F\
 
 ROYAL 
 
 DISSERTATIONS- 
 
 I. On MANNERS, CUSTOMS, INDUSTRY, and 
 the Progrefs of the HUMAN UNDERSTANDING 
 in the Arts and Sciences. 
 
 II. On SUPERSTITION and RELIGION. 
 
 III. On the ancient and modern Government of 
 BRANDENBURG. 
 
 IV. On the Reafons for the Enacting and Repealing 
 of LAWS. 
 
 With the Character of the Celebrated 
 
 M. DE VOL T A I R E. 
 
 By the Prefent KING of PRUSSIA. 
 (Tranflated from the BERLIN Copy.) 
 
 To which is Added, 
 
 His DESCRIPTION and CHAR ACTER. 
 
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 A 
 Deicription and Character 
 
 O F 
 FREDERICK III. King of PRUSSIA. 
 
 CHARLES-FREDERICK, the prefent 
 King of PRUSSIA and Elector of BRANDEN- 
 BURG, whofe literary, political and military ta- 
 lents are univerfally acknowledged and admired , 
 and whofe actions in the Defence of his Country 
 and the Proteftant Religion, engage the attention 
 of the admiring world ; was born the 24th of Ja- 
 nuary, 1712. He began his reign on the 3 ft of 
 January, 1 740. He is rather more than the middle 
 ftature, and fomewhat inclined to be fat, but he is 
 extreamly well proportioned, and perfectly ftraight ; 
 his face is fmooth, his complexion fair, his hair 
 light brown, and his eyes full, grey, and fparkling : 
 his afpect is pleafant, but majeftick : his conftituti- 
 on is robuft, and his make is flrong. He is ex- 
 treamly active, can, without inconveniencies, bear 
 the fatigue of clofe fludy, long-watching, and fe- 
 vere exercife. In his Father's life-time, he efpou- 
 fed the Princefs of Brunfwick Wolfembuttle, born 
 November the 8th, 1715. He began his reign with 
 an act of the greatelt generofity ; for whereas it 
 was publickly known that his marriage was a pure 
 act of obedience to his Father, abfolutely againfi his 
 own confent, and therefore never confummated, 
 during the life of that monarch ; every body expec 
 ted that his firft care would have been to have taken 
 the opinion of fome of the proteftant univerfities 
 in Germany, in order to have got it diflblved. 
 
 BUT when that Princefs, in company with the 
 
 Queen Dowager, came to compliment him upon his 
 
 As _ accefli- 
 
 2061944
 
 4 Defcriptton and Ctara&tr 
 
 acceffion, he addrefled her in the following terms, 
 You are fenfible, madam, that your becoming 
 Princefs Royal was contrary to my inclination; but 
 having obferved the amiablenefs of your behavi- 
 our, and the regard that you have fliewn for my 
 perfbn, I find my felf under a neceflity of making 
 you fuitable returns,and now therefore that I am a 
 King, I acknowledge you for my Queen- Confort, 
 and the lawful partner of my Throne and Bed. *' 
 It is impofiible to exprefs the furprize and joy of the 
 whole court upon this declaration, a declaration 
 which every body defired, but no body expected ; 
 and which gave the greateft hopes of a reign that 
 opened with fb extraordinary a mark of juftice, 
 tendernefs and generofity. The very dawning of 
 this young monarch's government, drew the atten- 
 tion of all Europe. There were many who dread- 
 ed his Refentment ; but he punifhed no body ex- 
 cept the counfellor Eckard, whom he ordered to 
 depart his dominions, because he had been a great 
 devifer of taxes, and principal inftrumentof the 
 late King, in laying burthens upon his Subjects ; he 
 had an early tafte for literature, and the polite arts, 
 and held a conflant correipondence with men of 
 learning. He was no fboner poflefled of the Crown, 
 than he declared himfelf a protector of learning, 
 wrote to Rollin and Voltaire, requefling the conti- 
 nuance of their friendfhip ; and by a letter written 
 with his own hand, invited the famous Mr. Mau- 
 pertns's from Paris, to take upon him the direction 
 of the academy of Berlin, on the plan of the acade- 
 my of arts and and fciences at Paris ; or, as the 
 King himfelf elegantly exprefled it, to graft the 
 flips of true fcience on the wild flocks in the north. 
 His Majefty on taking Prague in 1744, caufed a 
 medal to be ftruck, on the reverfe, two lines to the 
 following effect, 
 
 By 
 * They were marry'd feven years before confummation.
 
 Of the K. ^PRUSSIA. j 
 
 By war, O lord, make wars to ceafe, 
 And let this victory lead to peace. 
 
 Peace being reftored in 1748, his Majelty employed 
 his thoughts to increafe the happinefs of his people, 
 by augmenting their commerce, and removing their 
 grievances. It was common in Brandenburg, be- 
 fore this prince filled the throne, for the lawyers to 
 fport with the fufferings of the wretched, and be- 
 hold, without emotion, the tears of the widow ; but 
 his Majefty has, happily, put an end to fuch enor- 
 mous practices ; caufes cannot, now, be protrac- 
 ted no more than four months ; nor is any judge, 
 before whom a caufe has been debated, when an 
 appeal is made from his fentence to a fuperior tri- 
 bunal, permitted to recommend or accompany it, 
 either with bis advice or reflections. And the 
 caufes wherein widows and orphans are interefled, 
 take place of all others. The filial duties of this 
 Monarch muft not be palled over in filence ; few 
 private men treat their parents with more refpect 
 than he did his mother, whom he never approach- 
 ed covered, nor without the higheft expreffions ot 
 reverence. He often retires to Potfdam, his favou- 
 rite refidence, to avoid the empty ceremonies of a 
 court. He fits down to table with twelve perfons, 
 and, after his own minifters, who are mofl in fa- 
 vour, are invited, and alfo his officers, even to an 
 enfign, fill up the vacant places : nor is this the on- 
 ly means of recommending himfelf to the love of 
 his foldiers ; the meaneft officer knows, that he 
 fhall be redrefled in any cafe of injuftice ; that, 
 where-ever his quarters are, he need only write to 
 the King, and, by the return of the poll, he may 
 expect an anfwer, very commonly wrote by his Ma- 
 jefty himfelf, by which means he has acquired the 
 confidence of his troops to a very uncommon de- 
 gree, Notwithstanding fb much of his time is fpent 
 
 A in
 
 6 Defcription and Chara&er 
 
 in the neceffary affairs of his kingdom, he finds time 
 to enjoy his favourite pleafures, Books and Mufick. 
 He has fhew'd a true zeal for the Proteftant religion, 
 and without doubt, it is his intereft to put himfelf 
 at the head of theProteftantsin Germany ; and he 
 is too clear-fighted a Prince not to fee this. 
 
 He has great forces, large revenues, a genius capa- 
 ble of conducting both, and a moderation that will 
 reftrain him from attempts fuperior to thefe. He 
 knows perfectly well the grandeur of the fovereign 
 mud be eitablifhed upon the welfare of the fubject ; 
 and this has excited him to Ihew the fame regard 
 for the happinefsof his people, as for the extenfions 
 of his own power, or rather has induced him to make 
 .the latter always fubfervient; to the former. He 
 is known to have an inclination to become a mari- 
 time power, or which is the fame thing in other 
 words, to enable his fubjects to increafe their wealth 
 by their induftry, through the channels of foreign 
 Trade. 
 
 The moft faithful and fcrupulous hiflorian would 
 be the beil panygerifl of Frederick King of Phif- 
 fia. I pretend to be neither ; I only attempt the 
 outlines of his character, which even cotemporary 
 jealoufy, envy, and malignity, are forced to admire, 
 and which more impartial poflerity, if it can be- 
 lieve, will almoft adore. 
 
 By the mere natural flrength and fuperiority of 
 his genius, without experience, he broke out at once, 
 a general, a hero. He diitinguifhed with precifi- 
 on, what inferior minds never difcover at all, the 
 difference between great difficulties, and impoffi- 
 bilities ; and being never difcouraged by the for- 
 mer, has often feemed to execute the latter. 
 
 Indefatigably laborious and active, coolly intre- 
 pid in action, he difcerns, as by intuition, leizes 
 with rapidity, and improves with fkill, the fhort, 
 favourable, and often decifive moments of battle.
 
 Of the K. of P R U S S I A. 7 
 
 Modefl and magnanimous after victory, he becomes 
 the generous protector of his fubdued, and cap- 
 tive enemies. Refolute and undejecled in misfor- 
 tunes, he has rifen iuperior to diftrefles, and ftrug- 
 gled with difficulties, which no courage nor conftan- 
 cy, but his own, would have refifted, or could have 
 fur mounted. 
 
 As a King, he is a man, a citizen, a legiflator, 
 and a patriot. His own extenfive mind forms all 
 his plans of government, undebafed by felfifh mi- 
 nifterial interefts and mifreprefentations. Juftice 
 and humanity are his only minifters. 
 
 In his own dominions he has reformed the law, 
 and reduced it to equity by a code of his own di- 
 gefting. He has thrown cavil out of the fhifting 
 and wavering fcales of juftice, and poized them 
 equally to all. 
 
 Indulgent to the various errors of the human 
 mind, becaufe tainted with fo few himfelf ; he has 
 eftablifhed univerfal toleration, that decifive cha- 
 racteriftick of true religion, natural juftice, focial 
 benevolence, and even good policy. He equally 
 abhors the guilt of making martyrs, and the folly 
 of making hypocrites. 
 
 Greatly above all narrow local prejudices, he 
 has invited and engaged, by a general indifcri rui- 
 nating naturalization, people of all nations to fettle 
 in his dominions. He encourages and rewards the 
 induftrious, he cherifhes and honours the learned j 
 and man as man where-ever opprefled by civil, or 
 perfecuted by ecclefiaflical tyranny, finds a fure re- 
 fuge in his fentiments of juftice and humanity, 
 which the purple robe has not been able to fmother. 
 
 A philofopher, undazzled with the fplcndor of 
 the heroic parts of this charader, may perhaps in- 
 quire after the milder and focial virtues of humani- 
 ty, and feek for the man. He will find both 
 
 the man and tbe philofopher too in the Frederick, 
 A 4 imallay-
 
 8 Description, 8Cc. 
 
 unallayed by the King, and unfullied by the war- 
 rior. 
 
 A patron of all liberal arts and fciences, and 
 a model of moft : In a more particular manner, 
 cultivating, adorning and adorned by the Belles 
 Lettres. His earlieft and firft attempt was refutati- 
 on of the impious fyftem of Machiavel, that cele- 
 brated profefibr of political iniquity. Nobly con- 
 fcious that he might venture to give the world, that 
 publick pledge of his future virtue. There are 
 alfo fpecimens enough of his poetical genius, to 
 fhew what he might be as a poet, were he not fome- 
 thing greater and better. 
 
 Neither the toils of war, nor the cares of govern- 
 ment, engrofs his whole time, but he enjoys a con- 
 fiderable part of it, in familiar and eafy converfati- 
 ons with his friends, Men. There the king is un- 
 known, and what is more, Unfelt. 
 
 But not to fwell an eflay towards a Character, to 
 ihe bulk of a fmifhed character, ftill lefs to that of a 
 hiftory ; I will conclude this fketch with this obfer- 
 vation : many a private man might make a great 
 King, but where is the King who could make a great 
 private man, except FREDERICK. 

 
 ROYAL 
 
 DISSERTATIONS. 
 
 DISSERTATION I. 
 
 Of MANNERS, CUSTOMS, INDUSTRY, and the 
 Progrefs of the HUMAN UNDERSTANDING in 
 the ARTS and SCIENCES. 
 
 O have an adequate knowledge of a 
 flate, it is not fufficient to be acquainted 
 with its origin, wars, treaties, govern-r 
 ment, religion, and revenues. Thefe 
 are indeed the principal parts on which 
 the hiftorian difpiays the elegance of his ftyle. But 
 there are others, which, though not fb entertaining 
 as the former, are yet entirely as ufeful. Among 
 thefe I reckon whatever relates to the manners of 
 the inhabitants, as the original of new cuftoms, 
 the abolifhing of old ones, the rife of induftry, the 
 caufes that firft encouraged it, the reafons which 
 accelerated, or retarded the progrefs of the human 
 underflanding ; and, above all, whatever chiefly 
 characterizes the genius of the nation, whofe hi- 
 flory we undertake to write. Thefe Subjects will 
 always be interefting to politicians and philofophers ; 
 and I may venture to affirm, that this fort of de- 
 tail is no way unworthy of the majelly of hiftory. 
 
 I SHALL
 
 io DISSERTATION I. 
 
 I SHALL prefent the reader with a fpecimen of 
 the moft diftinguifhing ftrokes of the genius of the 
 Brandenburgers in every age. But how great a 
 difference between thofe ages ? Nations feparated 
 by immenfe feas, and dwelling under oppofite tro- 
 pics, do not differ more in their cuftoms, than the 
 Brandenburgers from themfelves, if we compare 
 thofe in the time of Tacitus, to thofe under Henry 
 the Fowler ; thofe under Henry the Fowler, to 
 thofe under John the Cicero ; and, in fine, the 
 latter, to the inhabitants of the electorate, under 
 Frederick I. king of Pruflia. 
 
 THE generality of mankind, who are amufed 
 with an infinite variety of objects, look upon the 
 magic lanthorn of this world without reflection. 
 They take no more notice of the continual changes 
 which happen in regard to cuftoms, than in a great 
 city, of the daily ravages committed by death, pro- 
 vided it (pares the fmall circle of their acquaintance. 
 And yet, after a fliort abfence, we find at our re- 
 turn, different inhabitants and different cuftoms. 
 
 How inftructive and entertaining it is, to furvey 
 paft ages, and to fee by what analyfis they are con- 
 nected to our times ! To take a nation in its rudeft 
 Hate of fimplicity, to follow it in its progrefs, and 
 to trace it down to the time in which it was civi- 
 lized, is the fame as examining the filk-worm in all 
 its metamorphofes, from its being a chryfalis, till 
 it becomes a butterfly. 
 
 BUT how mortifying is thisftudy! It is but too 
 certain, that the immutable law of nature obliges 
 mankind to pafs through a great many impertinent 
 trifles, before they can attain to any reafonable or 
 folid acquirement. Thus, if we afcend to the ori- 
 gin of nations, we mail find them all equally bar- 
 barous. Some have arrived by flow gradations, 
 and by a great many windings, to a certain degree 
 of perfection. Others have reached it by rapid 
 
 flights i
 
 flights ; but all have taken different ways. And 
 even politenefs, induftry, and the feveral arts, have 
 imbibed a tafle of the foil, in the different countries 
 into which they have been tranfplanted, from the 
 indelible character of each nation. This will ap- 
 pear ftill more evident to thofe who will pleafe to 
 read the different works written at Padua, London, 
 or Paris ; they may be eafily diftinguifhed, even 
 when the authors of them treat the fame fubjects ; 
 if we except only the abflrufer parts of geo 
 metry. 
 
 THE inexhauftible variety, which nature has 
 fown in thofe general and particular characters, is 
 a proof of her fertility, and at the fame time of her 
 oeconomy. For tho* the innumerable nations, 
 which cover the face of the earth, have each their 
 different genius ; yet it feems that fome remarka- 
 ble ftrokes, which diflinguifh them from the reft, 
 are unalterable. Each nation has its peculiar cha- 
 racter, which may be modified more or Jefs by the 
 education they receive, but whofe eflentials are ne^- 
 ver effaced. I might eafily confirm this opinion, 
 by proofs drawn from natural philofophy ; but I 
 mall not digrefs from my fubject. It follows, there- 
 fore, that princes have never intirely changed the 
 manner of thinking peculiar to a nation ; that they 
 have never been able to force nature to produce 
 thofe great men, whofe name alone is capable of 
 rendering ages memorable topoflerity ; and though 
 the working of the mine is fubject to their regula- 
 tions, yet their power does not extend to the fruit- 
 ful veins ; thefe open themfelves of a fudden, fur- 
 nifhing treafures in abundance, and are often loft, 
 when purfued with the greateft avidity. 
 
 WHOSOEVER has read Tacitus and Caefar, will 
 eafily diftinguifh the Germans, French, and Englifh, 
 by the colours in which they are painted ; and which 
 have not been effaced in the courfe of eighteen cen- 
 turies.
 
 12 DISSERTATION I. 
 
 turies. How then is it poffible, that a fingle reign 
 fhould compafs what fo many ages have not been 
 able to attain ? A ftatuary may fhape a piece of ftone 
 into what form he pleafes j he may make an ,/Efop, 
 or an Antinous of it, but he cannot change the 
 nature of the ftone. Every nation will have fome 
 predominant vices and virtues. If the Romans, 
 therefore, appear more virtuous under the Anto- 
 ninus's than the Tiberius's, it is becaufe crimes were 
 more feverely punifhed under the former ; vice durft 
 not lift up its unhallowed head, but the vicious were 
 dill in being. Princes may give a certain varnifh 
 of politenefs to their nation ; they may maintain 
 the laws in their full vigour, and the fciences in a 
 middling condition ; but they can never alter the 
 nature of things , they can add only a tranfient 
 (hadow to the prevailing colour of the picture. 
 
 OF this we have feen proofs in our days in Ruflia. 
 Peter I. ordered the Mufcovites to cut off their 
 beards, and to believe in the proceffion of the Holy 
 Ghoft ; he made fome of them drefs in the French 
 tafte, and inftituted fchools for the learning of dif- 
 ferent languages ; and yet the Ruffians will be ftill 
 perhaps for many ages diftinguifhed from the 
 French, the Italians, and other European nations. 
 
 I RE A LL Y believe, that nothing but the intire de- 
 vaftation of a country, and the repeopling it with 
 foreign colonies, is capable of producing an intire 
 change in a nation j but we mufl obferve, that it is 
 then no longer the fame nation ; and it would be ftill 
 aqueftion,whether the climate and food would not in 
 time affimilate the new inhabitants to the old ones. 
 
 IN the commencement of this work, I have been 
 guided by Latin writers, as there was none of the 
 country during that period. Lockelius, whom I 
 fhall often have occafion to quote, has been of fer- 
 vice to me in the dark regencies of the margraves 
 of the four firft races \ and the archives have fur- 
 
 nifhed
 
 DISSERTATION I. 13 
 
 niflied me with materials for the moft remarkable 
 paflages during the time that the houfe of Hohen- 
 zollern has been in pofleflion of this electorate, 
 which brings us down to our days. 
 
 The FIRST EPOCHA. 
 
 IN the long enumeration which Tacitus makes 
 of the people of Germany, he is miftaken in regard 
 to the word Ingevoner^ which fignifies inhabitants, 
 and that of Germenier^ which implies warlike peo- 
 ple, whom through ignorance of the language he 
 took for particular nations. The number of thofe 
 warriors, with which this country was filled, gave 
 it the name of Germany. 
 
 THE firft inhabitants of theMarck were Teutons, 
 and after them the Semnons, who according to the 
 relation of Tacitus, were the nobleft among the Suevi. 
 
 IN thofe remote days Germany was quite bar- 
 barous ; the natives who were rude and unpolimed, 
 lived in forefts, where they had little huts for their 
 habitations. They married young, and got Chil- 
 dren faft, for the women were feldom barren. 
 The nation increafed daily, and as the children 
 confined themfelves to the culture of their paternal 
 eftates, inftead of clearing new lands, it followed 
 of courfe, that fince thefe fmall inheritances did not, 
 even in the very beft years, afford a fufficient main- 
 tenance for fo numerous a people, they were obli- 
 ged to quit their country to find elfewhere a fub- 
 fiftence. Hence that great inundation of Barbarians, 
 who over-run Gaul, Africa, and even the Roman 
 empire. 
 
 THE Germans were huntfmen through neceflity, 
 and warriors by inclination. Their poverty ren- 
 dered the inteftine wars which they had among 
 themfelves, very fhort ; for they were not-influen- 
 ced by intereft. Their generals, who afterwards 
 
 became
 
 14 DISSERTATION I. 
 
 became princes, were called Furften^ which figni- 
 fies leaders. They were famous for the largenefs 
 of their fize, the robuftnefs of their bodies, and 
 for being inured to the moft laborious exercifes. 
 Their principal virtues were their valour, and the 
 fidelity with which they fulfilled their engagements. 
 Thefe virtues they celebrated by hymns, which 
 they taught their children, in order to tranfmit 
 them to pofterity. 
 
 EVEN the Latin writers are unexceptionable wit- 
 nelles of the German valour, by acquainting us 
 with the defeat ofVarus and fomeof the other chiefs 
 of the Roman armies. If we are apt to commend 
 the courage of a nation, which with equal difcipline 
 and forces, is victorious over another ; how much 
 more ought we to admire the bravery of thofe Ger- 
 mans, who having nothing to rely upon but a con- 
 fidence in their own valour, and an inflexible refo- 
 ,Jution never to yield, triumphed over the Roman 
 difcipline, and over thofe legions, who had but juft 
 compleated the conqueft of half the known world ? 
 
