of their own wants; but when they are only bound to us by moral obligation, they are held by the flender and uneven ties of mere opinion. Now chance or caprice have so great an effect on popular opinion, that its poffeffion is of all things the. moft uncertain. A man, who is folicitous of obtaining the. 'good opinion of mankind, by endeavouring to ferve them, muit make a total and perpetual facrifice of his own fense and fenfibility; he must regulate both his words and actions by the caprices of public opinion; renouncing, as it were, his own being, to affume an heterogeneous existence foreign to himself, and fimilar to that of the multitude. And this facrifice he muft make merely for the enjoyment of an imaginary good, which is every moment ready to efcape him. Where is the man, of the leaft elevation of foul, capable of acting long fo inconfiftently and abfurdly? There are two ways to induce others to cooperate with our defigns; the firft is by acquiring their approbation or confent to what we have an inclination to do; and the other by artfully taking the advantage of human weakness, to inculcate inceffantly their natural inferiority with regard to ourselves. It is by this method mankind are the most effectually fubjected to our pleafure; as they are thus bound by the most indiffoluble of all ties, that of fear. The most certain rule, by which to attain this end, is that of displaying on every proper occafion, an inconteftible fuperiority in point of fortitude or courage: this being a virtue the most confpicuous and commanding in all ages and all countries. There is a method, our author obferves, alfo, of depriving others of the opportunity of laying a reftraint on our powers of gratification; this is by withdrawing ourselves from fociety, and living in obfcurity under the protection of the laws. This laft condition, fays he, is abfolutely indifpenfible; left that sense of fuperiority, which is common to men in a ftate of fociety, fhould make them rufh into acts of injuftice against an helplefs folitary, incapable of refifting their violence. This laft method is the leaft perilous, as well as the leaft fubject to interruption from the caprices of others; and is therefore that which hath been generally preferred by the fages. A proper application of thefe principles, affifted by reflection, our author conceives, would greatly meliorate the lot of humanity, by ei tablishing an equilibrium between their defires and their means of gratification. There are but a few privileged minds, however, that he thinks capable of entering fo far into the neceffary examination of themfelves. The greater part of mankind, fays he, are like thofe; who, being wounded or difeafed, are afraid to look at their fores. The favages, having satisfied their phyfical wants, enjoy a ftate of perfect tranquillity; but in proportion as mankind recede from a state of folitude, they ac

N 43

quire

quire a multitude of focial ideas; from the confufion and disorder of which, arises a deep sense of their own weakness, and of a laffitude which makes even life itself a burthen *. Hence it is that we endeavour to go beyond that personal sphere, which seems too confined for our defires; to live, as it were, at a diftance from ourselves in the midst of society. Our lives become in general, habitually and meanly fubjected to the influence of prefent objects; to which, reflection very feldom opposes the image of those which are diftant: a confideration this, which is fufficient to give thofe, who can find enjoyment in folitude,. a sense of real fuperiority above the reft of mankind. To preferve this fuperiority also, it is highly neceflary to reflect maturely in every important action of our lives: by which means, we fhall the more rarely commit fuch as we may have reafon to repent. A good confcience is almost always the acquifition of reflection: for what is a good confcience, but a fenfe of the conformity of our actions with the rules of juftice; and what is juftice, but the conformity of actions with the laws of fociety? By the laws of fociety, however, our author does not mean the ftatutes or cuftoms of particular states; which may fometimes be even contradictory to thofe general rules, or principles by which all focieties fhould be regulated. He remarks in particular, that one of those laws which has ever had the greatest influence on mankind, is that univerfal notion to which we give the name of honour. Yet this notion which hath formerly effected fuch wonders, is frequently found to be in direct oppofition to particular inftitutions, both ecclefiaftical and civil.

