which truth has advanced in the world, on one fide; and for thofe abfurd fyftems which, at different periods, have had an univerfal currency, on the other. For there is a ftrange difpofition in human nature, either blindly to tread the fame paths that have been traverfed by others, or to ftrike out into the most devious extravagancies: the greater part of the world will either totally renounce their reafon, or reason only from the wild fuggeftions of an heated imagination.

From the fame fource may be derived those divifions and animofities which break the union both of public and private focieties, and turn the peace and harmony of human intercourfe into diffonance and contention. For while men judge and act by fuch measures as have not been proved by the standard of difpaffionate reafon, they muft equally be mistaken in their eftimates both of their own conduct and that of others.

If we turn our view from active to con

templative life, we may have occafion, perhaps to remark, that thinking is no less uncommon in the literary than the civil world. The number of thofe writers who can, with any juftnefs of expreflion, be termed thinking authors, would not form a very copious library, though one were to take in all of that kind which both ancient and modern times have produced. Neceffarily, I imagine, muft one exclude from a collection of this fort, all critics, commentators, tranflators, and, in fhort, all that numerous under-tribe in the commonwealth of literature, that owe their exilence merely to the thoughts of others. I fhould reject, for the fame reafon, fuch compilers as Valerius Maximus and Aulus Gellius: though it must be owned, indeed, their works have acquired an accidental value, as they preferve to us feveral curious traces of antiquity, which time would otherwife have entirely worn out. Thofe teeming geniufes likewife, who have propagated the fruits of their ftudies through a long feries of tracts, would have little pretence, I believe, to be admitted as writers of reflection. For this reafon I cannot regret the lofs of thofe incredible numbers of compofitions which fome of the Ancients are faid to have produced:

him three hundred volumes of his own works, wherein he had not inferted a fingle quotation; and we have it upon the authority of Varro's own words, that he himself compofed four hundred and ninety books. Seneca affures us, that Didymus the Grammarian wrote no lefs than four thoufand; but Origin, it feems, was yet more prolific, and extended his performances even to fix thoufand treatifes. It is obvious to imagine, with what fort of materials the productions of fuch expeditious workmen were wrought up: found thought and well-matured reflections could have no fhare, we may be fure, in thefe hafty performances. Thus are books multiplied, whilft authors are fcarce; and fo much eafier is it to write than to think! But fhall I not myfelf, Palamedes, prove an inftance that it is fo, if I fufpend any longer your own more important reflections, by interrupting you with fuch as mine? Fitzeßborne.

§ 246. Reflections on the Advantages of Converfation.

It is with much pleafare I look back upon that philofophical week which I lately enjoyed at-; as there is no part,

perhaps, of focial life which affords more real fatisfaction than thofe hours which one pafes in rational and unreferved converfation. The free communication of fentiments amongst a fet of ingenious and fpeculative friends, fuch as thofe you gave me the opportunity of meeting, throws the mind into the moit advantageous exercife, and fhews the ftrength or weakness of its opinions, with greater force of conviction than any other method we can employ.

That it is not good for man to be alone," is true in more views of our fpecics than one; and fociety gives ftrength to our reafon, as well as polish to our manners. The foul, when left entirely to her own folitary contemplations, is infenfibly drawn by a lort of conflitutional bias, which generally leads her opinions to the fide of her inclinations. Hence it is that the contracts thofe peculiarities of reasoning, and little habits of thinking, which fo often confirm her in the most fantaftical errors. But nothing is more likely to recover the mind from this falfe bent, than the counterwarmth of impartial debate. Converfation opens our views, and gives our faculties a more vigorous play; it puts us upon turning our notions on every fide, and holds them up to a light that difcovers thofe la

tent

tent flaws which would probably have lain concealed in the gloom of unagitated abfraction. Accordingly, one may remark, that most of thofe wild doctrines, which have been let loofe upon the world, have generally owed their birth to perfons whole circumstances or difpofitions have given them the fewest opportunities of canvailing their refpective fyitems in the way of free and friendly debate. Had the authors of many an extravagant hypothefis difcutied their principles in private circles, ere they had given vent to them in public, the obfervation of Varro had never, perhaps, been made, (or never, at leaft, with fo much juftice) that "there is no opinion fo abfurd, but has fome philofopher or other to "produce in its fupport."

