"fentation ;" and he affured them, that in spite of every obftacle, their inftitution would be received in France. In this he was a prophet; the Parliament of Paris foon afterwards confented to the establishment of the Jefuits in France, as fuppofing them peculiarly fitted to the converfion of the Proteftants of that country; and the Founder died in 1556, in the zenith of his glory.

Lainez, with whom Loyola very early affociated himself, was the politician of the Society. His first step was to get the Generalship of the Order made perpetual, and to give it immense. powers; as that of making every kind of contract without taking the opinion of any individual of the Order; of giving authority and authenticity to the Commentaries and Declarations upon the Conftitutions of the Order; of making new laws, and of changing and interpreting the old laws, of the Society; and of having prifons for the confinement of the refractory members. This unlimited power of the General was at the time confidered by fome of the best-intentioned Members of the Society as a substitution of art and of politics merely human, to the piety and the fimplicity which ought to accompany a religious Order, and in the end proved fatal to the Jesuits, as it was the article of their Institution which gave moft offence to the Parliaments of France.

Indeed,

Indeed, what can be imagined fo formidable and dangerous as a body of twenty thousand* men, of different talents and purfuits, all united together under one Chief, in whose hands they are mere automatons. The Jefuits who taught school kept registers of the characters of their scholars, which they occafionally fent to their Antients and their General. Crebillon the French Tragic Poet was thus defcribed: "Puer infignis ingenii, "Sed magnus nebulo." Of Fontenelle they faid, "Puer omnibus numeris abfolutus:

The plan of study adopted by the Jefuits in their Colleges has been printed with this title, " Ratio “Studiorum, 1586." They are faid by Dumou rier, who was brought up by them, to have been extremely fuccefsful in the art of flattering the felf-love of their fcholars, and making them apply by a well-directed vanity.

Of the many excellent political maxims with which this great writer abounds, there are per

* To this number the Society was faid to amount at the time of its diffolution.

haps

haps none which fhew greater profundity of observation, and may be perused with more utility to mankind in general, than the following:

"That liberty which mankind in general esteem "with fo much reafon, is not independence; for, " indeed, how could a Society fupport itself in " which the members were all independent one of the other? The great advantage to be "expected from liberty is, that justice should be

exactly and equally administered to every one.

"All States and Governments that now exist "were established by force. The authority of

Emperors, of Kings, and even of Republics "themselves, has no other origin; from which "circumstance two confequences are to be

drawn. The firft, that if one goes to the "fource of any Government whatsoever, there is

no power which is entirely legal; but as this "defect is common to all Governments, it be

comes a matter of indifference to each of "them. The other confequence is, that great "care fhould be taken not to alter the Govern"ment which happens to be established; for Re"volutions are not effected with lefs mifchiefs "than Establishments; and unhappy are those perfons who chance to be living at any critical "and tempeftuous period of a Government " which is to end by a Revolution."

VOL. III.

I

He

4

He has also these excellent maxims respecting War:

"Enter into no war but that which is juft. "No war can be juft, unless it be for the faving "of the honour or the estate of a Prince or "Nation. Therefore, when two Princes are in "arms, and neither of these two jewels in any

danger or prejudice, engage thyself with "neither; for in this cafe it is better to be a "looker-on than an abettor."

"It is easier to prevent than to cure a dangerous "difeafe, and you can fooner keep out than thrust

out an unwelcome gueft. Such a dangerous "disease, and fo unwelcome a guest, is war to

any country. Wife Princes, therefore, keep it "as far from home as they can, and never quench "the fire in their neighbour's houfe to kindle it ce in their own.”

"Great affairs," fays this Hiftorian, “require many heads to advise and many hands to accomplish; one brain is not capable of so great "a charge; one arm is infufficient for fo great a "burden. A Prince, therefore, ought not to "remain fo obftinate in his own opinion, though

grounded upon probable fuppofition, as not to "yield to his faithful Counsellors upon more "forcible and demonftrative reasons. For he

" that

< that refuseth all advice is worse than a beaft ; " he that ftands in need of no counsel is more "than a man."

"Weak appetites," continues Guicciardini, are inticed to take unwholesome meats by the favoury relish which an able Cook knows how "to give them. So the Politician draws on his "confederates to actions of danger and difficulty,

by feasoning them with the pleasant sauce of "profit and of interest: for States are without "natural affections, and do not contract friend

fhips as individuals do, by fympathy of incli"nation and fimilitude of manners; it is a par"ticular advantage that unites them together."

"Nature yields for man's ufe," adds Guicciardini, "the bud, the flower, and the fruit. If "he chufes to have the flower for his pleasure, " he must not nip off the bud. If he wishes to

enjoy the fruit, he must not crop the flower. "So in the actions of man, he must fuffer every "precedent cause to ripen and have its season, "if he would reap the fruit of a desired effect. "It is, therefore, a well-grounded deliberation in "States not to fnatch greedily at the flower of a "fair appearance, except it certainly bring with "it the fruit of profit. So in the undertaking of