This confideration leads our author into an examination of the nature of laws and the fundamental principles of fociety; after which he endeavours to fhew, that the moral duty and the political intereft of every individual, are the fame thing; the one term fignifying the genus, and the other the species. Thus our duty is our intereft regulated by law; altho' we may, it is true, in fome particular cafes, have an intereft where we are not bound in duty; because there are many actions, concerning which the laws are filent. It is impoffible, however, that our true interest should be contrary to the laws, becaufe it is a flat contradiction to pretend that it is our intereft

And yet, who that ever tafted, or has a tafle for the pleasures of fociety, would wish to have been a favage, or can envy that ftupid tranquillity which is here recommended? we may with indeed, that our defires had been more moderate, and our gratifications lefs exquifite, in order that we might have longer enjoyed the charms of fociety without difguft. But tho' we look back on past pleasure with regret, we cannot look forward at indifference with delight,

to

to purchase even a great pleasure at the price of a greater pain.

One of the principal conditions of human happiness, says this writer, is the acquifition of a juft knowlege of mankind, the connections by which they are bound, and the relations in which they stand to each other. He feems to think, alfo, that this knowledge is to be acquired to fuch a degree, as to fet our opinion above the cafual influence of particular events and circumftances: none of which fhould in fuch a cafe, prevent our forming a juft eftimate of men and things. But, by whom is this acquifition to be made? By a man poffeffed equally of courage and candour; without affectation and without weakness; equally distant from an unpolished severity of manners, as from a despicable and complacent fervility. If fuch a man could be found, indeed, he would bid fair to be as happy, as our author's advice could make him; but we fear, that in this age of timidity, dependence and irrefolution, the generality of his readers will be apt to think the greater part of what he hath advanced, to be merely fine talking! It is doubtlefs much eafier to fay than to do but it does by no means invalidate the truth of a propofition, or fhew the impracticability of a defign, to say it is eafier faid than DONE.

L'Antiquité dévoilée par fes ufages.

K

Antiquity unveiled; or a critical Enquiry into the principal Opinions, Ceremonies and Inftitutions, religious and political, of the different Inhabitants of the Earth. By the late Mr. Boulanger. 2 Vols. 12mo. Amfterdam, 1766.

a letter prefixed to this performance, we have fome account

who profeffes himfelf to have been his intimate friend, fpeaks with a degree of warmth that evidently borders on partiality. The well known talents, however, of Mr. Boulanger, may. fufficiently apologize, if not justify, this inftance of the letterwriter's regard for his deceased friend. There is, indeed, fomething fo fingular in his account of the progrefs of this author's genius, that we cannot refift the temptation of felecting a few : paffages from this introductory epiftle.

After having acquainted the reader that Mr. Boulanger was remarkably dull and backward in his learning when a schoolboy, he proceeds to inform us, that when about the age of 18, our author applied himself with fuccefs to the study of the mathematics and architecture; in confequence of which he afterwards was made engineer, and was appointed to execute

feveral difficult works in the conftruction of the highway's and bridges in Champaigne, Lorraine, Burgundy, and other provinces of France. It was in the midft of this active and laborious employment, that he first conceived the defign of enquiring into the ancient ftate of that earth, whofe furface daily afforded him proofs of the great variety of changes it must neceffarily have undergone. Il vit, (fays this writer) la multitude des fubftances diverfes, que la terre recéle dans fon fein, et qui atteftent fon ancienneté et la fuite innombrable de fes revolutions fous l'aftre qui l'eclaire; les climats changés, et les contrées qu'un foleil perpendiculaire brulit autrefois, maintenant effleurées de fes rayons obliques et paffagers, et chargée de glaces éternelles; il ramafla du bois, des pierres, des coquilles: il vit dans nos carrieres l'empreinte des plantes qui naiffent fur la côte de l'Inde; la charrue retourner, dans nos champs, des êtres dont les analogues fn' cachés dans l'abîme des mers; l'homme couché au nord fur les os de l'elephant, et fe promenant ici fur la demeure des baleines; il vit la nourriture d'un monde préfent croiffant fur la furface de cent mondes paffes: il confidera Pordre que les couches de la terre gardoient entre elles: ordre tantôt fi regulier, tantôt fi troublé, qu'ici le globe tout neuf femble fortir des mains du grand ouvrier; la n'offrir qu'un cahos ancien qui cherche à fe debrouiller ailleurs que les ruines d'un vafie édifice renversé, redftruit et renversé derechef, fans qu'à travers tant de bouleverfemens fucceffifs, l'imagination même puifje remonter au premier."