 NOTWITHSTANDING what mofl hiflorians fay, 
 it is however true, that the Romans palled the 
 Elbe in fpite of the Suevi. For we have difcovered 
 in the neighbourhood of ZofTen, within fix German 
 miles of Berlin, in a fquare camp of four hundred 
 paces, a vaft number of urns, filled with the me- 
 dals of the emperor Antoninus, and of the emprefs 
 Fauftina, and with drefling toys belonging to the 
 Roman ladies. This cannot be a field of battle, 
 for the Suevi would never have buried the fpoils of 
 their enemies under ground, to decorate their fune- 
 ral. I think we may fafely conjecture, that this 
 place ferved as a camp to fome of the advanced co- 
 horts, which the Romans had fent beyond the Elbe, 
 to apprize them of the motions and approach of the 
 barbarians. 
 
 BRANDENBURG is the mpfl ancient city of the 
 
 Marck,
 
 DISSERTATION I. i S 
 
 Marck. The annals of this place, printed in 1595, 
 fix the foundation of it in the year of the world 
 3588, which is about 416 years before the vulgar 
 aera. It is faid to have been built by Brennus, who 
 ranfacked Rome, and to have taken its name from 
 its founder. Amidft the obfcurity of thefe days, 
 we have been able to come at the names of fome 
 of the kings of the Vandals, as Hoterus and Wen- 
 ceflaus, who in all probability were more ambitious 
 and troublefome than the reft. We find moreover 
 in the annals of this country, that Witikind king of 
 the Saxons, Hermanfred king of Thuringia, and 
 Richimir king of the Franks entered into an alli- 
 ance, fubdued the Semnons, and were the firft who 
 inclofed the conquered towns with walls, to keep 
 the country in fubjedtion. 
 
 The SECOND EPOCHA. 
 
 CHARLEMAIN, at length, took Brandenburg 
 in 781 i and when Henry the Fowler had in the 
 year 928, intirely fubdued the Saxons who in- 
 habited thofe parts, he eftablifhed margraves, or 
 governors of the frontiers. 
 
 THE manners of the people were civilized under 
 the margraves, but the country was very poor. It 
 produced only the bare neceflaries of life, but ftood 
 in need of the induftry of its neighbours for feveral 
 conveniencies ; and as no other country wanted its 
 afliftance, there was a greater exportation than im- 
 portation of fpecie. This difproportion in the cir- 
 culation, which continually diminifhed the value of 
 money, lowered the price of all forts of commodi- 
 ties. Provifions were fo cheap, that under the elec- 
 tor John II. of Afcania, a bufhel of wheat was fold 
 for twenty eight farthings, a bufliel of rie for twen- 
 ty eight deniers, and fix hens were bought in the 
 market for one grofs,
 
 16 DISSERTATION I. 
 
 THE married men of Berlin patted at that time for 
 honeft but jealous hufbands. The annals of this 
 country * afford an example, which gives us a live- 
 ly defcription of the manners of thofe days. During 
 the regency of the elector Otho of Bavaria, a fecre- 
 tary of the bifhop of Magdeburg went to bathe at 
 the public bath at Berlin ; where happening to meet 
 in the ftreet with a young woman, who was a 
 burgher's wife, he propofed to her in joke to go 
 and bathe with him. The woman was affronted 
 at this propofal ; upon which a crowd of people got 
 about him ; and the burghers of Berlin, who under- 
 ftood no raillery, dragged the poor fecretary into a 
 public market place, where they beheaded him 
 without any other form of trial. If thefe people 
 are ftill jealous, at lead their revenge is not fo un- 
 merciful. 
 
 THE country was in a moft miferable fituation 
 under the princes of the four firft races ; and in- 
 deed it could not be otherwife, as it was continu- 
 ally changing mailers. Otho of Bavaria was obliged 
 to fell the electorate in 1 3 7 3 , to the emperor Charles 
 IV. The latter refided at Tangermunde, where 
 he kept a fplendid court, and built a large caflle, 
 whofe ruins are to be feen to this day. While Jo- 
 docus had the government of the country of Bran- 
 denburg, the Vaudois who were periecuted in 
 France, took fhelter in Angermunde, which from 
 thence was called the heretical city. I cannot find 
 the reafon why the Vaudois mould fly for an afy- 
 lum to the country of Brandenburg, which was in- 
 habited by catholics j nor why they were received, 
 tho' detefted. 
 
 THE princes of the houfe of Luxemburg were 
 the greateft oppreflbrs of the people : they mort- 
 gaged the electorate whenever" they wanted money, 
 to thofe who were willing to lend them the greateft 
 fums. And thofe creditors who looked upon this 
 
 wretched 
 * Lpckelius in 1364,,
 
 DISSERTATION I. 17 
 
 wretched province as a mortgage, ufed every art 
 of oppreffion to enrich themfelves, living there at 
 difcretion, as an enemy's country. The highways 
 were infefted with robbers, all civil polity was ba~ 
 nifhed, and the proceedings of the courts of juftice 
 were fuperfeded. The lords of Quitzau and Neu- 
 endorff, enraged at the odious yoke under which 
 their country groaned, declared open war againft 
 the petty tyrants who opprelTed it. During this 
 total confufion and ftate of anarchy, the people 
 were in the utmoft mifery. The nobility were one 
 while the inftruments, another time the avengers 
 of tyranny ; and the generality of the nation, whofe 
 fpirits were deprefled by the feverity of flavery, and 
 by the rigour of a barbarous Gothic government, 
 grew quite infenfible and paralytic. 
 
 The THIRD EPOCHA. 
 
 THE emperor Sigifmund difimbroiled this chaos 
 in 1414, by conferring the country cf Brandenburg 
 and the electoral dignity on Frederick of Hohen- 
 zollern, Margrave of Neurenberg. This prince 
 required his new fubjefts to yield homage to him ; 
 but the people long accuilomed to cruel mafters, 
 with difficulty fubmitted to this mild and legitimate 
 government. Frederick I. reduced the nobilty by 
 the terror of a large cannon, with which he beat 
 down the caftles of the rebels. This cannon was a 
 four and twenty pounder, and \vas all the artillery 
 he had. 
 
 The fpirit of fedition was not fb quickly fuppref- 
 fed. The burghers of Berlin revolted feveral times 
 againft their magift rates ; and Frederick II. appea- 
 fed thefe commotions with prudence and lenity. 
 This prince was obliged, for want of money, to 
 mortgage the tolls of SchifFelbein and Drambourg 
 to Denis lord of Often for the fum of 1500 florins, 
 to defray his charges to the diet of Nurenberg. 
 
 B IN
 
 i8 DISSERTATION I. 
 
 IN this fituation things continued till the time of 
 John the Cicero. This elector made the firft efforts 
 to re/cue his people out of that ftate of rufticity and 
 ignorance ; and indeed to be only fenfible of their 
 ignorance, was a great matter in thofe days. Tho* 
 this dawn of knowledge was but a very weak twi- 
 light, yet it produced the foundation of the univer- 
 fuy of Frankfort on the Oder in 1495. Conrad 
 Wipina, profeflbr of Leipfick, was the rector of 
 this new univerfity, and compiled the ftatutes. A 
 thoufand ftudents were inrolled the very firft year 
 in the regifters of the univerfity. 
 
 LUCKY it was for the progrefs of the fciences, 
 that Joachim Neftor was as much their protector 
 as his father. This prince was the Leo X. of Bran- 
 denburgh ; he was mafter of the mathematics, 
 aftronomy, and hiftory ; he fpoke French, Italian 
 and Latin with eafe ; he was fond of polite learning, 
 and munificent in encouraging thofe who profefied 
 it. 
 
 THE civilizing of a nation that had been in a ftate 
 of barbaroufnefs for fb many ages, could not be the 
 work of a day ; it muft be a long time before the 
 foft commerce of fciences can communicate itfelf to 
 a whole nation. The young people indeed applied 
 themfelves to ftudy, but thofe of a more advanced 
 age, preferved ftill an attachment to their ancient 
 cuftoms and to their rufticity. The nobility ftill 
 continued to rob on the highways. There was 
 fuch a general depravation of manners in Germany, 
 that the diet of the empire aflembled at Triers, be- 
 ing willing to put a ftop to it, forbad people to 
 blafpheme, and to abandon themfelves to that ex- 
 cefs of debauchery, which debafes human nature, 
 and renders men inferior to brutes. 
 
 AT that time there were vineyards planted in the 
 electorate; a barrel of wine was fold for thirty grofles, 
 and a bufhel of rie for twenty one farthings. There 
 was a greater circulation of fpecies j and Joachim 
 
 Neftor
 
 DISSERTATION I. 19 
 
 Neftor erected Ibme new buildings, and among o- 
 thers the caftle of Potfdam. Every body drefled af- 
 ter the German fafhion, which anfwers very near to 
 the old Spanifh drefs, except that the men wore large 
 ruffs. The princes, * counts and knights wore gold 
 chains about their necks ; and none but gentlemen 
 were permitted to have three gold rings in their cra- 
 vat. The women's drefs was like that wore at pre- 
 fent by the fex at Augfburg, or by the maidens of 
 Strafburg. 
 
 THEY began then to be acquainted with a kind of 
 luxury proportioned to the times ; but as we do not 
 find that there was any improvement made in the in- 
 duftry or commerce of the people of Brandenburg, 
 the augmentation and caufe of the riches of thofe 
 days are a difficult problem to folve. 
 
 As early as the year 1560, we find a vaft difference 
 in the expences of the electors ; for when Joachim II. 
 went to the diet of Fankfort, which was fummoned 
 in 1562, by the emperor Ferdinand for the election 
 of a king of the Romans, he had fixty eight gentle- 
 men in his retinue, and an equipage of 452 horfes. 
 Gaming was introduced at that time ; this cuftom 
 fhifted from the court to the town ; but they were 
 obliged to fupprefs it, becaufe fbme burghers had loft 
 above a thoufand crowns at a fitting. 
 
 WE read in our annals, that at the marriage of 
 Joachim II. to Sophia daughter of Sigifmund king of 
 Poland, the elector lay the firft night of his nuptials 
 armed cap-a-pee with his young wife ; as if the fofc 
 engagements of love required fuch formidable prepa- 
 rations. There was a mixture of ferocity and magni- 
 ficence in the cuftoms of thofe days. The caufe of 
 this fingularity was the defire the nation had to 
 emerge from its barbaroufnefs , it fought for the 
 right road, but miffed it ; They were fo flupid as 
 to confound ceremonies with politenefs, magnificence 
 with dignity, debauchery with pleafure, pedantry 
 
 B 2 with 
 
 * Lockeliu*;
 
 20 DISSERTATION!. 
 
 with learning, and the clownifh fatnefs of buffoons 
 with the ingenious Tallies of wit. 
 
 To this time we muft refer the foundation of the 
 univerfity of Konigfberg by Albert duke of Prullia. 
 
 THE expences of the electors ftill continued to in- 
 creafe. John George made a fuperb interment for 
 his father ; this is the firit funeral pomp of any 
 kind of magnificence that we meet with in the hi- 
 ftory of Brandenburg. The predominant paffion 
 of this prince was his fondnefs of entertainments ; 
 he loved to difplay his grandeur. He celebrated 
 the birth * of his eldeft fon with entertainments 
 that lafted four days. Thefe diverfions confided of 
 tournaments, naval combats, fireworks, and running 
 at the ring. The lords who compofed the four 
 troops, were drefTed in velvet richly imbroidered 
 with gold and filver ; but ftill the character of the 
 age ;was difcernible thro' this magnificence. At 
 the head of each troop ihere was a buffoon, who 
 foundad a horn in a ridiculous manner, and commit- 
 ted a thoufand extravagances, while the court mount- 
 ed turret of the caftle to fee the fireworks go off -f-. 
 When Chriflian king of Denmark came thro' Berlin, 
 the elector received him in a magnificent manner ; 
 he went out to meet him, attended with a great num- 
 ber of princes, counts, and lords, and with a guard 
 of 300 horfe. The king made his entry in a black 
 velvet chariot laced with gold, drawn by eight white 
 courfers, with bits and caparifons all of filver. They 
 quite tired him with entertainments, all in this tafte. 
 
 LUXURY, perhaps, was carried to excefs ; for Joa- 
 chim enacted fumptuary laws. He employed his re- 
 venues in ufefulellablifhments, and founded Joachim's 
 college, which was afterwards removed to Berlin by 
 the elector Frederick William, where ftill continues 
 
 this 
 
 * Lockelius. 
 
 -J- The annals mention, that the eleftor put his head out of * 
 dormer-window, and cried out to $$ Engineer : Jrin^ fetfre as 
 fan as 1 bavt ivbijlhd*
 
 DISSERTATION I. 21 
 
 this fchool, the moft flourifhing, without doubt, and 
 the beft regulated in all the territories of Pruffia. 
 
 UNDER the adminiflration of John George, a great 
 many inventions were ftill wanting, that contribute 
 to the conveniency of life. The common cuftom of 
 coaches goes no higher than John Sigifmund ; in whofe 
 reign mention is made of it, on account of the ho- 
 mage which this prince yielded at Warfaw for the 
 dutchy of Prullia. He had thirty fix coaches, each 
 fix horfes, in his train, befides fourfcore led horfes. 
 The embafiador, whom he lent to the diet of the em- 
 pire at the election of the emperor Matthias, had three 
 coaches. Thefe were a kind of ugly travelling vehi- 
 cles, made of four boards, which were put together 
 in a very clumfy manner. Who could have then 
 foretold, that this art would have been carried to 
 fo high a degree of perfection in the eighteenth cen- 
 tury, as to make coaches that come to 20000 crowns, 
 and that they mould find purhafers ? 
 
 THE efforts made by Brandenburg and Germany 
 to civilize themfelves, were not quite ufelefs. The 
 number of univerfities increafed, among which was 
 that of Halle. At the fame time an academy was 
 formed at Deflaw for the improvement of the Ger- 
 man tongue, under the name of t\\t fruit ful fociety . 
 This might have been of fomefervice ; efpecjally as 
 the German language, branched out into an infinite 
 number of dialects, wants proper rules to fix its true 
 flandard ; befides, we have no claflic writers-, and if we 
 have ftill fome remains of our ancient republican li- 
 berty, 'tis only the barren privilege of mangling a 
 rude and almoft barbarous language according to our 
 pleafure and fancy. 
 
 THESE excellent inflitutions, which perhaps would 
 have greatly contributed to the advancement of learn- 
 ing, were hardly fketched, when the thirty years war 
 fupervened, which overturned and deftroyed all Ger- 
 many. 
 
 THE flates of Brandenburg had a mare in the go- 
 B 3 vernment
 
 22 DISSERTATION I. 
 
 vernment till the reign of George -William, viz. 1621 ; 
 they were confulted on all public affairs, and their ad- 
 vice was followed, When the war drew near to the 
 electorate, they began to think of its defence. 'Till 
 that time the elector kept only his own guards, and 
 when he wanted to raife troops, the nobility were 
 fummoned, who were obliged to appear, and with 
 their paramounts formed the cavalry -, the infantry 
 confifted of their vaffals. The elector *, and efpeci- 
 ally his minifler count Schwartzenberg, were inclined 
 to maintain a regular militia. The States confented to 
 levy foldiers ; and after the men were picked out, they 
 were ordered to beg about the country for their fubfi- 
 ftence, till there mould be occafion for their fervice. 
 At the fame time an edict was publiflied, ordering 
 the country people to give a farthing a piece to this 
 militia if they came to beg, and to beat them foundly 
 if they were not fatisfted. Thus this elector, inftead 
 of having difciplined troops, had only privileged beg- 
 gars. 
 
 THE count of Schwartzenberg reduced afterwards 
 the power of thefe States, tho' they had never abufed 
 it. In fhort, in the courfe of this bloody war, the 
 year 1636 was the mod unfortunate for this electorate : 
 the Swedes were at Werben, the Imperialifts at Mag- 
 deburg and Rathenaw, Wrangle at Stetten, and Mo- 
 rofini in the New Marck, when thirty fix thoufand 
 Imperialifts marched through the country, pillaging 
 and destroying every place they came to. This was 
 too much : the country of Brandenburg, exhaufted 
 by the number of troops whom it had maintained, 
 and who had ravaged it for fome years, could fland 
 it no longer. Provifions were become extremely dear, 
 an ox was fold for an hundred crowns, a bufhel of 
 wheat for five, a bufhel of barley for three ; and the 
 fcarcity of fpecie raifed the value of it to fuch a degree, 
 that a ducat was rated at ten crowns. Some gentle- 
 men who had fecured their provifions from the rapa- 
 
 cioufnefs 
 * Sebaldus's Chronicle.
 
 DISSERTATION!. 23 
 
 cioufnefs of the enemy, wanted to reap an advantage 
 from the circumftances of this dearth j but the coun- 
 try people, not having wherewithal to purchafe this 
 grain, and grown defperate by the famine, fell upcm 
 thofe inhuman mailers, and plundered their grana- 
 ries. The famine continued with the fame violence, 
 and was followed by the plague, which completed the 
 mifery of the country. The remainder of the unfor- 
 tunate inhabitants, whom death and the enemy had 
 (pared, being unable to withftand fuch a fea of cala- 
 mities, abandoned their unhappy country, and fled 
 for refuge to the neighbouring provinces. 
 
 THE Marck was then one frightful defer t, which 
 exhibited a lamentable fpectacle of ruins, conflagrati- 
 ons, and of every fcene of calamity that attends a long 
 and furious war. Hardly was it poilible, amidftfuch 
 a horrid fcene of confufion, and in places intirely laid 
 wafte, to difcern the traces of the ancient inhabitants. 
 
 THERE would have been an end of Brandenburg 
 for ever, if Frederick-William, who began to reign, 
 in 1640, had not taken fuch immenfe pains to re- 
 trieve it. His prudence and refolution, together with 
 time, overcame all thofe obftacles - t he concluded a 
 peace, and immediately fet about a new creation. 
 
 BRANDENBURG, in fa6V., became a new country, 
 formed of a mixture of all nations, who afterwards 
 intermarried with thofe few of the ancient inhabitants, 
 that had efcaped deftruction ; whether it was owing 
 to a plentiful year, or for want of confumption, the 
 price of provifions fell fo low, that a bufliel of wheat 
 was fold for twelve grofles. 
 
 AMONG the other mifchiefs occafioned by the thir- 
 ty years war, we may reckon the ruin of the little 
 trade then carried on in the north of Germany. For- 
 merly we had our fait from Holland and France ; but 
 as the ftock could not be fupplied during thofe trou- 
 bles, it was foon exhaufted. The want of fo necefla- 
 ry a commodity obliged people to have recourfe to 
 induftry ; and they difcovered falt-pits at Halle, which 
 
 B 4 were
 
 24 DISSERTATION I. 
 
 were fufficient to fupply not only the wants of Bran- 
 denburg, but likewife of the neighbouring provinces. 
 
 THE firft colony that came to fettle in the electo- 
 rate, were Dutch. Thefe revived the feveral handy- 
 craft trades, and formed a project for felling timber, 
 with which the country abounded ; for the thirty years 
 had turned almofl all the foil into a forefl. The fale 
 of this timber conftituted afterwards one of the prin- 
 cipal branches of our commerce. The elector gave 
 leave to fome Jewifh families to fettle in his domini- 
 ons ; the neighbourhood of Poland rendering them 
 very ufeful for vending in that kingdom the refufeof 
 our fripery. 
 
 NOT long after a favourable event enfued, which 
 confiderably promoted the defigns of the great elector. 
 Lewis XIV. revoked the edict of Nantes in 1684. 
 upon which occafion at leaft 300,000 French quitted 
 the kingdom. Thofe who had moft money retired to 
 England and Holland ; but the moft induftrious part 
 of them, to the number of twenty thoufand, or there- 
 abouts, took flicker in the country of Brandenburg. 
 Thefe helped to re-people our defert villages, and 
 brought all forts of manufactures amongft us, which 
 we wanted. 
 
 IN order to judge of the advantages which the go- 
 vernment received from this colony, it will be necef- 
 fary to give fome account of the ftate of our manu- 
 factures before the thirty years war, and of the per- 
 fection they arrived to after the revocation of the edict 
 of Nantes. 
 
 OUR commerce confifted formerly in the fale of 
 our corn, wine, and wool ; there were fome woollen 
 manufactures, but they were very inconfiderable. At 
 the time of John Cicero there were only 700 manu- 
 facturers in the whole country. During the admini- 
 flration of John- Joachim, the duke of Alva exercifed 
 his tyrannical cruelty over the Inhabitants of the Low 
 Countries. That wife princefs, Elizabeth queen of 
 England, made a proper ufe of the folly of her neigh- 
 bours,
 
 I. Z5 
 
 hours, by inviting the manufacturers of Gant and Bru- 
 ges into her dominions. Thefe people manufactured 
 the Englifh wool, and obtained a law to prohibit the 
 exportation of it. 
 
 OUR manufacturers till that time had made no good 
 cloth, without a mixture of Englifh wool; and, as 
 foon as this was with-held, the manufacture declined. 
 The electors of Saxony, Auguftus and Chriftian, fol- 
 lowed queen Elizabeth's example, by inviting the 
 Flemifh artifts to their country, who put their manu- 
 factures in a flourishing condition. The want of fo- 
 reign wool, the decline of our manufactures, and the 
 rife of thofe of our neighbours, induced the nobility 
 of Brandenburg to fell their wool to ftrangers ; which 
 was very near being the utter ruin of our manufac- 
 tures. In order to remedy this evil, John-Sigifmund 
 prohibited the importation of foreign cloths into the 
 country ; but this prohibition was ridiculous, becaufe 
 the manufactures of Brandenburg were inefficient to 
 furnifh as much cloth as the country wanted, which 
 obliged them to have recourfe to the induftry of their 
 neighbours. Very likely more lucky expedients would 
 have been found out, if the thirty years war had not 
 broke out foon after, which overturned all projects 
 and manufactories, and even the flate itfelf. 
 
