H-OFC
 
 .-OF-C..*' 
 
 !'vivr'?r'
 
 HINTS 
 
 TOWARDS 
 
 FORMING THE CHARACTER 
 
 OF 
 
 A YOUNG PRINCESS. 
 
 vmi Mi HI— 1. 1 UBMn 
 
 By HANNAH MORE. 
 
 IN TWO VOLUMES. 
 
 VOL. I. 
 
 I call that a complete and generous Education, which fits 
 a Perfon to perform juilly, fkilfully, and magnanimoufly, all 
 the Offices hoth of public and private Life ; of Peace and 
 of War. Milton. 
 
 THE FOURTH EDITION, 
 
 LONDON: , 
 
 Printed for T. Cadeli and W. Davies, in the Strand. 
 
 1809. 

 
 ^
 
 v,\ 
 
 to 
 
 THE RIGHT REVEREND 
 
 THE LORD BISHOP OF EXETER. 
 
 MY LORD, 
 
 ^ V-/OULD it have been forefeen by 
 
 the Author of the following pages, 
 
 "^ that, in the cafe of the illuftrious 
 
 Perfon-who is the fubje6l of them, 
 
 the ftandard of Education would 
 
 j have been fet fo high : and efpe- 
 
 l cially, that this Education would 
 
 ^ be committed to fuch able and 
 
 diftinguiilied hands, the work might 
 
 furely have been fpared. But as 
 
 VOL. I. a the
 
 VI DEDICATION. 
 
 the Second Volume was gone to 
 the Preis before that appointment 
 was announced, which muft give 
 generai fatisfaftion, it becomes im- 
 portant to requefV, that if the advice 
 fuggeiled in any part of the Work 
 ihould appear prefumptuous, your 
 Lordfhip, and flill more the PubUc, 
 who might be more forward than 
 your Lordiliip in charging the Au- 
 thor with prefumption, will have 
 the candour to recolleft, that it was 
 offered, not to the learned BijQiop 
 of Exeter, but to an unknown, and 
 even to an imaginary Preceptor. 
 
 Under thefe circumftances, your 
 Lordfhip will perhaps have the goodr- 
 nefs to accept the Dedication of 
 
 2 thefe
 
 DEDICATION. Vll 
 
 thefe flight Volumes, not as arro- 
 gantly pointing out duties to the 
 difcharge of which you are fo com- 
 petent, but as a mark of the refpe6l 
 and efteem with which I have the 
 honour to be, 
 
 MY LORD, 
 
 Your Lordfhip's moft obedient 
 and moft faithful fervant. 
 
 The AUTHOR. 
 
 April 2, 
 1805. 
 
 a 2
 
 if 
 
 Si 
 
 I
 
 PREFACE. 
 
 i 
 
 If any book, written with an upright and 
 difinterefted intention, may be thought to 
 require an apology, it is furely the flight 
 work which is now, with the mofl refped- 
 ful deference, fubmitted, not to the Public 
 only, but efpecially to thofe who may be 
 more immediately interefted in the impor- 
 tant object which it has in view. 
 
 If we were to inquire what is, even at 
 the prefent critical period, one of the moft 
 momentous concerns which can engage the 
 attention of an Englifliman, who feels for 
 his country like a patriot, and for his pofte- 
 rity like a father; what is that obje<5l of 
 which the importance is not bounded bj 
 the fhores of the Britilh Iflands nor limited 
 by our colonial poflcfTions ; — with which, 
 in its confequences, the interefts, not only 
 
 a 3 of
 
 X PREFACE- 
 
 of all Europe, but of the whole civilized 
 world, may hereafter be in fome meafure 
 implicated; — what Briton would hefitate 
 to reply. The Education of the Princefs 
 Charlotte of Wales ? 
 
 After this frank confelTion of the un- 
 fpeakable importance of the fubje£t in view> 
 it is no worder if the extreme difficulty, 
 as well as delicacy of the prefent undertak- 
 ing, is acknowledged to be fenfibly felt by 
 the Author. 
 
 It will too probably be thought to imply 
 not only officioufnefs, but prefumptlon, 
 that a private individual fhould thus hazard 
 the obtrufion of unfolicited obfervations on 
 the proper mode of forming the charader 
 of an Englifh Princefs. — It may feem to 
 involve an appearance of unwarrantable 
 diflruft, by implying an apprehenfion of 
 fome deficiency in the plan about to be 
 adopted by thofe, whoever they mav be, 
 on whom this great truft may be de- 
 volved ; and to indicate felf-conceit, by 
 conveying an intimation, after fo flrong an 
 avowal of the delicacy and difliculty of the 
 
 taft?:.
 
 PREFACE. ' XI 
 
 talk, that fiich a deficiency is within the 
 powers of the Author to fupply. 
 
 That Author, however, earneftly defires, 
 as far as it may be pofiible, to obviate thefe 
 anticipated charges, by alleging that under 
 this free conftitution, in which every topic 
 of national policy is openly canvaffed, and 
 in which the prerogatives of the Crown 
 form no mean part of the liberty of the 
 fubjedl, the principles which it is proper 
 to inflil into a royal perfonage, become a 
 topic, which, if difcufled refpe£lfully, may, 
 without offence, exercife the liberty of the 
 Britifli Prefs. 
 
 The Writer is very far, indeed, from pre- 
 tending to offer any thing approaching to a 
 fyflem of inftruftion for the Royal Pupil, 
 much lefs from prefuming to d "elate a plan 
 of conduct to the Preceptor. What is here 
 prefented, is a mere outline, which may be 
 filled up by far more able hands ; a fketch 
 which contains no confecutive details, which 
 neither afpires to regularity of defign, nor 
 exa£lnefs of execution. 
 
 a 4 To
 
 XU - PREFACE. 
 
 To awaken a lively attention to a fubje^ 
 of fuch moment ; to point out fome cir- 
 cumftances conneded with the early feafon 
 of improvement, but ftill more with the 
 fubfequent Itages of life; to offer, not a 
 treatife on Education, but a defultory 
 fuggeftion of fentiments and principles j to 
 convey inftrudion, not fo much by precept 
 or by argument, as to exemplify it by 
 illuftrations and examples ; and, above all, 
 to flimulate the wife and the good to exer- 
 tions far more effeftual ; thefe are the real 
 motives which have given birth to this 
 flender performance. 
 
 Had the Royal Pupil been a Prince, 
 thefe Hints would never have been obtruded 
 on the world, as it would then have been 
 naturally affumed, that the eflablifhed plan 
 ufally adopted in fuch cafes would have 
 been purfued. Nor does the Author pre- 
 fume, in the prefent inftance, to infmuate 
 a fufpicion, that there will be any want of 
 a large and liberal fcope in the projefted 
 fyflem, or to intimate an apprehenfion that 
 
 the
 
 PREFACE. XUI 
 
 the courfe of fludy \vill be adapted to the 
 fex, rather than to the circumftances of the 
 Princefs. 
 
 If, however, it fhould be alked, why a 
 ftranger prefumes to interfere in a matter 
 of fuch high concern ? It may be anfwered 
 in the words of an elegant critic, that in 
 claffic flory, when a fuperb and lading 
 monument was about to be confecrated to 
 beauty, every lover was permitted to carry 
 a tribute. 
 
 The appearance of a valuable elementary 
 work on the principles of Chriflianity, 
 which has been recently publifhed in our 
 language, tranilated from the German, 
 under the immediate patronage of an auguft 
 Perfonage, for the avowed purpofe of benefit 
 to her illuflrious daughters, as it is an event 
 highly aufpicious to the general interefls of 
 religion, fo is it a circumflance very en- 
 couraging to the prefent undertaking. 
 
 It is impoffible to write on fuch points 
 as are difcuffed in this little work, v ithout 
 being led to draw a comparifon between 
 
 the
 
 XIV PREFACE. 
 
 the lot of a Britifh fubjedl, and that of one 
 who treats on fimilar topics under a defpotic 
 government. — The excellent Archbiftiop of 
 Cambray, with every advantage which 
 genius, learning, profeflion, and fituation 
 could con'er; the admired preceptor of the 
 Duke of Burgundy, appointed to the office 
 by the King himfelf, was yet, in the beauti- 
 ful work which he compofed for the ufe of 
 his Royal Pupil, driven to the neceiTity of 
 couching his inflruclions under a fictitious 
 narrative, and of flieltering behind the veil 
 of fable, the duties of a juft fovereign, and 
 the bleffings of a good government : he was 
 aware, that even under this difguife, his 
 delineation of both would too probably be 
 confirued into a fatire on the perfonal errors 
 of his own king, and the vices of the French 
 government ; and in fpite of his ingenious 
 difcretion, the event juftified his apprehen- 
 fions. 
 
 Fortunate are the fubjeds of that free 
 and happy country who are not driven to 
 have recourfe to any fucli expedients 5 who 
 
 mav.
 
 PREFACE. XV 
 
 may, without danger, dare to exprefs tem- 
 perately what they think lawfully ; who, in 
 defcribing the moll perfed form of govern- 
 ment, inflead of recurring to poetic inven- 
 tion, need only delineate that under which 
 they themfelves live ; who, in Iketching the 
 charader, and fhadowing out the duties of 
 a patriot King, have no occafion to turn 
 their eyes from their own country to the 
 thrones of Ithaca or Salentum. 
 
 CON^
 
 CONTENTS 
 
 OF 
 
 THE FIRST VOLUME. 
 
 CHAP. I. 
 
 
 IntroduEfory Chapter, ■ — — 
 
 Page 
 
 t 
 
 CHAP. II. 
 
 
 On the Acqiiijttion ef Knowledge. — — 
 
 10 
 
 CHAP. III. 
 
 
 On the Importance of forming the Mind. — 
 
 24 
 
 CHAP. IV. 
 
 
 The Education of a Sovereign afpecific Edu' 
 
 
 cation. — — — — 4I 
 
 CHAP. V. 
 
 Importance ofjiudying Ancient Hijlory. — 63 
 
 CHAP.
 
 SVm CONTENTS*, 
 
 Page 
 
 CHAP. VI. 
 
 Laws, — Egypt. — Perjia. •— •— — 73 
 
 CHAP. VII. 
 Greece. — — — . »^ %^ 
 
 CHAP. VIII. 
 
 Rome. — — — — io6 
 
 CHAP. IX. 
 
 CharaElers of H'ljloriansy ivho were themfelves 
 concerned in the TranfaEiions whicJj they 
 record. — — — — 122 
 
 CHAP. X. 
 
 ReJleEllons on Hijlory. — Ancient Hijlorians. — 13 e 
 
 ^ CHAP. XI. 
 
 Englijh Hijlory. -^Mr. Hume. — — 153 
 
 CHAP. XII. 
 
 Important ^rax of EtigliJIi Hijlory. — Alfred. 
 — King John. — Henry VII. -— — 162 
 
 CHAP. XIII. 
 
 Queen Elizabeth, —— ■— — 177 
 
 CHAP.
 
 CONTENTS. XIV. 
 
 Page 
 
 CHAP. XIV. 
 
 Mcral Advantages to be drawn from the Study 
 of H'lfiory^ independent of the Examples it 
 exhibits. — It proves the Corruption of 
 Human Nature. — // demonflrates the fuper- 
 intending Power of Providence — illuflrated 
 by Inflances. — — — igi 
 
 CHAP. XV. 
 
 On the diflingiiifiing CharaBers of Chrifli^ 
 anity. — — — — 212 
 
 CHAP. XVI. 
 
 On the Scripture Evidences of Chriflianity.—' 
 The Chriflian religion peculiarly adapted to 
 the Exigencies of Man ; attd efpecially cal- 
 culated to fupply the Defefls of Heathen 
 Philofophy. — — — — 228 
 
 CHAP. XVII. 
 
 The Ufe of Hiflory in teaching the Choice of 
 Favourites. — Flattery. — Our Tafle im- 
 proved in the Arts of Adulation. — The 
 Dangers of Flattery exemplified, — 261 
 
 CHAP.
 
 XX CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAP. XVIII. 
 
 Religion necejary to the Well-being of States. 284 
 
 CHAP. XIX. 
 
 Integrity the tfue Political Wifdom. — 313 
 
 INTRO-
 
 INTRODUCTORY CHAPTER. 
 
 Vv E are told that when a Ibvereign of 
 ancient times, who wiflied to be a mathe- 
 matician, but was deterred by the difficulty 
 of attainment, alked, whether he could 
 not be inftru6ted in fome eafier m.ethod ; 
 the anfwcr which he received was, that 
 there was no royal road to geometry.—- 
 The leiTon contained in this reply ought 
 never to be loft fight of, in that moft im- 
 portant and delicate of all undertakings, the 
 education of a prince. 
 
 It is a truth which might appear too 
 obvious to require enforcing, and yet of all 
 others it is a truth moft liable to be prafti- 
 cally forgotten, that the fame fubjugation of 
 dchre and will, of inclinations and taftes, to 
 
 VOL. I. B the
 
 t INTRODUCTORY CHAPTER* 
 
 the laws of reafon and confcience, which 
 every one wifhes to fee promoted in the 
 lowefl ranks of fociety, is ilill more necef- 
 fary in the very higheft, in order to the 
 attainment either of individual happinefs^ 
 or of general virtue, to public- ufefulnefs, 
 or to private felf-enjoyment. 
 
 Where a prince, therefore, is to be edu- 
 cated, his own welfare no lefs than that of 
 his people, humanity no lefs than policy, 
 prefcribe, that the claims and privileges of 
 the rational being fhould not be fuffered 
 to merge in the peculiar rights or ex- 
 emptions of the expedant fovereign. If, 
 in fuch cafes, the wants and weakneffes of 
 human nature could indeed be wholly 
 effaced, as eafily as they are kept out of 
 fightj there would at leaft be fome reafon- 
 able plea againfl the charge of cruelty. 
 But when, on the contrary, the moft ele- 
 vated monarch muft ftili retain every na- 
 tural hope and fear, every affection and 
 pafEon of the heart, every frailty of the 
 mindj and every weaknefs of the body, to 
 
 which
 
 INTRODUCTORY CHAPTER, 3 
 
 which the meanefl fubjedt is liable ; how 
 exquifitely inhuman muft it be to provide 
 fo feduloufly for the extrinfic accident of 
 tranfient greatnefs, as to blight the growth 
 of fubftantial virtue, to dry up the foun- 
 tains of mental and moral comfort, and, in 
 fliort, to commit the ill-fated vi£lim of fuch 
 mifmanagement to more, alnxoft, than 
 human daneers and difficulties, without 
 even the common refources of the leaft 
 favoured of mankind. 
 
 Yet, muft not this be the unaggravated 
 confequence of not accufloming the royal 
 child to that falutary control which the 
 corruption of our nature requires, as its 
 indifpenfable and carlieft corrective ? If thofe 
 foolifti defires, which in the great mafs of 
 mankind are providentially repreffed by the 
 want of means to gratify them, fhould, in 
 the cafe of royalty, be thought warrantable, 
 becaufe every poflible gratification is within 
 reach, what would be the refult, but the full 
 blown luxuriance of folly, vice, and mi- 
 •iery ? The laws of human nature will 
 
 B 2 not
 
 SKnOBOCTOMX CHAPTZS* 
 
 to be f i in T oiii . 
 
 1- 
 
 fr^ . _ __i _: ias officers _ . :: 
 1^ V „ ^ ias feesBt, he ^d, - Fir::.s 
 r^ ~ V m^ are aiafw^a^ Me to C : ' ' •" ^ 
 
 :f r i ^ peco&r adv^ag^ ^cx 
 
 Bs- aa adnosi^e viskb can only bs 
 
 xcfifted
 
 LZZZQXT CT=--Z1^ 
 
 ^^ "b^ " Ti^ 'rzT. ^^^<'^ rrscniir — r=- Scri- 
 
 As die E^sd gpp***- ^e 
 
 -Ered ^^ 
 
 ii GB^ ever _ ^ _r-- 3 n 
 
 ~_r - » T 
 
 :kx w^ki- _. _ad lOfr^r ,--7 
 
 ?3S 
 
 »3
 
 6 INTRODUCTORY CHAPTER. 
 
 iiicatlng at that period, fuch flexibility to 
 the organs, fuch retention to the memory, 
 fuch quicknefs to the apprehenfion, fuch 
 inquifitivenefs to the temper, fuch alacrity 
 to the animal fpirits, and fuch impreffibility 
 to the afFedions, as are not pofTeffed at any 
 fubfequent period. We are therefore bound 
 by every tie of duty to follow thefe obvious 
 defignations of Providence, by moulding 
 that flexibility to the mofl durable ends; 
 by ftoring that memory with the richefl 
 knowledge ; by pointing that apprehenfion 
 to the higheft objefts ; by giving to that ala- 
 crity its befl: direction ; by turnmg that inqui- 
 fitivenefs to the noblefl intelleftual purpofes; 
 and, above all, by converting that imprefllbi- 
 lity of heart to the moil exalted moral ufes. 
 
 If this be true in general, much more 
 forcibly does it apply to the education of 
 princes ! Nothing fliort of the founded, 
 mofl: rational, and, let me add, mofl reli- 
 gious education, can counteratl the dangers 
 to which they are expofcd. If the higheft 
 of our nobility, in default of fome better 
 
 way
 
 INTRODUCTORY CHAPTER. 7 
 
 way of guarding againfl the mifchiefs of 
 flatterers and dependents, deem it expe- 
 dient to commit their fons to the wholefome 
 equality of a public fchool, in order to re- 
 prefs their afpiring notions, and check the 
 tendencies of their birth ; — if they find it 
 neceflary to counteract the pernicious in- 
 fluence of domeftic luxury, and the corrupt- 
 ing foftnefs of domeftic indulgence, by fe- 
 verity of fl:udy and clofenefs of application ; 
 how much more indifpenfable is the fpirit of 
 this principle in the inflance before us ? The 
 highefl nobility have their equals, their 
 competitors, and even their fuperiors. Thofe 
 who are born within the fphere of royalty 
 are deflitute of all fuch extrinfic means of 
 correftion, and mufl be wholly indebted for 
 their fafety to the foundnefs of their prin- 
 ciples, and the rectitude of their habits, 
 Unlefs, iherefore, the brightefl; light of 
 reafon be, from the very firft, thrown upon 
 their path, and the divine energies of our 
 holy religion, both reftraining and attractive, 
 be brought as early as poflible to ad upon 
 
 B 4 their
 
 8 INTRODUCTORY CHAPTER. 
 
 their feelings, the children of royalty, by 
 the very fate of their birth, would be *' of 
 all men mod miferable.'* 
 
 Let it not, however, be fuppofed, that 
 any impracticable rigour is here recom- 
 mended ; or that it is conceived to be ne- 
 celTary that the gay period of childhood 
 iliould be rendered gloomy or painful, 
 whether in the cottage or the palace. The 
 virtue which is aimed at, is not that of the 
 Stoic philofophy ; nor do the habits which 
 are deemed valuable, require the harfhnefs 
 of a Spartan education. Let nature, truth, 
 and reafon, be confulted ; and, let the child, 
 ^nd efpecially the royal child, be, as much 
 as poffible, trained according to their fmiple 
 and confident indications. The attention, 
 in fuch inftances as the prefent, fhould be 
 the more watchful and unremitting, as 
 counteracting influences are, in fo exalted a 
 ftation, necefiarily multiplied ; and every 
 difficulty is at its greateil poflible height. 
 In a word, let not common fenfe, which is 
 yniverfal and eternal, be facrificed to the 
 
 capricious
 
 INTRODUCTORY CHAPTER. 9 
 
 capricious taftes of the child, or to the pliant 
 principles of any who may approach her. 
 But let the virtue and the happinefs of the 
 royal pupil Le as fimply, as feehngly, and 
 as uniformly confulted, as if fhe were the 
 daughter of a private gentleman. May this 
 attention to her moral and mental cultivation 
 be the fupreme concern, from honefl re- 
 verence to the offspring of fuch a race, from 
 a dutiful regard to her own future happi- 
 nefs, and from reafonable attention to the 
 well-being of thofe millions, whofe earthly 
 fate may be at this moment fufpended on 
 ieffons, and habits, received by one provi- 
 dentially diftinguiflied female ! 
 
 CHAP.
 
 lO ON THE ACQUISITION 
 
 CHAP. 11. 
 
 On the Acquifttion of Knowledge, 
 
 J. HE courfe of Infli-udion for the Prlncefsi 
 will, doubllefs, be wifely adapted, not only 
 to the duties, but to the dangers of her 
 rank. The probability of her having one 
 day fundions to difcharge, which, in fuch 
 exempt cafes only, fall to the lot of females, 
 obviouily fuggeils the expediency of an edu* 
 cation not only fuperior to, but in certain 
 refpe£l:s, diftinft from, that of other women. 
 What was formerly deemed neceflary in an 
 inflance of ihis nature, may be inferred from 
 the well-known attainments of the unfortu- 
 nate Lady Jane Grey ; and ftill more from 
 the no lefs fplendid acquirements of Queen. 
 Elizabeth. Of the erudition of the latter, 
 we have a particular account from one, who 
 was the fitteil in that age to appreciate it^ 
 the celebrated Roger Afchani. He tells 
 
 us.
 
 OF KNOWLEDGE. J I 
 
 US, that when he read - over with her the 
 orations of Efchines and Demoflhenes in 
 Greek, fhe not only underflood, at firfl 
 fight, the full force and propriety of the 
 language, and the meaning of the orators, 
 but that Ihe comprehended the whole 
 fcheme of the laws, cufloms, and manners 
 of the Athenians. She poffefled an exad 
 and accurate knowledge of the Scriptures, 
 and had committed to memory moft of the 
 ftriking paffages in them. She had alfo 
 learned by heart many of the fineil parts of 
 Thucydides and Xenophon, efpecially thofe 
 which relate to life and manners. Thus 
 were her early years feduloufly employed in 
 laying in a large ftock of materials for go- 
 verning well. To what purpofe Jhe im- 
 proved them, let her illuflrious reign of 
 forty-five years declare ! 
 
 If the influence of her erudition on her 
 fubfequent profperity fhould be queftioned ; 
 let it be confidered, that her intelledual 
 attainments fupported the dignity of her 
 charader, under foibles and feminine weak- 
 
 nefles.
 
 li ON THE ACQUISITION 
 
 nefles, which would otherwife have funk 
 her credit : flie had even addrefs enough to 
 contrive to give to thofe weaknelTes a cer- 
 tain claflic grace. Let it be confidered 
 alfo, that whatever tended to raife her mind 
 to a level with thofe whofe fervices fhe was 
 to ufe, and of whofe counfels fhe was to 
 avail herfelf, proportionably contributed to 
 that mutual refpeft and confidence between 
 the queen and her minifters, without which, 
 the refults of her government could not 
 have been equally fuccefsful. Almoft every 
 man of rank was then a man of letters, and 
 literature was valued accordingly. Had, 
 . therefore, deficiency of learning been added 
 to inferiority of fex, we might not at this 
 day have the reign of Elizabeth on which 
 to look back, as the period in which ad- 
 miniftrative energy feemed to attain the 
 greateft poffible perfeftion. 
 
 Yet, though an extended acquaintance 
 with ancient authors will be neceflary now, 
 as it was then, in the education of a prin- 
 cefs J a general knowledge of ancient lan- 
 guages^
 
 OF KNOWLEDGE. I3 
 
 guages, it is prefumed, may be dlfpenfed 
 with. The Greek authors, at leafl, may 
 doubtlefs be read with fufficient advantage 
 through the medium of a tranflation ; the 
 fpirit of the original being, perhaps, more 
 transfufible into the EngHfh, than into any 
 other modern tongue. But are there not 
 many forcible reafons why the Latin lan- 
 guage fhould not be equally omitted * ? 
 Befides the advantage of reading, in their 
 original drefs, the hiflorians of that empire, 
 the literature of Rome is peculiarly intereft- 
 ing, as being the mofl fatisfadtory medium 
 through which the moderns can obtain an 
 Intimate knowledge of the ancient w^orld. 
 As the Latin itfelf is a modification of one 
 of the Greek dialefts, fo the Roman philo- 
 fophers and poets, having formed themfelves, 
 
 * The royal father of the illuftrious pupil is faid 
 to poflefs the princely accomplifhment of a pure 
 claflical tafte. Of his love for polite learning, the 
 attention which he is paying to the recovery of cer- 
 tain of the lofl works of fome of the Roman authors, 
 is an evidence. 
 
 ilS
 
 S4 ON THE ACQUISITlO^t 
 
 as much as poflible, on Grecian models, pfe-. 
 fent to us the nearejfl poflible tranfcripts of 
 thofe maflers whom they copy. Thus, by an 
 acquaintance with the Latin language, we 
 are brought into a kind of adlual contact 
 not only with the ancient world, but with 
 that portion of it which, having the moft 
 diredl and the fulleil intercourfe with the 
 other parts, introduces us, in a manner the 
 moil informing and fatisfaclory, to claflical 
 and phiiofophical antiquity in general. But 
 what is ftill more, the Latin tongue enables 
 us for ourfelves, without the intermediation 
 of any interpreter, to examine all the parti- 
 cular circumftances in manners, intercourfe, 
 modes of thinking and fpeaking, of that 
 period which Eternal Wifdom chofe (pro- 
 bably becaufe it was ever after to appear 
 the moft luminous in the whole retrofpecl 
 of hiftory) as fitteft for the advent of the 
 Meffiah, and the bringing life and immor- 
 tality to light by his gofpel. 
 
 If to this may be added lefler yet not unim- 
 portant confiderations, we would fay, that 
 
 4 by
 
 OF KNOWLEDGE. I^ 
 
 by the acquaintance which the Latin lan- 
 guage would give her with the etymology 
 of words, (he will learn to be more accu- 
 i-ate in her definitions, as well as more 
 critically exa£t and elegant in the ufe of her 
 ©wn language ; and her ability to manage 
 it with gracefulnefs and vigour will be con- 
 fiderably increafed *. 
 
 Of the modern languages, if the author 
 dares hazard an opinion, the French and 
 German feem the moft neceffary. The 
 Italian appears lefs important, as thofe aU'* 
 thors which feem more peculiarly to belong 
 to her education, fuch as Davila, Guicciar- 
 ■din, and Beccaria, m.ay be read either in 
 French or Englifh tranflations. 
 
 It is not to be fuppofed that a perfonage, 
 binder her peculiar circumftances, fhould 
 
 * "Who does not confider as one of the moft inte" 
 xefting paffages of modern hiftory, that which relates 
 "the efFeft produced by an eloquent Latin oration 
 pronounced in a full affembly, by the late Emprefs 
 Maria Therefa, in the bloom of her youth and 
 beauty, fo late as the year 1740 ? Antiquity produces 
 nothing more touching of the kind. 
 
 have
 
 !^ ON THE ACgUISITION 
 
 Jiave much time to fpare for the acqulfitbri 
 of what are called the fine arts j nor, per- 
 haps, is it to be defired. To acquire them 
 in perfeclion, would fleal away loo large a 
 portion of thofe precious hours which will 
 barely fuffice to lay in the various rudiments 
 .of indifpenfable knowledge ; and, in this 
 faftidious age, whatever falls far fliort of 
 perfection, is deemed of little worth. A 
 moderate fldil in mufic, for inftance, would 
 probably have little other effed, than to 
 make the lifleners feel, as Farinelli is faid 
 to have done, who ufed to complain heavily 
 that the penfion of 2000I. a ye^r, which'he 
 had from the King of Spain, was compen- 
 fation little enough for his being fometimes 
 obliged to hear His Majefly play. Yet this 
 would be a far lefs evil than that to which 
 excellence might lead. We can think of 
 few things more to be deprecated, than that 
 thofe who have the greatefl concerns to 
 purfue, fliould have their tafles engaged, 
 perhaps monopolized, by trifles. A liflener 
 to the royal mufic, if pofTefled of either 
 
 wifdoni
 
 OF KNOWLEDGE. 1 7 
 
 wifdom or virtue, could not but feel his 
 pleafure at the moft exquifite performance 
 abated, by the apprehenfion that this per- 
 fedion implied the neglect of matters far 
 more eflential. 
 
 Befides, to excel in thofe arts, which, 
 though merely ornamental, are yet well 
 enough adapted to ladies who have only 
 a fubordinate part to fill in life, would 
 rather lelTen than augment the dignity olF 
 a fovereign. It was a truly royal reply 
 of Themiflocles, when he was alked if he 
 could play on the lute — " No, but if you 
 will give me a paltry village, I may per- 
 haps know how to improve it into a great 
 city. 
 
 >> 
 
 Thefe are imperial arts, and worthy kings.' 
 
 As to thefe inferior accomplilhments, is it 
 not defirable, and is it not fufficient that a 
 fovereign Ihould poffefs that general know- 
 ledge and tafte which give the power of 
 difcriminating excellence, fo as judicioufly 
 to cherifh, and liberally to reward it I 
 
 VOL, I. c But,
 
 l8 ON THE ACQUISITION 
 
 But, not only in works of mere tafte ; 
 even in natural hiftory, botany, experimen- 
 tal philofophy, and other generally valuable 
 fciences, a correal but unlaboured outline 
 of knowledge, it is prefumed, will, in the 
 prefent inflance, be thought fufficient. 
 Profitable and delightful as thefe purfuits 
 are to others (and no one more admires 
 them than the writer of this effay), yet the 
 royal perfonage mud not be examining 
 plants, when Ihe fliould be fludying laws ; 
 nor inveftigating the inftinds of animals, 
 when fhe fnould be analyzing the chara£lers 
 of men. The time fo properly devoted to 
 thefe lludies in other education^ will be lit- 
 tle enough in this, to attain that knowledge 
 of general hiftory, and efpecially that accu- 
 rate acquaintance \vith the events of our own 
 country, which, in her fituation, are abfo- 
 lutely indifpenfiblp. 
 
 Geography and chronology have not 
 unfitly been termed the two eyes of hillory. 
 With chronology Hie ilionld be competently 
 acquainted. It is little to know events, 
 
 if
 
 OP KNOWLEDGE. 1 9 
 
 if we do not know in what order and fuc- 
 ceffion they are difpofed. It is necelTary 
 alfo to learn how the periods of computa- 
 tion are determined. Method does not 
 merely aid the memory, it alfo aflifls the 
 judgment, by fettling the dependance of 
 one event upon another. Chronology is the 
 grand art of hiftorical arrangement. To 
 know that a man of diftinguiflied eminence 
 has lived, is to know little, unlefs we know 
 when he lived, and who were his contempo- 
 raries. Indiftinclnefs and confufion niuft 
 always perplex that underftanding, in which 
 the annals of pad ages are not thus confe- 
 cutively linked together. 
 
 Would it not be proper always to read 
 hiftory with a map, in order to keep up in 
 the mind the indiffoluble connedlion between 
 hiftory and geography ; and that a glance 
 of the country may recal the exploits of the 
 hero, or the virtues of the patriot who has 
 immortalized it ? 
 
 Refpedting the ftudy of geography, I 
 would obferve, that many particulars, which 
 
 c 2 do
 
 10 ON THE ACQUISITION 
 
 ^o not feem to have been confidered by 
 the generality of writers, ought to be 
 brought before the view of a royal 
 pupil. The effeds of local fituation, and 
 geographical boundary, on the formation 
 and progrefs of nations and empires. — The 
 confequences, for example, which have re- 
 fuited as well in the political, as in the civil 
 and religious circumilances of mankind, 
 from the Mediterranean being fo aptly 
 interpofed, not fo much as it fliould feem, 
 to be a common barrier, as to form a moft 
 convenient and important medium of inter- 
 t'ourfe between Europe, Afia, and Africa. 
 — The effect of this great Naiimachia of 
 the ancient world, in transferring empire 
 from eaft to well ; — the want of tides in 
 the Mediterranean, fo as to adapt this fcene 
 of early maritime adventure to the rudenefs 
 of thofe who were firft to navigate itj and 
 whofe fuccefs might have been fatally im- 
 peded, by that diverfity of currents, which 
 in other feas the ebb and flow of the tides 
 is perpetually creating. 
 
 In
 
 OF KNOWLEDGE, 21 
 
 In conne^Hon with this, though fome- 
 what locally remote from it, is to be re» 
 marked the regularity of the monfoons in 
 the Erythraean fea, by means of which, the 
 earlier traders between Africa and India 
 were carried acrofs the Perfian gulph, with- 
 out the exercife of that (kill, which as yet 
 did not exift. — And, as if to faciUtate the 
 conveyance of thofe mod interelling com- 
 modities to the Mediterranean, in order that 
 the commerce of that inland ocean might 
 never want an adequate ftimulus, the Red 
 Sea is carried onward, till it is feparated from 
 the Mediterranean by a comparatively nar- 
 row ifthmus ; an iflhmus that feems provi- 
 dentially to have been retained, that while 
 the maritime a(3:ivity and general convenience 
 of the ancient world was provided for, there 
 might ftill be fufficient difficulty in the way, 
 to excite to a more extended circumnavi- 
 gation, when the invention of the com- 
 pafs, the improvement of maritii^ie fkill, 
 and the general progrefs of human fociety, 
 
 c 3 ftoulci
 
 22 ON THE ACQUISITION 
 
 fhould concur in bringing on the proper 
 feafon. 
 
 And, in this geographic fketch, let not 
 the remarkable pofitlon of Judea be for- 
 gotten * J placed in the very middle parts 
 
 * It is worthy of notice, that in all probability 
 Judea was the country by means of which a trade 
 was firfl opened between the Mediterranean and India. 
 David had taken from the Edomites two cities at the 
 Red Sea, Ezion-Geber and Elath ; thefe, we are told, 
 Solomon made fea-ports, and colonized them with na- 
 vigators, fuinidied by the King of Tyre, of whom 
 it is faid, 2 Chron. viii, 18. that he fent unto Solo- 
 mon fhips and fervants who had knowledge of the 
 fea, and they went with the fervants of Solomon 
 to Ophir ; and, i Kings, x. 22. we are told that 
 Selomon had at fea a nary of Tarfhifh with the navy 
 of Hiram, which came once in three years, bringing 
 gold and lilver, ivory, apes and peacocks. Thus, 
 Tyre, the great Emporium of the Mediterranean, 
 was eviden;;ly indebted to David and Solomon^ for 
 accefs to that commerce of the eaft, which was 
 carried on by means of the Red Sea, and brought 
 from the above-mentioned ports, acrofs the ifthmus 
 of Suez, probably to the fame pla<:e where the Ty- 
 rians in later times unfliipped their Afiatic commo- 
 dities, the port of Rhinocorura^ 
 
 of
 
 OF KNOWLEDGE. 23 
 
 of the old world, (whofe extent may be 
 reckoned from the pillars of Hercules to 
 " the utmofl Indian iHfe Tabrobane,") as 
 the fun in the centre of the folar fyflem, and 
 at the top of the Mediterranean, both that 
 it might be within the vortex of great events, 
 and alfo that when the fullnefs of time fliould 
 come, it might be mod conveniently fituated 
 for pouring forth that light of truth, of 
 which it was deftined to be the local origin, 
 upon all the nations of the earth, and ef- 
 pecially on the Roman empire. — Such are 
 the lefs common particulars to which at- 
 tention may advantageotifly be drawn. 
 With geography in general fliould of courfe 
 be connefted fome knowledge of the natu- 
 ral and civil hiftory of each counti*y : its 
 chief. political revolutions, its alliances, and 
 dependencies ; together with the fcate of its 
 arts, commerce, natural productions, go* 
 vcrnment, and religion. 
 
 c 4 CHAP.
 
 £4 ON FORMING THE MIND. 
 
 CHAP. III. 
 
 On the Importance of forming the Mind. 
 
 It is of the highefl importance that the 
 royal pupil fhould acquire an early habit 
 of method and regularity in her fludies. 
 She fliould, therefore, be particularly guard- 
 ed againft that defultory manner of reading, 
 too common at this day, and particularly 
 •with women. She fhould be trained al- 
 ways to fludy to fome valuable purpofe, and 
 carefully to attend to the feveral way- 
 marks, by means of which that end may 
 mofl efFedually be attained. She fhould be 
 accuftomed to call forth the forces of her 
 mind, and to keep them alert, well-dif-' 
 ciplined, and ready for feryice. She fhould 
 fo cultivate fettled principles of adion, as 
 to acquire the habit of applying them, on 
 demand, to the actual occafions of life ; 
 and fliould polTefs a promptitude, as well 
 as foundnefs, in deducing confequences, 
 
 and
 
 ON FORMING THE MIND. 25 
 
 and drawing conclufions. Her mind fhould 
 be exercifed with as much induflry in the 
 purfuit of moral truth and ufeful know- 
 ledge, as that of a young academic in the 
 ftudies of his profeffion. The art of reign- 
 ing is the profeiTion of a prince. And, doubt- 
 lefs, it is a fcience which requii^es at lead as 
 much preparatory ftudy as any other. Be- 
 fides, one part of knowledge is often fo necef- 
 fary for reflecting light on another part, that 
 perhaps no one who does not underftand 
 many things, can underfhaud any thing well. 
 But, whatever may be the necefiary de- 
 gree of knowledge, it is mod: certain that it 
 cannot be attained amidfl the petty avoca- 
 tions which occupy a modern lady's time. 
 Knowledge will not come by nature or by 
 chance. Precepts do not always convey it. 
 Talents do not always infure it. It is the fruit 
 of pains. It is the reward of apph'cation. 
 
 Dii lalorilus omnia vendunt. 
 
 Let her ever bear in mind, (he is not to 
 jliidy thai fee may beccimjcarned, but that fie 
 
 viay
 
 26 ON FORMING THE MIND. 
 
 may become -wife. It is by fuch an acquifi- 
 tion of knowledge as is here recommended, 
 that her mind muH: be fo enlarged and 
 invigorated as to prepare her for following 
 wife counfels, without blindly yielding to 
 fortuitous fuggeftions ; as to enable her to 
 trace adions into their muldfarious confe- 
 quences, and to difccver real analogies with- 
 out being deceived by fuperficial appear- 
 ances of refemblance. It is thus that fhe 
 muft be fecured from the dominion of the 
 lefs enlightened. This will preferve her 
 from credulity ; prevent her from over-rating 
 inferior talents, and help her to attain that 
 nil admirari^ which is fo neceffary for dif- 
 tinguifhing arrogant pretenfion from fub- 
 flantial merit. It will aid her to appreciate 
 the value of thofe around her ; will affifl 
 her penetration in what regards her friends j 
 preferve her from a blind prejudice |n 
 cjiufmg them, from retaining them through 
 fear or fondnefs, and from changing them 
 through weaknefs or caprice. " When we 
 are abufed through fpecicus appearances," 
 
 fays
 
 ON FORMING THE MIND. 1'J 
 
 fays the judicious Hooker, " it is becaufe 
 reafon is negligent to fearch out the fallacy.'* 
 But, he might have added, if reafon be 
 not cultivated early, if it be not exercifed 
 conftantly, it will have no eye for difcern- 
 ment, no heart for vigorous exertion. Spe-. 
 cious appearances will perpetually deceive 
 that mind which has been accuftomed to ac- 
 quiefce in them through ignorance, blind- 
 nefs, and inadlion. 
 
 A prince fhould be ignorant of nothing 
 which it is honourable to know ; but he 
 Ihould look on mere acquilition of knov/- 
 ledge not as the end to be refled in, but only 
 as the means of arriving at fome higher end. 
 He may have been well inftruded in hillory, 
 belles lettres, philofophy, and languages, 
 and yet have received a defedive education, 
 if the formation of his judgment has been 
 negledled. For, it is not fo important to 
 know every thing, as to know the exad: 
 value of every thing, to appreciate what we 
 learn, and to arrange what we know. 
 
 Books alone will never form the charac- 
 ter.
 
 28 ON FORMING THE MIND. 
 
 ter. Mere reading would rather tend to 
 make a pedantic, than an accomplifhcd 
 prince. It is converfation which mult un- 
 fold, enlarge, and apply the ufe of books. 
 Without that familiar comment on what is 
 read, which will make a moll important 
 part of the intercourfe between a royal 
 pupil and the fociety around him, mere 
 reading might only fill the mind with falla- 
 cious models of character, and falfe maxims 
 of life. It is converfation which mull de- 
 velop what is obfcure, raife what is low, 
 corred what is defective, qualify what is 
 exaggerated, and gently and almoft infenfi- 
 bly raife the underllanding, form the heart, 
 and fix the talle ; and, by giving jufl pro-^ 
 portions to the mind, teach it the power of 
 fciir appreciation, draw it to adopt what is 
 reafonable, to love what is good, to talle 
 what is pure, and to imitate what is elegant. 
 But this is not to be effected by cold rules, 
 and formal reflections ; by infipid dogmas, 
 and tedious fermonizing. It fliould be done. 
 fo indirectly, fo difcreetiy, and io pleafantly, 
 
 that
 
 ON FORMING THE MIND. 2g 
 
 that the pupil fhall not be led to dread a lec- 
 ture at every turn, nor a diflertation on 
 every occurrence. While yet fuch an in- 
 genious and cheerful turn may be given to 
 fubjefts apparently unpromifnig, old truths 
 may be conveyed by fuch new images, that 
 the pupil will wonder to find herfelf improv- 
 ed when (he thought fhe was only diverted. 
 Folly may be made contemptible, affectation 
 ridiculous, vice hateful, and virtue beautiful, 
 by fuch feemingly unpremeditated means, as 
 fhall have the effect, without having the ef- 
 fort, of a lelfon. Topics mufl not be fo 
 much propofed as infinuated. 
 
 But above all, there fhould be a conftant, 
 but imperceptible habit of turning the 
 mind to a love of truth in all its forms 
 and afpccls ; not only in matters of grave 
 morality, but in matters of bufinefs, of 
 common intercourfe, and even of tafte ; for 
 there is a truth both in moral and mental 
 tafte, little fliort of the exactnefs of malhe- 
 matical truth ; and the mind ihould ac- 
 quire an habit of feeking perfeftion in every 
 
 thinsr.
 
 3© ON FORMING THE MIND. 
 
 thing. This habit fhould be fo early and 
 infenfibly formed, that when the pupil 
 comes afterwards to meet with maxims, and 
 inftances of truth and virtue, in hiftorical 
 and moral writings, fhe may bring to the 
 perufal taftes, tempers, and difpofitions fo 
 laid in, as to have prepared the mind for 
 their reception. As this mode of preparatory 
 and incidental inflruclion will be gradual 
 and inwoven, fo it will be deep and dura- 
 ble J but as it will be little obvious to ordi- 
 nary judges, it will excite lefs wonder and 
 admiration than the ufual difplay and exhibi- 
 tion fo prevalent in modern education. 
 Its effects will be lefs oftenfible, but they 
 will be more certain. 
 
 When it is confidered how ftiort is that 
 period of life in which plain unvarnilhed 
 truth will be likely to appear in all its 
 naked fmiplicity before princes, is there a 
 moment of that happy, that aufpicious fea- 
 fon to be loft, for prefenting it to them in all 
 its lovely and engaging forms ? It is not 
 enough that they ihould poflefs truth as a 
 
 3 principle.
 
 ON FORMING THE MIND. 3E 
 
 principle, they ihould cherilli it as an object 
 of affection, delight in it as a matter of talle, 
 and dread nothing fo much as falfe colour- 
 ing and artifice. 
 
 He who poffeffes a found principle, and 
 ftrong relifh of truth in his own mind_, will, 
 poffefs a touchftone by which to try this 
 quality in others, and which will enable him 
 to detect falfe notions, to fee through falfe 
 manners, and to defpife falfe attractions. 
 This difcerning faculty is the more impor- 
 tant, as the high breeding of very polifliedE 
 fociety prefents fo plaufible an imitation of 
 goodnefs, as to impofe on the fuperficial ob- 
 ferver, who, fatisfied with the image and 
 fuperfcription, never inquires whether the 
 coin be counterfeit or fterling. 
 
 The early habit of fifting queifions, turn- 
 ing about a truth, and examining an argu- 
 ment on all fides, will ftrenf^thcn the intel- 
 le£tual powers of the royal pupil, prevent 
 her thoughts from wandering, accullom 
 her to weigh fairly and refolve foundly ; 
 will conquer irrefolution in her mind ; pre- 
 
 fcrve
 
 32 ON FORMING THE MIND. 
 
 ferve her from being eafily deceived by falfe 
 reafoning, llartled by doubts, and con- 
 founded by objections. She will learn to 
 digell her thoughts in an exad method, to 
 acquire a logical order in the arrangement 
 of them, to poiTefs precifion in her ideas, and 
 its natural concomitant, perfpicuity in her 
 expreffion j all which will be of the highefi: 
 importance to one who may hereafter have 
 fo much to do and to fay in public. 
 
 With the Jhades of expreffions fhe fhould 
 alfo be well acquainted, and be habituated to 
 ufe the mofl appofite and the mofl correct ; 
 fuch as are neither too high nor too low, too 
 flrong nor too weak, for the occafion ; fuch 
 as are obvious, but not vulgar, accurate but 
 not pedantic, elegant but not artificial. 
 
 The memory fhould be ftored with none 
 but the bed things, that when, hereafter, 
 the judgment is brought into exercife, it 
 n>ay find none but the befl materials to a£t 
 upon. Inftead, therefore, of loading the 
 memory, might it not be ufeful to eflablilli 
 it into a rule to read to her every day, as 
 
 3 an
 
 ON FORMING THE MIND. 33 
 
 an amufement, and diftindly from all re- 
 gular inflruclion, a paffage from the hiitory 
 of England, a flory out of Plutarch, or any 
 limilar author ; and require of her to repeat 
 it afterwards, in her own words? This would 
 not only add, daily, one important fact to 
 her ftock of knowledge, but would tend to 
 form a perfpicuous and elegant ftyle. Oc- 
 cafion would alfo be furnifhed for obferving 
 whether fhe exhibited that befl proof of 
 good fenfe, the feizing on the prominent 
 features of the ftory, laying lefs ftrefs on 
 what was lefs important. 
 
 But while accuracy is thus fought, the 
 ftill more important habit of comprehenfive- 
 nefs muft not be overlooked. Her mind 
 fhould be trained to embrace a wide com- 
 pafs ; it fhould be taught to take in a large 
 whole, and then fubdivide it into parts ; 
 each of which fhould be confidered diflind- 
 ly, yet connededly, with ftrid: attention to 
 its due proportions, relative fituations, its 
 bearings with refpeft to the others, and the 
 dependence of each part on the whole. 
 
 VOL. I. D Where,
 
 34 ON FORMING THE MIND. 
 
 Where, however, fo many things are to be 
 known, and fo many to be done, it is im- 
 poflible to attend equally to all. It is 
 therefore important, that, in any cafe of 
 competition, the lefs material be left un- 
 learned and undone ; and that petty details 
 never fill the time and mind, at the expence 
 of negledling great objects. 
 
 For thofe, therefore, who have much 
 bufmefs and little time, it is a great and 
 neceifary art to learn to extract the effential 
 fpirit of an author from the body of his 
 work ; to know how to feize on the vital 
 parts ; to difcern where his flrength lies ; 
 and to feparate it from thofe portions of 
 the work which are fuperfluous, collateral, 
 or merely ornamental. 
 
 On the fubject of ceconomifmg time, the 
 writer would have been fearful of incurring 
 the charge ofneedlefs ftrictnefs, by fuggeft- 
 ing the utility of accuftoming princes to be 
 read to while they are drelTing, could not 
 the aftual practice of our admirable Queen 
 Mary be adduced to fanction the advice. 
 
 That
 
 CN FORMING THE MIND*' 35 
 
 That excellent princefs, from a confcien- 
 dous regard to the value of time, was either 
 read to by others,, or condefcended, herfeif, 
 to read aloud, that thofe who were em-, 
 ployed about her perfon might lliare the 
 benefit, which fhe enhanced by fuch plea- 
 fant and judicious remarks as the fubject 
 fuggefted. But there is an additional rea- 
 fon why the children of the great would be 
 benefited by this habit ; for it would not 
 only turn idle moments to fome account, 
 but would be of ufe in another way, by 
 cutting off the fairefl occafions which their 
 inferior attendants can have for engaging 
 them, by frivolous or flattering difcourfe.:;-j 
 It would be well to watch attentively the 
 bent of the mind in the hours of relaxation 
 and amufement, when caution is difmiffed 
 by the pupil, and control by the precep- 
 tor ; when no fludies are impofed, and no 
 fpecific employment fuggefted. In fact, 
 when vigilance appears to fleep, it fliould 
 be particularly on the alert, in order to dif- 
 cern thofe tendencies and difpofitions which 
 
 D 2 will
 
 36 ON FORMING THE MIND. 
 
 win then moft naturally unfold themfelves j 
 and becaufe that the heart, being at thofe 
 feafons lefs under difcipline, will be more 
 likely to betray its native charafter. And 
 as the regulation of the temper is that part 
 of education on which the w^hole happinefs 
 of life moft materially depends, no occafion 
 fhould be neglected, no indication flighted, 
 no counteraction omitted, which may con- 
 tribute to accomplifh fo important an end. 
 
 The peculiar defefts, not merely fuch faults 
 as are incident to childhood, but the predo- 
 minating faults of the individual, fhould be 
 carefully watched, left they acquire ftrength 
 through negleft, when they might have been 
 diminiftied by a counterafting force. If the 
 temper be reftlefs, ardent, and impetuous, 
 wearinefs and difcontent will, hereafter, fill 
 up the dreary intervals between one animat- 
 ing fcene and another, unlefs the temper be 
 fubdued and tranquillized by a conftant 
 habit of quiet, though varied, and intereft- 
 ing occupation. Few things are more fatal 
 to the mind, than to depend for happinefs 
 I on
 
 OTT FORMING THE MIND. 3/ 
 
 on the contingent recurrence of events, 
 bulineires, and diverfions, which inflame 
 and agitate it ; for as they do not often 
 occur, the intervals which are long are alfo 
 languid ; the enjoyment is factitious happi- 
 nefs ; the privation is adlual mifery. 
 
 Reading, therefore, has, efpecially to a 
 prince, its moral ufes, independently of the 
 nature of the ftudy itfelf. It brings no fmall 
 gain, if it fecure him from the dominion of 
 turbulent purfuits and agitating pleafures. 
 If It fnatch him, on the one hand, from 
 public fchemes of ambition and falfe glory ; 
 and if it refcue him, on the other, from the 
 habit of forming petty projeds of inceflant 
 diverfion, the rudiments of a trifling and 
 ufelefs life. 
 
 Knowledge, therefore, is often the pre^ 
 fervative of virtue ; and, next to right habits 
 of fcntiment and conduft, the beft human 
 fource of happlncfs. Could Louis the Four- 
 teenth have read, probably the edict of 
 Nantz had not been revoked. But a refl;- 
 lefs temper, and a vacant mind, unhappily 
 
 D 3 lighting 
 
 J.^ 'Li U -5 
 
 i.34
 
 38 ON FORMING THE MIND. 
 
 lighting on abfolute power, prefent, in this 
 monarch, a ftriking inflancc of the fatal 
 effedls of ignorance, and the calamity of a 
 neglected education. He had a good na- 
 tm-ai underilanding, loved bufmefs, and 
 feemed to have a mind capable of compre- 
 hending It. Many of his recorded expref- 
 fions are neat and elegant. But he was 
 uninftrufted upon fyftem ; Cardinal Maza- 
 rine, with a view to fecure his own domi- 
 nion, having withheld from him all the 
 neceflary means of education. Thus, he 
 had received no ideas from books ; he even 
 hated in others the learning which he did 
 not himfelf pofTefs : the terms wit and 
 fcholar, v/ere, in his mind, terms of re- 
 proach ; the one as implying fatire^ the 
 other pedantry. He wanted^ not applica- 
 tion to public affairs ; and habit had given 
 him fome experience in them. But the 
 apathy which marked his latter years ftrong- 
 ly illuflrated the infelicity of an unfuiTiifhed 
 mind. This, in the tumult of his brighter 
 days, amidft the fuccelTion of intrigues, 
 
 the
 
 CN FORMING THE MIND; 39 
 
 the fplendour of feftivity, and the buftle of 
 arms, was fcarcely felt. But ambition and 
 voluptuoufnefs cannot always be gratified. 
 Thofe ardent paflions, which in youth were 
 devoted to licentioufnefs, in the meridian 
 of life to war, in a more advanced age to 
 bigotry and intolerance, not only had never 
 been directed by religion, but had never 
 been foftened by letters. After he had re- 
 nounced his miflrefles at home, and his 
 unjuft wars abroad, even though his mind 
 feems to have acquired fome pious tenden- 
 cies, his life became a fcene of fuch inanity 
 and reflleflhefs, that he was impatient at 
 being, for a moment, left alone. He had 
 no intellectual refources. The agitation of 
 great events had fubfided. From never 
 having learned either to employ himfelf in 
 reading or thinking, his life became a blank, 
 from which he could not be relieved by the 
 fight of his palaces, his gardens, and his 
 aqueduds, the purchafe of depopulated 
 villages and plundered cities. 
 
 D 4 Indigent
 
 40 ON FORMING THE MIND. 
 
 Indigent amid all his poffeffions, lie ex- 
 hibited a ftriking confirmation of the de- 
 claration of Solomon, concerning the unfa- 
 tisfying nature of all earthly pleafures ; arid 
 fhewed, that it is in vain even for kings to 
 hope to obtain from others thofe comforts, 
 and that contentment, which man can de- 
 rive only from within himfelf. 
 
 CHAP.
 
 THE EDUCATION OF A SOVEREIGN. 4I 
 
 CHAP. IV. 
 
 The Education of a Sovereign a fpecijic 
 Education. 
 
 JL HE formation of the character is the 
 grand object to be accomplifhed. This 
 fhould be confidered to be not fo much a 
 feparate bufmefs, as a fort of centre to 
 which all the rays of inflru^lion (hould be 
 direfted. All the ftudies, it is prefumed, 
 of the royal pupil, fhould have fome refe- 
 rence to her probable future fituation. Is it 
 not, therefore, obvioufly requinte that her 
 underftanding be exercifed in a wider range 
 than that of others of her fex ; and that her 
 principles be fo eftablifhed, on the befl and 
 furefl foundation, as to fit her at once for 
 fulfilling the peculiar demands, and for re- 
 fi fling the peculiar temptations of her fla- 
 tion ? Princes have been too often inclined 
 to fancy, that they have few interefts in 
 common with the reft of mankind, feeling 
 
 them-
 
 4-2 THE EDUCATION OF A SOVEREIGN 
 
 themfelves placed by Providence on an emi- 
 nence fo much above them. But the great 
 aim ihould be, to correft the haughtinefs 
 which may attend this fuperiority, without 
 relinquifhing the truth of the fad. Is it 
 not, therefore, the bufmefs of thofe who 
 have the care of a royal education, not fo 
 much to deny the reality of this diftance, or 
 to diminifh its amount, as to account for its 
 exiftence, and point out the ufes to which it 
 i§ fubfervient ? 
 
 A prince is an individq^l being, whom 
 the hand of Providence has placed on a pe- 
 deftal of peculiar elevation : but he fhould 
 learn, that he is placed there as the minifler 
 of good to others: that the dignity being 
 hereditary, he is the more manifeilly raifed 
 to that elevation, not by his own merit, but 
 by providential deftination ; by thofe laws, 
 which he is himfelf bound to obferve with the 
 fame religious fidelity as the meaneft of his 
 fubjefts. It ought early to be imprelTed, that 
 thofe appendages of royalty, with which 
 human weaknefs may too probably be faf- 
 cinated, are intended not to gratify the 
 
 feelings,
 
 A SPECIFIC EDUCATION. 43 
 
 feelings, but to diftinguifh the perfon of the 
 monarch ; that, in. themfeh'es, they are of 
 little value; that they are beneath the at- 
 tachment of a rational, and of no fubflantial 
 ufe to a moral being ; in fliort, that they 
 are not a fubjecl of triumph, but are to be 
 acquiefced in for the public benefit, and 
 from regard to that weaknefs of our nature, 
 which fubjecls fo large a portion of every 
 community to the influence of their imagi- 
 nation, and their fenfes. 
 
 While, therefore, a prince is taught the 
 ufe of thofe exterior embellifhnients, which, 
 as was before obferved, defignate, rather 
 than dignify his flation ; while he is led to 
 place the juH value on every appendage 
 which may contribute to give him impor- 
 tance in the eyes of the multitude ; who, 
 not being juft judges-of what conftitutes 
 true dignity, are confequently apt to reve- 
 rence the royal perfon exactly fo far as 
 they fee outward fplendour connected with 
 it ; fhould not a royal pupil himfelf \fe 
 taught, inllead of overvaluing that fplen- 
 dour.
 
 44 THE EDUCATION OF A SOVEREIGN 
 
 dour, to think it a humbling, rather than an 
 elevating confideration, that fo large a part 
 of the refpecl paid to him, fhould be owing 
 to fuch extrinfic caufes, to caufes which 
 make no part of himfelf ? Let him then be 
 taught to gratifjr the public with all the 
 pomp and circumftance fuitable to royalty ; 
 but let him never forget, that though his 
 ftation ought always to procure for him 
 refpecl, he mufl ever look to his own per- 
 fonal conduct, for infpiring veneration, at- 
 tachment, and affection ; and ever let it be 
 remembered that this affe£tion is the 
 ftrongeft tie of obedience ; that fubjefts 
 like to fee their prince great, when that 
 greatnefs is not produced by rendering 
 them lefs ; and as the profound Selden 
 obferves, " the people will always be li- 
 beral to a prince who fpares them, and a 
 good prince will always fpare a liberal 
 people.'* 
 
 This is not a period when any wife man 
 "v&ould wifh to diminifh either the authority, 
 or the fplendour of kings. So far from it, 
 
 he
 
 A SPECIFIC EDUCATION. 45 
 
 he will fupport with his whole weight, an 
 inftitution which the licentious fury of a 
 revolutionary fpirit has rendered more dear 
 to every Englifliman. On no confidera- 
 tion, therefore, would he pluck even a fea- 
 ther from thofe decorations of royalty, 
 which, by a long aifociation, have become 
 intimately connected with its fubftance. 
 In fhort, every wife inhabitant of the Britifh 
 Ifles muft feel, that he who would defpoil 
 the crown of its jewels, would not be far 
 from fpoiling the wearer of his crown. 
 And as nothing but democratic folly or 
 phrenzy would degrade the monarch from 
 his due elevation, fo democratic envy alone 
 would wifh to flrip him, not only of a fm- 
 gle conflituent of real greatnefs, but even 
 of a fmgle ornamental appendage, on which 
 the people have been accuftomed to gaze 
 with honefl joy. 
 
 Neverthelefs, thofe outrages which have 
 lately been committed againfl the fanc- 
 tity of the thione, furnifh new and mofl 
 powerful reafons for aJiduoufly guard- 
 ing
 
 46 THE EDUCATION OF A SOVEREIGN 
 
 ing princes by every refpeclful admoni- 
 tion, againft any tendency to exceed 
 their jufl prerogatives, and for checking 
 every rifing propenfity to overflep, in 
 the flighteft degree, their well-defined 
 rights. . 
 
 At the fame time it fhould be remem- 
 bered, that there may be no lefs dangerous 
 faults on the other fide, and that want of 
 nrmnefs in maintaining jufl: rights, or of fpirit 
 in the prompt and vigorous exercife of ne- 
 cefTary authority, may prove as injurious to 
 the interefls of a community as the mofl 
 lawlefs ftretch of power. Defects of this 
 very kind were evidently among the caufes 
 of bringing down, on the gentlefl of the 
 kings of France, more calamities than Jiad 
 ever refulted from the mofb arbitrary exer-. 
 tion of power in any of his predeceffors. 
 Feebienefs and irrefolution, which feem to be 
 little more than pardonable weakneffes in pri- 
 vate perfons, may, by their confequences, 
 prove in princes fatal errors ; and even pro- 
 duce the elfed of great crimes. Vigour to 
 
 fecure.
 
 A SPECIFIC EDUCATION. 47 
 
 fecure, and opportunely to exert their confci- 
 tutionai power, is as effential as moderation 
 not to exceed it *. 
 
 It ferves to fliew the ineftimable value of 
 well-defined laws, and the importance of 
 making the prince acquainted with them, 
 that Louis the Thirteenth conceived' a jea- 
 loufy refpecling his own power, becaufe he 
 did not underfland the nature of it ; and 
 his favourites were unable or unwilling to 
 
 * May it not be obferved, witliout rifliing the 
 imputation of flattery, that perhaps never, in the 
 hiftory of the world, has any country been fo unin- 
 terruptedly blefled with that very temperament of 
 government, which is here implied, as this empire 
 has been, under the dominion of the Houfe of Han- 
 over ? There has, on no occafion, been a want of 
 firmnefs : but with that flrmnefs, lliere has been a 
 confcientious regard to the principles of the confti- 
 tution. Who can at this moment pretend to pro- 
 nounce how much we owe to the fleady integrity 
 which is fo obvioufly poHefTed by our prefcnt fove- 
 reign ? And who does not remember with what 
 good efTefts his rcfolute compofure and dignified 
 fii-mnefs were exerted, during a fcene of the greatell 
 alarm which has occurad in his reign — the riots of 
 the year 1780, 
 
 mllrudt
 
 48 THE EDUCATION OF A SOVEREIGN 
 
 inflruft him. But his ufurpation of extra- 
 ordinary power tended to exalt his minifler 
 ftill more than himfelf ; and in fetting the 
 King above the laws, he ftill fet the Cardinal 
 above the King. 
 
 The power of the monarchs of France 
 had never been defined by any written law. 
 Charles V., Louis IX., and perhaps a very 
 few other wife and temperate princes, did 
 not conceive their power to be above the 
 laws, but approved of thofe moderating 
 maxims which had become, by degrees, 
 the received ufages of the flate, and which, 
 while they feemed, in fome meafure, a con- 
 ftitutional check upon the abfolute power 
 of the crown, formed alfo a guard againft 
 that popular licentioufnefs, which, in a pure 
 defpotifm, appears to be the only refource 
 left to the people. But France has had 
 few monarchs like Charles V. and ftill 
 fewer like Louis IX. Henry IV. feems to 
 have found and obferved the happy me- 
 dium. He was at once refolute and mild ; 
 determined and affedionate j politic and 
 
 humane
 
 A SPECIFIC EDUCATION. 49 
 
 humane. The firmnefs of his mind, and 
 the aftive vigour of his conduft, always 
 kept pace with the gentlenefs of his 
 language. He fought for his prerogatives 
 bravely, and defended them vigoroufly ; 
 yet, it is faid, he ever carefully avoided 
 the ufe of the term. He alfo loved and 
 fought popularity, but he never facrificed 
 to it any jufl claim, nor ever made a con- 
 cefTion which did not alfo tend to guard the 
 real prerogatives of the crown*. And it 
 feems to be the true wifdom of a prince, 
 that, as he cannot be too deliberate in his 
 councils, nor too cautious in his plans, fo 
 when thofe counfels are well matured, and 
 thofe plans well digefted, he cannot be too 
 decifive in their execution. 
 
 It was not, indeed, under the aftual rule 
 of monarchs, however arbitrary, that royal 
 authority was raifed to its higheft pitch 
 in France. It was Richelieu, who, under 
 a regency, rapidly eftablilhed fuch a 
 
 ■ 
 
 * II ne fe defioit pas des loix, parcequ'il fe fioit en 
 Jui meme. De Retz. 
 
 VOL. I. E fyftem
 
 CO THE EDUCATION OF A SOVEREIGN 
 
 fyftem- of tyranny, as the boldell foyereign 
 had feldom dared to attempt. He improved 
 on all the anterior corruptions ; and, as a 
 lively French author fays, tried to conceal 
 their being corruptions, by ere£ling them 
 into political maxims. Mazarin, with in- 
 ferior ability, which would not have enabled 
 him to gi-ve the impulfe, attempted ftill more 
 to accelerate the movement of that machine 
 which his predeceffor had fet a-going with 
 fuch velocity j and a civil war was the con- 
 
 fequ nee. 
 
 Happily, the examples of neither the 
 kings, the laws, nor the conftitution of 
 France, can be flridly applicable to us. 
 Happily alfo, we live at a time, when ge- 
 nuine freedom is fo completely eftablifhed 
 among us ; when the conftitution, powers, 
 and privileges of parliament are fo firmly 
 fettled ; the limits of the royal prerogative 
 fo exadly defined, and fo fully underftood ; 
 and the mild, moderate, and equitable fpirit 
 of the illuflrlous family in which it is in- 
 celled, i& withal fo confpicuous, that, as 
 
 Blackftone
 
 A SPEGlFiC EDUCATION. $1 
 
 x)iackflone obferves, *' topics of govern* 
 ment, which, like the myfteries of the Bona 
 Dea, were formerly thought too facred to 
 be divulged to any but the initiated, may 
 now, without the fmalleft offence, be fully 
 and temperately difcufled." 
 
 At this tumultuous periodj when we have 
 feen almoft all the thrones of Chriftendom 
 trembling to their foundation ; we have 
 witneiTed the Britifh conftitution, like the 
 Britifh oak, confirmed and rooted by the 
 Ihaking of that tremendous blafl, which has 
 dripped kingdoms of their crowns, levelled 
 the fences and inclofures of law, laid wafle 
 the beft earthly bleflings of mankind, and 
 involved in defolation a large part of the 
 civilized world. When we have beheld 
 abfolute monarchies, and republican ftates, 
 alike ravaged by the temped, fhall we not 
 learn ftill more highly to prize our own un- 
 paralleled political edifice, built with fuch 
 fair proportions, on principles fo harmo- 
 nious and fo juft, that one part affords to 
 another that fupport which, in its turn, it 
 
 K 2 receives ;
 
 52 THE EDUCATION OF A SOVEREIGN 
 
 jeceives ; while each lends ftrength, as well 
 as ftability to all ? 
 
 How flender is the fecurity of unlimited 
 power, let the ephemeral reigns of eaflerm 
 defpots declare ! A prince who governs a 
 free peoplej enjoys a fafety which no def- 
 potic fovereign ever pofleffed. The latter 
 rules fmgly j and v/here a revolution is me- 
 ditated, the change of a fmgle perfon is foon 
 effefted. But where a fovereign's power is 
 incorporated with the powers of parliament, 
 and the will of the people who eleft parlia- 
 ments, the kingly ftate is fenced in with, 
 and intrenched by, the other Hates. He 
 relies not folely upon an army. He relies ' 
 on his parliament, and on his people, — ^a 
 fure refource, while he involves his interefts 
 with theirs ! This is the happinefs, the 
 beauty, and the ftrength of that three-fold 
 bond which ties our conftitution together. 
 Counfellors may miflead, favourites may be- 
 tray, even armies may defert, and navies 
 may mutiny, but laws, as they are the 
 fureft guides of aftion, fo are they the fureft 
 guards from danger. 
 
 Well
 
 A SPECIFIC EDUCATION. ^^ 
 
 Well might the view of this well-founded 
 power produce the remark which it drew 
 forth from a fagacious Frenchman *, who 
 was comparing the folid conftitutional au- 
 thority of the Britiih monarch, with the 
 more fpecious but lefs fecure fabric of the 
 defpotifm of the kings of France — " That 
 a King of England, who afted according to 
 the laws, was the greateft of all monarchs I'* 
 
 But while the convulfions of other go- 
 vernments, built on lefs permanent prin- 
 ciples, have rivetted our aiFe£lion to our 
 own ; and while an experimental acquaint^ 
 ance with the miferies of anarchy moft na- 
 turally lead us, as fubjects, to a ftrong fenfe 
 of the duty of obedience :— -v/ith equal zeal 
 would we wifh it to be inculcated on princes, 
 that they jfliould be cautious never to mul- 
 tiply occafions for exacting that obedience ; 
 that they fhould ufe no unnecelTary com- 
 pulfion by feizing as a debt what good fub- 
 jeds are always willing to pay as a duty -, 
 
 * Gourville. 
 
 E 3 and
 
 54 THE EDUCATION OF A SOVEREIGN 
 
 and what is then only to be relied upon 5, 
 when it is fpontaneous and cordial. 
 
 It is obfervable, that thofe monarchs who 
 have mod feduloufly contended for prero- 
 gative, have been among the feeblefl and 
 the leaft capable of exercifing it ; and that 
 thofe who have ftruggled mofl earneftly for 
 unjuft power, have feldom enjoyed it them- 
 felves, but have made it over to miftrelfes 
 and favourites. This is particularly exem- 
 plified in two of our weal^^efi: and moll un- 
 happy princes, Edward II. and Richard II. 
 Whether it was that this very imbecility 
 made them more contentious about their 
 prerogative, and more obflinate in refilling 
 the demands of parliament ; or that their 
 favourites flimulated them to exactions, the 
 benefit of which was to be transferred tp 
 themfelves. The character of Edward III. 
 (notwithflanding his faults) was confiftently 
 magnanimous. He was not more brave than 
 juft. He was attentive to the dignity of his 
 crown in proportion to that magnanimity, 
 and to the creation and execution of laws 
 
 in
 
 A SPECIFIC EDUCATION*. 55 
 
 in proportion to that juftice ; and he took 
 no important fteps witliout the advice of 
 parliament. The wretched reign and mi- 
 ferable cataftrophe of each of the two-firll- 
 named princes, furnifh a flriking contrafl to 
 the energy and popularity of the lait ; of 
 whom Hume obferves, " that his domeftic 
 government was even more admirable than 
 his foreign conquefts ; " and of whom Sel- 
 den fays, " that one would think by his 
 a£tions that he never was at home, and by 
 his laws that he never was abroad.'* 
 
 A wife and virtuous prince will ever bear 
 in mind the grand diflindlion between hi? 
 own fituation and that of his minifter. The 
 latter is but the precarious poiTeiTor of a tran- 
 fient authority ; a mere tenant at will, or, 
 at moft, for hfe. He himfelf is the heredi- 
 tary and permanent pofTefTor of the property. 
 The former may be more tempted to adopt 
 meafures which, though gainful or gratify- 
 ing at the prefent, will be probably produc- 
 tive of future mifchief to the eftate. But 
 furely the latter may be juftly expelled to 
 
 E 4 tak^
 
 ^6 THE EDUCATION OF A SOVEREIGN 
 
 take a longer and wider view ; and, confi- 
 dering the interefts of his pofterity no lefs 
 than his own, to rejed all meafures which 
 are likely to difparage their inheritance, or 
 injure their tenure. He will trace the mif- 
 fortunes of our firft Charles to the ufurpa- 
 tion of the Tudors ; and mark but too na- 
 tural a connexion between the unprincipled 
 domination and profufe magnificence of 
 Louis XIV. and the melancholy fate of his 
 far better and more amiable fucceifor. He 
 will remember the folid anfwer of the Spar- 
 tan king, who being reproached by a fuper- 
 ficial obferver with having left the regal 
 power impaired to his pofterity, replied, 
 ^' No ; for he had left it more fecure, there- 
 fore more permanent.** A large and jufl 
 conception of intereft, therefore, no lefs 
 than of duty, will prompt a wife prince to 
 reject all meafures which, while they ap- 
 pear to flatter the love of dominion, natu- 
 rally inherent in the mind of man, by hold- 
 ing forth the prefent extenlion of his power, 
 yet tend obflinately to weaken its effential 
 
 ftrength 5
 
 A SPECIFIC EDUCATION. 57 
 
 ftrength ; to make his authority the objedt 
 of his people's jealoufy, rather than of their 
 affection ; to caufe it to reft on the uncer- 
 tain bafis of military power, rather than 
 on the deep and durable foundations of the 
 conftitution. 
 
 • In order to enable him the better, there- 
 fore, to know the true nature and limits of 
 his authority, he will endeavour to develop 
 the conftitutional foundations on which it 
 refts. Sovereigns, even female fovereigns, 
 though they cannot have leifure to become 
 fully acquainted with the vaft mafs of our 
 laws, ought at leaft to imbibe the fpirit of 
 them. If they be not early taught the ge- 
 neral principles of our laws and conftitution, 
 they may be liable, from the flatterers to 
 whom they may be expofed, to hear of 
 nothing but the power which they may 
 exert, or the influence which they may ex- 
 ercife, without having their attention di- 
 reded to thofe counterading principles, 
 which, in a limited monarchy like ours, 
 
 ferve.
 
 58 THE EDUCATION OF A SOVEREIGN 
 
 ferve, in namberlefs ways, to balance and 
 reftrain that power. 
 
 It fhould be worked into a principle in 
 the mind, thaf it is in confideration of the 
 duties which the laws impofe on a prince, 
 that thofe laws have fecured to him either 
 dignity or prerogative ; it being a maxii^ 
 of the law, that protection and allegiance 
 are reciprocal. With the Impreflion of the 
 power, the fplendour, and the dignity of 
 royalty, the ideas of truft, duty, and refpon- 
 fibility, fhould be infeparably interwoven. 
 It fhould be affiduoufly inculcated, that the 
 LAWS form the very bafis of the throne ; the 
 root and ground-work of the monarch's po- 
 litical exiflence. One peculiar reafon why 
 a prince ought to know fo much of the laws 
 and conftitution, as to be able to determine 
 what is, and what is not, an infringement 
 of them, is, that he may be quick-fighted 
 to the flightefl: approximation of miniflers 
 towards any fuch encroachments. A far- 
 ther reafon js, that by ftudying the laws and 
 
 confli.
 
 A SPECIFIC EDUCATION. 59 
 
 conftltution of the country, he may become 
 more firmly attached to them, not merely 
 by national inftin£t, and fond prejudice, 
 becaufe they are his own, but from judg- 
 ment, reafon, knowledge, difcrimination, 
 preference, habit, obligation, — — in a word, 
 becaufe they are the beji. 
 
 But as this fuperficial fketch propofes 
 not to be an effay on political, but mo- 
 ral in{lru£lion, thefe remarks are only 
 hazarded, in order to intimate the peculiar 
 turn which the royal education ought to 
 take. If a fovereign of England be, in 
 fuch a variety of refpe6ts, fupreme, it fol- 
 lows, not only that his education fhould be 
 liberal, large, and general, but that it fhould, 
 moreover, be direded to a knowledge of 
 thofe departments in which he will be called 
 to prefide. 
 
 As fupreme magiftrate and the fource 
 of all judicial power, he fhould be adequate- 
 ly acquainted, not only with the law of na- 
 ture and of nations, but particularly with 
 the law of England, As poifefling the 
 
 powep
 
 Co THE EDUCATION OF A SOVEREIGN 
 
 power of declaring war, and contrafting 
 alliances, he fhould be thoroughly conver- 
 fant with thofe authors who, with the 
 foundeft judgment, the deepefl moral 
 views, and the moll correct precifion, treat 
 of the great principles of political juftice ; 
 who beft unfold the rights of human na- 
 ture, and the mifchiefs of unjuft ambition. 
 He fliould be competently acquainted with 
 the prefent ftate of the diiferent govern- 
 ments of Europe, with which that of 
 Great Britain may have any political re- 
 lation ; and he fhould be led to exercife 
 that intuitive difcernment of character and 
 talents, which will enable him to decide on 
 the choice of ambaffadors, and other foreign 
 minifters, whom it is his prerogative to ap- 
 point. 
 
 As he is the fountain of honour, from 
 which proceed titles, diftindions, and of- 
 fices, he fhould be early accuflomed to com- 
 bine a 'due attention to character, with the 
 examination of claims, and the appreciation 
 of fervices ; in order that the honours of the 
 
 fubjeci
 
 A SPECIFIC EDUCATION. 6t 
 
 fubject may reflect no diflionour on the 
 prince. Thofe whofe diftlnguidied lot it is 
 to beflow fubordinate offices and inferior 
 dignities, fhould evince, by the judgment 
 with which they confer them, how fit they 
 themfelves are to difcharge the higheft. 
 
 Is he fupreme head of the church ? Hence 
 arifes a (Irong obligation to be acquainted 
 with ecclefiaftical hiftory in general, as well 
 as with the hiftory of the church of England 
 in particular. He fhould learn, not merely 
 from habit and prefcription, but from an 
 attentive comparifon of our national church 
 with other ecclefiaftical inftitutions, to dif- 
 cern both the diftinguilliing characters and 
 appropriate advantages of our church efta- 
 blifhment. He ought to inquire in what 
 manner its interefts are interwoven with 
 thofe of the ftate, fo far as to be infeparable 
 from them. He fhould learn, that from the 
 fupreme power, with which the laws inveft 
 him over the church, arifes a moft awful 
 refponfibility, efpecially in the grand prero- 
 gative of beftowing the higher ecclefiaftical 
 
 appoint-
 
 62 The EDUCATION OF A SOVEREIGN, &€♦ 
 
 appointments, — a trufl which involves con- 
 fequences far too extenfive for human minds 
 to calculate ; and which a fovereignj even 
 amid all the dazzling fplendour of royalty, 
 while he preferves tendernefs of confcience, 
 and quicknefs of fenfibility, will not refled 
 on without trepidation. While hiftory offers 
 numberleis inftances of the abufe of this 
 power, it records numberlefs ftriking ex- 
 amples of its proper application. It even 
 prefents fome, in which good fenfe has 
 operated ufefully in the abfence of all prin- 
 ciple. When a profligate ecclefiaflic ap- 
 plied for preferment to the profligate Duke 
 of Orleans, while regent of France, urging 
 as a motive, that he fhould be difhonoured 
 if the duke did not make him a biihop — 
 "^ And I," replied the regent, " Ihall be 
 difhonoured if I do.'* 
 
 CHAP.
 
 ^ 
 
 ANCIENT HISTORY* 63 
 
 CHAP. V. 
 
 On the hnportance ofjludy'mg Ancient Hljior^, 
 
 J. HOSE pious perfons do not feem to un- 
 derfland the true Interefls of Chriflianlty, 
 who forbid the ftudy of Pagan literature. 
 That it is of little value, comparatively 
 with Chriftian learning, does not prove it 
 to be altogether without its ufefulnefs. 
 In the prefent period of critical inveftiga- 
 tion, heathen learning feems to be juftly 
 appreciated, in the fcale of letters ; the 
 wifdom and piety of fome of our mod 
 eminent contemDoraries having: fuccelT- 
 
 1 O 
 
 fully applied it to its nobleil ofHce, b]^ 
 rendering it fubfervient to the purpofes of 
 Revelation, in multiplying the evidences, 
 and illuftrating the proofs. Thus the 
 Chriftian emperor, when he deftroyed the 
 heathen temples, confecrated the golden 
 veffels, to adorn the Chriftian churches. 
 
 In
 
 ^4 ANCIENT HISTORY. 
 
 In this enlightened period, religion, our 
 religion at leaft, does not, as in her days 
 of darknefs, feel it neceffary to degrade 
 human learning, in order to withdraw her- 
 felf from fcrutiny. The time is paft, when 
 it was produced as a ferious charge againfl 
 Saint Jerome, that he had read Homer j 
 when a doftor of the Sorbonne penitently 
 confefTed, among his other fins, that the ex- 
 quifite mufe of Virgil had made him weep 
 for the woes of Dido ; and when the works 
 of Tacitus were condemned to the flames, 
 from the Papal chair, becaufe the author 
 was not a Roman Catholic. It is alfo 
 curious to obferve a papifl perfecuting the 
 memory of a Pagan, on the ground of his 
 fuperjiition ! Pope Gregory the Great ex- 
 pelled Livy from every Chriftian library on 
 this account ! 
 
 The mod acute enemy of Chrifliianity, 
 the Emperor Julian, who had himfelf been 
 'bred a Chriftian and a fcholar, well under- 
 ftood what was mofl likely to hurt its 
 caufe. He knew the ufe which the Chrif- 
 2 tians
 
 AT^CIENT HISTORY* 6^ 
 
 tians were making of ancient authors, and 
 of rhetoric, in order to refute error, and 
 eftabhfh truth. — " They fight us," faid he, 
 " by the knowledge of our own authors ; 
 fhall we fuifer ourfelves to be dabbed with 
 our own fwords?'* He adually made a 
 law to interdid: their reading Homer and 
 Demofthenes ; prohibited to their fchools 
 the ftudy of antiquity, and ordered that 
 they fhould confine themfelves, to the ex~ 
 planation of Matthew and Luke, in the 
 churches of the GaHleans. 
 
 It can never be too foon, for the royal 
 pupil, to begin to colleft materials for re- 
 flexion, and for atlion. Her future cha- 
 racter will much depend on the courfe of 
 reading, the turn of temper, the habit of 
 thought now acquired, and the (landard 
 of morals now fixed. The acquifition of 
 prefent taftes will form the elements of her 
 fubfequent charader. Her prefent acquire- 
 ments, it is true, will need to be matured 
 by her after-experience ; but experience 
 will operate to comparatively little purpofe, 
 
 VOL. I. p where
 
 66 ANCIENT HISTORY. 
 
 where only a flender flock has been laid 
 in for It to work upon ; and where thefe 
 materials for forming the charadler have 
 not been previoufly prepared. Things 
 muft be known before they are done. The 
 part Ihould be ftudied before it is a^ted, if 
 we expert to have it a£led well. 
 
 Where much is to be learned, time mull 
 be oeconomifed ; and in the judicious fe- 
 le£tion of Pagan hterature, the difcern- 
 ment of the preceptor will be particularly 
 exercifed. — All thofe writers, however jufl- 
 iy celebrated, who have employed much 
 learning, in elaborating points which add 
 little to the praQical wifdom or virtue of 
 mankind ; all fuch as are rather curious 
 than ufeful, or ingenious than inftrudive, 
 fhould be paffed over ; nor need fhe beilow 
 much attention on points, which, though 
 they may have been accurately difcuifed, , 
 are not ferioully important. Dry critical 
 knowledge, though it may be corre£lly 
 }uft ; and mere chronicles of events, though 
 they may be llrictly true, teach not the 
 I things
 
 ANCIENT HISTORY. 67 
 
 things (he wants. Such authors as Salluft, 
 who, in fpeaking of turbulent innovators, 
 remarks, that they thought the very dijiurb- 
 ancc of things ejiablijloed afufficient bribe to 
 fet them at work ; thofe who, like this ex- 
 quifite hiftorian, unfold the internal princi- 
 ples of adion, and diffect the hearts and 
 minds of their perfonages, who develop 
 compHcated circumftances, furnifh a clue to 
 trace the labyrinth of caufes and effects, 
 and aflign to every incident its proper 
 motive, will be eminently ufeful. But, if 
 fhe be taught to difcern the merits of 
 writers, it is that fhe may become not a 
 critic in books, but in human nature. 
 
 Hiftory is the glafs by which the royal 
 mind fhould be dreffed. If it be dehghtful 
 for a private individual, to enter with the 
 hiftorian into every fcene which he de- 
 fcribes, and into every event which he 
 relates ; to be introduced into the interior 
 of the Roman fenate, or the Athenian. 
 Areopagus ; to follow Pompey to Pharfalia, 
 Miltiades to. Marathon, or Marlborough to 
 
 F a Blen-
 
 ANCIENT HISTORY. 
 
 Blenheim ; how much more interefting: 
 will this be to a fovereign ? To him for 
 whom fenates debate, for whom armies 
 engage, and who is himfelf to be a prime 
 ador in the drama ! Of how much more 
 importance is it to him, to poffefs an accurate 
 knowledge of all the fucceffive govern- 
 ments of that world, in a principal govern- 
 ment of which he is one day to take the 
 lead ! To poffefs himfelf of the experience 
 of ancient ftates, of the wifdom of every 
 antecedent age ! To learn moderation from 
 the ambition of one, caution from the 
 rafhnefs of another, and prudence perhaps 
 from the indifcretion of both ! To apply 
 foregone examples to his own ufe ; adopting 
 what is excellent, fhunning what is errone- 
 ous, and omitting what is irrelevant ! 
 
 Reading and obfervation are the two 
 grand fources of improvement ; but they 
 lie nof equally open to all. From the lat« 
 ter, the fex and habits of a royal female, 
 in a good meafure, exclude her. She mull 
 then, in a greater degree, depend on the 
 
 informa-
 
 ANCIENT HISTORY. 69 
 
 information which books afford, opened 
 and illuftrated by her preceptor. Though 
 her perfonal obfervation muft be limited, 
 her advantages from hiftorical fources may 
 be large and various. 
 
 If hiflory for a time, efpecially during 
 the reign of the prince whofe a£tions are 
 recorded, fometimes mifreprefent chara6ters, 
 the dead, even the royal dead, are feldom 
 flattered ; unlefs, which indeed too fre- 
 quently happens, the writer is deficient in 
 that jufl conception of moral excellence, 
 which teaches to diftinguilh what is fplen- 
 did from what is foHd. But, fooner or 
 later, hiftory does juftice. She fnatches 
 from oblivion, or reproach, the fame of 
 thofe virtuous men, whom corrupt princes, 
 not contented with having facrificed them 
 to their unjufl jealoufy, would rob alfo of 
 their fair renown. When Arulenus Ruf- 
 ticus was condemned by Domitian, for 
 having written, with its deferved eulogium, 
 the life of that excellent citizen, Thrafea 
 Foetus 3 when Senecio was put to death by 
 
 F 3 the
 
 70 ANCIENT HISTORY, 
 
 the fame emperor, for having rendered the 
 •like noble juftice to Helvidius Prifcus — 
 when the hiflorians themfelves, like the 
 patriots whom they celebrated, were fen- 
 tenced to death, their books alfo being con- 
 demned to the flames ; when Fannia, the 
 incomparable wife of Helvidius, was ba* 
 nifhed, having the courage to carry into 
 exile that book which had been the caufe 
 of it ; a book of which her conjugal piety 
 had furnifhed the materials. — '^ In the fire 
 which confumed thefe books," fays the au- 
 thor of the life of Agricola, '"^ the tyrants 
 imagined that they had ftifled the very ut- 
 terance of the Roman people, abolilhed the 
 lawful power of the fenate, and forced man- 
 kind to doubt of the very evidence of their 
 fenfes. Having expelled philofoph^y, and 
 exiled fcience, they flattered themfelves that 
 nothing, which bore the ftamp of virtue, 
 would exift *.'* — But hifliory has vindicated 
 the noble fuflferers. Postus and Helvidius 
 will ever be ranked among the moft ho- 
 
 * Beginning of Tacitua's Life of Agricola. 
 
 » nourable 
 
 r
 
 ANCIENT HISTORY. fX 
 
 nourable patriots ; while the emperor, who, 
 in deltroying their lives could not injure their 
 reputation, is configned to eternal infamy. 
 
 The examples which hiflory records, 
 fumifh faithful admonitions to fucceeding 
 princes, refpecling the means by which em- 
 pires are ereded and overturned. They 
 fhew by what arts of wifdom, or by what 
 negled of thofe arts, little ftates become 
 great, or great ftates fall into ruin j with 
 what equity or injuftice wars have been un- 
 dertaken ; with what ability or incapacity 
 they have been conduded j with what fa- 
 gacity or fhort-fightednefs treaties have 
 been formed. How national faith has been 
 maintained, or forfeited. How confedera- 
 cies have been made, or violated, Hiftory, 
 which is the amufement of other men, is the 
 fchool of princes. They are not to read it 
 merely as the rational occupation of a vacant 
 hour, but to confult it, as a ftorehoufe of 
 materials for the art of government. 
 
 There is a fplendour in heroic adions, 
 which fires the imagination, and forcibly 
 
 F 4 lays
 
 72 ANCIENT HISTORY. 
 
 lays hold on the palTions. Hence, the 
 poets were the firfl, and, in the rude ages 
 of antiquity, the only hifloriaos. They 
 feized on whatever was dazzling in charac- 
 ter, or fhining in adion j exaggerated he- 
 roic qualities, immortalized patriotifm, and 
 deified courage. But, inllead of making 
 their heroes patterns to men, they leflened 
 the utility of their e:Kample, by elevating 
 them into gods, * 
 
 Hence however arofe the firfl: idea of 
 hifliory; offnatching the deeds of illufl:rious 
 men from the delufions of fable ; of bring- 
 ing down extravagant powers, and preterna^ 
 tural faculties, within the limits of human 
 nature and pofTibility; and reducing over- 
 charged characters to the fize and fhape of 
 real life; giving proportion, order, and 
 arrangement to the wideft fcheme of action, 
 and to the mofl extended duration of time. 
 
 CHAP.
 
 LAWS. 7^ 
 
 CHAP. VI. 
 
 Laws — Egypt — Per/ta. 
 
 ijuT however the fiftions of poetry might 
 have given being to hiftory ; it was fage 
 political inftitutions, good governments, 
 and wife laws, which formed both its folid 
 bafis, and its valuable fuperftrudlure. And 
 it is from the labours of ancient legiflators, 
 the eftablifhment of flates, the foundation 
 of governments, and the progrefs of civil 
 focicty, that we are to look for more real 
 greatnefs, and more ufeful inflrudion, than 
 from all the extravagant exploits, recorded 
 in the fabulous ages of .antiquity. 
 
 So deep is the reverential awe which man- 
 kind have uniformly blended with the idea 
 of laws, that almofl all civilized nations have 
 affected to wrap up the origin of them in the 
 obfcurity of a devout myftery, and to in- 
 timate that they fprang from a divine fource. 
 This has arifen partly from a love of the 
 
 mar-
 
 74 LAWS. 
 
 marvellous, inherent in the human mind ; 
 partly from the vanity of a national fond- 
 nefs in each country, for lofing their origin 
 nal in the tracklefs paths of impenetrable 
 antiquity. Of the former of thefe taftes, a 
 iegiflator, like Numa, who had deep views, 
 and who knew how much the people re- 
 verence whatever is myfterious, would na- 
 turally avail hinifelf. And his fuppofed 
 divine communication was founded in his 
 confummate knowledge of the human mind, 
 a knowledge which a wife prince will always 
 turn to good account. % 
 
 But, however the myfterioufnefs of the 
 origin of laws may excite the reverence of 
 the vulgar, it is the wife only who will duly 
 venerate their fandity, as they alone can ap- 
 preciate their value. Laws are providen- 
 tially defigned, not only to be the beft fubfi- 
 diary aid of religion, where fhe is operative, 
 but to be in fome fort her fubftitute, in thofe 
 inftances where her own dire6l operations 
 might be ineffedual. For, even where the 
 immediate law of God is little regarded, the 
 
 civil
 
 LAWS. 75 
 
 eivil code may be externally efficient, from 
 its fandiions being more vifible, palpable, 
 tangible. And human laws are direftly 
 fitted to feftrain the outward ads of thofe, 
 whofe hearts are not influenced by the di- 
 vine injundions. Laws, therefore, are the 
 furefl fences of the befc blefiings of civilized 
 life. They bind fociety together, while they 
 ftrengthen the ftparate interefts of thofe 
 whom they reciprocally unite. They tie the 
 hands^ of depredation in the poor, and of 
 opprelTion in the rich ; proted the weak 
 ^againfl the encroachments of the powerful, 
 and draw their facred fhelter round all that 
 is dear in domeitic, or valuable in focial 
 life. They are the truefl guardians of the 
 dignity of the throne, and the only rampart 
 of the liberty of the people. 
 
