail of the arts, muft have produced 
 a wonderful effect on a people over whom 
 3
 
 256 ESSAYS ON THE 
 
 his authority was unlimited. The efia- 
 bliihment too of a ftanding army, which 
 confirmed that authority, and carried his 
 commands with irrefiftible force through 
 the remoteft provinces, tended to ftrengthen 
 and maintain all his other eftablifhments. 
 And at laft his triumphs in arms, which, 
 at the treaty of Newftadt, rendered him 
 the arbiter of the North, and fecured the 
 tranquillity of his empire, favoured all the, 
 plans of his interior policy. 
 
 Yet fo glorious a reign could animate a 
 few parts only, without infufing life or 
 vigour into fo vaft a body. The maxims 
 of his policy have been purfued with abi- 
 lity by fome of his fucceflbrs on the throne 
 of the Ruffias ; and, above all, the prefent 
 Emprefs, by the protection of arts, by the 
 eftablilhments of her police, and by a vvell- 
 digefted code of internal laws, emulates 
 the honours of her illuftrious predeceflbr ; 
 
 perhaps^
 
 HISTORY OF MANKIND. 257 
 
 perhaps, in fome inftances, eclipfes his 
 fame. But it is the misfortune of Ca- 
 tharine, as of Peter, to execute plans on 
 too large a fcale: and, with fo rare ad- 
 vantages, it is by the courtefy of Europe, 
 if the Ruffians, at this day, are permitted 
 to rank among civilized nations. The 
 limits of the empire muft be contracted, to 
 give rapidity to its movements. And the late 
 acceffion of territory, how greatly foever it 
 may augment the revenue, or the fplendor 
 of the fovereign, tends in reality to en- 
 cumber, in thofe regions, the efforts of the 
 human fpecies. So repugnant is the genius 
 of extended government to refinement and 
 liberal arts. 
 
 The hiftory of the Chinefe alone Teems 
 to form an exception to the general theory. 
 And it muft be owned, that if a few na- 
 tions have touched a higher ftage of civi- 
 lity and refinement than that people, there 
 S is
 
 258 ESSAYS ON THE 
 
 is none on the records of the world, who 
 have enjoyed, for fo extended a period, 
 along with a large proportion of public 
 felicity, a mediocrity in arts and fciences. 
 
 Yet if the fciences in that empire are not 
 on the decline, they feem for ages to have 
 been ftationary, or flowly progreffive, and 
 certainly have not arrived at fuch maturity 
 and perfection as might be expeded from 
 the length of their courfe. Authority is 
 there decifive of public opinion, and 
 abridges the liberty of private judgment. 
 Error is confecrated by antiquity. No 
 fpirit of philofophical enquiry animates the 
 learned ; arid the freer excurfions of ge- 
 nius are unknown. 
 
 In antient times, when the Greater and 
 the Lefler Afia was divided among a number 
 of.ftates; when Aflyria, Phoenicia, and 
 Egypt, formed independent governments, 
 fcience feems to have dawned upon the 
 
 world
 
 HISTORY OF MANKIND. 259 
 
 world with confiderable luftre. But thefe 
 appearances gradually vaniihed. The firft 
 empire of the Affyrians was not aufpicious 
 to mankind. Their fecond empire, by the 
 union of Niniveh and Babylon, was ftill 
 more alarming. Yet the Aflyrians, the 
 Medes, and the Egyptians, maintained a 
 fort of balance of power, and feem to have 
 flourifhed as rival and contending nations. 
 But no fooner the Perfians arofe, and the 
 world beheld at Perfepolis a government 
 more oppreffive, more formidable, and more 
 . extended than had ever been erected at 
 Niniveh, or at Babylon, than human na- 
 ture was degraded in the Eaft. And du- 
 ring a period of above two hundred years, 
 while all things went forward in the Weft 
 in little ftates, all things went backward 
 throughout the immenfe provinces under 
 the Perfian fway. 
 
 Prior to this revolutiqn, our acquaintance 
 
 indeed with hiftorical annals is imperfect. 
 
 82 It
 
 2 6o ESSAYS ON THE 
 
 It is impoffible to defcend into the detail of 
 more antient government. Yet, on autho- 
 rities facred and profane, it may be affirm- 
 ed, that, long before the Perfian greatnefs, 
 the Egyptians, and other Eaftern nations, 
 were in pofleflion of ufeful and ingenious 
 arts, and not unacquainted with maxims 
 of policy conducive to public felicity and 
 order. 
 
 Egypt was divided early into diftinft 
 kingdoms; and the dynafties which fill 
 her annals confifted, it is probable, of con- 
 temporary, not of fucceffive monarchs. 
 The reigns of her kings, before Sefoftris, 
 are celebrated as the reigns of the gods : 
 and, if any credit is due to the hiftory of 
 that conqueror, it was perhaps the power 
 of his arms which fhook the foundations 
 of antient governments, and brought on 
 the firft general cataftrophe of nations. 
 
 If
 
 HISTORY OF MANKIND. 261 
 
 If however the empire of Sefoftris, like 
 that of Alexander, devolved not entire 
 upon his fucceflbrs, human affairs might 
 have returned into their former courfe, or at 
 leaft fome nations might have recovered 
 their antient freedom and profperity. 
 
 What may have happened in a period 
 fo remote, cannot now be determined with 
 certainty. But, in periods well illuftrated, 
 great monarchies arofe in the Eaft: and 
 the continent of Alia, fo rarely interfered 
 by mountains or rivers, feems to be the 
 natural feat of extended dominion. 
 
 While European governments fo often 
 fluctuate, enlarge or contract their limits, 
 are torn afunder by inteftine commotions, 
 or are overwhelmed with foreign irrup- 
 tions, the great contefts for dominion on 
 the theatre of Afia have feldom diverfified 
 the form of Afiatic eftablifhments. Ge- 
 neral revolutions by conquefti more fre- 
 S 3 quent
 
 262 ESSAYS ON THE 
 
 quent in that quarter than in Europe, have 
 not been productive of fimilar effects. 
 The Afiatic governments are foon re-efta- 
 blifhed nearly on the fame foundations; 
 and one fpirit predominates amidft all the 
 viciffitudes of power. 
 
 The ftability of the Chinefe government, 
 amidft the {hocks and revolutions of con- 
 queft, is commonly alleged as a proof of 
 the wifdom with which it is framed. But 
 in a country of fuch extent and population, 
 the difproportion of numbers between the 
 conquerors and the vanquifhed, and the 
 character of thofe conquerors who have no 
 fixed ufages, manners, or inftitutions of 
 their own to come into competition with 
 the eftablifhed fyftem, fufficiently account 
 for its immutability, without regard to the 
 degree of its perfection. And if the fyftem 
 of manners, laws, and religion, eftablifhed 
 in China, is not fhaken or fubverted by in- 
 ternal caufes, it promifes to withftand the 
 
 moft
 
 HISTORY OF MANKIND. 263 
 
 xnoft furious inundations of the Tartars, 
 and may go down triumphant to the lateft 
 pofterity. Thus China forms an illuftrious 
 example of the connexion of human 
 affairs with geographical limits. Secure 
 on the eaft and fouth by the ocean, and on 
 the weft by inacceffible deferts, fhe is vul- 
 nerable on the fide of Tartary alone. All 
 her military operations are exhaufted in 
 one direction, and with one view. And 
 by the efforts of an induftrious and active 
 policy, fhe creeled, many ages ago, an. 
 artificial barrier for defence, unequalled for 
 extent or magnificence in any other age or 
 country. But that barrier, the work of 
 men, could not defeat the intention of na- 
 ture; and in defiance of their wall, it was 
 neceffary for the Chinefe to fubrnit to con- 
 querors, who ihould incorporate with 
 them into one body, fubject to the fame 
 bead. 
 
 S 4 Next
 
 264 ESSAYS ON THE 
 
 Next in magnificence to that of China, 
 is the wall of Caucafus, called by the Ori- 
 entals the wall of Gog and Magog. It 
 extended from the Cafpian to the Black 
 Sea, and is fuppofed by fome antiquarians 
 to have been built by Alexander the Great, 
 in order to cover the frontiers of his em- 
 pire from the incurfions of the Scythians. 
 But it is probably a more antient fabric. 
 The lofty fpirit of Alexander would hardly 
 have ftooped to fuch daftardly policy ; nor 
 does it appear from the courfe of Alexan- 
 der's victories, that he ever approached the 
 Cafpian gates. 
 
 Such ftupendous monuments of art de- 
 clare the fenfe of Afia concerning the 
 magnitude of impending dangers; and 
 equally indicate talents for pacific enter- 
 prize, and an incapacity for war. Yet if 
 Afia were divided and fubdivided like 
 Europe, climate alone would not give rife to 
 
 and
 
 HISTORY OF MANKIND. 265 
 
 and perpetuate fuch general fervitude. And 
 if the defcription of Europe refembled that 
 of Afia, our climates would not be pro- 
 ductive of freedom. The extended go- 
 vernment of the Romans came to be as 
 violent and tyrannical as Eaftern defpotifm. 
 To maintain, therefore, a due balance of 
 power, and to prevent the rapacity of fo- 
 vereigns from tranfgrefling thofe geogra-* 
 phical limits which nature feems to have 
 affixed to dominion, is an object of the 
 firft importance to the general liberties of 
 Europe. 
 
 It ought alfo to be remembered by fove- 
 reigns grafping at dominion, that if, by the 
 connivance or fupinenefs of other powers, 
 they are fuffered to attain the ends of their 
 ambition, they aflume a dangerous pre- 
 eminence; they exchange for precarious 
 greatnefs, the moft folid advantages, and, 
 the magnitude of dominion, in a coun- 
 try
 
 266 . ;, ESSAYS ON THE 
 
 try like Europe, are likely to precipitate 
 its fall. Let them remember the counfel 
 of Auguftus Csefar to his fucceflbrs, tc never 
 " to enlarge the territories of the Ro- 
 " mans;" and learn, from the example of 
 that great people, to avoid the paths 
 which lead firft indeed to the fubverfion of 
 civil liberty, but finally to the diflblution 
 of empire. 
 
 The difcovery of America has opened 
 an immenfe field to the ambition of the 
 ftates of Europe. Inftead of augmenting 
 their territorial pofTeffions at home, they 
 began, from that sra, to form diftant efta- 
 blifhments by conqueft or by colonization, 
 and to erecl, in another hemifphere, a new 
 fpecies of empire. But between countries 
 fo widely feparated, a political union fub- 
 fifts with difficulty: and when difcontents 
 arife, diftance from the feat of government 
 
 affords
 
 HISTORY OF MANKIND. 267 
 
 affords fingular advantages to provinces 
 that meditate revolt. 
 
 Local preference can never be rendered 
 confiftent with the beft ends of govern- 
 ment. The relation of a colony to the 
 antient country, rightly underftood, is a 
 relation of perfect equality. The terms 
 which denote parental and filial relation, 
 when defcriptive of local ties, and intended 
 to diftinguifh the cultivators of the antient 
 foil from the cultivators of territory more 
 recently acquired, are metaphors extremely 
 liable to abufe. The one country is no 
 more the mother, than it is the daughter. 
 They are both the children of the fame 
 political parent, and that parent is the go- 
 vernment to which they owe equal alle- 
 giance. 
 
 But, when colonies are regarded in the 
 light of fubordinate provinces, as append- 
 ages to government, and not entitled to 
 3 the
 
 the fame privileges and immunities with the 
 parent-ftate, the lovers of civil liberty will 
 acquiefce with reluctance in fuch invidious 
 diftindtions. Jealoufies ripen into difaf- 
 fe&ion. Political independency figures in 
 the imagination, and is afpired after as an 
 elevation cf rank. 
 
 The fabric of colonial fubordination in 
 all the governments of Europe feems to 
 ftand in need of repair. And unhappily, 
 the freeft of thofe governments was the 
 firft to be made fenfible of its defects [B]. 
 
 When the paflions of a divided public 
 were wound up to the higheft pitch, when 
 the charges of injuftice, oppreffion, tyranny 
 on one fide, were retorted on the other by 
 thofe of fedition, ingratitude, rebellion, 
 argument and found reafoning were little 
 regarded in the conteft. And at the in- 
 ftant when the wifdom of the Britifh 
 councils refolved, by the fulleft communi- 
 cation
 
 HISTORY OF MANKIND. 269 
 
 cation of privilege, and the mod liberal 
 conftruc~tion of provincial claims, to re- 
 move every ground of jealoufy and diftruft, 
 the infidious interpofuion of a common 
 enemy defeated the generous plan. 
 
 The Rubicon was already pafTed; and 
 the colonies had dared to commit their 
 caufe to the events of war. 
 
 Perhaps there is room to hope that a 
 fenfe of common intereft may ftill prevail ; 
 that mutual affection and regard may again 
 revive in people of the fame manners, the 
 fame religion, and the fame blood; and 
 that fome medium may yet be found to 
 disjoin the American councils and arms 
 from thofe of France, and re-unite them, 
 by more natural and indiflbluble ties, to 
 the Britifli monarchy. To the ftate of pu- 
 pillage and dependence, which feems in- 
 deed to be at an end, may fucceed a con- 
 nexion of a more equal and dignified 
 
 nature,
 
 270 ESSAYS ON THE 
 
 nature, favourable to the happinefs and 
 grandeur of both countries, and in which 
 both countries may acquiefce with honour. 
 But if mutual attachment fail, to recal 
 American allegiance by the power of our 
 arms, if not an impracticable, is certainly a 
 moft hazardous attempt. It is to contend, 
 in fome degree, with that courfe of nature, 
 \vhich fo often emancipates colonies at the 
 age of manhood, and with all thofe local 
 circumftances which threaten the difruption 
 of empire. 
 
 The geographical divifions of the Ame- 
 rican continent are certainly aufpicious to 
 civil liberty ; and feem to oppofe the efta- 
 blimment of fuch extended governments 
 as have "proved, in the antient hemifphere, 
 a fource of the moft deftru&ive and deba- 
 fing fervitude. 
 
 The local circumftances under review, 
 whofe operations, in fo many inftances, are 
 
 fully
 
 HISTORY OF MANKIND. 271 
 
 fully difcernible, folve, we may believe, in 
 part, the hiftories of other countries, where 
 appearances are more equivocal j and aided 
 or oppofed by other caufes, have been and 
 will be attended with confequences propor- 
 tionably ferious and important all over the 
 globe. By their immediate connexion 
 with interior policy, they are, to a ftate 
 confidered apart from every other, of no 
 fmall account. But in the mutual rela- 
 tions of a number of ftates, the territory of 
 each, and the nature of its frontiers, by 
 affecting political independency and the 
 balance of power, prefent confiderations of 
 {till fuperior moment. 
 
 To ftand fequeftered and alone is as fatal to 
 the genius of governments as to that of men ; 
 and the nobleftenterprizes of art, or exertions 
 of policy, may often be referred to fituations 
 which have excited the rivalfhip, the jea- 
 loufy, and even the antipathy of nations. 
 Happy, in this refped, were the govern- 
 ments
 
 ESSAYS ON THE 
 
 ments of antient Greece. Happy, on a 
 larger fcale, the governments of modern 
 Europe. Pofterity may perhaps contem- 
 plate the bleflings of an equal and liberal 
 intercourfe, more widely difleminated. 
 They may contemplate, from a concur- 
 rence of various caufes and events, fome 
 of which are haflening into light* the 
 greater part or even the whole habitable 
 globe, divided among nations free and 
 independent in all the interior functions 
 of government, forming one political 
 and commercial fyftem. Or, perhaps, 
 while every people is capable of progrefs* 
 there is an incompatibility in the contem- 
 porary civilization of different regions: 
 nor ought we to expect that perfection, 
 which feems to be denied to every work 
 of man, in the regulations of commerce, 
 in the fcience of politics, or in the arts of 
 civil government. 
 
 * But
 
 HISTORY OF MANKIND. 273 
 
 But I launch not on the immenfe ocean 
 of poflibility, and of future contingency. 
 To compare paft events, to eftimate the 
 actual attainments of men, and to point 
 out their connexion with mechanical and 
 local caufes, is my immediate province.
 
 474 ESSAYS ON TH 
 
 NOTES. 
 
 NOTE [A], p. 248. 
 
 THE political fervitude of the Tartars 
 is thus accounted for in the theory of 
 Montefquieu. 
 
 In Afia there is properly no temperate zone. 
 Without that gradation in the races of man- 
 kind which obtains in Europe, the ftrong 
 nations are immediately oppofed to the weak. 
 The Tartars accordingly make conquefts in the 
 fouth of Afia, the region of pure defpotifm. 
 But the defpotifm, congenial with thofe cli- 
 mates, is embraced by the conquerors, and 
 fixing its roots in a great empire, extends its 
 branches in all directions, till they finally over- 
 ihadow the plains of Tartary, and ftretch 
 a far way to the North. Thus the part of 
 Tartary, which bred the conquerors of China, 
 is now annexed to the Chinefe empire. And 
 even among the independent tribes, defpo- 
 tifm, by the contagion of example, is equally 
 predominant. 
 
 In
 
 HISTORY OF MANKIND. 275 
 
 In parts of Tartary, colonized by the Chinefe, 
 the people are become mortal enemies to the 
 parent ftate; yet transferring to their new man- 
 fions the ferviie fpirit of the Chinefe govern- 
 ment, they remain, under a feparate eftablifh- 
 ment, fubjecl: to defpotic fway. 
 
 L'Efprit des Loix, 1. 17, ch. 5. 
 
 NOTE [5], p. 268. 
 
 MR. HUME, in the firft volume of his 
 Eflfays, delivery an obfervation which 
 ought, he contends, to be fixed as an univerfal 
 axiom in politics, " that though free govern- 
 " ments have been commonly the mod happy 
 " for thofe who partake of their freedom ; yet 
 " are they the moft ruinous and oppreffive to 
 " their provinces." But the maxim, though 
 plaufible in theory, and illuftrated by the ex- 
 amples of Rome and Carthage, ought not to be 
 eftabliflied without limitation and referve. 
 
 The fyftem of colonizing among the Greeks 
 was the moft fplendid that can well be ima- 
 gined. Their colonies were confidered from 
 the beginning, as rifing ftates flouriming under 
 the guardianlhip and patronage of the antient 
 .governments; and were fuffered, without jea- 
 T 2 loufy
 
 176 ESSAYS ON THE 
 
 loufy or diftruft, to rife to equal eminence and 
 diftinction. On the moft amicable and gene- 
 rous footing, an intercourfe was long main- 
 tained between the colony and the antient 
 government, tending to their mutual pro- 
 fperity. 
 
 But as a colony, thus eftablifhed, evidences 
 rather a generous dereliction of fovereignty in 
 the parent ftate, than the moderate exercife of 
 its dominion, the example of the Greeks will 
 hardly be confidered as forming an exception 
 from the above maxim concerning the peculiar 
 feverity of provincial government, as exercifed 
 by free ftates. Yet, if we pafs from antient to 
 modern times, it may be affirmed that, before 
 the date of the prefent conteft, the conduct of 
 the Englifh towards colonies, was lefs exception- 
 able than that of any other European ftate. 
 Spain and Portugal, not content with the advan- 
 tages of an exclufive commerce, derive a direct 
 revenue from their American fettlements : and 
 the firft attempt of England to imitate the ex- 
 ample of thofe imperious and arbitrary ftates, 
 created difcontents which were the immediate 
 fore-runners of revolt. Though the govern- 
 ment of Spain had fcarce any merit either in 
 projecting, or in effectuating fettlements upon 
 
 the
 
 HISTORY OF MANKIND. 277 
 
 the continent of America, the jealoufy 'of that 
 government with regard to thofe fettlements 
 knew no bounds. Of late, indeed, a more en- 
 lightened policy in the court of Madrid has 
 ibmewhat relaxed the rigour of oppreffion. 
 England treated its colonies for a long time 
 with neglect, and urged the higheft pretenfions 
 to dominion, at that period when they were 
 the moft capable of refinance, 
 
 That provincial government, as it has been 
 generally conducted, has been a fyftem of pre- 
 ference or reftraint, is confonant to the experi- 
 ence of ages. And the author of Obfervations on 
 the Nature and Value of Civil Liber ty, has rightly 
 numbered all fuch governments among thofe 
 which deferve to be accounted tyrannical and 
 oppreffive. England can only claim the equi- 
 vocal praife of being lefs tyrannical and op- 
 preflive than the reft of Europe. 
 
 " In what way, then," fays a writer of found 
 political difcernment, " has the policy of 
 " Europe contributed to the firft eftablimment, 
 " or to the prefent grandeur of the colonies of 
 *< America ? In one way, and in one way only, 
 * { it has contributed a good deal. Magna virum 
 *< Matw! It bred and formed the men who 
 T 3 " wtre
 
 278 ESSAYS ON THE 
 
 " were capable of achieving fuch great actions, 
 " and of laying the foundation of fo great an 
 " empire , and there is no other quarter of the 
 " world of which the policy is capable of 
 " forming, or has ever actually and in fact 
 " formed fuch men. The colonies owe to the 
 " policy of Europe the education and great 
 " views of their active and enterprizing 
 " founders; and fome of the greateft and moft 
 ' important of them owe to it fcarce any thing 
 elib." 
 
 Dr. Smith's Enquiry, &c. vol. ii. p. 189;
 
 HISTORY OF MANKIND. 279 
 
 ESSAY VIII. 
 
 THE SAME SUBJECT CONTINUED. 
 
 THE fate of nations often depends 
 on circumftances apparently the 
 mod trivial. The genius, the life, perhaps 
 the temporary humour of a fingle man 
 may, on fome occafions, fix the political 
 arrangements that affect the efiential inte- 
 refts of one half of the globe. 
 
 Local circumftances are fo blended in 
 their operations with a variety of other 
 caufes, that it is difficult to define them 
 with fuch precifion as were neceflfary to. 
 form an eftimate of their comparative im- 
 portance. Hence the confuiion, on this 
 T 4 fob-
 
 ESSAYS ON THE 
 
 fubjecT:, which fills the volumes of the 
 learned, A writer* of the firft rank, 
 who illuftrates and adorns the hiftory of 
 mankind with plaufible and ingenious 
 theory, has ailigned to phyfical caufes an 
 almoft unlimited empire. Another writer")", 
 no lefs illuftrious, contracts into a point the 
 fphere of their dominion. Their priority 
 in the order of things, and their fuppofe.d 
 permanency, have been urged by other 
 writers, as decifive of fuperior fway. But 
 it deferves to be remembered, that caufes 
 fhyfical in their nature, are often moral only 
 in their operations ; that thefe operations 
 are limited and precarious, and relative to 
 the conjuncture ; that a people may be long 
 incapable to avail themfelves of external 
 advantages, that circumftances ultimately 
 beneficial, may have proved for a long 
 while incommodious or deftructive; and, 
 
 * Montefquieu. f Hume. 
 
 confe-
 
 HISTORY OF MANKIND. 281 
 
 confequently, that the importance of local 
 flation, far from being permanent, varies 
 not only with the contingencies of the 
 natural world, but with the courfe of poli- 
 tical events, and the general ftate of human 
 improvement. 
 
 A fettlement conducing, at one period, to 
 render the natives fierce, treacherous, and 
 inhofpitable, may be inftrumental at ano- 
 ther period, in rendering them civil and 
 humane. 
 
 Before the aera of navigation, a fettle- 
 ment on an ifland, or the command of an 
 extenfive and commodious coaft, might 
 have conferred no advantages on the poflef- 
 fors; or rather circumftances, of fuch in- 
 eftimable account in a commercial age, 
 might, by cutting off all communication 
 with the reft of the fpecies, have proved, 
 in every former sera, invincible obftacles to 
 
 the
 
 ESSAYS ON THE 
 
 the civil arts. Our infular fituation, fa 
 fertile a fource of national fecurity, opu- 
 lence, and grandeur, rendered us long an 
 uncultivated and fequeftered people: 
 
 Penitus toto divifos orbe Britannos. 
 
 And the neglect with which Britons were 
 once treated in the fociety of nations, is 
 compenfated only by that attention which 
 their pofterity command. While nations 
 on the continent of Europe maintain their 
 barriers with difficulty, and at an enormous 
 expence, and, if they will confult their 
 fecurity, muft often court alliances, and 
 obferve, with jealous attention, the minuteft 
 variations in the balance of power, Great 
 Britain is exempted from fuch anxious 
 folicitude. By collecting her forces with- 
 in herfelf, by avoiding continental wars, 
 which exhauft, to little purpofe, her trea-? 
 fure and her blood, and by rendering the 
 improvement of her maritime ftrength, the 
 4 fixed
 
 HISTORY OF MANKIND. 283 
 
 fixed and fleady objed of her policy, fhe 
 may maintain, in defiance of powerful 
 confederacies, that poft of honour and dif- 
 tinction, which feems to have drawn upon 
 her the envy of nations, who now take 
 advantage of internal calamities to infult 
 her fortune. 
 
 The sera of navigation opened a new 
 fpecies of correfpondence among men: 
 and, in the infancy of the art, a civil fettle- 
 ment might be attended with peculiar ad- 
 vantages, which there could be no poffibi- 
 lity of tranfmitting, in their full extent, to 
 future generations. In the territory of the 
 Phoenicians, neither large nor fertile, yet 
 lying along a commodious coaft, we ob- 
 ferve fources of opulence and renown. 
 That country, oppreffed at firft by the 
 violence of the AfTyrians, but afterwards 
 fo well adapted to the commercial circum- 
 ftances of the antient world, called forth 
 jn its people correfponding exertions, and 
 
 both
 
 284 ESSAYS ON THE 
 
 both invited them to undertake, and fa- 
 voured the execution of early enterprizes 
 as a maritime power. While the Egyp- 
 tians, in the fullnefs of riches and of pride, 
 and in the fpirit of an unfocial form of 
 fuperftition, had fhut their ports againft 
 mankind, and renounced all foreign corre- 
 fpondence; it was the glory of the Phoe- 
 nicians to venture beyond the boundaries 
 of antient navigation, and, by commercial 
 enterprize, to diffufe arts and civility over 
 the weftern regions. Bred up in habits of 
 frugality and domeftic induftry, the con- 
 fequence of fcanty and penurious poffef- 
 fions, they purfued an ceconomical, not a 
 luxurious commerce. The commodities of 
 every country were embarked on Phoeni- 
 cian bottoms ; and as merchants, or factors, 
 or navigators, they created a fort of uni- 
 verfal dependence, and conducted, almoft 
 exclufively, the traffic of the world. 
 
 What
 
 HISTORY OF MANKIND. 285 
 
 What the Phoenicians were, in early 
 times, relatively to the nations on the Me- 
 diterranean coaft; what the Hanfe Towns 
 and the Dutch lately were, relatively to the 
 other European ftates; the commercial 
 towns all over Europe are, at this day, re- 
 latively to the reft of the earth. The 
 maritime efforts of the Greeks leffened the 
 importance of Phoenicia. The maritime 
 efforts of the Englim, and of other powers, 
 have funk the importance of the Dutch 
 commonwealth. The fall of Europe will 
 mark, perhaps, at fome future sera, the 
 enterprize of the fpecies at large ; or Europe 
 may only feem to fall, while fhe advances 
 to more abfolute greatnefs, and fuperior 
 opulence, though of lefs relative importance 
 in the political fcale. 
 
 But to return to early times: Carthage, 
 
 a colony planted by the Phoenicians, and 
 
 inheriting the commercial genius of the 
 
 parent ftate, flouriftied by the fame arts, 
 
 2 and
 
 286 ESSAYS ON THE 
 
 and grew fuperior to all nations in naval 
 power. Content with the empire of the 
 fea alone, {he might have bid defiance, ori 
 that element, to the arms of Rome. But 
 the neglect of her marine, the confequence 
 of a long ftruggle for dominion on the 
 continent of Europe, rendered her vulne- 
 rable on her own coafts. More attentive td 
 the levying of armies, compofed chiefly of 
 foreign mercenaries, than to the equipment 
 of fleets, in which alone her genius was pe- 
 culiarly formed to excel, flie allowed a 
 maritime afcendancy to a powerful rival. 
 And, in thefe circumftances, thejealoufy 
 of other ftates, and inteftme divifions, co- 
 operated with the Roman vengeance and 
 ambition in the extinction of the Cartha- 
 ginian name. 
 
 Corinth, fituated on an ifthmus, in the 
 centre of Greece, and equally connected 
 with the ^Egean and Ionian fhores, is an 
 example of a city which united with fignal 
 
 advantages
 
 HISTORY OF MANKIND. 287 
 
 advantages for navigation thofe of inland 
 trade. It derived accordingly, from fo 
 fortunate a coincidence, wealth, fplendor* 
 and magnificence. As a mart of trade, it 
 was no lefs reforted to than Carthage itfelf. 
 They have been called, emphatically, the 
 two eyes of the Mediterranean coaft, and 
 were deftroyed in one year by the Romans. 
 The city of Corinth was reflored by Julius 
 Cacfar ; the city of Carthage, by Auguftus. 
 But it was not poflible to reftore, under 
 the Roman yoke, that combination of cir- 
 cumftances which had rendered illuftrious 
 the antient pofleflbrs of the fame fettle- 
 ments. Corinth was no longer the capital 
 of a little monarchy, furrounded by free 
 ftates, eminent for arts and fciences. And 
 the new city of Carthage, in the form 
 of a Roman colony, gives us no idea of 
 that city which had been the pride of 
 Africa, and the envy of Rome. 
 
 The
 
 288 ESSAYS ON THE 
 
 The afpiring genius of the Roman people 
 was not formed for commercial arts. Du- 
 ring the firft ages of the commonwealth 
 they remained totally unacquainted with 
 maritime affairs. A Carthaginian galley, 
 driven by accident oil the coafts of Italy, 
 prefented them with the firft model of a hip 
 of war. But when naval armaments ap- 
 peared to be efiential to that plan of univer- 
 fal dominion after which they afpired, they 
 became intent upon thefe objects, and 
 purfued them with unremitting ardor and 
 aftonifhing fuccefs. The mercantile fpirit 
 and the love of ingenious arts conducted 
 the Phoenicians, the Carthaginians, and the 
 Greeks, to diftinclion and eminence as ma- 
 ritime powers. Among thefe nations trade 
 was the principal aim in navigation ; war 
 only a collateral objed:. But this natural 
 order of things was reverfed at Rome. 
 The martial fpirit alone led to the efta- 
 blifhment of a marine, which triumphed 
 
 over
 
 HISTORY OF MANKIND. a8 9 
 
 over the efforts of all the commercial 
 ftates known in the antient world, and 
 rendered the Romans themfelves in fome 
 degree commercial, when no longer a war- 
 like people. It was the fame fpirit which 
 raifed up fuddenly for Mithridates (for 
 he difclaimed all regard to commercial 
 objects, as beneath his dignity) fuch for- 
 midable fleets, as infulted the Romans on 
 their own coafts, when, by the annihilation 
 of rival powers, they feemed to be in full 
 pofTeffion of maritime empire. 
 
 Sometimes local fituation fuggefts cor- 
 refpondent defigns of great magnitude and 
 importance. Sometimes defigns fuggefted 
 by other confiderations are hence only 
 conducted to a more brilliant or more fuc- 
 cefsful iflue. In both thefe ways, in the 
 remote ages of antiquity, the Cretans, the 
 Rhodians, and other ftates, availed them- 
 felves of happy fituations in the purfuits of 
 commercial and civil greatnefs. 
 
 V But
 
 ESSAYS ON THE 
 
 But local advantages, fluctuating and pre- 
 carious, often derive their fole account from 
 the temporary condition of the world. It 
 was hence that, long before the fall of 
 Carthage and of Corinth, in confequence of 
 the difcovery of the Indian fea, Alexan- 
 dria began to flourifh, and became de- 
 ftined from that difcovery alone, to be the 
 great emporium of trade between the 
 eaft and weft. Its fituation between Tyre 
 and Carthage was convenient for com- 
 manding fome fhare of the lucrative trade 
 of which thefe cities had been fo long pof- 
 fefled, Tyre was already no more: and 
 Carthage regarded with a jealous eye the 
 erection of a port, which, under the pro- 
 tection of the king of Macedon, might 
 fupplant her in no fmall degree. To pro- 
 duce this effeft, as well as to fecure his 
 conqueft of Egypt, feems to have been the 
 view of Alexander in laying the founda- 
 tions of his new city. But he perceived 
 not then the fource of its importance. It 
 was his expedition into the Indies alone 
 4 which
 
 291 
 
 fahich could have opened his eyes on the 
 profpect of its future grandeur. This 
 forms a memorable epoch. The bounda- 
 ries' of commerce being enlarged, and a 
 maritime correfpondence opened between 
 the Indies and the weftern nations, the 
 commodities of the eaft, which had been 
 ufually carried down the Oxus, and along 
 the Cafpian fea, began to be diverted into 
 the channel of Egypt. The Indian trade 
 indeed remained long inconfiderable ; nor 
 did it abandon of a fudden its antient 
 courfe. But in proportion as this change 
 took place under the Ptolemies, and un- 
 der the Romans, the refort to Alexan- 
 dria became confpicuous. In one month, 
 fays Jofephus, it fupplied the treafury of 
 Rome with more riches than all the reft 
 of Egypt fupplied in a year. And from 
 the reduction of Egypt into a Roman pro- 
 vince by Auguftus, to the conquefl of that 
 country by the Saracens, a period of above 
 feven hundred years, the port of Alex- 
 U 2 andria
 
 ESSAYS ON THE 
 
 andria was the moft noted mart in ths 
 world. Nor was it lefs renowned as the 
 feat of philofophy and the liberal arts. In 
 the fall of this city we bewail that of learn- 
 ing itfelf, which underwent, upon that fpot, 
 the moft fatal cataftrophes recorded in the 
 annals of time. 
 
 Such fettlements then, as have been 
 mentioned, combined with the peculiar cir- 
 cumftances of antiquity, had a difcernible 
 connexion with commercial and civil arts. 
 As commerce therefore > in the ordinary 
 courfe of things, feems to make a people 
 flourifh ; a fettlement conducive to that end 
 is numbered among the caufes of public 
 profperity. Yet commerce itfelf, as mi- 
 niftering to luxury, was difcountenanced by 
 the maxims of antient policy ; and on the 
 exclufion of it, Rome, and Sparta, and other 
 antient ftates feem to have propofed to 
 found their greatnefs. This policy, vio- 
 lent indeed and unnatural, fuited only the 
 
 genius
 
 HISTORY OF MANKIND. 293 
 
 genius of martial and heroic times. 
 Yet from hence it appears, that the com* 
 plexion and temper of an age, by diverfi- 
 fying national objects, will diverfify pro- 
 portionably the inherent advantages of any 
 local eftablilhment. 
 
 The fpirit of commerce, which actuates 
 modern ages, has opened a new path of 
 ambition. And though there are difadvan- 
 tages infeparable from this fpirit ; though the 
 detail of modern governments affords a lefs 
 fplendid theme to the hiftorian than thatpre- 
 fented in the tranfactions of antiquity ; yet 
 the civil and moral order of the world is 
 certainly advanced by this great revolution 
 ia the views and proceedings of ftates. 
 
 But if the policy of the antients had 
 been more generally directed to commercial 
 objects, yet their maritime operations, we 
 may obferve, were neceffarily circumfcribed 2 
 
 d local advantages, once of high 
 
 a o 
 
 
 U 3 mation
 
 194 ESSAYS ON THE 
 
 mation, become afterwards comparatively 
 of fmall importance, and almoft difappear in 
 an age when the general ufe of the compafs, 
 and the various improvements in naviga- 
 tion fo far enlarge the fphere of enterprize, 
 and maintain an intercourfe between regi- 
 ons the moft remote. 
 
 ID the progrefs of arts, the local advan- 
 tages of mankind all over the globe feem to 
 approach nearer to an equality. There 
 arife more incentives to rouze the induftry 
 of nations. And a paflage being opened in 
 every country for the collective treafures of 
 the earth, general competition and demand 
 fecure emoluments and rewards to every 
 people, more accurately proportioned to the 
 meafure of active exertions, and the wif- 
 dom by which they are directed. Riches 
 or poverty muft no longer be eftimated by 
 the pofition of a people on the globe. Art, 
 if I may fay fo, alters the difpenfation of 
 nature, and maintains a fort of diftributive 
 
 juftice
 
 HISTORY OF MANKIND. 295 
 
 juftice in the divifion of opuknee among 
 mankind. Such at leaft would be the ten- 
 dency of things, if all reftri&ions on trade 
 were abolifhed by a concert among nations, 
 calculated for the common benefit of all. 
 But mutual jealoufies derange and encum- 
 ber their mutual efforts. If, in order to 
 keep in view of the coaft, it was often ne- 
 ceflary for antient navigators to prefer the 
 more tedious to the (horter voyage, a firni- 
 lar neceffity is fuperinduced upon the mo- 
 dern, by the abfurdity of commercial regu- 
 lations. It is the relative profperity of 
 mankind merely which enters into the 
 views of fovereigns. And no regulation, 
 however beneficial to nations, will ever be 
 eftablifhed, by their unanimous confent, if, 
 by any unequal augmentation of opulenceor 
 power, it tends to break the rules of pro-* 
 portion, and affeds the order in which 
 thefe nations (land arranged on the general 
 icale. But if national monopolies, found- 
 ed on the jealoufy of fovereigns, map 
 U 4 fometirnesj
 
 196 ESSAYS ON THE 
 
 fometimes, as connected with public fecii- 
 rity, be vindicated on the maxims 
 of found policy; yet, furely, no fuch 
 jealoufy can reafonably fubfift among com- 
 munities under the fame government. On 
 that government at leaft, in reafon and in 
 juflice, they have an equal claim. Yet re- 
 gulations partial and oppreffive we have 
 feen in our days, and are too likely to fee, 
 diflblved by violence, which ought to have 
 been diflblved in part by the mature wifdom 
 of enlightened councils. Public reforma- 
 tion indeed muft be gradual, and fuch as 
 the times will bear. What is beft in the- 
 ory is not always attainable in practice : 
 and a wife government will proceed, with 
 caution, in authorizing changes, however 
 juft, reafonable, and beneficial to the com- 
 munity at large, that are oppofed to preju- 
 dices grown inveterate by age. Every ap- 
 proach, however, towards an equal legifla- 
 tion, that can be made without difturbing 
 the public tranquillity, obviates the danger 
 
 of
 
 OF MANKIND. 297 
 
 of rifing dffcohtents, and tends ultimately 
 
 to the harmony and ftability of civil fo- 
 
 . . 
 cieties. 
 
 &too* ^3 not 
 
 But I enter not into thefe complicated 
 and nice difcuflions. And with regard to 
 the tendency of national monopolies, and 
 the genius of exclufive companies, I will 
 beg leave to refer my readers for the fulleft 
 information to an Enquiry into the Naturf 
 and Caufes of the Wealth of Nations : a 
 work which will, probably, in future 
 times, be referred to in political fcience as 
 the firft juft and fyftematical account, that 
 has appeared in any language, of the prin- 
 ciples of public ceconomy, and the phoeno- 
 mena of commercial ftates. 
 
 Befides the influence of commerce, there 
 are other caufes, in the progrefs of general 
 improvement, by which the importance of 
 civil fettlements is materially affected. 
 
 The
 
 ESSAYS ON THE 
 
 The encreafe of a people in a barren foil led 
 formerly, by a fpecies of neceility, to plans 
 of migration, of rapine, or of conqueft. 
 And civilized nations in the antient world 
 were able with difficulty to defend their 
 frontiers, when afiailed by hungry and def- 
 perate barbarians. But when arts and in- 
 duftry began to be excited in thofe coun- 
 tries, which, for want of tillage and culti- 
 vation, had remained defolate and barren, 
 one caufe began to be removed, which di- 
 fturbed the repoie of nations. Thus the 
 Danes, and other people in the high north- 
 ern latitudes, fabfifting lefs precarioufly 
 on the fruits of their own induftry, than 
 their forefathers fubfifted by piracy and 
 war, ceafed to prefs with their incumbent 
 weight the neighbouring ftates, and per- 
 mitted government to advance throughout 
 the reft of Europe. But if rude armies, 
 as hoftile and fierce as ever iffued from the 
 ftorehoufe of nations, were again to appear 
 on the frontiers of any European ftate, the 
 
 conteft
 
 HISTORY OF MANKIND. 299 
 
 conteft would not be dubious ; the affail- 
 ants only would feel the blow. By the 
 invention of fire-arms, which has changed 
 by degrees the whole fyftem of war, there 
 refides a power of refiftance in every flou- 
 riihing ftate, to which the moft furious ef- 
 forts of rude and defperate heroifm were 
 oppofed in vain. War is now conducted 
 at an expence which the exertions of in- 
 duftry can alone fupply ; and that fuperio- 
 rity in arms which once refided with rude 
 and poor nations, is transferred in modem 
 ages" to the nations advanced in opulence 
 and credit. Yet the diffufion of know-* 
 ledge gradually tends to reduce mankind 
 more nearly to a level in the enterprizes of 
 peace and war. And that fmgular inven- 
 tion, which feemed calculated for the de- 
 ftruclion of mankind, and which actually 
 enabled a few adventurers from Europe to 
 annex a hemifphere to its dominion, tends 
 jn the iflue to render battles lefs bloody, 
 
 conquefts 

 
 conquefts lefs rapid, and governments more 
 fecure than in any former period. 
 
 Upon the whole, we obferve local ad- 
 vantages, which fluctuate in every age, and 
 often owe their exiftence and duration to a 
 train of independent events, to be of the 
 leaft relative moment in the moft flourim- 
 ing ftage of the arts and fciences. That 
 intercourfe, however, which navigation 
 opens, though abundantly fufficient for the 
 purpofes of mercantile traffic and ex- 
 change, can feldom form between diftant 
 nations fo intimate connexions as arife 
 from vicinity of fettlement. Geographic 
 cal relation therefore will always be, in 
 fpme degree, inftrumental in retarding or 
 accelerating, in every country, the progrefs 
 of civil life. Communities, as we! las pri- 
 vate perfons, are formed by example. And 
 the character of a people muft bear a re- 
 femblance in manners, in genius, and in 
 
 arts,
 
 HISTORY OF MANKIND. 301 
 
 arts, to that which predominates in the fyf- 
 tern with which they are more immediately 
 connected. Civility and rudenefs being 
 distributed like light and darknefs in the 
 natural world, contiguous nations are often 
 contemporary in their progrefs and de- 
 cline : and the more enlightened regions, 
 tho* always fliifting, form at any one time 
 a complete and undivided whole fituated 
 around a common centre. But the various 
 circumftances hitherto under review, ought 
 to be confidered rather as occafions of pro- 
 fperous or adverfe fortune, than as direct 
 caufes of human perfection or debafement. 
 The former ought, by no means, to be con* 
 founded with the latter ; nor the local cir- 
 cumftances we have mentioned, with that 
 more myfterious influence which, reaching 
 the principles of our nature, is fuppofed to 
 produce original and conflitutional differ- 
 ences in the human fpecies. 
 