 AT the acceffion of Frederick- William to the regen- 
 cy, there was no manufacture in this country, either 
 of hats, (lockings, ferges, or any kind of woollen 
 fluffs. We are indebted to the induftry of the French 
 for all thefe manufactures : they erected fabrics of 
 cloths, ferges, fluffs, druggets, crapes, caps, woven 
 {lockings, all forts of hats, and dying in different 
 colours. Some of thofe refugees turned mop-keepers, 
 and retailed the feveral wares that were fabricated by 
 their countrymen. Berlin now had goldfmiths, jew- 
 ellers, watchmakers, and carvers. The French, who 
 fettled in the open country, planted tobacco ; and va- 
 riety of fruits, and excellent pulfe, werefeen to grow 
 |n a fandy foil, which by their careful cultivation was 
 
 become
 
 2 6 DISSERTATION I. 
 
 become an admirable kitchen-garden. To encourage 
 fo ufeful a colony, the great elector allowed them a 
 yearly penfion of forty thoufand crowns, which they 
 enjoy to this day. 
 
 THUS the electorate was in a more flourifhing con- 
 dition under the adminiftration of Frederick- William, 
 than it had been under any of his anceftors. The 
 great improvement of the manufactures, increafed the 
 different branches of commerce, which was afterwards 
 confined chiefly to our corn, timber, woollen manu- 
 factures, and fait. The ufe of pofl-houfes, hitherto 
 unknown in Germany, was introduced by the great 
 elector throughout all his dominions, from Emmerick 
 as far as Memel. The cities, before that time, payed 
 arbitrary taxes, which were fupprefled ; and an ex- 
 cife was fubftituted in their flead. The towns began 
 to be civilized, the flreets were paved, and lanthorns 
 were fet up at proper diftances to light the inhabitants. 
 This civil regulation was abfblutely neceffary. For 
 the courtiers were obliged to go in (lilts to Potzdam, 
 when the court happened to refide there ; becaufe of 
 the dirt that lay in heaps in the flreets. 
 
 FREDERICK-WILLIAM was the firft elector that 
 kept a regular body of difciplined troops in his fervice. 
 The battalions of foot confifled of four companies, 
 each of 150 men ; the third part of a battalion were 
 armed with pikes, the reft with mufkets. The in- 
 fantty wore their regimentals, and had cloaks. The 
 horfe provided themfelves with arms and horles. 
 They wore half armour, fought in fquadrons, and 
 often carried a train of artillery along with them. 
 
 THE great elector, though generous and magnifi- 
 cent in his own perfon, eftablifhed fumptuary laws. 
 The court was numerous and fplendid. At the en- 
 tertainment which he gave upon the marriage of his 
 niece, the princes of Courland, there were fifty-fix 
 tables, with forty covers at each repaft. The inde- 
 fatigable activity of this prince procured every ufeful 
 art to his country j but he had not time to introduce 
 the polite ones. THE
 
 DISSERTATION I. 27 
 
 THE continual wars, together with the mixture of 
 new inhabitants, had already made a change in the 
 ancient manners. A great many of the French and 
 Dutch cuftoms were adopted by our people ; but the 
 predominant vices were drunkennefs and avarice. 
 The youth were forbidden all unlawful commerce with 
 the fair fex ; and fome fmarting remembrances, which 
 are contracted by dying away with pleakire, were un- 
 known at that time. The court was fond of points, 
 double meanings, and buffooneries ; the children of 
 the nobility applied themfelves again to fhidy, and 
 the education of youth infenfibly fell into the hands 
 of the French. We are indebted alfo to this nation 
 for a certain freedom in converfation, and for an eatier 
 carriage than is commonly met with in the Germans. 
 THE change, which fupervened in the ftate after 
 the thirty years war, was univerfal : it was felt in the 
 fpecie, as well as in every thing elfe, Formerly the 
 filver mark was on the footing of nine crowns through- 
 out all the empire, till the year ^61, when the cala- 
 mity of the times obliged the elector to have recourfe 
 to all manner of expedients to fupply the neceflities of 
 the ftate. He published the fame year an edict, which 
 regulated the value of the current fpecie ; and he or- 
 dered grofles and fenins to be coined to a confiderable 
 fum, whofe intrinfic value was very near equivalent 
 to the third part of the real value of this fpecie. As 
 the value of this money was imaginary, it was foon 
 cried down, and fell one half. The old crowns of 
 good allay were worth from twenty-eight to thirty 
 groffes, for which reafon we call them bank crowns. 
 In order to remedy thefe abufes, the electors of Bran- 
 denburg had a conference at Cinna in 1667, and they 
 agreed to fix the value of fpecie upon a new foot- 
 ing ; by which the fine filver mark, was to be re- 
 turned to the public in all kinds of money from 
 the crown to the fennin, at ten crowns fixteen grof- 
 fes. After this, we ftruck florins and half florins, and 
 the value of the filver mark continued fixed to ten 
 crowns. IN
 
 28 DISSERTATION t 
 
 IN the year 1690, Fredrick I. agreed with the elec- 
 tor of Saxony and the duke of Hanover, on proper 
 meafures for keeping up the value of fpecie on the 
 fame footing as was determined at the convention of 
 Cinna ; but finding this impracticable, they confent- 
 ed that the current fpecie of florins, and pieces of 
 eight grofles mould be ftruck through all their domi- 
 nions at the proportion of twelve crowns ; this is 
 what we call the footing of Leipfick, which ftill fub- 
 fifts. 
 
 THE new colonies eftablifhed by the great elector, 
 did not indeed arrive to their full perfection, till the 
 reign of Frederick I. We had then a manufacture of 
 tapeftry equal to that of Bruflels, our laces were not 
 inferior to thofe of France, our glafles of Neufladt fur- 
 pafled thofe of Venice in whitenefs, and our army was 
 dreifed in cloth of our own manufactures. In the 
 year 1700 the troops changed their arms ; the ufe of 
 pikes was abolifhed, and the infantry had fufils given 
 them ; the cavalry kept no other part of their armour 
 than the cuirafs, and they were obliged to wear regi- 
 mentals. 
 
 THE court was numerous and fplendid ; and there 
 was a great circulation of fpecie, arifing from foreign 
 fubfidies. Luxury began now to mew itfelf in live- 
 ries, drefs, tables, equipage, and buildings. The 
 king had two of the moft able architects in Europe in 
 his fervice ; befides Schluter, who was no way inferior 
 to them in merit, and whofe fine carvings heightened 
 the beauty of their architecture. Bott made the fine 
 gate of W efel, and gave the defigns of the palace, 
 and of the arfenal of Berlin. He built likewife the 
 poft-houfe, at the corner of the great bridge ; and 
 the beautiful portico of the caftle of Potzdam, whofe 
 merit is well known to the lovers of architecture. 
 Lofander built the new wing of the palace of Konigf- 
 berg, and the mint, which was afterwards pulled 
 down. Schluter decorated the arfenal with thofe tro- 
 phies which are fo greatly admirecl by connoiffeurs ; 
 
 and
 
 DISSERTATION I. 29 
 
 and it was he that caft the equeflrian flatue of the 
 great elector, which pafles for a mafter-piece. The 
 king embellifhed the city of Berlin with the church of 
 the cloyfter, with arches, and fome other edifices. 
 He adorned alfo the pleafure-houfes of Orangebourg, 
 Potzdam, and Charlottenburg, with all manner of 
 improvements and decorations. 
 
 THE polite arts, which are generally the fruits of 
 abundance, began now to flourifh. The academy of 
 painting was founded, of which Pefne, Mayer, Wid- 
 deman, and Leigeber were the firft profeffors ; how- 
 ever we have not had one painter of reputation from 
 their fchool. But the moft remarkable event, and 
 that which more nearly relates to the progrefs of the 
 human underftanding, was the foundation of the royal 
 academy of fciences in 1700. The queen Sophia- 
 Charlotte contributed chiefly to this eftabliihment. 
 This princefs had a great genius, with a lage mare of 
 learning : (he did not think it beneath the dignity of 
 a queen, to mew her regard for a philofoper. It is 
 plain, that the philofopher I am (peaking of, was 
 Leibnitz ; and as thofe whom heaven has favoured 
 with a particular dignity of mind, are capable of rai* 
 fmg themfelves upon a level with (bvereigns, me en- 
 tered into an intimate acquaintance with Leibnitz; 
 and proposed him as the only perfon capable of laying 
 the foundation of this new academy. Leibnitz, who. 
 if I may be allowed the expreffion, had more than one 
 foul, was worthy of prefiding in an academy, which, 
 in cafe of need, he alone might have reprefented. 
 He eftablifhed four clafles, one for natural philofophy 
 and phyfick, the fecond for the mathematics, the 
 third for the language and antiquities of Germany, 
 and the laft for the oriental languages and antiquities. 
 The moft celebrated members of our academy, were 
 Meflrs. Bafnage, Bernouille, La Croze, Guillelmini, 
 Hanzoker, Herman, Kirch, Romer, Sturmer, Va- 
 rignon, des Vignoles, Werenfels, and Wolff. After 
 them appeared Meflrs, de Beaufobre, and Lenfant, 
 
 whofe
 
 co DISSERTATION I. 
 
 mf 
 
 whofe pens would have done honour to the ages of 
 Auguftus and Lewis XIV. 
 
 OTHO of Guericke flourifhed alfo at Magdeburg : 
 it is to him we are indebted for the invention of the 
 air-pump, and luckily he has rendered his philofo- 
 phical and fruitful genius hereditary to his defcen- 
 dants. 
 
 THE univerfities were in a flouriming condition at 
 the fame time : Halle and Franckfort were provided 
 with learned profeffors. Thomafius. Gundling, Lude- 
 wig, Wolff, and Strick were in the firft rank of fame, 
 and had a vaft number of pupils. Wolff wrote a com- 
 ment on Leibnitz's ingenious fyflem of the Monads, 
 and drowned a few problems which Leibnitz had 
 thrown out as a bait to the metaphyficians, in a de- 
 luge of words, arguments, corollaries, and citations. 
 The profeffor of Halle took an immenfedeal of pains 
 to write a large number of volumes, which inftead 
 of being adopted to the inftrudtion of adult people, 
 ferved only as a dialectic catechifm for children. The 
 Monades fet the metaphyficians and geometricians of 
 Germany at variance, and they ftill go on difputing 
 on the divifibility of matter. 
 
 The king founded at the fame time an academy at 
 Berlin, for young men of family, on the fame plan as 
 that of Luneville ; but unhappily for our country, it 
 did not laft long. 
 
 THIS century produced not one good hiftorian. 
 Teffier was employed to write the hiftory of Branden- 
 burg, and inftead of a hiftory, he wrote a panegyric. 
 PuffendorfF wrote the life of Frederick- William ; and 
 being determined to omit no circumftance at all, he 
 forgot neither his clerks of the chancery, nor his va- 
 lets de chambre. But our authors, I think, are ge- 
 nerally found fault with for making no diftindion be- 
 tween things that are eflential, and fuch as are only 
 circumftantial ; for leaving fads in obfcurity, while 
 they pretend to difembroil them ; and for not fhort- 
 ening their trailing profe, which is executively fubjecl: 
 to tranfpofitions and numerous epithets. IN
 
 DISSERTATION I. 31 
 
 IN this great fcarcity of profe writers, Branden- 
 burg had one good poet. This was Monf. de Canitz, 
 who made an excellent tranflation of fome of Boileau's 
 epiftles, and publifhed verfes in imitation of Horace, 
 with fome original pieces. Canitz is the Pope of 
 Germany, the moft elegant, the moft correct, and 
 the leaft difFufed poet that ever wrote in our language. 
 In germany even the poets are generally infected with 
 pedantry ; the language of the gods is proftituted by 
 the mouth of fome regent of a paltry college, or by a 
 debached fludent ; and thofe whom we call gentle- 
 men, are either too lazy, or too proud, to touch 
 Horace's lyre, or Virgil's trumpet. M. de Canitz, 
 though of a very good family, did not think that 
 wit and poetical merit were any derogation to his 
 birth. He cultivated this talent, as we have already 
 obferved, with great fuccefs ; he had an employment 
 at court ; and, from converfmg with good company, 
 he learnt that politenefs and amenity, which are fb 
 pleafing in his ftyle. 
 
 THE German theatre was worth little notice ; what 
 they call tragedy, is a monflrous mixture of bombafl 
 and buffoonery. The dramatic writers were unac- 
 quainted, even with the common rules of the theatre; 
 and their comedy was Hill more wretched. It was 
 a kind of low farce, contrary to all tafte, politenefs, 
 and morality. The queen maintained an Italian 
 opera, the compofer of which was the famous Bonon- 
 cini ; from that time we have had good muficians. 
 There was a company of French players at court, by 
 whom the admirable compofitions of the Molieres, the 
 Corneilles, and the Racines, were frequently repre- 
 fented. The tafte of the French theatre made its 
 way into Germany, together with the fafh ions of that 
 nation. Europe, being ftruck with the character of 
 grandeur, which Lewis XIV. difplayed in all his acti- 
 ons, with the politenefs which reigned in his court, 
 and with the great men, who were an ornament to 
 his reign, wanted to imitate France, as well as to ad- 
 mire
 
 3 2 DISSERTATION I. 
 
 mire her. People from all parts of Germany vifited 
 this country ; and a young gentleman was taken for 
 a fool, if he had not been fbme time at the court of 
 Verfailles. The French tafte regulated our kitchens, 
 our furniture, our drefs, and every other kind of 
 trifle, which is fubject to the tyrannical fway of fa- 
 Ihion. This paflion, carried to excefs, degenerated 
 into frenzy ; the women, who often run upon ex- 
 tremes, pufhed it to a degree of extravagance *. 
 
 THE court did not give into the foreign modes fb 
 much as the town ; their time was taken up with the 
 decorations of magnificence and ceremony, which 
 were carried to the greateft excefs. The king inftitu- 
 ted the order of the black eagle, as well to have fuch 
 a thing as an order, like every other king, as to give 
 himfelf upon this occafion the pleafure of a feftival, 
 which greatly refembled a mafquerade. This prince, 
 who had erected an academy out of complaifance to 
 his wife, maintained buffoons to pleafe himfelf. The 
 court of the queen Sophia-Charlottee was quite fepa- 
 ratefrom his. It was a temple, in which the facred 
 fire of the veftals was preferved ; it was the afylum of 
 learning, and the feat of politenefs. This virtuous 
 
 * THE mother of Canitz the poet, having exhaufted all the 
 new fafhions of France, in order to outdo the ladies of Berlin, 
 commiffioned a merchant to bring her a hufband from France, who 
 fhould be young, handfome, robuft, polite, witty, and of a good 
 family, imagining that this kind of merchandize was as common, 
 as women's drefling toys in a (hop. The merchant, who was quite 
 unpraftifed in this kind of trade, executed his commiffion as well 
 as he could. At length his correfpondents found out a perfon, 
 whom they thought fit for JuVpwpofe ; this was a man of fifty 
 years of age, his name was M. de Brinboc, of weak conftitution, 
 and very fickly. He came to Berlin ; madam de Canitz faw him, 
 was ftartled, and married him. It was lucky for the Pruflians, 
 that this marriage turned out to the diflatisfaclion of the lady., 
 otherwife her example would have been followed. Our beauties 
 would all have fallen into the hands of Frenchmen, and thofe of 
 our fex at Berlin would have been obliged, like the Romans, to 
 carry off the Sabine women from the neighbourhood. 
 
 princefs
 
 DISSERTATION I. 33 
 
 princefs was fo much the more regretted, as the * lady 
 who fucceeded her, gave herfelf up intirely to the di- 
 rection of bigots, and fpent her days with hypocrites ; 
 a wretched race, who even bring virtue into difrepute, 
 by fanctifying vice under a virtuous appearance. At 
 length the adepts appeared at court ; and an Italian, 
 whofe name was Cataneo, affured the king, that he 
 had the fecret of making gold. This fellow fpent a 
 great deal of this metal, but made none ; and the 
 king was revenged for his credulity upon the wretch j 
 for he ordered him to be hanged. 
 
 TH E ftate underwent almoil an intire change, as 
 to its outward form, under Fredrick- William in 1713. 
 Numbers of courtiers were difmifled, and the great 
 penfions were reduced. Many who had kept their 
 coaches, now walked on foot : which made people 
 fay, that the king had reflored the lame to the ufe of 
 their limbs. Under Frederick I. Berlin was the A~ 
 thens of the North -, under Frederick-William it was 
 become the Sparta. It was now a military govern- 
 ment ; the army was increafed ; and, in the heat of 
 the firfl levies, fbrne artifans were prefled into the 
 fervice, which flruck fuch a terror into a great many 
 others, that they faved themfelves by flight. This 
 unforefeen accident did a vaft deal of harm to our ma- 
 nufactures. 
 
 THE king foon remedied thefe abufes, and applied 
 himfelf with a particular attention to the re-eftablifh- 
 ment and progrefs of induftry. He publifhed a fe- 
 vere edict, prohibiting the exportation of our wool ; 
 and he built the Lagerhaus in 1714, which is a kind 
 of warehoufe, from whence wool is delivered out to 
 poor manufadurers, which they pay for after they 
 have woven it. Our cloths found a fure fale from the 
 confumption made by the army, which was new 
 cloathed every year. This confumption extended af- 
 terwards to foreigners ; for a Ruffian company was e 
 tabliihed in 1725, and our merchants furnilhed cloth 
 
 C for 
 
 * The Princefs of Mecklenburg, who afterwards fell mad,
 
 34 DISSERTATION I. 
 
 for the whole Ruffian army. But the Englifh fent 
 their guineas into Mufcovy, which were foon follow- 
 ed by their cloth -, fo that there was an end of that 
 trade. Our manufactures indeed fuffered by this in 
 the beginning, but we foon found other markets. 
 The manufacturers had not wool enough of their own, 
 and the people of Mecklenburg were permitted to 
 fell us theirs. Thus, as early as 1733, our manu- 
 factures were in fo flourifhing a condition, that we ex- 
 ported 44,000 pieces of cloth, of 24 yards each. 
 
 BERLIN was like the magazine of Mars. Every 
 artifl that can be employed in the fervice of an army, 
 was fure to thrive, and their ware was fought for all 
 over Germany. At Berlin we fet up powder-mills, 
 at Spandaw fword- cutlers, at Potzdam gunfmiths ; 
 and at Neufladt tradefmen, who worked in iron and 
 copper. 
 
 THE king granted privileges and rewards to thofe 
 who would undertake to build in any part of his do- 
 minions. He added the ward of Fredrick.- ftadt to his 
 capital, and filled that part with houfes, which had 
 been covered before with the old ramparts. He 
 founded, as it were, and peopled * the town of Potz- 
 dam ; and all this while he did not erect the leaft 
 building for himfelf, but every thing for his fubjects. 
 The architecture of his reign is generally infected 
 with the Dutch tafte ; and we could have wifhed, that 
 the great fums which this prince laid out in buildings, 
 had been directed by abler architects. He had the 
 fate of all founders of cities, who are generally taken 
 up with the folidity of their defigns, and neglect what, 
 with the fame expence, might add to their embellifh- 
 ment. 
 
 AFTER Berlin was inlarged, it was. fubjedted to a 
 new civil regulation in 1734, upon the fame footing, 
 very near, as that of Paris. Officers of the police 
 were eftablilhed almofl in every ward of the town ; 
 
 hackney 
 
 * At that time there were hardly four hundred inhabitants in thf 
 town, whereas at prefent there are upwards of twenty thpufand.
 
 DISSERTATION I, 35 
 
 hackney coaches were fet up at the fame time ; the 
 city was dilincumbered of thofe lazy wretches, who 
 get their bread by importunity ; and thofe unhappy 
 objects of our diilike and compaffion, to whom na- 
 ture has been a kind of a ftep-mother, found an afy- 
 lum in the public hofpitals. 
 
 WHILE all thefe changes were making, luxury, 
 magnificence, and pleafures difappeared ; the fpirit 
 of ceconomy was introduced among people of all con- 
 ditions, the rich as well as the poor. Under the pre- 
 ceding reigns, a great many of the nobility fold their 
 lands to buy laced cloaths, but now this abufe was 
 put an end to. In moft of the Pruffian dominions, 
 the gentlemen ought to be very good oeconomifls, to 
 be able to maintain their families, becaufe there is no 
 fuch thing among them as the right of primogeni- 
 ture. And as the fathers of families may have ma- 
 ny children to fettle in the world, oeconomy alone can 
 enable them to make a decent provifion for thofe, who 
 after their deceafe will divide their family into diffe- 
 rent branches. 
 
 THIS diminution of public expence, did not hin- 
 der a great many artifans from perfecting themfelves 
 in their feveral trades. Our coaches, gold laces, vel- 
 vets, and goldfmiths ware, were fpread all over Ger- 
 many. 
 
 BUT the mifchief was, that while fuch ufeful and 
 excellent regulations were making in the manufac- 
 tures, there was a total decline in the academy of 
 fciences, the univerfities, the liberal arts and com- 
 merce. 
 
