been able to subdue millions of his fellow creatures, and to tread on the neck of mankind; the motives which have put men upon action; and the weaknesses which have been the cause of the baffling of their schemes; the force of human passions, the weakness of reason, the influence which prejudices and attachments have on the conduct of men, the surprising heights to which virtue has raised some men, the difficulties conquered, the honours gained, and the lasting fame acquired by a disinterested love of their country, the madness on which ambition, covetousness, and love of pleasure have driven men; and through the whole, the influence of the unseen Providence disappointing the counsels of the wise; weakening the power of the mighty; putting down one, and raising another up; and working out its own great and important ends, by the weakness, the power, the virtue, the wickedness, the wisdom, and the folly of mankind.

History is the great instructor for all ranks in life, but especially the highest. For those who are besieged and blocked up by triple guards of flatterers, (whose chief care and great interest it is above all things to prevent the approach of truth) in history may see characters as great, or greater than their own, treated with the utmost plainness. There the haughty tyrant may see how a Nero was spoke of behind his back, though deified by the slavish knee of flattery. Thence he may judge how he himself will be spoken of by historians, who will no longer dread his menace after his head is laid in the dust. Thence he may judge how his character is perhaps now treated in the antichamber of his own palace, by the very sycophants whose servile tongues had, the moment before, been lavishing the fulsome and undistinguished applause on his worst vices, which they had sanctified with the title of princely virtues. History will faithfully lay before him his vari ous and important duty (for the higher the rank, the more extensive the sphere of duty to be performed) which those, who come into his presence, dare not, or oftener will not, instruct him in. There he will see the original of the institution of government, and learn, that power is given into the hands of one for the advantage of the many; not, according to the monstrous doctrine of tyranny and slavery, the many made for one, There he will learn every hon

est art of government, and can be engaged in no difficult circumstance, of which he will not find an example, and upon which he may not learn some useful instruction for governing mankind. For the human species have been from the beginning very much the same, and generally capable, by wise laws, strictly executed, by a judicious police universally prevailing, and by the powerful example of persons in high rank, of being governed and managed at the pleasure of able and politic princes. There he will see the difference between the real glory of a Titus, or an Alfred, and the horrible barbarity of a Philip or a Lewis. He may set his own character and actions at the distance of a few centuries, and judge in his own mind, whether he will then appear in the light of a devourer of his fellow creatures, or of the father of his people; of a wise and active monarch, or of a thing of shreds and patches; of an example to mankind of every sublime virtue, or a general corrupter of manners. History is the grand tribunal, before which princes themselves are, in the view of all mankind, arraigned, tried, and, often with the greatest freedom as well as impartiality, condemned to everlasting infamy. And though it is the mark of a truly great mind to dare to be virtuous at the expense of reputation; it is a proof of a soul sunk to the lowest baseness of human nature, to bear to think of deserving the contempt or hatred of all mankind, the wise and good, as well as the unthinking and worthless.

There is not indeed a lesson in the whole compass of morals, that is not in the most advantageous and pleasing way, to be learned in history and biography, taking in ancient and modern, sacred and profane. There the madness of ambition appears in a striking light. The dreadful ravages produced with that wide wasting fury, whenever she has possessed the frantic brain of a hero, and sent him, like a devouring fire, or an overflowing inundation, spreading destruction over the face of the earth; the numbers of the innocent and helpless, who have, in the different ages of the world, been spoiled and massacred, to make one fellow worm great; the human hecatombs, which have been offered to this infernal demon; the anxious hours of life, and the violent deaths, to which unthinking men have brought themselves, by the egregi

ous folly of flying from happiness in pursuit of the phantom of a name; the extensive and endlessly various views, which history exhibits, of the fatal consequences of this vice ought to teach the most inconsiderate the wisdom of contentment, and happiness of retirement.

In history we see the most illustrious characters, for that worth, which alone is real, the internal excellence of the mind, rising superior to the mean pursuit of riches, dignifying and sanctifying poverty by voluntarily embrac ing it. From thence we cannot help learning this important lesson; That the external advantages of wealth, tities, buildings, dress, equipage, and the like, are no more to the man, than the proud trappings to the horse, which add not to his value, and which we even remove before we can examine his soundness, and which may be put upon the stupid ass, as well as the generous steed.

