cannot recover the genuine history of mankind. It has passed away with slight and partial notice by contemporary writers; and our most patient industry can hardly at present, put together enough of the fragments, to suggest a tolerably clear representation of ancient manners and social life." *

There is one author who flourished a very short time after the termination of the fourteenth century, (1442,) who has furnished us with an account of the relative state of the mass of the labouring people in France and in England. Sir John Fortesque was a man of great intelligence, and had ample opportunities of forming a sound judgment on the matters on which he descants. He seems to have come to the conclusion, from well ascertained facts, that the generality of the labouring population in France, lived in a much more wretched style, than the same class of people in his own country. He dwells upon this topic at some length; and then points out, by way of contrast, some of the leading features which characterised English society, to show how far superior their social, political, and domestic condition was, to that of their neighbours. He says, "The King of England cannot alter the laws, or make new ones, without the express consent of the whole kingdom in Parliament assembled. Every inhabitant is at his liberty, fully to use and enjoy whatever his farm produceth, the fruits of the earth, the increase of his flock, and the like; all the improvements he makes, whether by his own proper industry, or of those he retains in his service, are his own, to use and enjoy, without the let, interruption, or denial of any.

* Middle Ages, vol. 2.

If

he be in any wise injured or oppressed, he shall have his amends and satisfactions against the party offending. Hence it is that the inhabitants are rich in gold and silver, and in all the necessaries and conveniences of life. They drank no water, unless at certain times, upon a religious score, and by way of doing penance. They are fed in great abundance, with all sorts of flesh and fish, of which they have plenty everywhere; they are clothed throughout in good woollens; their bedding and other furniture in their houses, are of wool, and that in great store. They are also well provided with all other sorts of household goods and necessary implements for husbandry. Every one according to his work, hath all things which conduce to make life easy and happy." *

We shall conclude these remarks on this division of our subject, with a few observations from the pen of Mr. Hallam, who has devoted much time and learning to this interesting, but difficult inquiry. He remarks, "There is one very unpleasing remark which every one who attends to the subject of prices, will be induced to make, that the labouring classes, especially those engaged in agriculture, were better provided with the means of subsistence, in the reign of Edward III. or of Henry VI. than they are at present. In the fourteenth century, Sir John Cullum observes, a harvest man had four pence a day, which enabled him in a week, to buy a comb of wheat; but to buy a comb of wheat, a man must now (1784) work ten or twelve days. So, under Henry VI., if

"The passages in Fortesque, which bear on his favourite theme, the liberty and consequent happiness of the English, are very important; and triumphantly refute those superficial writers who would make us believe that they were a set of beggarly slaves." Hallam.

meat was at a farthing a pound, which I suppose was about the truth, a labourer earning three pence a day, or eighteen pence in the week, could buy a bushel of wheat at six shillings the quarter, and twenty four pounds of meat for his family. A labourer at present, earning twelve shillings a week, can only buy half a bushel of wheat, at eighty shillings the quarter, and twelve pounds of meat, at seven pence.

I should find it difficult to resist the conclusion, that however the labourer has derived benefit from the cheapness of manufactured commodities, and from many inventions of common utility, he is much inferior in ability, to support a family to his ancestors three or four centuries ago." *

Middle Ages, vol. 2. p. 433.

As purely historical events and details exercise a great influence over judgments on political principles, at particular epochs of time, the reader will find, in Note D., at the end of the volume, chronological tables appertaining to civil, ecclesiastical, political, and literary subjects, from the christian era till the end of the fourteenth century. These, it is hoped, will afford a more copious range of reference than could possibly be given in the body of the present volume.

CHAPTER XXI.

CONCLUDING OBSERVATIONS.

THE period of time, nearly two thousand years, we have travelled, or rather run over, calls for a retrospective glance, in order to keep its leading political phenomena in view, and to fix in the mind some of these obvious reflections which it is fitted to suggest. When great portions of time get broken and scattered in their contemplation, the understanding becomes bewildered, and unable to realise their united results, or relative bearings on each other. It is often, in this way, that we form erroneous conclusions; and we are more apt to do so on political subjects, than on any other branch of human knowledge and inquiry. In the public movements of nations, extending over many centuries, the most we are commonly able to do, is to recognise those great and violent contests and struggles for power and existence, which fill up the foreground of history; while the more hidden influence which general abstract principles of knowledge and improvement exercise on the masses of the people, is thrown comparatively into the back-ground, and requires great labour, and concentrated attention to bring it to light.

As far back as the history of our race can carry us, we have two distinct, though not contrary, sources of political information;-the inspired books of Scripture, and the natural suggestions of human reason, embodied in the literature of ancient Greece and Rome. The former was for long confined to a narrow geographical sphere, and to a peculiar people; and the latter constitutes the united results of more widely disseminated opinions and judgments. They ran, for many centuries, a parallel course to each other; but by a succession of particularly important events, they were destined to long and bitter mutual conflicts, and ultimately to a formal and conditional amalgamation and harmony.

The political literature of the scriptures comprises in its vast range of subjects, great principles of polity, and but few matters of detail, as to the precise mode in which these principles are to be carried out, or to the extent to which they may be applied to the diversified condition and circumstances of mankind. On this point we need not, after what has been said in preceding parts of this volume, enlarge at the present moment.

The political science of Greece, in its earliest manifestations, solicits our attention through the hazy and mythological drapery in which it is enveloped. Unlike the Scriptures, it comes to us in no clearly defined and enunciated principles, which the mind can seize and comprehend in a moment, and which arouse the entire sympathies of the human soul; but its truths reach us through the faint whispers of intellectual feebleness, hesitation, and doubt. The ancient politicians of Greece, for some centuries, contented them