 THE places that became vacant in the academy, 
 were filled without any manner of judgment. And 
 the public, through a fmgular depravation of tafle, 
 affected a contempt for a fociety of fo illuftrious an 
 original, whofe labours tended as much to the honour 
 of the nation, as to the improvement of the 
 human understanding. While this whole body was 
 fallen into a lethargy, medicine and ehymiitry main- 
 C a
 
 36 DISSERTATION!; 
 
 tained their ground. Pott, Margraff, and Eller," 
 compounded and diiTolved matter, improving the 
 world with their difcoveries ; and the anatomifts ob- 
 tained a hall for their public directions, which became 
 an excellent fchool of chirurgery. 
 
 THE profefforfhips in the univerfities were filled by 
 favour and intrigue. The bigots, who put their 
 nofes every where, obtained a mare in the direction 
 of the univerfities, where they raifed a perfecution a- 
 gainft good fenfe, efpecially in philofophy. Wolfius 
 was banimed for giving an admirable chain of the 
 proofs of the exiilence of a God. The young no- 
 bility, who were defigned for the army, thought it a 
 debafement to apply themfelves to ftudy ; and as the 
 human mind generally runs into extremes, they look- 
 ed upon ignorance as a title of merit, and learning as 
 ridiculous pedantry, 
 
 THE fame caufe made the liberal arts decline. The 
 
 academy of painting was now no more. Pefne, who 
 
 had been the director of it, left off hiftory-painting to 
 
 apply himfelf to portraits ; joyners turned fculptors, 
 
 and mafons architects. A chymift whofe name was 
 
 Bottcher, went from Berlin to Drefden, and gave the 
 
 king of Poland the fecret for a kind of porcelane, 
 
 which furpafles that of China, both for the elegance 
 
 of the figures, and the finenefs of the diapering. 
 
 OUR commerce was not yet fet on foot ; the govern- 
 ment checked it, by following principles directly op- 
 pofite to its progrefs. But we mud not conclude from 
 thence, that the nation wanted a genius for trade. 
 The Venetians and the Genoefe were the firft who 
 applied themfelves to it ; the , difcovery of the com- 
 pafs transferred it to the Portuguefe and Spaniards ; 
 it fhifted afterwards to England and Holland ; the 
 French followed it the laft, but foon recovered by 
 their diligence what they had neglected through igno- 
 rance. If the inhabitants of Dantzick, Hamburg, 
 and Lubeck, as well as the Danes, and the Swedes, 
 enrich themfelves every day by navigation, why 
 
 mould
 
 - 37 
 
 fhould not the Pruilians do the fame ? All men be- 
 come quick- lighted, when the road to fortune is open- 
 ed to them ; but they muft be animated by example, 
 excited by emulation, and encouraged by the Sove- 
 reign. The French have been flow, and we are fo at 
 prefent ; perhaps our hour is not yet come. 
 
 PEOPLE were lefs attentive at that time to the in- 
 creafe of commerce, than to the reduction of ufelefs 
 expences. Mournings had been formerly deftruc- 
 tive to families. They ufed to give entertainments at 
 burials ; and even the funeral pomp was expenfive. 
 All thofecuftoms were abolifhed ; neither houfes nor 
 chariots were hung with black, nor did they even fo 
 much as give black liveries ; fo that ever fince that 
 time people have died cheap. 
 
 THIS military government influenced the manners 
 of the inhabitants, and even regulated their fafhions. 
 The public affected to affume a four air ; through all 
 the Pruflian territories no one had above three yards 
 of cloth in his coat, or lefs than two yards of a iword 
 hanging by his fide. The women fhunned the com- 
 pany of men, and the men took their revenge of 
 them by drinking, fmoaking and buffoonry. In 
 fhort, our manners had no longer any refemblance 
 either to thofe of our anceftors, or of our neighbours ; 
 we were originals, and had the honour of being 
 wretchedly copied by fome of the petty princes of 
 Germany. 
 
 TOWARDS the latter end of this reign, there hap- 
 pened to come to Berlin * a man of an unlucky turn of 
 mind, of obfcure bjrth, but extremely cunning. He 
 was a kind of an adept, that made gold for the fbve- 
 reign, at the expence of his fubjeds. His artifices 
 fucceeded for a while, but as knavery is generally 
 difcovered one time or other, his legerdemain was 
 found out,- and his wretched fcience returned into the 
 obfcurity from whence it came. 
 
 C 3 SucHt 
 
 f Eckerfc
 
 38 DISSERTATION I. 
 
 SUCH were the manners of Brandenburg under all its 
 different governments. The genius of the nation lay 
 concealed during a long feries of barbarous ages ; it 
 raifed its head from time to time, but fbon funk under 
 the weight of ignorance and bad tafte ; and when 
 fbme lucky circumftances feemed to favour its pro- 
 grefs, a war broke out, whofe unhappy confequences 
 deftroyed the flate. We have feen this flate rife out 
 of its afhes ; we have feen by what new efforts the 
 nation was civilized ; and if this great fire has thrown 
 out only a few fparkles, a fmall matter is wanting to 
 make it blaze. As feeds require a particular foil to 
 fpread and unfold themfelves, in like manner nations 
 have need of a concurrence of lucky circumftances, to 
 raife them out of their lethargy, and to give them, 
 as it were, a new life. 
 
 ALL governments have had a particular feiies of 
 events to run through, before they have been able to 
 arrive at their higheft degree of perfection. Monar- 
 chies arrive at it by flower degrees than republics, 
 nor do they preferve it fo long ; and if it be true that 
 the mofl perfect form of government is that of a king- 
 dom well adminiflered ; it is no lefs true, that repub- 
 lics attain fooner to the end prbpofed by their inftitu- 
 tion, and preferve themfelves in it longer, becaufe 
 good kings are fubject to death, but wife laws are im- 
 mortal. 
 
 SPARTA and Rome, cities defigned for military 
 atchievements, produced, one the invincible phalanx, 
 and the other thofe legions which fubdued half the 
 known world. Sparta gave birth to the mofl famous 
 generals ; and Rome became a nurfery of heroes. 
 Athens having had more pacific laws from Solon, was 
 the feminary of arts. To what a degree of perfection 
 did not her poets, orators, and hiflorians arrive ? 
 This afylum of the fciences was preferved till the in- 
 tire ruin of Attica. The foundation of the republics 
 of Carthage, Venice, and Holland, was connected 
 with commerce ; this they constantly purfued and 
 
 maintained.
 
 DISSERTATION I. 39 
 
 maintained, as the principle of their grandeur, and 
 the fupport of their ftate. 
 
 LET us continue this inquiry a little longer. To 
 touch the fundamental laws of the republic, is intire- 
 ly fubverting them, becaufe the wifdorri of the le- 
 giflators has formed a whole, with which the different 
 parts of the government are eflentially connected. 
 To reject fome, is deftroying the reft, by a concate- 
 nation of confequences which unites them together, 
 and forms a regular and compleat fyflem. 
 
 IN monarchies, the form of government has no o- 
 ther bafis than the abfolute will of a fovereign : the 
 laws, the army, trade, induftry, and every other part 
 of the ftate, are fubject to the caprice of a fingle man, 
 whofe fuccefibrs hardly ever refemble each other. 
 Hence it generally follows, that at the acceflion of a 
 new prince, the ftate is governed by new principles j 
 and this is what hurts this form of government. There 
 is a proportion between the end propofed by repub- 
 lics, and the means they ufe to attain it ; which is 
 the reafon that they hardly ever mifs it. In monar- 
 chies a lazy prince fucceeds an ambitious one ; after 
 him comes a bigot , after him a warrior ; after him a 
 fcholar ; after him an epicure cr a debauchee ; and 
 while this moveable ftage of fortune exhibits ince 
 fantly new fcenes, the genius of the nation, diverted 
 by a variety of objects, has not time to fix itfelf. It 
 is neceffary, therefore, in monarchies, that thofe in- 
 ftitutions which are to bid defiance to the viciilitude 
 of time, fliould be (b deeply rooted as to be incapa- 
 ble of being deftroyed, without making at the fame 
 time the foundation of the throne. 
 
 BUT frailty and inftability are infeparably connect- 
 ed with the works of man. The revolutions of mo- 
 narchies and republics, have their origin in the immu- 
 table laws of nature. It is necelfary that the human 
 paffions mould ferve as fprings for the continual fhif t- 
 ing of new decorations, which the audacious fury of 
 Ibme carries off, and the weaknefs of others is incapa- 
 
 C 4 blc
 
 40 DISSERTATION II. 
 
 ble of defending -, that unbridled ambition mould fub- 
 vert republics, and that artifice fhould triumph fome- 
 times over fimplicity. Were it not for thefe great 
 fhocks we are (peaking of, the univerfe would conti- 
 nue always the fame, and there would be no equality 
 in the fate of nations. Some would be always civi- 
 lized and happy, and others always barbarous and un- 
 fortunate. 
 
 WE have feen monarchies rife and fall, and people 
 once rude and unpoliflied, become civilized, and a 
 model to other nations. May we not conclude, that 
 thefe nations have a revolution fimilar to that of the 
 planets, which in the opinion of fome aftronomers, 
 after having in ten thoufand years run through the 
 whole fpace of the heavens, find themfelves at length 
 at the very place from whence they fet out ? 
 
 OUR bright days will therefore come, like thofe of 
 other nations ; and our expectations are Co much the 
 better grounded, as we have paid tribute to barbarifm 
 fome ages longer than the people of the fouth. 
 
 THESE precious ages are eafily known by the num- 
 ber of great men in every branch, who fiourifh all at 
 the fame time. Happy thofe princes who come into 
 the world under fuch favourable conjunctures ! Vir- 
 tues, abilities, and genius impel them, by the fame 
 law of motion, to the nobleft undertakings. 
 
 I Divide this piece concerning fuperftition and reli- 
 ligion into three parts ; and for the fake of per- 
 fpicuity and order, I (hall reprefent religion under 
 paganiim, popery, and the reformation. 
 
 ARTICLE I. 
 Of Religion under Paganifm. 
 
 BRANDENBURG followed the worftiip of the diffe- 
 rent
 
 DISSERTATION II. 41 
 
 rent people who inhabited this country. The Teu- 
 tons, its moft ancient inhabitants, adored a God, cal- 
 led Tuifto. Caefar fays, that this is the Dis pater in- 
 gendered by the earth, and that he had a fon called 
 man. 
 
 THE worfliip paid by the Germans to their Gods, 
 was proportioned to their favage rudenefs and fimpli- 
 city. They aflembled in the facred woods, fung 
 hymns in honour of their idols, and facrificed even 
 human victims to them. 
 
 EVERY province had its particular God; the Van- 
 dals had one, called TriglafT. There was one alfb 
 found at Harlungerberg in the neighbourhood of 
 Brandenburg, which had three heads, to fignify * 
 that he reigned in heaven, upon earth, and in hell ; in 
 all probability this was the Pagan Trinity. Tacitus re- 
 lates, that the Germans had a certain number of white 
 horfes, which they believed to be initiated into the my- 
 fteries of their Gods , and that they kept a black 
 horfe for the goddefs Trigla, which pafled for the in- 
 terpreter of her will. Thefe people paid worfhip al- 
 fo to ierpents, and inflifted capital punifliments on 
 thofe who killed them -f. 
 
 In the fifth century the Vandals abandoned their 
 own country, and over-run France, Spain, and even 
 Africa . The Saxons who were coming back from 
 England, made a defcent at the mouth of the Elbe, 
 and took pofleflion of all that country which lies be- 
 twen the Elbe, the Spree, and the Oder, which the 
 natives had abandoned. Their Gods and their reli- 
 gion became thofe of Brandenburg. The chief of 
 their idols was called Jrmanfaul, which fignifies the 
 pillar of Irman. The learned etymologifls of Germa- 
 ny have taken care to derive the word Irman from 
 Hermes, which is the fame as the Mercury of the 
 Greeks. 
 
 THOSE who are verfed in German literature, all 
 
 know 
 
 * Valentia Eichftadt. f Alaus Arentair; Orofius and 
 Gregory of Tours.
 
 4 2 DISSERTATION II. 
 
 know that 'tis a general fancy among the learned of 
 this nation, to find out relations between the deities 
 of Germany, and thofe of the Egyptians, Greeks and 
 Romans. It is an unhappy, but certain truth, that 
 error and fuperflition are the portion of humanity. 
 All nations have had the fame inclination to idola- 
 try, and as they have all been actuated by very near 
 the fame paflions, the effects have anfwered accord- 
 ingly. Fear gave birth to credulity, and felf-love 
 foon made heaven concern itfelf in the fate of man- 
 kind. Hence arofe all thofe different forms of wor- 
 fhip, which, properly fpeaking, were no more than 
 fubmiifions modified in a hundred extravagant forms, 
 to appeafe the wrath of heaven, whofe refentment 
 they dreaded. Human reafon, altered and debafed 
 by the apprehenfion of an infinite variety of evils, 
 knew not whom to fly to for flielter. And, as peo- 
 ple who are fick, try every kind of medicine, 
 however filly and ridiculous, in hopes to find a cure 
 at lafl ; fo mankind, in their blindnefs, fuppofed a 
 divine eflence, and a falutary virtue, in the various 
 objects of nature, from the highefl to the lowefl. 
 Every thing was adored ; incenfe was offered to mufh- 
 rooms, alters were erected to crocodiles ; temples 
 were built, and priefts appointed, for the worfhip of 
 flames made in honour of thofe great men, who were 
 the earlier! governors of nations ; and whenever a 
 country laboured under any general affliction, the 
 fuperflition was doubled. The learned of Germany 
 have reafon to fay in this fenfe, that fuperflition is 
 the fame in all countries ; tho' it be in general a con- 
 fequence of credulity, yet it mews itfelf under diffe- 
 rent forms, which are infinitely varied, and proporti- 
 oned to the genius of nations. I can hardly think, 
 that the ingenious fables of the Greeks, that their dei- 
 ties, Minerva, Venus, and Apollo, were known in 
 this country at the time of paganifm. But our pro- 
 found etymologifls are not puzzled with fuch a trifle ; 
 they think to ennoble their mythology, by giving 
 
 Greek
 
 DISSERTATION II. 43 
 
 Greek or Roman originals to their Gods ; as if the 
 name of thofe people was capable of rendering idola.- 
 try more venerable, or the extravagance of the Greeks 
 was preferable to that of the Germans. 
 
 IRMANSAUL was not the only God of the Saxons. 
 The following infcription was found under one of 
 their idols. / was once duke of the Saxons, but now I 
 am become a God. Angelus maintains, that they wor- 
 fhipped the fun, under the form of a radiant head j 
 and that this idol gave its name to the town of Son- 
 nenburg, where it was erected. The fame author 
 pretends, that they adored Venus, reprefented half 
 naked, with the left nipple pierced by an arrow ; 
 and furrounded by three graces, of a fmaller fize than 
 herfelr : Thofe people called her Magda ; that is, 
 maid ; and Angelus affims that me gave her name to 
 Magdeburg, where Che had her altars *. The ruins 
 of her temple were dill to be feen in this city before 
 it was facked by Tilly. But what appears moft re- 
 markable in the worfhip paid by the Saxons to this 
 deity, were the games which they celebrated in ho- 
 nour of her. Thefe confided of tournaments given 
 by the young people of neighbouring villages. They 
 depofited a fum of money in the hands of the judges 
 for a portion to a young woman, who was to be gi- 
 ven in marriage to the perfon who had won her at the 
 tilting. The annals of Magdeburg make mention, 
 that thefe games were ftill fubfifting, as the relics of 
 paganifm, in the years 1279 and 1387. 
 
 LUXURY was introduced into religion, upon the 
 increafe of riches. Formerly the people thought it 
 improper to p!ace their gods in temples built by hu- 
 man hands, for which reafbn they worfhipped them 
 in (acred groves ; but, in proportion as they grew cir 
 vilized, their gods came to live in towns . And yet 
 the ancient cuftom was not entirely abolifhed ; for we 
 find thatCharlemain forbad theSaxons to worfhip oaks, 
 or to water them with the blood of viclims. 
 
 THE 
 * Annals of M agdeburg, $ Linderbrock.
 
 44 D I S S E R T A T I O N II. 
 
 THE priefls * of thofedays were more artful and 
 cunning than the common people. Befides their 
 priefthood, they had three other forts of quacks -tricks ; 
 they invented oracles, and they dabbled in aflrology 
 and phyfic. So much craft was more than fufficient 
 to impofe upon the ignorant vulgar. Hence it was 
 very difficult to extirpate a religion, fupported by fuch 
 a multitude of fuperftitions. All Germany was flill 
 attached to the worfhip of idols, when Criarlemain, 
 and after him Henry the Fowler, undertook to con- 
 vert thefe people. After feveral ufelefs efforts, they 
 fucceeded only by drowning idolatry in torrents of hu- 
 man blood. 
 
 ARTICLE II. 
 
 Convcrfion of the People to Chriftianity, and tie 'State of 
 the Catholic Religion in Brandenburg. 
 
 IT is a folly common to all nations, to illuflrate the 
 nobility of their laws, cuftoms, and religion, by the 
 antiquity of their original. The Germans, not con- 
 tent with dealing their Gods from the Greeks, pre- 
 tended alfo to have received chriftianity as early as 
 any other nation in Europe. They have found in 
 S. Jerome fome paflage or another, which fays, as 
 Staphonius and Smitius pretend, that the apoftle 
 Thomas came to preach the gofpel in the north of 
 Germany. If he preached any thing, it was incredu^ 
 lity ; for they continued Pagans a long time after. 
 
 LET people fay what they will, there is not the 
 lead veftige of chriftianity to be found in Bran* 
 denburg before the time of Charlemain -f. This em- 
 peror after feveral victories obtained over the Saxons 
 and Brandenburgers, came and pitched his camp at 
 Wormerftedt , in the neighbourhood of Magde- 
 
 * Freinfhemius and Schmidt. -j- In the eighth century. 
 
 $ Henry Mejbomius. 
 
 burg,
 
 DISSERTATION II. 45 
 
 burg, and granted peace to thofe provinces which he 
 had fubdued, upon condition that they would confent 
 to chriftianity. 
 
 THE impoflibility of withftanding To formidable an 
 enemy, and the fear of menaces, induced thefe peo- 
 ple to fubmit to baptifm, which they received in the 
 emperor's camp ; but as fbon as the danger was over, 
 and the emperor was removed to fbme diftance from 
 the neighbourhood, together with his army, they all 
 returned again to their old flate of idolatry. 
 
 THE emperor Henry the Fowler triumphed after- 
 wards in 928, like Charlemain, over the inhabitants 
 of the banks of the Elbe, and the Oder ; and after 
 a vaft deal of blood-fhed, thofe people were fuhdued 
 and converted. The Chriftians out of their great zeal 
 demolifhed the Pagan idols, infomuch, that there are 
 fcarce any remains of them now extant ; the empty 
 niches of thofe idols were filled with faints of every 
 kind, and new errors fucceeded to thofe of antiqui- 
 ty- 
 
 THAT age which Leo X. made for ever memora- 
 ble in Italy, by reviving the polite arts and fciences, 
 which had been a long time buried in ignorance and 
 depravation of tafte ; that age, I fay, was not fo fa- 
 vourable to the nations on this fide of the Alps. Ger- 
 many was ftill in the darkeft ignorance, and groaned 
 under a barbarous kind of government. There was 
 neither morality, nor learning ; and human realori 
 deprived of the light of philofophy was buried in its 
 ftupidity. The converters, and the new profelytes, 
 being in the fame fituation in regard to thofe articles, 
 had no reproach to make to each other. 
 
 * TOWARDS the year 946, the emperor Otho 
 founded the bifhopric of Havelberg, . and not long 
 after that of f Brandenburg. He thought, very like- 
 ly, to raife by this means a kind of dike againfl the 
 
 * Angelus. } 960. 
 
 innundation
 
 4 6 DISSERTATION II. 
 
 innundation of idolatry, to which thofe people were 
 prone j in the fame manner as princes build citadels 
 in towns newly conquered, to check the infblence and 
 mutinous difpofition of the inhabitants. 
 
 BRANDENBURG being at length converted to 
 Chriftianity, fell into the very excels of falfe zeal ; it 
 made itfelf tributary at the fame time to the pope, to 
 the emperor, and to the margrave its governor. The 
 people foon repented their folly, and regretted thofe 
 idols which were vifible objects of worfhip, and lefs 
 burthenfome to them than the yearly tributes which 
 they paid to the pope, whom they never faw. The 
 love of liberty, the force of inveterate prejudices, and 
 the profpect of their own intereft, led them back to 
 their falfe gods. Miftevoyus, king of the Vandals, 
 put himfelf at the head of the Pagan party, and re- 
 flored the ancient worfhip, after driving the mar- 
 grave Thierry out of Brandenburg. It was by force 
 of arms, that Chriftianity was re-eftablrfhed for the 
 third time in this country. Then it was, that the ca- 
 tholic religion appeared in full triumph, without any 
 manner of conftraint, and was followed by a long train 
 of fcandalous exceiles. The bifhops were ignorant, 
 cruel, and ambitious ; and inftead of preaching peace 
 by their example, they delighted in war, for they 
 bore arms in perfon againft the margraves, and their 
 other neighbours, plundering and ravaging the 
 country, committing the greateft of violences, acting 
 even the part of incendiaries, and arrogating to them- 
 felves (notwith {landing a life thus fullied with crimes) 
 an abfolute power over the confciences of the people. 
 So common were thofe difbrders, that hiftory a- 
 bounds with examples of them ; but I fhall relate on- 
 ly two *. In -i 27 8 Gunter archhifhop of Branden- 
 burg, waged war againft the elector Otho, furnamed 
 Sagittarius, took him prifoner, and obliged him to 
 pay the fum of 7000 filver marks for his ranfom. In 
 
 f kockelius.
 