 On the law of nature, and the law of 
 revelation (vvhere revelation is known), all 
 human laws ought to depend. That a 
 rule of civil condud fliould be prefcribed 
 to man, by the flate in which he lives, is 
 made neceifary by nature, as well as fanc- 
 
 tioned
 
 tioned by revelation. Were man an- in- 
 fulated being, the law of nature, and of re- 
 velation, would fuffice for him ; but, for 
 aggregate man, fomething more than even 
 municipal laws becomes requifite. Divided 
 as human beings are into feparate Hates, 
 and focieties, connedled among themfelves, 
 but difconnefted with other ftates, each 
 requires with relation to the other, certain 
 general rules, called the law of nations, as 
 much as each Hate needs refpe£ling itfelf, 
 thofe diflinft codes, which are fuited to their 
 own particular exigencies. On the whole, 
 then, as the natural fenfe of weaknefs and 
 fear impels man to feek the protedion, and 
 the bleffing of laws, fo from the experience 
 of that protection, and the fenfe of that 
 bleffing, his reafon derives the moll powerful 
 argument to defire their perpetuation ; and 
 his providential delliny becomes his choice. 
 If, therefore, we would truly eftimate the 
 value of laws, let us figure to ourfelves the 
 mifery of that ftate of nature in which there 
 Ihould be no law^ but that of the ftrongell ; 
 
 np
 
 LAWS OF EGYPT, 77 
 
 no judge to determine right, or to punifh 
 wrong ; to redrefs fufFering, or to repel in- 
 jury ; to protedt the weak, or to control the 
 powerful. 
 
 If, under the prevalence of a falfe, and 
 even abfurd religion, feveral ancient ftates, 
 that of Egypt in particular, fubfilled in fo 
 much fplendour * for fo long a period, and 
 afterwards funk into fuch abject deprefTion, 
 the caufes of both are obvious. The laws 
 of ancient Egypt were proverbial for their 
 wifdom. It has not efcaped feveral Chrif- 
 
 * It is to be obferved, that this fplendour alludes 
 to tbe profperity arifmg from wife political infti- 
 tutions merely ; for the private morals of Egypt 
 mufh have borne fome proportion to her corrupt 
 idolatry, w^hich afterw^ards became of the moll de- 
 grading and prepoiterous kind. Her wifdorn, we 
 muft. therefore infer^ was chiefly pdhical wifdom. 
 Her morality feems to have been, in a good mea- 
 fure, cultivated with a view to aggrandize the ftate, 
 and in violation of many natural feehngs, as was 
 the cafe in Sparta. Egypt was a well-compafted 
 political fociety, and her virtue appears to have been 
 the effefk of political difcipline. In enumerating her 
 merits, our objeft is, to prove the great iinportance 
 
 of LAWS. 
 
 tian
 
 78 LAWS OF EGYPT* 
 
 tian hiftorians, that it was the human praife 
 of him, who was ordained to be the legilla- 
 tor of God's own people, that he ivasjkilkd 
 in all the learning of the Egyptians. And it 
 was meant to confer an high eulogium on 
 the wifeft of the kings of Ifrael, that his wif* 
 dom eclipfed that of -^gypt. 
 
 The laws of this ilate fo flrongly en- 
 forced mercy, that they punifhed with death 
 thofe who refufed to iave the hfe of a fel- 
 low-creature, if attacived, when it was in 
 their power. The juftice of the Egyptian 
 lav/s was fo inflexible, that the kings obliged 
 the judges to fwear, that they would never" 
 depart from the principles of rectitude, 
 though even in obedience to the royal com- 
 mand. Their refped for individual virtue, 
 and for that reputation which follows it, was 
 fo high, that a kind of moral inquifition was 
 appointed, on the death of every citizen, to 
 inquire what fort of life he had lived, that 
 his memory might be accordingly had in 
 honour, or deteflation. From the verdi£t 
 of this folemn tribunal, even their kings 
 themfelves were not exempted. 
 
 The
 
 LAWS OF EGYPT. 79 
 
 The whole aim and end of education 
 among them, was to infpire a veneration for 
 GOVERNMENT and RELIGION. They had 
 a law, which alTigned fome employment 
 to every individual of the (late. And though 
 the genius of our free conflitution would 
 juftly reprobate, what, indeed, its temperate 
 and judicious reflraints render unneceiTary 
 among us, that claufe which directed that 
 the employment fhould be pei'petuated in 
 the fame family ; yet, perhaps, the fevere. 
 moraliil, with the example of the well-order- 
 ed government of Egypt before his eyes, 
 might reafonably doubt whether a law, the 
 effe£t of v/hich was to keep men in their 
 places, though it might now and then check 
 the career of a lofty genius, was not a 
 much lefs injury to fociety, than the free 
 fcope which was afforded to the turbulent am- 
 bition of every afpiring fpirit in the Greek 
 democracies. BolTuet, who has, perhaps, pe- 
 netrated more deeply into thefe fubje£ts than 
 almofl any modeiTi, has pronounced Egypt 
 to be the fountain of all political wifdom. 
 
 What
 
 8o LAWS OF EGYPr. 
 
 What afterwards plunged the Egyptians 
 Into calamity, and brought final diflblution 
 on their government ? It was a departure 
 from its conftitutional principles ; it was the 
 negleft and contempt of thofe venerable 
 laws which, ior fixteen centuries^ had confli- 
 tuted their glory and their happinefs. They 
 exchanged the love of their wife domeflic 
 inflitutions, for the ambition of fubduing 
 diftant countries. One of their moft heroic 
 fovereigns (as is not unufual) was the in- 
 ftrument of their misfortunes. Sefoftris was 
 permitted, by Divine Providence, to dimi- 
 nilh the true glory of Egypt, by a refllefs 
 ambition to extend her territory. This 
 fplendid prince abandoned the real gran- 
 deur of governing wifely at home, for the 
 falfe glor}?- of foreign conquefts, which de- 
 tained him nine years in diftant climates. At 
 a remote period, the people, weary of the 
 blefTmgs they had fo long enjoyed under 
 a fmgle monarch, weakened the royal 
 power, by dividing it among multiplied 
 
 fovereigns. 
 
 What
 
 LAWS OF PERSIA. 8 1 
 
 What exalted the ancient Perfians to 
 ilich lading fame ? The equity and flrid 
 execution of their laws. It was their fo- 
 vereign difdain of falfehood in their public 
 tranfadions. Their confidering fraud as 
 the mofl degrading of vices, and thus tranf- 
 fufing the fpirit of their laws into their con- 
 duct. It was that love of juflice (modern 
 ftatefmen would do well to imitate the ex- 
 ample) which made them oblige themfelves 
 to commend the virtues of their enemies. 
 It was fuch an extraordinary rcfpect for 
 education, that no forrow was ever exprelTed 
 for young perfons who died uninftrud- 
 ed. It was by paying fuch an attention to 
 -the children of the fovereign, that, at the 
 ap-e of fourteen, they were placed under the 
 care of four ftatefmen, who excelled in dif- 
 ferent talents. By one they were inftrucled 
 in the principles of juftice ; by another they 
 were taught to fubdue fenfuality ; by a third 
 they were initiated in the art of govern- 
 ment ; and, by a fourth, in the duties of 
 religion. Plato has given a beautiful fketch 
 of this accomplilhed and fubhme education. 
 VOL. I. o It
 
 hi tAWS Of PERSIA. 
 
 It will be found, that nearly the fame 
 caufes which forwarded the ruin of Egypt, 
 contributed to deflroy Perfia j a dereliction 
 of thofe fundamental principles of legiflation 
 and morals, to which it had been indebted 
 for its long profpefity and grandeur. 
 
 But be it remembered, that the bed 
 human laws will not be exempt from the 
 imperfe£lion infeparably bound up with all 
 human things. Let us beware, however, 
 of thofe innovators, who, mftead of care- 
 fully improving, and vigoroufly executing, 
 thofe laws which are already eftablilhed, 
 adopt no remedies fhort of deflrudion ; 
 tolerate no improvements fhort of creation : 
 v/ho are carried away by a v/ild fcheme of 
 vifionary perfeftion, which, if it could any- 
 where be found to exifl, would not be likely 
 to be found in the projects of men, who 
 difdain to avail themfelves of ancient expe- 
 rience, — and progreffive wifdom.. Thucy- 
 dides was a politician of another cafl j for 
 he declared, that even indifferent laws, vi- 
 gilantly executed, were fuperior to the beft, 
 that were not properly obeyed. Thofe mo- 
 
 12 dem
 
 LAWS 01* PERSIA. 83 
 
 dei^n reformifts, who afFeO: to be in faptures 
 with the Greek republics, would do well to 
 imitate the deliberation, the llownefs, the 
 doubt, with which the founder of the Athe- 
 nian legiflation introduced his laws. In- 
 ftead of thofe fudden and inflantaneous 
 conflitutions we have witneffed, which, dif- 
 daining the flow growth of moral births, 
 have flarted at once, full grown, from the 
 brain of the projeQor, and were as fuddenly 
 fuperfeded as rapidly produced ; Solon 
 would not fuffer a fmgle law to be deter- 
 mined on, and accepted, till the firft charm 
 of novelty was paft, and the firft heat of 
 enthufiafm had cooled. What would the 
 fame capricious theorifts fay to that reve- 
 rence with which the Egyptians, above 
 cited, regarded antiquity, example, cullom, 
 law, prefcription ? This fage people con- 
 fidered every political novelty with a jea- 
 loufy equal to the admiration with which 
 it is regarded by the new fchool. Trial, 
 proof, exeprience, was the flow criterion 
 by which they ventured to decide on the 
 
 6 2 excellence
 
 84 LAWS OF PERSIA. 
 
 excellence of any inftitution. While, to the 
 licentious innovator, antiquity is ignorance, 
 cullom is tyranny, order is intolerance, laws 
 are chains. But the end has correfponded 
 with the beginning. Their " bafelefs fa- 
 brics" have fallen to pieces before they were 
 well reared ; and have expofed their fuper- 
 ficial, but felf-fufficient builders, to the juft 
 derifion of mankind. 
 
 CHAP.
 
 GREECE. ' 85 
 
 CHAP. vn. 
 
 Greece. 
 
 vVhen we contemplate Greece, and efpe- 
 cially when we fix our eyes on Athens, our 
 admiration is flrongly, I had almoft faid, is 
 irrcfiftibly excited, in reflefting, that fuch a, 
 diminutive fpot concentrated within itfelf 
 whatever is great and eminent in almoft 
 every point of view ; whatever confers dif- 
 tindion on the human intelled; ; whatever 
 is calculated to infpire wonder, or commu- 
 nicate delight. Athens was the pure well- 
 head of poetry ; 
 
 Hither, as to their fountain, other ftars 
 Repairing, in their golden urns draw light. 
 
 It was the theatre of arms, the cradle of the 
 arts, the fchool of philofophy, and the pa- 
 rent of eloquence. 
 
 To be regarded as the mafters in learning, 
 the oracle of tafte, and the ftandard of po- 
 
 G 2 litenefs.
 
 S6 GREECE. 
 
 litenefs, to the whole civilized world, is 
 a fplend-d diftinftion. But it is a peflilent 
 mifchief, when the very renown attending 
 foch brilliant advantages becomes the 
 vehicle for carrying into other countries the 
 depraved manners by which thefe pre-emi- 
 nent advantages are accompanied. This 
 was confeffedly the cafe of Greece with 
 refped to Rome. Rome had conquered 
 Greece by her arms ; but whenever a fub- 
 jugated country contributes, by her vices, 
 to enflave the ftate which conquered her, 
 fhe amply revenges herfelf. 
 
 But the perils of this coi^amination do, 
 not terminate with their immediate confe- 
 quences. The ill effects of Grecian man- 
 ners did not ceafe with the corruptions which 
 they engendered at Rome. There is flill a 
 ferious danger, left, while the ardent and 
 high-fpirited young reader contemplates 
 Greece only through the fplendid medium 
 of her heroes and her artifts, her poets and 
 her orators ; while his imagination is fired 
 with the glories of conqueft, and captivated 
 
 with
 
 GREECE* f7 
 
 With the charms of literature, that he may 
 lofe fight of the diforders, the corruptions, 
 and the crimes, by which Athens, the fa- 
 mous feat of arts and of letters, was diflio- 
 noured. May he not be tinctured (allow- 
 ing for change of circumftances) with fome- 
 thing of that fpirit which inflamed Alex- 
 ander, when, as he was palling the Hydafpes, 
 he enthuftaftically exclaimed, ^' O Athe- 
 nians ! could you believe to what dangers I 
 €xpofe myfelf, for the fake of being cele- 
 brated by you !" 
 
 Many of the Athenian vices originated in 
 the very nature of their conlljtution ; in the 
 very fpirit of that turbulent democracy 
 which Solon could not reflrain, nor tlie 
 ablell of his fucceffors control. The great 
 founder of their legiflation felt the dangers 
 infeparable from the democratic form of 
 government, when he declared, *' that he 
 had nor given them the bell laws, but the 
 befl which they were able to bear." in the 
 very eftablifhment of his inllitutions, he 
 betrayed his diflrufl of this fpecies of go- 
 
 G 4 vernment.
 
 t% 
 
 GREECE. 
 
 vernment, by thofe guards and ramparts 
 which he was fo affiduous in providing and 
 multiplying. Knowing himielf to be inca- 
 pable of fetting afide the popular power, his 
 attention was directed to divefl it, as much 
 as poffible, of its mifchiefs, by the entrench^ 
 ments that he drove to caft about it. His 
 fagacious mJnd anticipated the ill effects of 
 that republican refllefliiefs, that at length 
 completely overturned the ftate which it 
 had fo often menaced, and fo conftantly 
 diilrafted. 
 
 This unfettled government^ which left the 
 country perpetually expofed to the tyranny 
 of the few, and the turbulence of the miany, 
 was never bound together by any principle 
 of union, by any bond of intereft, common 
 to the v/hole community, except when the 
 general danger, for a time, annihilated the 
 diflindlion of feparate interefls. The re^ 
 ftraint of laws was feeble ; the laws themfelves 
 were often contradiftory ; often ill admi- 
 jiiftered ; popular intrigues, and tumultuous 
 ^iTeniblies, frequently obfi:ruQ:ing their ope- 
 ration*
 
 GREECE, 89 
 
 ration. The nobleft fervlces were not fel- 
 dom rewarded with imprffonment, exile, or 
 afiaffination. Under every change, confif- 
 cation and profcription were never at a 
 ftand ; and the only way of effacing the im- 
 preflion of any revolution which had pro- 
 duced thefe outrages, was to promote a new 
 one, which engendered, in its turn, freih 
 outrages, and improved upon the antece^ 
 dent diforders. 
 
 By this light and capricious people, 
 acute in their feelings, carried away by 
 every fudden gufl of pafiicn, as mutable in 
 their opinions as unjuft in their decifions, 
 the mod illuilrious patriots were firfl facri- 
 ficed, and then honoured with ftatues; 
 their heroes were murdered as traitors, and 
 then reverenced as Gods. This wanton 
 abufe of authority, this ralli injuftice, and 
 fruitlefs repentance, Vv'ouid be the inevitable 
 confequence of lodging fupreme power in 
 the hands of a vain and variable populace, 
 jnconitant in their very vices, perpetually 
 
 vibratinff
 
 vibrating between irretrievable crimes an4 
 inefFediual regrets. 
 
 That powerful oratory, which Is to us fo 
 jufl a fubjed of admiration, was, doubtlefs, 
 no inconfiderabie caufe of the public dif- 
 orders. And to that exquifite talent, which 
 conftitutes one of the chief boails of Athens, 
 we may look for one principal fource of 
 her diforders : 
 
 Thofe ancients, vvliofe refiflleft eloquence 
 Vv'^ielded at will the fierce Democracy, 
 Shook th' arfenal, and fulmin'4 over Greece, 
 To Macedon and Artaxerxes' throne. 
 
 When we confider what mighty influence 
 this talent gave to the popular leaders, an4 
 what a powerful engine their demagogues 
 poffeiTed, to work upon the pafTions of the 
 multitude, who com.pofed their popular af- 
 femblies ; when we refle6l on the characler 
 of thofe crowds, on whom this flirring eior 
 quence was exercifed, and remember that 
 their opinion decided on the fate of the coun- 
 try: all this will contribute to account for the 
 ii'equency and riolence of the public comr 
 
 motions^
 
 CiREECE. 91 
 
 piotions, and naturally explains why that 
 rhetorical genius, which flied fo bright a 
 iuftre on the country, was, from the nature 
 of the conftitution, frequently the inftru- 
 ment of convulfing it. 
 
 While the higher clafs, in many of the 
 Greek republics, feemed without fcruple 
 to opprefs their inferiors, the populace of 
 Athens commonly exerted the fame hollile 
 fpirit of refentnient againft their leaders. — 
 Competition, circumvention, litigation ; 
 ever)'' artifice of private fraud, every ilrata- 
 gem of perfonal injudice, filled up the 
 ihort intervals of foreign wars and public 
 contefts. How ftrikingly is St. PauFs 
 definition of that light and frivolous pro- 
 penfity of the Athenians, v/hich led them 
 to pafs the day only " to hear or to tell 
 fome new thing,'' illuftrated, by Plutarch's 
 relation of the illiterate citizen, who voted 
 Ariflides to the punilhmcnt of theOftracifm! 
 When this great man queftioned his accufer, 
 whether Ariftidcs had ever injured him ? 
 He replied, fo far from it, that he did not 
 
 even
 
 92 GREECE. 
 
 even know him, only he was quite 'wearied 
 out with hearing him every where called the 
 juj}, Befides that fpirit of envy which is 
 peculiarly alive in democracies ; to have 
 heard this excellent perfon calumniated, 
 would have been a refrefhing novelty, and 
 have enabled him " to tell a new thing." 
 
 That paiHonate fondnefs for fcenic 
 diverfions, v/hich led the Athenians not 
 cnly to apply part of the pubKc money 
 to the fupport of the theatres, and to 
 pay for the admifiion of the populace, 
 but alfo made it a capital crime to divert 
 this fund to any other fervice, ^ven to the 
 fervice of the ftate, fo facred was this ap- 
 plication of it deemed — was another con- 
 ■cuiTent caufe of the profligacy of public 
 manners *, The abufes to which this uni- 
 
 verfal 
 
 * Pericles not being rich enough to fupplant his 
 competitor by afts of liberality, procured this law 
 with a view to make his court to the people. He 
 fcrupled not, in order to fecure their attachment to 
 his perfon and government, by thus " buying them 
 with their own money," efFed.ually to promote their 
 
 ■natural
 
 GREECE. 9^ 
 
 verfal invitation to luxury and idl^nefs led ; 
 the licentioufnefs of that purely democratic 
 fpint, which made the loweft claffes claim, 
 as a right, to partake in the diverfions of 
 the higheft ; the pernicious produftions of 
 fome of the comic poets ; the unbounded 
 licence introduced by the mafk ; the vo- 
 luptuoufnefs of their mufic, whofe cj^tra- 
 ordinary effects it would be impcilibie to 
 believe, were they not confirmed by the 
 general voice of antiquity : all thefe con- 
 curring circumitances induced a deprava- 
 tion of morals, of which lefs enlightened 
 countries do not often prefent an example. 
 
 natural levity and idlenefs, and to corrupt their 
 morals, — The rulers of a neighbouring nation have 
 been too fkilful iidepts in the art of corruption", not 
 to admire and eagerly adopt an example fo fuited to 
 their political circumft.nces, and fo congenial to their 
 national frivolity. Accordingly, an unexampled multi- 
 tude of theatre!i.have been opened ; and in order to 
 allay the difcontents of the lower clafs at the expenoe 
 of their time and morals, the price of thefe diverfions 
 has been reduced ^ low as almoft to emulate the gra- 
 tuitous admiflion of the Athenian populace. 
 
 The
 
 94 GkEECEi 
 
 The prophane and impure Arlftophanes was 
 alnioft adored, while the virtue of Socrates 
 not only procured him a violent death, but 
 the poet, by making the philofopher con- 
 temptible to the populace, paved the way 
 to his unjufl fentence by the judges. Nay, 
 perhaps the delight which the Athenians 
 took in the impious and ofFenfively loofe 
 wit of this dramatic poet, rendered them 
 more deaf to the voice of that virtue which 
 was taught by Plato, and of that liberty in 
 which they had once gloried, and which 
 Demofthenes continued to thunder in their 
 unheeding ears. Their rage for fenfual 
 pleafure rendered them a fit object for the 
 projeds of Philip, and a ready prey to the 
 attacks of Alexander. 
 
 In lamenting, however, the corruptions 
 of the theatre in Athens, juflice compels 
 us ro acknowledge, that her immortal tra- 
 gic poets, by their chafte and manly com- 
 pofitions, furnifii a noble exception. In no 
 country has decency and pu<ity, and, to the 
 difgrace of Chriftian countries, let it be 
 
 added.
 
 GREECE. ()^ 
 
 Jidded, have morality and even piety, been 
 fo generally prevalent in any theatrical com- 
 pofitions, as in what 
 
 her lofty grave Tragedians taught 
 
 In Chorus or Iambic, teachers befl; 
 Of moral Prudeiice. 
 
 Yet, in paying a juft and warm tribute ,. 
 to the moral excellencies of thefe fublime 
 dramalills, is not an anfwer provided to 
 that long agitated queflion. Whether the 
 ftage can be indeed made a fchool of mo- 
 rals ? No queflion had ever a fairer chance 
 for decifion than was here afforded. — If it 
 be allowed, that there never Vv^is a more 
 profligate city than Athens ; if it be equally 
 indifputable, that never country polfelTed 
 more unexceptionable dramatic poets than 
 Efchylus, Sophocles, and Euripides ; if the 
 fame city thus at once produced the beft 
 phyficians, and the worfl patients, what 
 is the refult? Do the Athenian annals re- 
 cord, that any clafs or condition of citizens 
 Were actually reformed by conflantly fre- 
 quenting,
 
 ^6 GREECE* 
 
 quenting, we had almoft laid, by condantly 
 living in the theatre ? 
 
 Plutarch, who feverely condemns the 
 Athenians, had too jufh a judgment to 
 cenfure either the excellence of the poets, 
 or the good talle of the people who admired 
 them. But he blames them for that ex- 
 ceffive paflion for diverfions, " which," 
 fays he, " by fetting up a new objed: of at- 
 tachment had nearly extingullhed public 
 virtue, and made them more anxious about 
 the fate of a play than about the fate of their 
 country*.'* 
 
 Such were the manners which hlftorians, 
 orators, and poets have configned to im- 
 mortal fame 1 Such were the ■ people for 
 whom our highly educated youth ai'e 
 taught to feel an enthufiaftic admiration I 
 Such are the forms of government which 
 have excited the envy, and partly furniflied 
 the model to the bloody innovators, and 
 frantic politicians of our age ! Madly to 
 
 * See Wortley Montagu, of theRife and Fail ^f 
 ancient Republics. 
 
 5 g^o^y
 
 GREECE. 97 
 
 glory in the dream of liberty, and to be in 
 fa£t the victim of changing tyrants, but 
 unchanging tyranny. — This was the coveted 
 lot of ancient Athens ! This is the objeft of 
 reverence, eulogy^ and imitation to a large 
 portion of modern Europe ! 
 
 In refleding on the fplendid works of 
 genius and of art in Athens, as oppofed to 
 the vices of her government, and the licen- 
 tioufnefs of her morals, — will it be thought 
 an adequate compenfation for the corrup- 
 tions of both, if we grant, as we are difpofed 
 to do, in Its fullell extent, that unparalleled 
 combination of talents, which delighted and 
 informed the reft of the world ? If we 
 allow that this elegance of tafte fpread fo 
 wide, and defcended fo Jow, that every 
 individual of an Athenian mob might, a? 
 has been triumphantly aflerted *, be a juft 
 critic of dramatic compofition ? That the 
 ear of the populace was fo nicely tuned, 
 and fo refined a judge of the delicacies of 
 
 * See an elegant paper in the Adventurer, in which 
 fome of thefe triumphs of Athens are afTerted. 
 
 VOL. I. H pro-
 
 ^t GREECE. 
 
 pronunciation, than an Attic herb-woman 
 could deted the provincial accent of a 
 learned philofopher ? Is it even a fufficient 
 compenfation, exquifite as we allow the 
 gratification to have been, that the fpefta- 
 tor might range among the ftatues of 
 Lyfippus, or the pictures of Apelles, or the 
 critic enjoy the flill more intellectual luxury 
 of liftening to an oration of Demoflhenes, 
 "of a fcene of Euripides, — while the rulers 
 of fo accomplifhed a people were in general 
 dilTolute, tyrannical, oppreffive, and unjufl ; 
 and the people themfelves univerfally funk 
 into the moil degraded ftafe of manners j 
 immerfed in the lafl excefs of effeminacy ; 
 debafed by the mcfl exceffive fenfuality, 
 fraud, idlenefs, avarice, gaming, and de- 
 bauchery ? 
 
 If here and there the eye is relieved, and 
 the feelings are refreihed, with the cafual 
 appearance of a Miltiades, a Cimon, an 
 Ariftides, a Socrates, a Phocion, or a 
 Xenophon ; yet thefe thinly fcattered ftars 
 ferve lefs to retrieve the Athenian character, 
 
 by
 
 GREECEi -.^v 
 
 by their folltary luflre, or even by their 
 confluent radiance, than to overwhelm it 
 with difgrace, by the atrocious injuflice 
 with which thefe bright luminaries were 
 treated by their country. The eulogium 
 pf the citizen is the fatire of the flate. 
 
 While we obferve that Greece lirfl be* 
 came powerful, rich and great, through the 
 eftergy of her people, and the vigour of her 
 charadler, and that this very greatnefs, 
 power, and riches, have a natural bias to- 
 wards corruption ; that while they hap- 
 pily tend to prod'uce and nourifli thofe arts, 
 which ,in their juft meafure are the belt 
 embellifhments of a nation ; yet carried to 
 excefs, and mifappJied to vicious purpofes, 
 tend to weaken and corrupt it ; that Athens, 
 by her public and private vices, and 
 by her very refinement in politenefs, and 
 her devotednefs to the arts, not only pre- 
 cipitated her ov/n ruin, — but by the tranf- 
 plantation of thofe arts, encumbered with 
 thofe vices, ultimately contributed to ruin 
 Rome alfo. — While we take this retrofped, 
 
 H a we.
 
 lOO GREECE. 
 
 we, of this highly-favoured land, may re- 
 ceive an awful admonition ; we may make 
 a mofl inilru£live comparifon of our own 
 fituation with refpeft to a neighbouring na- 
 tion, — a nation which, under the rapidly- 
 Ihifting form of every mode of government, 
 from the defpotifm of abfolute monarchy to 
 a republican anarchy, to which the royal 
 tyranny was comparative freedom ; — and 
 now again, in the clofmg fcene of this 
 changeful drama, to the heavy fubjugation 
 of military defpotifm, has never ceafed to 
 be the obje£l of childifh admiration, of paf* 
 fionate fondnefs, and fervile imitation, to 
 too many in our own country ; to perfons, 
 too, whofe rank, giving them the greatefl 
 (lake in it, have moft to rifk by the 
 affimilation with her manners, and mofl to 
 lofe by the adoption of her principles. And 
 though, through the fpecial providence and 
 undeferved mercies of God, we have with- 
 ftood the flood of revolutionary doftrines, 
 let us, taking warning from the refemblance 
 above pointed out, no longer perfift, as in 
 
 the
 
 GREECE. 101 
 
 the halcyon days of peace, fen^ilely to adopt 
 her language, habits, manners and corrup- 
 tions. For now to fill up the meafure of 
 our danger, her pictures, and her ftatues, 
 not the fruits of her own genius — for here 
 the comparifon with Athens fails — but the 
 plunder of her ufurpation, and the fpoils of 
 her injuftice, by holding out new baits to 
 our curiofity, and new attractions to our 
 admiration, are in danger of fatally and 
 finally accomplifhing the refemblance. — 
 May the omen be averted i 
 
 Among the numberlefs lefTons which we 
 may derive from the fludy of Grecian hif- 
 tory, there is one which cannot be too often 
 inculcated, more efpecially as it is a fa6t 
 little relifhed by many of our more refined 
 wits and politicians, — we mean the error of 
 afcribing to arts, to literature, and to polite- 
 nefs, that power of foftening and correi2:ing 
 the human heart, which is, in truth, the 
 exclufive prerogative of religion. Really to 
 mend the heart, and purify the principle, 
 
 H 3 is
 
 I02 GREECE. 
 
 is a deeper work than the mofl finiflied cuL 
 tivation of the tajle has ever been able to 
 effeft. The poliflied Athenians were among 
 the moft unjufl of mankind in their national 
 afts, and the moil cruel towards their allies. 
 They remarkably exemplify the tendency of 
 ailing in a body^ to leflen each man's indivi- 
 dual confcioufnefs of guilt or cruelty. This 
 polite people, in their political capacit)-, 
 com -litted, without fcruple, actions of 
 almoft unparalleled barbarity. 
 
 Every reflecting clafs of Britifh, and efpe- 
 clally of Chriflian readers, will not fail to 
 perufe the annals of this admired republic 
 with fentiments of deep gratitude to heaven 
 for the vafl fuperiorlty of our own national, 
 civil, focial, moral, and religious bleffings. 
 And they may enrich the catalogue with 
 • that one additional advantage, which Xeno- 
 phon thought was all that Athens wanted, 
 and which we pollefs — We are an ijland *. 
 
 * See Montefqiiieu Efprlt des Loix, vol. ii. p. 3. 
 
 The
 
 GREECE. 103 
 
 The found and fober politician will fee mofl 
 flrongly illuflrated, in the evils of the Athe- 
 nian ftate, (though diffimilar in fome re- 
 fpects from modern democracy,) the bleff- 
 ings of our reprefentative government, and 
 of our deliverance from any approximation 
 towards that mob-government, to which 
 univerfal fuffrage would be the natural and 
 necelfary introduclion. 
 
 The delicate and refined female of our 
 favoured country will feel peculiar fenfa- 
 tions of thankfulnefs, in comparing her 
 happy lot with the degraded (late of women 
 in the politeft ages of Greece. Condemned 
 to ignorance, labour, and obfcurity ; ex- 
 cluded from rational intercourfe ; debarred 
 from every fpecies of intellectual improve- 
 ment or innocent enjoyment ; they never 
 i'eem to have been the objects of refpecl or 
 efteem ; in the conjugal relation, the fer- 
 vile agent, not the endeared companion. 
 Their depreffed flate was, in fome meafure, 
 confirmed by Illiberal legal inftitutions ; 
 and their native gcm'us was fyftem.atically 
 
 H 4 reRrained
 
 r04 GREECE. 
 
 reftrained from riflng above one degraded 
 level. — Such was the lot of the virtuous part 
 of the fex. We forbear to oppofe to this 
 gloomy picture the profligate renown to 
 which the bold pretenfions of daring vice 
 elevated mercenary beauty ; nor would we 
 glance at the impure topic, but to remind 
 our amiable countrywomen, that immodefly 
 in drefs, contempt of the fober duties of do- 
 meflic life, a boundlefs appetite for plea- 
 fure, and a mifapplied devodon to the arts, 
 were among the fteps which led to this 
 fyftemadc profeffion of fhamelefs profligacy, 
 and to the eftablifliment of thofe counte- 
 nanced corruptions which raifed the more 
 celebrated, but infamous, Athenian women 
 
 To that bad eminence. 
 
 Every defcription of men, who know hoW 
 to eflimate public good, or private happi- 
 nefs, will joyfully acknowledge the vifible 
 effed which Chrifl:ianity has had (indepen- 
 dently of its influence over its real votaries) 
 in improving and elevadng the general 
 
 8 fl:andar4
 
 GREECE. 105 
 
 ftandard of morals, fo as confiderably to 
 rectify and raife the condudl of thofe who 
 are not direftly actuated by its principles. 
 And, laflly, to fay nothing of a pure church 
 eftablifhment, fo diametrically the reverfe 
 of the deplorably blind and ignorant rites of 
 Athenian worihip *, — who can contemplate, 
 without a thankful heart, that large infufion 
 of Chriflianity into our national laws, which 
 has fet them fo infinitely above all compari- 
 fon with the admired codes of Lycurgus and 
 of Solon ? 
 
 * Acts of the Apoftles^ ch, xvii. 
 
 CHAP.
 
 Io6 ROME. 
 
 CHAP. VIII, 
 
 Rome. 
 
 If the Romans, from being a handful of 
 banditti, rendered themfeives in a fliort pe>- 
 riod lords of the univerfe ; — if Rome, from 
 being an ordmary town in Italy, became 
 foremofl in genius and in arms, and at 
 length unrivalled in imperial magnificence ; 
 let it be remembered that the foundations 
 of this greatnefs were laid in fome of the 
 extraordinary virtues of that republic. The 
 perfonal frugality of her citizens ; the re- 
 markable iimplicity of their manners ; the 
 habit of transferring from themfel'^s to the 
 flate all pretenfions to external confequence 
 and fplendour ; the flriftnefs of her laws, 
 and the flriking impartiality of their execu- 
 tion ; that inflexible regard to jullice, which 
 led them, in the early ages of the republic — 
 
 fo
 
 ROME, 107 
 
 fo little was the doctrine of expediency in 
 repute among them — to inflid penalties on 
 thofe citizens who even conquered by de^ 
 ceit, and not by valour ; that vigilant 
 attention to private morals which the 
 eftablifliment of a cenforfliip fecured, and 
 that zeal for liberty, which was at the fame 
 time fupported by her political conftituticn. 
 — Thefe caufes were the true origin of the 
 •Roman greatnefs. This was the pedeftal on 
 which her colofT^l power was erected ; and 
 though fhe remained miftrefs of the world, 
 even at a time when thefe virtues had begun 
 to decline, the firll impulfe not having 
 ceafed to operate, yet a difcerning eye might 
 even then perceive her growing internal 
 weaknefs, and might anticipate her final 
 diiTolution. 
 
 Republican Rome, however, has been 
 much too highly panegyrifed. The Ro- 
 mans had, indeed, a public feeling, to which 
 every kind of private affection gave way ; 
 and it is chiefly on the credit of their facri- 
 ficing their individual interefls to the na- 
 13 tional
 
 lc8 ROME, 
 
 tional caufe, that they acquired fo high a 
 renown. 
 
 It may not be unworthy of remark, that 
 the grand fundamental principle of the an- 
 cient republics (and though it was flill more 
 ilrikingly manifeft in the Grecian, it was in 
 no fmali degree the cafe with Republican 
 Rome) was different from that which con- 
 ilftutes the eifential principle of the Britifh 
 conilitution, and even oppofite to it. In the 
 former the public was every thing ; the 
 rights, the comforts, the very exiftence of 
 individuals, were as nothing. With us, 
 happily, the cafe is very different, nay, even 
 exactly the reverfe. The well-being of the 
 whole community is provided for, by effec- 
 tually fecuring the rights, the fafety, the 
 comforts of every individual. Among the 
 ancients, the groifefl adts of injullice againll 
 private perfons were continually perpetrated, 
 and were regarded as beneath account, 
 v.hen they ftood in the way of the will, the 
 intereft, the aggrandifement, the gloiy of 
 the flate. In our happier country, not the 
 
 meaneft
 
 ROME. 105) 
 
 meanefi: fubjec^ can be injured in his perfon 
 or his poffefiions. The little flock of the 
 artizan, the peaceful cottage of the peafant, 
 is fecured to him by the univerfal fuperin- 
 tendance, and the ftrong prote-^lion of the 
 public force. The ftate is juftly confidered 
 as made up of an aggregate of particular 
 families ; and it is by fecuring the well- 
 being of each, that all are prefen^ed in prof- 
 perity. We could delight to defcant large- 
 ly on this topic ; and furely the contem- 
 plation could not but warm the hearts of 
 Britons with lively gratitude to the Author 
 of all their blefllngs, and with zealous at- 
 tachment to that conftitution, which conveys 
 and fecures to them the enjoyment of fuch 
 unequalled happinefs ! But we dare not ex- 
 patiate in fo wide a field. I^et us, however, 
 remark the degree in which the benevolent 
 fpirit of Chriftianity is transfufed into our 
 poUtical fyflem. As it was the glory of our 
 religion to take the poor under her inflruc- 
 tion, and to adminifter her confolations to 
 the wretched, fo it is the beauty of our con- 
 ftitution
 
 {irltution that (he confidersj not as below her 
 care, the feats of humble but honefl induf^ 
 try ; the peaceful dwellings, and quiet enjoy- 
 ments, of the lover of domeflic comfort. 
 
 ^gain — This vital fpirit of our conftitu- 
 tion is favourable to virtue, as well as con- 
 genial with religion, and conducive to hap- 
 ■pinefs. It checks that fpirit of injuftice and 
 oppreffion which is fo nianifefl in the con- 
 dud of the antient republics towards all 
 other nations. It tends to diifufe a general 
 fenfe of moral obligation, a continual re- 
 ference to the claims of others, and our own 
 'confequent obligations: in fhort, a conti- 
 nual reference to the real rights of man ; 
 a term which, though fo ihamefully abufed, 
 and converted into the watch-word of riot 
 and rebellion, yet, truly and properly un- 
 '-derftood, is of found meaning and.conftant 
 application. By princes efpecially, thefe 
 rights fhould ever be kept in remembrance. 
 They were, indeed, never fo well fecured, 
 as by that excellent injunction of our blefled 
 Saviour, To do to others as we would have 
 
 them
 
 «OME» I i I 
 
 thm do to us. And to which the apoftle's 
 brief, but comprehenfive diredions, form 
 an admirable commentary : Honour all me?i 
 — Lo'veyoiir bi-ethrcn — Fear God — Honour 
 
 the King. 
 
 But, to return to the Romans : then* 
 very patriotifm, by leading them to thii-fl 
 for univerfal empire, finally deftroyed them, 
 being no lefs fatal to the morals, than to the 
 greatnefs of the ftate. Even their vaunted 
 public fpirit partly originated in the necef- 
 fities of their fituation. They were a little 
 ftate, furrounded by a multitude of otK^r 
 little ftates, and they had no fafety but in 
 union. "Neceflity firfl roufed the genius 
 of war, and the habits of experienced and. 
 fuccefsful valour kept him awake. The 
 love of wealth and power, in latter ages, 
 carried on what original bravery had begun : 
 till, in the unavoidable viciffitude of human 
 affairs, Rome periflied beneatif the weight 
 of that pile of glory which fhe had been fa 
 ong rearing *.** 
 
 * Carlo Denina on the ancient Republics of Italy, 
 
 Their
 
 113 ROME, 
 
 Their laws and conftltution were natu- 
 rally calculated to promote their public 
 fpirit, and to produce their union. Having 
 fucceeded in repelling the attacks of the 
 fmall rival powers, and, by their peculiar 
 fortune, or rather by the defignation of Pro- 
 vidence, having become the predominating 
 power in Italy, they proceeded to add con- 
 quefl to conqueft, making in the pride of 
 confcious fuperiority, wars evidently the 
 mod unjuft. Yet it mufl; not be denied, 
 that the occupation which progrellive con- 
 queils found for the citizens, communicated 
 a peculiar hardinefs to the Roman charac- 
 ter, and ferved to retard the growth both 
 of luxury and fadion. That public fpirit, 
 which might be juftified when it applied 
 itfelf to wars of felf-defence, became by 
 degrees little better than the principle of a 
 band of robbers on a great fcale ; at the beft, 
 of honourable robbers, who, for the fake of 
 the fpoil, agree fairly to co-operate in order 
 to obtain it, and divide it equally when it 
 is obtained. 
 
 This
 
 ROME. 113 
 
 This public fpirit feems to have exifted 
 fo long as there were any obje£ts of foreign, 
 ambition remaining, and fo long as any 
 fenfe was left of foreign danger. Even in 
 the midft of unlawful and unrelenting war, 
 it is important to bear in mind, that many 
 of the ancient virtues were flill afliduoufly 
 cultivated ; the laws were ftill had in re- 
 verence, and, in fpite of a corrupt Poly- 
 theifm, and of many and great defeds in 
 the morality and the conftitution of Rome, 
 this was the fait which, for a time, preferved 
 her. The firmnefs of charafter, and deep 
 political fagacity of the Romans, feem to 
 have borne an exad proportion to each 
 other. That forefeeing wifdom, that pe- 
 netrating policy, which led Montefquieu to 
 obferve, that they conquered the world by 
 maxims and principles^ feem in reality, t« 
 have infured the fuccefs of their conquefls, 
 almoft more than their high national valour, 
 and their bold fpirit of enterprize. 
 
 What was it which afterwards plunged 
 VOL. I. I Rome
 
 IT4 ROME. 
 
 Rome into the lowefl depths of degrada- 
 tion, and finally blotted her out from among 
 the nations ? It was her renouncing thofe 
 maxims and principles. It was her departure 
 from every virtuous and felf-denying habit. 
 It was the gradual relaxation of private mo- 
 rals. It was the fubflitution of luxury for 
 temperance, and of a mean and narrow 
 felfifhnefs for public fpirit. It was a con- 
 tempt for the fober manners of the ancient 
 republic, and a dereliction of the old prin- 
 ciples of government, even while the forms 
 of that government were retained. It was 
 the introdudion of a new philofophy more 
 favourable to fenfuality ; it was the impor- 
 tation, by her Afiatic proconfuls, of every 
 luxury which could pamper that fenfuality. 
 It was, in fhort, the evils, refulting from 
 thofe two palTions which monopolized their 
 fouls, the lufl: of power, and the lull of gold. 
 Thefe paffions operated on each other, as 
 caufe and efFefl:, adlion and re-a£lion ; and 
 produced that rapid corruption which Sal- 
 lull
 
 ROME. 115 
 
 lufl: defcrlbes with fo much fpirit — Mores 
 ?najorum non paulatim ut antea, fed torrentis 
 modo prec'ipitati. Profligacy, venality, pe- 
 culation, oppreffion, fucceeded to that fim- 
 plicity, patriotifm, and high-minded difin- 
 tereftednefs, on which this nation had once 
 fo much valued itfelf, and which had at- 
 tra6led the admiration of the world. So 
 that Rome, in the days of her priftine fe- 
 verity of manners, and Rome in the lafl 
 period of her freedom, exhibits a ftronger 
 contrafl: than will be found between almofl 
 any two countries. 
 
 This depravation does not refer to foli- 
 tary inftances, to the fhameleffnefs of a 
 Verres, or the profligacy of a Pifo, but to 
 the general praftice of avowed corruption 
 and fyflematic venality. By the jufl judg- 
 ment of Providence, the enjoyment of the 
 fpoils brought home from the conquered 
 nations corrupted the conquerors ; and at 
 length compelled Rome, in her turn, both 
 to fly before her enemies, and to bow down 
 
 1 2 her
 
 Il6 ROME. 
 
 her head under the mofl Intolerable domeftic 
 yoke. Rome had no more the fpirit to 
 make any faint ftruggle for liberty after the 
 death of C^far, than Greece after that of 
 Alexander, though to each the occafion 
 feemed to prefent itfelf. Neither ftate had 
 virtue enough left to deferve, or even to de- 
 fire to be free. The wifdom of Cato fhould, 
 in the cafe of Rome, have difcovered this ; 
 and it fhould have fpared him the fruitlefs 
 attempt to reftore liberty to a countiy 
 which its vices had enflaved, and have pre- 
 ferved him, even on his own principles, 
 from felf-deflru6lion. 
 
 Among the caufes of the political fervi- 
 tude of Rome may be reckoned, in a con- 
 fiderable degree, the inllitution of the Pre- 
 torian bands, who, in a great meafure, go- 
 verned both the Romans and the emperors. 
 Thefe Pretorian bands prefented the chief 
 difficulty in the way of good emperors, 
 fome of whom they deftroyed for attempt- 
 ing to reform them ; and of the bad empe- 
 rors they were the eled:ors. 
 
 In
 
 ROME. 117 
 
 In perufing the Roman hlftory, thefe^ 
 and other caufes of the decline and fall of 
 the empire, fhould be carefully fhewn ; the 
 tendency of private vices to produce fac- 
 tions, and the tendency of factions to over- 
 throw liberty ; a fpirit of diffention, and a 
 rapid deterioration of morals, being, in all 
 ftates, the mofl deadly, and, indeed, the 
 infeparable fymptoms of expiring freedom. 
 The no lefs baneful influence of arbitrary 
 power, in the cafe of the many profligate and 
 cruel emperors who fucceeded, fhould be 
 clearly pointed out. 
 
 It is alfo a falutary leflbn on the hunger 
 of conquefl:, and the vanity of ambition, to 
 trace the Roman power, by its vaft accef- 
 fion of territory, lofing in folidity what it 
 gained in expanfion ; furnifliing a lafting 
 example to future empires, who trufl too 
 much for the fl;ability of their greatnefs to 
 the deceitful fplendour of remote acquifition, 
 and the precarious fupport of diflant colo- 
 nial attachment. 
 
 I 3 Above
 
 Il8 ROME. 
 
 Above all, the fall of Rome may be at- 
 tributed, in no fmall degree, to the progrefs, 
 and, gradually, to the prevalence of the 
 Epicurean philofophy, and to its effefl; in 
 taking away that reverence for the gods, 
 which alone could preferve that deep fenfe 
 of the fan£tity of oaths for which Rome, in 
 her better days, had been fo diflinguilhed. 
 She had originally ellablifhed her political 
 fyflem on this fear of the gods ; and the 
 people continued, as appears from Livy, to 
 pra£tife the duties of their religion * (fuch 
 as it was) more fcrupuloufly than any 
 other ancient nation. The moft amiable of 
 the Roman patriots attributes the antece- 
 dent fuccefs and grandeur of his country to 
 their convidion, '• that all events are direct- 
 ed by a Divine Power f j" and Polybius, 
 
 •* Nulla unquara refpublica fanftior, nee bonis 
 pxemplis ditior fuitj 
 
 f 3ee Montagu on the Rife and Fall of Ancient 
 Republics. 
 
 fpeaking
 
 ROME. 115 
 
 fpeaking mefely as a politician, accufes Tome, 
 in his age, of rarnnefs and abfurdity, for 
 endeavouring to extirpate the fear of the 
 gods J declaring, that what others held to 
 be an objeft of difgrace, he believed to be 
 the very thing by which the republic vv^as 
 fuftained. He illuftrates his pofition by 
 adducing the conduQ: of the two great 
 ftates, one of which, from its adoption of 
 the doclrines of Epicurus, had no fenfe of 
 religion left, and confequently no reverence 
 for the folemnities of an oath, which the 
 other retained in its full force. " If, among 
 the Greeks," fays he, '' a fmgle talent 
 only be intrufted to thofe who have the 
 management of any of the public money, 
 though they give ten written fureties, with 
 as many feals, and twice as many witnelTes, 
 they are unable to difcharge the trufl re- 
 pofed in them with integrity, — while the 
 Romans, who, in their magiitracies and em- 
 baffies, difburfe the great ell funis, are pre- 
 vailed on, by the fmgle obligation of an oatb^ 
 
 I 4 to
 
 120 ROME. 
 
 to perform their duty with inviolable ho- 
 nefly *." 
 
