is wrong, and Rapin's own view of the case; -"Qu'il avoit imposé des taxes de sa seule autorité."

Supposing now, therefore, that recourse was had, after the example of Tindal, to the only real authority, the rolls of parliament (they are published with the journals, and therefore easily accessible); and then the important words in the fifteenth article will be found to be these: :

"Non solum magnam, immo maximam partem dicti partrimonii sui donaret etiam personis indignis, verum etiam propterea tot onera concessionis subditorum imposuit quasi annis singulis in regno suo, quod valdè et nimium et excessive populum suum oppresserit in depauperationem regni sui," &c. &c.

Now in these words, "tot onera concessionis subditorum," &c. there is a sufficient obscurity to admit of a different interpretation by a Whig like Rapin, or a Tory like Hume, though the latter seems far more justified in his representation than the former; for it is the prodigality of the king, rather than the illegality of his conduct, that is evidently all throughout the articles the great burden of the accusation, that he had wasted the money of the people of England, rather than that he had offended against their constitutional rights.

There is a history of Louis the Ninth, by Duclos, a work that was much noticed in France; but it seems to be justly observed by a late French writer (Chamfort), that it is written in a spirit far too complaisant, very different from that with which the "Memoirs of Louis the Fourteenth," &c. (by the same author) are composed.

The fact is, that the philosophy of the history of this reign (Louis the Eleventh), cannot be found in the work of Duclos.

It is said, indeed, that it was the object of the reign to break down the power of the great, and to keep them from tyrannizing over the people; which is probably what was said by Louis himself, for it is always said on such occasions.

It is observed, too, that the royal authority has ever since been advancing by the motion which was impressed upon it by Louis the Eleventh.

But the steps by which all this was done, and the consequences, are no where exhibited to the reader.

Duclos, before his history went to publication, had to receive the approbation of a licenser; and it was in vain, therefore, that he was competent both to write well and think well.

Philosophical instruction must be still gathered from Commines, whose omissions Duclos intended to supply, as well as to correct his mistakes; "though they are not commonly of great consequence," he tells us. Duclos had all the facts before him, and he gives them.

Montesquieu is understood to have devoted much time to the subject; but there is a strange story of his losing his manuscripts by an accident, and of his then abandoning all further thoughts of the work.

Philip de Commines is the author read.

Much of his work, particularly the latter part of it, should be read. The important features of it are the fate of the house of Purgundy, and the unjust encroachments of Louis the Eleventh, on the dominions of his neighbours, and the constitution of his country.

Commines came not into the service of Louis till he had been twelve years on the throne.

It cannot be now understood by what felicity of original temperament, or by what influence of reflection, the historian himself could be a lover of the people and a lover of virtue, though a courtier from his infancy, the servant of the most base and selfish of princes, and living in habits of business and society with many of the most licentious and unprincipled of men.

"Is there any king," he says, "or prince upon earth who has power to raise one penny of money, except his domains, without the consent of the poor subject who is to pay it, but by tyranny and violence?'

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'King Charles the Seventh," he says, in another place," has laid a great load both upon his own and the souls of his successors, and given his kingdom a wound which shall bleed a long time; and that was, by establishing a standing army."

The manners of these dreadful times in France, during the factions of the houses of Orleans and Burgundy, and the reign of Louis the Eleventh, may be seen in Brantome; and more conveniently in Wraxall's Memoirs of the House of Valois.

LECTURE VIII.

SPAIN, GERMANY, ITALY, SWITZERLAND.

In my last lecture, I endeavoured to call your attention to the constitutional history of France. I did so, because this is one of the first objects of importance in the history of Europe, from the effects which that great kingdom has always been fitted, from its situation and natural advantages, to produce upon every other. Such must always have been the influence of its arms and its example, that it is not too much to say, that the history of the civilized world would have been changed, and most favorably changed, if France had not lost its constitutional liberties, and sunk into an arbitrary monarchy.

