defirable, and fo falutary, fuperftition frequently disputes the afcendant even with the admiration of valour; and an order of men, like the Druids among the ancient Gauls and Britons*, or fome pretender to divination, as at the Cape of Good Hope, finds, in the credit which is paid to his forcery, a way to the poffeffion of power: his magic wand comes in competition with the fword itself; and, in the manner of the Druids, gives the first rudiments of civil government to fome, or, like the fuppofed defcendant of the fun among the Natchez, and the Lama among the Tartars, to others, an early tafte of defpot ifm and abfolute flavery.

WE are generally at a lofs to conceive how mankind can fubfift under cuftoms and manners extremely different from our own; and we are apt to exaggerate the misery of barbarous times, by an imagination of what we ourfelves fhould fuffer in a fituation to which we are not ac customed. But every age hath its confolations, as well as its fufferings t. In the interval of

* Cæfar.

Prifcus, when employed on an embaffy to Attila, was accofted in Greek, by a perfon who wore the dress of a Scythian. Having expreffed furprize, and being defirous to know the caufe of his ftay in fo wild a company, was told, that this Greek had been a captive, and for fome time a flave, till he obtained his liberty in reward of fome remarkable action. "I live more happily here," fays he, "than

ever I did under the Roman government: for they "who live with the Scythians, if they can endure the fatigues of war, have nothing else to moleft them;

M

occafional outrages, the friendly intercourfes of men, even in their rudeft condition, is affectionate and happy *. In rude ages, the perfons and properties of individuals are fecure; becaufe each has a friend, as well as an enemy; and if the one is disposed to moleft, the other is ready to protect; and the very admiration of valour, which in fome inftances tends to fanctify violence, infpires likewise certain maxims of generosity and honour, that tend to prevent the commiffion of wrongs.

MN bear with the defects of their policy, as they do with hardships and inconveniencies in their manner of living. The alarms and the fatigues of war become a neceffary recreation to those who are accustomed to them, and who have the tone of their paffions raised above lefs animating or trying occafions. Old men, among the courtiers of Attila, wept, when they heard of heroic deeds, which they themselves could no longer performt. And among the Celtic "they enjoy their poffeffions undisturbed: whereas you << are continually a prey to foreign enemies, or to bad government; you are forbid to carry arms in your own ર defence; you fuffer from the remiffness and ill conduct "of those who are appointed to protect you; the evils of peace are even worfe than thofe of war; no punishment "is ever inflicted on the powerful or the rich: no mercy "is fhown to the poor; although your inftitutions were wifely devifed, yet in the management of corrupted men, their effects are pernicious and cruel." Excerpta de legationibus.

t

દ

t

* D'Arvieux's Hiftory of the Wild Arabs.

Ibid.

nations, when age rendered the warrior unfit for his former toils, it was the custom, in order to abridge the languors of a liftlefs and inactive life, to fue for death at the hands of his friends *.

WITH all this ferocity of fpirit, the rude nations of the Weft were fubdued by the policy and more regular warfare of the Romans. The point of honour, which the barbarians of Europe adopted as individuals, exposed them to a peculiar disadvantage, by rendering them, even in their national wars, averfe to affailing their enemy by surprise, or taking the benefit of ftratagem; and though feparately bold and intrepid, yet, like other rude nations, they were, when affembled in great bodies, addicted to fuperftition, and fubject to panics,

THEY were, from a consciousness of their perfonal courage and force, fanguine on the eve of battle; they were, beyond the bounds of moderation, clated on fuccefs, and dejected in adver fity; and being disposed to confider every event as a judgment of the gods, they were never qualified by an uniform application of prudence to make the most of their forces, to repair their misfortunes, or to improve their advantages.

RESIGNED to the government of affection and paffion, they were generous and faithful where they had fixed an attachment; implacable, froward, and cruel, where they had conceived a

* Ubi tranfcendit florentes viribus annos, Impatiens ævi fpernit noviffe fenectam.

Silius, lib. 1. 225.

diflike addicted to debauchery, and the immoderate use of intoxicating liquors, they deliberated on the affairs of ftate in the heat of their riot: and in the fame dangerous moments, conceived the defigns of military enterprife, or terminated their domeftic diffenfions by the dagger or the fword.

IN their wars they preferred death to captivity. The victorious armies of the Romans, in entering a town by affault, or in forcing an incampment, have found the mother in the act of deftroying her children, that they might not be taken; and the dagger of the parent, red with the blood of his family, ready to be plunged at laft into his own breaft *.

IN all these particulars we perceive that vigour of fpirit, which renders diforder itself refpectable, and which qualifies men, if fortunate in their fituation, to lay the basis of domestic liberty, as well, as to maintain against foreign enemies their national independence and freedom.

* Liv. lib. xli. 11. Dio. Caff.

165

PART THIRD.

OF THE HISTORY OF

POLICY AND ART S.

SECTION I

Of the Influences of Climate and Situation. WHAT we have hitherto obferved on the condition and manners of nations, though chiefly derived from what has paffed in the temperate climates, may, in fome measure, be applied to the rude ftate of mankind in every part of the earth but if we intend to purfue the hiftory of our fpecies in its further attainments, we may foon enter on fubjects which will confine our obfervation to narrower limits. The genius of political wisdom, and of civil arts, appears to have chofen his feats in particular tracts of the earth, and to have felected his favourites in particular races of men.

MAN, in his animal capacity, is qualified to fubfift in every climate. He reigns with the lion and the tyger under the equatorial heats of the fun, or he affociates with the bear and the raindeer beyond the polar circle. His verfatile difpofition fits him to affume the habits of either