times feems even to labour with fomewhat of the earnestness, and with all the kill of an advocate, in favour of the conduct of the Roman government toward the Chriftians; and fo far from allowing merit in the early martyrdoms, they hardly escape the imputation of fome degree of guilt. This is managed with great dexterity, and often with a delicate vein of irony -It is impoffible to misunderstand, or wholly to approve of the defign of the author in this part of his work. He did not probably expect, or perhaps with, that his opinions and fentiments should reft altogether without contradiction or oppofion; it is however a controverfy in which we are not called upon for our opinion, and fhall not prefume to offer any decision. The extract we shall offer to our readers, is the conclufion of the third chapter. "If a man were called to fix the period in the history of the world, during which the condition of the human race was moft happy and profperous, he would, without hefitation, name that which elapfed from the death of Domitian to the acceffion of Commodus. The vast extent of the Roman empire was governed by abfolute power, under the guidance of virtue and wisdom. The armies were reftrained by the firm but gentle hand of four fucceffive emperors, whofe characters and authority commanded involentary refpect. The forms of the civil administration were carefully preferved by Nerva, Trajan, Hadrian, and the Antonines, who delighted in the image of liberty, and were pleafed with confidering themselves as the accountable minifters of the laws. Such princes deferved the honour of restoring the republic, had the Romans of their days been capable of enjoying a rational freedom. "The labours of thefe monarchs were overpaid by the immenfe reward that infeparably waited on their fuccefs; by the honeft pride of virtue, and by the exquifite delight of beholding the general happiness of which they were the authors. A juft, but melancholy reflection embittered, however, the nobleft of human enjoyments. They muft often have recollected the inftability of a happiness which depended on the character of a single man. The fatal moment was perhaps approaching, when fome i centious youth, or fome jealous tyrant would abufe, to the deAruction, that abfolute power, which they had exerted for the benefit of their people. The ideal reftraints of the fenate and the laws might ferve to display the virtues, but could never correct the vices, of the emperor. The military force was a blind and irrefiftible inftrument of oppreffion; and the corruption of Roman manners would always fupply flatterers eager to applaud, and minifters prepared to serve, the fear or the avarice, the luft or the cruelty, of their masters. "These gloomy apprehenfions had been already juftified by the experience of the Romans. The annals of the emperors exhibit a ftrong and various picture of human nature, which we fhould vainly feek among the mixed and doubtful characters of modern history. In the conduct of those monarchs we may trace the utmoft lines of vice and virtue; the most exalted perfection, and the meanest dege. Яteracy neracy of our own fpecies. The golden age of Trajan and the Antonines had been preceded by an age of iron. It is almoft fuperfluous to enumerate the unworthy fucceffors of Auguftus. Their unparalleled vices, and the fplendid theatre on which they were acted, have faved them from oblivion. The dark unrelenting Tiberius, the furious Caligula, the ftupid Claudius, the profligate and cruel Nero, the beaftly Vitellius, and the timid, inhuman Domitian, are condemned to everlasting infamy. Daring fourscore years (excepting only the fhort and doubtful refpite of Vefpafian's reign) Rome groaned beneath an unremitting tyranny, which exterminated the ancient families of the republic, and was fatal to almost every virtue, and every talent, that arofe in that unhappy period. "Under the reign of these monflers, the flavery of the Romans was accompanied with two peculiar circumstances, the one occafioned by their former liberty, the other by their extenfive conquefts, which rendered their condition more wretched than that of the victims of tyranny in any other age or country. From thefe caufes were derived, 1. The exquifite fenfibility of the fufferers; and, 2. The impoffibility of escaping from the hand of the oppreffor. "I. When Perfia was governed by the defcendants of Sefi, a race of princes, whofe wanton cruelty often stained their divan, their table, and their bed, with the blood of their favourites, there is a faying recorded of a young nobleman, That he never departed from the fultan's prefence, without fatisiying himself whether his head 6 The was ftill on his fhoulders. experience of every day might almost juftify the fcepticism of Ruf tan. Yet the fatal fword fufpended above him by a fingle thread, feems not to have disturbed the flumbers, or interrupted the tranquillity, of the Perfian. The mo narch's frown, he well knew, could level him with the