 DISSERTATION II. 47 
 
 1391, the archbifhop Albert, who went always arm- 
 ed, feized on the perfon of the lord of Bredow, who 
 was governor general of the Marck ; took the town of 
 Rathenaw, and made incurfions along the Havel, with 
 a firebrand in one hand, and a fword in the other, 
 fpreading terror and defolation wherever he approach- 
 ed. 
 
 THE grofs ignorance, into which thofe people were 
 funk in the i3th century, was a foil in which fuper- 
 flition muft neceffarily thrive. In fact, there was no 
 want of miracles, nor of any other kind of tricks, ca- 
 pable of eftablifhing the authority of the priefts. 
 
 LOCKELIUS very gravely relates, that prince Otho 
 having been excommunicated by Luitpold archbifhop 
 of Brandenburg on fome frivolous account, he laugh- 
 ed at the ecclefiaflic cenfures ; but that he was greatly 
 furprized, when he found that his dogs, though al- 
 moft ftarved with hunger, would eat no victuals that 
 came from his table ; which brought him to his right 
 way of thinking. Thefe dogs were doubtlels very 
 good catholics, but unluckily the breed is loft. 
 
 AT that time the miraculous images of the virgin 
 Mary, and of the other faints, as well as their nu- 
 merous relics, had a very extraordinary virtue *. A- 
 mong the reft the blood of Belitz was vaftly in vogue. 
 The ftory is this. A woman of that town who kept 
 a public houfe, ftole a confecrated hoft, and buried 
 it under a barrel in her cellar, hoping by this means 
 to have better cuftom for her beer. But being 
 touched with remorfe (for publicans have a very ten- 
 der confcience) me owned her crime in public to the 
 curate, who came in proceflion with all his pontifical 
 train to dig up the hoft. In thrufting the (hovel into 
 the ground, they faw fome blood gufh out, and eve- 
 ry body immediately cried out, a miracle. The :m 
 pofture was too palpable ; for it was known, that this 
 was fome of the blood of an ox, which had been fpilt 
 
 2 Annals of Brandenburg, 
 
 there
 
 there by the woman of the houfe. Thefe miracles 
 made a great impreflion upon the minds of the peo- 
 ple ; but this would not fatisfy the clergy *. The 
 court of Rome being ever more attentive to extend 
 her dominion under the colour of religion, neglected 
 no method that could be conducive to that end. In the 
 i gth century moft of the religious orders were foun- 
 ded. The pope eftablimed as many as he could of 
 them in Germany, and particularly in the country of 
 Brandenburg, under the pretence of fixing by this 
 means the minds of the people in the proreffion of 
 Chriflianity. The hypochondriac, the lazy, and all 
 thofe who had incurred fhame or difgrace in the world, 
 retired into thofe facred afylums, where they robbed 
 the flate of its fubjects, by baniming themfelves from 
 fociety, and by renouncing j the benediction which 
 God gave to our firft parents. Thus they became a 
 burthen to the public, living only upon alms, or 
 making unlawful acquifitions. And though thefe in- 
 ftitutions were contrary to the laws of fociety and good 
 policy, yet the pope eftablimed them over all Eu- 
 rope ; and thus without oppofition he raifed a power- 
 ful army of priefts, at the expence of the feveral 
 princes, and kept large garrifons in countries over 
 which he had no fovereignty. But in thofe days the 
 people were brutifh, the princes weak, and the priefts 
 rode in triumph. ' 
 
 WHEN Chriftianity was well eftablimed, it pro- 
 duced fanatics of every kind.-f- The country of 
 Brandenburg was afflicted with the plague in 1351, 
 and this was fufficient to make fuperftition fly into it's 
 higheft extravagance. To appeafe the divine wrath, 
 fome Jews were baptized by force, and others were 
 burnt ; public proceffions were ordained ; vows were 
 made to miraculous images ; and the imagination 
 grown warm by fo many foolifli and whimfical inven- 
 tions, produced the order of the flagellants. Thefe 
 
 * In 1270. f Cramer, Baronius, Lockelius. 
 
 were
 
 DISSERTATION II. 4$ 
 
 were melancholy Chriftians, who fcourged themfelves 
 with rods of wire in public proceflions. But the pope 
 himfelf was fhocked at thefe horrid macerations, and 
 condemned the order, together with it's abufes. 
 
 THE public devotions took afterwards a milder 
 turn. Pope John XXII. eftablifhed offices of indul- 
 gences in the Country of Brandenburg; the Auftin 
 friars traded in this commodity, and fent the money 
 they raifed by it to Rome. Mirades were at length 
 grown fo common *, that by the teflimony of fome 
 authors, a mower of red and white crofles is faid to 
 have fallen upon the people that pafled along the 
 flreets, in the year 1500. Some of thofe croffes were 
 found in loaves of bread, which was looked upon as 
 the forerunner of a general calamity. 
 
 AT this very time when the priefts impofed fb 
 grofsly on the credulity of mankind ; when they made 
 ufe of religion only as a means to enrich themfelves, 
 when the clergy in general led the mod fcandalous 
 lives, a fimple friar undertook to reform fo many a- 
 bufes. By his example, he reftored mankind to the 
 ufe of their reafon, which they had been deprived of 
 for fb many ages ; and the human understanding, 
 encouraged by the recovery of it's liberty, fpread it's 
 inquiries on every fide. 
 
 ARTICLE 
 Of Religion under the Reformation. 
 
 I SHALL not confider the reformation as a divine 
 or hiftorian ; the tenets of this religion, and the events 
 which it gave rife to, are fo well known, that there is 
 no need to repeat them. So great and fo extraordi- 
 nary a revolution, which changed almoft the whole 
 fyftem of Europe, deferves to be examined in a philo- 
 fophical light. 
 
 D THS 
 
 * Lockelius's annals of Brandenburg:
 
 5 o DISSERTATION II. 
 
 THE catholic religion, which had been raifed on 
 the ruins of that of the Jews, and of the Pagans, had 
 now fubfifted during the fpace of fifteen centuries ; 
 fhe had been humble and mild under perfections ; 
 but grown fierce after her eftabli foment, fhe was for 
 perfecuting in her turn. All Chriftendom wasfub- 
 ject to the pope, who was reckoned infallible ; by 
 which means his power was more extended than that 
 of the moil abfolute monarch. A pitiful friar un- 
 dertook to oppofe a power fo well eftablifhed, and 
 of a fudden one half of Europe fhook off the papal 
 yoke. 
 
 As the feveral caufes, which produced this great 
 revolution, had fubfifted long before it happened, 
 they prepared the minds of the people for fo important 
 an event. The Chriftian religion was degenerated 
 to fuch a degree, that the very characters of it's in- 
 ftitution were no longer difcernible. Nothing could 
 excel the original fandtity of it's doctrine ; but it was 
 foon perverted, by the natural bials of mankind to 
 corruption. Thus the pureft fources of good became 
 the caufe of all manner of mifchief. This religion, 
 which preached humility, charity, and patience, was 
 eftablifhed by fire and fword. The priefts, who ought 
 to have been examples of poverty and fanctity, led the 
 mod fcandalous lives ; they acquired immenfe riches, 
 which puffed thenf up with pride; and fome of them 
 were become powerful princes. The pope, who ori- 
 ginally was fubject to the emperors, aflumed to him- 
 felf the power, of making and depofing them ; he 
 thundered out his excommunications, laid whole king- 
 doms under interdicts, and carried things to fo enor- 
 mous an excefs, that the world was obliged to cry 
 out for a reformation. 
 
 RELIGION changed together with the manners of 
 the people i every age it loft Ibmethingof it's natural 
 fimplicity ; and, by too much paint, it's features were 
 no longer diftinguithable. All that was fupperadded 
 to it, was the invention of men ; and, like them was 
 
 doomed
 
 DISSERTATION II. 51 
 
 doomed to perifh. At the council of* Nice, the 
 divinity of the Son was declared equal to that of the 
 Father; and, by joining the Holy Ghoft to thofe two 
 perfons, they made the Trinity. Priefls were forbid- 
 den to marry, by the canons of the council of Tole- 
 do ||; but they did not comply with thisinftitution, till 
 the 1 3th century. Purgatory was invented in the 6th 
 century, and the council of trent made it an article of 
 faith. The worfhip of images was eftablifhed by the 
 fecond council of Nice f, and Tranfubftantiation by 
 the council of Trent j. The fchoolmen maintained 
 the infallibility of the pope, fince the quarrel between 
 the bifhops of Rome and Conflantinople. Some me- 
 lancholy men founded religious orders, and confined 
 to idle fpeculation a life, which fhould be fpent in 
 action for the good of fociety. Convents were multi- 
 plied without number, and a great part of mankind 
 were buried and fequeflered from fociety. x In fine, 
 all manner of tricks were invented to impofe upon the 
 credulity of the vulgar ; and forged miracles were be- 
 come almoft a common thing. 
 
 And yet religion was not to expect a reformation, 
 by changes arifing from fpeculative confiderations. 
 Among thofe who think, the generality turn all their 
 fagacity and penetration on the fide of intereft and 
 ambition : there are very few that combine abftradt 
 ideas, and much lefs, who reflect deeply on thofe im- 
 portant matters ; and the common people, the moft 
 refpeftable, moftnumerous, and moft unfortunate part 
 of fociety, follow the impreffions which they receive 
 from their leaders. 
 
 THIS was not the cafe in refpect to the tyrannical 
 
 power, which the clergy exercifed over the confci- 
 
 D 2 ences 
 
 *"In the year 321. 
 
 Origin and S. Juftin were not of this opinion. The latter fays in 
 his dialogue, p. 316. that the fon is not near fo great as the Father. 
 || Held in the year 400. 
 f, Held in 781. t 1645.
 
 5* DISSERTATION II. 
 
 encesofthe people , the priefts flripped them of their 
 liberty and property. 
 
 THIS flavery, which every day grew heavier, had 
 already occafioned great complaints. The moft 
 dull, as well as the moft ingenious, if they have but 
 fenfibility feel an injury done them. All aim alike at 
 their own welfare, and if they fuffer fora while, their 
 patience will be tired out at lad. Thus the oppreflion, 
 under which (o many nations groaned, would have 
 inevitably produced a reformation, even if the Roman 
 clergy themfeives, torn by inteftine divifions, had not 
 given the fignal of liberty, by fetting up the ftandard 
 of revolt againft the pope. The Vaudois, the Wick- 
 lefites, and the Huflites, had already attempted to ftir ; 
 but Luther and Calvin who had equal boldnefs with 
 the former, and were born under more favourable 
 conjunctures, gave at length the finifliing ftroke to 
 this great work. 
 
 THE Auftin friars were in pofleflion of the trade of 
 
 indulgencies ; but the pope gave the commiflion this 
 
 time to the Dominicans, which occafioned a furious 
 
 quarrel between the two orders. The Auftin friars 
 
 exclaimed againft the pope ; and Luther, who was of 
 
 their order, attacked with great vigour the abufes of 
 
 the church. He boldly tore off part of the veil of 
 
 fuperftition, and became the head of a feel ; and, as 
 
 his doftrine ftripped the bifhops of their benefices, and 
 
 the monaftries of their riches, princes followed this 
 
 new reformer in crowds. 
 
 RELIGION thenaflTumed a new form, and drew near 
 to it's antient fimplicity. This is not a place to exa- 
 mine, whether it would not have been better to have 
 left more pomp and external fhew, as it has a greater 
 erFecl upon the people, who are ftruck only by fenfible 
 objects. It feems that a worfhip, entirely fpiritual, 
 and fo naked as that of theproteftants, is not defigned 
 for dull heavy men, who are incapable of rifing by 
 thought to the admiration of the fublimeft truths. 
 
 THE
 
 DISSERTATION II. 53 
 
 THE reformation was of fervice to the world, 
 and efpecially to the progrefs of the human under- 
 flanding. The proteftants being obliged to reflect 
 tipon matters of faith, diverted themfelves fud- 
 denly of the prejudices of education, and found them- 
 felves at liberty to make ufe of their reafon, that 
 guide, which is given to man to conduct him, and 
 which he ought to follow, if ever, in the mod im- 
 portant concerns of life. The catholics finding them- 
 felves vigoroufly attacked, were obliged to defend 
 themfelves. The clergy began to fludy, and emerged 
 from that fhameful ignorance, in which they had been 
 almofl all buried. 
 
 IF there was but one religion in the world, it would 
 be proud and defpotic ; the priefts would be fo many 
 tyrants, who while they exercifed their feverity to- 
 wards the people, would (hew indulgence only to 
 their own crimes. Faith, ambition and policy would 
 enilave the univerfe. Now, that there are a great 
 many lefts, none of them can deviate, without having 
 reafoh to repent it, from the rules of moderation. 
 The example of the reformation is a bridle which 
 hinders the pope from giving loofe to his ambition ; 
 and he has reafon to apprehend the defertion of his 
 members, if he abufes his power. Thus he is very 
 fparing of his excommunications, fince by a ftep of 
 that kind he loft Henry VIII. and the kingdom of 
 England. The catholic and proteftant clergy who 
 watch one another with an equal inclination to criti- 
 cize, are both obliged to obferve, at lead, an external 
 decorum. Thus there is an exact ballance between 
 them. Happy, if the fpirit of party, fanaticifm and 
 folly, never hurry them again into thofe barba- 
 rous wars, which mould be eternally odious to all 
 branches of Chriftianity. Confidering religion mere- 
 ly in a political light, it feems thatproteftantifm is bet- 
 ter adapted both for republics and monarchies. It 
 agrees better with that fpirit ot liberty, which is efien- 
 tial to the former. For in a government that ftands 
 
 D 3 ii>
 
 54 DISSERTATION II. 
 
 in need of merchants, labourers, tradefmen, foldiers, 
 and in fhort, of a great multitude of fubjecls for its 
 fupport, it is certain, that people who make a vow a, 
 gainft the propagation of the human fpecies, are per- 
 nicious to the flate. 
 
 IN monarchies, the proteftant religion depends on 
 no foreign power, but is intirely fubjedt to the go- 
 vernment ; whereas the catholic religion eftablifhes a 
 fpi ritual jurifdidtion, unlimited in its power, and 
 fruitful in plots and artifices, in the prince's temporal 
 dominions. The priefts who have the direction of 
 confciences, and have no other fuperior but the pope 
 have a greater command over the people than the fo- 
 vereign that governs them j and by a peculiar artifice 
 of confounding the interefts of religion with human 
 ambition, the popes have often been at variance with 
 princes on fubjefts that are no way lubjeft to the jurif- 
 diction of the church. 
 
 IN the country of Brandenburg, and mofl of the 
 provinces of Germany, the people were all impatient 
 under the yoke of the Roman clergy. This was too 
 coftly a religion for fb poor a country. Purgatory, 
 manes for the living and the dead, jubilees, firfl fruits, 
 indulgences, venial and mortal fins, the changing of 
 penances into pecuniary fines, matrimonial caufes, 
 vows and offerings, were fb many imports which the 
 pope laid on credulity, and brought him in as fure a 
 revenue as Mexico does to Spain. Thofe who paid 
 them were exhaufted and diflatisfied. There was no 
 neceflity of ufmg many arguments to difpofe thofe 
 people to receive the reformation : they complained of 
 the tyranny of the clergy ; a man ftarted up who pro- 
 mifed to deliver them from the oppreilion, and they 
 all followed him. 
 
 JOACHIM II. was the firfl elector who embraced the 
 
 */ 
 
 Lutheran religion ; which he learnt of his mother who 
 was a princefs of Denmark.' For the new dodlrine had 
 made its way into Denmark before it was received in 
 Brandenburg. His fubjects foon followed his exam- 
 ple,
 
 pie, and 'all Brandenburg turned proteflant. Mat- 
 thew Jagow bifhop of Brandenburg adminiftred the 
 facrament in both kinds in- the convent of Black-friers. 
 This convent became afterv/ards the cathedral of Ber- 
 lin. Joachim II. diftinguifhed himfelf among the par- 
 ty, not only by the controverfial letters which he wrote 
 to the king of Poland, but moreover by the eloquent 
 fpeeches which he is faid to have * made at the diet of 
 Augfburg in favour of the proteftants. 
 
 THE reformation could notabolifh all the errors of 
 the antient religion : tho' it had opened the eyes of the 
 people with regard to an infinite number of fuperfti- 
 tions, yet it retained a great many others ; fo incon- 
 ceivable is the propenfity of the human mmd to error. 
 Luther did not believe in purgatory, yet he admitted 
 apparitions and devils into his fyftem : he even main- 
 tained that fatan had appeared to him at Wittemburg, 
 and that he hadexorcifed him by flinging 1 an inkhorn 
 at his head. There was fcarce any nation at that time 
 but was full of thofe prejudices. The court, and 
 much more fo the people, were prepofTefled with a no- 
 tion of forcery, conjuring, apparitions and devils. In 
 1533, two old women patTed thro' the ordeal of fire, 
 to clear themfelves of the charge of witchcraft. The 
 court had its aftrologer : one of them foretold, at the 
 birth of John Sigifmund, that he would be a fortu- 
 nate prince, becaufe at that time a new ftar was dif- 
 eovered in the conftellation of Caffiopeia. But the a- 
 ftrologer did not foretel, that John Sigifmund would 
 turn Calvinift to pleafe the Dutch, whofe afliftance was 
 of great fervice to him in aflerting his rights to the 
 dutchy of Cleves. 
 
 AFTER Luther's fchifmhad divided the church, the 
 popes and emperors ufed every kind of endeayour to 
 bring about a re-union. The divines of both pro- 
 feflions held conferences, one while at Thorn, ano- 
 ther time at Augfburg. Religious fubje&s were de- 
 bated in all the diets of the empire, and yet every at- 
 D 4 tempt 
 
 Lockelius's annals of Brandenburg.
 
 5 6 DISSERTATION II. 
 
 tempt proved fruitlefs. At length a bloody and cruel 
 war broke out r which was extiguifhed and renewed 
 at different intervals. It was often kindled by the am- 
 bition of the emperors, who wanted to opprefs the li- 
 terty of the princes, and the confciences of the people. 
 But thejealoufy of France, and the ambition of Guf- 
 tavus Adolphus, king of Sweden, preferved Germany 
 and religion from the defpotic power of the houfe of 
 Auflria. 
 
 DURING all thofe troubles, the electors of Branden- 
 burg behaved with the greatefl prudence. They were 
 directed by the principles of lenity and moderation. 
 Fredrick-William having acquired catholic fubjects by 
 the treaty of Weftphalia, did not perfecute them ; he 
 even gave leave to fome Jewiih families to fettle in his 
 dominions, and permitted them to build fynagogues. 
 
 FREDRICK I. fometimes fhut the catholic churches, 
 by way of reprifal for the perfecutions which the pro- 
 teflants fuffered under the elector Palatine ; but the 
 catholics were always re-inflated in the free exercife 
 of their religion. The Calvinifls attempted to per- 
 fecute the Lutherans in the country of Brandenburg. 
 The king being inclined to favour the Calvinifls, em- 
 braced this opportunity to eflablifh priefls of that feel 
 in villages which had been always directed by Luthe- 
 rans. This plainly mews, that religion does not de- 
 flroy the pafiions of mankind, and that priefls of what- 
 ever religion, are always ready to opprefs their adver- 
 faries, when they have power on their fide. 
 
 IT is a mame to the human underflanding, that at 
 the beginning of fo learned an age as the XVIIIth all 
 manner of fuperflitions were }'et fubfifling. Men of 
 fenfe, as well as the vulgar, believed flill in appariti- 
 tions. There was a kind of popular tradition, that a 
 ghoft drefled in white appeared conflantly at Berlin, 
 whenever a prince of the family was near his end. 
 The late king ordered a fellow to be taken up and pu- 
 nifhed, who had pretended to have feen an apparition ; 
 the ghofls offended at fo bad a reception, appeared no 
 more, and the public was difabufed. 
 
 IN
 
 DISSERTATION II. 57 
 
 IN 1708, a woman who had the misfortune of be 
 ing old, was burnt as a witch. Thefe barbarous con- 
 fequences of ignorance made a great impreflion upon 
 Thomafius, the learned profeilbr of Halle ; he expofed 
 the weaknefs and ridicule of the proofs of witchcraft, 
 he maintained public thefes on the natural caufes 
 of things, and declaimed fo loudly againft trials of this 
 kind, that the judges were afhamed to continue them 
 any longer ; and fince his time the fex has been fuffer- 
 ed to grow old and die in peace. 
 