 ESSAY
 

 
 ESSAY IX. 
 
 OF THE RELATION OF MAN TO THE SURROUND-' 
 ING ELEMENTS. 
 
 LOCAL circumftances have been 
 pointed out as of various import; 
 as difluafives from, or as incentives to ac- 
 tion, as occafions of fuccefs or difappoint- 
 ment to national enterprize, and as more 
 or lefs aufpicious to the origin and progrefs 
 of arts and fciences. But there is, in the 
 opinion both of the vulgar and the learn- 
 ed, another and more immediate depend- 
 ence of the fpecies on external things 5 
 which, prefiding with various effect over 
 human nature itfelf, antecedently deter- 
 mine its character. 
 
 Our
 
 3C4 ESSAYS ON THE 
 
 Our external frame, like every fyftem of 
 matter, is fubject to mechanical laws. It 
 is liable accordingly to annoyance from all 
 the elements ; and changes introduced into 
 the body cannot* cohfiftently with the law 
 of their union, be indifferent to the mind. 
 That ftate of the medium, that temperature 
 of heat and cold, thofe productions of foil 
 and fpecies of aliment which correfpond 
 beft with our corporeal fabric, tend to the 
 freer and more vigorous exercife of all the 
 mental powers. Yet natural hiftorians, 
 who defcribe man as an animal merely, 
 allow him in that capacity fome diftin- 
 guifhing prerogatives. While the ele- 
 ments fwarm with life ; while earth, fea, 
 and air are peopled with their proper inha- 
 bitants ; while different tribes have habita- 
 tions afligned to them in particular corners 
 of the globe, where alone they can find 
 fubfiftence ; man erels for himfelf a man- 
 fion in every country, fubfifts on a variety 
 of aliment prepared or unprepared by art, 
 
 and
 
 HISTORY OF MANKIND. 30$ 
 
 and breathes with equal freedom in the fro- 
 zen or in the burning zone. Races of ani- 
 mals that exifted in paft times feem now 
 to be totally extincl. The largeft and 
 
 ' - *.-',-',.-- 
 
 ftrongeft of quadrupeds, according to M. 
 BufFon, has difappeared in the animal 
 world*; nor does he think it impoffible 
 that, confiftently with the order of nature* 
 animals of one common flock may have 
 been fo diverfified and transformed by the 
 viciflitudes of the globe, as to conftitute 
 diftincl fpecies. The animals of the new 
 and of the old continent may have had one 
 common original ; arid perhaps of man 
 
 alone it can be faid in the ftri&efl fenfe, 
 
 f.* >< 
 
 Genus immortale manet 
 
 The human frame at leaft is more fixed 
 and immutable than any other ; and more 
 exempted from that influence which pre- 
 
 * Hid. Nat. tomexviii. p. 178. 
 
 - t d br ^q^iq 
 
 X .
 
 3 o6 ESSAYS ON THE 
 
 vails through the gradations of animal and 
 vegetable life [A], 
 
 There is no one country on the face of 
 the earth which is declared, by general 
 confenf, to be the fitteft refidence for man. 
 That influence of the heavens feems to be 
 relatively thebeft, which habit has rendered 
 the moft familiar. And to exchange of a 
 fudden one climate for another, is always 
 hazardous for any tribe or people. Yet the 
 pofitive malignancy of no climate of the 
 world can be inferred from the dangers 
 which are fo often confequent on the 
 migrations of mankind. Our phyfical 
 habits are eftabliflied or diflblved by flow 
 degrees ; violent tranfitions feem repug- 
 nant to nature, and often threaten our 
 conftitution with deftruction. But if it can 
 refift the impetuofity of the fhock, the body 
 accommodates itfelf by degrees to its new 
 condition. Things ofFenfive become indif- 
 Z ferent,
 
 HISTORY OF MANKIND. 307 
 
 Ferent, or even agreeable ; things noxious, 
 innocent, or falutary, and in time perhaps 
 fo eflential that no danger were more to be 
 apprehended than a return to antient 
 habits. Emigrants can learn only from 
 experience the peculiarities of other cli- 
 mates ; and, in the courfe of that experi- 
 ence, they ftruggle with a feries of cala* 
 mity, from which the natives of thofe cli- 
 mates are exempt, and from which the 
 pofterity of thofe emigrants will be exempt 
 in all fucceeding generations. If we may 
 judge then from thefirft impreffions'on our 
 animal oeconomy, the external conftitu- 
 tion of nature in the different climates of 
 the earth tends rather to difcourage than to 
 promote the diftant migrations of mankind. 
 Yet, in another view, it is this diverfity of 
 climate which accounts for the difperfion 
 of nations, and the general revolutions ^of 
 conqueft. In a flourishing period indeed 
 of civil and commercial arts, a riafion can 
 X 2 4^ hardly
 
 308 ESSAYS ON THE 
 
 be encumbered with exceflive population. 
 But the more fimple ages are unacquainted 
 with fuch variety of refources. Bold ad- 
 venture is ever more welcome to barbari- 
 ans, than the flow proceedings of art ; and 
 they even fcorn to accomplifh by induftry 
 what valour alone may effect. In this 
 fpirit was the anfwer of Brennus to the 
 Romans when queftioned, at the fiege of 
 Clufium, concerning his pretenfions on 
 Tufcany *, u That his pretenfions lay in his 
 <c fword ; and all things belonged to the 
 " brave." He added alfo on more plau- 
 fible foundations, after reminding the Ro- 
 mans of fome paflages in their own dory, 
 that lands which remained neglected, and 
 which the natives were in no condition to 
 cultivate, could not be faid to be exclufively 
 pre-occupied or appropriated by any peo- 
 ple. In an exigency then, like that of the 
 Tranfalpine Gauls, it is natural for rude 
 Hates to fend forth colonies to people, or 
 
 Tit, Liv, ]. v. c. 36. 
 
 armies
 
 HISTORY OF MANKIND. 309 
 
 armies to fubdue the earth. And the in- 
 cumbrance from population, which forms 
 fuch an exigency, will be chiefly felt in the 
 feverer climates, and in the moft ungrate- 
 ful foil. Hence, in later times, the irrup- 
 tion of the northern barbarians who defo- 
 lated and fubdued Europe. Their num- 
 bers, encreafing fafter than their induftry or 
 the productions of the foil could keep pace 
 with, created a fpecies of neceffity which, 
 fuperior to all other confiderations, autho- 
 rized their firft movements. And the for- 
 tune of the firft adventurers, by raifing 
 expectation, inftigated others to run a 
 fimilar career. It deferves however to be 
 remarked, that the firft hoftile incurfions 
 into a foreign country, have been ufually 
 made for the fake of plunder merely, with- 
 out any defign of abandoning antient pof- 
 feffions, or of forming new eftablifhments. 
 The firft inroads of the Barbarians into the 
 Roman empire were conducted with this 
 X 3 view
 
 3io ESSAYS ON THE 
 
 view alone. But the defolation of one ter- 
 ritory led to the defolation of another more 
 remote ; till at length a long abfence from 
 home reconciled thefe foldiers of fortune to 
 dflie^ cU&es'; or the difficulties and dan- 
 gers of a return, or the temptations of fu- 
 perior affluence, retained them in countries 
 
 f\ I*. ' "* 
 
 mor'e fertile than their own, better culti- 
 
 
 
 vated, and more adorned. No longer con- 
 tent with plunder, they feized upon the 
 domains ' of the people fubdued by their 
 victorious arms ; and erected governments 
 on new foundations, with little regard to 
 the policy of the vanquifhed. Free in 
 their own country, they maintained their 
 freedom in the fettlements they acquired ; 
 armies were transformed into nations ; and 
 feudal fyftems began to arife out of the ar- 
 rangements of war. The connexions with 
 the parent ftate were gradually difToIved. 
 And the pofterity of thofe emigrants, re- 
 
 gardlefs of the country of their fore-fa- 
 
 . 
 
 thers.
 
 HISTORY OF MANKIND. 311 
 
 thers, adhered to the governments whofe 
 protection they enjoyed, and to the cli- 
 mates which gave them birth. 
 
 Such migrations and eftablimments refulted 
 from a condition of fociety, to which no Eu- 
 ropean ftate is likely to return for ages. Swit- 
 zerland perhaps alone is conftituted in fuch 
 circumftances as feem to require a regular 
 difcharge of citizens. Yet, without arts, 
 without manufactures, without money, 
 fhe has eftablifhed a fpecies of commerce 
 peculiar to herfelf, and actually derives 
 from the numbers of her people the means 
 of fubfiftence. She reforts not, like antient 
 flates, to migrations, to plunder, or to 
 conqueft. While fhe cultivates peace, fhe 
 fubfifts by war ; whofe demands {he fo rea- 
 dily fuppliesby hiring out troops indifcrimi- 
 nately to the neighbouring ftates ; and this 
 ftrange policy of government is both the 
 caufe and the effect of a flourifhing popula- 
 X 4 tion.
 
 3 i2 ESSAYS ON THE 
 
 tion. But if the general circumftances of the 
 modern refembled thofe of the antient world, 
 the Helvetic body, deftitute of fuchrefources, 
 could difencumber itfelf by no other ex- 
 pedients than migrations and offenfive war. 
 
 $&Af : 3J9&8tt 
 
 Upon the whole then we may obferve, 
 
 that the changes of fituation on the furface 
 of the globe, fo incident to tribes and na- 
 tions, far from authorizing any plea of lo- 
 cal pre-eminence, ferve only to demonftrate 
 the latitude allowed to the human confti- 
 tution in refpect of the variety of climate 
 and of aliment which correfponds fo hap- 
 pily with its texture. 
 
 The power of the human body to redrefs 
 itfelf, when annoyed by the elements, is 
 often aftonifhing. Under alterations of 
 the medium more violent, more fudden, 
 more oppofite than climate ever prefents, 
 it maintains an almoft incredible equality in 
 
 its
 
 HISTORY OF MANKIND. 313 
 
 its own temperature. It appears from a 
 feries of late experiments*, conduced by 
 a fociety of gentlemen every way qualified 
 to inform the Public, that, when furrounded 
 with air heated to 244 on the fcale of 
 Fahrenheit, the heat of the animal body 
 deviates but little from its natural ftandard. 
 In the conduct too of thefe curious expe- 
 riments, as well as in the unfolicited ex- 
 perience of ordinary life, is difplayed the 
 tendency of habit to correct and mitigate 
 the effe&s of external annoyance. 
 
 If it is not then intenfity alone, but ra- 
 ther viciflitude of temperature, which is 
 moft apt to annoy our frame ; it would 
 feem even reafonable to infer, that nations 
 commonly reputed the moft fubjecl: to 
 impreflions from the external elements, are 
 in reality the moft exempt from their do- 
 
 * See Experiments by Charles Blagden, M. D, F, R. S. 
 inferted in Phil. Tranf. for 1775. 
 
 minion:
 
 3 i4 ESSAYS ON THE 
 
 minion ; and that it is not in our variable 
 and inconftant climates, but under a more 
 permanent and equal iky, that we ought 
 to look for the freer and more uninfluenced 
 condition of the fpecies. 
 
 On the other hand^it might be contended 
 that viciffitude itfelf, when regular and 
 progreffive, like the return of the feafons, 
 becoming familiar to the body, {hocks or 
 incommodes it in an inferior degree ; and 
 that no one ftate of the atmofphere, in our 
 temperate zones, has fuch intenfity and du- 
 ration as to produce fenfible effeds on the 
 human frame. Without entering at pre- 
 fent into fo nice a problem, let it be fuffi- 
 cient to obferve, that habit and violent 
 tranfition, exclufively of other influence, 
 account for a number of appearances. But 
 it is not pretended they account for all ; 
 and how nicely foever advantages and dif- 
 advantages may be balanced upon the 
 
 whole,
 
 HISf ORY OF MANKIND. 315 
 
 whole, there are at leaft fome diflinc- 
 tions among mankind infallibly regulated 
 by a local ftandard. 
 
 In fome climates of the world, the body 
 arrives foorr at maturity, and haftens to a 
 diffolution with proportionable celerity. 
 In other climates a longer period is allowed 
 both for its progrefs and decline. In the 
 ages of antiquity the Britons were remark- 
 able for the longeft, the Egyptians for the 
 leaft extended life; while the ordinary 
 ftandard in other countries deviated, as was 
 fuppofed, more or lefs from thefe oppofite 
 extremes. Confidently with the fame 
 order of fecond caufes, modern hiftory in- 
 forms us of a variety of people among 
 whom the natural term of life exceeds not, 
 or even falls below the ftandard of Egypt ; 
 and the firitons yield, perhaps, in longe- 
 vity to the more northern nations. The 
 balance o"f numbers indeed may not be 
 
 affefted
 
 316 ESSAYS ON THE 
 
 affected by fuch diftinctions. If climates 
 the moft prolific are alfo the moft deftruc- 
 tive to the human fpecies, the rules of pro- 
 portion are not broken ; and the encreafe of 
 mankind in one country may be as effectually 
 advanced by the prolongation of life, as 
 in another by a more abundant progeny. 
 But, whether the law of mortality be fo 
 adjufted or not to the law of generation, 
 the ftated period of life is fomewhat varia- 
 ble among nations. And, if the facts were 
 doubtful or equivocal in general hiflory, 
 the influence in this refpect of local fitu- 
 ations, and of air of different temper, 
 might be afcertained from the public re- 
 gifters of mortality in contiguous fettle- 
 ments, and under the fame civil ceconomy. 
 The air of the Hague is reputed the bed 
 in Holland : the air of Amfterdam the moft 
 malignant : and the duration of life in 
 thofe two places, feems to correfpond with 
 this natural caufe. To correct fuch influ- 
 ences, there is perhaps fome fovereign an- 
 tidote,
 
 HISTORY OF MANKIND. 317 
 
 tidote, fome controlling regimen laid up, 
 for future generations, in theftores of phi- 
 lofophy. But from fad: to poffibility there 
 lies no appeal ; and in all ages of the world, 
 the term of our exiftence, though depend- 
 ent on a multiplicity of caufes, feems to 
 have had fome reference to climate ; and in 
 general to have increafed with the latitude. 
 Strength and vigour of body, till we arrive 
 at the limit of the Polar circle, are found 
 to encreafe in a fimilar progreflion. 
 
 Stature and magnitude, on the other 
 hand, are at leaft as confiderable in the 
 warmer as in the colder regions. And the 
 moft diminutive and dwarfim of the hu- 
 man race are perhaps the natives of the 
 frigid zone. 
 
 The Patagonian ftature, a-fter exercifing 
 fo long the curiofity, the fcepticifm, the 
 credulity of the public, is at laft fufficiently 
 
 afcertained,
 
 3 i8 ESSAYS ON THE 
 
 afcertained, and feems not to violate, in any 
 marvellous degree, the ufual defcription of 
 man. But, as a contraft to this, the world 
 has been lately amufed with an account of a 
 nation, in the ifland of Madagafcar, where 
 the ordinary ftature rifes not above three 
 feet and a half. It is not, however, pre- 
 tended that the Patagonians are eminent 
 for intellectual abilities above other tribes 
 
 
 
 of Barbarians ; and the little people of 
 Madagafcar feem to have nothing dwarfifli 
 in the conftitution of their minds. They 
 are defcribed, by an intelligent writer*, as 
 a warlike people, and a match in genius, 
 in conduct, and in enterprize, for the other 
 natives of the ifland. Yet, without im- 
 peaching fo refpeclable authority, we may 
 be permitted to obferve, that probably the 
 fame illufion of imagination which magni- 
 fied the dimenfions of the human figure in 
 
 Eloge de M. Commerfon par M. de la Lande. 
 
 Patagonia,
 
 HISTORY OF MANKIND. 319 
 
 Patagonia, has diminifhed them in Mada- 
 gafcar. And the only admiflible conclu- 
 fion is, that in the one country as in the 
 other, there prevails a remarkable deviation 
 from the ufual ftandard towards oppofite 
 extremes. 
 
 7? ; . " ^ ' ' > ; . : 
 
 The exiftence of fuch varieties in the de- 
 fcription of man is conformable to hiftory, 
 and to experience, and is in part deducible 
 from analogy and philofophic theory. 
 But fuch varietieSj though refulting from the 
 general and regular tenour of mechanical 
 laws, afford no criterion by which to afcer- 
 tain the endowments of the underftanding 
 among tribes or nations. Among the 
 natives of the fame fpot fimilar diftindions 
 abound, exclufive of all apparent connexion 
 with temper, with genius, or with capacity. 
 No hiftorian has defcribed that meafure of 
 animal ftrength, thatfymmetry of outward 
 form, or that natural term of exiftence, 
 
 which,
 
 320 ESSAYS ON THE 
 
 which, in the courfe of human life, is found 
 moft connected with the largeft endowments 
 and accomplifhments of the fpecies. In 
 every age and country thefe combinations 
 and affemblages are too diflimilar and va- 
 rious to form the bails of any theory : or 
 rather, fuch diffimilarity and variety de- 
 monftrate the indifference of nature with 
 regard to fuch co-incidences in the fyftem 
 of man. Yet the hiftory of human reafon 
 is liable to be confounded with the hiftory 
 of mere animal diftinctions ; as if national 
 genius or capacity could be calculated from 
 the bills of mortality, from the gradations 
 of colour in different tribes, or from cer- 
 tain varieties in organical texture which, 
 being either foreign to the mind, or cor- 
 refponding equally with all its perfections 
 and infirmities, touch not the eflentials of 
 human greatnefs. 
 
 The Tartars and Chinefe, between whom 
 there is obferved by travellers, an exact re- 
 
 fernblance
 
 HISTORY OF MANKIND. 3*1 
 
 femblance in all the lineaments and prd- 
 portions of the body, difcover little affinity 
 in the genius or complexion of the mind ; 
 or rather, the refemblance in the one re- 
 fpect is not more confpicuous than the 
 contraft in the other. The former people 
 are defcribed as bold, warlike, inde- 
 pendent, lovers of toil, and of a ferocity 
 approaching to brutality. The latter, as 
 an indolent and pacific race, prone to fuper- 
 ftition, and to fervile dependence ; addicted 
 to compliment, and extravagant in all the 
 ceremonials of behaviour. Thus the ex- 
 ' tremes of national character may be com- 
 bined with exterior appearances nearly 
 fimilar. 
 
 It is alfo worthy of obfervation, that pal- 
 pable defects in the animal conftitution co- 
 incide fo often with the perfection of the 
 underftanding ; and palpable defects in the 
 intellectual, with the utmoft perfection in 
 
 Y all 
 
 * -.
 
 3 22 ESSAYS ON THE 
 
 all the animal powers. Some illuftrious 
 examples of fuch coincidences occur among 
 the characters of the laft age : an age, per- 
 haps, as fertile of intellectual talents as 
 the world has ever feen. One of thefe is 
 Lord Falkland, whofe difadvantages in per- 
 fon are contrafted with excellence of mind 
 by the noble hiftorian who has delivered 
 his name down to pofterity as a model of 
 perfection. Another is Sir Charles Ca- 
 vendilh, whofe character, as delineated by 
 the fame mafterly hand, conveys a moral 
 leffon to pofterity [B]. 
 
 The Graces, according to the fine allu- 
 fion of antiquity, are often to be contem- 
 plated under the form of the Satyrs. Such 
 coincidences, which abound in every coun- 
 try, feem to announce the peculiar charac- 
 ter of the human mind, its independence 
 on the laws of mechanifm, and its alliance 
 with a nobler fyftem. 
 
 Adif-
 
 HISTORY OF MANKIND. 3*3 
 
 A difregard of this high prerogative has 
 contaminated, in feme inftances, the con- 
 dud of nations. Hence the policy of 
 Sparta authorifed an inftitution the moft 
 fhocking in the proceedings of mankind ; 
 that inftitution of Lycurgus, by which chil- 
 dren of a delicate frame were condemned to 
 inftant death, from a fuppofed connexion 
 between intellectual and corporeal infir- 
 mity. How different is the wifdom of na- 
 ture, which ufually renders fuch children 
 the darling objects of parental care ! 
 
 Had the Spartan rule been adopted in 
 our age, England had not reared up a 
 Lyttelton, nor Europe bred a Voltaire. 
 But, in the eye of reafon and philofophy, 
 this connexion difappears ; and a policy fo 
 repugnant to the firft dictates of morality, 
 derives no countenance or apology from the 
 hiftory of individuals or of tribes. If there 
 fubfifls then no infeparable connexion, no 
 Y 2 neceflary
 
 324 ESSAYS ON THE 
 
 neceflary or eftablifhed harmony between 
 the perfections of body and mind, the in- 
 ferences from analogy are deftitute of folid 
 foundation ; and the changes introduced 
 into the former by external impulfe, will 
 imply no correfponding changes in our 
 moral frame. 
 