Upon this principle, I imagine, it is, that fome of the finest pieces of antiquity are written in the dialogue-manner. Plato and Tully, it should feem, thought truth could never be examined with more advantage than amidst the amicable oppofition of well regulated converfe. It is probable, indeed, that fubjects of a ferious and philofophical kind were more frequently the topics of Greek and Roman converfations than they are of ours; as the circumftances of the world had not yet given occafion to thofe prudential reafons which may now, perhaps, reftrain a more free exchange of fentiments amongst us. There was fome. thing, likewife, in the very fcenes themfelves where they ufually affembled, that almost unavoidably turned the ftream of their converfations into this ufeful channel. Their rooms and gardens were generally adorned, you know, with the ftatues of the greatest matters of reafon that had then appeared in the world; and while Socrates or Ariftotle flood in their view, it is no wonder their difcourfe fell upon thofe fubjects which fuch animating reprefentations would naturally fuggeft. It is probable, therefore, that many of thofe ancient pieces which are drawn up in the dialogue-manner, were no imaginary converfations invented by their authors; but faithful tranfcripts from real life. And it is this circumftance, perhaps, as much as any other, which contributes to give them that remarkable advantage over the generality of modern compofitions which have been formed upon the fame plan. I am fure, at leaft, I could fcarce name more than three or four of this kind which have appeared in our language worthy of notice. My Jord Shaftesbury's dialogue, intitled "The

Moralifts;" Mr. Addifon's upon Ancient Coins; Mr. Spence's upon the Odylley; together with thofe of my very ingenious friend, Philemon to Hydafpes; are, almoft, the only productions in this way which have hitherto come forth amongst us with advantage. Thefe, indeed, are all mafterpieces of the kind, and written in the true spirit of learning and politenets. The converfation in each of thefe most elegant performances is conducted, not in the ufual abfurd method of introducing one difputant to be tamely filenced by the other; but in the more lively dramatic manner, where a juft contraft of characters is preserved throughout, and where the feveral fpeakers fupport their refpective fentiments with all the strength and fpirit of a well-bred oppofition. Fitzborni

247. On the Great Hiftorical Ages. Every age has produced heroes and politicians; all nations have experienced revolutions; and all hiftories are nearly alike, to thofe who feek only to furni their memories with facts; but whofoever thinks, or, what is ftill more rare, whofoever has tafte, will find but four ages in the hiftory of the world. These four happy ages are thofe in which the arts were carried to perfection; and which, by ferving as the era of the greatness of the human mind, are examples for pofterity.

The first of thefe ages to which true glory is annexed, is that of Philip and Alexander, or that of a Pericles, a Demofthenes, an Ariftotle, a Plato, an Apelles, a Phidias, and a Praxiteles; and this honour has been confined within the limits of ancient Greece; the reft of the known world was then in a ftate of barbarism.

The fecond age is that of Cæfar and Auguftus, diftinguished likewife by the names of Lucretius, Cicero, Titus, Livius, Virgil, Horace, Ovid, Varro, and Vitruvius.

The third is that which followed the taking of Conftantinople by Mahomet II. Then a family of private citizens was feen to do that which the kings of Europe ought to have undertaken. The Medicis invited to Florence the Learned, who had been driven out of Greece by the Turks.-This was the age of Italy's glory. The polite arts had already recovered a new life in that country; the Italians honoured them with the title of Virtu, as the firft Greeks had diftinguished them by the name of Wifdom. Every thing tended towards

perfection;

perfection; a Michael Angelo, a Raphael, a Titian, a Taffo, and an Ariofto, flourifhed. The art of engraving was invented; elegant architecture appeared again, as almirable as in the most triumphant ages of Rome; and the Gothic barbarifm, which had disfigured Europe in every kind of production, was driven from Italy, to make way for good taste.

The arts, always tranfplanted from Greece to Italy, found themfelves in a favourable foil, where they inftantly pro. duced fruit. France, England, Germany, and Spain, aimed in their turns to gather thefe fruits; but either they could not live in thofe climates, or elfe they degenerated very fait.

Francis I. encouraged learned men, but fuch as were merely learned men: he had architects; but he had no Michael Angelo, nor Palladio: he endeavoured in vain to ettablish fchools for painting; the Italian mafters whom he invited to France, raifed no pupils there. Some epigrams and a few loofe tales, made the whole of our poetry. Rabelais was the only profe-writer in vogue, in the time of Henry II.

In a word, the Italians alone were in poffeflion of every thing that was beautiful, excepting mufic, which was then but in a rude late; and experimental philofophy, which was every where equally unknown.

Litly, the fourth age is that known by the name of the age of Lewis XIV. and is perhaps that which approaches the neareit to perfection of all the four; enriched by the difcoveries of the three former ones, it has done greater things in certain kinds than thofe three together. All the arts, indeed, were not carried farther than under the Medicis, Auguftus, and Alexander; but human reafon in general was more improved. In this age we first became acquainted with found philofophy. It may truly be faid, that from the last years of Cardinal Richelieu'sadminiftration till thofe which followed the death of Lewis XIV. there has happened fuch a general revolution in our arts, our genius, our manners, and even in our government, as will ferve as an immortal mark to the true glory of our country. This happy influence has not been confined to France; it has communicated itfelf to England, where it has firred up an emulation which that ingenious and deeply-learned nation flood in need of at that time; it has introduced tafte into Germany, and the fciences into Ruffia; it has 4

even re-animated Italy, which was languishing; and Europe is indebted for its politenefs and fpirit of fociety, to the court of Lewis XIV.