 OF all the learned men that have adorned Germa- 
 ny, Leibnitz, and Thomafius did the greateft fervice 
 to the human underftanding, by pointing out the right 
 road which reafon ought to purfue to come at the truth. 
 They oppofed prejudices of every kind, and in all their 
 writings appealed to analogy and experience, the two 
 crutches by the help of which we drawl on in the road 
 of argumentation 9 and they had a great number of 
 difciples. 
 
 THE Calvinifts became more pacific under the 
 reign of Frederick-William, and religious quarrels 
 ceafed. The Lutherans improved this tranquillity to 
 their advantage. Francke, a minifter of their feet, 
 eftablifhed by his own induflry a college at Halle. 
 This was a nurfery foryoung divines, from whence 
 a fwarm of priefts iffued forth, who formed a (eel: 
 of rigid Lutherans, and who wanted nothing but an 
 Abbe Paris's grave, and an Abbs Becherand, to play 
 gambols upon. Thefe are proteftant Janfenifts who 
 are diftinguiihed from the reft by their myflical feve- 
 rities. After them appeared all forts of Quakers, Zin- 
 zendorfians, Hychilians, and other feels, one more ri- 
 diculous and extravagant than the other, who by car- 
 rying * the principles of the primitive church too far, 
 fell into fome criminal abufes. 
 
 ALL thefe feels live here in peace, and contribute 
 alike to the profperity of the ftate ; for there is never 
 a religion that differs greatly from the reft, in reipecl 
 
 to 
 
 * The community of goods, and equality of condition. It is even 
 faid that this community of goods is extended to women in their af- 
 femblies.
 
 5 8 DISSERTATION III. 
 
 to morality. Hence they may be all alike to the go- 
 vernment, which of courfe leaves every man at liber- 
 ty to go to heaven which way he pleafes. All that 
 is required of them, is to be peaceful and good fubjects. 
 FALSE zeal is a tyrant that depopulates provinces ; 
 toleration is a tender mother that makes them flourifh. 
 
 DISSERTATION III. 
 
 Of the ancient and modern Government of 
 the Country of BRANDENBURG. 
 
 BEFORE the country of Brandenburg was con- 
 ' verted to Chriftianity, it was governed by Druids, 
 as was formerly all Germany. Under the Vandals, the 
 Teutons, and the Suevi, their princes were generals 
 appointed by the nation, and were called Furften, 
 which fignifies commanders or leaders. The empe- 
 rors, who fubdued thofe barbarians, eftablilhed go- 
 vernors over the frontiers, who were named Mar- 
 graves, to curb this warlike nation, extremely jealous 
 of her liberty. There are fo few records remaining 
 of thofe diflant ages, that, to avoid mixing fables 
 with hiftory, we fhall confine ourfelvefrfb the govern- 
 ment of the electorate, under the princes of the houfe 
 of Hohenzollern. 
 
 IN the year 1412, when the Burgraves of Norim- 
 berg were firft eftablifhed in the Marck, the nobili- 
 ty, who were become refly and intractable under the 
 late regencies, refuied to yield them homage. As they 
 \vere fupported in their Independence by the dukes 
 of Pomerania, they grew formidable to their fovereign ; 
 the great families were powerful, they armed their 
 t fubjects, and waged war with each other, robbing 
 travellers even on the highways. Their places of re- 
 treat were ftrong caftles, furrounded with deep ditch- 
 es. Thus, thefe petty tyrants having divided the au- 
 thority amongfh them, ravaged the open country with 
 impunity ; and as there was no government that could 
 
 enforce
 
 DISSERTATION III. 59 
 
 enforce the execution of its laws, an univerfal di 
 order prevailed, and the inhabitants were reduced to 
 the utmoft mifery. The great families that arofe in 
 this flate of anarchy, were thofe of Kittzow, Putlitz, 
 Bredow, HoltzendorfF, Uchtenhagen, Torgow, Ar- 
 nim, Rochow, and the Lords of Hohenftein ; 'tis with 
 thefe that the elector Frederick I. had to deal. 
 
 NOTWJTSTANDING they were iubdued by this 
 prince, yet they continued ftill matters of the govern- 
 ment : They granted the fupplies, regulated the im- 
 pofls, fixed the number of troops, which were never 
 raifed but in cafe of neceffity, and were paid by 
 them i they were confulted alfo upon the meafures pro- 
 per to be taken for the defence of the country ; and 
 it was by their advice that the laws were adminiftered. 
 HISTORY furnifhes us with more than oneinflance 
 of the power of the ilates. The elector Albert the 
 Achilles owed a hundred thoufand florins * ; and to 
 get clear of the debt, he defired the flates to charge 
 themfelves with the payment of the money. They 
 confented, and laid an excife on beer, which they 
 granted only for feven years : they raifed it afterwards, 
 and from thence comes what is called the Landfchafft 
 or the public bank. 
 
 UNDER the elector Joachim I. -f the Ilates laid a 
 duty on mills, farms, and meep-folds, in order to 
 keep two hundred horfe in pay, whom this prince fent 
 to aflift the emperor againft the infidels. 
 
 IN the elector Joachim II's time, the credit of the 
 dates was fo great, that they redeemed tome baili- 
 wicks, upon which that prince had borrowed Money ; 
 on condition that neither he nor his fucceflbrs mould 
 ever after mortgage or fell them. He confulted them 
 upon all occafions, and promifed not to undertake any 
 thing without their conlent. They even entered into a 
 correfpondence with Charles V. and gave him toun- 
 derftand that they did not approve the elector Ihould 
 
 f In 1472. f In 1530.
 
 60 DISSERTATION III. 
 
 go the diet ; and accordingly he did not undertake 
 the journey. 
 
 JOHN Sigifmund and George William * confulted 
 the flates in regard to the fucceilion ot Juliers 
 and Berg. They nominated four deputies, who 
 followed the court, as well to alTift as council, as to be 
 employed in negotiations, and for fuch other purpofes, 
 as circumftances might point out, in the fervice of 
 thofe princes. 
 
 GEORGE William confulted the ftates for the laft 
 time t, to know whether they approved that he mould 
 enter into an alliance with the Swedes, by putting 
 them in poflefTion of his ftrong holds ; or whether 
 he mould fide with the emperor. From that time 
 Schwartzenberg got fuch a powerful afcendant over 
 this weak prince, that he abforbed the whole authori- 
 ty of the fovereign and of the ftates, and-levied taxes 
 by his own authority. Thus, the ftates had no more 
 left them, of that power which they had never abufed, 
 than the merit of a blind fubmiflion to the orders of 
 the court. 
 
 THE electors had no other council than the ftates 
 'till the reign of Joachim Frederic. This prince efta- 
 blifhed a council compofed of a minifter for the ad- 
 miniftration of juftice, another for the management of 
 the revenue, another for the affairs of the empire, 
 and another who was marfhal of the court ; over all 
 which prefided a ftadtholder. From this council all 
 decifions were iilued out in the laft refort, all orders 
 civil and military, all regulations concerning the po- 
 lice i and it was they that drew up inftruftions for the 
 minifters employed in foreign courts. 
 
 WHEN the elector happened to be obliged, either 
 by a journey or by war, to leave his dominions, this 
 council exercifed the functions of the fovereignty : 
 they gave audience to foreign minifters; and had the 
 fame power, in fhort, as that which a regency is 
 poffefled of, during the minority of a prince. 
 
 THE 
 In 1628. f In 1631.
 
 DISSERTATION III. 61 
 
 THE power of the prime minifter and of the 
 council was almoft boundlefs ; Count Schwartzen- 
 berg, in particular, had increaied his authority under 
 George William to fuch a degree, that it feemed e- 
 qual to that of the mayors of the palace under the 
 French kings of the firft race. But the enormous 
 abufe he made of it, gave the elector Frederic Wil- 
 liam a diilike to all prime minifters. We find by the 
 regulations made by this prince *, that each of the 
 great officers had his different department, and that 
 in every province there were two counfellors to re- 
 gulate the affairs belonging to that diftrict. 
 
 FREDERIC William, in the beginning of his reign, 
 refided at Konigfberg in Pruffia: he took care to 
 provide the council whom he left at Berlin, with 
 ample inftructions relating to the circumftances of 
 that time. The troops received their orders from the 
 oldeft generals who happened to be in the province ; 
 and the governors of fortified towns received them di- 
 rectly from himlelf. 
 
 UPON the death of the chancellor Gortz, this dig- 
 nity was fupprefled, and baron Schwerin was made 
 firft prefident of the council. The departments were 
 divided, ib that whatever related to the adminiftra- 
 tion of the laws, was carried to the council of juftice, 
 who had a prefident at their head : The jurifdiction 
 of the officers of the court, depended on the gover- 
 nor of the caflle : The revenue was adminiftered by 
 the chamber of the Domains, which was fubdivided 
 into feveral offices ; of which baron Meinders, and 
 after him the fieur de Jena had the general direction. 
 THE ecclefiaftical affairs were directed by a con- 
 fiflory, compofed partly of priefts, and partly of lay- 
 men ; befides the abovementioned colleges, the chan- 
 cery of the fiefs determined all feudal affairs. 
 
 THINGS continued almoft on this footing, during 
 the reign of Frederic I. f with this difference, that 
 he let himfelf be governed intirely by his minifters. 
 
 DanckeU 
 f In 1651. f After 1688.
 
 62 DISSERTATION III. 
 
 Danckelman, who had been his preceptor, became* 
 mafter of the (late ; upon the di (grace of that mini- 
 fler, count Wartenberg had the very fame influence 
 over his fovereign ; and Kamke would, in the like 
 manner, have fucceeded the great chamberlain, if 
 the king's death had not put an end to his growing 
 power. 
 
 FREDERIC William II. * changed the whole form 
 of the ftate and government ; he limited the power 
 of the miniflers ; and they, who had been mafters of 
 his father, became his fervants. 
 
 THE direction of foreign affairs was committed to 
 the fieurs d' Ilgen and Kniphaufen ; thefe miniflers 
 conferred with the envoys, and held a correfpond- 
 ence with the Pruflian miniflers in the different courts 
 of Europe ; but they were particularly entrulled with 
 the affairs relating to the empire, to the boundaries of 
 the ftate, and the rights and privileges of the electo- 
 ral family. The fieur Cocceius, minifler of ftate, 
 had the general direction of the adminiflration of 
 fuftice, and acted as chancellor : Under him the fieur 
 d'Arnim had the department of Appeals, and of the 
 civil juftice of PrufTia and Ravenfberg ; and the fieur 
 de Katfch was placed at the head of the criminal 
 jurifdiction. 
 
 THE fieur de Printz, great marfhal of the court, 
 was made prefident of the fuperior confiftory, and 
 intrufted with the infpedtion of the univerfities, chari- 
 table foundations, canonries, and the affairs of the 
 Jews. 
 
 THE revenue was the part of the government 
 which had been moft neglected ; for which reafon the 
 king made feveral regulations, and eftablifhed the 
 great directory in 1724.. This college is divided into 
 four departments, and at the head of each is a mini- 
 fter of ftate. Prulfia, Pomerania, and the New 
 Marck y with the poft-office, conftituted the firft de- 
 partment, which was given to the fieur de Grumkow : 
 
 ' the 
 
 * After 1715.
 
 DISSERTATION III. 63 
 
 the electorate of Brandenburg, the dutchy of Magde- 
 burg, the county of Rupin, and the place of fecretary 
 at war, formed the fecond department, which was 
 given to the fieur de Kraut : the territories on the 
 Rhine and the Wefer, with the falt-pits, made the 
 third divifion, which was given to the fieur de Gorne : 
 and the fourth had the direction of the principality of 
 Halberfladt, the county of Mansfeldt, the manufac- 
 tures, the (lamp-office, and the mint ; this fell to the 
 fieur de Vireck. 
 
 THE king united the fecretaryfhip at war with the 
 commiflion of the revenues. Formerly thefe colleges 
 employed forty advocates, for the profecution of the 
 feveral fuits that arofe in thofe courts, at the fame 
 time that they neglected the bufmefs for which they 
 were defigned ; but after their reunion, they employ- 
 ed their time entirely in the fervice of the ftate. 
 
 UNDER thefe principal departments, the king e- 
 ftablifhed in each province a court of juftice, and ano- 
 ther of the exchequer, fubordinate to the minifters. 
 The minifters for foreign affairs, as well as thofe ap- 
 pointed for the adminiftration of juflice and of the re- 
 venue, made their reports every day to the king, who 
 pronounced final judgment 4^ tl)e feveral matters laid 
 before him. During his whale reign there was not 
 the leaft decree which was not figned with his own 
 hand, nor the leaft inftrudion, of which he himfelf 
 was not the author. 
 
 HE declared all the fiefs allodial, on condition of a 
 certain yearly rent, which the proprietors paid to the 
 ftate. He laid out four millions five hundred thoufand 
 crowns in the re-eftabliftiment of Lithuania ; fix mil- 
 lions in rebuilding feveral towns in his own dominions, 
 in improving the city of Berlin, and founding the 
 town of Potzdam ; befides purchafmg lands to the 
 value of five millions, which he incorporated with his 
 own domains. 
 
 IN a word, it was Frederick- William, that gave 
 an advantageous form to the ftate, and fettled the 
 
 government
 
 government upon the principles of prudence and 
 dom. 
 
 DISSERTATION IV. 
 
 A DISSERTATION on the REASONS for the 
 enacting and repealing of LAWS. 
 
 WHOSOEVER is defirous of acquiring a com- 
 plete knowledge of the manner in which laws 
 ought to be enacted or repealed, can attain it only by 
 the ftudy of hiftory. There we find, that every na- 
 tion has had its particular laws ; that thefe laws were 
 eftablifhed by degrees ; and that it was fbme time be- 
 fore mankind could eftablifhany thing upon areafon- 
 able footing. There we find alfo, that thofe legifla- 
 tors, whofe laws have fubfifled longeft, were fuch as 
 aimed only at the public good, and were beft ac- 
 quainted with the temper and difpofition of the peo- 
 ple whofe government they fettled. 
 
 'Tis thefe confiderations that have induced us to 
 enter into a particular inquiry concerning the hiftory 
 of laws, and the manner in which they were eftablifh- 
 ed in moft civilized countries. 
 
 IT feems probable K*t the fathers of families were 
 the firlt legiflators. The neceffity of eftablifhing or- 
 der in their own houfes, obliged them, without doubt, 
 to make domeftic laws. After thofe early ages, and 
 when men began to unite in communities, the laws 
 of t r ,iofe particular jurifdictions were found infufficient 
 for a more numerous fociety. 
 
 THE human heart, which feems to lofe its malice 
 in folitude, exerts every branch of it upon the great 
 ftage of the world. And if the mutual intercourfe of 
 mankind, by fbrting the moft homogeneous charac- 
 ters, furnifhes the virtuous with good company ; it 
 fupplies accomplices alfo to the wicked. 
 
 WHEN diforders began to increafe in towns, and 
 new vices were feen to rife, fathers of families, as moffc 
 interefted, agreed, for their own fecurity, to endea- 
 
 vour
 
 IV. 
 
 vour to Item the torrent. . Laws were therefore pub- 
 lifhed, and magiftrates appointed to enforce them, 
 fuch is the depravity of mankind, that to live happy 
 and in peace, there is a neceffity for having recourfe 
 to the powerful conflraint of laws ! 
 
 THE firft laws provided only againft great incon- 
 veniencies ; the civil laws regulated the worfhip of 
 the Gods, the divifion of lands, marriage contracts, 
 and inheritances : Criminal laws exerted their rigour 
 only in regard to crimes whofe effects were moft ap- 
 prehended : and in proportion afterwards as unex- 
 pected inconveniencies arofe, new diibrders gave birth 
 to new laws. 
 
 FROM the union of towns, republics took their 
 rife ; and from the biafs of all human things to vici 
 fitude, the form of their government often changed. 
 The people tired of a Democracy made a tranfition to 
 Androcracy, in the room of which they fubftituted 
 afterwards a monarchial government : This was 
 brought about two ways ; for either the people placed 
 their confidence in the eminent virtue of one of their 
 fellow-citizens ; or fome ambitious perfbn, by artifice, 
 ufurped the fovereign power. There are few coun- 
 tries but have experienced thefe different govern- 
 ments ; and yet, all of them have had different laws. 
 
 OSIRIS -f- is the firft legiflator mentioned in profane 
 hiftory , he was king of Egypt, and eftablifhed laws 
 for that country. Thefe laws, to which even (bve- 
 reigns fubmitted, regulated the government of the 
 kingdom, and directed at the fame time the con- 
 
 j r? c j- -j i 
 
 duct or individuals. 
 
 THE kings ofthofe days acquired the love of the 
 people, only inafmuch as they conformed to thefe 
 laws. Ofiris * appointed thirty judges, the chief of 
 whom wore about his neck the image of truth hang- 
 ing by a gold chain : to be touched by this image was 
 carrying the caufe. 
 
 E OSIRIS 
 
 t Herodotus Diodoru? Sicul\u * Some authors add Ids alfe.
 
 9 DISSERTATION IV. 
 
 OSIRIS regulated the worfhip of the gods, the 
 divifion of lands, and the diftin&ion of ranks and 
 conditions : He forbad the per (on s of debtors 
 to be arrefled ; and banifhed the feducing charms 
 of rhetoric from public pleadings. The Egyptians 
 pledged the dead bodies of their fathers, and left 
 them with their creditors for fecurity ; and it was 
 the utmoft infamy not to redeem them before their 
 death. This legiflator thought it was not fufficient to 
 punifh men while they were i ; ving : for which reafon, 
 he eflablifhed a tribunal to judge them after they were 
 dead, to the end that the infamy, annexed to their 
 condemnation, might ferve as a fpur to excite the 
 living to virtue. 
 
 NEXT to the laws of the Egyptians, thofe of the 
 Cretans are the moft ancient. Their legiflator Minos 
 gave out that he was fon of Jupiter, and that he had 
 received thefe laws from his father, in order to ren- 
 der them more venerable. 
 
 LYCURGUS, king of Sparta, made ufe of Minos's 
 laws, to which he added feme of thofe of Ofiris, which 
 he collected in his travels thro' Egypt. He banifhed 
 gold, filver, and all forts of coins and fuperfluous arts 
 from his republic j and he made an equal divifion of 
 lands among the citizens. 
 
 As the chief intent of this legiflature was to form 
 his people to war, he difcouraged every kind of pafli- 
 on that might enervate their courage. With this view 
 he permitted the promifcuous ufe of women a- 
 mong the citizens; by which means the flate was 
 peopled, and an attachment to the foft endearments 
 of marriage was prevented. The children were all 
 brought up at the public expence ; and when a fa- 
 ther could prove that his new-born infant was not 
 found, he was allowed to kill him. Lycurgus thought 
 that a man, who was unable to bear arms, was unfit 
 to live. 
 
 HE made a regulation that the Helotes, who were 
 a kind of ilaves, fhould manure the lands -, and that 
 
 the
 
 DISSERTATION IV. 67 
 
 the Spartans fhould be employed only in military ex- 
 ereifes. 
 
 GIRLS were admitted as well as Boys to w reft le 
 in public, on which occafion they both performed 
 naked. 
 
 THEY eat altogether in public, and no difference 
 was made of rank or condition. 
 
 STRANGERS were forbidden to make any flay in 
 Sparta, left their manners fhould corrupt thofe intro- 
 duced by Lycurgus. 
 
 THERE was no punifhment againft thieves, unlefs 
 they were detected in the fat. Lycurgus's aim was 
 to form a military republic, and he fucceeded. 
 
 DRACON * was the firft who made laws for the 
 Athenians, but thefe were fb rigorous, that it was 
 faid they were written rather with blood than ink. 
 
 WE have feen in what manner laws were eftablifh- 
 ed in Egypt, and at Sparta : let us now enquire how 
 they were reformed at Athens. 
 
 THE diforders which univerfally prevailed in At- 
 tica, and the unhappy confequences apprehended from 
 thence, rendered it necefTary to have recourfe tofbme 
 prudent perfon, who fhould be judged capable of re- 
 forming fo many abufes. The poor who were expo- 
 fed to the moft cruel oppreflion from the rich, becaufe 
 of their debts ; thought of chufmg to themfelves a 
 chief, who fhould deliver them from the tyranny of 
 their creditors. 
 
 DURING thefe diflentions, Solon was named Ar- 
 chon, and fupreme ruler, by the unanimous confent 
 of the people. The rich, as Plutarch fays, approved 
 of him readily, as he was rich ; and the poor, becaufe 
 he was honeft. 
 
 SOLON releafed the debtors, and gave the citizens 
 a power of making teftaments. 
 
 E 2 HE 
 
 * Dracon puniflied even the fmalleft faults with death ; he went 
 fo far as to profecute inanimate things . thus a ftatue, for exam- 
 ple, which had hurt a perfon by falling upon him, was baniflied the 
 city.
 
 6H DISSERTATION IV. 
 
 HE allowed that fuch women, as had the plea of 
 impotency againft their huflbands, might chufe them- 
 ielves others from among their relations. 
 
 THESE laws inflicted punifhments on idlenefs , they 
 acquitted thofe who killed an adulterer ; and probi- 
 ted the committing the wardfhip of children to their 
 next relations, 
 
 IF a man had but one eye, he who put out the o- 
 ther, was fentenced to lofe both his ; and men of de- 
 bauched morals were not fuffered to fpeak in public 
 allemblies. 
 