 - 
 
 Soil and climate feem to act with a gra- 
 dation of influence on vegetable, animal, 
 and intellectual nature. There are vari- 
 eties of configuration, equally commodious 
 for the animal functions; and varieties in 
 our animal powers equally confiftent with 
 the exertion of all the nobler faculties. 
 Man, therefore, by his rank in the creation, 
 is more exempted from mechanical domi- 
 nion than the clafles below him ; and even 
 the beauty of his perfon derives its arbi- 
 trary eftimation from the variety of which 
 the body is fufceptible, without detriment 
 to its functions. An exalted mind in a well- 
 organized
 
 HISTORY OF MANKIND. 325 
 
 organized body, is like a fine picture in a 
 good light. Yet the exterior mechanifm 
 may be regarded, in fome refpecls, as the 
 mere drapery of nature, wherein is dif- 
 played all the wanton nefs of art; and 
 which is ufually no more decifive of the ab- 
 folute perfections of mankind, than the 
 modes of artificial attire. But the attire of 
 nature, like the famions of art, may prove 
 cumberfome and incommodious, not only 
 for animal but for intellectual exertions ; 
 and certain confequences will arife from that 
 myfterious union which enters into fo com- 
 plicated an exiftence, and conne&s it with 
 the vegetable and with the animal world. 
 
 ..>3iij '' 
 
 It deferves alfo to be obferved, that the 
 rank of man, which in fo many refpecls 
 renders his constitution fuperior to danger- 
 ous annoyance, renders it in one refpeft 
 more vulnerable. An animal feels only 
 what difturbs the animal ccconomy. The 
 Y 3 fcenery
 
 326 ESSAYS ON THE 
 
 fcenery of creation it regards with total 
 indifference ; but that fcenery acls on a hu- 
 man being in a peculiar manner, and with- 
 out annoying his perfon, affects the fenfibili- 
 ty and delicacy of his moral frame. The or- 
 gans of found and fight are fufceptible of 
 impreffions which, exclufive of all arbitrary 
 afibciations or convention, intereft in an 
 eminent degree the imagination and the 
 paflions. Hence the elements of natural 
 language. Hence a moral expreffion in 
 mufic. Hence certain graces of propor- 
 tion, figure, motion ; and all the fine con- 
 nexions which form the foundations of 
 criticifm in the elegant and polite arts. 
 
 The objects with which the fenfes are 
 converfant, become emblematical to the 
 imagination, and call forth a train of corre- 
 fponding emotions, which are never ex- 
 cited in the inferior orders of animal 
 
 life. 
 
 Some
 
 HISTORY OF MANKIND. 327 
 
 Some predominant qualities in rude and 
 favage tribes are to be afcribed, in the opi- 
 nion of ingenious writers, to the face of 
 the country they inhabit. The emotions 
 in the breaft of the favage derive, it feems, 
 a degree of wildnefs and ferocity from, the 
 chaos which furrounds him ; and a cer- 
 tain adjuftment and embellifhment of the 
 outward objects is requifite to difpel the 
 gloom of life, to enliven and exhilarate the 
 fpirits, to mollify the temper, and to renr 
 der it humane. 
 
 The attentive mind, 
 
 By this harmonious action on her pow'rs, 
 Becomes herfelf harmonious. 
 
 But this adjuftment is not equally indif- 
 penfable throughout the habitable globe. 
 For, independently of culture, the fcene 
 from the hand of nature is more or lefs 
 magnificent, more or lefs adorned. Here are 
 immenfe deferts ; there delicious plains. 
 Y 4 This
 
 ON THE 
 
 This the region of clouds and ftorms ; that 
 of a more placid and benignant iky. Here 
 predominates the beautiful ; there the fuh- 
 lime. The emotions hence generated corre- 
 fpond ; and the tone of temper and of man- 
 ners is, if I may fay fo, in unifon with the 
 natural world. This fpecies of energy, 
 which rifes out of external things, ex- 
 erts itfelf in its full efFedl on man alone ; 
 and feems to be attended with confe- 
 quences in rude and favage life, analo- 
 gous to thofe which refult in the pro- 
 grefs of fociety, from various ftyle and 
 compofition in the imitative and defign- 
 ing arts. 
 
 Having thus dated the relations of 
 man to the elements around him, which 
 appear to be various and complicated, it 
 will be proper to contemplate his re- 
 fources, and to mark thofe diftinguifli- 
 ing prerogatives by which he endea- 
 vours
 
 HISTORY OF MANKIND. 329 
 
 vours to maintain or to reftore his in- 
 dependence, to re-at upon external things, 
 and to become, in fome degree, the ar- 
 biter of his own happinefs and perfec- 
 tion, 
 srfj rfitw nollnu /;/ ,S\ vu \ ion 
 
 )iC 
 
 * 
 
 NOTES.
 
 330 ESSAYS ON THE 
 
 NOTES, 
 
 NOTE (Xj, p. 306. 
 
 THE privileges of man as an animal are 
 inconteftible, and wonderfully adapted 
 to his fuperior rank in the creation. Nous trou- 
 verons, fays Monf. Buffon with equal truth and 
 elegance, nous trouverons que 1'homme eft Ic 
 feul des etres vivans dont la nature foit aflez 
 forte, affez etendue, affez flexible pour pouvoir 
 fublifter, fe multiplier par-tout, et fe preter 
 aux influences de tous les climats de la terre ; 
 nous verrons evidemment qu'aucun des ani- 
 maux n'a obtenu ce grand privilege ; que loin 
 de pouvoir fe multiplier par-tout, la plupart 
 font bornes et confines dans des certains climats, 
 et meme dans des contrees particulieres. 
 L'homme eft en tout Touvrage du ciel; les 
 animaux ne font a beaucoup d'egards que des 
 productions de la terre. 
 
 Hift. Nat. Tome xviii. p. 177. 
 
 Other diftinftions might be mentioned no lefs 
 
 confpicuous.. Nature has fixed certain feafons 
 
 6 at
 
 HISTORY OF MANKIND. 331 
 
 at which the greater part of the animal kind 
 propagate their feveral fpecies : while a fimilar 
 prerogative is veiled in man at all feafons, an4 
 in all climates of the world. 
 
 Vide Ariftot. de Hift. Animal. 1. v. c. 8. 
 
 This diftinction, in the fchool of Socrates, 
 was infilled on as an argument for a fuperin- 
 tending providence. To &, faid that mailer of 
 
 wifdom, KSH T&S ruv aippc^nrtfajf qSov&g TOJJ y.w 
 Jai/at, irtpiypoa^oiVTOt.? m ITX; 
 
 noph. Mem. 1. i. c. 4. " Is it not well ordered, 
 " that, while the courtfhips of the grove are 
 " confined to one period of the year, the period 
 " of our loves is not thus interrupted, and is 
 *' prolonged to declining age ?" 
 
 NOTE [5], p. 322. 
 
 IW I L L beg leave SG lay before the 
 reader the eminent and worthy character 
 mentioned in the text, as it is drawn by the 
 moil inftructive, and perhaps the moil faithful 
 hiilorian of the lail age. " The converfation, 
 " fays Clarendon, fpeaking of himfelf, the Chan- 
 " cellor took moft delight in, was that of Sir 
 
 " Charles
 
 
 ESSAYS ON THE 
 
 "' Charles Cavendilh, brother to the Marquis, 
 " who was one of the moft extraordinary per- 
 " fons of that age, in all the noble endowments 
 " of the mind. He had all the difadvantages 
 " imaginable in his perfon, which was not only 
 " of fo fmall a fize, that it drew the eyes of 
 " men upon him ; but with fuch deformity in 
 " his little perfon, and an afpect in his counte- 
 " nance, that was apter to raife contempt than 
 ** application : but in this unhandfome or 
 '* homely habitation, there was a rnind and a 
 " foul lodged that was very lovely and beauti- 
 " fulj cultivated and polifhed by all the know- 
 " ledge and wifdom that arts and fciences could 
 " fupply it with. He was a great philofopher 
 
 
 
 " in the extent of it, and an excellent mathe- 
 <c matician, whofe correfpondence was very 
 < f dear to Gaflendus and Defcartes, the laft of 
 * c whom dedicated fome of his works to him. 
 " He had very notable courage, and the vigour 
 " of his mind fo adorned his body, that being 
 <c with his brother the Marquis in all the war, 
 *' he ufually went out in all parties, and was 
 " prefent, and charged the enemy in all battles 
 " with as keen a courage as could dwell in the 
 " heart of man. But then the goodnefs of his 
 * 5 difpofition, the humility and meeknefs of his 
 
 " nature,
 
 HISTORY OF MANKIND. 333 
 
 ** nature, and the vivacity of his wit was admi- 
 " rable. He was fo modeft, that he could 
 " hardly be prevailed with to enlarge himfelf on 
 " fubjects he underftood better than other 
 " men, except he were preffed by his very fa- 
 " miliar friends, as if he thought it prefump- 
 " tion to know more than handfomer men 
 " ufe to do. Above all, his virtue and piety 
 " was fuch, that no temptation could work 
 " upon him to confent to any thing that fwerved 
 ** in the lead degree from the precife rules of 
 " honour, or the moft fevere rules of confci- 
 " ence." Life of Clarendon, Vol. III. 
 
 Thus far the noble hiftorian, who in the laft 
 feature of the character feems to have drawn, 
 by anticipation, the Cavendimes of our days; 
 whofe inflexible integrity and patriotifm ap- 
 pear in the Britiih fenate , and whofe hereditary 
 virtues are worthy of the houfe of Cavendifh, 
 a/id of the former age. 
 
 ESSAY
 
 E S S A Y' X. 
 
 OF MAN, AS THE ARBITER OF HIS OWN FORTUWE. 
 
 NATURAL and motal ills are eflen- 
 tial to our fyftem. It is in vain to 
 enquire into their origin. An exemption 
 from the former would imply phyfical in- 
 dependence ; an exemption from the latter, 
 all moral perfe&ion. Such attributes are 
 divine. Yet man is neither chained down 
 by neceffity, nor impelled by fate. And 
 refignation to the unalterable order of 
 things, a fentiment fo becoming his 
 condition, ought not to arreft the hand 
 of induftry, or to contract the fphere 
 of active enterprize. After all the ef- 
 forts he can boaft, after exhaufting 
 
 the
 
 336 ESSAYS ON THE 
 
 the accumulated exertions of ages, there 
 remains, and will remain, abundant fcope 
 for all the paffive virtues in the life of man. 
 Let him then fuftain with dignity the 
 weight of his condition ; yet not meanly 
 acquiefce in grievances within his province 
 to redrefs. 
 
 The action of the elements on his frame 
 is not more confpicuous, than his reciprocal 
 action on thofe very elements which are 
 permitted to annoy his being. He has a 
 range allowed him in the creation peculiar 
 to himfelf alone ; and he feems to have had 
 delegated to him a certain portion of 
 the government of the natural world. Re- 
 volutions, indeed, are brought about in va- 
 rious regions by the univerfal laws of mo- 
 tion, uncontrouled, and uncontroulable by 
 any human power. But, under certain li- 
 mitations, foil and climate arefubject to his 
 dominion ; and the natural hiftory of the 
 
 terraqueous
 
 HISTORY OF MANKIND. 337 
 
 terraqueous globe varies with the civil 
 hiftory of nations. 
 
 In the deferiptioris of antient and modern 
 Europe, the fame countries appear to be ef- 
 fntially different. The climates beyond 
 the Atlantic are altered fmce the days of Co- 
 lumbus. But fuch differences and altera- 
 tions are more* rightly imputed to the con- 
 duct and operations of men, than to any 
 mutability in the cdlirfe of nature. Ndr 
 are fuch alterations confined to thofe fettle- 
 ments on which the additional culture has 
 been beftowed. The arts of tillage and 
 agriculture have a more diffufive and ge- 
 neral effect. The country of Italy, though 
 not better cultivated than in the days of the 
 Romans, has undergone fihce thofe days a 
 viciffitude of temperature, which has arifen, 
 in all probability, from the more improved 
 ftate of Germany and France 1 . 
 
 2 The
 
 338 ESSAYS ON THE 
 
 The temperature of climates throughout 
 America, fo different from that which pre- 
 dominates under the fame parallels of lati- 
 tude in the antient world, is not entirely to 
 be afcribed to fixed and permanent caufes, 
 but rather to the more recent exiftence of 
 nations in the new hemifphere, and the in- 
 ferior cultivation it has confequently re- 
 ceived from the hand of man. Thus much 
 is certain : by opening the foil, by clearing 
 the forefts, by cutting out paffages for the 
 ftagnant waters, the new hemifphere be- 
 comes aufpicious, like the old, for the 
 growth and population of mankind. 
 
 Let us learn then to wage war with the 
 elements, not with our own kind ; to reco- 
 ver, if one may fay fo, our patrimony from 
 Chaos, and not to add to his empire. 
 
 The hiftory of the colonies, and com- 
 mercial eftabliftiments of the European na- 
 tions,
 
 HISTORY OF MANKIND. 339 
 
 tions, teftifies that, in almoft every corner, 
 a healthful and falubrious climate is the 
 
 **3tf\f 
 
 fure effect of perfevering and well-con- 
 ducted labour. Nor is the oppofite effect 
 chargeable merely on the neglect ofculture, 
 and the atmofphere that overhangs the 
 defert alone malignant. The malignancy 
 is often directly chargeable on manners, on 
 police, and on civil eftablimments. In 
 fome of the moft malignant climates on the 
 Guinea coaft, the impure habits of the na- 
 tives have been afligned as the efficient 
 caufe. The exhalations of a negro village, 
 negroes only can endure. 
 
 <e The plague, fays Dr. Chandler in his 
 t Travels into the Eaft, might be wholly 
 <c averted from thefe countries, or at leaft 
 " prevented from fpreading, if lazarettos 
 " were erected, and falutary regulations 
 " enforced, as in fome cities of Europe. 
 *' Smyrna would be affected as little per- 
 Z 2 " haps
 
 340 ESSAYS ON 
 
 <l haps as Marfeilles, if the police were 29 
 " well modelled. But this is the wifdom 
 lt of a fenfible and enlightened people.*' 
 
 A fpecies of neceffity, however, in fome 
 countries conducts mankind to certain deco- 
 rums in life and manners, which wait, in 
 other countries, the ages of tafle and refine- 
 ment. The Dutch certainly are not the moft 
 polite among the European nations ; yet the 
 nature of their civil fettlement, as if antici- 
 pating the dictates of refinement, introduced 
 among them from the beginning, a degree 
 of order in their police, and of cleanlinefs in 
 their houfeh old ceconomy, not furpafled, per- 
 haps unequalled, by any other people. On 
 a principle of health, an attention to clean- 
 linefs is more or lefs incumbent on all com- 
 munities. It prefents an emblem of inward 
 purity, and is dignified, perhaps not impro- 
 perly, in fome fyftems of ethics, with the 
 
 appellation of a moral virtue. But with 
 
 H 
 all
 
 HISTORY OF MANKIND. 341 
 
 all imaginable precaution on this feore, the 
 confluence of numbers in a crowded fcene 
 is generally productive of difeafe. Hence 
 peftilential diftempers are fo often bred in 
 the camp, and ufually march in the train of 
 war. And hence the eftablifhment of great 
 cities, under the beft regulated police, can 
 be demonftrated, from the bills of morta- 
 lity, to be deftructive in a high degree of 
 population and public health*. But all 
 thefe examples relate to artificial, not to na- 
 tural climate; and there feems to be little 
 ground, in the hiftory of the terraqueous 
 globe, to affociate with any fixed and im- 
 mutable conftitution of the atmofphere, the 
 happinefs or perfections of the human fpe- 
 eies \A\. Yet local prejudices every where 
 abound : the moft accompliihed citizens in 
 nations and ages the moft accomplished, 
 
 have not been exempted from their fway. 
 
 
 
 * See Dr. Price's O bfervations on Reverfionary Payments. 
 
 ;t',qqK 
 
 Z 3 Plato
 
 342 ESSAYS ON THE 
 
 Plato returned thanks to the immortal Gods 
 that he was an Athenian, not a Theban 
 born ; that he breathed on the fouthern, 
 not on the northern fide of the Afopus. 
 But if Athens was eminent for refine- 
 ment, there were other caufes than the 
 climate. And, if the Boeotians were dull to 
 a proverb, it was a temporary calamity, 
 and Pindar, and Pelopidas, and Epaminon- 
 das (hall vindicate the foil. Thus much 
 we may with certainty affirm, that foil and 
 climate, if not altogether foreign to the 
 mind, are, like the mind, fufceptible of im- 
 provement, and variable, in a high degree, 
 with the progrefs of civil arts. Settlements 
 abandoned by one colony, have been re- 
 peopled with fuccefs by another. Projects 
 thought defperate in days of ignorance, 
 have been refumed and conducted to a pro- 
 fperous iflue in more enlightened times. 
 Individuals have often failed in their at- 
 temptsi for want of public encouragement. 
 
 Public
 
 HISTORY OF MANKIND. 343 
 
 Public enterprizes have failed for want of 
 concurrence among nations. Eftablifli 
 then concert and union among mankind ; 
 all regions become habitable, and the ele* 
 ments almoft ceafe to rebel. 
 
 Nor is this command over the elements 
 the only effedt of progreflive induftry and 
 labour. The changes introduced into 
 clothing, fubfiftence, modes of life, prefent 
 confiderations of equal moment. In con- 
 fequence of thefe changes, our animal fitu- 
 ation is as fluctuating as our moral; and 
 the fame people, in the ages of rudenefs and 
 civility, will retain fewer marks of refem- 
 blance in their organical ftructure, than 
 will be found among the moft diftant na- 
 tions when contemplated in correfponding 
 points of their progrefs. A people emerg- 
 ed above the wilder ftates, who fubfift by 
 the culture of the foil, not by its fponta- 
 neou? provifion : who farther fuperadd the 
 
 "TUOOf! $ "-' * ' "' 
 
 Z 4
 
 344 ESSAYS ON THE 
 
 life of foreign commodities to the domeftic 
 articles of confumption, have undergonetran- 
 fitions, gradual perhaps and infenfible, but 
 which have affected their whole animal 
 ceconomy. Thus the commercial arts, by 
 concentring in one corner of the world the 
 divided treafures of the earth, confound the 
 primeval diftribution and arrangement of 
 things, and diverfify in the fame climate 
 the condition of tribes and nations. There 
 feems to be a certain regimen of life fuited 
 to the local circumftances of mankind, 
 which is fuggefted to them at firft by in- 
 ftincT:, or is the flow refult of experience. 
 A different regimen, recommended in a 
 fimilar manner, is beft adapted to their cir- 
 cumftances in another region ; and fudden 
 or injudicious alterations in the modes of 
 life are among the fatal confequences that 
 attend the commerce of nations. The 
 transference too of epidemical diftemper 
 from region to region is another confe^ 
 
 quence
 
 HISTORY OF MANKIND. 34$ 
 
 quence of that commerce no lefs deftruc- 
 tive. Diftempers, local in their origin^ 
 being thus diffufed over the globe, become, 
 when tranfplanted, more formidable than in 
 their native feats. The plague, fo defolating 
 when it invades Europe, commits not 
 equal havoc in the eaft. The malady, im- 
 ported by Columbus, was lefs virulent in 
 the American climates. Qn the other 
 hand, the fmall-pox, introduced into thofe 
 climates by the Europeans, threatened the 
 
 depopulation of the new hemifphere. 
 
 i 
 
 Time, however, which corrects the effects 
 of migrations, feems alfo to correct the vi- 
 rulence of tranfplanted diftemper. Either 
 the human conftitution oppofes it with new 
 vigour, or the art of medicine combats it 
 with more fuccefs ; or the poifon, by being 
 long blended with the furrounding ele- 
 ments, ceafes to be fo deftructive. It may 
 alfo be obferved, that fome diforders leave 
 j imprefiiona
 
 3,6 ESSAYS ON THE 
 
 impreffions in theconftitution which prevent 
 in future the poffibility of fimilar annoyance. 
 Hence the expediency of inoculation, a 
 practice firft introduced into Europe from 
 the eaft, which folici'ts difeafe through a 
 fafer channel, as a prefervative againft its 
 eventual attack in all the circumftances of 
 its natural malignity. But to return from 
 this digreffion, let us furvey the farther 
 tendency of the commercial arts. 
 
 The natural productions of one corner 
 fupply the demands of luxury in another, 
 and the moft diftant tribes may approxi- 
 mate each other in their animal tempera- 
 ment by mutual traffic. Even the natives 
 of the moft penurious foil may exchange 
 the rude fimplicity of their anceftors for the 
 extravagance of the moft pampered nations. 
 As national affluence, however, is not diftri- 
 buted equally among the feveral members 
 
 of the community (for under an equal di- 
 7 lib 
 
 vifion
 
 HISTORY OF MANKIND. 34.7 
 
 vifion of property no government can long 
 fubfift) we often obferve at once, in the 
 diftinction of ranks, fuch effects of various 
 temperament as arife in fucceflion to the 
 public from the general viciflitudes of fo- 
 ciety. Penury and wealth, fimplicity and 
 prodigality, indolence and toil, create con- 
 flitutional diftinc~tions among the different 
 orders of citizens. For the impreffion of 
 the commercial arts is often confpicuous in 
 the upper departments of life, before it 
 reaches thofe of inferior condition ; but 
 the circle gradually widens. The exclufive 
 poffeffion of opulence cannot be long main- 
 tained ; and the fluctuation, fo natural to 
 commercial ftates, mufl diffeminate the ef- 
 fects over the, public at large. 
 