 In her fubfequent total derelidion of this 
 integrity, what a leflbn does Rome hold out 
 to us, to be careful not to lofe the influ- 
 ences of a purer religion ! To guard, efpe- 
 cially, againft the fatal effefts of a needlefs 
 multiplication of oaths^ and the light mode 
 in which they are too frequently admini- 
 ftered ! The citizens of Rome, in the days 
 of the younger Cato, had no refource left 
 againft this preffing evil, becaufe it v^as in 
 vain to inculcate a reverence for their 
 gods, and to revive the influence of their 
 religion. But, if even the belief of falfe 
 gods had the power of conveying political 
 and moral benefits, which the dark fyftem of 
 Atheifm annihilated, how earneftly fhould 
 WE endeavour to renovate and diffufe the 
 ancient deference for the true religion, by 
 teaching fyftematically and ferioufly, to our 
 
 * Hampton's Polybius, vol. ii. book 6. on the 
 Excellencies of the Roman government. 
 
 youth^
 
 ROME. 121 
 
 youth, the divine principles of that Chrifli- 
 anity which, in better times, was the ho- 
 nourable pradice of our forefathers, and 
 which can alone reflore a due veneration 
 for the folemnity of oaths *. 
 
 •* The admirable Hooker obferves, that even the 
 falfeft religions were mixed with fome truths, which 
 had " very notable efFeds." Speaking of the dread 
 of perjury in the ancient Romans, he adds, " It was 
 their hurt untruly to attribute fo great power to falfe 
 gods, as that they were able to profecute, with fear- 
 ful tokens of divine revenge, the wilful violation of 
 oaths and execrable blafphemies, offered by deriders 
 of religion even unto thofe falfe gods. Yet the right 
 belief which they had, that to perjury vengeance is 
 due, was not without good effeft, as touching the 
 courfe of their lives who feared the wilful violation oi 
 oaths." — Ecclefiaftical Polity. 
 
 CHAP.
 
 222 CHARACT£RS OF HISTORIANS. 
 
 CHAP. IX. 
 
 Charaders of Hijlorians ^ who were concerned 
 in the Tranfadtions which they record. 
 
 vJf the modern writers of ancient hiftory, 
 the young reader will find that Rollin * 
 has, in one refpect, the decided fuperi" 
 ority ; we mean, in his practice of intermix- 
 ing ufeful reflexions on events and cha- 
 racters. But, we fhould flrongly recom 
 mend the perufal of fuch portions of the 
 original ancient hiflorians, as a judicious 
 preceptor would feleft. And, in reading 
 hiflorians, or politicians, ancient or modern, 
 the mofl likely way to efcape theories and 
 fables, is to fludy thofe writers who were 
 themfelves a6tors in the fcenes which they 
 record. 
 
 Among the principal of thefe is — Thu- 
 CYDiDESj whofe opportunities of obtaining 
 
 ^ The writer forbears to name living authors. 
 
 informa-
 
 CHARACTERS OF HISTORIANS. 1 23 
 
 Information, whofe diligence in collecting 
 it, and whofe judgment and fidelity in re- 
 cording it, have obtained for him the ge- 
 neral fuffrage of the befl judges ; who had 
 a confiderable fhare in many of the events 
 which he records, having been an unfortu- 
 nate, though meritorious commander in 
 the Peloponnefian war, of which he is the 
 incomparable hiftorian ; — whofe chronolo- 
 gical accuracy is derived from his early' cuf- 
 tom of preparing materials as the events 
 arofe ; and whofe genius confers as much 
 honour, as his unmerited exile reflecls 
 difgrace, on his native Athens. In popu- 
 lar governments, and in none perhaps fo 
 much as in thofe of Greece, the ill effecls 
 or mifmanagcment at home have been too 
 frequently charged on thofe who have had 
 the conduft of armies abroad ; and where a 
 facrifice muft be made, that of the abfent is 
 always the mofl eafy. The integrity and pa- 
 triotifm of Thucydides, hov/ever, were proof 
 againfl the ingratitude of the repubhc. His 
 
 \vork;
 
 124 CHARACTERS OF HISTORIANS. 
 
 work was as impartial as if Athens had been 
 juft ; like Clarendon^ he devoted the period 
 of his banilhment to the compofition of a hif- 
 tory, which was the glory of the country that 
 banifhed him. — A model of candour, he 
 wrote not for a party or a people, but for 
 the world ; not for the applaufe of his age, 
 but theinftrudionofpoflerity. A^d though 
 his energy, fpirit, aud variety mufl interell 
 all readers of tafte, flatefmen will befl know 
 his value, and politicians will look up to 
 him as a mafter. — Xenophon,- the Attic 
 bee, equally admirable in whatever point of 
 view he is confidered ; a confummate gene- 
 ral, hiilorian, and philofopher ; who carried 
 on the hiftoric feries of the Greek revolu- 
 tions from the period at which Thucydides 
 difcontinued it ; like him, was driven into 
 banilhment from that country, of which he 
 was fo bright an ornament_, — 
 
 And with his exil'd hours enrich'd the world ! 
 
 The conductor and narrator of a retreat 
 
 more
 
 CHARACTERS OF HISTORIANS. 1 25 
 
 more honourable and more celebrated than 
 the vidories of other leaders ; a writer, who 
 is confidered by the firft Roman critic, as 
 the moft exquifite model of fmiplicity and 
 elegance ; and who, in almofl all the tranf- 
 aftions which he relates, magna parsfiiit. — 
 PoLYBius, trained to be a flatefman in 
 the Achaean league, and a warrior at the 
 conqueft of Carthage ; the friend of Sci- 
 pio, and the follower of Fabius ; and who 
 is faid to be more experimentally acquainted 
 with the wars and politics of which he 
 treats, than any other Greek. He is, 
 however, more authentic than entertaining ; 
 and the votaries of certain modern hifto-> 
 rians, who are fatisfied vvith an epigram 
 inftead of a fa£l, who like turns of wit 
 tetter than found political reflections, and 
 prefer an antithefis to truth, will not juflly 
 appreciate the merit of Polybius, whofe 
 love of authenticity induced him to make 
 feveral voyages to the places of which his 
 fubjefts led him to fpeak. — C^sar, of 
 whom it would be difficult to fay, whether 
 
 he
 
 Ii6 CHARACTERS OF HISTORIANS. 
 
 he planned his battles with more fkill, fought 
 them with more valour, or defcribed them 
 with more ability ; or whether his fword 
 or pen executed his purpofes with more 
 celerity and effed ; but, .who will be lefs 
 interefting to the general reader, than to 
 the flatefman and foldier. His commen- 
 taries, indeed, will be perufed with lefs ad- 
 vantage by the hereditary fuccelTor of the 
 fovereign of a fettled conflitution, than by 
 thofe who are ftruggling with the evils of 
 civil commotion. — Joinville, whofe life of 
 his great mafter. Saint Louis, is written with 
 the fpirit of the ancient nobles, and the 
 vivid earneftnefs of one, who faw with 
 interefl what he defcribes with fidelity ; 
 having been companion to the King in the 
 expeditions which he records. — Philippe 
 DE CoMiNES, v;ho poffelfed, by his perfonal 
 concern in public affairs, all the avenues 
 to the political and hiftorical knowledge 
 of his time, and whofe memoirs will be 
 admired while acute penetration, found fenfe, 
 and folid judgment furvive. — Davila, who 
 
 learned
 
 CHARACTERS OF HISTORIANS. IIJ 
 
 learned the art of war under that great 
 mafter, Henry the Fourth of France, and 
 whofe hiflory of the civil wars of that coun- 
 try furnifhes a variety of valuable mat- 
 ter; who pofleffes the happy talent of 
 giving intereft to details, which would be 
 dry in other hands ; who brings before the 
 eyes of the reader, every place v/hich he de- 
 fcribes, and every fcene in which he was en- 
 gaged ; while his intimate knowledge of bu- 
 fmefs, and of human nature, enables him to 
 unveil with addrefs, the myileries of nego- 
 tiation, and the fubtilties of ftatefmen. 
 This excellent work is difgraced by the 
 mofl difgufling panegyrics on the execrable 
 Catherine di Medici, an offence againfl 
 truth and virtue, too glaring to be atoned 
 for by any fenfe of perfonal obligation. 
 In confequence of this partiality, he fpeaks 
 of the maflacre of Saint Bartholomew, as 
 nightly as if it had been a merely common 
 adt of neceffary rigour on a few criminals ; 
 an execution being the cool term by which 
 
 . he
 
 128 CHARACTERS OF HISTORIANS. 
 
 he defcribes that tremendous deed *. — 
 GuicciARDiN, a diplomatic hiflorian, a 
 lawyer, and a patriot; whofe tedious ora- 
 tions and florid ftyle cannot deftroy the 
 merit of his great work, the value of which 
 is enhanced by the piety and probity of 
 his own mind. — Sully, the intrepid war- 
 rior, the able financier, the uncorrupt mi- 
 nifler, who generally regulated the deep 
 defigns of the confummate ftatefman, by 
 the inflexible rules of religion and jufliice ; 
 whofe memoirs fliould be read by minifliers, 
 to inflirud: them how to ferve kings ; and 
 by kings, to teach them how to chufe 
 miniilers. — Cardinal de Retz, who de- 
 lineates with accuracy and fpirit the prin- 
 cipal a£tors in the wars of the Fronde, in 
 which he himfelf had been a chief agent ; 
 who develops the diflimulation of courts, 
 
 * Who can help regretting that the luftre of one 
 of the moft elegant works of antiquity, Quintilian's 
 Inftitution of an Orator, fliould be in a fimilar manner 
 tarnifhed by the moft prepofterous panegyrics on the 
 Emperor Domitian ? 
 
 1 with
 
 CHARACTERS OF HISTORIANS. 1 29 
 
 with the ikilfulnefs of an adept in the arts 
 which he unfolds, yet affeding, while he 
 pourtrays the artifices of others, a fimpli- 
 city, the very reverfe of his real character ; 
 while his levity in writing retains fo much 
 of the licentioufnefs, and want of moral 
 and religious principle of his former life, 
 that he cannot be fafely recommended to 
 thofe whofe principles of judgment and 
 condud are not fixed. Yet, his characters 
 of the two famous cardinal prime minifters 
 may be read with advantage by thofe, 
 whofe bufmefs leads them to fuch ftudies. 
 The reader of de Retz will find frequent 
 occafion to recognize the homage which 
 even impiety and vice pay to religion and 
 virtue, while the abundant corruptions of 
 Popery will call forth from every confi- 
 derate Proteflant, devout fenfations of gra- 
 titude to Heaven, for having delivered us 
 from the tyranny of a fyftem, fo favourable 
 to the produdion of the rankeft abufes in 
 the church, and the groffeft fuperftition in 
 the people.— Temple, the zealous nego- 
 VOL, I. K tiator
 
 130 CHARACTERS OF HISTORIANS. 
 
 tiator of the triple alliance, and worthy, by 
 his fpirit and candour, to be the affociate 
 of De Wit in that great bulinefs which 
 was tranfa£ted between them, with the 
 liberal fpirit, and honourable confidence of 
 private friendfhip. His writings give the 
 cleared infight into the period and events 
 of which he treats ; and his eafy, though 
 carelefs ftyle, and well-bred manner, would 
 come, almoft more than any other, under 
 the defcription of what may be called the 
 genteel, did not his vanity a little break the 
 charm. None, however, except his political 
 writings, are meant to be recommended ; 
 his religious opinions being highly excep- 
 tionable and abfurd. Yet it is but juftice 
 to add, that his unambitious temper, his 
 fondnefs for private life, his enjoyment of 
 its peace, and his tafle for its pleafures, ren- 
 der his character fntereiling and amiable. — 
 The manners-painting CLARENDON,the able 
 chancellor, the exemplary minifter, the in- 
 flexible patriot, who ftemmed, almoft fingly, 
 the torrent of vice, corruption, and vena- 
 lity ;
 
 CHARACTERS OF HISTORIANS. I-^I 
 
 Iky ; and who was not afhamed of being 
 religious in a court which was afnamed of 
 nothing elfe ; whom the cabal hated for his 
 integrity, and the court for his purity ; a 
 ftatefman who might have had itatues erect- 
 ed to him in any other period but that in 
 which he lived ; would have reformed mofl 
 other governmeiits but that to which he 
 belonged, and been fuppoited by almofl 
 any king but him whom he had the misfor- 
 tune to ferve. Clarendon, the faithful 
 biographer of his own hfe ; the majeftic and 
 dignified hiftorian of the grand rebellion ; 
 whofe periods fometimes want beauty, but 
 never fenfe, though that fenfe is often wrap- 
 ped up in an involution and perplexity which 
 a little obfcure it ; whofe flyle is weighty 
 and lignificant, though fomewhat retarded 
 by the ftatelinefs of its march, and fome- 
 what encumbered with a redundancy of 
 words. — ToRCY, whofe memoirs, though 
 they may be thought to bear rather hard on 
 the famous plenipotentiaries with whom he 
 negotiated, and on the haughtinefs of the 
 
 K 2 ajlie«
 
 J32 CHARACTERS OF HISTORIANS. 
 
 allies who employed them, are written with 
 much good fenfe, modefty, and temper. 
 They prefent a flriking reverfe in the for- 
 tune of the imperious diflurber of Europe, 
 *^ fallen from his high ellate/' He who 
 had been ufed to give his orders from the 
 banks of the Po, the Danube, and the Ta- 
 gus, is feen reduced to fupplicate for peace, 
 and to exchange the infolence of triumph 
 for the hope of exiflence. Two Dutch 
 burgomaflers, haughtily impofmg their own 
 terms on a monarch who had before filled 
 France with admiration, and Europe with 
 alarm. This reverfe muft imprefs the mind 
 of the reader, as it does that of the writer, 
 with an afFeding fenfe of that controlling 
 Providence, which thus derides the madnefs 
 of ambition, and the folly of worldly wif- 
 dom ; that Providence which, in maintain- 
 ing its charadler of being the abafer of the 
 proud, produces, by means, at firfl fight 
 the moft oppofite, the accomplifhment of 
 its own purpofes j and renders the unprin- 
 cipled luft of dominion the inftrument of 
 
 its
 
 CHARACTERS OF HISTORIANS, 1 33 
 
 its own humiliation. The difficulties of a 
 negotiator, who has to conclude an inglo- 
 rious though indifpenfable treaty, are feel- 
 ingly defcribed, as well as the too natural^ 
 though hard fate of a minifler, who is 
 driven to fuch an unfortunate meafure as 
 that of being confidered as the inftrument 
 pi dilhonour to h^s country. His pious re- 
 cognition of God, as the fupreme difpofer 
 of events, is worthy of great praife. — The 
 .copious and fluent Burnet, whofe dilfufe, 
 but interefling hijiory of his own times^ in- 
 forms and pleafes j though the loofe texture 
 of his flovenly narration would not now be 
 tolerated in a newfpaper ; who faw a great 
 deal, and wifhes to have it thought that he 
 faw every thing ; whofe egotifm we forgive 
 for the fake of his franknefs, and whofe mi- 
 nutenefs for the fake of his accuracy ; who, 
 if ever he exceeds, it i? always on the fide of 
 liberty and toleration ; an excefs fafe enough 
 when the writer is foundly loyal, and ,un- 
 quellionably pious \ and more efpecially fafe 
 when the reader is a prince.— Lady Rus» 
 
 K 3 SELL,
 
 £34 CHARACTERS OF HISTORIANS. 
 
 SELL, worthy of being the daughter of the 
 virtuous Southampton ; too fatally conneft- 
 fed with the unhappy poHtics of the times ; 
 whofe life was a practical illuftration of her 
 faith in the divine fupport, and of fubmif*' 
 fion to the divine will ; and whofe letters, 
 by their found and fober piety, ftrong fenfe, 
 and ufeful information, eclipfe all thofe of 
 her learned and diflinguiflied correfpon- 
 dents. 
 
 CHAP.
 
 3LEPLECTI0NS ON HISTORY. I35 
 
 CHAP. X. 
 
 Refleclions on Hijiory — Ancient H'l/iorians^ 
 
 Xf, however, the hiftorian be a compa- 
 triot, and efpecially if he be a contempo- 
 rary, even though he was no adtor in the 
 drama, it is difficult for him not to range 
 himfelf too uniformly on one fic|e or the 
 other. The human mind has a ftrong na- 
 tural bias to adopt exclufive attachments. 
 Perhaps man may be defined to be an ani- 
 7nal that delights in party. Yet we are inclined 
 to believe that an hiftorian, though he may 
 be partial and interefled, yet, if he be keen- 
 fighted and intelligent as to the fadts of 
 which he fpeaks, is, on the whole, a better 
 witnefs than a more fair and candid, but 
 worfe-informed man ; becaufe we may more 
 eafily calculate the degree of allowance to 
 be made for partiality and prejudice, than 
 we can eflimate that which is to be made for 
 
 K 4 defeft
 
 1^6 REFLECTIONS ON HISTORY. 
 
 defe£l of information. Of two evils, there- 
 fore, we fhould prefer a prejudiced, but 
 well-informed, to a rnore impartial, but lefs 
 enlightened narrator. 
 
 When materials are frefh, they are more 
 likely to be authentic ; but, unfortunately, 
 "when it is more eafy to obtain, it is often 
 lefs fafe to employ them. When the events 
 are more remote, their authenticity is more 
 difficult to afcertain ; and, when they are 
 near, the paflions which they excite are 
 more apt to warp the truth. Thus, what 
 might be gained in accuracy by nearnefs of 
 pofition, is liable to be loft in the partiality 
 which that very pofition induces. The true 
 point of vifion is attained, when the eye and 
 the object are placed at their due diftance. 
 The reader who comes to the perufal of the 
 work, in a more unimpafiioned frame than, 
 perhaps, the author wrote, will beft collecl: 
 the characters from the narrative, if fairly 
 given. 
 
 Care fhould be taken not to extol fhining 
 characters in the grofs, but to point out 
 
 their
 
 REFLECTIONS ON HISTORY. I37 
 
 their weaknefles and errors ; nor Ihould the 
 brilliant qualities of illuflrious men be fuf- 
 fered to cail a veil over their vices, or fo 
 to fafcinate the young reader, as to excite 
 admiration of their very faults. Even in 
 perufmg facred hijiory^ we fhould never 
 extenuate, much lefs juflify, the errors of 
 great charafters, but make them, at once, 
 a ground for eftabliihing the do<Strine of 
 general corruption, and for quickening our 
 own vigilance. The weakneifes of the 
 wifeil, and the errors of the beft, while they 
 fiiould be regarded with candour, muft not 
 be held up to imitation. It has been rea- 
 fonably conjeflured, that many ads of cruel- 
 ty in Alexander, whofe difpofition was na- 
 turally merciful, were not a little owing to 
 one of his preceptors having been early 
 accuftomed to call himfelf Phoenix, and his 
 pupil Achilles ; and thus to have habitually 
 trained him to an imitation even of the vices 
 of this ferocious hero, 
 
 A prince nmfl not fludy hiflory merely 
 to flore his memory with amufmg narra^ 
 tives or infulated events, but with a view to 
 
 . trace
 
 135 REFLECTIONS ON HISTORY. 
 
 trace the dependence of one event upon 
 another. A common reader will be fatif- 
 fied with knowing the exploits of Scipio or 
 Hannibal, and will be fuiEciently entertained 
 with the defcription of the riches or beauty 
 of fuch renowned cities as Carthage or 
 Rome ; but a prince (who is alfo a poli- 
 tician) fludies hiftory, in order to obferve 
 how ambition, operating on the breafts of 
 two rival flates, led to one war after another 
 between thefe two flates. By what fteps 
 the ruin of the one, and the trium.ph of the 
 other, were haflened or delayed ; by what 
 indications the final cataftrophe might have 
 been antecedently known, or hj what mea- 
 fures it might have been averted. He is 
 interefled not merely when a fignal event 
 arifes, but by the whole ikill of the game ; 
 and he is, on this account, anxious to pof- 
 fefs many inferior circumfcances, ferving to 
 unite one event with another, which, to the 
 ordinary reader, appear infignificant and 
 dull. Again, in the cafe of Pompey and 
 Cgefar, the reflecting politician connects the 
 triumphs of the latter with the political 
 
 and
 
 REFLECTIONS CN HISTORY. 1 39 
 
 and moral (late of Rome. He bears in mind 
 the luxurious habits of the Patricians, who 
 became the officers in Pompey's army ; the 
 grgxiual decay of public fpirit, the licenti- 
 oufnefs and venality of the capital, and the 
 arts by which C2sfar had prepared his troops, 
 while they were in Gaul, for the contention 
 which he already meditated for the empire 
 of the world. He will, in idea, fee that 
 world already vanquifhed, when he confi- 
 ders the profound policy of this conqueror, 
 who, on being appointed to the government 
 of Gaul on both fides the Alps, by exciting 
 the Gauls to folicit the fame privileges with 
 the Italians, opened to himfelf this double 
 advantage : — the difturbance which this 
 would occafion in Rome, would lift him 
 into abfolute power ; while, by his kind- 
 nefs and protection to thefe people, he 
 gained an acceffionof flrength to overthrow 
 his competitors. The ordinary reader is 
 fatisfied with the battle of Pharfalia for the 
 entertainment it affords, and admires the 
 fplendour of the triumphs, without confider- 
 ing thcfc thing? as links that conned the 
 
 event€
 
 140 REFLECTIONS ON HISTORY^ 
 
 events which are pafl with thofe which are 
 to come. 
 
 The preceptor of the royal pupil vvill, 
 probably, think it advifeable to feled for 
 her perufal fome of the Lives of Plutarch. 
 This author teaches two things excellently, 
 antiquity and human nature. He would 
 deferve admiration, were it only for that 
 magazine of wifdom, condenfed in the ex- 
 cellent fayings of fo many great men, which 
 he has recorded. Perhaps, all the hifto- 
 rians together have not tmnfmitted to us fo 
 many of the fage axioms and bon mots of 
 ancient Greece and Rome. Yet, in his 
 parallels — if that can be called a parallel 
 which brings together two men who have 
 commonly little or no refemblance — even 
 the upright Plutarch exhibits fomething too 
 much of the partiahty lately noticed \ the 
 fcale, whenever he weighs one of his own 
 countrymen againll a Roman, almoil inva- 
 riably inclining to the Greek fide. 
 
 It may alfo be deemed ufeful to read to 
 her a few feled: portions of Suetonius. 
 Though he is an author utterly unfit to bp 
 
 pul
 
 REFLECTIONS ON HISTORY. I4I 
 
 put into youthful, and, efpeclally, into fe- 
 male hands, yet a judicious inftrudor may 
 fele£l palTages particularly appropriated to a 
 royal pupil. In truth, the writings of the 
 ancient authors of all claffes, hiflorians, fa- 
 tirifts, poets, and even moralifls, are liable 
 to the fame objedion, whether it be Sueto- 
 nius, or Plutarch, or Juvenal, or even the 
 comparatively-decorous Virgil, that we take 
 in hand ; the perufal cannot fail to fugged 
 to every confiderate, and efpecially to every 
 female reader, the obligations which we owe 
 to Chriflianity, independently of its higher 
 ends, for having fo raifed the flandard of 
 morals and of manners, as to have rendered, 
 almoft too monftrous for belief, and too 
 fhocking for relation, in our days, the fa- 
 miliar and uncenfured incidents of ancient 
 times. Suetonius paints with uncommon 
 force, though too often with offenfive groff- 
 ncfs, the crimes of the emperors, with their 
 fubfequent miferies and punifhments. Ty- 
 rants will always deteft hiftory, and, of all 
 hiflorians, they will deteft Suetonius. 
 
 An authentic hiflorian of a deceafed ty- 
 rant
 
 142 REFLECTIONtS ON HISTORY. 
 
 rant muft not, however, be confounded with 
 the malevolent declaimer agalnfl royalty. 
 But, though the moll arbitrary prince cannot 
 prevent his own poftliumous difgrace, yet 
 an honefl and confcientious hiltorian will 
 remember, that, while he is detailing the 
 vices of a king, which it is his duty to enu- 
 merate, it is his duty alfo carefully to avoid 
 bringing the office of the king into contempt. 
 And, while he is expoling the individual 
 crime, he fhould never lofe fight of his re- 
 fpedl for the authority and Jiation of him 
 whofe adions truth compels him to record 
 in their real charaders. The contrary in- 
 fidious pra<5lice has of late fo much prevail- 
 ed, that the young reader fhould be put on 
 his guard not to fuifer his principles to be 
 undermined by the affectation of indignant 
 virtue, mock patriotifm, zeal for fpurious 
 liberty, and faditious morality. It is but 
 juftice to Mr. Hume, againil whofe princi- 
 ples we have thought it a duty to bear our 
 mofl decided teflimony *, to allow that, 
 in the earlier periods of Englifii hiftory, he 
 
 • * In chap. xi. 
 
 carefully
 
 REFLECTIONS ON HISTORY. I43 
 
 carefully abflains from the vulgar error of 
 always afcribiiig the public calamity, which 
 he is relating, to the ambition or injuftice of 
 kings J but often attributes it, where it is 
 often mrore juflly due, to the infolence ^nd 
 oppreffion of the barons, or the turbulence 
 and infubordination of the people. If he 
 errSj it is on the contrary fide. 
 
 But let thofe licentious anarchiils, who 
 delight to retail infipid jefts, or to pubiiili 
 unqualified libels on kings as kings, cafi; 
 their eyes on an uninterrupted fucceffion 
 of five illuilrious Roman emperors, who, 
 though not exempt from faults, fome of 
 them fram vices, chiefly attributable to Pa- 
 ganifm, yet exhibit fuch an unbroken con- 
 tinuity of great talents, and great qualities, as 
 it would, perhaps, be difficult to find in any 
 private family for five fucceffive generations. 
 
 The candour of our excellent Queen 
 Mary *, towards the biographers of princes, 
 was exemplary. When, with an inten- 
 tion probably to foothe the royal ear, 
 
 * In chap. viii. 
 
 5 fome
 
 J44 REFLECTIONS ON HISTORY. 
 
 fome perfons, in her prefence, feverely con- 
 demned certain hiflorians who had made 
 reflections difhonourable to the memory of 
 princes, fhe obferved, that if the princes 
 had given jufl ground for cenfure, the au* 
 thors had done well to reprefent them fairly 5 
 and that other fovereigns muil expedl to be 
 dealt with in the fame manner, if they gave 
 the fame caufe. She had even the magna- 
 nimity to wiih, that all fuch princes would 
 read Procopius, (an author too much ad- 
 dicted to blacken the memory of kings,) 
 ^ becaufe," flie obferved, " however he 
 might have exaggerated the vices he de- 
 fcribed, it would be a falutary leiTon to 
 future princes, that they themfelves mull 
 expefl; the fame treatment, when all reftraint 
 was taken off, and the dread of their power 
 terminated with their lives.'* 
 
 The late king of PrufTia, who united the 
 character of an author to that of a warrior, 
 was of another way of thinking. He was 
 of opinion, that the names of good princes 
 alone ihould be recorded in hiftoryj and 
 
 that
 
 ANCIENT HISTORIANS. I45 
 
 that thofe of the wicked jfhould be fufFered 
 to perifh with their crimes *. Were this 
 practice to be univerfally adopted, might 
 we not prefume to queflion whether even 
 the illuflrious name of Frederic the Great 
 would be as certain, as it is at prefent_, of 
 being carried down to poflerity ? 
 
 Tacitus is the hiflorian of philofophers, 
 and the oracle of politicians. Highly valu- 
 able for his deep and acute reflexions, in 
 which neither the governors nor governed 
 are fpared ; he is an original and profound 
 thinker, and is admirable for the plenitude 
 of his images, and the paucity of his words. 
 His flyle is ardent, and his figures are bold. 
 Vigour, brevity, and point, are its charac- 
 teriftics. He throws out a ftronger likenefs 
 
 * Examen du Prince de Mach'iavel, by the King of 
 Prujfia. It is curious to compare this compofition 
 of the King with his own condu<^. To contralt his 
 ftrong reprobation of the baneful glory of heroes, his 
 horror of conqueft, and of the cruel paffions which 
 opprefs mankind 5 his profefTed admiration of cle- 
 mency, mecknefs, juftice, and compaffion, with which 
 this work abounds, — with the aftual exploits of the 
 ravager of the fertile plains of Saxony, &c. &c. 1 1 
 VOL. I. L of
 
 146 ANCIENT HISTORIANS. 
 
 of a flagitious Roman in three words, than 
 a diffufe writer would give in as many pages* 
 In his annals he is a faithful, occafionally, 
 indeed, a too faithful narrator ; but he is 
 alfo, at the fame time, an honeft and indig- 
 nant reprover of 'the atrocious deeds which 
 he records. In a man pafTionately loving 
 liberty, virtue, and his country, we pardon, 
 while painting the ruin of each, thofe dark 
 and fullen fliades with wliich he fometimes 
 overcharges the pi£lure. Had he delineated 
 happier times, his tints would probably have 
 been of a lighter caft. If he ever deceives, 
 he does not, at leaft, ever appear to intend 
 it ; for he gives rumours as rumours, and 
 his facts he generally grounds on the con- 
 -current teftimony of the times of which he 
 writes. If, however, Tacitus fulfils one of 
 the two duties which he himfelf prefcribes 
 to hiflorians, that of writing without fcar^ 
 he does not uniformly accomplifli the other, 
 that of writing without haired ; at lead, 
 neither his veracity nor his candour extended 
 to his rem.arks on the Jews or Chriflians. 
 But, with all his diffufenefs, Livy is the 
 9 writer
 
 ANCIENT HISTORIANS, I47 
 
 Writer who affifls in forming the tafle^ 
 With all his warmth, there is a beautiful 
 fobriety in his narrations ; he docs not mag* 
 nify the aftion, he relates it, and pours 
 forth, from a full urn, a copious and con- 
 tinued itream of varied elegance. He di- 
 rects the judgment, by pafling over flight 
 things in a flight manner, and dwelling only 
 on the prominent parts of his fubjedtj 
 though he has been accufed of fome im- 
 portant omifTions. He keeps the attention 
 always alive, by exhibiting paffions as well 
 as actions ; and what bed: indicates the hand 
 of a mafler, we hang fufpended on the event 
 of his narrative, as if it were a fiction, of 
 which the cataflrophe is in the power of the 
 writer, rather than a real hiftory, with whofe 
 termination we are already acquainted. He 
 is admirable no lefs for his humanity than 
 his patriotifm ; and he is one of the few 
 hiftorians, who have marked the broad line 
 of difcrimination between true and falfe 
 glory, not eredling pomps, triumphs, and 
 vlftories, into effentials of real greatnefs. 
 He teaches patience under cenfure, incul- 
 
 L 2 cates
 
 148 ANCIENT HISTORIANS. 
 
 cates a contempt of vulgar acclamation, and 
 of all praife which is not fairly earned. One 
 valuable fuperiority, which Livy poffefTes 
 over his competitors, is, that in defcribing 
 vice, and vicious charad:ers, he fcrupulouHy 
 contrives to excite an abhorrence of both ; 
 and his relations never leave on the 
 mind of the reader, a propenfity to the 
 crime, or a partiality for the criminal whom 
 he has been defcribing. A defeft, in this 
 acutenefs of moral feeling, has been highly 
 pernicious to the youthful reader ; and this 
 too common admixture of impure defcrip-' 
 tion, even when the honefl defign has been 
 to expofe vice, has fenfibly tainted the 
 wholefomenefs of hiilioric compofition. 
 
 Independently of thofe beautiful, though 
 fometimes redundant fpeeches, which Livy 
 puts into the nlouths of his heroes, his elo- 
 quent and finifhed anfwers to ambafladors, 
 furnifli a fpecies of rhetoi-ic peculiarly appli- 
 cable to a royal education. 
 
 It has been regretted by fome of the 
 critics, that Livy, after enriching his own 
 work by the rnoft copious plagiarifms from 
 
 his
 
 ANCIENT HISTORIANS, I49 
 
 his great precurfor, Polybius, commends 
 him, in a way fo frigid, as almofl to amount 
 to cenfure. He does not, it is true, go the 
 length of Voltaire in his treatment of Shake- 
 fpeare, who firft pillages and then abufes 
 him. The Frenchman, indeed, who fpoils 
 what he fteals, acts upon the old known 
 principle of his country highwaymen, who 
 always murder where they rob. 
 
 If it be thought that w^e have too warmly 
 recommended Heathen authors, let it be 
 remembered, that in the hands of every en- 
 lightened preceptor, as was eminently the 
 cafe with Fenelon, Pagans almoft become 
 Chrillian teachers by the manner in which 
 they will be explained, elucidated, purified ; 
 and not only will the corruptions of Paga- 
 nifm be converted into inftruclion, by being 
 contrafled with the oppofite Chriflian 
 graces, but the Chriflian fyflem. will be 
 advantageouily fhewn to be almofl equally 
 at variance, with many Pagan virtues, as 
 with all its vices. 
 
 If there were no other evidence of the 
 value of Pagan hiflorians, the profound at- 
 
 h 3 tention
 
 150 ANCIENT HISTORIANS. 
 
 teiition which they prove the ancients to 
 have paid to the education of youth, would 
 alone fuffice to give them confiderable 
 weight in the eyes of every judge of found 
 inflitution. Their regard to youthful mo- 
 defly, the inculcation of obedience and re- 
 fer ve, the exercifes of felf-denial, exacted 
 from children of the highefl rank, put to 
 Hiame,— I will not fay Chriflians, but many 
 of the nominal profeifors of Chriftianity. 
 Levity, idlenefs, difregard of the laws, con- 
 tempt of eftabiifhed fyflems and national 
 inftitutions, met with a feverer reprobation 
 in the Pagan youth, than is always found 
 among thofe, in our day, who yet do not 
 openly renounce the chara6ler of Chriflians. 
 Far be it from us, however, to take our 
 morals from fo miferably defeclive a (land- 
 ard as Pagan hlftory afibrds. For though 
 philofophy had given fome admirable rules 
 for maintaining the out-works of virtue, 
 Chrillianity is the only religion which ever 
 pretended to expel vice from the heart- 
 The beft qualities of Paganifm want the bed: 
 motives. Some of the overgrown Roman 
 
 virtues,
 
 ANCIENT HISTORIANS, I5I 
 
 virtues, alfo^ though they would have been 
 valuable in their juft meafure and degree, 
 and in a due fymmetry and proportion with 
 other virtues, yet, by their excefs, helped 
 to produce thofe evils which afterwards 
 ruined Rome ; while a perfeft fyflem of 
 morals, like the Chriftian, would have pre- 
 vented thofe evils. Their patriotifm was 
 oppreffion to the reft of the world. Their 
 virtue was not fo much fullied by pride, as 
 founded in it ; and their juftice was tinftur- 
 ed with a favagenefs which bears little re- 
 femblance to the juftice which is taught by 
 Chriftianity. 
 
 Thefe two fimple precepts of our religion^ 
 Tbou Jfjalt love the Lord thy God ivith all thy 
 heart, and thy neighbour as thyfelf ; — thefe 
 two principles, kept in due exercife, woidd, 
 like the two powers which govern the na- 
 tural world, keep the intelleftual and fpiri- 
 tural world in order ; would reftrain. impeL. 
 unite, and govern it. 
 
 In confidering the ancient philofophy, 
 how does the fine gold become dim, before the 
 fober luftre of that divine legiflator, whofe 
 
 I- /{. .kingdom,
 
 152 ANCIENT HISTORIANS. 
 
 kingdom, indeed, was not of this world, but 
 who has taught " kings of the earth, princes, 
 and all people,** thofe maxims and princi- 
 ples which call into fhade all the falfe fplen- 
 dours '^ of the antique world !" Chrifti- 
 anity has furniflicd the only true praftical 
 comment on that grand pofition of the ad- 
 mirable author of the fublime, that nothing 
 is great the contempt of which is great. For 
 how can triumphs, honours, riches, power, 
 conquefl, fame, be confidered as of intrinfic 
 value by a Chriftian, the very ejfence of 
 whofe religion confifts in being crucified to 
 the world ; the very aim and end of v/hofe 
 religion lies in a fuperiority to all greatnefs 
 which is to have an end with this life : the 
 very nature and genius of whofe religion 
 tends to prove, that eternal life is the only 
 adequate meafure of the happinefs, and 
 immortal glory the only adequate objed, 
 ot the ambition of a Chriftian. 
 
 CHAP.
 
 ENGLISH HISTORY. I33 
 
 CHAP. XI. 
 
 EngUjh Hijlory. — Mr. Hume. 
 
 Ijut the royal pupil is not to wander 
 always in the wide field of univerfal hif- 
 tory. The extent is fo vaft, and the time 
 for travelling over it fo Hiort, that after 
 being fufficiently poffefled of that general 
 view of mankind which the hiffcory of the 
 world exhibits, it feems reafonable to con- 
 centrate her fludies, and to diredl her at- 
 tention to certain great leading points, and 
 efpecially to thofe objedts with which fhe 
 has a natural and more immediate con- 
 nexion. The hiftory of modern Europe 
 abounds with fuch objeds. In Robertfon's 
 luminous view of the flate of Europe, the 
 progrefs of fociety is traced with juft ar- 
 rangement and philofophical precifion. Elis 
 admirable hiftories of Charles V. and of 
 Mary Oueen of Scots, feparate from their 
 great independent merits will be read with 
 7 fmgular
 
 154 MR. HUME. 
 
 fmgular advantage in connexion with the 
 contemporary reigns of Englilh hiflory. 
 In the writings of Sully and Clarendon, 
 may be feen how, for a long time, the paf- 
 fions of kings were contradicted, and often 
 controlled by the wifdom of their minifters ; 
 fovereigns who were not infenfible to praife, 
 nor averfe from flattery, yet fubmitting, 
 though fometimes with a very ill grace, to 
 receive fervices rather than adulation. Mi- 
 nifters who confulted the good rather than 
 the humour of their princes ; who promoted 
 their interefls, inftead of gratifying their 
 vices, and who preferred their fame to their 
 favour. 
 
 Mr. Hume. 
 
 Hume Is incomparably the moft inform- 
 ing, as well as the moft elegant, of all the 
 writers of Engliili hiftory. His narrative 
 is full, well arranged, and beautifullly per- 
 fpicuous. Yet, he is an author who mull 
 be read with extreme caution on a poli- 
 tical, but efpecially on a religious account. 
 
 Though,
 
 MR. HUME, 155 
 
 Though, on occafions where he may be 
 trulled, becaufe his peculiar principles do 
 not interfere, his political reflections are 
 ufually juft, fomeiimes profound. His 
 account of the origin of the Gothic go- 
 vernment is full of interefl: and informa- 
 tion. He marks, with exact precifion, the 
 progrefs and decay of the feudal manners, 
 when law and order began to prevail, and 
 our conftitution afiumed fomething like a 
 fiiape. His finely painted characters of 
 Alfred and Elizabeth fliould be engraved 
 on the heart of every fovereign. His poli- 
 tical prejudices do not flrikingly appear, 
 till the eilabH{]iment of the houfe of Stuart, 
 nor his religious antipathies till about the 
 diftant dawn of the reformation under 
 Henry V. From that period to its full 
 eftablilhment, he is perhaps more dan- 
 gerous, becaufe lefs oftenfibly daring than 
 fome other infidel hiflorians. It is a fer- 
 pent under a bed of rofes. He does not 
 (in his h'ljlory at lead) fo much ridicule 
 religion himfelf, as invite others to ridicule 
 
 it.
 
 156 MR. HUME. 
 
 it. There is in his manner a fedatenefs 
 which impofes ; in his fcepticifm, a fly gra- 
 vity, which puts the reader more off his 
 guard than the vehemence of cenfjre, or 
 the levity of wit ; for v/e are always lefs 
 difpofed to fufped a man who is too wife 
 to appear angry. That fame wifdom makes 
 him too correal to invent calumnies, 
 but it does not preferve him from doing 
 what is fcarcely lefs difmgenuous. He 
 implicitly adopts the injurious relations of 
 thofe annalifts who were mofl hoflile to 
 the reformed faith ; though he mufc have 
 known their accounts to be aggravated and 
 difcoloured, if not abfolutely invented. 
 He thus makes others refponfible for the 
 worft things he aflerts, and fpreads the mif- 
 chief, without avowing the malignity. When 
 he fpeaks from himfelf, the fneer is fo cool, 
 the irony fo fober, the contempt fo dif- 
 creet, the moderation fo infidious, the 
 difference between Popifh bigotry, and 
 Proteftant firmnefs, between the fury ot 
 the perfecutor and the refolution of the 
 
 martyr,
 
 MR. HUME. 157 
 
 martyr, fo little marked ; the diftlnftlons 
 between intolerant phrenzy and heroic zeal 
 fo melted into each other, and though he 
 contrives to make the reader feel fome in- 
 dignation at the tyrant, he never leads him 
 to feel any reverence for the fufferer; he 
 afcribes fuch a flender fuperiority to one 
 religious fyftem above another, that the 
 young reader who does not come to the 
 perufal with his principles formed, will be 
 in danger of thinking that the reforma- 
 tion was really not worth contending for. 
 
 But, In nothing is the (kill of this accom- 
 plifhed fophift more apparent than in the art- 
 ful way in which he piques his readers into a 
 conformity with his ovv^n views concerning 
 religion. Human pride, he knew, naturally 
 likes to range itfelf on the fide of abihty. He, 
 therefore, ftilfully works on this paflion, by 
 treating, v/ith a fort of contemptuous fupe- 
 riority, as weak and credulous men, ail whom 
 he reprefents as being under the religious de- 
 lufion ; and by uniformly Infinuating that 
 talents and piety belong to oppofite parties. 
 
 To
 
 tSB MR. HurvtE, 
 
 To the fhameful pradice of confounding 
 fanaticifm with real religion, he adds the 
 difingenuous habit of accounting for the 
 befl adions of the beft men, by referring 
 them to fome low motive ; and affeds to 
 confound the defigns of the religious and 
 the corrupt, fo artfully, that no radical dif- 
 ference appears to fubfift between them. 
 
 It is injurious to a young mind to read 
 the hiftory of the reformation by any au* 
 thor, how accurate foever he may be in his 
 fads, who does not fee a divine power ac- 
 companying this great work ; by any au- 
 thor who afcribes to the power, or rather 
 to the perverfenefs of nature, and the obfti- 
 nacy of innovation, what was in reality an 
 effeft of providential direction ; by any who 
 difcerns nothing but human refources, or 
 ftubborn perfeverance, where a Chriflian 
 diftinguifhes, though with a confiderable 
 alloy of human imperfection, the operation 
 of the Spirit of God. 
 
 Hume has a fafcinating manner at thg 
 clofe of the life of a hero, a prince, or a 
 
 flatef.
 
 WR. HUME. l^Q 
 
 ilatefinan, of drawing up his chara6ler fo 
 elaborately as to attrad; and fix the whole 
 attention of the reader ; and he does it in 
 fuch a way, that while he engages the mind 
 he unfufpedledly mifleads it. He makes a 
 general ftatement of the vices and virtues, 
 the good and bad aclions of the perfon whom 
 he paints, leaving the reader to form his own 
 conclufions, by cafting up the balance of the 
 vices and virtues, of the good and bad adions 
 thus enumerated : while he never once leads 
 the reader to determine on the character 
 by the only fure criterion, the ruling prin- 
 ciple^ which feemed to govern it. — This is the 
 too prevailing method of hiflorians ; they 
 make morals completely independent of 
 religion, by thus vv^eighing qualides, and 
 letting the preponderance of the fcale de- 
 cide on virtue, as it were by grains and 
 fcruples : thus furnifhing a ftandard of 
 virtue fubverfive of that which Chriftianitv 
 eflablifhes. This method, infcead of mark- 
 ing the moral diflinftions, blends and con- 
 founds them, by eftablifliing character on 
 
 an
 
 l6o MR. HUME. 
 
 an accidental difference, often depending 
 on circumilance and occafion, inftea^ of 
 applying to it one eternal rule and motive 
 of adion *. 
 
 But, there is another evil into which 
 writers far more unexceptionable than Mr. 
 Hume often fall, that of rarely leading the 
 mind to look beyond fecond caufes and 
 human agents. It is mortifying to refer 
 them to the example of a pagan. Livy 
 thought it no difgrace to proclaim, repeat- 
 edly, the infufficiency of man to accom- 
 plifh great objeds without divine affiilance. 
 He was not afnamed to refer events to the 
 direftion and control of providence ; and 
 when he fpeaks of notorious criminals^ he 
 
 * If thefe remarks mav be thought too fevere by 
 feme readers for that degree of fcepticifm which ap- 
 pears in Mr. Hume's kijlory, may I not be allowed 
 to obferve that he has faewn his principles fo fully, 
 in fome of his other works, that we are entitled, oa 
 tke ground of thefe works, to read with fufpicion 
 every thing he fays which borders on religion? — A 
 circumftance apt to be forgotten by many who read 
 on!^ his hiftory, 
 
 is
 
 MR. HUME. iSl 
 
 IS not contented with defcribing them as 
 tranfgrefTing againft the ftate, but reprefents 
 them as alfo offending againft the gods. 
 