 SOLON made no law againft parricide ; as this crime 
 had never been heard of among the Athenians, he 
 thought that to forbid it, would be rather giving them 
 a notion of committing it. 
 
 HE ordered all his laws to be depofited in the Areo- 
 pagus. This court was founded by Cecrops, and in 
 the beginning was compofed of thirty judges, who 
 were afterwards increafed to five hundred. They 
 held their fittings by night, and the orators were al- 
 lowed only to flate the cafe of their clients, without 
 endeavouring to excite the paflions. 
 
 THE Athenian laws- were afterwards received at 
 Rome : but as the laws of the Romans became thofe 
 of the feveral nations which they fubdued, it will be 
 neceflary to enlarge a little upon this fubjedr.. 
 
 ROMULUS was the founder and firfl legiflator of 
 Rome. We have the following few fragments of his. 
 laws remaining. 
 
 HE ordained that the kings fhould have the fu- 
 preme authority in things relating to the adminiftra- 
 tion of juftice, and to religion : that no credit fhould 
 be given to the fables that are told of the gods ; that 
 no notions fhould be propagated concerning their na- 
 ture but fuch as are pure and religious ; and nothing 
 bafe or difhonourable fhould be attributed to thofe 
 happy beings. Plutarch adds, that it is impious to 
 imagine the Deity takes any pleafure in the charms of 
 a mortal beauty. And yet this king, who had fb lit- 
 tle
 
 V 1 S.b K 1 A 1 1 U J.N IV. 69 
 
 tie fiiperftition in other refpects, ordained that no- 
 thing fhould be undertaken without firft confuting 
 the augurs. 
 
 ROMULUS placed the patricians in thefenate, and 
 divided tlie plebeians into tribes ; and as to theflaves 
 they were not confidered at all. 
 
 HUSBANDS had a right to punifh their wives with 
 death, when they were convicted of adultery or 
 drunkennefs. 
 
 FATHERS had an unlimited power over their chil- 
 dren; they were allowed to deftroy their new-born 
 infants, that had any monftrous deformity. Parricide 
 was punifhed with death : if a patron defrauded his 
 client, he was held infamous ; and if a ftep-daughter 
 happened to ftrike her father, flie was abandoned to 
 the vengeance of the houfhold gods. Romulus would 
 have even the very walls of towns to be facred ; 
 hence he flew his brother Remus, for having tranf- 
 grefTed this law, by leaping over the walls of the 
 new town. 
 
 THIS prince eftablifhed alfo afylums ; one of which 
 was near the Tarpeian rock. 
 
 To thefe laws of Romulus, Numa added fome new 
 ones : as this prince was very religious, and had right 
 notions of the Deity, he prohibited the reprefenting 
 of God in the refemblance of man or beaft. Hence 
 for the fpace of one hundred and fixty years from the 
 foundation of Rome, there were no images in the 
 Roman Temples. 
 
 TULLUS HOSTILIUS, in order to encourage the 
 propagation of the fpecies, decreed, that if a woman, 
 was delivered of three children at a birth, they mould 
 be maintained at the public expence, till the age of 
 puberty. 
 
 WE find among Tarquin's laws, that he obliged 
 each citizen to give in an account of his eftate to the 
 king, under a fevere penalty if he failed ; that he re- 
 gulated the donations and offerings which private per^ 
 fons made to the temples ; and that among others he 
 permitted manumitted flaves to be admitted into the 
 
 E 3 tribes
 
 70 DISSERTATION IV; 
 
 tribes of the city. This prince's laws were alfo favour- 
 able to debtors. 
 
 SUCH were the principal laws which the Romans 
 received under their kings. They were collected 
 into one body by Sextus Papirius, from whom they 
 took the name of the Papirian Code. 
 
 As moft of thofe laws had been made for a mo- 
 narch ial government, they were aboliiTied upon the 
 expulfion of their kings. 
 
 VALERIUS POPLICOLA, Brutus's collegue in the 
 confulate, and a great favourite of the people, for 
 having been one of the principal authors of the 
 liberty of Rome, publifhed new laws, adapted to 
 the government lately eftablifhed. 
 
 THESE laws allowed an appeal from the magi- 
 flrates to the people, and prohibited, upon pain of 
 death, the accepting of any poft or dignity without 
 their confent. He diminished the public taxes, and 
 made it lawful to kill any perlbn who mould af- 
 pire to the fovereign power. 
 
 IT was not till fome time after Poplicola, that 
 ufury was eftablifhed ; the patricians at Rome car- 
 ried it even to twelve per cent. If the debtor could 
 not fatisfy his creditor, he was dragged to prifon, 
 and he and his whole family were reduced to flavery. 
 The feverity of this law feemed fo intolerable to the 
 plebeians, who were often victims to it, that they com- 
 plained againft the confuls. The fenate was inflexi- 
 ble ; and the people being provoked at this treat- 
 ment, retired to the Mons Sacer ; where they might 
 treat with the patricians upon equal terms. The 
 confequence of this feceflion was, that they did not 
 return to Rome, 'till it was agreed that their debts 
 mould be abolilhed, and magiftrates were created by 
 the name of tribunes, with a proper authority to 
 maintain their rights. Thefe tribunes reduced the 
 intereft of money to half per cent, and at length it 
 was intirely abolifhed for a time. 
 
 THF, two orders of which the Roman republic was 
 
 compofed, 
 

 
 DISSERTATION IV. ?l 
 
 compofed, were continually forming ambitious pro- 
 jects, to increafe their refpective power , and from 
 hence arofe continual diftrufls and jealoufies. Some 
 factious citizens, made it their bufmefs to flatter the 
 people, by pufhing their pretenfions to a pitch of ex- 
 travagance ; and fome young fenators, men of ftrong 
 paffions, and of no lefs pride, contributed frequently 
 to render the refolutions of the fenate too fevere. 
 
 THE Agrarian law relating to the divifion of lands 
 was a fource of frequent animofities. This difpute 
 wasfirft flarted in the year 267 of the foundation of 
 Rome. The fenate found means fbmetimes to ftifle 
 theie diflentions by employing the people in military 
 operations ; but they were always revived and conti. 
 nued till the year 300. 
 
 ROME at length grew fenfible of the neceflity of 
 having recourfe to laws, that might fatisfy both parties. 
 With this view they fent Poflhumius Albus, Antonius 
 Manlius, and Sulpicius Camerinus toAthens, in order 
 to make a compilement of Solon's laws. Thefe 
 Ambafladors who at their return were chofen 
 among the decemvirs, digefted thefe laws, which the 
 fenate approved by a decree, and the people by a 
 plebifcitum. They were engraved on ten copper- 
 tables, and the year following two more were added 
 to them. This conftituted the body of laws, fo well 
 known by the name of that of the twelve tables. 
 
 THESE laws limited the power of fathers over their 
 children ; they inflicted punifhments on guardians 
 who defrauded their wards ; and they allowed people 
 to leave their eftates by will to whom they pleafed. 
 But the triumvirs ordained afterwards, that the tef- 
 tators mould be obliged to leave a fourth part of their 
 fortune to their next heirs ; and this is the origin of 
 what we call the Legitime, or the fliare that a child 
 has by law in its parent's eflate *. 
 
 E 4 CHIL- 
 
 * There were only two forts of heirs ab intejiate the children and 
 the relations by the male fex.
 
 7 2 LJiOOLL,S\.L\JLL\Ji\ IV. 
 
 CHILDREN, born ten months after the death of 
 their father, were declared legitimate ; and the em- 
 peror Adrian exended this privilege to eleven months. 
 DIVORCE, a thing as yet unknown to the Romans, 
 had not the force of law, till it was eftablifhed by the 
 twelve tables. Punimments were alfo inflicted a- 
 gainft injurious actions, words, and writings 
 
 EVEN the intention of committing parricide was 
 punifhed with death. 
 
 The citizens were impowered to kill a thief, if he 
 had been taken with arms about him, or if he had 
 broke into their houfe by night. 
 
 FALSE witnefTes were fentenced to be tumbled 
 down from the Tarpeian rock. In criminal caufes, 
 the plaintiff was allowed two days, to draw up his 
 accufation, of which he gave notice ; and the defen- 
 dant had three days to make his anfwer and prepare 
 for a defence *. If it appeared upon tryal, that the 
 plaintiff had falfly accufed the defendant, he was 
 condemned to the fame punimment as would have 
 been inflicted on the defendant, if the latter had been 
 found guilty of the charge. 
 
 THIS is the fubftance of the Jaws of the twelve 
 tables, laws of fo excellent a nature, that Tacitus fays 
 all good infHtutions ended with them. Whatever was 
 moft perfect in the Egyptian and Greek laws, centred 
 in thefe. They were fo equitable as not to reftrain 
 the liberty of the citizens, but in fuch cafes as the abufe 
 of it might be prejudicial to thejtranquillity of families, 
 and to the fecurity of the republic. 
 
 THE authority of the fenate, which was continually 
 claming wit.h the privileges of the people, the immo- 
 derate ambition of the patricians, the pretenfions of the 
 plebeians, which were perpetually increafing, together 
 with many other caufes, which may be feen in hiftory, 
 railed new difturbances, and flung the republic int6 
 
 violent 
 
 -V t 
 
 * The defendant appeared in a fuppliant poftwre before tbg pi^- 
 ziftrate, with his relations and clients. 
 
 "' : '.,,.:- i
 
 dL/lOOJLlXl^XlXWiN 4V. *] \ 
 
 .violent convulfions. The Gracchi and the Saturnini 
 publifhed fome feditious laws ; and during the troubles 
 of the civil wars, a vaft number of decrees were ifTuep! 
 out, which were occafionally enforced, according to 
 the different fuccefs of the perfbns by whom they were 
 enacted. Sylla abolifhed the ancient laws, and efta- 
 bliflied new ones, which were repealed by Lepidus. 
 The corruption of manners increafing with thefe 
 domeftic diffenfions, gave rife to an infinite number of 
 new inftitutions. Pompey was appointed to reduce 
 them ; and he publifhed fome himfelf which died 
 with him. During five and twenty years of civil 
 wars, all law and juflice were at a ftand : and things 
 continued in this confufion 'till the reign of Auguftus, 
 who in his fixth confulate re-eftablifhed the antienj: 
 Jaws, and abolifhed all thofe which were made during 
 the inteftine commotions of the republic. 
 
 At length the emperor Juftinian removed the con- 
 fufion which the multiplicity of laws had occafioned in 
 the ftudy of jurifprudence, by ordering his chancellor 
 Trebonian to compofe a complete body of laws. Ac- 
 cordingly he reduced the whole into three volumes, 
 which are (till remaining ; namely the digeft, which 
 contains the opinions of the moft celebrated civilians ; 
 the code, which includes the constitutions of the em- 
 perors ; and the inftitutes, which are an abridgement 
 of the Roman laws. 
 
 THE excellency of thefe laws was fo greatly ad- 
 mired, that after the extinction of the Roman empire, 
 they were adopted by moft civilized nations, who 
 made them the ground-work of their jurifprudence. 
 
 THE Romans had introduced their laws into the 
 feveral countries, which were obliged to fubmit to their 
 victorious arms. They were received by Gaul, when 
 Julius Ceefar fubdued that country, and made it a pro- 
 vince of the empire. 
 
 IN the fifth century, after the difmembering of the 
 Roman monarchy, the northern nations over-run a 
 great part of Europe. Thefe barbarians introduced 
 
 their
 
 74 uiddUJviAiiuJN 1V\ 
 
 their own laws and cuftoms among their conquered 
 enemies. Gaul was then invaded by the Vifigoths, 
 the Burgundians and the Franks. 
 
 CLOVIS thought he fhewed an indulgence to his new 
 fubjects, by leaving them at liberty to chufe either the 
 laws of the conqueror, or of the conquered. He pub- 
 limed the Salic law ; and feveral others were made by 
 his fucceflbrs. 
 
 GUNDEEALD, king of Burgundy, published a decree, 
 by which he permits the ufe of fingle combats. 
 
 FORMERLY the nobility had a right to judge as Ib- 
 vereigns, and without appeal. 
 
 IN the reign of Lewis the fat, the fupreme and regal 
 jurifdiction was eftablifhed in France. We find that 
 Charles IX. had a defign to reform the law, and to 
 abridge the proceedings ; which appears by the ordi- 
 nance of Moulins : and it is very extraordinary, that 
 fo wife a defign mould have been formed in the midft 
 of domeftic troubles. But as the prefident Hainault 
 fays, the chancellor deL'Hopital was always watchful 
 for the welfare of his country. At length Lewis XIV. 
 ordered all the laws from Clovis down to his time, 
 to be reduced into a body, which took from him the 
 name of Code Louis. 
 
 THE Britons, who as well as the Gauls, were fub- 
 dued by the Romans, received alfo the laws of their 
 conquerors. 
 
 THESE people before that time, were governed by 
 Druids, whofe maxims had the force of laws- 
 
 THE fathers of families had the power of life and 
 death over their wives and children. All communi- 
 cation with ftrangers was forbiden : They put prifoners 
 of war to death, and facrificed them to the gods. 
 
 THE Romans maintained their power and their laws 
 among thefe iflanders, till the reign of Honorius, who 
 reftored them to their liberty in the year 410 by a 
 folemn acl. 
 
 THE Britons were afterwards attacked by the 
 
 Pitts
 
 Pidls *, the allies of the Scotch ; being but poorly 
 aflifted by the Romans, and always beaten by the ene- 
 my, they applied for aid to the Saxons. Thefe peo- 
 ple, who were only auxiliaries at firft to the Britons, 
 became their matters ; and after a war of 1 50 years, 
 they fubdued the whole ifland. 
 
 THE Anglo Saxons introduced their laws into Bri- 
 tain, the fame as formerly obtained in Germany. 
 They divided England into feven kingdoms, which 
 had each its feparate government. All of them had 
 general aflemblies || compofed of nobles, the middling 
 people, and the order of the peafants. This form of 
 government, which had a mixture of monarchy, ari- 
 ftocracy, and democracy, has continued to our time ; 
 for the authority is ftill divided berween the King the 
 houfe of lords, and the houfe of commons. 
 
 ALFRED the great, gave England the firft body of 
 laws : though thefe laws were mild, yet this prince 
 was inexorable to magiftrates convicted of corruption. 
 It is mentioned in hiftory, that in one fingle year he 
 ordered four and forty judges to be hanged, who had 
 been guilty of betraying their truft. 
 
 BY the laws of Alfred the great, every Englimman 
 accufed of a crime, ought to be tried by his peers ; 
 and the nation ftill preserves this privilege. 
 
 ENGLAND afiumed a new form .by the conqueft, 
 which William duke of Normandy made of that 
 country. This prince eftablimed new courts of judi- 
 cature, among which that of the exchequer ftill fub- 
 fifts ; and thefe feveral courts followed the king's 
 perfon. He feparated the ecclefiaftic from the civil 
 jurifdi&ion, and caufed his laws to be publifhed in 
 the Norman language ; the fevereft among them was 
 the prohibition of hunting upon pain^of mutilation, 
 and even of death. 
 
 AFTER 
 
 * The Pifts a people who came from the country of Mecklen- 
 burg. 
 
 || Thefe aflemblies were called Witrenagemot, or the council 
 pf the wife, and their government took the name of Heptarchy. 
 
 j Crowned at London in 1066.
 
 ^o JLfJL3ojc,jxjL/iLj.iw.L>i iv. 
 
 AFTER William the conqueror the kings his fuc- 
 ceffors granted feveral charters. 
 
 HENRY I. furnamed Beauclerc, gave the nobility 
 leave to fucceed to inheritances, without paying any 
 acknowledgment to the fovereign, he likewife per- 
 mitted them to marry without the prince's confent. 
 
 WE find alfo that king Stephen granted a charter, 
 by which he declared that he held his power of the 
 people and the clergy ; he confirmed the privileges 
 of the church, and repealed the fevere laws of William 
 the conqueror. 
 
 KINC John, furnamed Lackland, granted his fub- 
 jefts the charter, called magna charta, which confifts 
 of 72 articles. 
 
 THIS famous charter regulates the manner of hold- 
 ing fiefs ; as alfb the mare allowed to widows, who 
 are forbidden to marry again in a hurry, and to 
 give fecurity not to enter into a fecond marriage at all 
 without leave of the Lord Paramount, It eftablifhes 
 courts of juftice in fix'd places. It forbids the levy- 
 ing of taxes, without the confent of the commons, 
 unlefs it be to ranfom the king, to make his fon a 
 knight, or to endow his daughter. It ordains that 
 no body (hall be imprifoned, or deprived either of 
 life or eftate, without being judged by his peers, and 
 according to the laws of the kingdom. The king, 
 moreover, engages neither to fell nor to refufe juf- 
 tice to any man. 
 
 THE laws of Weflminfter, publiflied by Edward I. 
 were only a revival of the magna charta, excepting 
 that they prohibited the acquifition of lands in Mort- 
 main, and that they banifhed the Jews from the 
 kingdom. 
 
 THO' England has a great many good laws, yet 
 there is no country, perhaps in Europe, where they 
 are fo badly executed. Rapin Thoyras makes a very 
 good remark, that is owing to a defect in the govern- 
 ment, that the regal power is continually claming 
 with that of the parliament j that their time is em- 
 ployed
 
 ployed in watching each other, either to maintain or 
 to enlarge their authority ; that this jealoufy between 
 the king and the reprefentatives of the nation, takes 
 off their attention from the due adminiflration of juf- 
 tice; and that this refllefs and tumultuous government 
 is continually altering its laws by new acts of parlia- 
 ment, according to the exigency of different conjunc- 
 tures and events; from whence it follows that there is 
 no kingdom whatfoever that has fo great a need of a 
 reformation in the law as England. 
 
 WE have only a few words to add concerning 
 Germany. We received the Roman laws ; at the time 
 we fubmitted to the arms of that nation ; and the rea- 
 fon of our having flill preferved them, is, becaufe, 
 when the emperors abandoned Italy, they transferred 
 the feat of the empire to our country. And yet there 
 is not one circle, nor even one principality, of ever fo 
 fmall an extent, but has its particular cuftoms, which, 
 by length of time, have acquired the force of laws. 
 
 AFTER having explained the manner in which laws 
 were eftabliftied in mod civilized countries, we mail 
 obferve that wherever laws were introduced by the 
 confent of the people, it was neceflity that caufed- 
 them to be received; and that in conquered countries, 
 the laws of the victor became thofe of the vanquifhed, 
 but in both alike they have been confiderably increafed 
 in procefs of time. If we are aftonifhed at firfl fight, 
 that nations mould be fubjec~l to fo many different laws, 
 we mall recover from our furprize, when we obferve 
 that the effential part of laws is every where the fame; 
 I mean thofe, which inflict punifliments on crimes, 
 for the prefervation of fociety. 
 
 WE obferve likewife, upon examining into the con* 
 duct of the wifeft legislators, that laws ought to be 
 adapted to the kind of government, and to the temper 
 and confutations of the nation for which they are de- 
 figned ; that the end propofed by the befl legiflators, is 
 the public happinefs , and that in general thofe laws, 
 
 which
 
 7 V 1 S b J K 1 A 1 1 U JN IV. 
 
 which are moft agreeable to natural equity, fome few 
 exceptions made, are the beft. 
 
 LYCUR GUS finding he had to deal with an ambitious 
 people, gave them a kind of laws, that were more 
 proper to make foldiers of them than peaceable citi- 
 zens; and his baniftiing gold from his republic, was, 
 becaufe of all vices, avarice is the moft oppofite to 
 military glory. 
 
 SOLON faid, that he did not give the Athenians 
 the moft perfect laws ; but the beft they were capa- 
 ble of receiving. He confidered not only the temper 
 and difpofition of the people, but likewife the fituation 
 of Athens, which was near the fea : for which reafon 
 he punifhed idlenefs, and encouraged induftry ; nor 
 did he prohibit gold and filver, becaufe he was fenfi- 
 ble, that his republic could never attain to any pitch 
 of grandeur and power, but by the profperity of its 
 commerce. 
 
 THE laws muft abfolutely be adapted to the tem- 
 per and difpofition of the people, or there can be no 
 hopes of their continuing long in force. As the Ro- 
 mans were inclined to a democracy, whatever tended 
 to alter that form of government, was extremely 
 odious to them. Hence fo many commotions for the 
 pafllngof the Agrarian law; the people flattering them- 
 felves, that by a divifion of lands, they mould efta- 
 blifh a kind of equality in the eftates of the citizens : 
 Hence fo many tumults for the abolition of debts; 
 becaufe the creditors, who were all patricians, treated 
 their debtors, the plebeians, with inhumanity ; now 
 nothing renders the inequality of conditions fo odious, 
 as the tyranny which the rich exercife over the poor 
 with impunity. 
 
 WE find all forts of laws in all countries ; namely, 
 thofe relating to politics, and to the adminiftration of 
 government ; thofe which regard morals, and inflict 
 punifhments on criminals ; and laftly, civil laws, 
 which regulate inheritances, guardianships, the inte- 
 reit of money, and private contracts. The legiilators 
 
 of
 
 of monarchies, are generally the fovereigns themfelves. 
 If their laws arc mild and juft, they will eafily main- 
 tain their ground -, and the public will find its advan- 
 tage in them : if they are fevere and tyrannical, they 
 will foon be abolifhed ; becaufe they mull be fupport- 
 ed by violence, and the tyrant is fingle againfl a 
 whole nation, who are impatient to fupprefs them. 
 