 In the laft period of the Roman govern- 
 ment, the different provinces of the empire 
 became contaminated with the luxury of 
 the eaft, whofe influence on the bodily 
 
 temperament
 
 348 ESSAYS ON THE 
 
 temperament may have contributed, along 
 with moral and political diftemper, to the 
 fuccefs of the northern armies. 
 
 Savior armis 
 
 _ 
 
 Luxuria incubuit, victumque ulcifcitur 
 orbem. 
 
 P : loomsnrb'j ^ ! 
 But thefe fymptoms of decay, which 
 
 fpread at laft over the provinces, and tainted 
 the mafs of the people, had originated among 
 the nobles, and in the feat of government. 
 It was the legions, not the fenate, the pro- 
 vincials, not the Romans, who acted, during 
 feveral generations, as the matters of mankind. 
 Aurelian, and Probus, and Dioclefian, the 
 reftorers of the Roman world, were not of 
 Roman blood. And Rome, more debauch- 
 ed than the diftant provinces, had feen fbme 
 of them, ages before her fall, erected into 
 diftinct and independent ftates, no longer 
 acknowledging her fovereign authority, or. 
 
 the laws of the empire. 
 
 . >. 4 JJ 
 
 Such 
 
 st.
 
 HISTORY OF MANKIND. 349 
 
 Such confequences, however, imply no 
 imputation on the arts of civil life. The 
 food, the raiment, the occupations of the 
 polimed citizen may be as innocent as 
 thofe of the favage. The latter is even 
 guilty of excefles which difappear in the 
 age of refinement. The immoderate ufe of 
 intoxicating liquors is generally moft pre- 
 dominant in the ruder forms of fociety. It is 
 relinquimed in the progrefs of refinement, 
 and feems to be fcarce compatible with the 
 elegant luxuries of a highly cultivated 
 
 people. 
 
 * * ' 
 
 . 
 A propenfity indeed to vicious excefa 
 
 may be accidentally combined in the fame 
 character with a high reliflifor the luxuries 
 of life. But the paffions themfelves are to- 
 tally diftinct. A pronenefs to luxury, with 
 an averfion to all riot or excefs, is no un- 
 common character; and a pronenefs to ex- 
 cefs, with an averfion to luxury, though 
 
 more
 
 350 ESSAYS ON THE 
 
 more rare, is by no means without exam- 
 ple. 
 
 A flriking example occurs in the character 
 of the famous Irifh rebel, who, in the reign 
 of Elizabeth, affumed the rank and appella- 
 tion of King of Ulfter. " He was a man, 
 " fays the hiftorian, equally noted for his 
 <c pride, his violence, his debaucheries, and 
 " his hatred of the Englifh nation. He is 
 " faid to have put fome of his followers to 
 " death, becaufe they endeavoured to in- 
 ce troduce the ufe of bread after the Englifh 
 " fafhion. Though fo violent an enemy 
 " to luxury, he was extremely addicted to 
 lc riot, and was accuftomed, after his in- 
 " temperance had thrown him into a fever, 
 " to plunge his body into mire, that he 
 " might allay the flame which he had 
 " raifed by former excefles *. 
 
 * Hiilory of England, vol. v. p. 399. 
 
 Luxury,
 
 HISTORY OF MANKIND. 351 
 
 Luxury, according to its fpecies and di- 
 rection, may be pronounced to be either fa~ 
 lutary or deftructive. By its connexion 
 with induftry and active exertion, it is pro- 
 ductive of the nobleft effects. It is the pa- 
 rent of ingenious arts, and conduces a people 
 to honour and diftinction. Yet objects which 
 are not only innocent, but beneficial in the 
 purfuit, may prove dangerous in the pof- 
 feffion; and the acquifitions of .national 
 virtue may become the occafion of its fall. 
 Habits there furely are, incident to different 
 periods of fociety, which tend to enervate 
 the body, and to vitiate the blood. The me- 
 chanical fprings of life reft not on the 
 energy of one caufe, but on the combina- 
 tion of many, poflefling often oppofite and 
 qualifying powers. It were improper there- 
 fore to expatiate on the intenfity of one 
 principle, without attending to others which 
 ferve to heighten or to mitigate its force. 
 One writer magnifies the power of climate; 
 
 another,
 
 ESSAYS ON THE 
 
 another, the effects of aliment ; a third, the 
 efficacy of labour or reft, and the peculiar 
 influence of certain modes of life. But 
 thefe circumftances are relative to each 
 other, and it is the refult of the combina- 
 tion with which we are alone concerned. 
 It was well anfwered by the Spartan to the 
 King of Syracufe, who found fault with the 
 coarfenefs of the Spartan fare, tl In order, 
 <c fays he, to make thefe victuals relifh, it 
 " is necefTary to bathe in the Eurotas." 
 
 By the progrefs of agriculture and rural 
 (Economy in our climates, that mode of 
 fubfiftence has become the mofteafy, which 
 was formerly the moft difficult. And it 
 were well perhaps for mankind, in mofl 
 countries of Europe at this day, if the great 
 and opulent exchanged with thofe of infe- 
 rior condition many of the daily articles of 
 confumptiori. Vegetable aliment feems to be 
 better adapted to the more indolent clafs of 
 
 citizens,
 
 HISTORY OF MANKIND. $53 
 
 citizens. The labouring part of fociety re- 
 quire a larger proportion of animal food. 
 But it is often difficult for the meaner fort 
 to procure for themfelves fuitable fubfift- 
 ence, and more difficult for their fuperiorS 
 to abftain from improper gratifications. 
 
 If I were not Alexander, faid the Prince 
 of Macedon, I would chufe to be Diogenes. 
 Yet the generality of people would rather 
 imitate the conduct of Ariftippus, who, for 
 the pageantry of a court, arid the pleafures 
 of a luxurious table, could forego inde- 
 pendence, and defcend from the dignity of 
 philofophy to the adulation of Kings [J?J. 
 The conduct however ofmankind, in uncof- 
 rupted times, was more conformable to na- 
 ture ; and their reafon taught them to form 
 fuch habits and combinations as were moft 
 congruous with their external condition. 
 Different fyftems of policy grow out 
 of thefe combinations; and ufages 'and 
 A a laws
 
 354. ESSAYS ON THE 
 
 laws relative to climate make a capital 
 figure in antient legiflation. Even fuper- 
 ftition, on fome occafions, has proved a 
 guardian of public manners, and a ufeful 
 auxiliary to legiflative power. Abftinence 
 from the flelh of animals, abftinence 
 from wine, frequent purifications, and other 
 external obfervances among the Indians, 
 the Perfians, the Arabians, how abfurd fo- 
 ever if transferred to other countries, form- 
 ed on the occafions, and in the countries 
 where they were inftituted, important 
 branches of political oeconomy. The 
 Egyptians prefcribed by law a regimen 
 for their Kings. In fome inftances, cer- 
 tain rules of proportion were eftablilhed ; 
 andfuitableto the different claffes of citizens, 
 there was a fpecial allotment of aliment 
 prefcribed by the religion of Brama. The 
 Chriftian difpenfation alone, divine in its 
 origin, and defigned to be univerfal, de- 
 fcends not to local inftitutions ; but, leav- 
 ing the details of policy to the rulers of 
 3 nations.
 
 HIStORY OF MANKIND. 355 
 
 nations, inculcates only thofe pure and ef- 
 fential doctrines which are adapted to all 
 climates and governments. Yet the Vedam^ 
 the Shqfter, the Koran, and other antient 
 codes, which afford, in one view, fo ftrik- 
 ing examples of credulity and fanaticifm, 
 may be regarded, in another, as monu- 
 ments of human fagacity. Happy had it 
 been for the world, if the founders of reli- 
 gion and government had feparated, infuch 
 cafes, the pure gold from the drofs, and 
 connived only at illufions connected with 
 public felicity. It were often happy for 
 rude tribes, if they were taught a local fu- 
 perflition, how abfurd foever in its details, 
 that tended to preferve the fimplicity of 
 their morals, and debarred them in many 
 inftances from adopting foreign cuftoms 
 and manners. How fortunate would it 
 have been for the Indian tribes, through- 
 out the continent of North America, if 
 they had been debarred by the folemn fanc- 
 A a 2 tions
 
 35 6 ESSAYS ON THE 
 
 tions of a religion, as abfurd as that of Ma- 
 homet, from the ufe of intoxicating li- 
 quors ! a practice derived to them from Eu- 
 ropean commerce, and which contributes, 
 in the new hemifphere, more, perhaps, than 
 any other caufe, to thedeftruction, and what 
 is worfe, to the debafement of the fpecies. 
 
 Our voyages of difcovery, which in fome 
 refpects are fo honourable, and calculated 
 for noble ends, have never yet been happy 
 for any of the tribes of mankind vifited by 
 us. The vices of Europe have already con- 
 taminated the Otaheitean blood. Whether 
 the Englifh or French navigators have 
 been the firft authors of the dreadful cala- 
 mity which now afflicts that race, it is of 
 little importance to decide. While fo odi- 
 ous a charge is retorted on eacli other 
 by thofe nations, the natives of the 
 happy ifland, fo cruelly abufed, will have 
 
 caufe
 
 HISTORY OF MANKIND. 357 
 
 caufe to lament for ages, that any Eu- 
 ropean vefTel ever touched their fhores. 
 
 Felix, heu nimium felix ! fi littora tan- 
 turn- 
 
 Moral depravity is a fertile fource of 
 phyfical ills to individuals, to families, 
 and to nations. Nor are the ills inherent 
 only in the race which bred the diforder. 
 They fpread from race to race, and are 
 often entailed, in all their malignity, on 
 pofterity. Thus hereditary diftemper has a 
 foundation in the natural, as in the moral 
 world. Nor does this reflect upon eternal 
 juftice, or breed confufion in the univerfe, or 
 derogate from the fum of its perfections. If 
 we are punifhed for trie vices, we are 
 rewarded too for the virtues of our fathers. 
 Thefe oppofite principles of exaltation and 
 debafement tend to the equilibrium of the 
 fyftem. They ferve alfo to a farther 
 end ; they ferve to draw clofer the ties 
 A a 3 of
 
 358 ESSAYS ON THE 
 
 of humanity, to remind us of our duty, by 
 reminding us of the relations of our be- 
 ing ; and of thofe indiflbluble connexions 
 and dependencies which unite us with 
 the paft, and will unite us with all fuc-? 
 ceeding ages. 
 
 NOTES. 
 
 a srb mi, .? to *
 
 HISTORY OF MANKIND. 359 
 
 
 NOTE [XJ, p. 341, 
 
 OF the efficacy of found regimen in pre- 
 ferving health, under all the variety of 
 climate to which mankind are apt to be expofed, 
 there occcurs a memorable example in the late 
 voyage round the world by Capt, Cook, fo juftly 
 reprefented to the Royal Society, by his elegant 
 and learned encomiaft. That navigator, whofe 
 melancholy fate is, at the moment I am writing, 
 lamented by all Europe, " with a company of 
 *' 1 1 8 men, performed a voyage of three years 
 " and eighteen days, throughout all the climates 
 "from 52 north to 71 fouth latitude, with 
 "the lofs of a fingle man only by difeafe:" a 
 proportion fo moderate, that the bills of mor- 
 tality, in no climate or condition of fociety, can 
 furnifh fuch another example. 
 
 NOTE [], p. 353, 
 
 HORACE, indeed, in the fpirit of the 
 courtier, the poet, and the man of plea- 
 fure, approves the temporizing fyitem of Arif- 
 
 A a 4 tippus,
 
 360 ESSAYS ON THE HISTORY, &c. 
 
 tippus, rather than the auftere rigour of Dioge^ 
 nes. The pedantry of the latter was furely ex- 
 ceffive. But it was the excefs of that free, 
 manly, and independent fpirit, which is allied to 
 
 true glory, and formed the heroifm of antiquity. 
 IX . , y . rfc^ ??,.<? 
 
 Si pranderet olus patienter, regibus uti 
 Nollet Ariftippusj 
 
 was the judgment of the cynic ; and the re- 
 ply of Ariftippus is rather fmart than folid ; 
 
 Si fciret regibus uti, 
 
 Faftidiret olus, qui me notat, 
 
 Hor. 1. i. ep. 17,
 
 KOT 
 
 X3 ^ 
 
 V 3F 
 
 wHi 
 
 ESSAY XI. 
 
 OF FASHIONS THAT PREDOMINATE AMONG 
 VARIOUS TRIBES OF MANKIND. 
 
 THE magnitude of external annoyance 
 being variable with the maxims of 
 political ceconomy, and the rules of civil 
 life, it is the prerogative of every people 
 to hold the balance of good and evil, and 
 to raife or to deprefs the fcale of their own 
 felicity. To the abufe of this preroga- 
 tive, not to any unalterable conftitu- 
 tion of things, may be afcribed what- 
 ever is moft wretched or humiliating in 
 the condition of human fociety. Abfurdi- 
 ties of various defcription in artificial 
 manners, are often deftrudive of health 
 and vigour, and even tend to diveft the 
 
 natural
 
 362 ESSAYS ON THE 
 
 natural form of its fymmetry and per- 
 fection. 
 
 
 The cuftom of painting the body with 
 fuch rude materials as the favage life af- 
 fords, is a practice which, in the infancy 
 of fociety, appears to have been almoft 
 univerfal. It is reforted to at firft as an ob- 
 vious prefervative againft the inclemency 
 of the feafons, the imprefiions of the fun, 
 moleftation from infects, or other external 
 annoyance. But this invention, like every 
 other, was fufceptible of refinement. No 
 longer adjufted to the ftandard of conve- 
 niency alone, it became fubject to the ca- 
 price and viciffitude of fafhion ; and the 
 embelliftiment of the outward perfon, 
 which was at firft little attended to, or re- 
 garded as a collateral confideration, came 
 in time to be the principal object. Such 
 fantaftical decorations are worn as enfigns 
 of dignity, and ferve as fo many badges of 
 
 diftinc-
 
 HISTORY OF MANKIND. 363 
 
 diftinction among favage tribes. This in-, 
 vention may be traced up to remote anti- 
 quity in the cuftoms of the European na-^ 
 tions. It was reduced to an art among 
 the antient Britons ; and the Caledonians, 
 themoft antient inhabitants of the Northern 
 parts of the ifland, were, from their being 
 peculiarly addicted to this art, denominated 
 Pitts by the Romans. Not content with 
 fuch reprefentations as were practicable by 
 the colouring of paint alone, without de- 
 triment to the perfon, thofe rude nations 
 often infcribed their defigns with a weightier 
 hand, and by actual incifions into the body 
 rendered the impreffions indelible. Thus 
 a practice, at firft innocent, or falutary, 
 became, by degrees, pernicious ; and while 
 it aimed at farther decoration, or at emble- 
 matical exprefllon, tended in reality to de- 
 form the fpecies. 
 
 By the progrefs of fociety, fuch fafhiona. 
 have long fmce difappeared in Europe* 
 
 But,
 
 364 ESSAYS ON THE 
 
 But, if we furvey the condition of rude 
 nations in various corners of the world, we 
 find the human frame degraded by cuftoms 
 ilill more violent and unnatural. Nor is it 
 in the option of individuals to embrace, or 
 to refift fuch cuftoms. The violence is fre- 
 quently, by the impofition of parents, ren- 
 dered almoft coeval with exiftence. The 
 body, in its infant ftate, more pliant and 
 ductile, is more eafily diverted of its juft 
 proportions, and the limbs and members 
 are then capable of being moulded into 
 a variety of unnatural and artificial forms, 
 impracticable in maturer years. If dif- 
 tortions, then, of feature and perfon, 
 are thus early introduced, more ferious and 
 extenfive confequences may poffibly arife 
 from the fame fource, 
 
 When the violence is directed, as among 
 the Chinefe and fome other nations, to the 
 extremities of the body, fituated at a dif- 
 tancc from the principal organ of fenfation, 
 
 the
 
 HISTORY OF MANKIND. 365 
 
 the effect on the animal oeconomy is more 
 fupportable, and the vitals of the conftitu- 
 tion probably elude the injury; but, un- 
 fortunately, the impreflion is often made 
 where the conftitution is moft vulnerable, 
 and the more fenfible parts fuftain a mock 
 annoying to the whole nervous fyftem. 
 Among one people, to flatten the dirnen- 
 fions of the head ; among another, to ren- 
 der it more convex, parents have recourfe 
 to the moft mocking expedients of art, and 
 the natural guardians of infancy become 
 its chief tormentors. The names by which 
 certain Indian tribes in North America have 
 been diftinguifhed, are expreffive of fuch 
 unnatural characleriftics. The Caraibbes 
 of the Weft Indies, by contrivances and 
 applications of art nearly fimilar, have 
 acquired a caft of phyfiognomy altogether 
 peculiar. The Indians of Afia are not en- 
 tirely exempted from the fame odious 
 abufes ; but the principal feat of the enor- 
 mity
 
 366 ESSAYS ON THE 
 
 mity is certain regions of Africa, where the 
 art of disfiguring the human perfon is, if I 
 may fay fo, almoft the only art which has 
 made fuch progrefs among the rude inhabit- 
 ants, as to mark their departure from a 
 flate of nature. 
 
 In fuch deplorable fafhions, which ftifle 
 the voice of nature, the fuflferers, and the 
 authors of the fufferings, almoft equally 
 claim commiferation. But, to diftort the 
 natural form with an avowed purpofe of 
 deranging the intellectuals of man, is a 
 conduct fo flagitious and enormous as has 
 never ftained the manners of favage and 
 untutored tribes ; yet, nor many ages ago, 
 even this enormity exifted in the manners 
 of Europe, where, in various inftances, 
 the forming fools for the entertainment of 
 the great, was the ultimate end propofed 
 in mutilating the human figure. 
 
 The
 
 HISTORY OF MANKIND. 367 
 
 The recital of fuch examples fills huma- 
 nity with horror ; and the poffibility of 
 their exiftence would hardly be admitted in 
 a cultivated period, did not hiftory eftablifh 
 the facls upon inconteft ible authority, and 
 number them among the corruptions which 
 are found in fo many focieties of men, to 
 degrade the dignity of our fpecies. 
 
 
 There is a variety of other cuftoms among 
 
 rude tribes, which take their rife from the 
 illufions of imagination. In obferving the 
 gradations of colour among the races of 
 mankind, our ideas of beauty are often en- 
 tirely governed, or greatly influenced, by a 
 regard to the mod general form of nature 
 we are accuftomed to contemplate. Among 
 a nation of Blacks, the White ; among a 
 nation of Whites, the Black was never the 
 approved complexion. The Hottentots, 
 an ambiguous race, equally allied to 
 either extreme, are at pains to deepen the 
 
 {hade
 
 358 ESSAYS ON THE 
 
 {hade of black, as if to maintain a con- 
 formity with the prevailing complexion of 
 Africa. On the other hand, the Moors of 
 Barbary, the counterpart of the Hottentots 
 in the northern hemifphere, \vho poflefs, 
 like them, the medium of complexion, 
 difcover little predilection for either ex- 
 treme, which is owing probably to an al- 
 moft equal correfpondence with African and 
 European nations. Upon the fame prin- 
 ciple, the copper colour of the Americans 
 is regarded among them as a criterion of 
 beauty ; and it feems to be the object of 
 art, by painting the face with vermilion, 
 to maintain, in all its perfection, the predo- 
 minant complexion of the Indian race. Even 
 the univerfal principles of tafte, when not 
 duly regulated, may lead to egregious abufe. 
 Unequal degrees of beauty, of elegance, 
 and of ftrength, enter into the various 
 contexture of the human body ; and all 
 attempts are vain to fuperinduce by vio- 
 lence 
 5
 
 HISTORY OF MANKIND. 369 
 
 lence or art, that perfection which is denied 
 by nature. Conftitutional blemiflies or 
 defects may be heightened by too eager a 
 defire to abolifh them ; and by the violent 
 fubftitution of other proportions and linea- 
 ments than are confident with the primeval 
 configuration of the parts, though more con- 
 formable, perhaps, to fome ideal ftandard 
 of perfection. But fome of the more fla- 
 grant examples of violence done the perfon, 
 to be met with in the cuftoms of rude tribes, 
 are neither authorifed nor fuggefted by 
 any perception of beauty. They are de- 
 figned, in reality, to create oppofite emo- 
 tions, and are dictated by the ferocity of 
 warlike people on purpofe to confound 
 their enemies by appearances fcarcely hu* 
 man. The gentler fex, whofe conftant aim 
 is to improve the beauty of the outward 
 form, and who fubdue mankind only by 
 their charms, even in the African climates, 
 never deviate fo far from nature. In the 
 B b ifland
 
 3;o ESSAYS ON THE 
 
 ifland of Biflao, near to the river Gambia, 
 the matrons are dreffed in decent attire ; 
 and the perfons of the young, though 
 without all fort of apparel, are not un- 
 adorned. The degrees of embellifhment 
 indicate rank and condition ; and the eldeft 
 daughter of the reigning monarch is diftin- 
 guifhed from the other ladies of the court by 
 elegance of painting, and the richnefs of 
 her bracelets. But all the happier refine- 
 ments of fancy are difregarded in the appa- 
 ratus of war. 
 