 Yet, it is proper again to notice the de- 
 fers ©f ancient authors in their views of 
 providential interference; a defeft arifmg 
 from their never clearly including a future 
 ftate in their account. They feem to have 
 conceived themfelves as fairly e?ifit/ed by 
 their good condud to the divine favour, 
 which favour they ufually limited to prefent 
 profperity. Whereas all notions of divine 
 juftice muft of neceffity be widely erroneous, 
 in which a future retribution is not unambi- 
 guoufly and conftantly included. 
 
 VOL. I. M CHAP.
 
 l62 ENGLISH HISTORY. 
 
 CHAP. XII. 
 
 Important JEras of Englijh Hijlorf. 
 
 -r\s the annals of our own country furnilh 
 an obje£l on which a royal fludent fliould 
 be led to dwell with particular interefl, it 
 may be necelTary to call the attention to 
 certain important periods of our hiftory and 
 conllitution, from each of which we begin 
 to reckon a new sera ; beczfufe, from that 
 epoch, fome new fyftem of caufes and effects 
 begins to take place. 
 
 It will be proper, however, to trace the 
 ihades of alteration which intervene be- 
 tween thefe seras ; for, though the national 
 changes appear to be brought about by 
 fome one great event, yet, the event itfelf 
 will be found to have been flowly working 
 its way by caufes trivial in their appearance, 
 and gradual in their progrefs. For the 
 minds of the people mull be previoufly 
 
 ripened
 
 ENGLISH HISTORY, l6^ 
 
 ripened for a change, before any material 
 alteration is produced. — It was not the in- 
 jury that Lucretia fuftained, which kindled 
 the refentment of the Romans ; the previ- 
 ous mifconduft of the Tarquins had excited 
 in the people the fpirit oP*that revolu- 
 tion. A momentary indignation brought 
 a feries of difcontents to a crifis, and one 
 public crime was feized on as th2 pretence 
 for revenging a long courfe of opprtflion.— 
 The arrival, however, of thefe flowly pro- 
 duced 2eras makes a fudden and flriking 
 change in the circumftances of a country, 
 and forms a kind of didinct line of repara- 
 tion between the manners which precede and 
 thofe which follow it. 
 
 A prince (whofe chief iludy mufi: be 
 politics) ought in general to prefer contem- 
 porary hillorians, and even ordinary anna- 
 liils, to the compilers of hiftory who come 
 after them. He Ihould have recourfe to the 
 documents from which authors derive their 
 hiftory, rather than fit down fatisfied with 
 the hillory fo derived. Lxie, however, is 
 
 M 2 too
 
 164 INGLISH HISTORY. 
 
 too lliort to allow, in all cafes, of this labo- 
 rious procefs. Attention, therefore, to the 
 minuter detaife of contemporary annalifts, 
 and to the original records confiding of 
 letters and flate papers, muft be limited to 
 periods of more than ordinary importance* 
 Into thefe the attentive politician will dive 
 for himfelf, and he will often be abundantly 
 repaid. — The periods, for example, of the 
 unhappy conteils in the reign of the lirft 
 Charles, of the reftoration, and more 
 efpecially of the revolution, are the turning 
 points of our political conftitution. A 
 prince, by examining thefe original docu- 
 ments, and by making himfelf mafter of 
 the points then at ifiue, would be fure to 
 underfland what are his own rights as a 
 fovereign. 
 
 It is not by fingle, but by concurrent 
 teftimony, that the truth of hiflory is 
 eftabliflied. And it is by a careful pe- 
 rufal of different authors who treat of 
 the fame period, that a feries of hiftoric 
 truth will be extraded. Where they agree, 
 
 we
 
 ENGLISH HISTORY. 165 
 
 we may trufl: that they are right; where 
 they differ we mufl elicit truth from the 
 collifion. Thus the royal pupil, when en- 
 gaged in the perufal of Clarendon, fliould 
 alfo ftudy fome of the beft writers, who are 
 favourable to the parliamentary caufe. A 
 careful perufal of Ludlow and Whitlock ; 
 a general furvey of Rufhworth, or occa- 
 fional reference to that author and to Thur- 
 loe ; and a curfory review of their own lives 
 and t'unes hf Laud and Baxter, will throw 
 great light on many of the tranfaftions of the 
 eventful period of the firfl Charles. They 
 will fhew how different the fame adions ap- 
 pear to different men, equal in underftand- 
 ing and integrity. — They will inforce mu- 
 tual candour and mutual forbearance, re- 
 preffing the wholefale conclufions of party 
 violence, and teaching a prince to be on his 
 guard againfl the intemperate counfels of 
 his interefled or heated advifers. They will 
 inflrua a monarch in the important leffon 
 of endeavouring to afcertain and keep in 
 view the light in which his aftions and 
 motives will appear to his people. They 
 
 M 3 will
 
 l66 ENGMSH HISTORY. 
 
 will teach him to attend carefully to the 
 opinions and feelings, and even to the pre- 
 judices of the 'times ; and, in obedience to 
 a precept enjoined by divine authority for 
 private life, and ftiil more important to be 
 obferved in public, — " to provide things 
 honeft in the fight of all men.'* 
 
 Again, while the narratives of the con- 
 temporary hiHorians furnilh fads, they 
 who live in a fucceeding age have- the ad- 
 ditional advantages, fir(l, of a chance of 
 greater impartiality ; fecondly, of a com- 
 parifon with correfponding events ; and 
 thirdly, of having the tendencies of the 
 events related, appreciated by the evidence 
 of their adual effects. How imperfcd, for 
 example, would be the philofcphical and 
 political remarks, and how falfe the whole 
 colour belonging to any hiilory of the 
 French revolution which might have im- 
 mediately appeared *. Much lapfe of time 
 
 * The French revohition, with its confeqiiences, 
 feem intended practically to contradict what Thiicy- 
 dides declared to be his defign in writing hiflory ; 
 nanr.eiy, by a faithful account of pajl things to ojfijl ntan- 
 i'md in conjeHuring the future ! 
 
 IS
 
 ENGLISH HISTORY. 167 
 
 is necelTary in order to reflect back light 
 on the original tendency of events. The 
 fermentation of political paffions requires a 
 long time to fubiide. The agitation con- 
 tinues till the events have nearly loft their in- 
 tereft, by the occurrence of a frefli clafs of 
 events ; which, in their turn, raife a new 
 party, and excite a new intereft ; fo that an 
 impartial diftribution of praife and cenfure is 
 feldom made till thofe who are concerned 
 in it have been long out of hearing. And 
 it is an inconvenience infeparable from hu- 
 man things, that when writers are leaft able 
 to come at the truth, they are moft difpofed 
 to tell it. 
 
 It will be necelTary to underftand the 
 political fyftem of Europe, fmce that pe- 
 riod particularly, when the two powers 
 of I'ralice and Auftria having arifen to a 
 greatnefs, which made them mutually, as 
 well as generally formidable, other coun- 
 tries, feeing the neceliity for their own 
 fafety, of oppofing the ftronger, and fup- 
 porting the weaker, conceived the idea of 
 
 M 4 that
 
 l68 ENGLISH HISTORY. 
 
 that balance of power, that juft equipon- 
 derance, which might preferve the fecurity 
 of all. 
 
 But there is a far earlier epoch to 
 which attention ought perhaps, in the very 
 firfl inflance, to be direded, I mean the 
 reign of Alfred. This is eminently a fludy 
 for kings. — In Alfred, the mofh vigorous 
 exertion of public juflice was united with 
 attachment to public liberty. He eagerly 
 feized every interval of tranquillity, from 
 the convulfions with which the ftate was 
 torn, to colled: materials for the moll 
 falutary inftitutions, which he afterwards 
 eftablilhed ; he employed every moment 
 he could fnatch from the wars in which 
 he was inevitably engaged, in introducing 
 the arts of peace, and in turning the 
 minds of his hai alfed and diforderly fubjects 
 to virtuous and induftrious purfuits ; in 
 repairing the mifchievous confequences of 
 pafl infurredions, and wifely guarding 
 againft their return. He had to corre6t 
 the habits of a people who had lived 
 
 with-
 
 ENGLISH HISTORY, l6^ 
 
 without laws, and without morals; and 
 to reduce to civilization men who had 
 been driven to fubfift by chance or ra- 
 pine. — By a fyftem of jurifprudence, which 
 united moral difcipline with the execu- 
 tion of penal laws, he undertook to give 
 a new direction to habits inveterately de- 
 praved. 
 
 The royal pupil will be taught to afcribe 
 the origin of fome of our befl ufages to 
 thefe fagacious regulations j above all, the 
 conception of that unparalleled idea which 
 fo beautifully reconciles the exaft admi- 
 niftration of juftice with individual liberty: 
 the origin of our juries evidently appearing 
 to have firft; entered the mind of Alfred. 
 The effects on the people feem to have 
 been proportioned to the exertions of the 
 Prince. Crimes were repreffed. The m-ofl 
 unexampled change took place in the 
 national manners. Encouragement was 
 held out to the reformed, while punifhment 
 kept in order the more irreclaimable. 
 Yet, with all thefe flrong meafures, never 
 
 was
 
 170 ENGLISH HISTORY. 
 
 was prince more tenderly alwe to the 
 liberty of trie fubject. And while com- 
 merce, navigation, ingenious inventions, 
 and all the peaceful arts v/ere promoted by 
 him, his fkill in the military tactics of that 
 day was fuperior, perhaps, to that of an-y of 
 his contemporaries. 
 
 To form, fuch vail projeds, not for dif- 
 turbing the world, but for bleffing it, — 
 to reduce thofe projeQis, in many inftances, 
 to the mod minute detail of adual exe- 
 cution ; to have furmounted the misfortune 
 of a neglected education fo as to make 
 himfelf a fcholar, a philofopher, and the 
 moral as well as civil inftrudor of his peo* 
 pie ;— all this implies fuch a grandeur of 
 capacity, fuch an exad: conception of the 
 true character of a fbvereign, fuch fubli- 
 mity of principle, and fuch correfponding 
 rectitude of pra6tice, as fill up all our 
 ideas of confummate greatnefs. — In a word, 
 Alfred feems to havebeen fent into the world 
 to realize the beautiful fidtion, which poets, 
 philofophers, and patriots, have formed 
 
 ef
 
 ENGLISH HISTORY. IJl 
 
 of a perfeft king. It is alfo worth obferv- 
 ing, that all thofe various plans were both 
 projedled and executed by a monarch who, 
 as all hiilorians agree, had fuffercd more 
 hard (hips than aiiy ordinary adventurer, 
 had fou;:!:ht more battles than mod o-enc- 
 rals, and was the moP: voluminous author 
 of his day *. And, if it fhouid be aficed 
 by what means a fingle individual could 
 accompUfn fuch a variety of projects, the 
 anfwer is fimply this : It was in a good 
 meafure by an art of which little account 
 is m.ade, bat which is perhaps of more im- 
 portance in a fovereign than almofh any 
 other, at lead: it is one without which the 
 brightefl: genius is often of little value, a 
 Jlrid cdconomy of time. 
 
 Between the earlier life of Alfred and 
 that of Charles II. there was, as muft be 
 obferved, a fhriking fimilarity. The paths 
 of both to the throne were equally marked 
 
 * See the charafter of Alfred in Hume, from 
 which the preceding part of this account, in fub- 
 ftancc, is chiefly taken. 
 
 by
 
 173 ENGLISH HISTORY. 
 
 by fuch Imminent dangers and " hair- 
 breadth 'fcapes/* as more refemble ro- 
 mance than authentic hiftory. What a 
 leflbn had Alfred prepared for Charles ! 
 But their charaders as kings, exhibited 
 an oppofition which is as flrong as the re- 
 femblance in their previous fortunes. With 
 an underftanding naturally good, with that 
 education which Alfred wanted, — with 
 every advantage which an improved flate 
 of fociety could give over a barbarous one ; 
 fuch, notwithflanding, was the uniform 
 tenor of the Stuart*s fubfequent hfe, as 
 almofl to prefent the idea of an intended 
 contrail to the virtues of the illuflrious 
 Saxon. 
 
 Another epoch to which the pupil's at- 
 tention fhould be pointed, is the turbulent 
 and iniquitous reign of King John ; whofe 
 oppreffion and injuflice were, by the excefs 
 to which they were carried, the providen- 
 tial means of roufmg the Englifh fpirit, 
 and of obtaining the eftablifhment of the 
 great charter. This famous tranfaftion, fo 
 
 defervedly
 
 INCLISH HISTORY. 1 73 
 
 defervedly interefting to Englifhmen, be- 
 ftoweci or fecured the mod valuable civil 
 privileges ; chiefly indeed to the barons and 
 clergy, but alfo to the people at large. The 
 privileges of the latter had, antecedently, 
 been fcarcely taken into the account, and 
 their liberties, always imperfect, had fuf- 
 fered much infringement by the introduc- 
 tion of the feudal law into England under 
 the Norman William. For, whether they 
 were vaiTals under the Barons, or vaiTals 
 under the King it made little difference 
 in their condition ; which was, in fad, to 
 the greater part, little better than a ftate 
 of abfolute flavery. The barons, liberal, 
 perhaps, through policy rather than huma- 
 nity, in ftruggling for their own liberty, 
 were compelled to involve in one common 
 intereft, the liberty of the people ; and the 
 fame laws which they demanded to fecure 
 their own proteftion, in fome meafure 
 neceflarily extended their benign influence 
 to the inferior claflTes of fccicty. Thofe 
 immunities, which are elTential to the well- 
 14 being
 
 274 ENGLISH HISTORY. 
 
 being of civil and focial life, gradually 
 became better fecured. Injuftice was re- 
 flraincdj tyrannical exaclions were guarded 
 againft, and oppreiiioh was no loneer 
 fanctioned. This famous deed, \vithout 
 any violent innovation, became the mound 
 of property, the pledge of liberty, and the 
 guarantee of independence. As it guarded 
 the rights of all orders of men, from the 
 iowefl to the highcil, it was vigoroufiy 
 contended for by all ; for, if it limited the 
 power of the King, it alio confirmed it, by 
 fecuring the allegiance and fidelity of the 
 fubjecl:. — It v^-as of incilimable ufe by giv- 
 ing a detei-minate form and fhape, " fuch 
 a local habitation and a name," to the 
 fpirit of liberty ; fo that the Englifh, when, 
 as it often happened, they claimed the re- 
 co^rnition of their len^al risfhts, were not 
 left to wander in a wide field, without 
 having any fpecific object, without limitation, 
 and without direction. They kneiv what 
 to a^c for, and, obtaining that, they were 
 fatisfied. We furely cannot but be fenfible 
 5 of
 
 ENGLISH HISTORY. IJ $ 
 
 of the advantages which they derived from 
 this circuraftance, who have feen the eiFedts 
 of an oppofite fituation, m this very |>arl:icu- 
 br, illuflrated fo flrikingly in the earlier 
 period of the French revolution. 
 
 But, rapidity of progrefs feems, by the 
 very laws of tiaturc, to be precluded, where 
 the benefit is to be radical and permanent. 
 It was not^ therefore, until our pafiion for 
 making war within the territory of France 
 was cured, nor until v/e left off tearing the 
 bowels of our own country in the dilfen- 
 fions of the Ycrkifls and LancaftrianSj 
 after having, for near four hundred years, 
 torn thofe of our neighbours ; in a word, 
 it was not until both foreign and civil fury 
 began to cool, that in the reign of Henry 
 VII. the people began to enjoy more real 
 freedom, as the King enjoyed a more fettled 
 dominion, and the interefts of peace and 
 commerce fubftantialiy prevailed. — With- 
 out afcribing to this king virtues which he 
 did not pofiefs, the view of his reign, with 
 all its faults, affords a kind of breathing 
 
 time^
 
 iy6 ENGLISH HISTORY. 
 
 time, and fenfe of repofe. It is from this 
 reign that the hiftory of the laws, and civil 
 conftitution of England become interefling; 
 as that of our ecclefiaftical conftitution does 
 from the fubfequent reign. A general ac- 
 quaintance with the antecedent part of our 
 hiftory may fuffice for the royal pupil, but 
 from thefe periods fhe cannot polTefs too de- 
 tailed a knowledge of it. 
 
 CHAP.
 
 ^U£EN ELIZABETH* I// 
 
 CUAF, XIII. 
 
 Oueen Elizabethc 
 
 It is remarkable that in France, a nation 
 in which women have always been held in 
 the higheil confideration, their genius has 
 never been called to, its loftieft exercife. 
 France is perhaps the only comitry which 
 has never been governed by a woman. The 
 mothers, however, of fome of her fovereigns, 
 when minors, have, during their regencies, 
 Blanche of Caftile * efpecially, difcovered 
 talents for government not inferior to thofe 
 of mod of her kings. 
 
 Anne of Auftria has had her eulogifts ; 
 but in her character there feems to have 
 been more of intrigue than of genius, or at 
 lead, than of found fenfe ; and her virtues 
 were problematical. If her talents had fome 
 fplendor, they had no folidity. They pro- 
 duced a kind of ftage effecl, which was im- 
 pofmg, but not efficient ; and fhe was rather 
 
 • Mother of Louis IX. 
 
 VOL. I. N an
 
 jyS QUEEN ELIZABETH. 
 
 an adrefs of royalty than a great queen. 
 She was not happy in the choice of a friend. 
 The fource of all Mazarin's greatnefs, fhe 
 fupported him with inflexible attachment, 
 and eflabliflied him in more than regal 
 power. In return, he treated her with re- 
 fped as long as he flood in need of her pro- 
 tedion, and fet her afide when her fupport 
 was become no longer neceffary to his con- 
 firmed power. 
 
 The bed queens have been moft re- 
 markable for employing great men. 
 Among thefe, Zenobia, Elizabeth, and 
 Anne fland foremofl. Thofe who wilh to 
 derogate from the glories of a female reign, 
 have never failed to urge, that they were 
 owing to the wifdom of the minillers, and 
 not to that of the queen j a cenfure which 
 involves an eulogium. For, is not the 
 choice of fagacious miniflers the charac- 
 teriilic mark of a fagacious fovereign ? — 
 Would;, for inftance, Mary di Medici have 
 chofen a Walfmgham ; fhe who made it 
 one of the firll ads of her regency to 
 banifh Sully, and to employ Contini ? Or, 
 
 L-9 did
 
 QUEEN ELIZABETH. 179 
 
 did it ever enter into the mind of the firfl 
 Mary of England to take into her councils 
 that Cecil, who fo much diflinguifhed him- 
 felf in the cabinet of her fifter ? 
 
 Elizabeth's great natural capacity was, 
 as has been before obferved, improved by 
 an excellent education. Her native vigour 
 of mind had been early called forth by a 
 feries of uncommon trials. The circum- 
 fpedion fhe had been, from childhood, 
 obliged to exercife, taught her prudence. 
 The difficulties which befet her, accuftomed 
 her to felf-control. Can we, therefore, 
 doubt that the fteadinefs of purpofe, and 
 undaunted refolution which fhe manifefted 
 on almoft every occafion during her long 
 reign, were greatly to be attributed to 
 that youthful difcipline ? She would pro- 
 bably never have acquired fuch an afcend- 
 ency over the mind of others, had fhe not 
 early learned fo abfolute a command over 
 her own. 
 
 On coming to the crown, (he found 
 herfelf furrounded with thofe obflacles 
 which difplay great characters, but overfet 
 
 N 2 ordinary
 
 I So QUEEN ELIZABETH-. 
 
 ordinary minds. The vnfc work of the 
 reformation, which had been undertaken by 
 her brother Edward, but cruflied in the 
 very birth, as far as was within human 
 power, by tlui bigot Mary, was refumed 
 and accomphflied by Elizabeth ; and that, 
 not in the cahn of fecurity, not in the 
 fulnefs of undifputed power, but even 
 while that power was far from being con- 
 firmed, and that fecurity was habie, every 
 moment, to be fhaken by the mofl alarming 
 commotions. She had prejudices, appa- 
 rently infurmountahle, to overcome ; Ihe had 
 heavy debts to difcharge ; fhe had an almoft 
 ruined navy to repair ; flie had a debafed 
 coin to reftore ; fhe had empty magazines 
 to fill ; Die had a decaying commerce to 
 invigorate ; fhe had an exhauftrd exchequer 
 .to replenilli. — All thefe, by the bleflmg of 
 God on the ftrength of her mind, and the 
 wifdom of her councils, (he accomplifhed. 
 She not only paid her own debts, but, withr 
 out any great additional burdens on her fub- 
 jefts, fhe difcharged thofe alfo which were 
 due to tJ^e people from her two immediate 
 ^ri_-:o predecef-
 
 QUEEN ELIZABETH. l8x 
 
 predecefTors. At the fame timej flie foftered 
 genius, flis encouraged llteraturej flie attrdft- 
 ed all the great talents of the age within the 
 fphere of her own activity. And, though 
 fhe conftantly availed herfelf of all the judg- 
 - ment and talents of her miniff-ers, her ac- 
 quiefcence in their measures was that of 
 conviftion, never of imphcit confidence. 
 
 Her exact frugality may not, by fuper- 
 ficial judges, be reckoned among the fhining 
 parts of her character. Yet, thofe who fee 
 more deeply, mull allow, that it was a 
 quality from which the mod important 
 banefits were derived to her people ; and 
 without which, all her great abilities would 
 have been comparatively inefficient. The 
 parfimony of her grandfather was the 
 rapine and exaction of an extortioner > 
 hers, the wife ceconomy of a provident 
 parent. If we are to judge of the value of 
 actions by their confequences, let us com- 
 pare the eftedts upon the country, of the 
 prodigality, both of her father, and of 
 her fucceilor, with her own frugality. As 
 
 M 3 it
 
 iSa QITEEN ELIZABETH. 
 
 it has been aflerted by Plutarch*, that 
 the money idly thrown away by the 
 Athenians on the reprefentations of two 
 dramatic poets only, amounted to a larger 
 fum than had been expended on all then- 
 wars againfl the Terfians, in defence of 
 their liberty; fo it has been affirmed, 
 that the iirfl James fpent more treafure 
 on his favourites, than it had coil Elizabeth 
 to maintain all her wars. Yet, there 
 have not been wanting hiftorians, who 
 have given the praife of liberality to James, 
 and efpecially to Henry, while Elizabeth 
 has fuffered the imputation of avarice. 
 But we ought to judge of good and evil, 
 by their own weight and meafure, and 
 not by the fpecious names which the 
 latter can aflume, nor by the injurious 
 terms which may be beftowed on the 
 former. 
 
 It is not from the fplenetic critic in 
 retired life, from the declaimer, ignorant 
 
 * In his enquiry whether the Athenians were more 
 eminent in the arts of war or peace, 
 
 of
 
 gUEEN ELIZABETH. I g^ 
 
 of the duties and the requifitions of princes, 
 that we fliould take our fentiments on the 
 point of royal ceconomy ; but from men, 
 who, however poflefling different characters 
 and views, yet agree in this one refpeft, 
 that their exalted public fituations, and 
 great perfonal experience, enable them to 
 give a fair and found opinion. The judg- 
 ment even of the Emperor Tiberius was not 
 fo impaired by his vices, but that he could 
 infift, that an exchequer, exhaufted by pro- 
 digality, muft be replenilhed by oppreflion. 
 Cicero, verfed in public bufmefs, no lefs than 
 in the knowledge of mankind, affirms, that 
 " a liberal prince lofes more hearts than 
 he gains, and that the refentment of thofe 
 from whom he takes the money, is much 
 flronger that the gratitude of thofe to 
 whom he gives it.*' And, on another 
 occafion he fays, that " men are not aware 
 what a rich treafury frugality is." The fame 
 fentiments feem to have been adopted by 
 another Roman ftatefman, a royal favourite 
 too, Pliny affirms, that ** a prince will 
 
 N 4 be
 
 l84 QUEEN ELIZABETH. 
 
 be pardoned, who gives nothing to his fub- 
 je6ts, provided he takes nothing away from 
 them.'- 
 
 Thofe princes, who, defpifmg frugality, 
 have been prodigal for the fake of a Httle 
 temporary applaufe, have feldom achieved 
 lafling good. And, allowing that this 
 iavifh generofity may be for the moment a 
 popular quality j yet, there is fcarcely any 
 thing which has contributed to bring more 
 calamities on a ftate, than the means ufed for 
 enabhng the prince to indulge it. It was not 
 in Rome alone, as recent inflances teftify, 
 that when the government has wanted 
 money, the rich have been always found 
 to be the guilty. A prodigal generofity, as 
 we have feen in the cafe of Csefar, and in 
 our own time, may be a ufeful inflrument 
 for paving the way to a throne ; but an 
 eftablifhed fovereign will find oeconomy ^ 
 more certain means of keeping him in it. 
 The Emperor Nero was extolled for the 
 felicity which he was diffufvng by his 
 bounty, while Rome was groaning under 
 
 th^
 
 OUEEN ELIZABETH. 185 
 
 ihe burthen of his exactions. That libe- 
 rality which would make a prince neceili- 
 tous, and a people poor, would, by hurting 
 his fame, weaken his influence ; for repu- 
 tation is power. After all, fuch a care and 
 improvemient of the revenue, as will enable 
 him to fpare his fubjecls, is the truefl libe- 
 rality in a prince. 
 
 But, to return. — The diftinguifhing qua- 
 lities of Elizabeth appear to have been 
 oeconomy, prudence, and moderation. Yet 
 in fomc inftances, the former was rigid, 
 not to fay unjull*. Nor had her frugality 
 always the pureft motive. She was, it is 
 true, very unwilling to trouble parliament 
 for money, for which, indeed, they were ex- 
 tremely unwilling to be troubled ; but her 
 defire to keep herfelf independent of them 
 feems to have been the motive for this for- 
 bearance. What fhe might have gained in 
 fupplies (lie muft have loft in power. 
 
 To her moderation and that middle line 
 
 ♦ Particularly her kf eping the fee of Ely vacant 
 nineteen years, in order to retain the revenue. 
 
 of
 
 1 86 QUEEN ELIZABETH. 
 
 of conduct which ftie obfcrved, much of 
 her fuccefs may be afcribed. To her mo- 
 deration in the contefts between paplfts and 
 puritans, it is chiefly to be attributed, that 
 the reformation iflfued in a happier medium 
 in England, than in any other country. — 
 To her moderation, in refpe6: to foreign 
 war, from which fiie was fmgularly averfe, 
 may be afcribed that rapid improvement at 
 home, which took place under her reign.-r- 
 If we were to eflimate Elizabeth as a private 
 female, fhe would doubtlefs appear entitled 
 to but little veneration. If as an inftrument 
 raifed up by divine Providence to carry 
 through the moft arduous enterprifes in the 
 moft difficult emergencies, we can hardly 
 rate her too highly. We owe her much as 
 Englifhmen. As Proteftants, what do we 
 not owe her ? If we look 9.t the woman, we 
 {hall fee much to blame ; if at the fovereign, 
 we fhall fee almofl every thing to admire. 
 Her great faults, though they derogated 
 from her perfonal character, feldom deeply 
 affeded her adminiflration. In one in^ 
 
 itance
 
 QUEEN ELIZABETH. 187 
 
 ftance only, her favourltlfm was prejudicial 
 to the {late ; her appointment of Leicefter 
 to the naval command, for which he was 
 utterly unfit. — On many occafions, as we 
 have elfe where obferved, her very paffions 
 fupplied what was wanting in principle. 
 Thus, her violent attachments m.ight have 
 made her indifcriminately lavifh, if they 
 had not been counteracted by that parfimo- 
 nioufnefs which never forfook her. Ac- 
 cordingly, in the midft of her lamentations 
 for the death of Leicefter, we fee her grief 
 did not make her forget to feize his goods, 
 and to repay herfelf for what fhe had lent 
 him. 
 
 Our cenfures, therefore, muft not be loft 
 in our admiration, nor muft our gratitude 
 warp our judgment. And it may be ufeful 
 to inquire how it came to pafs that Eliza- 
 beth, with fo much power, fo much pru- 
 dence, and fo much popularity, fhould at 
 length become completely miferable, and 
 jiie, negle<5tcd and forfaken, her fun fetting 
 
 injjlo-
 
 I 83 QUEEN ELIZABETH. 
 
 mgidrioufly after fo blight a day of prof- 
 perity and honour. 
 
 May we not venture to attribute it to 
 the defedivenefs, not to fay, unfoundnefs, 
 of her moral principles ? I'hough corrupt 
 principles for a certain period may conceal 
 themfelves, and even dazzle, by the fuccefs 
 of the projects to which, in the view of fu- 
 perficial reafoners, they may have appeared 
 conducive ; they will, in a long courfe of 
 aclion, betray their intrinfic weaknefs. 
 They may not entirely have prevented the 
 public good effefts of other ufeful qualities 
 with which they were aflbciated ; but 
 they do moil fatally operate againfl the 
 perfonal honour of the individual ; and 
 againft her reaping that harveft of gratitude 
 and refped, to , which fhe might otherwife 
 have been fo juftly entitled. 
 
 Vanity was, too probably, the fpring of 
 fome of Elizabeth's moft admired actions ; 
 but the fame vanity alfo produced that 
 jealoufy, which terminated in. the death of 
 
 Mary.
 
 QUEEN ELIZABETH. _ IS9 
 
 Mary. It was the fame vanity which led 
 her firll to court the admiration of EiTex, 
 and then to fuffer him to fall a victim to 
 her wounded pride. Her tem.per was un- 
 controlled. While we pardon her igno- 
 rance of the principles of liberty, we fhould 
 not forget how little fne refpeded the pri- 
 vileges of parliament, claiming a right of 
 imprifoning its very members, without 
 deigning to give any account of her pro- 
 ceedings. 
 
 Policy was her favounte fcience, but in 
 that day a liberal policy was not underftood ; 
 and Elizabeth was too apt to fubfdtute both 
 Emulation and diiEmulation for an open and 
 generous conduct. This diffimulation at 
 length lofl: her the confidence of her fubjeft?, 
 and while it infpired her with a diflrufl, it 
 alfo forfeited the attachment, of her friends. 
 Her infnicerity, as was natural, infeded thofe 
 around her. The younger Cecil himfelf 
 was fo far alienated from his royal millrefs, 
 and tainted with the prevailing fpirit of in?, 
 trigue, as to be fecretly correfponding with 
 her rival James. 
 
 That
 
 190 QUEEN ELIZABETH. 
 
 That fuch mortifying occurrences were 
 too likely to arife, from the very nature of 
 exifting circumftances, where the dying 
 prince was the lafl of her race, and the 
 nearly vacant throne about to be poffefled 
 by a ftranger, mufl affuredly be allowed. — 
 But it may flill be aflerted, that nothing 
 but deficiency of moral charafter could 
 have fo defolated the clofmg fcene of an 
 illuftrious princefs. Real virtue will, in 
 every rank, draw upon it difmterefled re- 
 gard ; and a truly virtuous fovereign will 
 not be /hut out from a more than ordinary 
 fhare in this general blelTmg. It is honour- 
 able to human nature to fee the dying Wil- 
 liam prefling to his bofom the hand of 
 Bentinck ; but it will be ftill more confo- 
 latory as v/ell as inflru6tive to compare, 
 with the forfaken death-bed of Elizabeth^ 
 the exemplary clofmg fcene of the fecond 
 Mary as defcribed by Burnet, an eye-witnefs 
 of the afFeding event which he relates^. 
 
 CHAP,
 
 MORAL ADVANTAGES FROM, &C. I9I 
 
 CHAP. XIV. 
 
 Moral Advantages to be derived from the 
 Study of Hi/iory, independent of the Exatn- 
 pies it exhibits. — Hijtory pro'ves the cor- 
 ruption of Human Nature. — // demonftrates 
 the fuper intending Power of Providence — ■ 
 iihijlrated by hijhinces. 
 
 X HE knowledge of great events and 
 fplendid characlers, and even of the cuf- 
 toms, laws, and manners of different na- 
 tions ; an acquaintance, however accurate, 
 with the flate of the arts, fciences, and 
 commerce of thofe nations, important as is 
 this knowledge, mull not however be con* 
 fidered as of primary importance in the 
 fludy of hillory. There are ftill higher 
 ufes to which that fludy may be turned. 
 Hiflory furniflies a flrong practical illuftra- 
 tion of one of the fundamental dodrines 
 of our religion, the corrapdon of human 
 
 nature-
 
 192 MORAL ADVANTAGES FROM 
 
 nature. To this truth it conflantly bears 
 witnefs by exemplifying It under every Ihape, 
 and fliade, and colour, and gradation : the 
 annals of the world, indeed, from its com- 
 mencement to the prefent hour, prefenting 
 h'ttle elfe than a flrongly interwoven tiffue 
 of thofe corruptions, and their attendant 
 calamities. 
 
 Hiflory every where proves the helpleffnefs 
 and natural inability of nan, the infufficiency 
 of all fuch moral principles as can be derived 
 fi-om nature and experience ; the neceflity 
 of explicit inrtru6tion refpecling our true 
 happinefs, and of divinely communicated 
 flrength in order to its attainment ; and 
 confequently, the inconceivable worth of 
 that life and immortality, which are fo fully 
 brought to light by the Gofpel. 
 
 That reader looks to little purpofe over 
 the eventful page of hiflory, who does not 
 accuflom himfeif to mark therein the finger 
 of the Almighty, governing kings and 
 kingdoms ; prolonging or contrading the 
 duration of empires ; tracing out before 
 6 hand.
 
 THE STUDY OF HISTORY. 193 
 
 hand, |n the unimpeachable page of the 
 prophet Daniel*, an outline of fucceffive 
 empires, which fubfequent events have 
 realized with the moil critical exa£lnefs ; 
 and defcribing their eventual fubfervience 
 to the fpiritual kingdom of the Meffiah, 
 with a circumftantial accuracy which the 
 well-informed Chriflian, who is verfed in 
 Scripture language, and whofe heart is 
 interefled in the fubjeft, reads with un- 
 utterable and never-ceafmg aftonifhment, 
 
 * The parts of the book of Daniel chiefly alluded 
 to, are Nebuchadaezzar's dream and Daniel's inter- 
 pretation of it, in the 2d chapter; and his own 
 vifion of the four beads, in the 8th. Thefe two paf- 
 fages alone, preferved as they have been, by the molt 
 inveterate enemies of Chriftianity, amount to an iire- 
 fragable demonftration that our religion is divine. 
 One of the moft ancient and moft learned oppofers of 
 Revelation is faid to have denied the poffibility of 
 thefe prophecies having exifted before the events. 
 But we know they did exift, and no modern infidel 
 Jarei to difpute it. But, in admitting this, however 
 they may take refuge in their own inconfequence of 
 mind, they inentably, though indireiSlly, allow tne 
 truth of Chriftianity. 
 
 VOL, I. O It
 
 194 MORAL ADVANTAGES FROM 
 
 It Is, in fad, this wonderful correfpondence 
 which gives its highefl: value to the more 
 ancient half of the hifloric feries. What 
 would it profit us, at this day, to learn from 
 Xenophon, that the AlTyrian monarch had 
 fubjugated all thofe countries, with the ex- 
 ception of Media, which fpread eaftward 
 from the Mediterranean, if it were not 
 that, by this ftatement, he confirms that 
 important portion of facred and prophetic 
 hiflory ? And to what folidly ufeful purpofe 
 would the fame hiflorian*s detail of the tak- 
 ing of Babylon be applicable, if it did not 
 forcibly as well as minutely, illuftrate the 
 almoft equally detailed denunciations of the 
 prophet Ifaiah ? It was partly for the pur- 
 pofe of elucidating this correfpondence 
 between facred prophecy and ancient hif- 
 tory ; and (hewing, by how regular a 
 providential chain the fucceffive empires 
 of the ancient world were conneded with 
 each other, and ultimately with Chrlftianity, 
 tl^at the excellent Rollin compofed his 
 well-known work : and the impreflion, 
 
 which
 
 *rHE STUDY O^ HISTORV. I95 
 
 which his refearches left upon his own 
 mind, may be feen in thofe fublimely 
 pious remarks with which his laft volume 
 ^is concluded* 
 
 A careful perufal of the hiftorical and 
 prophetical parts of Scripture will prepare 
 us for reading prophane hiflory with great 
 advantage. In the former we are admitted 
 within the veil. We are informed how the 
 vices of nations drew down on them the 
 wrath of the Almighty ; and how fome 
 neighbouring potentate was employed as 
 the inflrument of divine vengeance. How 
 his ambition, his courage, and military 
 Ikili were but the means of fulfilling the 
 divine prediction, or of inflifting the divine 
 punifhment. How, when the mighty con- 
 queror, the executioner of the fentence of 
 Heaven, had performed his afligned talk, 
 be was put afide, and was himfelf, perhaps, 
 in his turn, humbled and laid low. Such 
 are the familiar incidents of hiftoric and 
 prophetic Scripture. But, in addition to the 
 ftock of knowledge which we receive from 
 
 o 2 thence.
 
 196 MORAL ADVANTAGES FROM 
 
 thence, we fliall have learned in the divine 
 fchool to little purpofe, if we do not find 
 the benefit of our fludies in the general im- 
 preffion and habits of mind which we de- 
 rive from them ; if we do not open our eyes 
 to the agency of Providence in the varying 
 fortunes of nations, and in the talents, cha- 
 raaers, and fates of the chief adors in the 
 great drama of life. 
 
 Do we read in the prophetic page the 
 folemn call and defignation of Cyrus ? — 
 Let us learn to recognize no lefs, as the 
 inflrument of the Almighty, a Guftavus, 
 and a Marlborough ! Are we many hun- 
 dred years before, informed by Him who 
 can alone fee the end from the beginning, 
 of the military exploits of the conqueror of 
 Babylon, and the overturner of the AlTyrian 
 empire ? — Let us learn to refer no lefs to 
 that fame All-difi^ofing Power, the viftories 
 of Liitzen and of Blenheim, the humilia- 
 tion of Auftrian arrogance, and of French 
 
 ambition. 
 
 Another 
 
 10
 
 THE STUDY OF HISTORY. I97 
 
 Another important end of the iludy of 
 o-eneral hiflory, diflind from that which 
 has juft been mentioned, but by no means 
 unconnefted with it, is the contemplation 
 of divine wifdom and goodnefs, as exercifed 
 in gradually civilizing the human race, 
 through the inftrumentality of their owa 
 agitation. In this view the mind of the 
 pupil ihould be particularly led to obferve 
 that myfterious, yet molt obvious operation 
 of Providence, by which, through fuccef- 
 five ages, the complicated chaos of human 
 a"-ency has been fo over-ruled as to make 
 all things work together for general good : 
 the hoftile colllfion of nations being often 
 made conducive, almoft in its immediate 
 confequences, to their common benefit, 
 and often rendered fubfervient to the gene- 
 ral improvement, and progreffive advance- 
 ment of the great commonvt-ealth of man- 
 kind. 
 
 If this view, refpeding the world at large, 
 (hould be deemed too vail for fatisfadory 
 
 o 2, con-
 
 198 MORAL ADVANTAGES FROM 
 
 confideration, it may be limited to that 
 part with which we are mofl nearly con- 
 neded ; and to which it is hardly too bold 
 to fay, that Divine Providence itfelf has, 
 during the latter ages of the world, feemed 
 to dire<El its chief attention — I mean the 
 Continent of Europe. Let it fmiply be 
 afked, what was the flate of this Continent 
 two thoufand years ago ? The anfwer mufl 
 be — from the Alps to the Frozen Ocean, 
 a moral as well as phyfical wildemefs. — 
 That the human powers were formed for 
 extended exercife, and in fome fenfe for 
 boundlefs improvement, the very con- 
 templation of thofe powers is fufficient to 
 evince. But that improvement had not 
 then begun, nor was the froft of their 
 dreariell winter more benumbing than that 
 in which their minds had been for ages 
 locked wp. To what then but a regular 
 defign of Providence can we attribute the 
 amazing change? And it is doubtlefs the 
 partj no lefs of religious gratitude than of 
 philofophical curiofity, to inquire into the 
 
 feries
 
 THE STUDY OF HISTORf. 1 99 
 
 feries of inflrumental caufes by which the 
 transformation was effefted. This interefl- ^ 
 ing and moft in{lru<5live intelligence is con- 
 veyed to us by hiftory. We mark the flow 
 but fteady developement of the wife and be- 
 nevolent plan. We fee the ambition of 
 Rome breaking up the foil with its refiftlefs 
 plough-fhare, and fcattering even through 
 thefe Britifli ifles the firfl feeds of civilization. 
 We fee the northern invaders burfl forth 
 with irrefiftibie violence, bringing back, 
 to all human appearance, the former defola- 
 tion ; but, in reality, conducing, though 
 with an operation like that of lava from a 
 volcano, to a richer harveft of fecial and 
 civil happinefs. We fee all that was really 
 valuable fpring up again afrefh, mingled 
 with new principles of utility and comfort ; 
 and above all, quickened and enriched by 
 the wide-fpread influences of a pure and 
 heavenly religion. We fee the violent 
 pafTions providentially let loofe, when it 
 was neceffary for fociety to be roufed from 
 ^ pernicious torpor. — We fee an enthufiaf- 
 
 o 4 tic
 
 JOO MO^AL ADVANTAGES FROM 
 
 tic rage for conquefts in Afia, inducing aii 
 activity of mind, and enlargement of view, 
 out of which eventually grew commerce, li- 
 berty, literature, philofophy, and at length, 
 even religious reformation. In brief, if in 
 our perufal of hiftory, we take true wifdom 
 for our guide, we fhall not only be in- 
 ftruded by that gracious progreffivenefs 
 which is difcernible in pad events, but, 
 notwithftanding the awful concuffions of 
 the prefent period, we fliall learn to trufl 
 Almighty wifdom and goodnefs for what is 
 to come. And we fliall be ready to indulge 
 the hope of a yet greatly increafed hap-, 
 pinefs of mankind, when we confider, that 
 the hand which brought us from barbarifm 
 to our prefent circumflances is flill over us; 
 p— that progreflion to flill better habits is 
 equally pofTible, and equally neceffary ; and 
 that no means were rendered more condu- 
 cive to fuch progrefs, in the period which is 
 palTed, than the agitations of the fame awful 
 and afflictive kind which we are now doomed 
 to contemplate. 
 
 It
 
 THE STUDY OF HISTORY. 201 
 
 It will be feen that the fame infinite 
 wifdom often permits human evils to ba- 
 lance each other, and in fubfervience td 
 his grand purpofe of general good, not only 
 fets good againfl evil, but often, where the 
 counterading principle of religion feems 
 wholly fufpended, prevents any fatal pre- 
 ponderance in the fcale of human affairs, 
 by allowing one fet of vices to counter- 
 balance another, — Thus, focieties, which 
 appear, on a general view, to have almolt 
 wholly thrown oiF the divine government, 
 are ftill preferved for better things, or per* 
 haps, for the fake of the righteous few, 
 who ftill remain in them, by means of 
 thofe exertions v/hich bad men make from 
 felfifh motives ; or by the vigilance with 
 which one party of bad men watches over 
 another. The clafh of parties, and the 
 oppofition of human opinion, are like wife 
 often over-ruled for good. The compages 
 of the public mind, if we may ufe fuch a 
 term, are no lefs kept together, than the 
 component parts of matter, by oppofite 
 , tcndencieSf
 
 202 MORAL ADVANTAGES FROM 
 
 tendencies. And, as all human agents 
 are nothing but the inftruments of God, 
 he can with equal efficacy, though doubtlefs 
 not with the fame complacency, caufe the 
 efFefts of evil paflions to be counteracted 
 by each other, as well as by the oppofite 
 virtues. For inftance, were it not for indo- 
 lence and the dread of difficulty and danger, 
 ambition would deluge the world in blood. 
 The love of praife, and the love of indul- 
 gence, affifl, through their mutual oppofi- 
 tion, to keep each other in order. Avarice 
 and voluptuoufnefs are almoft as hoftile to 
 each other, as either is to the oppofite 
 virtues ; therefore, by pulling different 
 ways, they contribute to keep the world in 
 equipoife. Thus, the fame divine hand, 
 ■which had fo adjufted the parts and pro- 
 perties of matter, as that their apparent 
 oppofition produces, not difruption, but 
 harmony, and promotes the general order, 
 has alfo conceived, through the a£lion and 
 counteradion of the human mind, that no 
 jar of pallion, no abufe of free agency, 
 
 Ihall
 
 THE STUDY OF HISTORY. 203 
 
 fliall eventually defeat the wife and gracious 
 purpofes of heaven. 
 
 For an illuftration of thefe remarks, we 
 fcarcely need go farther than the charac- 
 ter of our own heroic Elizabeth. Her 
 paffions were naturally of the flrongell 
 kind ; and it mufl be acknowledged, that 
 they were not always under the control of 
 principle. To what then can we fo fairly 
 afcribe the fuccefs which, even in fuch 
 inftances, attended her, as to the effeft of 
 one ftrong paiTion forcibly operating upon 
 another ? Inclinations which were too vio- 
 lent to be checked by reafon were met 
 and counteraded by oppofite inclinations 
 of equal violence ; and through the direc- 
 tion of providence, the paffion finally pre- 
 dominant was generally favourable to the 
 public good. 
 
 Do we then mean to admit, that the 
 
 Almighty approves of thefe excefles in 
 
 iodividuals, by which his wifdom often 
 
 -i^rorks for the general benefit ? God forbid. 
 
