riage: for he fcrupled no means to obtain his ends. About that time, Ferdinand, king of Arragon, and Ifabella, his wife, queen of Caftile, united the whole Spanish monarchy; and drove the Moors out of Spain, who had till then kept poffeflion of Granada. About

that time too, the house of Auftria laid the great foundations of its fubfequent power; firft, by the marriage of Maximilian with the heirefs of Burgundy ; and then, by the marriage of his fon Philip, archduke of Auftria, with Jane, the daughter of Ifabella, queen of Spain, and heirefs of that whole kingdom, and of the WeftIndies. By the firft of these marriages, the houfe of Auftria acquired the Seventeen Provinces; and by the latter Spain and America; all which centered in the perfon of Charles the Fifth, fon of the above-mentioned archduke, Philip, the fon of Maximilian.

This immenfe power, which the emperor Charles the Fifth found himself poflefled of, gave him a defire for univerfal power (for people never defire all till they have gotten a great deal) and alarmed France: this fowed the feeds of that jealoufy and enmity, which have flourished ever fince between thofe two great powers. Afterwards the houfe of Auftria was weakened by the divifion made by Charles V. of his dominions, between his fon Philip the Second of Spain, and his brother Ferdinand; and has ever fince been dwindling to the weak condition in which it now is. This is a moft interesting part of the hiftory of Europe, of which it is abfolutely neceffary that you should be exactly and minutely informed.

There are in the history of most countries certain very remarkable æras, which deferve more partiular inquiry and attention than the common run of history. Such is the revolt of the Seventeen Provinces, in the reign of Philip the Second of Spain, which ended in forming the prefent republic of the Seven United Provinces, whofe independency was firft allowed by Spain at the treaty of Munfter. Such was the extraordinary revolution of Portugal, in the year 1640, in favour of the prefent houfe of Braganza. Such is the famou revolution of Sweden, when chriftian the Second o

Denmark, who was alfo King of Sweden, was driven out by Guftavus Vafa. And fuch, alfo, is that memorable æra in Denmark, of 1660, when the states of that kingdom made a voluntary furrender of all their rights and liberties to the crown, and changed that free ftate into the most abfolute monarchy now in Europe. The Acta Regia, upon that occafion, are worth your perufing. Thefe remarkable periods of modern hiftory deferve your particular attention, and most of them have been treated fingly by good hiftorians, which are worth your reading. The revolutions of Sweden and of Portugal are moít admirably well written, by l'abbé de Vertot. They are fhort, and will not take twelve hours reading. There is another book which well deferves your looking into, but not worth your buying at prefent, because it is not portable; if you can borrow, or hire it, you fhould; and that is, Hiftoire des Traités de Paix †, in two volumes, folio, which make part of the Corps Diplomatique . You will there find a hort and clear hiftory, and the fubftance of every treaty made in Europe, during the last century, from the treaty of Vervins. Three parts in four of this book are not worth your reading, as they relate to treaties of very little importance; but if you felect the most confiderable ones, read them with attention, and take fome notes; it will be of great ufe to you. Attend chiefly to thofe in which the great powers of Europe are the parties; fuch as the treaty of the Pyrenees, between France and Spain; the treaties of Nimeguen and Ryfwick: but, above all, the treaty of Munfter fhould be moft circumftantially and minutely known to you, as almoft every treaty made fince has fome reference to it. For this, Fère Bougeant's is the best book you can read, as it takes in the thirty years' war, which preceded that treaty. The treaty itfelf, which is made a perpetual law of the empire, comes in the courfe of your lectures upon the Jus Publicum Imperii §.

Royal Acts.

The hiftory of Treaties. The Diplomatic Body. § The public inftitutions of the empire.

LETTER LIV.

Impertinent and Common-place Obfervations.

DEAR BOY,

London, May the 10th,

I RECKON that this letter will find you just returned from Dresden, where you have made your first court

caravanne. What inclination for courts this taste of them may have given you, I cannot tell; but this I think myself fure of, from your good fenfe, that in leaving Drefden, you have left diffipation too; and have refumed at Leipfig, that application, which, if you like courts, can alone enable you to make a good figure at them. A mere courtier without parts or knowledge, is the most frivolous and contemptible of all beings; as on the other hand, a man of parts and knowledge, who acquires the eafy and noble manners ofa court, is the most refpectable. It is a trite, common-place obfervation, that courts are the feats of falfehood and diffimulation. That, like many, I might fay moft common-place obfervations, is falfe. Falfehood and diffimulation are certainly to be found at courts; and where are they not to be found? Cottages have them as well as courts-only with worse manners. A couple of neighbouring farmers, in a village, will contrive and practice as many tricks, to over-reach each other at the next market, or to fupplant each other in the favour of the 'quire, as any two courtiers can do to fupplant each other in the favour of their prince. Whatever poets may write, or fools believe, of rural innocence and truth, and of the perfidy of courts, this is moft undoubtedly true-that thepherds and minifters are both men, their nature and pathons the fame, the modes of them only different.