duft; but the ftroke of lightning or apoplexy might be equally fatal: and it was the part of a wife man, to forget the inevitable calamities of human life in the enjoyment of the fleeting hour. He was dignified with the appellation of the king's flave; had, perhaps, been purchafed from obfcure parents, in a country which he had never known; and was trained up from his infancy in the fevere discipline of the feraglio. His name, his wealth, his honours, were the gift of a mafter, who might, without injuftice, refume what he had beftowed. Ruftan's knowledge, if he poffeffed any, could only ferve to confirm his habits by prejudices His language afforded not words for any form of government, except abfolute monarchy. The hif tory of the eaft informed him, that fuch had ever been the condition of mankind. The Koran, and the interpreters of that divine book, inculcated to him, that the fultan was the defcendant of the prophet and the vicegerent of Heaven; that patience was the firft virtue of a Muffulman, and unlimited obedience the great duty of a subject. The minds of the Romans were very differently prepared for flavery. Oppreffed beneath the weight of their own corruption and of military violence, they for a long long while preferved the fenti- tyrant beheld their baseness with ments, or at leaft the ideas, of juft contempt, and encountered their freeborn ancestors. The edu- their fecret fentiments of devastacation of Helvidius and Thrasea, tion with fincere and avowed of Tacitus and Pliny, was the fame hatred for the whole body of the as that of Cato and Cicero. From fenate. Grecian philofophy, they had imbibed the jufteft and moft liberal notions of the dignity of human nature, and the origin of civil fociety. The history of their own country had taught them to revere a free, a virtuous, and a victorious commonwealth; to abhor the fuccefsful crimes of Cæfar and Auguftus; and inwardly to defpife thofe tyrants whom they adored with the most abject flattery. As magiftrates and fenators they were admitted into the great council, which had once dictated laws to the earth, whofe name ftill gave a fanction to the acts of the monarch, and whose authority was fo often prostituted to the vileft purpofes of tyranny. Tiberius, and thofe emperors who adopted his maxims, attempted to difguife their - murders by the formalities of juftice, and perhaps enjoyed a fecret plea. fure in rendering the fenate their accomplice, as well as their victim. By this affembly, the laft of the Romans were condemned for imaginary crimes and real virtues. Their infamous accufers affumed the language of independent patriots, who arraigned a dangerous citizen before the tribunal of his country; and the public fervice was rewarded by riches and honours. The fervile judges profeffed to affert the majesty of the commonwealth, violated in the perfon of its first magiftrate, whofe clemency they molt applauded when they trembled the most at his inexorable and impending cruelty. The "II. The divifion of Europe into a number of independent ftates, connected, however, with each other, by the general refemblance of religion, language, and manners, is productive of the most beneficial confequences to the li berty of mankind. A modern tyrant, who fhould find no refiftance either in his own breast, or in his people, would foon experience a gentle reftraint from the example of his equals, the dread of present cenfure, the advice of his allies, and the apprehenfion of his enemies. The object of his difpleafure, efcaping from the narrow limits of his dominions, would eafily obtain, in a happier climate, a fecure refuge, a new fortune adequate to his merit, the freedom of complaint, and perhaps the means of revenge. But the empire of the Romans filled the world, and when that empire fell into the hands of a fingle perfon, the world became a fecure and dreary prifon for his enemies. The flave of Imperial defpotifm, whether he was demned to drag his gilded chain in Rome and the fenate, or to wear out a life of exile on the barren rock of Seriphus, or the frozen banks of the Danube, expected his fate in filent defpair. To refift was fatal, and it was impoffible to fly. On every fide he was encompaffed with a vast extent of sea and land, which he could never hope to traverse without being difcovered, feized, and restored to his irritated mafter. Beyond the frontiers, his con anxious TH un HE growth and decay of nations have frequently afforded topics of admiration and complaint to the moralift and declaimer: they have fometimes exercised the fpeculations of the politician; but they have feldom been confidered in all their caufes and combinations by the philofopher. The French œconomical writers doubtedly have their merit. Within this century they have opened the way to a rational theory, on the fubjects of agriculture, manufactures, and commerce. But no one work has appeared amongst them, nor perhaps could there be collected from the whole together, any thing to be compared to the prefent performance, for fagacity and penetration of mind, extent of views, accurate diftinction, just and natural connection, and dependence of parts. It is a compleat analyfis of fociety, beginning with the first rudiments of the fimpleft manual labour, and rifing by an eafy and VOL. XIX. natural gradation to the higheft attainments of mental powers. In which courfe not only arts and commerce, but finance, justice, public police, the economy of armies, and the fyftem of education, aré confidered and argued upon, often profoundly, always plaufibly and clearly; many of the fpeculations are new, and time will be required before a certain judgment can be paffed on their truth and folidity. The style of the author may be fometimes thought diffufe, but it must be remembered that the work is didactic, that the author means to teach, and teach things that are by no means obvious. We cannot better state the nature and plan of his work, than by laying before the reader the doctor's own very fhort introduction. "The annual labour of every nation is the fund which origi nally fupplies it with all the neceffaries and conveniences of life which it annually confumes, and which confifts always, either in the immediate produce of that labour, or in what is purchafed with that produce from other nations. According, therefore, as this produce, or what is purchafed with it, bears a greater or fmaller proportion to the number of those who are to confume it, the nation will be better or worfe supplied with all the neceffaries and conveniences for which it has occafion. "But this proportion must in every nation be regulated by two different circumstances; first, by the fkill, dexterity, and judgment, with which labour is generally applied in it; and, fecondly, by the pro-, portion between the number of thofe who are employed in useful labour, and that of those who are not fo employed. Whatever be the foil, climate, or extent of territory of any particular nation, the abundance or fcantinefs of its annual fupply muft, in that particular fituation, depend upon thofe two circumftances. "The causes of this improvement, in the productive powers of labour, and the order according to which its produce is naturally distributed among the different ranks and conditions of men in the fociety, make the subject of the first book of this enquiry. "Whatever be the actual ftate of the fkill, dexterity, and judgment, with which labour is applied in any nation, the abundance or fcantinefs of its annual supply muft depend, during the continuance of that ftate, upon the proportion between the number of thofe who are annually employed in ufeful labour, and that of those who are not fo employed. The number of ufeful and productive labourers, it will hereafter appear, "The abundance or fcantinefs of this fupply too feems to depend more upon the former of those two circumftances than upon the lat ter. Among the favage nations of hunters and fishers, every individual who is able to work, is more or less employed in ufeful labour, and endeavours to provide, as well as he can, the neceffaries and conveniences of life for himfelf, and fuch of his family or tribe as are either too old, or too young, or too infirm, to go a hunting and fishing. Such nations, however, are fo miferably poor, that, from is every where in proportion to mere want, they are frequently the quantity of capital fock which reduced, or, at leaft, think them- is employed in fetting them to felves reduced, to the neceffity work, and to the particular way fometimes of directly deftroying, in which it is fo employed. The and fometimes of abandoning their Second Book, therefore, treats of infants, their old people, and those the nature of capital stock, of the afflicted with lingering difeafes, manner in which it is gradually to perish with hunger, or to be accumulated, and of the different devoured by wild beafts. Among quantities of labour which it puts civilized and thriving nations, on into motion, according to the difthe contrary, though a great num- ferent ways in which it is ember of people do not labour at all, ployed. many of whom confume the produce of ten times, frequently of a hundred times more labour than the greater part of those who work; yet the produce of the whole la bour of the fociety is fo great, that all are often abundantly fupplied, and a workman, even of the loweft and poorest order, if he is frugal and induftrious, may enjoy a greater fhare of the neceffaries and conveniences of life than it is poffible for any favage to acquire. "Nations tolerably well advanced as to kill, dexterity, and judgment, in the application of labour, have followed very dif ferent plans in the general conduct or direction of it; and those plans have not all been equally favourable to the greatnefs of its produce. The policy of fome nations has given extraordinary encouragement to the industry of the country; that of others to the induftry of towns. Scarce any nation has dealt equally and |