much upon comparifor. The bird that is quiet in his cage, inftantly teftifies his uneafinefs, when he fees other birds at liberty.

As long as the generation lasts, which has enjoyed the fweets of liberty, fo long the remembrance of that liberty will embitter present bondage; the defcription of the father will make a deep impreffion on his fon; but in fucceeding generations this impreffion will wear off, provided no lively descriptions are left upon record, or come tranfmitted from thofe who in happier fpots enjoy the charms of freedom. It is merciful, therefore, and politic, in defpotic fovereigns, to reftrain the freedom of the prefs. Could we give Louis the XIVth credit for any benevolence of heart, we might imagine it poffible, that his reafon for offering affiftance to the Prince of Orange, and James the IId, to make the former abfolute in the United Provinces, and the latter abfolute in England, was partly from a principle of compassion to all the other empires of the world; that,

not

not seeing any one example of a free government, they might look upon the defcriptions of the antients as the fictions of poets, and the dreams of madmen.-But we cannot give him credit for fuch exalted fentiments of humanity; he meant only to rob these nations of their liberty, that his own flaves might more patiently endure his yoke. Can we think, without abhorrence, of a man who endeavours to put out the eyes of a whole nation, and inflicts the greatest cruelties on those who would restore them to their fight? But the fovereign has other thoughts, he perfuades himself that the whole nation is his property, and the inhabitants his flaves; that he does them no injury he is perfuaded, that to open their eyes to fhew them the charms of freedom, and ́ to perfuade them that it is their birthright, the fovereign perfuades himself that this would be stirring up his fubjects to rebel, and his flaves to throw off the yoke; he therefore will not fuffer any book to be published in his dominions, until it has been examined, and duly licenced, by

perfons receiving authority from himself for that purpose.

This restraint upon the press, must of neceffity stop the progrefs of literature: but under a defpotic government, this is no great evil; for between defotifin and the sciences there is fo little agreement, or rather there is fuch an irreconcileable enmity, that it would be well they should The yoke of defpotifm de

never meet.

preffes and debafes the human mind, while the fciences ennoble and exalt it. It is the intereft therefore of the defpot to keep the sciences at the greatest distance. Leo X. little thought what he was doing, when he encouraged men of science; but he was young, of a lively imagination, and of a refined taste, and to thefe he facrificed the defpotic power of the Roman See. Before his time, perfons of the highest rank, and in the most eminent ftations, could neither wr.te nor read. Many of the clergy did not understand the Latin breviary, which they were obliged daily to recite, fome of them could fcarcely read it *; blessed times for

• Robinson, Charles V. p. 21.

defpotic

defpotic power! From the time of Leo X. the minds of men, enlightened by fcience, enlarged by obfervation, and strengthened by exercife, began to entertain a more just opinion of the dignity and rights of human. nature; all felt the yoke, many caft it off*. Under a defpotic government, only one book fhould be allowed, and that the fubjects fhould never read. The argument of the Caliph Omar, it must be confeffed, was bad; but his conduct was wife, when he refufed to grant the request of his General Amrou to preserve the magnificent library of Alexandria; "What is contained in these books you mention, is either agreeable to what is written in the book of God, or it is not; if it be, then the Alcoran is fufficient without them if otherwife, it is fit they should be deftroyed." Thefe invaluable manuscripts were therefore committed to the flames. Slaves, under a defpotic government, have no need of books; their minds fhould be conformed to their condition.

• Blackstone, vol. iv. p. 434.

5

§ 3. From

§3. From the prevailing jealousy of defpotifm, diffenfions are fomented, whether thefe exift between different bodies in the ftate, between the nobles, or between the branches of the royal family: many examples of all these might be produced from the English hiftory. I shall fatisfy myself with a striking instance in the Venetian ftate. Bishop Burnet, fpeaking of the nobility of Padua, tells us, "that the Venetian fenate encourages the antient jealoufies and quarrels, which ftill fubfift among them, for the fake of the compofitions and confifcations confequent on their mutual affaffinations; that at fome times of grace, when. the fenate wants money, and offers a pardon to all who will compound for it, the number of the guilty perfons is incredible. He was affured by Mons. Patin, that there were thirty-five thoufand pardoned at the laft grace in Vencenza, and the country belonging to it." Whether this relation be true or falfe in its full extent, we may venture to affirm, that

• Burnet's Travels through Italy, p. 125.

avarice