 Nothing furely could be lefs approved by 
 
 him,
 
 204 MORAL ADVANTAGES FROM 
 
 him, than the licentioufnefs and cruelty of 
 our eighth Henry, though He over-ruled 
 thofe enormities for the advantages of the 
 community, and employed them, as his- 
 inftruments for refloring good government,' 
 and for introducing, and at length eila- 
 blilhing, the reformation. England enjoys 
 the ineftimable bleffing, but the monarch 
 is not the lefs refponfible perfonally for his 
 crimes. We are equally certain, that God 
 did not approve of the infatiable ambition 
 of Alexander, or of his incredible acquifi- 
 tion of territory by means of unjufl wars. 
 Yet, from that ambition, thofe wars, and 
 thofe conquefts, how much may the con- 
 dition of mankind have been meliorated? 
 The natural humanity of this hero, which 
 he had improved by the ftudy of philofophy 
 under one of the greatefl mafters in the 
 world, difpofed him to turn his conquefts 
 to the benefit of mankind. He founded 
 feventy cities, fays his hiftorian, fo fituated 
 as to promote commerce and diifufe civili- 
 zation.
 
 THE STUDY OF HISTOPvY. 205 
 
 zatlon. Plutarch* obferves, that had thofe 
 nations not been conquered,' Egypt would 
 have had no Alexandria, Mefopotamia no 
 Seleucia. He aifo informs us, that Alexander 
 introduced marriage into one conquered 
 country, and agriculture into another ;, that 
 one barbarous nation, which ufed to eat 
 their parents, was led by him to reverence 
 and maintain them ; that he taught the Per- 
 fians to refpecl, and not to marry their mo- 
 thers ; the Scythians to bury, and not to eat 
 their dead. 
 
 There was, on the whole, fomething {^o 
 extraordinary in the career of this monarch, 
 and in the refults to which it led, that his 
 hiftorian Arrian, amidil all the darknefs of 
 Paganifm, was induced to fay, that Alex- 
 ander feemed to have been given to the; 
 world by a peculiar difpcnfation of Provi- 
 dence. 
 
 Did the fame juft Providence approve of 
 the ufurpation of Auguftus over his fallen 
 
 * Quoted by Gillies, vol. iii. p. 385". 
 
 country C
 
 2o6 MORAL ADVANTAGES FROM 
 
 country ? No — but Providence employed it 
 as the means of reftoring peace to remote 
 provinces, which the tyrannical republic 
 had fo long harafled and opprefTed ; and 
 alfo, of eftabliihing a general uniformity of 
 law, and a facility of intercourfe between 
 nation and nation, which were fignally fub- 
 fervient to the diffufion of that divine re- 
 ligion, which was fo foon to enlighten and 
 to blefs mankind; 
 
 To adduce one or two inftances more, 
 where thoufands might be adduced. — ^Did 
 the Almighty approve thofe frantic wars, 
 which arrogated to themfelves the name of 
 hohj ? Yet, with all the extravagance of the 
 enterprize, and the ruinous failure which 
 attended its execution, many beneficial 
 confequences, as has been already inti- 
 mated, were permitted, incidentally, to grow 
 out of them. The Crufaders, as their hillo- 
 rians demonftrate*, beheld in their march 
 countries in which civilization had made 
 
 * See efpecially Robertfon's State of Europe. 
 
 a greater
 
 THE STUDY OF HISTORY. SO/ 
 
 a greater progrefs than in their own. 
 They faw foreign manufactures in a ftate 
 of improvement to which they had not 
 been accuftomed at home. They perceived 
 remains of knowledge in the Eaft, of which 
 Europe had almoft loft fight. Their native 
 prejudices were diminiihed in witneffing 
 improvements to which the ftate of their own 
 country prefented comparative barbarity. 
 The firft faint gleam of light dawned on 
 them, the firft perceptions of tafte and ele- 
 gance were awakened, and the firft rudi- 
 ments of many an art were communicated 
 to them, by this perfonal acquaintance with 
 more polifhed countries. Their views of 
 commerce were improved, and their means 
 of extending it were enlarged. 
 
 It is iicarcely neceffary to add, that the 
 excefs to whiel) the popes carried their 
 ufurpation, and the Romifti clergy their 
 corruptions, was, by the Providence of 
 Godj the immediate eaufe of the reforma- 
 tion. The taking of Conftantinople by 
 the Turks, though, in itfelf, a moft de- 
 
 7 plorable
 
 208^ MORAL ADVANTAGES FROM 
 
 plorable fcene of crimes and calamities, 
 became the occafion of mofl important 
 benefits to our countries, by compelling 
 the only accompliflied fcholars then in the 
 world to feek an afylum in the weftern 
 parts of Europe. To thefe countries they 
 carried with them the Greek language, 
 which ere long proved one of the providen- 
 tial means of introducing the moil: important 
 event that has occurred fnice the firfl efta- 
 blifliment of Chriflianity. 
 
 May we not noiu add to the number of 
 inftances in which Providence has over-ruled 
 the crimes of men for good, a recent 
 exemplification of the dodtrine, in the am- 
 bition of that perfon, who, by his unjuil 
 afTum.ption of imperial power in a neigh- 
 bouring nation, has, though uninten- 
 tionally, almofl annihilated the wild outcry 
 of falfe liberty, and the clamour of mad de- 
 mocracy ? 
 
 AH thofe contingent events which lie 
 without the limits and calculation of human 
 forefight J all thofe variable loofe uncer- 
 tainties
 
 THE STUDY OF HISTORY. 20Q 
 
 tainties which men call chance, has God 
 taken under his own certain difpofal and 
 abfokite control. To reduce uncertainty 
 to method, confuuon to arrangement, and 
 contingency to order, is folely the preroga- 
 tive of Almighty power. 
 
 Nothing can be further from the inten- 
 tion of thefe remarks, than to countenance, 
 in the flighted degree, the doftrine of opti- 
 mifm in the fenfe in which it was maintained 
 by Mr. Pope. Far be it from the writerp 
 to intimate that the good, which has thus 
 providentially been produced oiit of evil, is 
 greater than the good, which would have 
 been produced had no fuch evil been .eom-« 
 mitted ; or to infinuate, that the crimes of 
 men do not diminifh the quantity of good 
 which is enjoyed. This would, indeed, be 
 to fumifh an apology for vice. That God 
 cpji and does bring good out of eyil, is un= 
 queflionably true ; but to affirm, that he 
 brings more, or fo much good out of evil 
 as he would have brought out of good, had 
 good been pradifed, woul^ b^ indeed a 
 dangerous pofition. 
 
 VOL, h P If,
 
 2IO MORAL ADVANTAGES FROM 
 
 If, therefore, God often " educes good 
 from ill," yet man has no right to count 
 upon his always doing it, in the fame 
 degree in which he appoints that good fhall 
 be productive of good. To refume the 
 illuftration, therefore, from a few of the 
 initances already adduced j what an ex- 
 tenfive bleffing might Alexander, had he 
 afted with other views and to other 
 ends, have proved to that world, whofe 
 happinefs be impaired by his ambition, and 
 whofe morals he corrupted by his example ! 
 - — How much more effeftually, and imme- 
 diately, might the reformation have been 
 'promoted, had Henry, laying afide the 
 blindnefs of prejudice, and fubduing the 
 turbulence of paffion, been the zealous 
 and confiflent fupporter of the Proteflant 
 caufe; the virtuous hufband of one vir- 
 tuous wife, and the parent of children all 
 educated in the found principles of the 
 reformation ! — Again, had the popes effec- 
 tually reformed themfelyes, how might the 
 unity of the church have been promoted ; 
 
 and
 
 THE STUDY OF HISTORY. 211 
 
 and even the fchifms, which have arlfen ui 
 Proteflant communities, been diminifhed ! It 
 would be fuperfluous to recapitulate other 
 inflances ; thefe, it is prefumed, being 
 abundantly fufficient to obviate any charge 
 of the mofl diftant approach towards the 
 fatal dodrine of NecelTity. 
 
 P 2 
 
 CHAP.
 
 ai2 DISTINGUISHING CHARACTERS 
 
 CHAP. XV. 
 
 On the dtflingidjhing CharaSiers of Chriji- 
 
 ian'ity. 
 
 X. HE great leading truths of Scripture 
 are few in number, though the fpirit of 
 them is diffufed through every page. — 
 The being and attributes of the Almighty ; 
 the fpiritual worlhip which he requires ; 
 the introdudion of natural and moral evil 
 into the world ; the reftoration of man ; 
 the life, death, charadler, and offices of the 
 Redeemer ; the holy example he has given 
 us ; the divine fyflem of erhics which he 
 has bequeathed us ; the awful fanflions with 
 which they are enforced ; the fpiritual 
 nature of the eternal world ; the neceffity 
 of repentance ; the pardon of fm through 
 faith in a Redeemer ; the offer of divine 
 affiilance ; and the promife of eternal life. 
 The Scripture defcribes a multitude of 
 perfons who exemplify its truths j whofe 
 
 lives
 
 OF CHRISTIANITY. 21^ 
 
 lives bear teflimony to the perfection of 
 the divine law ; and whofe characters, 
 however clouded with infirmity, and fubjedt 
 to temptation, yet, ading under its authority 
 and influence, evince, by the general tenor 
 of their condudt, that they really embraced 
 religion as a governing principle of the 
 heart, and as the motive to all virtue in 
 the life. 
 
 In forming the mind of the royal pupil, 
 an early introduction to thefe Scriptures, 
 the depofitory of fuch important truths, v*^ill 
 doubtlefs be confidered as a matter of prime 
 concern. And, as her mind opens, it will 
 be thought necelTary to point out to her, 
 how one great event led to another ftill 
 greater ; till at length we fee a feries 
 accomplifhed, and an immovable founda- 
 tion laid for our faith and hope, which in- 
 cludes every eflential principle of moral 
 virtue and genuine happinefs. 
 
 To have given rules for moral conduct 
 might appear, to mere human wifdom, the 
 apteft method of improving our nature. 
 
 P 3 And,
 
 214 DISTINGUISHING CHARACTERS 
 
 And, accordingly, we find fuch a courfe 
 generally purfued by the ancient mo- 
 ralifls, both of Greece and Afia. Of this, 
 it is not the lead inconvenient refult, that 
 rules muft be multiplied to a degree the 
 mofl burthenfome and perplexing. And 
 there would be, after all, a neceffity for 
 Inceffant alteration, as the rules of one age 
 could not be expected to correfpond with 
 the manners of another. This inconve- 
 nience might, perhaps, in fome degree be 
 avoided, by entailing on a people an un- 
 deviating famenefs of manners. But, even 
 when this has been effefted, how oppref- 
 fively minute, and how difguitingly trivial 
 are the authorzied codes of inflruction ! Of 
 this, every freih tranflation from the moral 
 writings of the Eaft is an " exemplification ; 
 as if the mind could be made pure by over- 
 Ipading the memory ! 
 
 It is one of the perfeftions of revealed 
 religion, that, inftead of multiplying rules, 
 it eflabliflies principles. It traces up right 
 conduQ: into a few radical difpofitions, 
 
 which.
 
 OF CHRISTIANITY. 215 
 
 which, when once fully formedj are the 
 natural fources of correfpondent temper 
 and acLion. To implant thefe difpofitions, 
 then, is the leading objed; of what we may- 
 venture to call the Scripture philofophy. 
 And as the heart mud be the feat of that 
 which is to influence the whole man, fo it 
 is chiefly to the heart that the holy Scrip- 
 tures addrefs themfelves. Their obje<Sl is 
 to make us h-ve what is rights rather than 
 to occupy our underfl:aiidings with its 
 theory. Knowledge puffeih up^ fays one of 
 our divine inflirudors, but it is Love that 
 edifieth. And the principle which is here 
 aflTumed, will be found mofl flirictly true, 
 that if a love of goodnels be once thorough- 
 ly implanted, we fliall not need many 
 rules ; but we fhall act aright from what we 
 may almofl: call a noble kind of inflind. 
 " If thine eye be fmgle," fays our Saviour, 
 " thy whole body fliall be full of light.'* 
 Our religion, as taught in the Scripture, 
 does J in this very inft:ance, evince its 
 heavenly origin. St. Paul, whofe peculiar 
 
 p 4 pro-
 
 2l6 DISTINGUISHING CHARACTERS 
 
 province It feems to have been, to explaifiji 
 as it V7ere fcientifically^ the great dodrines 
 of his mafter, gives us a definition of 
 Chriflianity, which out-does at once in 
 brevity, in fullnefs, and even in fyftematic 
 exaftnefs, all which has been achieved in 
 the art of epitomizing, by the greatfeft 
 .inafters of human {deuce,—- Failb ivhicB 
 workcth by love. 
 
 It is not too much to affirm, that this 
 exprellion fubflantially contains the whole 
 fcope and tenor of both Teftaments ; the 
 fubilance of all morahty, and the very hfe 
 .and foul of human virtue and happinefs. 
 A want of attention to what St. Paul means 
 bv faiths too L^cnerallv makes the fenfe of 
 the palTage be overlooked. But the well- 
 directed fludent will difcern, that St. Paul 
 aiTumes exactly what has been intimated 
 above, that God's objecl in Revelation is 
 not merely to convey his ivill, but alfo to 
 hianifefl hmfelf ; not merely to promulgate 
 laws for retraining or regulating condudtj 
 fciit to difplay his own nature and attributes^ 
 
 fo
 
 Oi CHRISTIANITVi H'/ 
 
 to as to bring back to himfelf the hearts 
 and affections of fallen man ; and that, 
 accordingly, he means by faith, the effec- 
 tual and impreflive apprehenfion of God, 
 thus manifefled. In his language, it is 
 not a notion of the intelled, nor a tradition 
 coldly refiding in the recolledlion, which 
 the Scriptures exhibit, but an actual per- 
 fuafi«*n of the divine realities. It is, in 
 fliort, fuch a conviftion of what is revealed, 
 as gives it an eiHcacy equal, for every prac- 
 tical purpofe, to that which is derived 
 through the evidence of our fenfes. 
 
 Faith, then, in St. Paul's language, is 
 religion in its fmiplefl, inward principle. 
 It is the deep and efficacious impreflion, 
 which th(t manifellation of God, made to 
 us in the Scripture, ought in all reafon to 
 produce in our hearts ; but which it does 
 not produce until, in anlwer to cur earneft: 
 prayerj his holy Spirit " opens, as it were, 
 *' our hearts," to receive the things which 
 are thus prefented to our minds. When 
 the unfeen realities of religion are able to 
 
 do
 
 2l8 DISTINGUISHING CHARACTERS 
 
 do more with us than the tempting objeds 
 of this vifible world, then and not before, 
 is the divine grace of faith really formed 
 v/ithin us. 
 
 That this is the fcriptural idea of faith, 
 will appear at once, from a perufal of that 
 moft interefling portion of Scripture, the 
 eleventh chapter to the Hebrews. The 
 definition, with which the chapter com- 
 mences, ftates this precife notion : — " Faith 
 is the fiihJlanUation of things hoped for, 
 the demorijlrat'wv, of things not feen *.*' 
 And the inftances adduced are mofl fatis- 
 faftory exemplifications. " By faith, Noah, 
 being w^arned of God of things not feen as 
 yet, being moved with fear, prepared an 
 ark," &:c. " By faith, Mofes forfook 
 Egypt, not fearing the WTath of the king, 
 for he endured as feeing him who is invi- 
 
 * I thus venture to fliycngthen the expreiHons in 
 the authorized tranflaticn, in orucr to convey feme 
 clearer idea of the orii'inal terms, v.hich, as the bell 
 critics allow, have, perhaps, a force to which no 
 Enghfa words ran do juftice. 
 
 fible.'-*
 
 OF CFIRISTIANITY. 219 
 
 lible." " With the heart," fafs St. Paul, 
 '* man believeth unto righteoufnefs ;" that 
 is, when the infinitely awful and inexpref- 
 fibly engaging views of God, manifeiting 
 himfelf in the Scripture, as our Creator, 
 Redeemer, and Sandifier, really and ef- 
 fedualjy imprefs themfelves on cur hearts, 
 fo as to become the paramount principle 
 of inward and outward conduct ; then, and 
 not before, we are, in the Scripture fenfe, 
 believers. And this faith, if real, mull 
 produce love ; for, when our minds and 
 hearts are thus impreflcd, our affeftions 
 mull: of neceffity yield to that imprcffion. 
 If virtue, faid a heathen, could be feen 
 with human eyes, what aftonilhing love 
 would it excite in us 1 St. Paul's -divine 
 faith realizes this very idea. If Mofes 
 ^' endured Tisfeemg him who is invifible," it 
 could only be, becaufe, in feeing God, he 
 beheld what filled up his whole foul, and 
 fo engaged his hopes and fears, but, above 
 all, his love, as to raife him above the low 
 allurements of the world, and the puny 
 
 menaces
 
 ■226 DISTINGUISHING CHARACTEfl<> 
 
 menaces of mortals. It is faid of him, 
 that " he accounted even the reproach of 
 Chrifl greater riches than the treafures of 
 Egypt ;'* a preference which imphcs the 
 ftrorgeft affeBion^ as well as the deepeft 
 convidion. Flis cafe, then, clearly illuf- 
 trate what St. Paul fays oi faith working 
 by love ; his apprehenfion of God being 
 fo deep and lively, as to fix his fupreme 
 love on that fupreme excellence, which 
 was thus, as it were, vifible to his mind ; 
 the current of his temper, and the courfe 
 of his adions, followed this paramount 
 direction of his heart. 
 
 The Scripture then, in reality, does not 
 fo much teach us how to be virtuous, as, 
 if we com.ply with its iiltention, a&ually 
 makes us fo. It is St. Paul's argument 
 through the Epiflle to the Romans, that 
 even the mod perfed code of laws which 
 could be given, would fall infinitely ihort 
 of our exigencies, if it only gave the rules, 
 without infpiring the difpofition. 
 
 The
 
 OF CHRISTIANITY. 221 
 
 The law of Mofes had afforded admirable 
 moral precepts, and even the fages of the 
 heathen world had found out many ex- 
 cellent maxims ; but, an infpiriting prin- 
 ciple, by which men might be made to love 
 goodnefs as well as to know it, was that 
 of which the Gentiles, and, in fome mea- 
 fure the Jews alfo, flood in need. And 
 to furnifli this principle by infpiring fuch 
 a faith in God, as mufl produce love to 
 God, and, by producing love to God, 
 become operative in every fpecies of virtue, 
 is avowedly the fupreme objed of the 
 Gofpel of Chrill. 
 
 And, therefore, it is, that the Scripture 
 reprefents to ms facts, and dodtrines founded 
 on fads rather than theories ; becaufe fads 
 are alone fitted to work on the heart. In 
 theories, the underftanding ads for itfelf ; 
 in apprehending fads, it ads fubferviently 
 to the higher powers of the foul, merely 
 furnifliing to the affedions thofe objeds for 
 which they naturally look ; and diftinguifh- 
 ing falfe and fedudive appearances from 
 
 4 real
 
 22^ DISTINGUISHING CHARACTER* 
 
 real fources of delight and comfort. In 
 this way the facred Scriptures make the 
 fulleft ufe of our rational powers, uniformly 
 prefenting fuch faQ:s, as grow clearer the 
 more feverely they are examined : com- 
 pletely fatisfying our underftandings, as to 
 their aptnefs to the great purpofe of work- 
 ing on our hearts, and, on the whole mak- 
 ing our religion as reafonable, as if, like 
 mathematical truth, it had been exclufively 
 addrefled to our intellect ; while its influ- 
 ence on the rightly difpofed heart gives 
 fuch an inward proof of its divinity as no 
 merely rational fcheme could, in the nature 
 of things, polTefs. 
 
 *Let, then, the royal pupil be carefully 
 taught, that Chriflianity is not to be examin- 
 ed, nor the facred Scriptures perufed, as if 
 they were merely to be believed, and remem- 
 bered, and held in fpeculative reverence. 
 But, let it rather be imprcflfed upon her^ 
 that the holy Scriptures are God's great, 
 means of producing in her heart, that awe 
 of his prefence, that reverence of his ma- 
 
 jefty.
 
 OF CHRISTIANITY, 223 
 
 jelly, that delight in his infinite perfedions, 
 that pra(5lical affedionate knq,wledge of the 
 only true God, and of Jefus Chriil whom 
 he has fent, which conllitutes the rejl., the 
 peace, thejirength, the light, the confolafion 
 of every foul which attains to- it. Ltt her 
 be taught to regard the oracles of God, 
 not merely as a light to'^ guide her fteps, 
 but, as a facred fire to animate and invigo- 
 rate her inmoft foul. A purifying fiame, 
 like that upon the altar, from whence the 
 feraph conveyed the coal to the lips of the 
 prophet, who cried out, " Lo ! this hath 
 touched my lips, and mine iniquity is taken 
 away, and my fin is purged." 
 
 That fear of God, which the Scripture, 
 when ufed as it ought, never fails to in- 
 fpire, is felt by the poffelTor to be eflential 
 wifdom ; and that love of God, which it is 
 no lefs fitted to excite, is equally acknow- 
 ledged by him v/hom it influences, to be 
 at once eflential virtue, and eflential hap- 
 pinefs ; and both united, are found to be 
 that pure element in which rational intelli- 
 1 3 gences
 
 224 DISTINGUISHING CHARACTERS 
 
 gences are formed to live, and out of 
 which they muft ever be perturbed and 
 miferable. 
 
 But, to make the Scripture thus effica- 
 cious, it muft be ftudied according to the 
 will of him who gave it. It is faid of our 
 Saviour in the inftance of his difciples, — 
 " Then opened he their under ftandings, that 
 they might underftand the Scriptures ;'' 
 and it is faid of Lydia, Saint Paul's firft coa-f 
 vert at Philippi, " That the Lord opened 
 her heart, to attend to the things which 
 were fpoken of Paul." We read of others 
 of whom it is obferved, " The Gofpel was 
 preached, but it did not profit them, be- 
 caufe it was not mixed with faith in then; 
 that heard it.'* What follows ? evidently, 
 that the Scripture, to be read effe£lually, 
 muft be read devoutly 5 with earneft and 
 conftant prayer to him whofe word it is, 
 that he would fo imprefs it on our hearts, 
 by his good fpirit, that it may indeed be- 
 come the power of God unto falvation. 
 " If any man lack wifdom let him afk it of
 
 OF CHRISTIANITY. 225 
 
 God," fays St. James, " who giveth to all 
 men iiberaliy, and upbraideth not, and it 
 fliall be given him." 
 
 But, one grand peculiarity of Chrifti- 
 anity remains to be menlion'ed, — l^hat it 
 addreffes us not mer<:;'' ^-. /is ignorant, but 
 as prejudiced and corrupt ; as needing not 
 merely inftruction, but reformation. This 
 reformation can be accompKilied, thefe 
 prejudices and thefe corruptions can be 
 removed, only by divine power. It is a 
 new creation of the foul, requiring no 
 lefs than its original formation, the hand 
 of the divine artificer. " The natural 
 man receiveth not the tilings of the fpirit 
 of Cod; they are fooHfhnefs unto him." 
 God mufl reveal them by his fpirit j 
 he mult produce the difpofition to receive 
 ihem. 
 
 To this end no kind of previous knov/- 
 Icdge is more conducive than the know- 
 ledge of ourfelves as fallen, depraved, and 
 helplcfs creatures; and, therefore, abfolutely 
 requiring fome fuch gracious interpofition 
 VOL. I. Q in
 
 226 DISTINGUISHING CHARACTERS 
 
 in our favour, as that which the Scripture 
 offers. Exaftly as the malady is felt, will' 
 the remedy be valued ; and, confequently, 
 no inftruftion can be more indifpenfable for 
 the royal pupil, than that which tends to 
 imprefs on her mi . 1, that in this refped fiie 
 ftands on a level with the meaneft of her 
 fellow-creatures. That, from the natural 
 corruption of every human heart, whatever 
 amiable qualities an individual may poffefp,. 
 each carries about with him a root of bitter- 
 nefs, which, if not counteracted by the 
 above means, will fpread itfelf through the 
 whole foul, disfigure the character;^ and 
 diforder the life ; that this malignant 
 principle, while predominant, will admit 
 but of a fhadov/y and delufive femblance 
 of virtue, which temptation ever difiipates, 
 and from which the heart never receives 
 folid comfort. Who can enumerate the 
 hourly calamities which the proud, the felf- 
 willed, the voluptuous, are infliding on 
 themfelves ; which rend and lacerate the 
 bofom, while no eye perceives it ? Who 
 
 8 can
 
 OF CHRISTIANITY. 227 
 
 can exprefs the daily difappointments the 
 alternate fever and laffitude of him, whofe 
 heart knows of no reft, but what this dijt- 
 ordered world can afford ? 
 
 Who then is happy ? lie alone, whether 
 prince or fubjed:, who, through the power- 
 ful and falutary influence of revealed reli- 
 gion on his heart, is fo iraprefled with things 
 invifible, as to rife fuperior to the viciffitudes 
 of mortality : who fo believes and feels what 
 is contained in the Bible, as to make God 
 his refuge, his Saviour his truft, and true 
 pra£lical holinefs the chief objedt of his 
 purfuit. To fuch a one his Bible, and his 
 clofet, are a counterpoife to all the trials 
 and the violence to which he may be ex- 
 pofed. " Thou Ihalt bide them privily,'* 
 fays the Pfalmift, " by thine own prefence, 
 from the provoking of all men ; thou flialt 
 keep them fecretly in thy pavilion from the 
 ftrife of tongues." 
 
 Q 3 CHAP.
 
 228 SCRIPTURE EVIDENCES 
 
 ^ CHAP. XVL 
 
 Qn the Scripture E-vidences of Chr'ijlianltj.--' 
 The Chrljllan Religion peculiarly adapted 
 io the Exigencies of Man ; and efpecially 
 calculated to fupply the Defeds of Heathen 
 Philofophy, 
 
 Xf' Chriftlanlty were examined with atten- 
 tion and candour, it would be found to 
 contain irrefiPdble evidence of its divine 
 origin. Thofe who have formed continued 
 trains of argument in its fupport, have, no 
 doubt, often effecled very valuable purpofes ; 
 but it is certain, that conviction may be 
 attained in a much fimpler method. In 
 fa£t^ it would imply a very reafonable 
 charge againfl Chriflianity, if its proofs 
 v/ere of fuch a nature, that none but 
 icholars or philofophers could feel their 
 conclufivenefs. "^ 
 
 A book
 
 OF CHRISTIANITY. 229 
 
 A book exifts in the world, purporting 
 to contain the authentic records, and au- 
 thoritative principles of the one true reli- 
 gion. It is obvioufly the work not of one 
 perfon, or of one age. Its earliefl pages, 
 on the contrary, are^ beyond all fober quef- 
 tion, the moil ancient writings in the 
 world ; while its later parts were confelTedly 
 compofed at a time much within the limits 
 of hiftoric certainty ; a time indeed, with 
 which we are better acquainted than with 
 any other period in the retrofped of ancient 
 hiftory ; and which, like a diflant eminence 
 brightly illuminated by the rays of the fun, 
 is diitin6tly feen, while intermediate_tracls 
 are involved in impenetrable mill. 
 
 Againfl the authority of this mofl in- 
 terefling volume, numberlefs objeftions 
 have been railed. But, who has yet clearly 
 and fatisfadorlly fliewn how its exiftence, 
 in the form it bears, can be rationally ac- 
 counted for, on the fuppofition of its fpu- 
 rioufnefs ? That a feries of records origi- 
 nating^ fo variouflv both as to time, occafion, 
 
 Q 3 and
 
 230 SGRIPTURE EVIDENCES 
 
 and circumflance, fhould involve fome 
 obfcurity or difficulty, or even in fome in- 
 ftances, apparent incongruity, is furely no 
 caufe of wonder : and, that thefe fhould 
 be dwelt upon and exaggerated, by perfons 
 hoftile to the principles which the volume 
 contains, and v/hich its truth would efta- 
 blifh, is mojft natural. But, which of thcfg 
 objectors has ever been able to fubflitute a 
 f)rfi:em lefs liable to-objeclion? Have any 
 of them given a fatisfadory foludon of 
 the unparalleled difnculties which clog 
 their hypothefis ? Which of them has even 
 attempted fully to explain the fimple phas- 
 nomenon of fuch a volume being in the 
 world, on the fuppofition of fabrication or 
 impofture ? 
 
 This book divides itfelf into two great 
 portions, the firll containing the account of 
 a preparatory religion, given to a fmgle 
 nation j the latter defcribing the completion 
 of the fcheme, fo far as to fit this religion 
 for general benefit, and unlimited diffufion. 
 
 Refpecting
 
 OF CHRISTIANITY. 2'll 
 
 Refpecting the lirft great portion, which 
 we call the Old Teflament, the leading 
 features appear peculiarly linking. In. 
 this book alone, during thofe ages, was 
 maintained the firil great truth, of there 
 being only one living and true God ; which, 
 though now fo univerfally acknowledged, 
 was then unconceived by the politefl nations, 
 and moft accompliflied philofophers. -And 
 refpecling both portions of this book, but 
 efpecially the latter, known by the name of 
 the New Teftament, this no lefs interefting 
 remark is to be made, that, in every ellen- 
 tial point, nearly the fame view is taken of 
 man's weaknelTes and wants, of the nature 
 of the human mind, and what is necelTary 
 to its eafe and comfort, as is taken by the 
 wifefl heathen philofophers ; with this mod: 
 Important difference, however, that the 
 chief good of man, that pure perennial men- 
 ial happinefs, about which they fo much 
 difcourfed, after which they fo eagerly 
 panted, but of which they fo confelfedly 
 
 Q 4 failed,
 
 232 SCRIPTURE EVIDENCES 
 
 failed, is here fpoken of fubflantially, in 
 their notion of it, as a bleffing ad:ually 
 fopjjed, and the feeling of it defcribed in 
 fuch language as bears, fo far as it is pof- 
 fible for human expreffions to bear, the flamp 
 of confcious truth and unfophifticated nature. 
 May we be allowed, in this connexion, 
 to give a fuperficial {ketch of the defefts 
 in the fyftem of the ancient philofophers ? 
 The belief in a life to come was confined 
 to a few, and even in them this behef was 
 highly defeftive. Thofe who alTerted it, 
 maintained it only in a fneculative and 
 fceptical way ; and it v/ould not be eafy to 
 produce an inflancc of their ufmg any 
 doclrine of rewards and punifliments in a 
 future ftate, as their inftrument in promoting 
 ■virtue. They decorated their fyilem with 
 beautiful fayings, on the immortality of the 
 foul ; but they did not fupport it upon this 
 bafis. There was, therefore, no foundation 
 to their fabric. Poetry, indeed, had her 
 Elyfium and her Tartarus. It appears, 
 
 howeverg
 
 OF CHRISTIANITY. 233 
 
 however, that the philofophy of Greece and 
 Rome, in proportion as it advanced, dimi- 
 niflied the ftrength of the impreffion which 
 the poets had made on the minds of the 
 vulgar ; and thus the very religion of the. 
 fages tended to leflen among the people the 
 fenfe of a future refponfibility. 
 
 The ancient philofophers had no idea of 
 Vfc'hat we defignate by the name of the grace 
 Old mercy of God. They had fome con- 
 ception of his bounty, of his providential 
 care, of all his natural perfeftions ; and of 
 fome even of his moral excellencies ; for 
 example, of his benevolence and juftice. 
 But their united wifdom never framed a fen- 
 tence like that in which the true God was 
 revealed to Mofes : " The Lord, the Lord 
 God, merciful and gracious, forgiving ini- 
 quity, tranfgreffion, and fm, and that will 
 by no means clear the guilty.'* It is on 
 this part of the character of God, that the 
 Scripture is fo abundantly full. This ig- 
 norance of the mercy of God affociated 
 itfelf in the Heathens, with much other 
 
 religious
 
 234 SCRIPTURE EVIDENCES 
 
 religious and moral biindiiefs. From this 
 ignorance, that God v/as merciful, their 
 only means of perfuading themfelves that 
 they were in his favour, was to alTume that 
 they were upright. And, who can eftimate 
 the moral confequences of an habitual effort 
 to repi^efent to ourfelves aii our own ac- 
 tions, as not having any of the guilt of 
 iin^ and as not impeaching our claims to 
 the juflice of the Almighty ? The lofty fen- 
 timent, that they were themfelves a fpecies 
 of Gods, was fometimes reforted to, at once 
 as a fource of felf-complacency, and as the 
 fuppofed means of virtue. The Stoic af- 
 feded to rife fuperior to the temptations of 
 the body, to foar above all fenfe of guilt, 
 and all dread of pain, by the aid of an ex- 
 travagant, and almoil atheiflical fentiment, 
 which was oppofite to common-fenfe, and 
 fubverfive of all true humility, a quality 
 which is the very bafis of Chriftian virtue. 
 He was his own God : for he affumed to 
 himfelf to be able, by his own flrength, if 
 
 he
 
 OF CHRISTIANITY. 235 
 
 he would but exert it, to triumph over 
 fortune ; in other words, over Providence, 
 over pain, fear, and death itfelf; and to 
 rife, by the fame ftrength, into a participa- 
 tion of the nature of the Eternal. Thus, 
 as an eminent wriLcr has obferved, '• thofe 
 who endeavoured to cure voluptuoufnefs, 
 reforted to pride as the means of virtue/* 
 In the latter ages, indeed, not a few appear 
 to have been at once elated by Stoical pride, 
 and diffolved in Epicurean luxury. 
 
 Their doftrine even of a Providence, 
 connefted as it was with the merelv rnun- 
 dane fyftem, led to much mifconception of 
 the nature of true morality, and to grofs 
 fuperllition. From ignorance of future re- 
 tribution, they imagined that virtue and 
 vice received their exaO; recompence bere. 
 They were religious, therefore, even to 
 fuperftition, in afiuming the exiftence of 
 providential interferences in the cafe of the 
 commiffion of palpable crimes ; and they 
 were tempted to efteem thcfe adiions, how- 
 ever
 
 2^6 SCRIPTURE EVIDENCES 
 
 ever finful, to be no oJ3:ences againft God, 
 which God did not mark by fome temporal 
 puniiliment *. 
 
 Such appear to have been fome of the 
 chief deficiencies of the heathen fyflem ; a 
 fyllem which flrongly points out the want 
 of fuch a hght as that which the Gofpel 
 affords. T he philofophers themfelves feemed 
 confcious of fome great defe£l, and thus the 
 very revelation which Chriftianity has fur- 
 niilied, fupplied all that was neceffary to 
 man, and comes recommended by the ac- 
 knowledged occafion for it. 
 
 How ftriking are the peculiarities, how 
 obvious the fuperiority, which, even on a 
 firft attentive perufal, fill the mind of the 
 ferious reader of the Scripture ! But what 
 infidel writer has fo much as taken its 
 moft obvious fads into fober confidera- 
 tion ? who has attempted to explain how 
 
 * A ftriking inftance of this difpofition to abufe 
 tlie do£lrine of Providence, was exhibited in the fpeech 
 of Nicias to his loldiers, after they were defeated at 
 Syracufe. 
 
 the
 
 OF CHRISTIANITY, 23/ 
 
 the writers of the Old Teflainent fhould 
 diiFer as they have done from all the 
 writers in the world, not only in maintain- 
 ing fo pure a theology, but in connefting 
 with it a national hiflorv, throuo^h which 
 that theology paffes as a chain, binding 
 together and identifying itfelf with their 
 whole fyflem, civil and religious ? This 
 hiftory, involving fupernatural events, may 
 be a reafon why the wilful infidel lliould 
 rejed it without examination. But let him 
 who pretends to candour, attentively con- 
 fider thefe records, and try if he can pro- 
 jecb even an outline of Jewifh hiftory, from 
 which thofe miraculous interpofitions fhall 
 be confiftently excluded. There are fads 
 in this narration which cannot be difputed : 
 the Jews nccefTarily having a hiftory as 
 well as other nations. Let the fober infidel, 
 then, endeavour to make out for them an 
 hypothetic hiftory, in which, leaving out 
 every thing miraculous, all the felf-evident 
 phzcnomena fliall be accounted for with 
 philofophic plaufibihty. If this be pofTible, 
 Q why
 
 238 SCRIPTURE EVIDENCES 
 
 why has it not been attempted ? But if this 
 be really impradicable, I mean, if thefe 
 events do aftually fo make up the body of 
 their national hiftory, that no hillory 
 would be left, if they were to be taken 
 away ; then let • fome farther theory be 
 devifcd, to explain how a hiftory, thus ex- 
 clufivcly ftrange^ fhould fland connected 
 with a theology as exclufively true ? Let 
 the fober deifl: prove, if he can, that it 
 was unworthy of the God of nature to 
 diflinguifh, by fuch extraordinary inter- 
 ferences, that nation, which alone, of all 
 the nations of the earth, acknowledged 
 him ; or let him feparate, if he be able, 
 that national recognition of the true God 
 from their belief of thofe diflinguifhing in- 
 terpofitions. If they alone acknowledged 
 the rightful fovereign of the univerfe, who 
 believed that that fovereign had fignally 
 manifefted himfelf in their behalf, can the 
 deift fhew that the belief of the events 
 was not effential to the acknowledgment 
 of the fuppofed author of them ? Or will 
 
 he
 
 OF CHRISTIANITY, £39 
 
 he affert, that the eflabliihment of fuch a 
 truth amongft that people, who have fmce 
 actually communicated it to fo many other 
 men, perhaps to all, deifts not excepted,, 
 who really do embrace it ; I fay, will he 
 foberly alTert that fuch a purpofe did not 
 jufcly and conuilcntly warrant the very kind 
 of interpofition, v/hich the Jcwifli hillor)- 
 prefents ? 
 
 But let the honeft infidel, if fuch there 
 be, take further into the account the 
 manner in which the maintaiaers of tha 
 one true God have asSled upon that be- 
 lief. Let him examine the principles ol 
 the Jewifn mcrdlijis^ and fee where elfe, 
 in the ancient world, the genuine interells 
 of virtue are fo practically provided for. 
 Let him read the fublime and mofi: cordial 
 effufions of the Old Teflament poefs, and 
 fay, where elfe the Author of Being, and 
 of all good, is fo fully recognized, or fo 
 fuitably adored ? Let him confider the 
 expoflulation of the prophets, and the lelf- 
 criminaling records of the bi/lofian, and 
 
 find
 
 240 SCRIPTURE EVIDENCES 
 
 find for them any fhadow of parallel in 
 the hiftory of mankind. Let the man of 
 ge?iius obferve how the minds of the writers 
 were elevated, on what a ftrong and Heady 
 pinion they feared. Let the man of virtue 
 refle£l how deeply their hearts were en- 
 gaged ; and let the man of /earning com- 
 pare what he reads here with all that has 
 come from Heathen poets, fages, or law- 
 givers ; and then, let it be foberly pro- 
 nounced, whether it is conceivable that all 
 this lliould exift, without fome adequate 
 caufe, and, whether any caufe can be fo 
 rationally afTigned, as that which their ve- 
 nerable lawgiver has himfelf expreffed, in 
 terms the mofl critically appofite, and the 
 mod unaifecledly impreffive ? " Afk now," 
 fays he, "of the days that are paft, which 
 " were before thee, fmce the day that God 
 " created man upon earth ; and afk from 
 *' the one fide of heaven to the other, whe- 
 " ther there hath been any fuch thino- as 
 " this great thing is, or hath been heard 
 " like it ? Did exor people hear the voice 
 
 "of
 
 
 <( 
 
 OF CHRISTIANITY. 24I 
 
 ^' of God, fpeaking out of the midft of 
 " the fire as thou haft heard, and live? 
 *' or has God alTayed to go and take him a 
 *' nation from the midft of another nation, 
 by temptations, by figns, and by won- 
 ders, and by war, and by an out-ftretched 
 arm, and by great terrors, according to 
 " all that the Lord your God did for you, 
 in Egypt, before your eyes ? Unto thee 
 it was fhewn that the Lord He is God ; 
 ** there is none elfe befide him. Know, 
 ** therefore, this day, and confider it in 
 " thine heart, that the Lord He is God ; 
 " in heaven above, and upon the earth be- 
 " neath, there is none elfe." 
 
 If fuch be the inevitable conclufion re- 
 fpedlng the Old Teftament, how much 
 more irrefiftible muft be the impreftion 
 made by the New ! The peculiarity which 
 was adverted to above, ought, even in the 
 eye of a philofophical inquirer, to engage 
 deep attention. I mean, that that to which 
 heathen fages pointed, as the only valuable 
 object of human purfuit, is, in this wonder- 
 voi.. I. R. ful
 
 242 SCRIPTURE EVIDENCES 
 
 ful volume, defcribed as matter o{ pojfef' 
 fion. Here, and here only, amongft all 
 the records of human feelings, is happincfs 
 ferioufly claimed, and confiflently exempli- 
 fied. To the importance of this point, 
 witnefs is borne by every w^ifh which a hu- 
 man being forms, and by every figh which 
 heaves his bofom. But, it is a fadl, per- 
 haps not yet fufficiently adverted to, that 
 at no period do heathen fages feem fo 
 flrongly to have felt the utter inefficiency 
 of all their fchemes for attaining this 
 cbjefl:, as at the period when the light of 
 Chriflianity diffufed itfelf through the earth. 
 Cicero, that brighteil of Roman lumina- 
 ries, had not only put his countrymen in 
 polfeffion of the fubllance of Grecian wif- 
 dom, to which his own rich eloquence gave 
 new force and luftre, but he had added 
 thereto the deep refults of his own obferva- 
 tions, during a life of the mod diverfified 
 experience, in a period the moft eventful. 
 And, to this point, he uniformly brings all 
 his difquifitions, that man can only be 
 
 happy
 
 OF CHRISTIANITY. 243 
 
 v>> 
 
 happy by a co?iqueJi over himfelf ; by fome 
 energetic principle of wifdom and virtue 
 fo eflablifhed in his bofom, as to make 
 him habitually fuperior to every wrong 
 paflion, to every criminal or weak defire, 
 to the attraftions of pleafure, and the 
 fhocks of calamity. But it was not Cicero 
 only, who reded in this conclufion: Horace, 
 the gayeft of the Latin poets, is little lefs 
 explicit in his acknowledgm.ent, that man 
 lliould then only find eafe when he had 
 learnt the art of jlying^ in a moral fenfe^ from 
 himfelf. 
 
 To the fentiment of a great philofopher 
 and poet, let us add that of a no lefs emi- 
 nent hiftorian. Polybius fays, " It feems 
 *' that men, who, in the praftice of craft 
 *' and fubtilty, exceed ail other animals, 
 " may, with good rcafon, be acknowledged 
 " to be no lefs depraved than theyj for 
 " other animals are fubfervient only to the 
 ** appetites of the body, and by them are 
 '* led to do wrong. But men, who have 
 ** alfo fentiment to guide them, are guilty 
 
 R a *' of
 
 244 SCRIPTURE EVIDENCES 
 
 " of ill conduft, not lefs through the abule 
 " of their acquired reafon, than from the 
 " force of their natural delires *." 
 
 Although, therefore, the dodrine of 
 human depravity be, flriclly fpeaking, a 
 tenet peculiar to Revelation, fmce it is the 
 Bible alone which teaches how fm entered 
 into the world, and death, with all its 
 attendant woes and miferies, by fin; though 
 it is there alone that we difcover the ob- 
 fcurity and confufion which there is in the 
 underflanding of the natural man, the 
 crookednefs of his will, and the diforder of 
 his affections j though it is there alone 
 that we are led to the origin, and, blefled 
 be God, to the remedy of this difeafe, in 
 that renewal of our nature, which it is the 
 peculiar office of the holy Spirit to effect ; 
 yet, the wifer and more difcerning among 
 the heathens both felt and acknowledged, 
 in no inconfiderable degree, the thing itfelf. 
 They experienced not a little of the general 
 
 * Hampton's Polybiys, Book 17. p. 393. 
 
 weight
 
 OF CHRISTIANITY. 245 
 
 weight and burthen of the efFeft, though 
 they were flill puzzled and confounded in 
 their inquiry after the caufe. And their 
 continual difappointment here was an ad.- 
 ditional fource of convidion, that the 
 malady, which they painted in the deepeft 
 colourings of language, did exift. They 
 feemed to have a perception, that there 
 was an objed: foniewhere, which might re- 
 medy thefe diforders, aid thefe infirmities, 
 fatisfy thefe defires, and bring all their 
 thoughts and faculties into a due obedience 
 and happy regulation. They had a dawn- 
 ing on their minds, that a capacity for hap- 
 pinefs was not entirely loft, nor the objeft 
 to fill and fatisfy it quite out of reach. In 
 fad, they felt the greatnefs of the human 
 mind, but they felt it as a vaft vacuity, in 
 which, after all, they could find nothing 
 but phantoms of happinefs, and realities of 
 mifery. 
 
 To thefe deep-toned complaints, in which 
 all forts and conditions of men united, 
 Chriftianity comes forward to make the 
 
 R 3 fir ft
 
 £4^ SCRIPTURE EVIDENCES 
 
 firfl propofitions of relief. She recognizes 
 every want and weaknefs precifely as thefe 
 fages reprefented it ; and {lie confidently 
 offers the very rerAedy for which they fo 
 loudly called. Her profefled object is to 
 eftablilh, in the human mind, that collateral 
 principle of virtuous and happy fuperiority 
 to every thing earthly, fenfual, or felfifh, on 
 which philofophy had fo long fixed its 
 anxious, but hopelefs defires, and to which 
 alone it looked for real felicity. 
 
 In this view, then, Chriftianity refls her 
 pretenfions, not merely on hiflorical evi- 
 dences, however fatisfactory, nor on the fide- 
 lity of fuccefTive tranfcribers, however capa- 
 ble of proof J butj on a much more internal^ 
 and even more conclufive title, its exqui- 
 fite correfpondence to the exigences of hu^ 
 man nature, as illuflrated by the wifefl of 
 all ages and nations, and as felt by every 
 reflecting child of mortality. 
 