But the same subject is of great interest to ourselves, from the illustration which it affords of the merits and the good fortune of our ancestors. This island lost not its liberties in like manner, because it retained its public assemblies, and because they retained the right of taxation.

How, therefore, or why, arose this difference in the fate of the two kingdoms ?

It is this question that I am so anxious that you should bear along with you in your thoughts, while you read the annals of every other country of Europe; and, the more strongly to impress it on your minds, I pointed out to you, in my last lecture, a very remarkable epoch in the French history, during which, there was evidently some great effort made for the constitution of France, by the members of the States-General, and particularly by the third estate, and by Marcel and the Parisians.

I next alluded to those parts of the subsequent reigns, when the liberties of that country were more slowly under

mined, but not less fatally attacked, particularly during the times of Charles the Seventh and Louis the Eleventh.

De Mably will always apprize you, by the tone and nature of his observations, what are the transactions, and what the periods of importance; and these you should examine through. all their detail in some of the great French historians. I have found the history of Velly the most elaborate and complete.

I must remind you, that the constitutional history of France is noticed by Robertson, in his introduction to Charles the Fifth, and his text is accompanied by three valuable notes, the thirty-eighth, thirty-ninth, and fortieth.

But the same question which I have thus recommended to you, with respect to France and England, an inquiry into their constitutional histories, may be extended to the other kingdoms of Europe; and we have hitherto said nothing of Spain, a country which, like England, might have obtained a free and mixed government, as the elements of its constitution were originally similar (monarchy, feudal lords, and national assemblies), but which, like France, from various untoward circumstances, lost its liberties, and has had to descend, through different stages of degradation, at last almost to extinction and ruin.

I must repeat to you, before we advert to Spain, that it is only by inquiries of this sort into the histories of other countries, that you can learn properly to understand how slowly a good government can be formed; by what attention and anxiety it can be alone maintained; what are the exact points of difficulty in the formation of a good government; and the manner (often the singular and unexpected manner) in which these difficulties are evaded or modified, or overcome, more particularly in your own.

But to allude, as we have proposed, to the history of Spain. In the fifth volume of Gibbon may be found an account of the introduction of the Moors into that country, of their settlement there, and of the magnificence of their caliphs, and to him I refer. An estimate is also given of the science and knowledge of this remarkable people; and at first we might be tempted to conclude, that, in the general darkness and barbarity of Europe, the light of civilization and learning was

destined to issue from the Mahometan capital of Cordova. But the science and knowledge of these Arabians, when more nearly examined, lose much of their importance; and the nature of their government was little fitted, however accompanied by science and the arts, to build up, either in Spain or in other countries, the fabric of human happiness.

Unfortunately, too, it happened that a long succession of bloody struggles was to ensue between the Christians and the Moors; and all hope that the progress of society should be exemplified in Spain, became on that account extremely feeble.

There is something in these wars, between the Christians and the Moors, that has a sound of heroism and romance, well fitted to awaken our interest and curiosity. But I know not that these sentiments can now be gratified, or extended, beyond the poetry and the legends by which they have been inspired.

The great historian of Spain is Mariana, "who has infused (says Gibbon) into his noble work, the style and spirit of a Roman classic. After the twelfth century, his knowledge and judgment may, he observes, be safely trusted; but he adopts and adorns the most absurd of the national legends, and supplies from a lively fancy the chasms of historical evidence."

Roderick Ximenes, not the statesman, though also an archbishop of Toledo, is the father of Spanish history, yet he did not live till five hundred years after the conquest of the Arabs; and the earlier accounts are, it seems, very meagre. But the work of Mariana, with the continuation of Miniana, consists of four folio volumes, and will now be more often mentioned than consulted, and consulted than read. There is an English translation of it.

I must, therefore, observe, that great diligence appears to have been employed on his portion of history by the authors of the Modern History; and the Spanish historians Mariana, Ferraras, Roderick, and others, are continually referred to. The student may, therefore, consider the subject as placed within his reach by the detail which he will find in the sixteenth and seventeenth volumes of the Modern History. But it is a detail which, however great may be its interest in