Before this time, the Italians called all the people on this fide the Alps by the name of Barbarians. It must be owned that the French, in fome degree, deierved. this reproachful epithet. Our forefathers joined the romantic gallantry of the Moors with the Gothic rudeness. They had hardly any of the agreeable arts amongst them; which is a proof that the ufeful arts were likewife neglected; for, when once the things of ufe are carried to perfection, the transition is quickly made to the elegant and the agreeable; and it is not at all aftonishing, that painting, fculpture, poetry, eloquence, and philofophy, thould be in a manner unknown to a nation, who, though poffeffed of harbours on the Weftern ocean and the Mediterranean fea, were without fhips; and who, though fond of luxury to an excefs, were hardly provided with the most common manufactures.

The Jews, the Genoefe, the Venetians, the Portuguese, the Flemish, the Dutch, and the English, carried on, in their turns, the trade of France, which was ignorant even of the first principles of commerce. Lewis XIII. at his acceflion to the crown, had not a fingle fhip; the city of Paris contained not quite four hundred thoufand men, and had not above four fine public edifices; the other cities of the kingdom refembled thofe p'tiful villages which we fee on the other fide of the Loire. The nobility, who were all stationed in the country, in dungeons furrounded with deep ditches, opprefied the peafant who culti vated the land. The high roads were almoft impaffable; the towns were deftitute of police; and the goverment had hardly any credit among foreign nations.

We must acknowledge, that, ever fince the decline of the Carlovingian family, France had languished more or less in this infirm ftate, merely for want of the benefit of a good administration.

For a flate to be powerful, the people muft either enjoy a liberty founded on the laws, or the royal authority must be fixed beyond all oppofition. In France, the people were flaves till the reign of Philip Auguftus; the noblemen were tyrants till Lewis XI.; and the kings, always employed in maintaining their authority against their vaffals, had neither leiture to think

about

about the happiness of their fubjects, nor the power of making them happy.

Lewis XI. did a great deal for the regal power, but nothing for the happiness or glory of the nation. Francis I. gave birth to trade, navigation, and all the arts: but he was too unfortunate to make them take root in the nation during his time, fo that they all perished with him. Henry the Great was on the point of raifing France from the calamities and barbarifins in which fhe had been plunged by thirty years of difcord, when he was affaffinated in his capital, in the midft of a people whom he had begun to make happy. The Cardinal de Richelieu, bufied in humbling the houfe of Auftria, the Calvinists, and the Grandees, did not enjoy a power fufficiently undisturbed to reform the nation; but he had at least the honour of beginning this happy work.

Thus, for the fpace of 900 years, our genius had been almoft always reftrained under a Gothic government, in the midit of divisions and civi. wars; deftitute of any laws or fixed customs; changing every fecond century a language which thill continued rude and unformed. The nobles were without difcipline, and firangers to every thing but war and idlenefs: the clergy lived in diforder and ignorance; and the common people without indultry, and ftupified in their wretchednefs.

The French had no fhare either in the great difcoveries, or admirable inventions of other nations: they have no title to the difcoveries of printing, gunpowder, glaffes, telefcopes, the feétor, compafs, the airpump, or the true fyftem of the univerfe: they were making tournaments, while the Portugucle and Spaniards were difcovering and conquering new countries from the eaft to the weit of the known world. Charles V. had already fcattered the treafures of Mexico over Europe, before the fubjects of Francis J. had discovered the uncultivated country of Canada; but, by the little which the French did in the beginning of the fixteenth century, we may fee what they are capable of when properly

conducted.

Voltaire.

248. On the Confitution of ENGLAND. In every government there are three forts of power: the legiflative; the executive, in respect to things dependent on the law of nations; and the executive, in regard to things that depend on the civil lav.

By virtue of the firft, the prince or magiftrate enacts temporary or perpetual laws, and amends or abrogates thole that have been already enacted. By the fecond, he makes peace or war, fends or receives embaffies, he establishes the public fecurity, and provides against invafions. By the third, he punishes criminals, or deter mines the difputes that arife between individuals. The latter we fhall call the judiciary power, and the other fimply the executive power of the ftate.

The political liberty of the fubject is a tranquillity of mind, arifing from the opinion each perfon has of his fafety. In or der to have this liberty, it is requifite the government be fo conftituted as one man need not to be afraid of another.

When the legislative and executive powers are united in the fame perfon, or in the fame body of magiftrates, there can be no liberty; because apprehenfions may arife, left the fame monarch or fenate should enact tyrannical laws, to execute them in a tyrannical manner.