Having mentioned common-place obfervations, I will particularly caution you against either ufing, believing, or approving them. They are the common topics of witlings and coxcombs; thofe, who really have wit, have the utmoft contempt for them, and fcorn even to laugh at the pert things that thofe would-be wits fay upon fuch fubjects.

1

Religion is one of their favorite topics; it is all prieft-craft; and an invention contrived and carried on by priests, of all religions, for their own power and profit from this abfurd and falfe principle flow the common-place infipid jokes and infults upon the clergy. With thefe people, every priest, of every religion, is either a public or a concealed unbeliever, drunkard and whoremafter whereas, I conceive, that priefts are extremely like other men, and neither the better nor the worfe for wearing a gown or a furplice; but, if they are different from other people, probably it is on the fide of religion and morality, or at least decency, from their education and manner of life.

Another common topic for false wit, and cold raillery, is matrimony. Every man and his wife hate each other cordially, whatever they may pretend, in public, to the contrary. The hufband certainly wishes his wife at the devil, and the wife certainly cuckolds her husband. Whereas, I prefume, that men and their wives neither love nor hate each other the more, upon account of the form of matrimony which has been faid over them. The cohabitation, indeed, which is the confequence of matrimony, makes them either love or hate more, accordingly as they refpectively deferve it; but that would be exactly the fame, between any man and woman, who lived together without being married.

Thefe, and many other common-place reflections upon nations, or professions, in general (which are at least as often falfe as true) are the poor refuge of people who have neither wit nor invention of their own, but endeav our to fhine in company by fecond-hand finery. I al ways put these pert jackanapes out of countenance, by looking extremely grave, when they expect that I fhould laugh at their pleafantries; and by faying well, and fo; as if they had not done, and that the fting were ftill to come. This difconcerts them; as they have no resources in themselves, and have but one set of jokes to live upon. Men of parts are not reduced to thefe fhifts, and have the utmost contempt for them: they find proper fubjects enough fer either ufeful or lively converfations; they can be witty without fatire or com

mon-place, and ferious without being dull. The fre-
quenting of courts checks this petulancy of manners;
the good-breeding and circumfpection which are necef-
fary, and only to be learned there, correct those pert-
nelles. I do not doubt but that you are improved in
your manners, by the fhort vifit which you have made
at Drefden; and the other courts, which I intend that
you fhall be better acquainted with, will gradually
fmooth you up to the highest polish. In courts, a ver-
fatility of genius, and a foftness of manners, are abfo-
lutely neceffary; which fome people mistake for abject
flattery, and having no opinion of one's own; whereas
it is only the decent and genteel manner of maintaining
your own opinion, and poffibly of bringing other people
to it. The manner of doing things is often more im-
portant than the things themfelves; and the very fame
thing may become either pleafing, or offenfive, by the
manner of faying or doing it. Materiam fuperabat opus*,
is often faid of works of fculpture; where, though the
materials were valuable, as filver, gold, &c. the work-
manship was ftill more fo. This holds true, applied to
manners; which adorn whatever knowledge or parts
people may
have; and even make a greater impreffion,
upon nine in ten of mankind, than the intrinfic value of
the materials. On the other hand, remember, that
what Horace fays of good writing is justly applicable to
thofe who would make a good figure in courts and
diftinguish themfelves in the fhining parts of life; Sapere
principium et fons t. A man, who, without a good fund
of knowledge and parts, adopts a court life, makes the
moft ridiculous figure imaginable. He is a machine,
little fuperior to the court clock; and, as this points
out the hours, he points out the frivolous employment
of them. He is, at moft, a comment upon the clock ;
and, according to the hours that it ftrikes, tells you,
now it is levee, now dinner, now fupper time, &c.
The end which I propofe by your education, and which
(if you pleafe) I fhall certainly attain, is to unite in
all the knowledge of a scholar, with the manners of a

The workmanship furpaffes the value of the materials.
To be wife is the principle and fountain of all.
L

you