 Let, then, the deepeft fentiments of hea- 
 then philofophers and poets, refpeding 
 human nature, be difpalTionately compared 
 
 with
 
 OF CHRISTIANITY. 247 
 
 with thofe expreffions of -our bleffed Sa- 
 viour, in which he particularly defcribes the 
 benefits to be enjoyed by his faithful fol- 
 lowers ; and let it be judged, whether there 
 is not fuch a correfpondence between what 
 they want, and what be profcjfes to bejlow, 
 as occurs in no other inflance in the intel- 
 lectual world. — Reji for their fouls, is what 
 they anxioufly fought : and, a burning 
 fever of the mind, in which corroding care, 
 infatiable defire, perpetual difappointment, 
 unite in torturing, is the malady of which 
 they uniformly complain. Is it not then 
 wonderful to hear our Saviour fo admirably 
 adapt his language to their very feelings ? 
 Come unto me,** fays he, " all ye that 
 labour, and are heavy laden, and I will 
 give you reJl. — Take my yoke upon you, 
 and learn of me, and ye fhall find rejl 
 to your fouls.** — " He that drinketh of 
 *' this water, fhall thirfl again,** intimating 
 by this very exprefTion, the infufHciency 
 of every thing earthly to fatisfy the mind, 
 << but he that drinketh of the water that I 
 
 R 4 " iliaU 
 
 ((
 
 
 248 SCRIPTURE EVIDENCES 
 
 *' fhall give him, fhall never third ; but 
 '* the water that I fhall give, fliall be in him 
 
 a well of water fpringing up into everlafl- 
 
 ing life." 
 
 Whoever is acquainted with the lan- 
 guage of the ancient philofophers muil fee, 
 that in thefe exprellions our Saviour meets 
 their wifhes ; we do not mean to fay, that 
 they had or could have any right appre- 
 henfions of that preliminary abafement 
 which the Scripture calls repentance, and 
 which was to put them in poiTefFion of the 
 reft and peace for which they fought, and 
 which Chrift does adually beftow. We 
 do not mean to fay, that the pride of un- 
 alTifled nature could allov; them to fee 
 that they v/ere indeed objecls of pure 
 mercy on the part of God ; and that their 
 knowledge of themfelves, or of him, could 
 be fuch as to bring the real fpirit of their 
 wilhes to any adual coincidence with the 
 wonderful means, which God^ in his good- 
 nefs, had devifed to fatisfy ihem. Though 
 they did occafionally exprefs a feiifc of an 
 
 evil
 
 OF CHRISTIAyiTY. 249 
 
 evil nature, and a wifh for relief from it, 
 yet who but the author of our religion 
 ever met thofe wifhes ? In what other in- 
 flance has a moral phyfician thus pledged 
 himfelf to relieve agonized human nature ? 
 If there be no fuch inflance, the conclufion 
 is inevitable : that Chriftianity, from the 
 deep importance, as well as the unrivalled 
 Angularity of its overtures, juftly claims 
 our mod ferious inquiry, whether what has 
 been thus promifed has been actually ac- 
 compHflied. 
 
 Chriftianity has amply provided for this 
 natural demand ; for it has been ordered, 
 that while the New Teftament contains 
 every principle neceflary for the attainment 
 of human happincfs, it fhould alfo give us 
 a perfed fpecimen of its own efficacy. 
 This we accordingly have in the fully deli- 
 neated character of the Apoftle St. Paul. 
 There is, perhaps, no human perfon in all 
 antiquity, of whofe inmoft feelings, as well 
 as outward demeanor, w^e are fo well 
 enabled to judge, as of this great Chriftian 
 
 teacher.
 
 -350 SCRIPTURE EVIDENCES 
 
 teacher. The particulars refpeding him in 
 the Acls of the Apoftles, compared with, 
 and illuflrated by, his own invaluable 
 Epiflles, make up a full-length portrait' o|^ 
 him, in which no lineament is wanting. 
 And, the wifdom of God, in this fmgle ar- 
 rangement;, has furniflied a body of evidence 
 in fupport, both of the truth and the efficacy 
 of our holy religion, which, when attentively 
 examined, will ever fatisfy the fmcere, and 
 filence the caviller. 
 
 The numberlefs minute and unobvious 
 coincidences between the narrative and the 
 Epiflles, have been fo illuftrated in a late 
 invaluable work *, as to make the authenti- 
 city of both matter of abfolute demonftra- 
 t'lon ; and, from fuch an inftance of Chriflian 
 influence, thus authenticated, the pretenfions 
 of Chrillianity itfelf may be brought to a 
 fummary and unequivocal tefl. 
 
 Was St. Paul, then, or was he not, an 
 exemplification of that nobly-imagined wife 
 
 * Paley's Horse Paulinie. 
 
 man»
 
 OF CHRISTIANITY. £51 
 
 man, which the heathen philofophers had 
 pifturcd to themfelves, as the height of 
 human felicity ? Does he appear to have 
 found that reft, for which fages panted, 
 and which his divine Mafter purpofed to 
 beflow ? Did he poffefs that virtuous and 
 happy fuperiority to every thing earthly, 
 fenfual, and felfilh, which was acknowledged 
 to conftitute the very elTence of true philo- 
 fophy ? Let him that underftands human 
 nature read, and anfwer for himfelf.— -Let 
 him collect all that has been fpc^cen on this 
 fubje6t by Socrates or Plato, by Cicero or 
 Seneca, by Epi^letus or Marcus Antoninus, 
 and judge coolly, whether St. Paul does not 
 fabftantialiy exemplify, and, I may add, in- 
 fmitely out-do it all ? 
 
 Horace has celebrated the fortitude of 
 Regulus, in one of his mcft animated odes j 
 but it may mod foberly be alked, what was 
 tlio fortitude of this Pagan hero, when 
 compared with that which was unconfci- 
 oufly difplaycd by St. Paul in his way to 
 Jerufalem ? Regulus, we are told, would 
 
 not
 
 252 SCRIPTURE EVIDENCES 
 
 not turn his eyes toward his wife or his 
 children. In his heroifm, therefore, he 
 fmks his humanity. Not fo our Apoflle ; 
 while he fears nothing for himfelf, he feels 
 every thing for thofe around him. *' What 
 " mean ye thus to weep, and to break my 
 " heart," fays he, " for I am ready, not 
 *' to be bound only, but to die at Jerufa- 
 *' lem, for the name of the Lord Jefus." 
 If this be not perfed magnanimity, where 
 was it ever exhibited ? 
 
 I will add but two Inflances. — One ex- 
 preffing the feelings which were habitual 
 to himfelf; the other defcribing that per- 
 fection of goodnefs, which he wifhed to 
 be purfued by others : and let the 
 learned infidel find, if he can;^ a parallel 
 for either. In fpeaking of himfelf, after 
 acknowledging an ad of friendfhip in thofe 
 to whom he writes, he fays, " Not as though 
 " I fpeak in refped of want, for I have 
 " learned in whatfoever flate I am, there- 
 '^ with to be content. I know both how 
 "to be abafed, and I know how to 
 
 " abound.
 
 OF CMRISTIANITV. ^^^ 
 
 "• abound. I am inftrucled both to be 
 " full and to be hungry, both to abound 
 " and to fuffer need. I can do all thino-s 
 *' through Chrift which flrengtheneth me." 
 What a teftimonial this to the faithful- 
 nefs of the offer of our Saviour, to which 
 we have already referred ! How ccnfum- 
 matelv does it evince, that when he en- 
 gaged to fulfil that deepeft of human de- 
 fires, the thirft of happinefs, he promifed 
 no more than he was infinitely able to 
 perform ! The ApoHle's exhortation to 
 others, is no lefs worthy of attention. — 
 " Pinally, brethren, whatfoever things are 
 " true, whatfoever things are honeft, what- 
 foever things are juft, whatfoever things 
 are pure, whatfoever things are lovely, 
 whatfoever things are of good report — 
 " If there be any virtue, if there be any 
 " praife, think on thefe things." In v^hat 
 human words did genuine moral feeling 
 ever more completely embody itfelf ? Are 
 they not, as it were, the very foul and body 
 of true philofophy ? But what philofopher, 
 
 before 

 
 254 SCRIPTURE EVIDENCES 
 
 before him, after fuch a leffon to his 
 pupils, could have dared to add the words 
 which immediately follow ? — " The things 
 " which ye have both learned and received, 
 *' and heard and feen in me, do, and the 
 " God of peace fhall be with you." 
 
 This is a moll imperfed portion of that 
 body of internal evidence, which even the 
 moft general view of Chriflianity prelTes 
 on the attentive and candid mind : and 
 ■with even this before us, may it not be 
 boldly afked, what eife hke this has come 
 within human knowledge ? On thefe cha- 
 ra£ters of the gofpel then, let the infidei 
 fairly try his ftrength. Let him difprove, 
 if he can, the correfpondence between the 
 wifhes of philofophy, and the achievements 
 of Chriflianit*; or deftroy the identity of 
 that common view of man's chief good, and 
 pai'amount happinefs. Let him account, if 
 he can, for thefe unexampled congruities, 
 on any other ground than that of the truth 
 of Chriftianity ; or let him even plaufibly 
 dude the matter-of-facl evidence to this 
 
 truth.
 
 
 OF CHRISTIANITY. 2^^ 
 
 truth, which arlfes from St. Paul's cha- 
 ra»5len In the mean time, let the pious 
 Chriftian enjoy his fober triumph, in that 
 fyftem, which not in St. Paul only, but in all 
 its true votaries, in every age and nation, i£ 
 has produced — " a hope full of immorta- 
 lity," — " a peace which pafleth all under- 
 ftanding," — " a wifdom pure and peace- 
 able, gentle and eafy to be entreated, full 
 " of mercy and of good fruits, without 
 " partiality, and without hypocrify." 
 
 If any difficulty, attendiiig particular 
 doftrines of ChrifHanity, fliould prelent 
 itfelf ; it will be well firfl: to inquire, whe- 
 ther the doctrine in queflion be re^illy 
 Chriftian ? and this can only be determined 
 by a difpafllonate and impartial recurrence 
 to the Scriptures themfclves, particular! v 
 the New Teftament. Whatever is clearly 
 afferted there, follows inevitably from ilie 
 fftabhlhed divinity of that which contains 
 it. And in vvhat conceivable cafe can, 
 not only humility, but rational confiilency, 
 be more wifely cxerciled, than in receiv- 
 
 I o mg^
 
 256 SCRIPTURE EVIDENCES 
 
 ing, without queflion, the obvious parts^ 
 and then no doubt can be entertained 
 refpefting the whole. Happy had it been 
 for the Chriflian world, had this felf- 
 evident maxim been practically attended 
 to ; for then what difpute could polTibly 
 have ariien about — " that Word which 
 " was made flefh, and dwelt among us, 
 " being alfo God over all, blelTed for 
 " evermore ?" Or whether the Father, 
 the Son, and the Holy Ghoft, in whofe 
 name we are baptized, muft not be alike 
 effentially divine ? Or whether there <:an 
 be any mifconception in what the redeemed 
 in heaven make the fubjeO: of their eternal 
 fong : " that the Lamb, which was fiain, 
 *' had redeemed them to God by his blood, 
 " out of every kindred, and tongue, and 
 *' people, and nation ?" 
 
 That plain and fnnple readers think they 
 find each of tliefe doctrines clearly fet 
 forth In the facred volume, is a matter of 
 fact, authenticated by abundant evidence ; 
 and that, where thsy have been difputed, 
 3 thofe
 
 ,OF CHR,ISTIANiJV» ^57 
 
 Ahofe who have agreed in holding them, 
 Jhave evidently derived a deeper influence 
 from Chriflianitv, both as to the condudl of 
 their lives, and the comfort of their minds, 
 than thqfe who have rejeded them,---if it 
 could not be fubflantiated by innumerable 
 proofs, would be almoft felf-evident, on a 
 merely theoretic vie^y of the.two cafes. For 
 who ever derived either pradical flrength, 
 or mental comfort, from indulging a habi^ 
 of metaphyfical difquifition ,? And who but 
 •fuch have, in any age of the ^church, 
 .queftioned the dodlrines qf our Saviour's 
 .divinity, the three-fold 4iftindion in the 
 divine nature^, or the expiatory efficacy of 
 ,Ghrifl;*s one oblation of him f elf ^ 07ice offered fcr 
 the fins of the ivhole u^orld ? 
 
 The Scriptures are.fo explicit oji the Ufl- 
 mentioned great doftrine of our rejigion^ 
 jthat we are not left to infer its truth an^ 
 certainty, as we might almoft do from the 
 obvious exigences of human nature. Tha^ 
 guilt is one of the deepeft: of the natura^l 
 .fteiings, will not be difputed j ajad, that 
 
 VOL. I. 3 ' ' the
 
 258 SCRIPTURE EVIDENCES 
 
 the fenfe of guilt has been, in every age 
 and nation a fource of the deepeft horrors, 
 and has fuggefled even ftill more horrible 
 methods of appeafmg the perturbed mind, 
 can be queflioned by none, who is ac- 
 quainted, however flightly, with the hiftory 
 of the world. Atheifts in Pagan countries 
 have made this very fa£l the great apology 
 for their impiety, charging upon religion 
 itfelf the difmal fuperftitions, which ap- 
 peared to them to arife from it. And 
 Plutarch, one of the moft enlightened of 
 heathen moralifts, concludes that even 
 Atheifm itfelf is preferable to thai fuperfli- 
 tious dread of the gods, which he faw 
 impelling fo many wretched victims to 
 daily and hourly felf-torture. The fa6t is, 
 no mifery incident to man involves either 
 greater depth, or complication, than that 
 of a guilty confcience. — -And a fyftem of 
 religion, which would have left this unpro- 
 vided for, we may venture to pronounce, 
 would have been utterly unfuitable to man, 
 
 , and,
 
 OF CHRISTIANITY. 2^g 
 
 and, therefore, utterly unworthy of the wif- 
 dom and goodnefs of God. 
 
 How appofitely then to this awful feel- 
 ing, does the dodrine of the atonement 
 come into the Chriflian fyftem ! How 
 aftonifhingly has even its general belief 
 chafed from the Chriflian world thofe fu« 
 perftitious phantoms with which Paganifm 
 ever -has been, and even at this day is, 
 haunted ! But above all, what relief has it 
 afforded to the humble penitent ! " This,^* 
 faid the pious Melandhon, " can only be 
 " underftood in conflids of confcience.'* It 
 is moft true. Let thofe, therefore, who 
 have never felt fuch conflicts, beware how 
 they defpife what they may yet be impelled 
 to refort to, as the only certain flay and 
 prop of their finking fpirits. '* It is a fearful 
 " thing," fays an infpu-ed writer, " to fall 
 •' mto the hands of the living God." 
 Againfl this fear, to what refource could 
 we trufl, but that which the mercy of God 
 has no lefs clearly revealed to us ? *' Seeing, 
 
 s 2 ** then
 
 26o SCRIPTURE EVIDENCES^ &C. 
 
 <!* then, that we have a great high prieil 
 " that is paffed for us into the heavens, 
 " Jiefus tiie fon of God, let us hold fad our 
 ** profeflion ; for we have not a high prieft 
 ^' who cannot be touched with the feeling 
 *' of our infirmities, but was in all points 
 *' tempted like as v/e are, yet without fm. 
 "Let us, therefore, come boldly to the 
 *^ throne of grace, that we may obtain 
 ** mercy, and find grace to help us in time 
 « of need." 
 
 CHAP.
 
 ON -FLATTERY.- a6l 
 
 CHAP. XVH. 
 
 ''fbe Ufe of Hijiory in teaching the Choice x)f 
 Favourites. — Flattery. — Our Tajie im- 
 proved in the Arts of Adulation. — The 
 Dangers of Flattery exemplified. 
 
 t . 
 
 JLT Is not from the hiflory of good princes 
 
 alone, that fignal inftrucllonmay be reaped. 
 
 The lives of the criminal and unfortunate, 
 
 commonly unfortunate becaufe criminal, 
 
 will not be read in vain* They are in- 
 
 fiirudlive, not only by detailing the perfonal 
 
 calamities with which the mifcondud was 
 
 followed 5 but by exliibiting that mifcondud 
 
 as the fource of the alienation of the hearts 
 
 of their fubjefts ; and .often as the remote, 
 
 fvmetimes as the immediate, caufe of civil 
 
 commotions and of ]^volutions. 
 
 But caution is to be learned not from 
 
 their vices only, but from their weaknelTes 
 
 and errors ; from their falfe judgements, 
 
 s 3 their
 
 iSl ON FLATTERY. 
 
 their ignorance of human nature, theii* 
 narrow views arifnig from a bad education, 
 their judging from partial information, de- 
 ciding from infufed prejudices, and ading 
 6n party principles ; their being habitu- 
 ated to confider petty unconneded details, 
 inflead of taking in the great aggregate of 
 public concerns ; their imprudent choice of 
 minillers, their unhappy fpirit of favouritifm, 
 their preference of felfifli flatterers to difm- 
 terefled counfellors, and making the^aflb- 
 ciates of their pleafures the difpenfers of 
 juftice and the minifters of public affairs *. 
 
 'Tls by that clofe acquaintance with the 
 characters of men which hiflory fupplies, 
 that a prince muft learn how to avoid a 
 jealous Sejanus, a vicious Tigellinus, a cor- 
 rupt Spenfer and Gavaflon, a rapacious 
 Epfom and Dudley, a pernicious D*Ancre, 
 an ambitious Wolfey, a profligate Bucking- 
 
 * The Romans feem to have had juft ideas of the 
 (dgnity of charafter and office attached to the friend 
 of a 'prince by denominating him, not favourite, but 
 ^rt'tceps cur ar Urn, 
 
 ham J
 
 ON FLATTERY. 263 
 
 ham ; we allude at once to the minifter of 
 the firfl: James, and to the flill more profli- 
 gate Buckingham of the fecond Charles j a 
 tyrannical Richelieu, a crafty Mazarin, a 
 profufe Louvois, an intriguing Urfini, an 
 inefficient Chamillard, an imperious duchefs 
 of Marlborough, and a fupple Mafham. 
 
 Jiiftory prefents frequent inflances of an 
 inconfiflency not uncommon in human na-^ 
 ture, — ^fovereigns the mod: arbitrary to their 
 fubjects, themfelves the tools of favourites. 
 He who treated his people with difdain, ancj 
 his parliaments with contempt, was, in turn, 
 the flave of Arran, of Car, and of Villiers. 
 His grandfon who boldly intrenched on the 
 liberties of his country, was himfelf govern*- 
 ed by the Cabal. 
 
 It may found paradoxical to afTert, 
 that in a period of fociety, when chara6lers 
 are lefs ftrongly marked, a fovereign is, in 
 fome refpeds, in more danger of chufmg 
 wrong. In our days, and under our con- 
 ftitution indeed, it is fcarcely poflible to err 
 fo widely, as to fele£l:, for miniflers, men 
 
 s 4
 
 i^4 <^^ flatterV. 
 
 of fuch atrocious characters, as thofe whd 
 Tiave juft been held up to deteflation. The 
 Very improvement of fociety, therefore, has 
 can fed the qtieftJon to become one of a 
 muGh nicer kind. It is no longef a choice 
 between men^ whofe outward characters 
 €2chibit a monilrous difproportion to each 
 6ther. A bold oppreffor of jthe people, 
 the people would not endare. A violent 
 infringer on the conflitution, the parliament 
 \vould not tolerate. Biit flill out of that 
 clafs, from which the election muft be 
 . jnade, the moral difpofitions, the political 
 tendenciepj and the religious principles of 
 men fnay differ fo f^iaterially^ that the choice 
 Tnay ferioufly affeft, ^t once, the credit and 
 happinefs of the prince, and the welfare 
 of the country. The conduct of good and 
 bad men will always furnifh'no inconiider» 
 hble means of diftinction ; yet, at a time when 
 grofs and palpable enormities are lefs likely 
 to be obtruded, becaufe they are iefs likely 
 1o be endured, it is the more neceflary for 
 a prince to be able accurately to difcrimj- 
 
 nate
 
 ON" flattery; . ^6^ 
 
 kite the ihades of the charaders of public 
 men. 
 
 While, therefore, every tendency to art 
 or difTimulation fliould be reprobated, the 
 mod exact caution fhou4d be inculcated, 
 and the keencft difcemment cultivated, in 
 the royal education. All that can improve 
 the judgment, fharpen the penetration, or 
 give enlarged views of the hum^an mind> 
 fliould be put in exercife. A prince ihould 
 poffefs that fort of fight, which, while it 
 takes in remote views, accurately diftin- 
 guifhes near objefts. To the eye of the 
 lynx, which no minutenefs can elude, (hould 
 be added that of the eagle, which no bright- 
 nefs can blind, for whatever dazzles dark- 
 ens. He fhould acquire that jullnefs, as 
 tvell as extent of tnind, which fhould enable 
 him to ftudy the character of his enemies, 
 and decide upon that of His friends ; to pe- 
 netrate keenly, but not invidioufly, into the 
 Iflefigns of others, and vigilantly to fcruti'- 
 pize his own. His mind fliould be ftored. 
 
 nol
 
 266 ON FLATTERY. 
 
 not with fhifts and expedients, but with 
 large and liberal plans ; not with flratagems, 
 but refources j not with fubterfuges, but 
 principles ; not with prejudices, but reafons. 
 He fhould treafure up found maxims to 
 teach him to aft confidently 5 be provided 
 with fteady meafures fuited to the probable 
 occafion, together with a promptitude of 
 mind, prepared to vary them fo as to meet 
 any contingency. 
 
 In no inftance will thofe who have the 
 care of forming the royal pupil find a furer 
 exercife of their wifdom and integrity, than 
 in their endeavours to guard the mind from 
 the deadly polfon of flattery. " Many 
 " kings,'' fays the witty South, *' have been 
 " deftroyed by poifon, but none has been 
 *' fo efficacioufly mortal as that drunk in 
 " by the ear." 
 
 Intelleftual tafte, it is true, is much re- 
 lined, fmce the Grecian fophift tried to cure 
 the melancholy of Alexander by telling 
 him, that, " Juftice was painted, as feated 
 *' near the throne of Jupiter^, to indicate 
 
 " that
 
 ON FLATTERY. 26y 
 
 *' that right and wrong depended on the 
 *' will of kings ; all whofe adions ought to 
 " be accounted juft, both by themfelves 
 *' and others.** 
 
 Compliments are not now abfurd and 
 extravagant, as when the moft elegant of 
 Roman poets invited his imperial mafter 
 to pick out his own lodging among the 
 conftellations : nor, as when the bard of 
 Pharfalia offered to the Emperor his choice, 
 either of the fceptre of Jupiter, or the cha- 
 riot of Apollo ; modeftly affuring him, that 
 there was not a God in the pantheon, who 
 would not yield his empire to him, and 
 account it an honour to refign in his favour* 
 This meritorious prince, fo worthy to dif- 
 place the Gods, was Nero ! who rewarded 
 Lucan, not for his adulation, but for being 
 a better poet than himfelf, with a violent 
 death. 
 
 The fmooth and obfequious Pliny im- 
 proved on all anterior adulation. Not 
 content with making his Emperor the imi- 
 tator, or the equal of Deity, he makes him 
 
 a pattern
 
 ■. ( 
 
 ft68 ON FLATTERY. 
 
 a patter^ for it ; protefting that " meii 
 *' needed to make no other prayers to the* 
 
 gods, than that they would continue to be 
 
 as good and propitious lords to them as 
 
 Trajan had been.'* 
 
 But the refined fycophant of modern 
 days is more likely to hide the aftual 
 blemiihes, an,d .to veil the real faults of a 
 prince from himfelf, than to attribute to 
 him incredible virtues, the afcription of 
 which would be too grofs to impofe on his 
 difcernment. There will be more danger 
 of a modern courtier imitating the delicacy 
 of the ancient painter, who, being ordered 
 to draw the portrait of a prince who had 
 •but one eye adopted the conciliating ex- 
 pedient of painting him in profile. 
 
 But if the modern flatterer be lefs grofs, 
 lie will be, on that very account, the more 
 dangerous. The refinement of his adula- 
 tion prevents the object of it from putting 
 himfelf on his guard. The prince is led, 
 perhaps, to conceive with felf-ccmplacency 
 ihat he is hearing the largurge of truth, 
 
 while
 
 ON FLATTERY. 269 
 
 while he is only the dupe of a more ac- 
 compiifhed flatterer. He Hiould efpecially 
 beware of miftaking freedom of manner, 
 for franknefs of fendment ; and of con- 
 founding the artful familiarities of a defign- 
 ing favourite, with the honefl fimpliGity of 
 a difmterefted friend. 
 
 Where, in our more corred: day, is the 
 courtier who would dare to add profane- 
 nefs to flattery fo far, as to declare, as 
 was done by the greateft philofopher this 
 country ever produced, in his letter to 
 prince Charles, that, " as the father had 
 been his creator, fo he hoped the Son 
 would be his redeemer ? *" But what a 
 noble contrafl: to this bafe and blafphemous 
 fervility in the Chancellor of James, does 
 the conduct of the Chancellor of his grand- 
 fon exhibit ! The unbending rectitude of 
 Clarendon not only difdained to flatter, 
 in his private intercourfe, a mafter to whom 
 however his pen is always too partial, but 
 
 * See Howell's ,L^tters. 
 
 It
 
 2/3 ON FLATTERY. 
 
 it led him boldly and honeftly to remon- 
 ftrate againfl his flagitious condud. A {land- 
 ing example for all times, to the fervants 
 and compamons of kings, he refoiutely 
 reproved his mafter to his face, while he 
 thought it his duty to defend him, fome- 
 what too ftrongly, indeed, to others. He 
 boldly befought the King, " not to believe 
 *' that he had a prerogative to declare vice 
 *' to be virtue.*' And in one of the 
 nobleft fpeeches on record, in anfwer to a 
 difhonourable requeft of the King, that he 
 would vilit fome of His Majefly's infamous 
 alTociates ; he laid before him with a lofty 
 fmcerity, " the turpitude of a man in his 
 '' dignified office, being obliged to counte- 
 ** nance perfons fcandalous for their vices, 
 " for which by the laws of God and man, 
 *' they ought to be odious and expofed to 
 " the judgment of the church and flate,'*— 
 In this inllance fuperior to his great rival 
 Sully, that no defire of pleafmg the King, 
 no confideration of expcd'micy, could induce 
 
 4 him
 
 ON FLATTERY. 2^1 
 
 him to vlfit the royal miftrefles, or to coun- 
 tenance the Hcentious favourites. 
 
 Princes Lave generally been greedy of 
 praife in a pretty exaft proportion to the 
 pains which they have taken not to deferve 
 it. Henry the Vlllth was a patron of 
 learned men, and might himfelf be ac- 
 counted learned. But his favourite fludies, 
 inftead of preferving him from the love of 
 flattery, ferved to lay him open to it. 
 Scholaftic divinity, the faihionabie learning 
 of the times, as Burnet obferves, fuited his 
 vain and contentious temper, and as eccle- 
 fiaftics were to be his critics, his purfuits of 
 polemical theology brought him in the 
 largell revenue of praife ; fo that there 
 feemed to be a contefl between him and 
 them, whether they could offer, or he could 
 fwallovv, the moll copious draughts of flat- 
 tery. 
 
 But the reign of James the Firfl was the 
 great epocha of adulation in England ; and 
 a prince who had not one of the qualities of 
 
 a war-
 
 11J1 ON FLATTERY. 
 
 a warlike, and fcarccly one of the virtues 
 of a pacific King, received from clergy 
 and laity, from flatefmen, philofophers, 
 and men of letters,^ praifes not only utterly 
 repugnant to truth and virtue, but directly 
 contrary to that franknefs of manners, and 
 magnanimity of fpirit, which had formerly 
 charaderized Engliflimen. This afcrip- 
 tion of all rights, and all talents, and 
 all virtues, to a prince, bold through fear, 
 and prefumptuous becaufe he wifiied to 
 conceal his own pufiUanimity, rebounded, 
 as was but juft, on the flatterers ; who, ia 
 return for their adulation, were treated by 
 him with a contempt, which not the boldeil 
 of his predeceffors bad ever ventured to 
 manifefl. His enquiry of his company at 
 dinner, whe!ther he might not take his fub- 
 jeds' money when he needed it, without the 
 formality of parliament, indicates, that one 
 Objed was always uppermoft in, his mind * ; 
 
 « The requifition was allowed in a phraie as.dif- 
 guftingly fervile, by Bifiiop Neile ; as it was plea» 
 fantly evaded by Andrews. 
 
 his
 
 ON FLATTSRY, 275 
 
 his familiar intercourfe was employed in 
 diving into the private opinions of men, 
 to difcover to what length his oppreffive 
 fchemes might be carried ; and his public 
 conduct occupied in putting thofe fchemes 
 into practice. 
 
 But the royal perfon whom we prefame 
 to advife, may, from the very circumftance 
 of her fex, have more- complicated dangers 
 to refill ; againft which her mind Ihould 
 be early fortified. The dangers of adula- 
 tion are doubled, when the female character 
 is combined with the royal. Even the 
 vigorous mind of the great Elizabeth did 
 not guard her againft the powerful aifaults 
 of the flattery paid to her perfon. That 
 mafculine fpirit was as much the Have of 
 the moft egregious vanity, as the weakeft of 
 her fex could have been. All her admirable 
 prudence and profound policy, could not 
 preferve her from the childifh and filiy 
 levity with which fhe greedily invited the 
 compliments of the artful minifter of her 
 more beautiful rival. Even that grofs in- 
 YOi.. I. T llance
 
 ^74 ^^ FLATTERY. 
 
 "ftance of Melvil's extravagance enchanted 
 her, when, as fhe was playing on Mary's 
 favourite inflrument, for the purpofe of 
 being over-heard by him, the diffembling 
 courtier affected to be fo ravifhed by herfkill, 
 as to burft into her apartment, hke an en- 
 raptured man, who had forgotten his reve- 
 rence in his admiration. It was a curious 
 combat in the great mind of Elizabeth, be- 
 tween the offended pride of the queen, and 
 the gratified vanity of the woman ; but 
 Melvil knew his trade in knowing human 
 nature ; — he calculated juftly. The woman 
 conquered. 
 
 Princes have in all ages complained that 
 they have been ill ferved. But, is it not 
 becaufe they have not always carefully fe- 
 iefted their fervants ? Is it not becaufe they 
 have too often bellowed confidence on the 
 nnwife, and employments on the unworthy ? 
 Becaufe, while they have loaded the unde- 
 ferving with benefits, they have neglected to 
 reward thofe who have ferved them well, 
 and to fupport thofe who have ferved them 
 
 long ?
 
 ON FLATTERY. 275 
 
 long ? Is it not becaufe they have fometimes 
 a way of expecting every thing, while they 
 feem to exadt nothing ? And have not too 
 many been apt to confider that the honour 
 of ferving them is itfelf a fufficient reward ? 
 By a clofe ftudy of the w^akneffes and 
 pafTions of a fovereign, crafty and defign. 
 ing favourites have ever been on the watch 
 to eftablifh their own dominion, by fuch 
 appropriate means, as feem befl: accom- 
 modated to the turn of thofe weaknefTes 
 and paffions. If Leonore Concini, and the 
 duchefs of Marlborough, obtained the 
 moft complete afcendency over their refpec- 
 tive queens, both probably by artful flattery 
 at h/ft, they afterwards fecured and pre- 
 ferved it by a tyranny the moft abfolute. 
 In connexions of this nature, it is ufually 
 on the fide of the fovereim, that the ca- 
 price and the haughtinefs are expefted ; but 
 the domineering favourite of Anne exclu- 
 fively aiTumed to herfelf all thefe preroga- 
 tives of defpotic power, and exercifed them 
 without mercy, on the intimidated and 
 
 T 3 fub'
 
 276 ON PLATTEkY. 
 
 fubmiflive queen ; a queen, who, with 
 many virtues, not having had the difcern- 
 ment to find out, that the oppofite extreme 
 to what is wrong, is commonly wrong alfb, 
 in order to extricate herfelf from her cap- 
 tivity to one favourite, fell into the fnares 
 fpread for her by the fervility of another. 
 Thus, whether the imperious duchefs, or 
 the obfequious Mafham, were lady of the 
 afcendant, the fovereign was equally in- 
 fatuated, equally mifled. 
 
 That attachments formed without judg- 
 •ment, and purfued without moderation, are 
 .likely to be diffolved without reafon ; and 
 -that breaches the mofl trivial in themfelves 
 may be important in their confequences, 
 were never more fully exemplified than 
 In the trifling caufe which, by putting an end 
 to the intercourfe between the above named 
 queen and duchefs, produced events the 
 mofl unforefeen and extraordinary. While 
 the duke was fighting her majefty's battles 
 abroad, and his duchefs fupporting his 
 interefl againft a powerful party at court ; 
 
 a pair
 
 ON FLATTERY, fj^ 
 
 a pair of gloves of a new invention, fent 
 iirft by the milliner to the favourite (im- 
 patient to have them, before the queen, 
 .who had ordered a fmiilar pair), fo incenfed 
 her majefty, as to be the immediate caufe, 
 by driving the duchefs from her poft, of 
 .depriving the duke of his command, com- 
 pelling the confederates to agree to a peace, 
 preferving Louis from the deftrudion which 
 awaited him, making a total revolution in 
 parties at home, and determining the fate 
 pf Europe*. - 
 
 To a monarch more eager to acquire 
 fame than to deferve it, to penfion a poet 
 will be a fliorter cut to renown than to 
 difpenfe bleffings to his country. Louis XIL 
 inftead of buying immortality of a fervile 
 bard, earned and enjoyed the appellation 
 oi father of bis people : that people whom 
 his brilliant fuccelfor, Louis the Great, 
 drained and plundered, or in the emphatic 
 language of the prophet, peeled and fcatiered 
 
 ■" Examen du Prince* 
 
 T 3 to
 
 97^ ON FLATTERY, 
 
 to provide money for hfs wars, his miftrefleSj 
 liis buildmgs, and his fpe(5i:acles. Pofterity, 
 however, has done juftice to both kings, 
 and le bien aime is remembered with afFec- 
 Jlionate veneration, while le grand is regarded 
 as the fabricator of the ruin of his race. 
 
 How totally mufl adulation have blunted 
 the delicacy of the latter prince, when he 
 could fhut himfelf up with his two royal 
 hilloriographers, Boileau and Racine, to 
 hear them read portions of his own hiftory, 
 Befervedly high as was the reputation of 
 thefe two fine geniufes, in the walks of 
 poetry, was that hiflory likely to convey 
 much truth or inllrudtion to pofterity, 
 which, after being compofed by two pen- 
 sioned poets, was read by them to the 
 monarch, who was to be the hero of the 
 tale ? Sovereigns, indeed, may eled poets 
 to record their exploits, but fubjeds will 
 read hiftorians. 
 
 The conqueft of every town and village 
 was celebrated by Boileau in hyperbolic 
 ibng 5 and the whole pantheon ranfacked 
 
 lo ^-
 
 ON FLATTERY, 279 
 
 for deities, who might furnifh . fome faint 
 idea of the glories of the immortal Louis. 
 The time, however, foon arrived, when the 
 author of the adulatory ode on the taking 
 of Namur, in v/hich the king and the gods 
 were again identified, was as completely over- 
 turned by the incomparable travefly of our 
 witty Prior, as the conqueror of Namur 
 himfelf was, by its glorious deliverer- 
 Little Will, the fcourge of France, 
 No godhead, but the firll of men *. 
 
 A prince (liould be accuftomed to fee 
 and know things as they really are, and 
 fhould be taught to dread that ftate of de- 
 lufion, in which the monaixh is the only 
 perfon ignorant of what is doing in his 
 kingdom. It was to little purpofe that the 
 fovereign lad named, when fome temporary 
 fenfe of remorfe was excited, by an affed;- 
 ing reprefentation of the miferies of the per- 
 
 * Sec Boilcau's Ode fur la prife de Namur by 
 Louis, and Prior's Poem on the taking of Namur» 
 by king William, / 
 
 T 4 fecuted
 
 it 
 
 280 ON FLATTERY. 
 
 fecuted protejftants, faid, " that he hoped 
 God would not impute to him as a crime, 
 punilhments which he had not com- 
 " manded." Dekifive hope ! It was crime 
 enough for a king to be ignorant of what 
 was pafling in his dominions. 
 
 There have been few princes fo ill dif- 
 pofed, as not to have been made worfe by 
 unmeafured flattery. Even fome of the 
 mofl depraved Roman emperors began 
 their career with a fair promif^. Tiberius 
 fet out with being mild and prudent ; and 
 even Nero, for a confiderable time, either 
 wore the mafk, or did not need it. While 
 his two virtuous friends maintained their en. 
 tire influence, every thing looked favourable. 
 But when his fycophants had fucceeded in 
 maldng Seneca an object of ridicule ; and 
 when Tigellinus was preferred to Burrhus, 
 all that followed was a natural confequence. 
 The abject flavery of the people, the fervile 
 decrees of the fenate, the obfequious ac- 
 quiefcence of the court, the profl:rate ho- 
 mage of every order, all concurred to bring 
 
 out
 
 ON FLATTERY. '28x 
 
 out his vices in their full luxuriance, and 
 Rome, as was but juft, became the vidim 
 pf the monfler ilie had pampered. Tacitus, 
 ■vvith his ufual honefl indignation, declares, 
 that as often as the emperor commanded 
 banifhments or ordered afTaflinations, fo 
 often were thanks and facrifices decreed to 
 the gods ! 
 
 But, in our happier days, as fubjecls, it 
 is prefumed, indulge no fuch propenfities, 
 fo under our happier conflitution, have 
 they no fuch opportunides. Yet powerful, 
 though gentler, and almoll unapparent 
 means, may be employed to weaken the 
 virtue, and injure the fame of a prince. — 
 To degrade his character, he need only be 
 led into one vice, idlenefs j and be attacked 
 by one weapon, flattery. Indifcriminate 
 acquiefcence and foothing adulation will 
 lay his mmd open to the incuriion of 
 every evil without his being aware of it j 
 for his table is not the place where he ex- 
 pects to meet an enemy, confequently, he 
 is not on his guard againfl him. And 
 
 where
 
 2S2 ON FLATTERY. 
 
 where he is thus powerfully affailed^ the 
 kindell: nature, the befl intentions, the 
 gentlefl manners, and the mildell difpo- 
 iitions, cannot be depended on for preferv- 
 ing him from thofe very corruptions, to 
 which the word propenlities lead ; and 
 there is a degree of facility, which, from 
 fbftnefs of temper, becomes imbecility of 
 jnind. 
 
 For there is hardly a fault a fovereign 
 can commit, to which flattery may not in- 
 cline him. It impels to oppofite vices ; to 
 apathy and egotifm, the natural failings of 
 the great ; to ambition which inflames the 
 heart, to anger which diftorts it ; to hard' 
 nefs which deadens, and to felfilhnefs which 
 degrades it. He ifhould be taught, as the 
 intrepid Mafillon * taught his youthful 
 prince, that the flattery of the courtier, 
 contradictory as the aflertion may feem, is 
 little lefs dangerous than the difloyalty "of 
 the rebel. Both would betray him ; and 
 
 * See Mafillon's Sermons, abounding equally in 
 tlic fubliraell piety and the richell eloquence. 
 
 the
 
 ON FLATTERY. 283 
 
 the crime of him who would dethrone, an4 
 of him who would debafe his prince, how- 
 ever they may differ in a political, differ 
 but little in a moral view : nay the ili 
 effeds of the traitor's crime may, to the 
 prince at leafl, be bounded by time, while 
 the confequences of the flatterer's may 
 pxtend to eternity. 
 
 CHAP,
 
 -84 RELIGION NECESSARY 
 
 CHAP. XVIIL 
 
 Religion necejary to the laell-belng of States. 
 
 1 HE royal pupil fhould be informed, that 
 there are fome half Chriftians, and half 
 philofophers, who wiili, without incurring 
 the difcredit of renouncing religion, to ftrip 
 It of its value, by lowering its ufefulnefs. 
 They have been at much pains to produce 
 a perfuafion, that however beneficial Chrif- 
 tianity may be to individvals, and however 
 properly it may be taken as the rule of their 
 conduct, it cannot be fafely brought into 
 action in political concerns ; that the in- 
 tervention of its fpirit will rarely advance 
 the public good, but, on the contrary, will 
 often necelfarily obflru6l it ; and in particu- 
 lar, that the glory and elevation of dates 
 mufl be unavoidably attended with fome 
 violation even of thofe laws of morality, 
 which, they allow, ought to be obferved in 
 other cafes *. 
 
 * It were to be wifhed that Cromwell had been the 
 
 only ruler who held, that the rules of morahty mufl be 
 
 difpenfed with on g^eat political occafions. 
 
 1 2 Thefe
 
 TO THE WEI.L-BEING OF STATES. 285 
 
 Thefe alT^rtlons, refpeding the political 
 difadvantages of religion, have not been 
 urged merely by the avowed enemies of 
 Chriftian principle, the Bolingbrokes, the 
 Hobbes's, and the Gibbons : but there is 
 a more fober clafs of fceptics, ranged under 
 the banners of a very learned and ingenious 
 fophifl *, who have not fcrupled to main* 
 tain, that the author of Chriftianlty has 
 actually forbidden us to improve the con- 
 dition of this world, to take any vigorous 
 ileps for preventing its mifery, or advancing 
 its glory. Another writer, an elegant witj 
 but whimfical and fuperficiaf, though 
 doubtlefs, a fmcere Chriilian f, who would 
 be fhocked at the excefs to which impiety 
 has carried the pofition, has yet aiforded 
 fome countenance to it, by intimating, that 
 God has given to men a religion wiiich is 
 
 -* Mr. Bayle. 
 
 f Soame Jenyns. It is true, he puts the remark 
 in the mouth of '' refined and fpeculative obfervers." 
 But he afterwards affirms in his own perfon — Tfjiit 
 fxich is indeed the Chr'ijllan Revelalion. 
 
 Incom-
 
 286 RELIGION NECESSARY 
 
 incompatible with the whole ceconomy of 
 that world which he has created, and in 
 which he has thought proper to place 
 them. He allows, that " government is 
 effential to men, and yet afferts, that it can- 
 not be managed without certain degrees of 
 violence, corruption, and impcfition, which 
 yet Chriflianity fcridly forbids. That per- 
 petual patience under injuries muft every 
 day provoke new infults, and injuries, yet 
 is this, fays he, enjoined.^^ 
 
 The fame pofitions are alfo repeatedly 
 affirmed, by a later, more folid, and mofl 
 admirable writer, whofe very able defence 
 of the divine authority of Chriflianity and 
 the Holy Scriptures, naturally obtains credit 
 for any opinions which are honoured with 
 his fupport. 
 
 It may be expefted, that thofe who ad- 
 vance fuch proportions, fliould at leall 
 produce proofs from hiftory, that thofe 
 flates, in the government cf which Chriftian 
 principles have been mod confpicuous, 
 other circumftances being equal, have either 
 
 failed
 
 TO THE WELL-BEING OF STATES. 287 
 
 failed through error, or funk through im- 
 potence ; or in fome other way have fuf- 
 fered from introducing principles into 
 tranfad;ions to which they were inapii- 
 cable. 
 
 But how Httle the avowed fceptic, or 
 even the paradoxical Chriflian, feems to 
 underftand the genius of our religion ; and 
 how erroneous is their conception of the 
 true elementary principles of political prof-- 
 perity we learn from one, who was as able 
 as either to determine on the cafe. He 
 who was not only a politician but a Idng, 
 and eminently acquainted with the duties 
 of both charafters, has allured us, that 
 
 RIGHTEOUSNESS EXALTETH A NATION. 
 
 And does not every inftinct of the un- 
 fophifticated heart, , and every clear refult 
 of difpaiuonate and enlarged obfervation, 
 unite in adopting as a moral axiom this 
 divinely recorded aphorifm ? 
 
 It would, indeed, be ftrange, if the great 
 Author of all things I'lad admitted fuch an 
 anomaly in his moral government j if in 
 
 direct
 
 288 RELIGION NECESSARY 
 
 direct contradiction to that moral ordination 
 of caufes and efFedls, by which, in the cafe 
 of individuals, religion and virtue generally 
 tend, in the way of natural confequence, 
 to happinefs and profperity, irreligion and 
 vice, to difcomfiture and mifery, the Al- 
 mighty lliould have eflablifhed the direflly 
 oppofite tendencies, in the cafe of thofe 
 multiplications of individuals, which are 
 called civil communities. It is a fuppoli- 
 tion fo contrary to the divine procedure, 
 in every other inflance, that it would re- 
 quire to be proved by inconteftibie evidence. 
 It would indeed amount to a concefTion, 
 that the moral Author of the world had 
 apppointed a premium, as it were, for vice 
 and irreligion ; the very idea is prophane- 
 nefs. Happily it is clearly contrary alfo 
 both to reafon and experience. Providence, 
 the ordinations of which will ever exhibit 
 marks of wifdom and goodnefs, in propor- 
 tion to the care with which they are ex- 
 plored, has, in this inflance, as well as in 
 others, made our duty coincident with our 
 
 hap-
 
 TO THE WELL-BEING OF STATES. 289 
 
 happinefs ; has furnifhed us with an addi- 
 tional motive for purfuing that courfe, 
 which is indifpenfable to our eternal wel- 
 fare, by rendering it, in the cafe both of 
 individuals and of communities, productive 
 alfo of temporal good. It was not enough 
 to make the paths of virtue lead to " the 
 fulnefs of joy" hereafter, they are even 
 now rendered to thofe who walk in them, 
 " paths of pleafantnefs and peace.'* 
 
 It would not be difficult to prove, by a 
 reference to the moil eilabhfhed principles 
 of human nature, that thofe difpoHtions of 
 mind and principles of conduct, which, 
 both direftly and indireftly, tend to pro- 
 mote the good order of civil communities, 
 are, in general, produced or ftrengthened 
 by religion. The fame temper of mind 
 which difpofes a man to fear God, prompts 
 him to honour the king. The fame 
 pride, fclf-fufficiency, and impatience of 
 control, which are commonly the root 
 and origin of impiety, naturally produce 
 civil infubordination and difcontent. One 
 VOL. I. u of
 
 290 RELIGION NECESSARY 
 
 of the moft acute of our political writers- 
 has ftated, that all government refts on 
 op'mion ; on the opinion entertained by the 
 mafs of the people, of the right to power in 
 their governors, or on the opinion of its 
 being their own intercjl to obey. Now, re- 
 ligion naturally confirms both thefe prin- 
 ciples ; and thereby flrengthens the very 
 foundations of the powers of government. 
 It eflablifhes the right to power of governors, 
 by teaching, that " there is no power but 
 of God ;" it confirms in fubjefts the fenfe 
 of its being their intereji to obey, by the pow- 
 erful intervention of its higher fandions 
 and rewards : *^' they that refill fhall receive 
 to themfelves condemnation." 
 