Again, there is no liberty, if the power of judging be not feparated from the legiflative and executive powers. Were it joined with the legislative, the life and liberty of the fubject would be expofed to arbitrary controul; for the judge would he then the legislator. Were it joined to the executive power, the judge might behave with all the violence of an oppreffor.

There would be an end of every thing, were the fame man, or the fame body, whether of the nobles, or of the people, to exercife thofe three powers, that of enacting laws, that of executing the public refolutions, and that of judging the crimes or differences of individuals.

Moft kingdoms of Europe enjoy a moderate government, because the prince, who is invefted with the two first powers, leaves the third to his fubjects. In Turky, where these three powers are united in the Sultan's perion, the fubjects groan under the weight of a molt frightful oppreffion.

In the republics of Italy, where thefe three powers are united, there is lefs liberty than in our monarchies. Hence their government is obliged to have recourse to as violent methods for its fupport, as even that of the Turks; witness the flate inquifitors at Venice, and the lion's mouth, into which every informer may at all hours throw his written accufations.

What

What a fituation muft the poor subject be in under those republics! The fame body of magiftrates are poffeffed, as executors of the law, of the whole power they have given themfelves in quality of legilators. They may plunder the ftate by their general determinations; and, as they have likewife the judiciary power in their hands, every private citizen may be ruined by their particular decifions.

The whole power is here united in one body; and though there is no external pomp that indicates a defpotic fway, yet the people feel the effects of it every mo

ment.

Hence it is that many of the princes of Europe, whofe aim has been levelled at arbitrary power, have conftantly fet out with uniting in their own perfons all the branches of magiftracy, and all the great offices of itate.

I allow, indeed, that the mere hereditary aristocracy of the Italian republics, does not answer exactly to the defpotic power of the eastern princes. The number of magistrates fometimes foftens the power of the magiftracy; the whole body of the robles do not always concur in the faine defigns; and different tribunals are erected, that temper each other. Thus, at Venice, the legislative power is in the Council, the executive in the Pregadi, and the judiciary in the Quarantia. But the mifchief is, that thefe different tribunals are composed of magiftrates all belonging to the fame body, which conftitutes almoft one and the fame power.

The judiciary power ought not to be given to a ftanding fenate; it should be exercifed by perfons taken from the body of the people (as at Athens) at certain times of the year, and pursuant to a form and manner prefcribed by law, in order to erect a tribunal that fhould lat only as long as neceflity requires.

By this means the power of judging, a power fo terrible to mankind, not being annexed to any particular state or profeffion, becomes, as it were, invifible. People have not then the judges continually prefent to their view; they fear the office, but not the magistrate.

In accufations of a deep or criminal nature, it is proper the perfon accufed fhould have the privilege of chuting in fore meafure his judges, in concurrence with the law; or at least he fhould have a right to except againit fo great a number, that the remaining part may be deemed his own choice.

The other two powers may be given rather to magiftrates or permanent bodies, because they are not exercifed on any private fubject; one being no more than the general will of the ftate, and the other the execution of that general will.

But though the tribunals ought not to be fixed, yet the judgments ought, and to fuch a degree as to be always conformable to the exact letter of the law. Were they to be the private opinion of the judge, people would then live in fociety without knowing exactly the obligation it lays them.

under.

The judges ought likewife to be in the fame ftation as the accufed, or in other words, his peers, to the end that he may not imagine he is fallen into the hands of perfons inclined to treat him with rigour.

If the legislature leaves the executive power in poffeffion of a right to imprison thofe fubjects who can give fecurity for their good behaviour, there is an end of liberty; unless they are taken up, in order to aniwer without delay to a capital crime: in this cafe they are really free, being fubject only to the power of the law.

But thould the legislature think itself in danger by fome fecret confpiracy against the itate, or by a correfpondence with a foreign enemy, it might authorite the executive power, for a fhort and limited time, to imprison fufpected perions, who in that cafe would lote their liberty only for a while, to preferve it for ever.

And this is the only reasonable method that can be fubftituted to the tyrannical magiftracy of the Ephori, and to the state inquifitors of Venice, who are alfo defpotical.

As in a free ftate, every man who is fuppofed a free agent, ought to be his own governor; fo the legislative power fhould relide in the whole body of the people. But fince this is impofiible in large ftates, and in fmall ones is fubject to many inconveniences, it is fit the people should act by their representatives, what they cannot act by themfelves.

The inhabitants of a particular town are much better acquainted with its wants and interefts, than with thofe of other places; and are better judges of the capacity of their neighbours, than of that of the reft of their countrymen. The meinbers therefore of the legislature should not be chofen from the general body of the nation; but it is proper, that in every confiderable place, a reprefentative fhould be clested by

the inhabitants.

The