THIS animal derives its name from the covering that nature has bestowed upon it, which is a close compact coat of armour, so exceedingly well fitted for defence, and so much resembling the armour of our forefathers, that, had the animal been a native of Europe, we might naturally have conjectured that man had taken his first hint of a coat of mail from this animal. The structure of the fhell of the armadillo is, however, far more elegant and commodious than any of the inventions of man; and the animal, though completely armed, moves with nearly as much freedom, and has as much command of all the joints of its body, as if it were covered with a soft flexible skin.

Aug. 8. All this clafs of animals, of which there are many varieties, are natives of south America. They are all covered with a strong crust or fhell, nearly as impenetrable as that of the tortoise; and are distinguished from each other by the number of flexible bands of which it is composed. They differ from each other in various other particulars; but, in general, there are two large pieces that cover the fhoulders and the rump, between which lie the bands. These bands are not unlike those in the tail of a lobster; and, being flexible, give way to the motions of the animal. The bands and other parts of the fhell are ornamented with a vast variety of figures, which render this covering no less beautiful than convenient.

It is a harmlefs inoffensive animal; feeds on roots, fruits, and other vegetables; grows very fat; and is greatly esteemed for the delicacy of its flefh.

No attempt has yet been made, to domesticate this animal; though, if it were capable of being tamed, it would probably add considerably to the luxuries of the table, and the emolument of the farmer. The Indrans hunt it with small dogs trained for that purpose. It burrows under ground like the rabbit. When surprised it runs to its hole; or if it cannot get to it, attempts to make a new one, which it does with great expedition, having strong claws on its fore feet, with which it adheres so firmly to the ground, that, if it should be caught by the tail whilst making its way into the earth, its resistance is so great, that it will sometimes leave it in the hands of the pursuers. To avoid this, the hunter has recourse to artifice; and, by tickling it with a stick, it gives up

155 its hold, and suffers itself to be taken alive. If no other means of escape be left, it rolls itself up within its covering, by drawing in its head and legs, and bringing its tail round them, as a band to connect them more forcibly together; in this situation it sometimes escapes, by rolling itself over the edge of a precipice, and generally falls to the bottom unhurt,

The most successful method of catching armadilloes is by snares laid for them by the sides of rivers, or other places where they frequent. They all burrow very deep in the ground, and seldom stir abroad, except during the night, whilst they are in search of food.

The figure prefixed represents the six banded ar madillo, called TATOU. It is about the size of á young pig; between the folds of the bands are a few scattered hairs; its belly and thighs are covered with long hairs; its tail is long, thick at the base, and tapers to a point. It is found in Brazil and Guiana.

TIMOLEON's SECOND LETTER.

To the people of Great Britain.

AGREEABLE to my promise I now proceed to offer some observations on the question, "In what hands may power, in the administration of government, be most safely intrusted; and under what modifications: ought it to be put, so as to guard the most effectually against the abuses of it?"

This question, I conceive, can only be properly answered by having recourse to experience; for as to speculative reasoning, in matters of this sort, no reliance can safely be had upon it.

Aug. 8. In looking back to the history of past times, we find that the earliest form of government that can be traced is the regal: and the royal authority in the Asiatic dominions, in general, seems to have been subject to few restraints. As far as their history can be traced, the decrees of the prince constituted the law of the land. Despotism appears to have been congenial to these climates. And it has there taken such firm root as still to prevail in that fine country. Human nature, of course, appears in Asia only in a degraded state. The faculties of the mind seem not to have been there ever fully developed. Their vicious system of government reprefses every noble exertion; and we there look in vain for that energetic ardour which conscious independence can alone inspire.

From Asia, we have good reason to believe that Europe was originally peopled. And the colonies which migrated from thence naturally introduced the same form of government they had experienced at home. In this way we find that the earliest states in Europe, that occur in history, were subjected to regal authority: but by degrees the people becoming sensible of the abuses to which power gave rise among them, endeavoured to vindicate their rights, by not only destroying the tyrants, but also by subjecting those who were intrusted with sovereign sway, to various restraints, with a view to prevent those evils which unlimited power in the sovereign had engendered. To circumstances of this sort we are to attribute the origin of what has been called the

free states of Greece, and the establishment of the Roman republic.

The devices which these people adopted for curbing the power of the first magistrate were various and the effects of these changes in the administration of government soon became apparent. Man, in these free states, became a more active, a more bustling, a more turbulent animal than formerly. These ef fects cannot be denied. It is, however, somewhat difficult to answer a question that modern philosophers have started, viz. whether the happiness of the human race, was, upon the whole, 'augmented, or diminished by the changes? On the one hand, there seems to be no doubt but the faculties of the human mind were thus enlarged. But whether, as in paradise, the knowledge of good, did not also introduce with it the knowledge of evil, in a yet higher degree, is difficult to say. All that we are authorised to pronounce with certainty, from a review of these ancient free states, is, that the changes they adopted in their form of government were by no means calculated to produce the effect intended; for though power was thus taken from one set of persons, and given to another, it was still liable to be abused; and these abuses became in a fhort time so great, as to end in the total overthrow of the respective constitutions of government, and enslavement of the people in all of them. The existence of all these free states was short: the whole course of their political life was "a troubled stream :" private property was never among them effectually secured; manufactures and industry were scarcely there known: