proportionate to the principal work. I have therefore reserved thefe for a separate history; which, if the performance now offered to the publick shall receive its approbation, I propofe to undertake. THOUGH, by omitting fuch confiderable but detached articles in the reign of Charles V. I have circumfcribed my narration within more narrow limits, I am yet perfuaded, from this view of the intention and nature of the work which I thought it neceffary to lay before my readers, that the plan must still appear to them too extenfive, and the undertaking too arduous, I have often felt them to be fo. But my conviction of the utility of fuch a hiftory prompted me to persevere. With what fuccefs I have executed it, the publick muft now judge. I wait, in folicitude, for its decifion, to which I shall submit with a refpectful filence. A VIE W OF THE PROGRESS OF SOCIETY I N EUROPE, FROM THE SUBVERSION OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE TO THE BEGINNING OF THE SIXTEENTH CENTURY. SECTION I View of the Progrefs of Society in Europe, with re- T The effects on the ftate AWO great revolutions have happened in SECT. I. the political state, and in the manners of the European nations. The firft was of the Rooccafioned by the progrefs of the Roman pow-man power er; the second by the fubverfion of the Ro- of Europe. man Empire. When the fpirit of conqueft led the armies of Rome beyond the Alps, they found all the countries which they invaded, inhabited by people whom they denominated barVOL. I. B barians, SECT. I. barians, but who were nevertheless brave and independent. These defended their antient poffeffions with obftinate valour. It was by the fuperiority of their difcipline, rather than of their courage, that the Romans gained any advantage over them. A fingle battle did not, as among the effeminate inhabitants of Afia, decide the fate of a ftate. The vanquished people resumed their arms with fresh spirit, and their undisciplined valour, animated by the love of liberty, fupplied the want of conduct as The defola- well as of union. During thofe long and fierce it occafion- ftruggles for dominion or independence, the countries of Europe were fucceffively laid waste, a great part of their inhabitants perished in the field, many were carried into flavery, and a feeble remnant, incapable of further refiftance, fubmitted to the Roman power. tion which ed. The im provements THE Romans having thus defolated Europe, which it in fet themselves to civilize it. The form of gotroduced. vernment which they established in the conquered provinces, though fevere, was regular, and preferved publick tranquillity. As a confolation for the lofs of liberty, they communicated their arts, fciences, language, and manners, to their new fubjects. Europe began to breathe, and to recover ftrength after the calamities which it had undergone; agriculture was encouraged; population was increased; the ruined cities were rebuilt, new towns were founded; an appearance of profperity fucceeded, and repaired, in fome degree, the havock of war. The bad confequen THIS ftate, however, was far from being ces of their happy, or favourable to the improvement of the dominion. human mind. The vanquished nations were dif armed by their conquerors, and overawed by foldiers kept in pay to reftrain them. They were were given up as a prey to rapacious governors, SECT. I. who plundered them with impunity; and were drained of their wealth by exorbitant taxes, impofed with fo little attention to the fituation of the provinces, that the impofitions were often increased in proportion to their inability to fupport them. They were deprived of their most enterprizing citizens, who reforted to a diftant capital in queft of preferment, or of riches; and were accustomed in all their actions to look up to a fuperior, and tamely to receive his commands. Under fo many depreffing circumftances, it was impoffible that they could retain vigour or generofity of mind. The martial and independent spirit, which had diftinguished their ancestors, became extinct among all the people fubjected to the Roman yoke; they loft not only the habit but even the capacity of deciding for themselves, or of acting from the impulse of their own minds; and the dominion of the Romans, like that of all great Empires, degraded and debased the human fpecies [A]. tion of the A SOCIETY in this state could not fubfift long. The irrupThere were defects in the Roman government, barbarous even in its moft perfect form, which threatened nations. its diffolution. Time ripened these original feeds of corruption, and gave birth to many new disorders. A conftitution, unfound and worn out, must have fallen in pieces of itself, without any external fhock. The violent irruption of the Goths, Vandals, Huns, and other barbarians, haftened this event, and precipitated the downfal of the Empire. New nations feemed to arife, and to rush from unknown regions, in order to take vengeance on the Romans for the calamities which they had inflicted on mankind. These fierce tribes either inhabited the SECT. 1. various provinces in Germany which had never been fubdued by the Romans, or were scattered over the vast countries in the north of Europe, and north-west of Afia, which are now occupied by the Danes, the Swedes, the Poles, the fubjects of the Ruffian Empire, and the Tartars. Their condition, and tranfactions, previous to their invasion of the Empire, are but little known. All our information with refpect to these is derived from the Romans; and as they did not penetrate far into countries which were at that time uncultivated and uninviting, the accounts of their original ftate given by them are extremely imperfect. The rude inhabitants themfelves, deftitute of fcience, and of records, without leisure, or curiofity to enquire into remote events, retained, perhaps fome indiftinct memory of recent occurrences, but beyond these, all was buried in oblivion, or involved in darknefs, and in fable [B]. State of the countries THE prodigious fwarms which poured in upon from which the Empire from the beginning of the fourth they iffued. century to the final extinction of the Roman power, have given rife to an opinion that the countries whence they iffued were crowded with inhabitants; and various theories have been formed to account for fuch an extraordinary degree of population as hath procured these countries the appellation of The Storehouse of Nations. But if we confider, that the countries. poffeffed by the people who invaded the Empire were of vaít extent; that a great part of thefe was covered with woods and marshes; that some of the moft confiderable of the barbarous nations fubfifted entirely by hunting or pafturage, in both which states of fociety large tracts of land are required for maintaining a few inhabitants; [B] NOTE II. and |