The contrast we find in history between those nations and particular persons, who studied temperance and ab. stinence, and those whose beastly luxury renders them infamous to posterity, ought in all reason to convince the readers of history of the advantage of living agreeably to the Dignity of Human Nature. The spontaneous and voluntary approbation, which the heart immediately gives to virtue, where passion and prejudice are out of the way (as is the case where we consider the character of those who have been buried a thousand years ago,) seems to be the voice of God within the mind, calling it to the study and practice of whatever is truly laudable. Why does not every prince judge of himself with the same impartiality as he does of the Casirs? Why does a private person indulge himself in vices, which all mankind, and even himself, abhor in a Sardanapalus, or Heliogabalus ?

It would be easy to write a book, as large as this whole work, upon the moral advantages of the study of history. But to proceed:

The writers of ecclesiastical history may be as prop. erly mentioned here, as any where else, viz. Eusebius, Socrates, &c. Cave's Lives of the Fathers; Dapin's Ecclesiastical History; Histories of the Councils; Bower's History of the Popes; Chandler's of the Inquisition; Sledan's History of the Reformation in Germany; Brandt's in the

Low-Countries; Ruchat's in Switzerland; and Burnet's in England. To which add Whiston's Sacred History; Jortin's Remarks on Ecclesiastical History; and Mosheim's lately published work.

Biography is a species of history, with this peculiarity, that it exhibits more minutely the characters, and sets forth to view some which are too private for history, but which are not on that account less worthy of being known, but perhaps more so than those which, being more -exposed, were more disguised and affected, and consequently more remote from nature, the knowledge of which ought to be the object in view. There is no sort of reading more profitable than that of the lives and characters of wise and good men. To find that great lengths have been actually gone in learning and virtue, that high degrees of perfection have been actually attained by men like ourselves, entangled among the infirmities, the temptations, the opposition from wicked men, and the other various evils of life; how does this show us to ourselves as utterly inexcusable, if we do not endeavour to emulate the heights we know have been reached by others of our fellow creatures. Biography, in short, brings us to the most intimate acquaintance with the real characters of the illus trious dead; shows us what they have been, and conscquently what we ourselves may be; sets before us the whole character of a person who has made himself eminent either by his virtues or vices; shows us how he came first to take a right or wrong turn; how he afterwards proceeded greater and greater lengths; prospects which invited him to aspire to higher degrees of glory, or the delusions which misled him from his virtue and his peace; the circumstances which raised him to true greatness, or the rocks on which he split and sunk to infamy. And how can we more effectually, or in a more entertaining manner, learn the important lesson, what we ought to pursue, and what to avoid.

Besides Plutarch, Cornelius Nepos, Suetonius, and the rest of the ancient biographers, the moderns are to be consulted. The General Dictionary, continued by the writers of Biographia Britannica, is a vast treasure of this kind of knowledge. One cannot propose to peruse thoroughly such voluminous works. They are only to have

a place in a gentleman's library, and to be turned to at times, and select parts to be read and digested.

A general insight into the theoretical part of government, and law, seems necessary to the complete improvement of the mind. This may be best acquired by a careful attention to history, which shows the original of govment; its necessity and advantage to the world, when properly administered; its corruptions and errors; changes and revolutions; ruin and subversion, and their causes. This is the proper science of a gentleman of eminent rank, who has weight and influence in his country.

Proper helps for this study are the following, viz. Bacon, Locke, and Sidney, on Government; Harrington's and Sir Thomas More's Works; Grotius on the rights of War and Peace; Puffendorff's Law of Nature and Nations, with Barbeyrac's Notes; Milton's Political Works, which are to be read with large allowances, for his zeal for the party he was engaged in; Sir William Temple's Works; Castiglione's Courtier; Rymer's Fœdera; Wood's Institutes; L'Esprit des Loix; Domat's Civil Law; and The Statutes abridged.

The theory of commerce is closely connected with the foregoing. It is a subject highly worthy the attention of any person, who would improve himself with a general and extensively useful knowledge; and for persons in eminent and active stations is indispensably necessary. Those who have any concern with the legislature, and those who are at the head of cities and corporations, if they be deficient in knowledge of the interests of trade, are wanting in what is their proper calling. Every person who has either vote or interest in choosing a representative in parliament, ought to make it his business to know so much of the commerce of this country, as to know how, and by whom, it is likely to be promoted or discouraged. And if all was rightly regulated, it is to be questioned if any one ought to be an elector, who could not make a tolerable figure in the house, if not as a speaker, at least as

a voter.

To acquire some general understanding of the theory of trade and commerce, a gentleman may with advantage, use the following books, viz. Postlethwaite's Dictionary of Trade and Commerce; The British Merchant; Sir