 The Giagas, thofe bloody cannibals of 
 Africa, who are regardlefs of natural as of 
 moral beauty, aflume the moft infernal af- 
 pec~t to render themfelves more formidable 
 to other tribes. The fame principle autho- 
 rifes the abufe of perfon among various In- 
 dian tribes in North America ; and autho- 
 rifed it, according to the Roman Hiftorian*, 
 
 * Tacit, de Mor. Germ. 
 
 among
 
 HISTORY OF MANKIND. 371 
 
 among a tribe of the antient Germans. 
 But an afpecl: fo- tremendous to a foreign 
 enemy, may become venerable among peo-* 
 pie of the fame tribe. The dignity of the 
 expreffion is more confidered than the de- 
 formity of !the picture. The beautiful 
 is abforbed in the fublime ; and the 
 fpedlacle, how odious foever in itfelf, 
 is endured as defcriptive of the degrees 
 of heroifm and martial valour; virtues 
 chiefly refpecled in a rude age. 
 
 Religious fanaticifm, it may alfo be ob- 
 ferved, is frequently another fource of 
 the moft wretched debafement. , Pe- 
 nances, mortifications, Monkifh feverities> 
 and a number of flagrant obfervances, in 
 the ritual of fuperftition, that annoy our 
 frame, have, to the difgrace of the world, 
 been deemed meritorious in the fight of 
 Heaven j as if one fpecies of guilt could be 
 expiated by another ; or, as if to deform 
 B b s and
 
 372 ESSAYS ON THE 
 
 and abufe our nature, could ever be ac- 
 ceptable to the author of all beauty and ex- 
 cellence. 
 
 But it is not necefTary to carry our re- 
 fearches -anxioufly into the principles which 
 have concurred to the introduction and 
 eftablifhment of fo many abfurd cuftoms 
 among mankind. It is fufficient to obferve, 
 that the cuftoms themfelves, from what 
 fountain foever they flow, are often at- 
 tended with confequences no lefs destructive 
 than odious. Thus what arifes from human 
 folly may become undiftinguifhable from 
 the original workmanmip ; or rather, cer- 
 tain diftinctions, at firft adventitious, may 
 become the characteriftics of a tribe, and 
 even be in part tranfmiffible and heredi- 
 tary to future generations. The cuftoms 
 indeed under review belong chiefly to an 
 unpolimed ftate of fociety ; but they are 
 often fucceeded by others of a tendency 
 
 fomewhat
 
 HISTORY OF MANKIND. 373 
 
 fomewhat fimilar. The fwathing of in- 
 fants, the confinement of drefs, and other 
 abfurd practices in our ceconomy, unpre- - 
 cedented among barbarians, might be men- 
 tioned as counterparts of the fame violence 
 among polifhed nations. In general, per- 
 haps, the hardy difcipline of early times is 
 more aufpicious to health, vigour, and fym- 
 xnetry of form, than the more refined cul- 
 ture and fofter habits of a luxurious age. 
 But without running the parallel of public 
 manners in different periods of civil pro- 
 grefs, it may be affirmed, that fome of the 
 grofler and more heinous abufes we have 
 here remarked, are irrecoverably deftruc- 
 tive of the human figure, and perhaps re- 
 motely touch the fprings of our intellectual 
 frame. There being then fuch a variety 
 of effects, immediately of phyfical produc- 
 tion, which can be traced up to a moral 
 original ; it is proper to diftinguifh and fe- 
 parate that order of fecond caufes which is 
 B b 3 regulated
 
 374 ESSAYS ON THE HISTORY, &o. 
 
 regulated by the refolutions and conduft of 
 men, from the independent and immutable 
 influence of external things. 
 
 o 
 
 But moral fentiment, exclufive of its 
 breaking forth into adion, by its filent and 
 internal movements in the human breaft, 
 affe<3:s,in nofmali degree, the beauty, health, 
 and perfection of our organized fyftem ; 
 and this connexion of things, though more 
 rarely theobjeft of attention, ought not to 
 be overlooked in explaining thediverfity of 
 appearances in the various tribes of man- 
 kind.
 
 ESSAY XII. 
 
 , i> 3>, .; , i .,,;,'- t ... i .. ., ,^ _ _; 
 
 OF THE TENDENCY OF MORAL CHARACTER TO 
 DIVERSIFY THE HUMAN FORM. 
 
 fTPHE mind itfelf is often the original 
 *" feat of diforder which is transferred 
 to the animal fyftem. In the hiftory of in- 
 dividuals, it is obvious to obferve, that a 
 diftempered imagination, and irregular 
 paffions, frequently prey upon the body, 
 wafte its vigour, and even haften its 
 difiblution. Judging then from analogy, 
 it feems not unreafonabte to expect, that 
 the paffions, to which fociety is occa- 
 fionally obnoxious, may be productive of 
 fimilar effects upon the multitude, ap- 
 pear in exterior fymptoms, impair the 
 B b 4 foundnefs
 
 376 ESSAYS ON THE 
 
 foundnefs of public health, and enervate 
 the principle of animal life. What form 
 of fociety is moft open to this annoyance, 
 is a problem which, perhaps, the hiftory of 
 the fpecies is not able to refolve. But, in 
 general, it may be pronounced of human 
 life, that the vindictive, the envious; and 
 unfocial pafficns are hoftile to the pofleflbr, 
 while all the oppofite emotions diffufe a 
 kindlier influence over our animal frame. 
 " How miferable are the damned ! faid Saint 
 u Catherine of Genoa ; they are no longer 
 " capable of love." So clofeis the focial union, 
 that if the fierceft tyrant that ever exifted 
 in human form was doomed to be himfelf 
 the executioner of his bloody edicts, the 
 victims of his tyranny would become the 
 jnftrumentsof his punimment, and the tor- 
 ture inflicted would be more than he could 
 endure. The little tyrant of Greece, whom 
 the Hecuba of Euripides chafed fro'm the 
 public theatre, all -bathed in, tears, retained,
 
 HISTORY OF MANKIND. 377 
 
 in defiance of himfelf, the fenfibility of na- 
 ture. And if the heart is thus liable to be 
 fubdued by fiction, how fhould it fuftain, 
 in fimilar circumftances, the actual pre- 
 fence of woe ? To be callous to fuch im- 
 preffions, is to be more or lefs than man ; 
 and, even where virtue is extinct, our or- 
 ganized fyftem is liable to be affected by 
 this powerful fympathy of minds. 
 
 Varieties of national character weobferve 
 imprinted on the phyfiognomy of nations. 
 The feveral qualities of levity or vanity, 
 dignity or pride, pufillanimity, fortitude, 
 dulnefs, vivacity, ferocity, meeknefs, and a 
 thoufand nicer gradations of moral cha- 
 racter, rife up in the vifage, and mark the 
 exterior of man. Individuals, it is allowed, 
 are often found devoid of the characteristics 
 that predominate in the family, in the 
 tribe, or in the nation to which they be- 
 long, while they retain, neverthelefs*, all 
 
 the
 
 378 ESSAYS ON THE 
 
 the ufual marks of thofe charadteriftics. 
 Hence, pbyfiognomy is a delufive art ; men 
 are belied by appearances, till at laft the 
 genuine expreffion of the individual is in- 
 terpreted, and declares the fallacy of more 
 equivocal and general figns. Thefe ge- 
 neral figns, the accumulated effed:, per- 
 haps, of prevailing habit for generations, 
 may become congenial to a race ; and, 
 being wrought into the organization, can- 
 not be effaced at once by the abfence of 
 the caufes which contributed to their for- 
 mation. To correct, and to eftablim men- 
 tal habit, is the prerogative of a moral 
 agent ; but the lineaments and proportions 
 of the body are not variable with the gra- 
 dations of intellectual improvement ; and 
 hence the mind is fo often at variance with 
 the forms which the countenance affumes, 
 in confequence of its primaeval caft. When 
 the mcft exalted genius of antiquity, by 
 the exertion of this prerogative, had re^ 
 
 formed
 
 HISTORY OF MANKIND. 379 
 
 formed and ennobled all the features of 
 his character, a phyfiognomift, by tbe rules 
 of art, judged of him from his conftitu- 
 tional propenfities. Some latitude, how- 
 ever, is allowed to man in this adjuftment 
 of things. He can often conceal or difguife 
 his fentiments by the fuppreffion of the na- 
 tural fign ; he can aflume appearances, 
 without the feelings to which they belong. 
 In the exercife of this talent he difplays 
 confummate addrefs ; and artificial lan- 
 guage, more at command, favours the de- 
 ceit, and countervails the language of na- 
 ture. Such artifices confer, if I may fay 
 fo, a falfe and temporary phyfiognomy, 
 that violates the connection of things, and 
 belies the fyftem of the mind. So difficult, 
 however 3 and laborious, is this effort of art, 
 that the morl dexterous diflemblers, aided by 
 all the power of words, often fail in the at- 
 tempt. A writer, profoundly verfed in the hu- 
 man characler,yet more difpofed to heighten 
 
 its
 
 380 ESSAYS ON THE 
 
 its blernifhes than its perfections, has re- 
 marked, in one of the greateft ftatefmen of 
 his time, this ftrtiggle between art and na- 
 ture. " It is, indeed, true," fays Dean 
 Swift of my Lord Somers, <{ that no man is 
 " more apt to take fire upon the leaft ap- 
 " pearance of provocation, which temper he 
 " ftrives to fubdue with the utmoft violence 
 lt upon himfelf ; fo that his breaft has been 
 <c feen to heave, and his eyes to fparkle 
 " with rage, in thofe very moments when 
 " his words, and the cadence of his voice, 
 il were in the humbleft and foftefl manner. 
 " Perhaps that force upon his nature may 
 " caufe that infatiable love of revenge 
 *' which his detractors lay to his charge, 
 <c who confequently reckon diffimulatioa 
 *' among his chief perfections *." 
 
 
 To form falfe combinations is not only 
 
 difficult, but the execution probably is al- 
 
 * Hiftory of tlie four laft Years of the Queen. 
 
 ways
 
 HISTORY OF MANKIND. 381 
 
 ways imperfect; and hence the great matters 
 in expreffion, whether orators, or actors on 
 the ftage, muft endeavour to feel all the 
 emotions they would difplay to advantage. 
 That becoming attitude, that arrangement of 
 feature they would a flume, is found attain- 
 able only by the medium of correfponding 
 fentiment. Thus the connection of things 
 is maintained, and we are not deceived, 
 unlefs by attfibuting a folidity and perma- 
 nency to fentiments which have fo unfub- 
 ftantial and perifhing an exiftence. This 
 illufion of imagination, pradlifed on them- 
 felves, and by which alone they compafs 
 their ends, may even fway the moral cha- 
 racter. In often perfonating the hero, 
 there is acquired a caft of heroifm ; and in 
 perfonating mean wretches, there is danger 
 of abual debafement ; for fentiments find 
 an eafy ingrefs through the imagination 
 into the heart, and the occafional fentiments 
 of the ator may become the habitual prin- 
 ciples
 
 382 ESSAYS ON THE 
 
 ciples of the man. Thus, the profligate or 
 libertine, long acted, abates the love of de- 
 corum ; and he who can fuftain the enthu*- 
 fiafm of any virtue, though in a borrowed 
 character, has probably appropriated to 
 himfelf fome (hare of its real energy. It is 
 this mode of proceeding which difcrimi- 
 nates the actor of genius from the inferior 
 mimic, whofe talents are exhaufted in the 
 tranfcript of vifible figns, regardlefs of their 
 foundation in the human mind. In the 
 one cafe, the reprefentation is juft and na- 
 tural ; in the other, aukward and inani- 
 mated ; and, by fuch criterion, a fagacious 
 obferver will diftinguifh real excellence 
 from mechanical imitation in the fictitious 
 drama, as in the drama of the world, can- 
 dour from affectation, and the truth of cha- 
 racter from diffimulation and impofture. 
 
 In the interpretation of natural figns, 
 
 there is an obvious diftinttion to be made 
 
 between
 
 HISTORY OF MANKIND. 383 
 
 between fuch as imply immediate feeling, 
 and the more general, which, without re- 
 ference to the prefent ftate of the mind, 
 intimate its habitual and predominant 
 temper; as, for inftance, an occafional 
 ftart of good-humour differs from the 
 propenfity which confthutes a good-hu- 
 moured man, fo differ their refpeclive figns. 
 But as frequent returns of the emotion de- 
 clare the propenfity, fo frequent returns of 
 the correfponding fign tend ultimately to 
 the eftabliQiment of a fixed and permanent 
 criterion in the corporeal texture. The 
 particular figns, where no artifice is ufed, 
 are never equivocal ; and compofe the firft 
 elements of language. But, as has been 
 before obferved, between the general figns 
 and the temper a repugnancy may often 
 fubfift. In the one cafe, the evidence is ex- 
 plicit ; in the other, it is only prefumptive* 
 The former conftitution was expedient or 
 neceffary for the purpofes of focial inter- 
 
 courfe ;
 
 384 ESSAYS ON THE 
 
 courfe ; but it was neither necefTary nor 
 expedient, that the character of the mind 
 fhould be legible in the countenance, and 
 in the full view of every beholder. 
 
 Upon the whole, it may be concluded, 
 that the mental qualities and the corre- 
 fponding figns are not neceflarily coinci- 
 dent, or the refult of one phyfical arrange- 
 ment, but ftand rather in the relation of 
 caufe and effecl: ; the latter growing out of 
 the former, in confequence of thofe myfle- 
 rious laws which pervade the fyftem of 
 man. Thus moral fentimentdiverfifies the 
 outward form ; and though the varieties 
 which indicate national character, may of- 
 ten be equally confident with health and 
 vigour; yet, in certain circumftances of 
 fociety, there is reafon to believe that the 
 predominant feelings of our nature become 
 highly injurious to the animal ceconomy. 
 
 5 
 
 Let 
 
 . . . o-
 
 HISTORY OF MANKIND. 385 
 
 Let us fuppofe a tribe of mankind 
 reduced to a fituation the mod humi- 
 liating and calamitous ; cramped in their 
 intellectual exertions by an illiberal dif- 
 cipline ; prone to the fentiments they 
 muft learn to diffemble, and averfe from, 
 other fentiments they are obliged to counter- 
 feit ; at perpetual variance with fortune ; 
 and led, by the rigour of its perfecutions, to 
 cherifh the odious, the rancorous, the 
 vindictive, to the exclufion of all the gentler 
 paffions. Under fuch circumftances, it 
 were contrary to the whole analogy of na- 
 ture, if the bodily conftitution remained 
 found and untouched. Nor is the picture 
 we have drawn copied from imagination, 
 and aflumed merely on the prerogative of 
 hypothefis. The original is, perhaps, to 
 be contemplated in the hiftory of the 
 antient world; among the bondmen of 
 Judea, the helots of Sparta, the fubjets of 
 domeftic tyranny among the Romans. The 
 C c condition
 
 386 ESSAYS ON THE 
 
 condition of thofe tribes was indeed fufjici- 
 ently wretched : yet fuch as, in fome re- 
 fpects, might almoft excite envy, when 
 compared with that feverer deftiny, to 
 which the maxims of modern policy have 
 condemned, in another hemifphere, a large 
 .proportion of the fpecies. 
 
 Of all the nations of antiquity, the Athe- 
 nians treated flaves with moft humanity ; 
 the Spartans with the leaft. If, in the treat- 
 ment of their women, the Spartans have 
 appeared worthy of fuch fuperior praife ; 
 in this other branch of public manners, they 
 are far inferior to the rival ftate. The 
 moft wanton debafement of flaves entered 
 into the avowed plan of their civil difci- 
 pline. The helots were even compelled 
 to commit vice, in order to infpire an 
 abhorrence of it in the Spartan youth ; to 
 befot themfelves with intoxicating liquors, 
 in order to afford a leffon of moderation to 
 
 S the 
 
 .
 
 HISTORY OF MANKIND. 387 
 
 the free citizen. But how mocking is that 
 policy which fported with humanity in one 
 form, to give it dignity in another; and 
 authorifed a breach of morality, with a 
 view to enforce its precerjts ! It is equalled 
 perhaps only hy the policy of fome modern 
 ftates, who are faid to encourage or con- 
 nive at the corruption of their priefts, with 
 a view to check the influence which fuper- 
 ftition is apt to give to that order of men 
 over the minds of the people. 
 
 The Cryptia, or atnbufcade, by which the 
 dark and infidious murder of the helots 
 was authorifed by law, cafts a difmal made 
 on the whole fabric of Spartan jurifpru- 
 dence. It implies a degree of barbarity to 
 which, it muft be owned, there is no 
 parallel even in the black code, or in the pre- 
 fent regulations of any European ftate. There 
 is, however, ground to believe that fo mock- 
 ing an inftitution was fuggefted on a general 
 revolt of the flaves, by the apprehenfion of 
 C c 2 public
 
 388 ESSAYS ON THE 
 
 public danger, but difgraced not the fyftem 
 of Lycurgus, nor the purer ages of the 
 Spartan commonwealth. In general, the 
 condition of antient Haves was lefs unhappy. 
 The Cbronia of the Greeks, the Saturnalia 
 of the Romans, could even invert the 
 diftincYion of ranks. Slaves, on thefe fefti- 
 vals, were ferved by their mafters ; and all 
 ranks of men were reminded, by an admi- 
 rable eftablifhment, of that primitive equa- 
 lity which was fuppofed to have fubfifted in 
 the reign of Saturn, and the golden age. 
 Some intervals of freedom were thus per- 
 mitted ; fome fhort refpite to the wretched. 
 But the negro tribes are unacquainted with 
 any fuch indulgences. And, without tax- 
 ing their American mafters with an inhu- 
 manity beyond the nations of antiquity, we 
 may obferve peculiar circumftances in their 
 deftiny that enhance its rigour. Their 
 mafters, without being more inhuman by 
 nature, are, in practice, more unjuft. An- 
 tient
 
 HISTORY OF MANKIND. 389 
 
 dent flaves found a refuge in the fympathy 
 of their matters, which the negroes do not 
 fo eafily excite. Their features and com- 
 plexion, regarded as natural badges of in- 
 feriority, feem to mark them out for fervi- 
 tude ; and, furnifhing an occafion for un- 
 reafonable contempt, or antipathy ap- 
 proaching to hatred, extinguish that fellow- 
 feeling with their fufferings, by which 
 their grievances would often be lightened, 
 
 and the hand of the oppreflbr difarmed. 
 
 ' 
 
 Hatred, envy, and revenge grow up na- 
 turally under fuch fufferings. But the love 
 of liberty, the moft ftubborn principle 
 of the heart, is at length eradicated. Self- 
 reverence is gone ; and emancipation itfelf 
 cannot reflore them to the honours of hu- 
 man nature. In time, they view them- 
 felves almoft in the light in which they are 
 viewed by their rulers ; and it is thus they 
 finally acquiefce in their deftiny, and ceafe 
 C c 3 even
 
 .390 ESSAYS ON THE 
 
 even to think like free men, after having 
 long eeafed to be free. 
 
 If then the unfortunate natives of Africa, 
 the fubjecls of our difhonourable and odious 
 commerce, do, in reality, degenerate in the 
 various regions to which they are transferred, 
 and, far from multiplying, cannot even keep 
 up the number of the flock without perpe- 
 tual recruits, it is not improbable that the 
 infolence of tyranny, and the violence offered 
 to the ftubborn paffions and feelings of na- 
 ture, contribute as largely to that degeneracy 
 in their frame, as the fmart of the rod, or 
 malignity of climate, or the labours they 
 are forced to endure. 
 
 The reduction of the negro tribes to 
 perpetual fervitude was contended for in the 
 fifteenth century, on this notable ground, 
 4C that they had the colour of the damned." 
 This ground can only be occupied in an 
 
 ignorant
 
 HISTORY OF MANKIND. 391 
 
 ignorant and fuperftitious age. But the ar- 
 guments, by which the fame conduct is 
 {till attempted to be vindicated, though 
 more fubtle and refined, are equally repug- 
 nant to reafon, to humanity, and to found 
 policy. Thofe arguments have accordingly 
 been refuted, from all thefe confiderations, 
 by fome of the moft refpeclable writers in 
 our own and other nations ; by Hume, by 
 Smith, by Montefquieu ; and, in a manner 
 the moft decifive and animated, by an au- 
 thor*, who unites to the warmeft zeal for 
 i 
 
 the rights of mankind, a comprehenfive 
 knowledge of their interefts ; and who has 
 adorned a work, abounding in various and 
 ufeful information for all nations, with all 
 the lights of philofophy, and all the fplen- 
 dor of eloquence. But the conviction of 
 
 men of fcience is not the conviction of the 
 ui Ijii23*l!l 
 
 crowd, and has\ often but little weight 
 
 * Hift. Phil, et Polit. tome iv. p. 161 et fuiv. 
 
 C c 4 with
 
 392 ESSAYS ON THE 
 
 with the rulers of nations ; to whom alone 
 it belongs, by prohibiting the importation 
 of Haves under the fevered penalties, to 
 annihilate for ever a traffic which throws 
 fo great a ftain on the political ceconomy of 
 modern ages. 
 
 The late refolution of the Quakers in 
 Pennfylvania to emancipate their negro 
 (laves, feems to evidence a degree of pure 
 and difmterefted virtue in that people, be- 
 yond the example of the mod virtuous 
 communities of antient times. 
 
 The love of civil liberty is furely a gene- 
 rous paffion; yet is it capable of being 
 combined with the love of domination : 
 and it may perhaps be affirmed, that the 
 toleration of domeftic flavery, among the 
 Greeks and Romans, tended to infpire an 
 additional ardour in the caufe of freedom. 
 The feveritics inflicted on their flaves 
 
 heightened
 
 HISTORY OF MANKIND. 393 
 
 heightened the dread of their own eventual 
 fufferings. Tyrants at home, they became 
 more jealous of tyranny in their civil rulers, 
 and even impatient under the controul of 
 legal dominion. They contemplated poli- 
 tical through the medium of domeftic fer- 
 vitude, and became in reality more tena- 
 cious of civil liberty, by perfifting in a 
 conduct that rendered them more un- 
 worthy of it. Perhaps the fame caufe 
 has been productive of fimilar effects 
 in fome of the colonies of America. Yet 
 the nobleft paffion in the human breaft is 
 more naturally cherifhed by the love of juf- 
 tice and humanity. And it is referved for 
 fome happier age to abolifh, throughout the 
 new hemifphere, an inftitution, which has 
 polluted the hiftory of the freeft govern* 
 ments in the antient world. 
 
 In fome of the Spanifh provinces, where 
 the negroes are lefs employed in field- work 
 
 than
 
 394 ESSAYS ON THE 
 
 than in domeftic fervice, their condition is 
 fomewhat elevated ; but it is by the depref- 
 fion of another part of our fpecies ftill 
 more wretched. Submiflion is more or 
 lefs humiliating, from the confideration of 
 the perfons to whom it is paid. A child is 
 not degraded by fubmiflion to a parent ; 
 nor a fubjeft, by allegiance to his lawful 
 prince. But to be expofed to the infults of 
 a race of flaves, is the loweft form of debafe- 
 ment. Yet fuch has been the fortune of 
 the native Indians in thofe very countries 
 where their anceflors fuftained the character 
 of flourifhing and happy nations. Among 
 the inhabitants of theSpanilh colonies, they 
 rank below the negroes ; who, elevated by 
 this diftinction, treat them with infolence 
 and fcorn. And it is the infidious policy 
 of the Spaniards, to fow the feeds of dif- 
 cord and animofity between the two races, 
 who will one day perhaps lay afide their 
 mutual rancour, in order to retaliate their 
 
 common
 
 HISTORY OF MANKIND. 395 
 common miferies on their imperious maf- 
 
 WIO-'UI ' *Pf, 
 
 The American features and complexion, 
 fcarce lefs offenfive to the Europeans than 
 the African, allowed equal fcope to their 
 antipathies ; while thefe antipathies were 
 heightened and inflamed by the jealoufy 
 entertained of the vanquifhed. And 
 though the condition of the Indians is im- 
 proved by the more recent regulations of 
 the Spanifh policy, had it been poffible for 
 
 their anceftors at the conqueft to have pre- 
 
 * 
 
 dieted fo long a feries of calamity, it might 
 well have infpired, throughout the empires 
 of Peru and Mexico, fuch a defperate refo- 
 lution, as was actually executed at that xra. 
 
 by an Indian tribe in the ifland of Saint 
 
 >j' 
 
 Domingo, who unanimoufly interdicted 
 themfelves the commerce of fex, that they 
 might not entail their miferies on a pofte- 
 jrity. Thus the Indians in thofe regions 
 
 had
 
 396 ESSAYS ON THE 
 
 had fufFered extinction, not degradation : 
 and who would hefitate to prefer the firft, 
 when fuch alternatives alone are prefented 
 by fortune ? 
 
 But the pen drops from my hand, in 
 reciting the enormities a&ed by Euro- 
 peans in the new hemifphere. Nor 
 fhould I have entered fo far into the detail, 
 were I not called upon by my fubject to 
 contemplate life from its higheft to its 
 loweft gradation, and to illuftrate thofe 
 moral fituations, which are fo c'apable of 
 producing degeneracy in the human frame. 
 And fuch confequences may be allowed to 
 follow from the intimate union of mind 
 and body, without favouring thofe fy Items 
 of materialifm, which, however fafhionable 
 in the philofophy of the prefent age, feem 
 to confound the moft important diftindHons 
 of our being. The body, as has been ob- 
 ferved, may profper while the mind is de- 
 
 bafed.
 
 HISTORY OF MANKIND. 397 
 
 bafed. The mind may profper, while the 
 body lofes of its perfection. Yet the 
 (hocks which are felt in the tranfition 
 from a free and happy ftate to that of fla- 
 very and dejection, may prove, to the laft 
 degree, injurious to the organization of 
 man. . It is not fo much any debafement or 
 elevation of the mental powers, that we 
 have fuppofed deftructive, as unnatural re- 
 ilraint, as the revolt of the fpirit, and the 
 intenfity of inward emotion. The limit of 
 this influence over a people, we pretend 
 not to fix with precifion ; yet that the 
 contagion of the mind, in a variety of 
 ways, affects the whole animal ceconomy, 
 is eftablifhed by the hiftory of individuals, 
 of tribes, and of nations. And as the 
 condition of a flave is by far the moft 
 wretched in the lot of man, fo its ten- 
 dency is apparently the moft destructive. 
 Of this, the hiftory of the negro tribes fur- 
 nifties an immenfe variety of the .moft 
 
 melancholy
 
 398 ESSAYS ON THE HISTORY, &c. 
 
 melancholy examples. And it is fuffi- 
 ciently attefted, that great numbers of 
 the native Indians of America, when they 
 found they were treated as flaves by the 
 Spaniards, have died of vexation, or de- 
 ftroyed themfelves in the frenzy of de- 
 fpair. Under the rigour then of fuch 
 difcipline, we may expe<Sl the decline of 
 the animal fyftem, if not the total extinc- 
 tion of the degraded race. 
 
 But the perfection of the animal is 
 not the perfe&ioa of the man ; neither 
 do their infirmities neceffarily correfpond. 
 It is therefore of more importance to 
 enquire how far moral and civil culture 
 affe&s the fyftem of the mind, and there- 
 by creates original and eflential differences 
 in the temper and genius of pofterity: a 
 queftion which, promifing fome farther 
 openings into the theory of the human 
 character, deferves to be confidered in 
 a feparate Eflay.
 
 ESSAY XIII. 
 
 OF THE HEREDITARY GENIUS OF NATIONS. 
 
 TH E empire of the imagination and 
 the paifions, ,by diverfifying the 
 natural form, and reaching the organiza- 
 tion of man, has appeared to be extenfive. 
 But, without invigorating or enervating 
 the principle of mere animal life, perhaps 
 his genius and character in one age may, 
 by the more direct laws of the intellectual 
 ceconomy, affect the original genius and 
 character of fucceeding generations. The 
 mode of this ceconomy we pretend not to 
 unfold. It is the order of things ; it is the 
 relation of appearances alone, which is the 
 foundation of all juft theory with regard to 
 
 ^ the
 
 400 ESSAYS ON THE 
 
 the natural or to the moral world. The con- 
 nection of caufe and effect is, in all cafes, a 
 myfterious connection, which no mortal 
 can unveil. Prior then to all theory, let us 
 contemplate fome of the appearances in 
 civil life. 
 
 The feparation of families and the 
 diftinction of ranks are elFential to all 
 political eftablimments. No divifion of 
 property, no rules of patrimonial fucceflion, 
 no fumptuary, no agrarian laws can long 
 preferve a parity of rank or fortune among 
 any people. The greater number, indeed, 
 in every ftate, are rendered fubfervient to 
 the few; are confounded together in one 
 clafs, and compofe the rude vulgar of man- 
 kind. Thus, in the plan of the Comitia 
 of Rome, the people was diftributed into 
 fix clafles, and every Roman was allowed 
 fome fhare of political power; but the 
 loweft clafs gradually funk into neglect, 
 i The
 
 HISTORY OF MANKIND. 401 
 
 The whole power of thecomitia was trans- 
 ferred to their fuperiors, and thofe of each 
 clafs, though equal in their collective capa- 
 city, were, as men and as citizens, of very 
 unequal confideration. 
 
 Thefeus inftituted at Athens an order of 
 nobility, and debarred the people at large 
 from all the honourable functions of civil 
 government. And if Solon, by permitting 
 every citizen to vote in the public aflembly, 
 feemed to confer on the meaneft of them 
 a fort of political exiftence ; yet, even by 
 Solon's plan, the Athenians were divided 
 into three clafles, according to the extent of 
 their fortunes, while the mafs of the people, 
 diftincT: from thefe, were legally excluded 
 from all offices of truft or honour. 
 
 In Sparta alone an equality of fortune 
 
 was the aim of the legiflator, and an avowed 
 
 maxim of government. Bt the expedients 
 
 Dd of
 
 402 ESSAYS ON THE 
 
 of Lycurgus were not effectual for that 
 purpofe ; and, even in the pureft ages of 
 the Commonwealth, the diftinclion of riches 
 and poverty was not totally unknown. 
 
 Such is the condition of men in the moft 
 democratical ftates. The forms of fociety 
 require fubordination ; the detail of affairs 
 calls for different occupations ; and mankind 
 are diftributed into claffes, to which belong 
 unequal degrees of importance. 
 
 That the fubdivifion of arts, which isfo 
 conducive to their perfection, degrades the 
 character of the common artizan, is a pro- 
 pofition confonant to the uniform expe- 
 rience of civilized nations. The moft fim- 
 ple manufacture is executed by the joint 
 labour of a number of people, each of 
 whom being expert only in his own pecu- 
 liar branch, perceives neither the con- 
 nection of defige, nor therefult of the com- 
 
 bination.
 
 HISTORY OF MANKIND. 403 
 
 bination. That fyftematic knowledge be- 
 longs only to the mafter-artift j and the de- 
 tail of the execution feems to refemble, in 
 fome fort, the proceedings of inftinct in 
 animal life, where we fo often obferve, by 
 the wifdom of nature, a regular, though 
 blind, co-operation of numbers towards an 
 unknown end. 
 
 The manufacture of a pin is a trite ex- 
 ample, ferving well to illuftratethis fubdivi- 
 fion of labour. That bufmefs is fubdivided 
 into about eighteen diftinct operations, 
 which are fometimes all performed by 
 diftinct hands. In manufactures of a more 
 complicated fabric, the operations are ftill 
 farther fubdivided, and often tend, among 
 the various orders of artizans, to debilitate 
 the body, and to engender difeafe. But ex- 
 clufively of this confequence, the life of 
 fuch an artizan is filled up with a feries of 
 actions, which, returning with an infipid 
 D d 2 uniform-
 
 404 ESSAYS ON THE 
 
 uniformity, affords no exercife to genius 
 or capacity. And if the tendency of his oc- 
 cupation is not counteracted by fome expe- 
 dient of government, he is fuffered to fall 
 into a torpor of intellect, which implies the 
 abfence or annihilation of every manly 
 virtue. Such occupations, in the antient 
 republics of Greece and Rome, were con- 
 fidered as beneath the dignity of free citi- 
 zens, and were commonly exercifed by 
 {laves. 
 
 In the prefent ftate of the arts among the 
 European nations, perhaps the moft re- 
 fpectable character among the inferior 
 ranks is bred by the profeflion of arms. 
 Its functions, which have morecompafs and 
 variety, are more animated and interefting 
 than thofe of a mechanical trade. The 
 whole detail of military exercife polimes 
 and fafhions the body, and even confers 
 graces which elevate the mind. In the 
 
 hreaft 
 

 
 HISTORY OF MANKIND. 405 
 
 breaft of a private foldier, accordingly, 
 there often reigns a fenfe of perfonal dignity 
 and honour, which fcarce ever enters into 
 the mafs of the people, and is but rarely to 
 be met with in men of fuperior affluence 
 and figure. A certain caft of genius 
 and character adheres to every condi- 
 tion. Different degrees of refinement and 
 civility characterife the various orders of citi- 
 zens ; and the dignity or meannefs annexed 
 to the fphere in which they move, is, by 
 no violent tranfition of imagination, trans- 
 ferred to their immediate, and even to re- 
 mote defcendents, and regarded as appen- 
 dages of pofterity. 
 
 Thus families are formed, where men 
 
 * > j ^ ^ ? ^-f > ^ * ; $ i i - . ^ 
 
 become deftined, from birth alone, to oc- 
 cupy, in civil fociety, more or lefs exalted 
 ftations. Antiquity of family then implies 
 a defcent from a feries of anceftors long fe- 
 parated from the crowd, and exalted to 
 ibme eminence in the ranks of life. Now, 
 Dd 3 it
 
 406 ESSAYS ON THE 
 
 it will not be denied, that in the iirft gene- 
 ration, the refemblance of children to pa- 
 rents is often confpicuous in the features, 
 both of body and mind. The one fpecies of 
 refemblance is fometimes confpicuous where 
 the other is fcarce difcernible ; and the 
 other fpecies is fometimes no lefs predomi- 
 nant where the former fubfifts in an infe- 
 rior, or perhaps in no degree. Thefe prin- 
 ciples, though blended occafionally in their 
 operations, feem to be diftinct and inde- 
 pendent. Various caufes, to us unknown, 
 may interrupt the law of refemblance in 
 the outward form. Various caufes, alike 
 unknown, may interrupt the law of re- 
 femblance in the moral oeconomy. Thefe 
 connections and dependencies we attempt 
 not to explore. We know not how far the 
 character of parents touches, if we may fay 
 fo, the elements of the amorous paffion, or 
 diverfifics the mode of inftincl:, fo as to 
 affecT: the progeny of phyfical love. It is 
 firffkient, if general experience declare fuch 
 
 connections
 
 HISTORY OF MANKIND. 407 
 
 connections to have a foundation in na- 
 ture. 
 
 Admit then, that certain qualities of 
 xnind, as well as body, are tranfmiffible in 
 the firft generation, and do not terminate 
 there ; is there not reafon to expect, from 
 the accumulated efforts of the fame caufes, 
 that fome general inheritance may be de- 
 rived in a courfe of ages, and confequently, 
 that a greater or lefs propenfity to refine- 
 ment, to civility, and to the politer arts, 
 may be connected with an illuftrious, or 
 more obfcure original ? 
 
 . ,. 
 
 But this fpecies of influence, which is 
 ftrictly moral, ought to be variable in every 
 country, with the order, the policy, and the 
 arrangements of civil fociety. It is the ge- 
 nius of popular and free governments to 
 annihilate, in fome fort, family diftinctions. 
 Citizens, born to equal privileges, and con- 
 
 D d 4.*1; Jf; ftituted
 
 4c8 ESSAYS ON THE 
 
 ilituted in (imilar points of exterior rank, 
 will tranfmit to pofterity more equal pro- 
 portions of the gifts of nature. Under a 
 more unequal government, where dif- 
 tinctions abound, where there reigns the 
 ftrongeft contraft of circumftances, and 
 where a difparity of condition has been 
 cherifhed and preferved for ages, the moral 
 diverfity will be more confpicuous ; and 
 civil diftin&ions long maintained, will open 
 a fource of natural diftindtions in fucceed- 
 ing times. Hereditary characteriftics ac- 
 cordingly attracted the attention of man- 
 kind, in fome degree, under all the antient 
 governments. A regard to defcent, which 
 amounted to a fpecies of idolatry among 
 fome nations, has not been altogether ex- 
 ploded in free and popular dates. In the 
 Gentoo government of Indoftan, the dif- 
 tinction of cafts or tribes was never violated 
 by promifcuous commerce. Andfuch was 
 the public folicitude of the Indians, about 
 
 the
 
 HISTORY OF MANKIND. 409 
 
 the future generation, that phyfical educa- 
 tion might be faid to commence antecedently 
 to birth. A guardian was appointed for an 
 infant yet unborn ; and it was his province 
 to lay down a regimen for the mother 
 during the months of pregnancy *. 
 
 The improvement of the race of citizens 
 was a favourite objecT: of Spartan policy. 
 And while, with this view, the laws autho- 
 rifed, under certain regulations, a commu- 
 nity of wives, and even approved of croff- 
 ing the brood, they permitted not alliances 
 or intermarriages among the different or- 
 ders of citizens. Such alliances and inter- 
 marriages were alfo exprefsly interdicted 
 by the laws of Rome, for upwards of three 
 hundred years. The free fpirit of the Ro- 
 mans indeed at laft rebelled againft fuch 
 odious diftindions, and opened to every 
 citizen the way to civil honours. Yet the 
 
 ' if)..<liYflOl>j 
 
 * Gentqo Code, p. 383. 
 
 Romans
 
 4 io ESSAYS ON THE 
 
 Romans themfelves, after fo glorious a 
 ftruggle for privilege, againft the ufurpa- 
 tions of a proud nobility, teftified, in the 
 very moment of vidory, their reverence 
 for Patrician blood*. Imagination furely, 
 in all fuch cafes, influences the judgment 
 of the people; and while it inclines them 
 fo often to beftow unmerited preference, it 
 fometimes elevates the character of the in- 
 dividuals to whom that preference is given. 
 Men nobly born are animated with the idea, 
 and think themfelves called upon, in a pe- 
 culiar manner, to emulate the virtues, and 
 to fuflain the honours of their name. 
 
 Et Pater Anchifes, & avunculus excitat Heftor, 
 
 They feel, not what they are, but what 
 they ought to be ; till at laft, by feeling 
 what they ought to be, they become what 
 they were not : and thus by reverencing 
 
 * Tit. Liv. cap. 6, lib. iv. 
 
 the
 
 HISTORY OF MANKIND. 411 
 
 the dignity of anceftors, they learn to affert 
 their own. But, independently of fuch 
 fentiments, as well as of all the peculiar 
 incentives to true glory, there is often an 
 invifible preparation of natural caufes, 
 which concurs with the civil order of 
 things in prolonging the honours or even 
 the infamy of a race ; and hereditary 
 characterises are interwoven into the ge- 
 nius and efTence of the mind. Hence the 
 milder glories of the Valern j hence the un- 
 feeling obftinacy and infolence of the Ap- 
 pian blood. And, perhaps, it will be found 
 that the judgment of the crowd, in thefe, as 
 in many inftances, though fwayed by ima- 
 gination, has however a foundation in ex- 
 perience, and is, in part, conformable to. 
 general laws. 
 
 To vindicate the principle on -which 
 this judgment proceeds, let us review 
 the condition of a family emerging 
 from rudenefs into the dignity of civil 
 
 life.
 
 4,ia. ASSAYS ON THE 
 
 life. Let us fuppofe the founders confti- 
 tuted in a ftate of independence, and of 
 decent affluence ; graced with every cir- 
 cumftance that can command refpect ; im- 
 proved by all the advantages of moral and 
 of civil culture, and exalted to a mode of 
 thinking, and of acting, fuperior to vulgar 
 minds. Some traces of this fpirit, we may 
 affirm, without being charged with exceffive 
 refinement, are likely to adhere to their 
 immediate progeny. But, how fcanty or 
 latent foever this inheritance at firft, if the 
 caufes are not difcontinued, the conftitu- 
 tional effecl: will be more confpicuous in 
 the fecond generation. If the former 
 impreffions are not effaced, the third 
 generation will have their conftitution 
 more (Irongly impregnated with the fame 
 elements ; till at laft, by happy alliances, 
 and by preferving the line on one fide 
 long unbroken, there fhall refult an aflb- 
 ciation of qualities, which, being con- 
 /olidated into the conftitution, form the 
 
 charao
 
 HISTORY OF MANKIND. 413 
 
 charaderiftics of a race. The fame reafon- 
 ing is eafily transferred to a family of an 
 ignoble line. Inftead of competence, inde- 
 pendence, culture, fubftitute indigence, fer- 
 vility, rudenefs. Extend this allotment 
 over an equal feries of pofterity, and yotr 
 will probably reverfe all the propenfities of 
 nature. A thoufand circumftances indeed 
 may warp a conftitution from any line of 
 character, and be deftructive of all heredi- 
 tary fymptoms ; but if thefe fymptoms 
 are often found to be concomitants of birth, 
 and are vifible in the extremes, they will 
 fubfift, though lefs apparently, in other fi- 
 tuations ; and our reafoning, how fal- 
 lacious foever, if applied to individuals^ 
 juftifies the general conclufion. If that 
 turn of imagination, thofe infirmities of 
 intellect, which mark infanity, or delirium, 
 or folly, are fo often confefled hereditary, 
 {hall we not allow to alU the noble endow- 
 ments and talents of the mind, the fame 
 
 prero-
 
 ESSAYS ON THE 
 
 prerogative ? But there is no need to infer 
 from analogy what might be eftabliihed by 
 the moft copious induction, were it not 
 tedious to enumerate particulars, where the 
 experience of common life is fo decifive. 
 Thefe communicable qualities are fubject to 
 many contingencies : fome are obliterated ; 
 others, checked in their growth, lie dormant 
 for generations, yet again revive : it is 
 only an aflemblage of great talents, or the 
 long predominance of fome one ftriking 
 quality, that attracts the obfervation of the 
 world. The great qualities of the laft 
 Athenian king flourimed in the Archons 
 
 for above three hundred years. The Incas 
 of Peru, during a far longer period, were 
 eminent for every princely virtue. The 
 daughter of Sctpio was mother of the 
 Gracchi. The heroifm of the younger Bru- 
 tus was the heroifm of his remote progeni- 
 tor. The houfes of the Publicolt) the Meffafe, 
 
 s and
 
 HISTORY OF MANKIND. 415 
 
 
 
 and Valerli) were illuftrious for fix hundred 
 years. The Decii, retaining, equally long, 
 their primeval character, attempted the re- 
 vival of Roman virtue in the decline of the 
 empire* And, if expectation might be raifed 
 upon fuch foundations, a Briton might 
 almoft anticipate fome of the adors on the 
 public ftage at fome future sera. We have 
 feen a patron of freedom in our days, infe- 
 rior to no Roman name, commanding the 
 applaufe of fenates, fuftaining the vigour of 
 public councils, and leading on a nation to 
 glory. We have feen another, of conge- 
 nial fpirit, prefiding in the aflembly of the 
 nobles, and difpenfmg, from the highefl 
 tribunal, juftice to the people ; 
 
 -. His dantem Jura Catonem. 
 