It was from thefe obfervations, and his reflections on the great revolutions which must have happened in the natural hiftory of the earth, that he was led to confider the influence which fuch numerous changes in the phyfical ftate of foils and climates muft neceflarily have had over its inhabitants: hence arofe a variety of conjectures in his mind concerning the primitive ftate of fociety, of religion, and of government. It was neceffary, however, to verify thefe conjectures by comparing them with the facts recorded in hiftory, or tranfmitted by tradition. To this end he applied himmelf to the latin writers ; but first of all was obliged to learn their language, and even when he had obviated this difficulty, he found himself little the better; the Latins were too ignorant and too modern. He betook himself, therefore, to the Greeks; learned their language, and prefently ran through their poets, philofophers and hiftorians: but in these he was equally disappointed; the Greek writers being full of fictions, falfchoods and mifrepresentations. He concluded, therefore, he might find greater fatisfaction in his researches into the Hebrew, Syriac, Chaldean and Arabic write's all which languages he undertook to learn, and foon made himself a competent mafler of them. Such was the refolution, labour and perfeverance of our author, in compaffing his favourite point. How far the fuccefs of his attempts to decy

pher

pher the Heathen mythology, and reconcile it to the hiftory of natural caufes, may have rewarded the trouble of fuch preparatory application, must be gathered from the work itfelf: of which we fhall endeavour to give our readers a general idea of the contents and design.

It is remarkable, (fays Mr. Boulanger) that in turning over the histories both of ancient and modern times, we find almost every people upon earth poffeffed of traditions, concerning fome extraordinary changes which have formerly happened in nature. Some tell us of deluges and inundations, that fwept away the greater part of mankind; others of devouring conflagrations, equally deftructive of our species; and fome even of alterations in the course of the fun, and the planets. These traditions, however dubious in regard to particulars, give fufficient caufe in general for a fufpicion, that there was a time when the face of things was very different from what it hath been for all known ages; and that the phyfical revolutions of nature have given caufe to as great variety of political revolutions in the state of fociety. The obfcurity of these traditions, and the diftance of time fince the facts related are fupposed to have happened, have rendered them very uninteresting to the generality of mankind. Nay fo very indifferent are most perfons with regard to fuch facts, that they not only call in queftion the reality, but even the poffibility, of their having ever happened. What numbers, for inftance, difbelieve entirely the relation of an univerfal deluge, an hiftorical tenet which prevails only among the ignorant, who blindly adopt the traditions of their forefathers, or among thofe few of the learned who are accustomed to trace in nature itself, the evidence of its own hiftory! The fcience of phyfics, is indeed become, with regard to the latter, as Fontenelle forefaw, a kind of theology; of whofe principles and tenets they are the more tenacious, as here they feem to ground their faith on actual experience and this will not eafily admit of either scepticism or infidelity. We are not, however, to confound the naturalifts with the populace. The latter believe, the former know. It is in their province therefore, to delineate the picture of those terreftrial revolutions, of which they every where meet with fuch undoubted proofs; and to preferve their obfervations in the archives of the fciences, where they may ferve as monuments of nature, to verify and correct hiftorical relations: and may perhaps be themfelves fometimes illuftrated by tradition. This is the only method to difcover that chain by which they are united, and to reconcile the precifion of natural knowledge with the general hiftory of facts.

The most uteful part of hiftory, (fays this author) is not dry and barren relation of particular manners, customs, and

events j