 Religion teaches men to confider their 
 lot in life, as a ftation affigned to them, by 
 Him, who has a right to difpofe of his 
 creatures as he will. It therefore tends to 
 prevent, in the great mafs of the commu- 
 nity, which muil ever be, comparatively 
 fpeaking, poor, the difpofition to repine at 
 the more favoured lot, and fuperior com- 
 12 forts
 
 TO THE WELL-BEING OF STATES. 29 1 
 
 forts of the higher orders ; a difpofitfon 
 which is the real fource of the moft dan- 
 gerous and deadly diifenfions. 
 
 Religion, again, as prompting men to 
 view all human events as under the divine 
 direction, to regard the evils of life as the 
 difpenfation of Heaven, and often as capa- 
 ble of being rendered conducive to the mofl 
 eifential and lafting benefit ; difpofes men 
 to bear all their fuiferings with refignation 
 and cheerfulnefs. Whereas, on the con- 
 trary, they who are not under its power, 
 are often inclined to revenge on their rulers, 
 the misfortunes, which unavoidably refult 
 from natural caufes, as well as thofe which 
 may be more reafonably fuppofed to have 
 owed their exiflence to human imprudence 
 and actual mifconduft. 
 
 Again, if from contemplating thefe quef- 
 tions in their principles and elements, we 
 proceed to view them, as they have been 
 exhibited and illuftrated by hiftory and 
 experience, we (hall find the fame pofitions 
 eflablilhcd with equal clearnefs and force. 
 
 u 2 Is
 
 292 RFLIGION' NECESSARY 
 
 Is there any propofitlon more generally 
 admitted, than that political communities 
 tend to decay and difToIution, in proportion 
 to the corruption of their morals ? How 
 often has the authority of the poet been 
 adduced (an author acute and juft in his 
 views of life, but not eminent for being 
 the friend of morals or religion), to prove" 
 the inefficacy of laws to avert the progrefs 
 of a ftate's decline and fall, while it (hould 
 be carried forward, too furely, in the down- 
 ward road, by the general corruption of 
 manners. We have already exemplified 
 thefe truths, in enumerating the caufes of 
 the fall of Rome *. On more than one 
 occafton, that flate had owed its preferva- 
 tion to its reverence for the awful fandlion 
 of an oath. This principle, and indeed the 
 duty which is fo clofely connected with 
 it, of truth and general fidelity to engage- 
 ments, are the very cement which holds 
 together focieties, and indeed all, whether 
 
 * Chap. viii. 
 
 greater
 
 TO THE WELL-BEING OF STATES. 293 
 
 greater or fmaller, affociations of men j and 
 that this clafs of vhtues is founded and 
 bottomed on religion, is undeniably evi- 
 dent. 
 
 If we pafs from the page of hiftory to -a 
 review of private life, are we not led to 
 exactly the fame conclufions ? Where do 
 the politicians, who reafon from the evi- 
 dence of fafts, exped to find a fpirit of 
 infubordination and anarchy ? Is it not in 
 our crowded cities, in our large manu- 
 facturing towns, where wealth is often too 
 dearly purchafed at the price of morality 
 and virtue ? And if we refort to individual 
 indances, who is the man of peace and 
 quietnefs ? Who is the leaft inchned to 
 " meddle with them that are given to 
 change ?'* Is it not the man of religious and 
 domeftic habits ; whofe very connexions, 
 purfuits and hopes, are fo many pledges 
 for his adherence to the caufe of civil order, 
 and to the fupport of the laws and inftitu- 
 tions of his country ? 
 
 u 3 It
 
 294 rj;ligion necessary 
 
 It is the more extraordinary that any 
 writers, not deliberately hoftile to the caufe 
 of religion and virtue, fhould have given 
 any degree of countenance to the pernici- 
 ous error, which we have been fo long 
 combating ; becaufe the oppofite opinion 
 has been laid down, as an inconteflible 
 axiom, by thofe who will not be fufpeded 
 of any extravagant zeal for the credit of 
 religion, but, who fpeak the dictates of 
 ftrong fenfe, and deep obfervation. Hear, 
 then the able, but profligate ]\%chiavel — 
 Thofe princes and commonwealths, who 
 would keep their governments entire and 
 " uncorrupt, are above all things, to have 
 " a care of religion and its ceremonies, 
 '' and preferve them in due veneration, for 
 " in the whole world, there is not a greater 
 fign of imminent ruin, than when God 
 and his worfliip are defpifed." — '* A 
 prince, therefore, ought mcft accurately 
 to regard, that his religion be well-found- 
 " ed, and then his government will laft ; 
 *' for there is no furer way, than to keep that 
 
 " good 
 
 
 a
 
 TO THE WELL-BEING OF STATES. 295 
 
 ' good and united. Whatever therefore 
 ' occurs, that may any way be extended 
 ' to the advantages and reputation of the 
 ' rehgion they defign to eftablifh, by all 
 ' means, they are to be propagated and 
 ' encouraged ; and the wifer the prince, 
 ' the more fure it is to be done." — " And 
 • if this care of divine worfliip were re- 
 ' garded by Chrifliaa princes, according 
 ' to the precepts and inftrudlions of him 
 ' who gave it at firft, the dates and com- 
 ' monwealths of Chriftendom would be 
 ' much more happy and firm *.'* 
 
 Machiavel, it will be faid, was at once 
 an infidel and a hypocrite, who did not 
 believe the truth of that religion, the ob- 
 fervance of which he folicitoufly enforced. 
 Be it fo J it dill dedu6ls nothing from the 
 force of the argument as to the political 
 ufes of religion.- — For, if the mere forms 
 and infhitutions, " the outward and vifible 
 figns" of Chriftianity, were acknowledge^ 
 
 ^ Machiavel's Difcourfes on Livy. 
 
 U 4 to
 
 296* RELIGION NECESSARY 
 
 to be, as they really are, of fo great value, 
 by this fhrewd politician, what might not 
 be the eiTect of its " inward and fpiritual 
 grace ?" 
 
 When two able men of totally oppofite 
 principles and charafters, pointedly agree 
 on any one important topic, there is a 
 ftrong prefumption, that they meet in a 
 truth. Such an unlocked-for conformity 
 may be found, in two writers, fo decidedly 
 oppolite to each other, as our incompa- 
 rable Bifiiop Butler, and the Florentine 
 fecretary above cited. Who will fufped: 
 Butler of being a vifionary enthufiaft ? Yet 
 has he drawn a molt beautiful pidure of 
 the happinefs of an imaginary ftate, which 
 fhould be perfectly virtuous for a fucceffion 
 of ages. " In fuch a ftate," he infifts, 
 " there would be no fadlion. Public de- 
 terminations would really be the refult of 
 united wifdom. i\ll would contribute to 
 the general profperity, and each would 
 enjoy the fruits of his own virtue. Injuftice, 
 force, and frauds would be unknown — -Such 
 
 a king-
 
 TO THE WELL-BEING OF STATES. 297 
 
 a kingdom would influence the whole 
 earth ; the head of it would indeed be a 
 univerfal monarch, in a new fenfe, and all 
 people, jiations, and languages Jljould fer-ve 
 him*''' 
 
 The profound Butler was, indeed, too 
 great an adept in the knowledge of human 
 nature, and too thoroughly verfed in the 
 whole hiflory of mankind, not to know, 
 as he afterwards obferves, the impoflibility 
 without fome miraculous interpofition, that 
 a great body of men fhould fo unite in one 
 nation and government, in the fear of God, 
 and the praftice of virtue ; and that fuch 
 a government fliould continue unbroken 
 for a fucceiTicn of ages ; yet fuppofmg it 
 .could be fo, fuch, he affirms, would be the 
 certain efFefl. And may we not alfo affirm,, 
 that even allowing for all the failings and 
 imperfections of human nature, which the 
 prelate has excluded from his hypothefis, 
 
 * This is only a (hort abftraft of tliiS fine pafTage, 
 to the whole of which the reader is referred. Butler's 
 Analogy, part firft, chap. iii. p, 89, and following. 
 
 would
 
 29S RELIGION NECESSARY 
 
 would not a ftate really approach nearer to 
 this fuppofed happmefs, in proportion as ife 
 taught and pradifed with more fedulity, the 
 principles of religion and virtue ? 
 
 We cordially agree, indeed, with the 
 famous Cofrno di Medici, that princes 
 cannot govern their flates, by " counting 
 a firing of beads, or mumbling over Pater- 
 nofters." But we are, at the fame 
 time, equally averfe from the religion 
 which affigns fuch practices to any clafs 
 of people ; and from that ignorance which 
 would make the religion of any order of 
 men, efpecially of princes, confift in mere 
 ceremonies and obfervances. Charles the 
 Wife, was at leaft as found a judge as 
 Cofmo, of what conflituted the perfedion 
 of a royal character, when he declared, 
 that, " if there were no honour and virtue 
 left in the reft of the world, the laft traces 
 of them fliould be found among princes." ' 
 There fliould, indeed, be found in the royal 
 character an innate grandeur ; a dignity of 
 foul which lliould ihew itfelf under all cir- 
 
 cumftances.
 
 TO THE WELL-BEING OF STATES. 299 
 
 cumftances, and fliine through every cloud 
 I of trial or difficulty. It was from fuch 
 inherent marks of greatnefs, that the infant 
 Cyrus, exiled and unknown, was chofen 
 king by the fhepherd's children. 
 
 It would not, perhaps, be eafy to cite an 
 higher authority, on the point in quefticn, 
 the importance of religion to a flate, than 
 that of the great and excellent Chancellor 
 de L'Hopital. It was a common obferva- 
 tion of his, that, " religion had more in- 
 fluence upon the fpirits of mankind, than 
 all their paflions put together ; and that the 
 cement, by which it united them, was in- 
 finitely ftronger than all the other obli- 
 gations of civil fociety." This was not 
 the obfervation of a dreaming monk, Vv-ho, 
 in his cell, writes maxims for a world of 
 which he knows nothing ; but the fentiment 
 derived from deep experience, of an illuf- 
 trious flatcfman, whofe greatnefs of mind, 
 zeal, difmtereftednefs, and powerful talents, 
 fupported France under a fucceffion of 
 weak and profligate kings. Frugal for 
 
 the
 
 300 RELIGION NECESSARY 
 
 the flate in times of boundlefs prodigality ; 
 philofophical in a period of enthufiaflic 
 fury ; tolerant and candid in days of per- 
 fecution, and deeply confcientious under 
 all circumflances ; ^vorthy, in fliort, and it 
 is perhaps his beft eulogium, to be driven, 
 for his virtues, by Catherine di Medici 
 from councils, which his wifdoni might 
 Iiave controlled ; and who, on giving up 
 the feals which fhe demanded, withdrew to 
 an honourable literary retreat, with the 
 remark, that, " the world was loo depraved 
 for him to concern himfelf any longer with 
 it.*' Thefe are the men whom corrupt 
 princes drive from the diredicn of thofe 
 flates, which their wifdom might fave and 
 their virtue might reform. 
 
 Another of the political advantages of 
 religious redlitude in a flate, is the fecurity 
 it affords. For^ with whatever jull feverity 
 vv'e may reprobate the general fpirit of 
 revolution, yet, it mufl be confefl'ed, that 
 it has not, on all occafions, been excited 
 by undue difcontent, by unprovoked im- 
 patience.
 
 TO THE WELL-BEING OF STATES. 30I 
 
 patience, nor even by felfifh perfonal feel- 
 ings ; but, fometimes alfo from a virtuous 
 lenfe of the evils of opprefiion and injuilice; 
 evils, which honed men refent for others as 
 well as for themfelves. 
 
 Again, there is fomething fo fafe and 
 tranquillizing in Chriftian piety, as we have 
 already obferved, that, though we v/ould 
 be far from reducing it to a cold political 
 calculation ; yet, content, fubmifiion, and 
 obedience, make fo large a practical part 
 of religion, that wherever it is taught in 
 the bed and founded way, it can hardly 
 fail to promote, in the people, the ends of 
 true policy, any more than of genuine 
 morality. 
 
 Our wifed fovereigns, partly perhaps for 
 this reafon, have paid the deeped attention 
 to the moral indru6i:ion of the lower claffes 
 of their fubjefts. Alfred and Elizabeth *, 
 
 among 
 
 ♦ See a letter of Archbifliop Whitgift to the 
 bifhops, of which the following is an extra<3; : 
 
 " Your Lordfhip is not ignorant, that a great part 
 of the difiblutenefs of manners, and ignorance in the 
 
 common
 
 3«2 RELIGION NECESSARY 
 
 among others, were too found politicians 
 to lofe this powerful hold on the afFeftions 
 of their people. In addition to their defire 
 to promote religion, they had no doubt 
 difcerned, that it is grofs vice, that it is 
 brutal ignorance, which leave the lower 
 clafs a prey to factious innovators, and 
 
 common fort, that reigneth in moft parts of this realm, 
 even in this clear light of the gofpel, arifeth hereof, for, 
 that the youth, being as it were the frie and feminary 
 of the church and commonwealth, through negligence, 
 both of natural and fpiritual fathers, are not, as were 
 meet, trained up in the chief and neceffary principles 
 of Ciiriftian religion, whereby they might learn their 
 duty to their God, their prince, their country, and 
 their neighbours ; efpecially in their tender years, when 
 thefe things might befhbe planted in them, and would 
 become moft hardly to be afterwards removed. This 
 mifchief might well, in mine opinion, be redreffed, if 
 that which in this behalf hath been godly and wifely 
 provided, were as carefully called on and executed, 
 namely, by catechizing and inllrufling in churches 
 the youth of both fexes, on the fabbath days, in the 
 afternoon. And, that if it maybe convenient, before 
 their parents, and others of the feveral parifhes, who 
 thereby may take comfort and inilru6lion alfo. 
 
 Strype's Life of Whitgift." 
 
 render
 
 TO THE WELL-BEING OF STATES. 303 
 
 render them the blind tools of political in- 
 cendiaries. When the youth of this clafs are 
 carefully inftrufted in religion by their 
 rightful teacherSj thofe teachers have the 
 faireft opportunities of inltilling into them 
 their duty to the flate, as well as to the 
 church ; and they will find that the fame ief- 
 fons which form good Chriflians, tend to 
 make good fubjecls. But, without that mo- 
 derate meafure of found and fober inftruc- 
 tion, which fliould be judicioufly adapted to 
 their low demands, they will be likely 
 neither to honour the king, reverence the 
 clergy, nor obey the magiftrate. While, 
 on the contrary, by interweaving their duty 
 to their governors, with their duty to God, 
 they will at once be preferved from mif- 
 chief in politics, and delufion in religion. 
 The awful increafe of perjury among us 
 is of irfelf a loud call feduloully to purfue 
 this objeft. How fhould thofe, who are 
 not early inftruded in the knowledge of 
 their Maker, fear to offend him, by that 
 common violation of the folemnity of 
 
 oaths.
 
 304 RELIGION NECESSARY 
 
 oaths for which we are unhappily becom- 
 ing notorious? Let us not be deemed 
 needlefslv earneft in the defence of a truth 
 of fuch extreme importance. The pohtical 
 value of religion never can be too firmly 
 believed, or too carefully kept in view, in 
 the government of nations. May it be 
 deeply rooted in the mind of every prince, 
 as a fundamental principle ! Let it be con- 
 firmed by all the various proofs and ex- 
 amples, by which its truth can be efla- 
 bliflied, and its authority enforced * ! 
 
 * Mr, Addifon fpeaks'of the religious inftruftion 
 of tlie poor as the beil means of recovering the 
 country from its degeneracy and depravation of man- 
 ners. And, after drawing an animated pifture of a 
 procefGon of charity children on a day of thankf- 
 giving for the triumphs obtained by the queen's 
 arms, he adds, " for my part, I can fcarce forbear 
 looking on the ailonifhing viftories our arn-.s have 
 been crowned with to be, in fome meaiure, the 
 bleffings returned upon thefe charities ; and that the 
 great fuccefies of the war, for whica we lately offered 
 up our thanks, were, in fome meafure, occafioned by 
 the feveral objefts ( of religioufly inftrufted children) 
 v»'hich then ftood before us. Guardiarh No. 105. 
 Thefe nvere the fentiments of a fecrefary ofjiate! 
 
 But;
 
 To THE WELL-BEING OF STATES. 305 
 
 But, to return. — We mofl readily con- 
 cede^ that by that exaltation of a ilate of 
 which Solomon fpeaks, is not meant, that 
 fudden flafh of temporary fplendour, which 
 is occafioned by the mutable advantages of 
 war, the plunder of foreign countries, the 
 acquifition of unwieldy territory, or the 
 vertigo of domeftic revolutions : but that 
 fober and folid glory, v^^hich is the refult 
 of juft laws ; of agriculture and fobriety, 
 which promote population ; of induflry 
 and commerce, v/hich increafe profperity ; 
 of fuch v/ell-regulated habits in private 
 life, as may ferve to temper that profpe- 
 rity, and by flricl: confequences, give direc- 
 tion and fteadinefs to public manners. 
 For, it never can be made a queflion, 
 whether the folidity of the parts mufl not 
 contribute to the firmnefs of the whole ; 
 and whether the virtue exercifed by collec- 
 tive bodies, can any farther be hoped for, 
 than as it exifts in the individuals who 
 compofe them. But, on what bafis can 
 this fuperflru£lure reft, by what principle 
 
 VOL. I. X can
 
 306 RELIGION NECESSARY 
 
 can individual virtue be either fubftantially 
 promoted, or laftingly fecurcd, except by 
 that fenfe of an invifibie, almighty, and in- 
 finitely juft, and holy fovereign of the uni- 
 verfe, which revelation alone has effeftually 
 difclofed to us, and reafon has recognized 
 as the eifence of religion ? 
 
 Far be it, indeed, from us to deny, that 
 this religious principle may not frequently 
 oppofe itfelf to apparent means of ag- 
 grandizement, both perfonal and national. 
 Doubtleis it will often condemn that to 
 which human pride would afpire. Even 
 when an objed; might in itfelf be fairly 
 defirable, it will forbid the purfuit, except 
 through lawful paths. But, in the fevereft 
 of fuch reftriftions, it only facrifices what 
 is fhadowy to what is fubllantial, the 
 evanefcent triumphs of a day to the per- 
 manent comfort of fucceffive generations. 
 
 But, though we do not affert that na- 
 tional profperity is always, and infallibly, 
 an indication of virtue, and of the diilin- 
 guilhing favour of God, yet we conceive, 
 
 that
 
 TO THE WELL-BEING OF STATES. 307 
 
 that luch outward marks of the divine fa- 
 vour may more generally be expected, 
 in the cafe of communities, than of indi- 
 viduals. In communities we fee not fo 
 much the effect of each particular acl of 
 virtue, as of the generally diffufed prin- 
 ciple. Though virtue is often obftructed in 
 labouring to obtain for itfelf the advantages 
 which belong to it, this is no proof againft 
 its having a tendency to obtain them. The 
 natural tendency, indeed, being to produce 
 happinefs, though it may fail to do it in 
 certain excepted cafes. 
 
 In the cafe, therefore, of communities 
 and Rates, where the refult of many actions, 
 rather than the particular eifeft of each^ is 
 feen, it may not altogether unfairly be 
 afferted, that virtue is its own reward. 
 Perhaps it alfo may be affirmed, that the 
 fyftem of temporal rewards and punifh- 
 ments, which, though chiefly exemplified in 
 the Jewifh difpenfation, was by no means 
 confined to it, has not equally paffed away, 
 "With re.peft to flates and nations, as with 
 
 X 2 relpect
 
 3o8 RELIGION NECESSARY 
 
 refpecl to individuals. The learned BofTuet 
 has obferved, that v/hile the New Tefla- 
 ment manifefts to us the operation of God's 
 grace, the Old Teflament exhibits to us 
 his providential government of the vi^orld. 
 We will net dwell on this remark further 
 than to fuggeft, that even in this view the 
 ftudy of the Old Teflament may not be 
 without its ufes, even to the modern Statef- 
 man, as we know that the Jewifli law has 
 clearly been held important, by fome of 
 our wifeft Legiflators. 
 
 On the whole, we need not hefitate to 
 affert, that in the long courfe of events, 
 nothing, that is morally wrong, can be 
 politically right. Nothing, that is inequi- 
 table, can be finally fuccefsful. Nothing, 
 ihat is contrary to religion, can be ulti- 
 mately favourable to civil policy. We may 
 therefore confidently affirm, that impiety 
 and vice, fooner or later, bring flates, as 
 well as individuals, to mifery and ruin. 
 That, though vice may fometimes contri- 
 bute to temporary exaltation ; in the fame 
 
 degree.
 
 TO THE WELL-BEING OF STATES. 309 
 
 degree, it will, in the end, contribute to 
 promote decay, and accelerate the inevi- 
 table period of diflblution. 
 
 Let it then be ever kept in view, that the 
 true exaltation is, in fact, that profperity, 
 which arifes from the goodnefs of the laws, 
 and the firmnefs and impartiality with which 
 they are executed ; which refults from mo- 
 deration in the Government, and obedience 
 in the people ; from wifdom and forefight 
 in council, from adivity and integrity in 
 commerce, from independence of national 
 charader, from fortitude in rcfi fling foreign 
 attack, and zeal in promoting domeftic 
 harmony ; from patience under fufferings, 
 hardinefs in danger, zeal in the love of 
 civil, and vigour in the reprobation of favage 
 liberty ; from a fpirit of fairnefs and libe- 
 rality in making treaties, and from fidelity 
 in obferving them. Above all, from a 
 multiplication of individual inflances of 
 family comfort and independence, from the 
 general prevalence, throughout the great 
 mafs of the people, of habits of induftry, 
 
 X 3 fobriety,
 
 310 RELIGION NECESSARY 
 
 fobriety, and good order, from the praftice, 
 in fhort, of the focial and domeftic virtues ; 
 of all thofe relative duties and kindneffes, 
 which give body and fubflance to the vari- 
 ous charities of life, and the befl feelings 
 of our nature. 
 
 If finful nations appear profperous for a 
 time, it is often becaufe there has been 
 fome proportion of good mixed with the 
 evil ; or it is becaufe the Providence of God 
 means to ufe the temporary fuccefs of guilty 
 nations, for the accompli ihment of his 
 general fcheme, or the promotion of a 
 particular purpofe, of humbling and cor- 
 reftir.g other, perhaps lefs guilty nations j 
 or it is becaufe " the iniquity of the Amo- 
 rites is not yet full ;" and the punifliment 
 of the more corrupt Itates is delayed, to 
 make their ruin more fignal and tremen- 
 dous, and their downfall a more portentous 
 objeft, for the inftruftion of the world. 
 God, without any impeachment of his 
 moral government, may withhold retribu- 
 tion, becaufe it is alv/ays in his power ; he 
 
 may
 
 TO THE WELL-BEING OF STATES. -? 1 1 
 
 may be long-fufFering, becaufe he is ever- 
 lafting. He may permit the calamity 
 which we fee, in order to Gxt:a£i: from it 
 the good which we fee not. He is never 
 the author of moral evil, and the natural 
 evil, which he does authorize, is both the 
 punifhment, and the corrective of the 
 moral. I'hough God never intended this 
 world for fuch a complete ftate of retri- 
 bution, as entirely to hinder either vice or 
 virtue from occafionally receiving the re- 
 compences, and the penalties, due to the 
 other ; yet, there is this obvious differencej 
 between nations and individuals, that, 
 whereas individuals the mofl virtuous are 
 often the mofl vifited with temporal mif- 
 fortunes, the bed governed empires are, on 
 the whole, the molt fccure of profperity. 
 And if, in the calamities brought on corrupt 
 ftates, the innocent always, unavoidably, 
 fuffer with the guilty, this furnifhes no jufl 
 charge againft the equity of divine Provi- 
 dence, who here reckons tremendoaily v/ith 
 the ftate as a ftate, but will, feparately 
 
 X 4 and
 
 312 RELIGION NECESSARY, &C. 
 
 and ultimately, reckon with every indivi- 
 dual ; and thus finally and fully vindicate 
 his own infinite, and much calumniated 
 juflice *. 
 
 * See BiiKop Butler's Analogy, a work which 
 cannot be too ftrongly recommended. 
 
 CHAP,
 
 INTEGRITY THE TRUE, ScC. 313 
 
 CHAP. XIX. 
 
 Integrity the true Political Wl/dom. 
 
 X HE tendency of a religious temper to 
 exalt a prince into a hero, might be fuf- 
 ficiently illuftrated by the fmgle inflance 
 of Louis the Ninth. It is notorious, that 
 nothing more feverely tries the character 
 of princes as well as of individuals, than 
 remarkable fuccefs. It was, however, in 
 this circumftance precifcly, that the prince 
 juft mentioned evinced how completely 
 his Chriftian temper had corrected, both 
 the felfifhnefs natural to man, and the arro- 
 gance habitual to profperity. 
 
 When, under the unfortunate reign of 
 our Henry the Third, the affairs of Eng- 
 land were reduced to a lov/ condition, 
 while thofe of France were in a highly 
 flourifliing flate ; Louis, in making a 
 treaty with England, generoufly refufcd 
 to take an unfair advantage of the mif- 
 
 fortunes
 
 314 INTEGRITY THE TRUK 
 
 fortunes of this country, or to avail hiin- 
 felf to the utmoft of his own fuperiority. 
 His conceffions to the depreffed enemy 
 were liberal ; and he foon after reaped 
 the reward of his moderation, in the confi- 
 dence which it infpired. Louis was chofen, 
 both by Henry and his nobles, to fettle 
 the differences between them. In con- . 
 fequence of the recent inflance of his 
 public integrity, the foreign adverfary 
 was invited to be the arbiter of domellic 
 difagreements 5 and they were happily 
 terminated by his decifion. Let infidels 
 remark, to the difgrace of their fcepti- 
 cifm, that the monarch who was, per- 
 haps, one of the greatefl inftances of 
 Chriflian piety and devotion, furniflied 
 alfo an example of the mod linking moral 
 redlitude ! 
 
 Henry the Fourth, when only king of 
 Navarre, difcovered no lefs integrity after 
 his glorious vidory at Coutras. Being 
 alked what terms he would require from 
 the king of France, after gaining fuch a 
 
 vidoryj
 
 POLITICAL WISDOM. 315 
 
 victory, " Jull the fame," replied he, 
 ** that I fhould afk after lofmg one." 
 
 It is, however, neceflary to obferve, 
 that integrity, in order to be fuccefsful, 
 muft be miiicrm. Truth, for example, 
 occafionally fpoken, may not afford to 
 the fpeaker any part of the profit which 
 attends the regular obfervance of truth. 
 The error of corrupt politicians confills 
 much in treating each queftion, as if it 
 were an infulated cafe, and then arguing, 
 perhaps not unjuftly, that the pradice of 
 virtue, in this or that particular inftance, 
 will not be productive of good ; for- 
 getting that if, in all inllances, they would 
 be virtuous, they would then, moll pro- 
 bably, obtain the fuccefs and full reward 
 of virtue. 
 
 We know that even in that particular 
 branch of political iranfadlions, the diplo- 
 matic, wherein the flrongeil temptations 
 to diflimulation and chicanery are held 
 forth to little mindK, fome of the mod 
 able and fuccefsful negotiators have gcnc- 
 
 roufiy
 
 3l6 INTEGRITY THE TRUE 
 
 roufly difdained the ufe of any fuch 
 mean expedients. The franknefs and in- 
 tegrity of Temple and De Wit are not 
 more efteemed by the morahft for their 
 probity, than by the ftatefman for their 
 true wifdom. What can there be, in- 
 deed, fo different between the fituation 
 of two public men, who on the part of 
 their feveral countries refpedively, are 
 negotiating on queftions of policy or 
 commerce ; and that of two private men 
 who are treating on fome bufmefs of 
 ordinary life, which jQiould render impo- 
 litic, in the public concern, that honefly 
 which, in the private, is fo univerfally 
 acknowledged to be the beft poHcy, as to 
 have grown into an adage of univerfal 
 and unqualified ■ acceptance. Indeed, as 
 the adage may refer to what is truly po- 
 litic in the long run, and with a view to 
 general confequences, we might rather 
 exped, that fraud would be admiffible 
 into the tranfaftions of private men, whofe 
 fhort fpan of life might not be likely to 
 
 be
 
 POLITICAL WISDOM. ^^7 
 
 be more than counterbalanced by future 
 lofs rather than in the concerns of Itates, 
 ■which, by containing a long continued ex- 
 iflence, a political identity, under ail the 
 fuGCcflive generations of the members of 
 which they are compofed, may pay, and 
 pay perhaps feverely too, in later times, 
 the price of former a<5ls of fraud and 
 treachery. — Again, in public, no lefs than 
 in private bufmefs, will not any one find 
 the benefit of employing an agent, who 
 poiTefTes a high charader for probity and 
 honour ? Will not larger and more liberal 
 concefTions be made to him who may be 
 fafely relied on for paying their equivalent ? 
 Once more, how often are pubhc wars, as 
 well as private diilerences, produced or 
 fermented by mutual diftrufl ! and how 
 furely v/ould a confidence in each other's 
 truth and honefly tend to the reftoration of 
 peace and harmony ! Even the wily Floren- 
 tine * allows, that it is advantageous to 
 
 ♦ Machiavel. 
 
 have
 
 318 INTEGRITY THE TRUE 
 
 have a high character for truth and upright- 
 nefs. And how can this character be in 
 any way fo well obtained as by deferving it ? 
 It is the difgrace of nations, that in their 
 diplomatic concerns, the maxims of fohd 
 ■wifdom have not been always obferved. 
 
 Without going the length of admitting 
 the truth of Sir Henry Wotton's light de- 
 finition of the duties of an ambaflador, is it 
 not too often afllimed, that the laws which 
 bind private men, and which would doubt- 
 kfs bind the individual minifter himfelf, in 
 his private concerns, may occafionally be 
 difpenfed with, in the adminiflration of 
 public affairs ; and that ftrict truth, for in- 
 ftance, vvliich in the ordinary tranfadions 
 of life is allowed to be indifpenfable, is too 
 frequently coniidered as impradicable in 
 diplomatic negotiations ? 
 
 Don Louis De Haro, the Spanifli minifter, 
 at the treaty of the Pyrenees, feems to have 
 entertained juft views of the value of fimple 
 integrity in politicians, for fpeaking oi 
 Cardinal Mazarin, with whom he was ne- 
 gotiating.
 
 POLITICAL WISDOM. 31Q 
 
 gotlating, he faid, " that man always pur- 
 fues one great error in politics, he would 
 always deceive." Mazarin was a deep dif- 
 fembler and a narrow genius * j fo true it is, 
 that vanity and fhort-fifrhtednefs are com- 
 n^only at the bottom of diliimulation, though 
 it be praO:ifed from a totally oppolite idea ; 
 worldly politicians frequently falling into the 
 error of fancying, that craft and circum- 
 vention are indications of genius : While, 
 in reality, fufpicion is the wifdom of a little 
 mind, and diftrufl the mean and inefficient 
 fubflitute for the penetration of a great one. 
 Many, fays Lord Bacon, who know how to 
 pack the cards, cannot play them well. Many 
 who can manage canvaffes and factions, 
 
 * Mazarin himfelf had fpread his own maxims 
 to fuch good purpofe, that one of his creatures^ 
 whom he intended to fend to negotiate with the Duke 
 of Savoy, implored his Eminence not to infifl; on his 
 deceiving the Duke juj'l at thai thne, as the bufincfs 
 was but a trifle ; bccaufe he thought it would anfwer 
 better to referve the facrifice of his rcpntation for 
 deceiving, till fomc more important objcdl was at 
 itake. 
 
 8 are
 
 320 INTEGRITY THE TRUg 
 
 are yet not wife men. Confidering the credit 
 which fmcerity ftamps on a political cha- 
 rafter, it is fo far from being oppofed to 
 difcretion, that it conflitutes the befl part 
 of it. True rectitude neither implies nor 
 requires imprudence ; while it coils a poli- 
 tician as much trouble to maintain the re- 
 putation of a quality which he has not, as 
 it would really cod him to acquire it. The 
 mazes and windings, the doublings and 
 intricacies of intriguing fpirits, ultimately 
 miflead them from the end they purfue. 
 They excite jeaioufy, they roufe refentment, 
 they confirm fufpicion, they flrengthen 
 prejudices, they foment differences ; and 
 thus call into a6lion a number of paffions, 
 which commonly oppofe themfelves to the 
 accomplifliment of their defigns. Politi- 
 cians therefore would do well to remember 
 the remark of the learned Barrow, who 
 was as great a proficient in mathematics, as 
 in morality, that " the flraitefl line is al- 
 ways the Ihorteil line, in morals, as well 
 as in geometry." When the charader of 
 Q inte-
 
 POLITICAL WISDOM. 32J 
 
 integrity is once loft, falfehood itfelf lofes 
 all its ufes. The known dilTembler is fuf- 
 pefted of infincerity even when he does 
 not pradife It, and is no longer trufted, 
 though he may happen to deferve to 
 befo. 
 
 The character of Lord Sunderland pre- 
 fents a ftriking inftance of the poHtical in- 
 efficacy of duplicity. His fuperior genius, 
 fo admirably qualified for bufmefs, availed 
 him but little in fecuring the public 
 efteem, when it was obferved, that of 
 three fucceffive princes, who feverally fet 
 out with a view to eftablifh different inte-^ 
 refts, he gained the favour of all, by adopt- 
 ing the fyftem of each, with the fame ac- 
 commodating verfatility. His reputation for 
 honefty funk, and he ccafed to be trufted 
 in the degree in which he came to be 
 known. 
 
 We fometimes hear the more decent 
 politicians, who fanclion the appearances, 
 and commend the outward obfervances of 
 religion, lament that religion does not 
 
 VOL. I.' Y produce
 
 ' , 
 
 322 INTEGRITY THE TRUE 
 
 produce any great efFe£ls upon fociety. 
 And they are right, if by religion they 
 mean that fhell and furface, which merely 
 ferve to fave appearances. But, is it not 
 to be feared, that thefe very politicians 
 fometimes difbelieve the reality, and the 
 power of that religion, the exterior of 
 which thev allow to be decorous ? Yet, 
 this reality and power, believed and 
 a£led upon, would certainly produce more 
 fubflantial efFeds than can ever rationally 
 be expe£led from mere forms and fha- 
 dows. Thefe fage perfons frequently la- 
 ment the deficiency of morals in fociety, 
 but never the want of religion in the heart. 
 Though, to expedt that morality to be 
 firm, which ftands on no religious founda- 
 tion, is to exped liability from an inverted 
 pyramid. 
 
 Befides, it is infinitely laborious to main- 
 tain an undeviating courfe of diffimulation, 
 a moment's intermiflion of which may de- 
 feat the policy of years. Yet, this unre- 
 mitting attention, this wearying watchful- 
 
 nefs,
 
 POLITICAL WISDOM. 323 
 
 nel'g, is efiential to that worldly policy, 
 of which South fays, that " Folly being 
 the fuperftrudure, it is but realon, that 
 the foundation fhould be falfity." The fame 
 acute judge of mankind obferves, that the 
 defigning politicians of the party he was 
 combating, feemed to a£l as if they thought 
 " that fpeech was given to ordinary men to 
 communicate their mind, but to wife men 
 for concealing it." 
 
 The difTembler fhould alfo remember, 
 that however deeply intereft and induflry 
 enable him to lay his plans, the intereft and 
 induflry of others will be equally at work 
 to detect them. Befides, the deepell po- 
 litician can carry on no great fchemes alone, 
 and as all afTociation depends on opinion, 
 few will lend their aid, or commit their 
 fafety to one whofe general want of probity 
 forbids the hope of perpetual confidence, or 
 of permanent fecurity. 
 
 Why do many politicians fail finally of 
 the full accomplifhment of their objeft ? 
 Not for want of genius to lay a plaufible 
 
 Y 2 plan
 
 524 INTEGRITY THE TRUE 
 
 plan ; not for want of judgment to feize 
 ine moH favourable occafions ; not for 
 want of due contempt of confcientious 
 fcruples in pufliing thofe occafions ; not for 
 want of fearlefs impiety in giving full fcope 
 to their defigns ; but from that ever wake- 
 ful Providence, which, if he does not dafli 
 their projects before they are acted, defeats 
 the main intention afterwards. — Even the 
 fuccefsful ufurper, Cromwel), lofl the con- 
 fidence of his army, when they found, in 
 the feqilel, that he meant to place himfelf on 
 the very throne which he had made them 
 believe it was his great obje£t to abolifh. 
 Nor was he ever able to adorn his own 
 brows with that crown, for the hope of 
 which he had waded through a fea of 
 crimes. The very means employed by 
 Alexander the Sixth, and Csefar Borgia, to 
 deilroy the Cai'dinals, rebounded on them- 
 felves, and both were poifoned by the very 
 wine Avhich they had prepared for the de- 
 ftruction of their guells. 
 
 It
 
 POLITICAL WISDOM. 325 
 
 It is, therefore, the only fafety, and the 
 only wifdom and the only fare, unfading 
 prudence, inilead of purfuing our own 
 devious paths, to commit our concerns to 
 Gcd J to walk in his ftraight ways, and 
 obey his plain commands. For, after 
 all, the widefl fphere of a mere worldly 
 pohtician is but narrow. The wifdom of 
 this world is bounded by this world, the 
 dimenfions of which are fo contracted, and 
 its duration fo fliort, in the eye of true 
 philofophy, as to ftrip it of all real gran- 
 deur. All the enjoyments of this world, 
 fays the eloquent South, are much too lliort 
 for an immortal foul to ftretch itfelf upon : 
 a foul which fhall perfiil in being not only 
 when honour and fame, but when time 
 itfelf Ihall ceafe to be. The deepeft worldly 
 projector, with the widefl: views, and the 
 flrongefl: energies, even when flufned with 
 fuccefs, muft, if his mind has never learned 
 to flioot forward into the boundlefs eternity 
 of an unfcen world, feel his genius cramped, 
 his wing flag, and his fpirit at a Hand, 
 
 V 3 There
 
 326 INTEGRITY THE TRUE 
 
 Tliere feems to have been a fpark of the 
 immortal fire even in the regrets of Alex- 
 ander. It is probable he would not have 
 wept, becaufe he had no more worlds to 
 conquer, had he not deeply felt the fling 
 of difappointment at finding no joy in hav- 
 ing conquered this, and thence inferred a. 
 kind of vague and fhapelefs idea of ano- 
 ther. There will be always too vafl a 
 difproportion between the appetites and 
 enjoyments of the ambitious to admit of 
 their being happy. Nothing can fill the 
 defires of a great foul, but wha,t he is per- 
 fuaded will lall as long as he himfelf fhall 
 laft. 
 
 To worldly minds it would found paradox- 
 ical to affert that ambition is a little paffion. 
 To affirm that if really great views, and 
 truly enlarged notions were impreffed upon 
 the foul, they would be fo far from pro- 
 moting that they would cure this paflion. 
 The excellent Bifhop Berkeley, beholding 
 the ravages which ambition had made in 
 his time in France, could not help wifhing 
 
 that 
 
 i
 
 POLITICAL WISDOM. 327 
 
 that its encroaching monarch had been bred 
 to the (ludy of aflronomy, that he might 
 learn from thence how mean and little 
 that ambition is which terminates in a fmall 
 part of what is itfelf but a point, compared 
 with that part of the univerfe which lies 
 within our view. 
 
 But, if aflronomy Ihews the diminu- 
 tivenefs of that globe, for a very fmall por- 
 tion of which kings contend, in comparifon 
 with the univerfe, how much nobler a cure 
 does Chriftianity provide for ambition, by 
 fhewing that not this globe only, but the 
 whole univerfe alfo. 
 
 Yea, all that it inherits, fhall difTolve ; 
 
 by reminding the ambitious of the utter 
 infufficiency, to true glory or real happinefs, 
 of all that has been created, of all that 
 fhall have an end ; by carrying on their views 
 to that invifible, eternal world, which to us 
 fhall then emphatically begin to be, when 
 all which we beheld fhall be no more. 
 
 He, therefore, is the only true politician 
 who uniformly makes the eternal laws of 
 
 truth
 
 328 INTEGRITY THE TRUE 
 
 truth and rcditude, as revealed from heaven, 
 the ftandard of his aclions, and the mea- 
 fure of his ambition. " To do juftly," is 
 pecuHarly the high and holy vocation of a 
 Prince. And both Princes and politicians 
 would do well to enquire, not only whether 
 their fcheme Vvas planned with fagacity, 
 and executed with fpirit, but whether they 
 have fo conducted it, as to leave proper 
 room, if we may fo fpeak, for the favour- 
 able interference of God ; whether they 
 have fupplicated his blefling, and given to 
 him the glory of its happy iflue ? Perhaps 
 more well-meant endeavours fail through 
 neglecl in thefe refpefts, particularly of 
 fervent prayer for fuccefs, than through any 
 deficiency in the wifdom of the plan itfelf. 
 But becaufe under a fanatic ufurpation, in 
 the feventeenth century, hypocrites abufcd 
 this duty, and degraded its fandlity, by 
 what they pYohnelj called feeki?2g t be Lord ; 
 the friends of the reftored Conftitution too 
 generally took up the notion, that irrebgion 
 was a proof of fnicerity, and that the fureft 
 
 way
 
 POLITICAL WISDOM. 329 
 
 way to avoid the hypocrify, was to omit the 
 dutv. 
 
 We cannot too (Irongly cenfure that 
 moft miflaken pradice, which, at the period 
 before mentioned, reduced the language of 
 fcripture to that of common converfation ; 
 nor too warmly condemn that falfe tafte, 
 which by quaint allufions, forced conceits, 
 and {trained allegories, wrefled the Bible 
 to every ordinary purpofe, and debafed its 
 dignity, by this colloquial familiarity. But 
 is there no danger of falling into the oppo- 
 fite error ? If fome have unfeafonably forced 
 it into the fervice, on occafions to which it 
 could never apply ; may not others acquire 
 the habit of thinking it feafonable on no 
 occafion at all ? 
 
 Again — how flrangely do we overlook 
 the confummate wifdom, as well as good- 
 nefs of God, in having made that pratlice 
 of prayer, the inftrument of obtaining his 
 blcfling, which is fo powerfully operative in 
 purifying and elevating our own hearts. 
 Politicians, with all their fagacity, would 
 
 do
 
 ^^O INTEGRITY THE TRUE 
 
 do well to learn, that it is likewife one of 
 the many beneficial efFeds of prayer, that 
 it not only reafonably increafes our hopes 
 of fuccefs, but teaches us to acquiefce in 
 difappointment* They fhould learn alfo, 
 not to wonder, if God refufes to anfwer 
 thofe prayers, which are occafionally put 
 up on great public emergencies, when thofe 
 who offer them do not live in the exercife 
 of habitual devotion. They fhould take it 
 as an axiom of good experience from the 
 incomparable Hooker, that *' All things 
 religioufly begun are profperoufly ended ; 
 becaufe whether men, in the end, have that 
 which religion allowed them to defire, oi* 
 that which it teacheth them contentedly to 
 fuffer, they are, in neither event, unfortu- 
 
 nate." 
 
 Nor will a truly pious Prince ever be 
 eventually defeated in his defigns ; he may 
 not indeed be fuccefsful in every negotia- 
 tion, he may not be vidorious in every 
 battle ; yet in his leading purpofe he will 
 never be difappointed. For his ultimate 
 5 end
 
 POLITICAL WISDOM* 33I 
 
 end was to a£l confcientioufly, to procure 
 the favour of God, to advance the beft in- 
 terefts of his people, and to fecure his owa 
 eternal happinefs. Whatever the event 
 may be to others, to himfelf it mufl be 
 finally good. The effe6i of righteoufnefs is 
 peace. Ma,- k the perfeSl man^ and behold 
 the upright^ for the end of that man is 
 peace. And, to conclude in the words of 
 the able and profound Barrow — " If God 
 Ihall not ceafe to be ; if he will not let go 
 the reins ; if his word cannot deceive ; if 
 the wifeft men are not infatuated; if the 
 common fenfe of mankind is not extrava- 
 gant ; if the main props of life, if the great 
 pillars of Society do not fail ; — he that 
 walketh uprightly, doth proceed on fure 
 grounds." 
 
 END OF THE FIRST VOLUME. 
 
 •;•.•■*' ■■'■ V-Tftf.-.. 
 
 Srrahan snCrieftoa,:^. 
 Priutert-Sue^i LondoiuV
 
 \J^
 
 UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LIBRARY 
 
 Los Angeles 
 
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