 3- 
 
 I dare not mention a name among the 
 living but that the moft illuftrious ftatef- 
 man of the prefent age has left pofterity, 
 is matter of generous fatisfa&ion to the 
 
 Englifh nation. 
 
 Yet
 
 4i6 ESSAYS ON THE 
 
 Yet we are far from confidering birth as 
 the criterion of any one perfection of the 
 mind or body. Neither do we fuppofc, in 
 general, that an exalted ftation calls forth 
 the greateft talents, or is moft favourable to 
 the growth, or communication of moral or 
 intellectual endowments. Thofe in the 
 middle ranks of life, in a flourifhing and 
 cultivated nation, promife to tranfmit 
 as fair an inheritance to pofterity. The 
 accefs to refinement, to culture, and to 
 civil honours, which is opened to them 
 in the progrefs of government, allows them 
 almoft every advantage ; while they are 
 often exempted from corruptions which 
 are foftered by fuperior rank. Without 
 drawing invidious parallels, it may be af- 
 firmed, that the fluctuation of things, in 
 our age and country, the rotation of em- 
 ployments, the mutual intercourfes, inter- 
 marriages, and alliances, fo often formed, 
 are fufficient to blend and unite different 
 
 tempers
 
 HISTORY OF MANKIND. 417 
 
 tempers and capacities, fo as to prevent 
 hereditary endowments from becoming cha- 
 racteriftical of any one Order of citizens. 
 Yet the fame caufes, whofe influence in 
 particular families is ftill fufficient.to draw 
 attention, might, in other circdmftances 
 of fociety, have affected the departments 
 of civil life, and the more general divifions 
 of mankind. In ancient times, when pro- 
 feffions were hereditary ; when inter- 
 marriages among different claffes were 
 not permitted, or were held difhonour- 
 able ; when conjugal love was rarely vio- 
 lated, and genealogy was a fafliionable 
 fcience ; hereditary talents would be more 
 obfervable, and their influence in fociety 
 more ftrongly defined. Upon the whole, 
 it muft be admitted, that the character of 
 anceftors has influence on the line of 
 pofterity ; and that a long feries of caufes, 
 antecedent to birth, has affected, in each 
 individual, not only the mechanical and 
 E e vital
 
 4 f8 ESSAYS ON THE 
 
 vital fprings, but, in fome degree alfo, the 
 conftitutional arrangements of his intel- 
 lectual nature. The circumftance there- 
 fore of birth alone, may be regarded as 
 more or lefs aufpicious ; and may be 
 allowed, on fome occafions, to heighten or 
 to deprefs expectation ; but cannot, without 
 palpable and egregious abfurdity, enter 
 farther into the account, or be rendered a 
 topic of exultation or reproach in the efti- 
 mation of perfonal merit. Iphicrates, an 
 upftart Athenian, replied with becoming 
 fpirit to a perfon of noble birth, who had 
 dared to arraign his pedigree, " The ho- 
 *' nours of my family begin with myfelf : 
 " the honours of yours end in you.'* How 
 often might thofe in a humble fphere, ex- 
 change places with men who fit in the 
 cabinet of kings ? how often, as in the 
 Roman government, might we call a Dic- 
 tator from the plough ? The diftindion 
 here opened, far from flattering the arro- 
 . 6 gance,
 
 HISTORY OF MANKIND. 4*9 
 
 gance, or juftifying the ufurpations of men, 
 if extended from individuals, and families, 
 to the larger aflbciations of mankind, will 
 help to explain the hiftory of the world 
 with the leaft poffible violence to the com* 
 mon prerogatives of the fpecies. 
 
 ZJ'JlitiK'j Jt,'t 7 ''.' : .*.];; >'.\,Z .-". : { 'J 
 
 A cultivated and polifhed nation may, in 
 fome refpeds, be regarded as a (landing 
 family. The one is, relatively to the 
 greater number of the communities of 
 mankind, what the other is, relatively to 
 the greater number of citizens under the 
 fame civil ceconomy. The conduct of the 
 one, and of the other, towards their fup- 
 pofed inferiors, is often exactly fimilar. 
 Both carry themfelves with equal infolence, 
 and feem alike to forget or to deny the 
 inherent and unalienable rights of the 
 fpecies. Nations, however, as well as 
 families, may have fome inheritance to 
 boaft ; and the progeny of favages or bar- 
 E e 2 barians
 
 420 ESSAYS ON THE 
 
 barians may be difUnguifhable, both in 
 outward and inward form, from the pro- 
 geny of a cultivated people. A long feries 
 of civilization may exalt and refine certain 
 'principles congenial to our frame. A long 
 feries of ages fpent in rudenefs or barbarity, 
 may blunt and disfigure, though it can never 
 obliterate, in any tribe, the great outlines 
 of human nature. While one feries of 
 caufes tends more effectually to the perfec- 
 tion of the animal powers, another feries 
 may prove more aufpicious to fome parts 
 of the intellectual ceconomy. Many favage 
 tribes are remarkable for abilities in one 
 line, while no lefs deficient in another. 
 Some difcover fingular, and almoft incre- 
 dible propenfities to manners approaching 
 to brutality. The indocility of others is per- 
 fectly aftoniftiing. And in general, as if re- 
 luctant to diveft themfelves of the habits of 
 their anceftors, they ftiew an unfitnefs to re- 
 ceive the graces and refinements of polifhed 
 
 life.
 
 HISTORY OF MANKIND. 4311 
 
 life. Such appearances are afcribed by 
 fome writers to a fixed and . immutable di- 
 verfity in the races of mankind ; and the 
 regions that by accident have been the 
 fcene of rudenefs and barbarity, are pointed 
 out as the permanent and natural habita- 
 tions of inferior mortals. But thefe innate 
 and cohftitutional differences have been 
 fhewn, in the preceding pages, to be fluc- 
 tuating and contingent ; and therefore 
 confident with parity of rank, and one 
 Common origin of nations. 
 
 Allow to the mofr. unpromifing tribes 
 fuch advantages in the political fcene, as be- 
 long occafionally to the rudeft vulgar, under 
 any civil eftablifhment ; and as the latter 
 emerge into dignity among their fellow- 
 citizens, fo fhall the former among the 
 fociety of nations. The inheritances of all 
 the families within a ftate, reckoning from 
 its firft foundation, are, perhaps, nearly ba- 
 E e 3 lanced
 
 
 422 ESSAYS ON THE 
 
 lanced in the revolution of the great year 
 of government. The inheritances of tribes 
 and nations in all countries of the globe, 
 may be alfo balanced in the revolution of 
 that greater year which completes the def- 
 tiny of man. 
 
 Illuftrious rank is no more to be regarded 
 as a criterion of perfection in forming the 
 general eftimate of nations, than in forming 
 the particular eftimate of the feveral fami- 
 lies or members of the fame community. 
 The greateft nation is not always blefled 
 with the mod equal government, nor 
 adorned with the moft accomplilhed citizens. 
 The collective wifdom of a people is not to 
 be eftimated by that proportion of it which 
 actuates their public councils, or even by 
 the detail of their civil government. Yet 
 that government is certainly, in one refpect, 
 well conftituted, that calls abilities and dif- 
 tinguifhed worth into public view. Sir 
 
 William
 
 HISTORY OF MANKIND. 423 
 
 William Temple has pronounced this eu- 
 logium on the conftitution of the United 
 Provinces of Holland, though rather at 
 the expence of the national character. 
 tc Though perhaps the nation, fays that 
 " writer, generally be not wife, yet the go- 
 " vernment is, becaufe it is compofed of the 
 " wifeft of the nation, which may give it 
 f< an advantage over many others, where 
 *' ability is of more common growth, but 
 '* of lefs ufe to the public, if it happens 
 " that neither wifdom nor honefty are the 
 " qualities which bring men to the manage- 
 " ment of ftate affairs, as they ufually do 
 " in this commonwealth." It is, however, 
 no fmall point of wifdom to diftinguiih fu- 
 perior worth ; and the men who are difpofed 
 to regard with juft admiration noble ta- 
 lents, are inferior only to the men who 
 poflefs them. 
 
 ' '. , 4 ^ ;, 
 
 But it may be queftioned, whether the 
 
 happieft periods, even of free governments, 
 
 E e 4 are
 
 424 ESSAYS ON THE 
 
 are the periods moft conducive to the per- 
 fections of mankind. Perhaps the higheft 
 national, as well as private virtue, is bred 
 in the fchool of adverfity. A nation cer- 
 tainly may derive fplendour from thofe 
 very circumftances which fink the cha- 
 racter of its citizens. The fcience of me- 
 chanics, which is the glory of human rea- 
 fon, has enlarged the abilities, and dignified 
 the afpect of nations. Yet the lower clafles 
 of artizans and manufacturers, in moft of 
 the civilized governments of modern Eu- 
 rope, who are fo inftrumental in promoting 
 public opulence and commercial profperity, 
 may be pronounced to be themfelves in a 
 ftate of intellectual debafement, to whicji 
 there is fcarce any parallel in the hiftory of 
 rude barbarians. It is active and progreffive 
 virtue ; it is refinement of manners, or vi- 
 gour of fentiment, and the habits of intel- 
 lectual exertion, which confer real honour 
 on families ; it is the more general and dif- 
 fufive influence of fimilar habits, that ex- 
 airs
 
 HISTORY OF MANKIND. 425 
 
 aits a people in a moral light, and enriches 
 their genius for generations to come. 
 
 But the genius of man is fo flexible, fb 
 open to impreflipns from without, fo fuf- 
 ceptible of early culture, that between here- 
 ditary, innate, and acquired propenfities, it 
 is hard to draw the line of diftinction. It 
 were neceffary that the natives of one 
 country ftiould he bred up and educated, 
 from their earlier! infancy, among the na- 
 tives of another, in order to make fair ex- 
 periments with regard to original talents. 
 Under fuch circumftances, individuals are 
 occafionally prefented to view. A Theban 
 may be bred at Athens, an Athenian in 
 Bceotia. And, if whole tribes of mankind 
 could be placed in fimilar (ituations, we 
 might then indeed contemplate them in 
 their innate, as well as in their acquired 
 characteriftics, obferve the one mingling 
 with, or checked by the other, and mark, 
 
 in
 
 426 ESSAYS ON THE 
 
 
 
 in a variety of combinations, their accu- 
 mulated influence. Qualities, however, 
 that refift for ages the change of govern- 
 ment and of climate, muft be allowed to be 
 congenial and hereditary to the tribes 
 among whom they are found to predo- 
 minate. 
 
 Perhaps the hiftory of the Jews fur-? 
 nifties an example of a race, whofe peculiar 
 qualities, thus circumftanced, have de- 
 fcended through a long courfe of genera- 
 tions. No people, it may be affirmed, 
 have ever figured on the theatre of nations, 
 with a deftiny as iingular as theirs. Their 
 hiftory, whether drawn from facred or pro- 
 fane records, whether regarded as miracu- 
 lous, or in the order of nature, affords 
 matter of abundant fpeculation. The 
 maxims of their religion and policy pre- 
 ferved them in all the revolutions of for- 
 tune, as a diftincl: people, After the final 
 
 difiblution
 
 HISTORY OP MANKIND. 427 
 
 difiblution of their government, and dif- 
 perfion all over the habitable globe, a fyf- 
 tem of prejudices peculiar to themfelves, 
 but dire&ed, in its operations, to fulfil the 
 ends of Providence, has preferved their ge- 
 nealogy, and prevented alliances or inter* 
 marriages with any other race. Certain 
 marks of uniformity are accordingly dif- 
 cernible among them in every period. 
 The fame fpirit which was fo untradable 
 under their own governors, difpofed them, 
 to mutiny and rebellion when a Roman 
 province ; and that perverfenefs of temper, 
 which led them fo often to apoftacy and to 
 idolatry, when in pofleffion of the true 
 faith, has rendered them tenacious of a falfe 
 religion. As numerous, perhaps, at this 
 day, as when a fettled nation, the relation 
 of cpnfanguinity, under all the various go- 
 vernments and climates where their lot is 
 caft, marks their character. Yet, had this 
 infociable people remained in their antient 
 
 pofleffions,
 
 428 ESSAYS ON THE 
 
 pofTefIions,and, without foreign connections 
 or intermarriages, had fubfifted under the 
 fame political eftablifhment, the moft fm- 
 gular, furely, that ever was formed, the 
 lineaments of their chara&er, both of in- 
 ward and outward form, had, we may well 
 believe, been ftill more ftrongly defined. 
 In general it may be obferved, that the 
 confined intercourfe of the fpecies tends 
 ultimately to the formation of a peculiar 
 genius and temper. Thus, in the antient 
 Germans, the uniformity of individuals 
 was as aftonifhing as the diverfity t)f all 
 from every other people; and, from the 
 fmgularity of thefe appearances, the Roman 
 hiftorian fuppofes them a pure and diftincl: 
 race, not derived from Afia, from Africa s 
 from Italy, or from any other region *. 
 
 The new hemifphere prefented appear- 
 ances exaclly fimilar. The aftonifhing re- 
 
 * Tach. de MOT. Germ. 
 
 femblance
 
 HISTORY OF MANKIND. 429 
 
 femblance which was there obferved among 
 mankind, feems to evidence that it was 
 peopled originally by the fame race, and at 
 an sera of no high antiquity. The branches, 
 though widely fpread, had probably not 
 been long feparated from the common 
 ftock ; or perhaps a fimilarity in the modes 
 of life contributed, more than any other 
 caufe, throughout that immenfe continent, 
 to exclude variety in the human fpecies. 
 
 The hiftory of Indoftan, wfrere the Ab- 
 origines are fo clearly defined from the 
 other natives of the fame regions, might be 
 mentioned as another finking example of 
 a genius and conftitution which confan- 
 guinity has in part contributed to cherifli 
 and preferve for ages. 
 
 When emigrants from different countries, 
 fixed in one fettlement, and under one po- 
 litical ceconomy, preferve, however, for a 
 
 length
 
 43<> ESSAYS ON THE! 
 
 length of time, diftinguiming eharafteriftics, 
 the diverfity cannot be altogether afcribed 
 to circumftances pofterior to birth. The 
 temper of the Britifli nation, which is at- 
 tributed by foriie writers to local fituation, 
 flourifhes with equal vigour in another he- 
 mifphere. The fpirit which now animates 
 American councils, was the fpirit of Britons 
 in a former age ; and the Britons, in the 
 fame province, are diftinguifhable from 
 every other tribe. The concourfe of fo 
 many tribes proved, in the Britifli colonies, 
 a fertile fource of animofity and diflenfion ; 
 and unfortunate, furely, was that policy in 
 the parent ftate, which could fo far fubdue 
 the antipathies, and reconcile the prejudices 
 of fo mixed a people, as to unite them in 
 one general confederacy againft her go- 
 vernment. Yet perhaps this temporary 
 and precarious union may diflblve apace ; 
 the feeds of internal difcord may revive ; 
 and their mutual jealoufies, if not con- 
 
 trouled
 
 HISTORY OF MANKIND. 431 
 
 trouled by fuperior wifdom, may one day 
 {hake the foundations of this rifing empire, 
 
 or reunite it to the Britifh government. 
 
 90 i 
 
 But were all memorials of thefe fettle- 
 ments refcinded from modern annals, there 
 might be obferved for ages to come, confti- 
 tutional diftindions in the fame province, 
 where the greater number, from conftitu- 
 tional refemblances, might boaft of one 
 lineage with Britons. Yet, thefe refem- 
 blances, and thofe diftindions, time muft 
 annihilate. And, from a new order of things, 
 there muft finally arife that peculiar aflbcia- 
 tion of qualities, which is properly called 
 national, as diftinguifhing a people long 
 under the fame phyfical and moral ceco- 
 nomy, from the reft of the world. x 
 
 '"' ' W im '-. 
 
 Much latitude, however, is allowed in 
 the genius and character of every people, 
 without violation of the general la"w. What 
 
 variety
 
 432 ESSAYS ON THE 
 
 variety among children of the fame parents, 
 do we obferve to confift with a family re- 
 femblance ? Confiftent, in the fame manner, 
 with family characleriftics, is a certain 
 national uniformity ; and confiftent with 
 national characteristics, are the effentials of 
 a common nature, and a common defcent. 
 Such varieties ought not to create antipa- 
 thies, or unhinge, or even relax the focial 
 ties. On the contrary, if it hold in man, 
 that croffing the brood tends occafipnally 
 to improvement, this confideration, which 
 forms a natural argument againft inceft, fo 
 juftly prohibited on political and moral 
 grounds by all civilized and enlightened 
 governments, authorifes and invites all 
 nations to form mutual connexions and 
 alliances. 
 
 Thus we may obferve mankind, effen- 
 tially the fame, yet in different regions of 
 the globe, varying continually from a fixed 
 
 ftandard ;
 
 HISTORY OF MANKIND: 433 
 
 ftandard ; breathing at firft, if I may ufe 
 the exprefllon, unequal proportions of the 
 cetherial fpirit ; excelling in the rational* 
 in the moral, or in the animal powers ; born 
 with a fuperior fitnefs for refinement, for 
 arts, for civil culture j or caft in a rougher 
 mould, and by native temper more indo- 
 cible and wild. Yet all the capital diftino 
 tions in individuals, families or tribes, flow 
 from caufes fubfequent to birth ; from edu* 
 cation, example, forms of government ; 
 from the order of internal laws, from 
 the maxims and genius of religion, from 
 the lights of fcience and philofophy ; in 
 fome degree from the infallible operations 
 of the external elements ; but above all, 
 from the free determinations of the will. 
 To run the parallel of nations, and decide 
 on their comparative perfections, were a 
 defign too afpiring for the Author of thefe 
 Effays ; yet the appearances in civil life we 
 may pronounce to be often delufive. The 
 F f manners,
 
 434 ESSAYS ON THE 
 
 manners, the crimes of illiterate favage 
 tribes are apt enough to appear to us in their 
 full dimenfion and deformity; but the viola- 
 tions of natural law among civilized nations 
 have a folemn varnifh of policy, which dif- 
 guifes the enormity of guilt. The greatnefs 
 too of a community dazzles the eye, and 
 confers an imaginary value on its members. 
 It eclipfes the milder luftre of more humble 
 tribes. Yet the virtue of nations, as of in- 
 dividuals, frequently courts the fhade, and 
 the beautiful figure of the poet is equally 
 applicable to both : 
 
 Full many a flower is born to blufh unfeen, 
 And wafte its fweetnefs on the defert air. 
 
 Hiftory, which ought to be the miftrefs 
 of human life, affects magnificence, and 
 feems to defcend from her dignity in record- 
 ing the tranfadtions of little States. She for- 
 gets that men may grow lefs by elevation, and 
 
 permits
 
 HISTORY OF MANKIND. 435 
 
 permits the honours of nations to be diftri- 
 buted by the hands of fortune. It is hence 
 the Greeks and Romans are regarded by 
 us, with a veneration fo far above all the 
 nations of antiquity. Hence Europe, in 
 modern times, boafts a pre-eminence that 
 feems to inful t the reft of the world. 
 
 It belongs to reafon and philofophy to 
 re-judge mankind ; and, under an endlefs 
 variety of appearances, more or lefs equi- 
 vocal, to obferve and fix the principles 
 which affect, in every age and country, 
 the proportion of human happinefs, and of 
 human perfection. Let not nations then, 
 or individuals, regard themfelves as {ingle 
 in the creation ; let them view their in- 
 terefts on the largeft fcale; let them feel 
 the importance of their ftation to them- 
 felves and to the fyftem ; to their contem- 
 poraries, and to future generations j and 
 learn, from the eftablilhed order of fecond 
 
 caufes,
 
 426 ESSAYS ON THE HISTORY, &e. 
 
 caufes, to refpect, to adorn, and to exalt 
 the fpecies. 
 
 Nor is the detail of the meaneft tribes 
 unimportant in philofophy. If human 
 nature is liable to degenerate, it is capable 
 of proportionable improvement from the 
 collected wifdom of ages. It is pleafant to 
 infer, from the actual progrefs of fociety, 
 the glorious poffibilities of human excel- 
 lence. And, if the principles can be aiTem- 
 bled into view, which moft directly tend 
 to diverfify the genius and character of 
 nations, fome theory may be raifed on 
 thefe foundations, that fhall account more 
 fyftematically for paft occurrences, and 
 afford fome openings and anticipations into 
 the eventual hiftory of the world. 
 
 THE END.
 
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