 In feveral republics, where private perfons were the 
 legiflators, their laws fucceeded, only when they were 
 able to eftablifh a juft equilibrium between the power 
 of the government and the liberty of the citizens. 
 
 'Tis only in regard to laws, which regulate the 
 morals of the people, that legiflators agree in general 
 upon the fame principle ; excepting that they are more 
 fevere againft fome crimes than others : and this 
 without doubt, becaufe they knew the vices to which 
 the nation had the ftrongeft biafs. 
 
 As laws are a kind of barrier againft the inroads of 
 vice, they muft certainly have recourfe to the terror 
 of punimments to command refpecl. Yet it is not 
 lefs certain that legiflators, who have fhewn a diflike 
 to the multiplying of penal laws, are to be commend- 
 ed as much at leaft for their humanity, as others for 
 their rigour. 
 
 THE greateft difference is in civil laws : thofe by 
 whom they were eftablifhed, found certain ufages in- 
 troduced before their time, which they did not think 
 proper to abolifh, for fear of oppofing the prejudices 
 of the nation ; they fhewed therefore a regard to the 
 cuftom, by which they were looked upon as innocent; 
 and though thefe ufages were not ftriclly equitable, 
 yet they adopted them purely out of regard to their 
 antiquity. 
 
 WHOSOEVER has been at the trouble of making a 
 clofe inquiry into the nature of laws, muft have found 
 a great many without doubt, which at firft fight feern 
 contrary to natural equity, and yet are otherwife. I 
 fhall give only this fingle inftance of the right of pri- 
 mogeniture ;
 
 mogeniture : nothing appears more juft than to make 
 an equal divifion of the paternal eftate among all the 
 children ; and yet experience fhews, that even the 
 largeft inheritances, fubdivided into feveral fhares, 
 will reduce in time the moft opulent families to in- 
 digence. This is the reafon, that parents have cho- 
 fen rather to difmherit their younger fons, than to 
 make fuch a fettlement as muft inevitably occafion 
 the decline, if not extinction of their families. And 
 by the fame reafon, thofe laws which feem oppref- 
 live and fevere to fome individuals, are yet to be 
 commended, when they are conducive to the welfare 
 of the whole community : for a wife legiilature will 
 always prefer the interefl of the whole to that of a 
 part. 
 
 THE laws which require the greateft circumfpec- 
 tion and prudence on the part of the legiflature, are 
 undoubtedly thofe relating to debtors. If they are 
 favourable to the creditors, the fituation of the deb- 
 tors becomes too hard ; and an unlucky accident may 
 ruin them for ever : On the other hand if they mould 
 favour the debtors, public credit is hurt, by weaken- 
 ing the fecurity of contracts. 
 
 BUT a juft medium, which at the fame time fup- 
 ports the validity of contracts, and does not opprefs 
 the infolvent debtor, is in my opinion, fo difficult a 
 thing, as never to be expected, even from the wifeft 
 legiflators. 
 
 WE mail not enlarge further upon this article ; the 
 nature of this efTay does not permit us to enter into a 
 more minute detail ; let us therefore confine ourfelvei 
 to general reflections. 
 
 A perfect body of laws would be one of the nobleft 
 productions of the human mind : fuch a work would 
 require an unity of defign, and fo great an exactnefs 
 and proportion of rules, that a ftate directed by thofe 
 laws, mould be like a watch, whofe wheels are all 
 made for the fame end : it would require a profound 
 
 knowledge
 
 knowledge of the human heart, and of the temper 
 and conftitution of the people : it would require mo- 
 deration in the inflicting of punifhments, fo as to pre- 
 ferve the peoples morals, and yet be neither too mild 
 nor too fevere : it would require a fingular perfpicui- 
 ty and diftindtnefs in wording the decrees, fb as ne- 
 ver to afford the leaft room for chicanery ; and the 
 decrees themfelves mould be an abftract of the beft 
 regulations of the civil law, ingenioufly and fimply 
 applied to the cufloms of the nation : In fine, it would 
 require fagacity to provide againfl every cafe that 
 may happen, and judgment to combine even the mi- 
 nuteft circumftances. But perfection is not to be ex- 
 pected from the frail condition of humanity. 
 
 THE people would have reafbn to be fatisfied, if le- 
 giflators were always actuated towards them in the 
 fame manner, as thofe fathers of families, who made 
 the firft laws, were towards their' children : they loved 
 their children, and every rule they prefcribed to them, 
 had no other view than the happinefs of their families. 
 A few wife laws make a nation happy ; but a mul- 
 tiplicity of them embarrafe the adminiflration of ju 
 tice. As a fkilful phyfician does not overload his pa- 
 tient with medicines, fo a wife legiflator does not bur- 
 then the public with fuperfluous laws. Medicines when 
 too numerous, obflruct one another, and have not 
 their due effect ; fo too many laws become a laby- 
 rinth, in which the lawyers and juftice itfelf are loft. 
 LAWS were multiplied among the Romans, by the 
 frequency of revolutions : every ambitious perfbn, 
 whom fortune favoured, fet up for a legiflator. This 
 confufion continued, as we have already obferved, till 
 the time of Auguftus, who repealed all thofe unjuft 
 decrees, and revived the old laws. 
 
 IN France, the multiplicity of laws was owing to the 
 conqueft which the Franks made of that country, 
 where they introduced their laws, Lews XI. had a 
 defign of re-uniting all thefe different inftitutions, and 
 
 F of
 
 82 DISSERTATION 
 
 of eftablifhing, as he faid himfelf, only one law, and 
 one meafure throughout his dominions. 
 
 THERE are many laws to which men are attached, 
 only becaufe they are generally flaves to cuftom : tho' 
 better regulations might be fubftituted in their ftead, 
 yet it would be dangerous, perhaps, to attempt to 
 meddle with them. The confufion which fuch a re- 
 formation would occafion in the adminiftration of jut- 
 tice, would be productive of more mifchief perhaps, 
 than the new laws could do good. 
 
 AND yet this does not hinder but there may be 
 cafes, wherein a reformation (hall appear ablblutely 
 neceifary ; for example, when there are laws contrary 
 to the .public good, and to natural equity ; when they 
 are couched in vague and obfcure terms ; and laftly, 
 when they imply a contradiction, either in the mean- 
 ing, or in the words. 
 
 LET us endeavour to illuftrate this matter by a few 
 
 examples. The laws of Ofiris in regard to thieves and 
 
 robbers, will ferve as ah iriftance in thefirft cafe. By 
 
 thefe it was ordained, that whoever entered himfelf 
 
 of their gang, fhould give in his name to their chief, 
 
 and proinife to deliver him all the booty he mould 
 
 purloin. Thofe who had been robbed, applied to the 
 
 chief of the gang, who returned them to the right 
 
 owner, on condition of his paying a fourth part of their 
 
 ' value. The legifiator imagined, that by this expedient 
 
 they mould put every citizen in the way of recovering 
 
 what had been ftolen from him, by paying a moderate 
 
 fum to redeem it ; whereas this was the way to make 
 
 all the Egyptians thieves. Doubtlefs this was far from 
 
 being the intent of Ofiris in the enacting of this law : 
 
 nnlefs it may be faid that he connived at theft, as an 
 
 evil which it was impoffible to prevent intirely ; in the 
 
 fame manner as at Amsterdam they tolerate the Spiel 
 
 : Houfes, and at Rome the public ftews. 
 
 AND yet if fuch a law as that of Ofiris, mould un- 
 ~ fortunately happen to be eftablifhed in any particular 
 
 country,
 
 DISSERTATION IV. 83 
 
 country, a regard to morals, as well as to the public 
 iecurity, require the abolition of it. 
 
 THE French are the very reverfe of the Egyptians; 
 the latter were too mild, the former are too fevere; 
 The rigour of the French laws is extremely terrible ; 
 the leaft petty larceny is punifhed with death. And 
 the reaiori they give for it, is, that by hanging pick- 
 pockets, they deftroy the feed of robbers and afTafTins. 
 BUT natural equity requires there mould be fbme 
 proportion between the punimment and the crime. 
 Robberies attended with murder deferve to be punifh- 
 ed with death ; but thofe which are committed, with- 
 out offering violence, may be attended with circum- 
 ftances that fbmetimes are capable of exciting com- 
 panion towards the criminal. 
 
 INFI N ITE is the diflance between the fituation of the 
 rich and that of the poor : the one rolls in money, 
 and riots in fuperfluity ; the other is forfaken by 
 fortune, and deftitute even of neceflaries. Sup- 
 pofe a poor fellow deals, through want, a few gui- 
 neas, a gold watch, or fome fuch thing from a perfbn 
 to whom fuch a lofs is but a mere trifle ; is this a fuffici- 
 ent reafon to condemn the wretch to death ? Does not 
 humanity call upon us to foften the feverity of the 
 punimment ? It feems, indeed, that this law was made 
 by the rich : and have not the poor a right to fay ? <c Is 
 *' there no companion for our miferable fituation ? If 
 " you were charitable, you would be humane ; if you 
 " relieved us in our diftrefs, we mould not rob : we 
 " alk you, whether it be fair, that all the pleafures 
 " of life fhould fall to your mare, and nothing but 
 f .mifery to ours?" 
 
 IN Pruflia we have taken a middle way between 
 the remiflhefs of the Egyptians, and the feverity of 
 the French. We do not punifh a fimple theft with 
 death, but only confine the delinquent for a certain 
 time. Perhaps it would be flill better to introduce the 
 law of retaliation, which was obferved amongft the 
 
 F 2, Jews ;
 
 8 4 DISSERTATION IV. 
 
 Jews ; whereby the thief was obliged to reftore double 
 the value of what he had ftolen, or to yield himfelf the 
 Have of the perfon he had robbed. Thus by content- 
 ing ourfelves with inflicting only flight Punifhments 
 for flight Faults, we referve capital punifhments for 
 banditti, murderers, and aflaflins, fb as to proportion 
 the punimment always to the crime. 
 
 THERE is no law fo (hocking to humanity, as that of 
 Sparta and Rome, which conferred the power of life 
 and death to fathers over their children. In Greece, 
 if a father happened to be fo poor as to be unable to 
 provide for his family, he was allowed to kill every 
 new-born infant that he could not maintain. Both in 
 Sparta and Rome> if a child was born with any not- 
 able deformity, this was fufficient to impower the fa- 
 ther to deprive him of life. We are perfectly fenfible 
 of the barbarity of thofe laws, becaufe they are not 
 ours; but let us inquire fora while whether fome of 
 burs are not equally unjuft. 
 
 Is not ther^tbmething very hard in the manner in 
 which we punifh thole who caufe abortions P God for- 
 bid I mould attempt toexcufe the horrid adion of thofe, 
 cruel Medeas, who deaf to the cries of nature, def- 
 troy the unborn infant, by refufing to give it time to 
 come to light ! But let the reader lay afide all preju- 
 dices arifmg from cuflom, and be pleafed to give at- 
 tention to the reflections I am going to offer. 
 
 Do not the laws brand with infamy a woman who is 
 brought to bed out of lawful wedlock ? Suppofe a girl, 
 of a tender difpofition, is deceived by the fallacious 
 promifes of a debauchee, the confequence of her cre- 
 dulity, is, that fhe mufl take her choice, either to 
 lofe her reputation, or the unhappy fruit which fhe 
 has conceived. Are not the laws to blame for redu- 
 cing her to this terrible dilemma? And does not the 
 feverity of the judges deprive the flateof two fubjecls 
 at once ? of the child who has perifhed by abortion and 
 f the mother who might have repaired this fault, by 
 
 * le-
 
 DlodiLlxlAiiuiN iv. 85 
 
 a legitimate propagation ? To this it will be anfwered, 
 that there are foundling hofpitals ; and I own that 
 thefe fave the lives of a multitude of baftard children : 
 b.ut would it not be better to ftrike at the very root 
 of the evil, and to prefervefo many poor creatures, 
 who come to a miferable end ; by abolifhing the note 
 of infamy which attends defultory and unguarded em- 
 braces ? 
 
 BUT nothing is more cruel than the practice of put- 
 ting criminals to the torture : the Romans ufed it a- 
 gainft their flaves, whom they confidered as a kind of 
 domeftic cattle j but it was not allowed againft a citi- 
 zen. 
 
 THE torture is ufed in Germany againft malefac- 
 tors, after their conviction, to oblige them to confefs 
 their crime. In France it is ufed to prove the fact, 
 or to difcover the accomplices. In England they had 
 formerly the ordeal or purgation by fire * and by wa- 
 ter -f* j at prefent they have a kind of torture le(s fe- 
 vere, indeed, than the ordinary one, but which a- 
 mounts pretty near to the fame thing. 
 
 I hope I need majte nq apology for condemning the 
 ufe of the torture ; for prefuming to take the part of 
 humanity againft a pra&ice fo fhameful to chriftians, 
 and to all civilized nations ; and, if I may venture to 
 add, a practice as ufelefs as cruel. 
 
 QUINT 1 1, i AN, the moft learned, and moft elo- 
 quent of rhetoricians, treating of the torture, fays, 
 it is a thing that depends on conftitution. A villain 
 of a robuft habit of body will deny the fact ; when an 
 innocent perfon of a weak conftitution mail own it. 
 
 F 3 Suppofe 
 
 The ordeal by fire was by obliging the perfon accufed to hold 
 a piece of hot iron between his hands ; if he was fo lucky, aa 
 npt to be hurt, he was acquitted ; if otherwife, he was puniflied 
 as guilty. 
 
 f The ordeal by water, was by tying the perfon accufed, and 
 throwing him into the water j if be did not fink, he was acquit-' 
 Jed,
 
 86 DISSERT A TIQN IV. 
 
 Suppofe a man is accufed of a crime, and there are 
 fufpicious circumftances againft him ; the judge is 
 dubious, and wants to come at the truth ; the poor 
 wretch is then put to the torture. If he is innocent, 
 is it not barbarity to make him fuffer martyrdom ? If 
 the violence of the pain obliges him to depofe againft 
 himfelf, is it not the moft mocking inhumanity to 
 rack, and condemn to death a virtuous citizen, againft 
 whom there are only fufpicious circumftances ? it would 
 be much better to pardon twenty who are guilty, 
 than wrongfully to condemn one innocent perfon. If 
 laws ought to be made for the good of the people ; 
 how is it poffible to bear with fuch as thefe, which lay 
 the judges under a neceflity of committing in me- 
 thod and form, actions that are mocking in the high- 
 eft degree to human nature ? 
 
 ''Tis now eight years fmcethe practice of torturing 
 criminals has been abolifhed in Pruflia. We are fure 
 not to confound the innocent with the guilty ; and yet 
 juftice is as well adminiftered as formerly. 
 
 LET us now examine into thefe vague laws and 
 tedious proceedings, which have need of a 'reforma- 
 tion. 
 
 THERE was a law in England that prohibited biga- 
 my : upon this a man was charged with being married 
 to five wives ; but as the law was not' clear and diftindl 
 in regard to the cafe, and as they : interpret it literal- 
 ly, the man was acquitted. To render this law clear, 
 it mould be worded thus : that whoever is married to 
 more wives than one, mail be punifhed, &c. The 
 want of difiindtnefs in the wording of laws, and the 
 literal interpretation of therp in England *, has occa- 
 lioned the moft ridiculous abufes. 
 
 CLEAR 
 
 * Muralt. A man flit another's nofe, and was taken up and 
 profecuted for niaiming the king's fubject ; but in his defence he 
 maintained, that the part he had cut, was not a member j and the 
 parliament was obliged to make a new aft, declaring, that the 
 nofe fhould be looked upon as a member.
 
 CLEAR laws prevent chicanery and cavilling, for 
 they are to be underilood according to the meaning 
 of the letter ; when they are indiftind or obfcure, we 
 are obliged to have recourfe to the intention of the 
 legiflator, and inftead of judging of fa&s, our time 
 is taken up in defining them. 
 
 THE chicanery of lawyers is kept up chiefly by 
 fucceflions and contracts ; for which reafon the laws 
 relating to thefe articles, have need of the greateft per- 
 fpicuity. If we are fo nice with regard to words, in 
 writing trifling pieces for amufement; how much 
 more icrupulous ought we to be in weighing the terms 
 of the law, by which the lives and property of the 
 people are to be decided ? 
 
 THERE are two rocks whichjudges ought to avoid 
 fplitting upon ; corruption and error : Their confci- 
 ence mould fecure them againft the firfi; ; and the le- 
 giflator againft the fecond. This is principally effec- 
 ted by the perfpicuity of the laws, which leaves no 
 room for cavilling ; and in the next place, by the fim- 
 plicity of the pleadings. The council may be ordered 
 to confine themfelves to a plain narration of the fact, 
 fupported by fome proofs, and terminating in an epi- 
 logue, or a fhort recapitulation. Nothing bears fuch 
 a fway with it, as the art of managing the paflions, in 
 the mouth of an eloquent orator : he feizes, as it 
 were, on the mind of thejudge ; he fecures him in 
 his intereft i he excites his pailions \ and he impels 
 him, in fine, like a torrent : thus the juiHce of the 
 caufe is iacrificed to the bewitching charms of elo- 
 quence. Lycurgus and Solon prohibited this kind 
 of oratory ; and if we meet with fome inftances of it 
 in Demofthenes's Philippics, and in the orations pro 
 Corona by him and yEichines, we are to obferve that 
 they were not pronounced before the court of Areo- 
 pagus, but before the people ; that the Philippics 
 are of the deliberative kind j and that thoie pro 
 
 F 4 Corona
 
 88 DISSERTATION IV. 
 
 Corona are rather of the demonftrative than of the ju- 
 dicial kind. 
 
 THE Romans were not fo icrupulous as the Greeks 
 in regard to their judicial pleadings. There is not one 
 of Cicero's pleas, but is worked up \vfth all the art 
 of moving the paflions. I am forry "to fay it of this 
 great orator ; but we find in his oration pro Cluentio, 
 that he had pleaded before for the oppofite party, and 
 tho' Cluentius's caufe does not feem abfolutely good, 
 yet it was carried by the impofing art 'of the orator. Ci- 
 cero's mafter-piece is, without doubt, the peroration 
 pro Fonteio ; it gained his client the caufe, though he 
 appears guilty. What an abufe of eloquence, thus 
 to evade the very, befl; of laws, by its illiifive 
 charms ! 
 
 PRUSSIA has followed this example of Greece, by 
 banifhing the dangerous fubtleties of eloquence from 
 her courts of judicature : and for this, me is indebt- 
 ed to the wifdom of the high chancellor, whofe pro- 
 bity, learning, and indefatigable activity, would have 
 been an honour to the Greek and Roman republics, 
 even at the time when they were mofl fruitful in great 
 men. 
 
 THERE is ftill another article remaining, which 
 ought to be included under the obfcurity of laws ; 
 this is the tedious practice of the courts, or the num- 
 ber of delays, which the parties at law mud go thro', 
 before the fuit is determined. Whether they are in- 
 jured by the iniquity of the laws -, "or whether their 
 rights are confounded ; or whether the length of the 
 proceedings fwallows up the very property for which 
 they are contefling, and deprives them of the ad- 
 vantages due to them ; it all amounts to the fame : 
 one may be a greater evil than the other ; but all 
 abufes want a reformation. Whatever lengthens the 
 courfe of proceedings, gives a confiderable advantage 
 tn the rich over the poor ; they find means to fpin out 
 the caufe from time to 'time, till they ruin their ad- 
 ver/ary, and are Left to run the race by themfelves. 
 
 LAW
 
 DISSERTATION IV. 39 
 
 LAW fuits formerly lafted incur country above an 
 hundred years. Even when the caufe had been 
 decided by five courts, the party who was caft might 
 appeal, in open contempt of juftice, to the univerfi- 
 ties ; and the civilians altered the fentence as they 
 thought proper. Thus the party at law muft have 
 been very unlucky indeed, if, in five different courts, 
 and I know not how many univerfities, he could meet 
 with no body, whofe heart was open to venality and 
 corruption. This method of proceeding is now abo- 
 lifhed ; caufes are determined finally in the third in- 
 flance ; and judges are allowed only the (pace of a 
 year to decide the moft intricate caufes. 
 
 WE fhall conclude with a few remarks concerning 
 thofe laws, which imply a contradiction, either in 
 the words, or in the fenfe. 
 
 WHEN the laws of a country are not reduced in- 
 to one body, they muft needs contradict one ano- 
 ther very frequently. As they are the work of dif- 
 ferent legiflators, who have not all proceeded on 
 the fame plan, they muft want that unity which 
 is fo eflentially requifite in all matters of impor- 
 tance. 
 
 QUINTILIAN treats this fubject in his inftitutes ; 
 and we find in Cicero's orations, that he frequently 
 oppofes one law againft another. The fame may be 
 obferved in the hiftory of France, in regard to the 
 edicts, which are fometimes in favour of and fome- 
 times againft the Huguenots. The neceflity of dige 
 ting thefe ordinances, isfo much the more indifpen- 
 fable, as nothing is more contrary to the majefty of 
 laws (which are always fuppofed to be eftablifhed 
 with deliberation and prudence,) than to find them 
 openly contradictory to each other. 
 
 THE law againft duels is juft and equitable, as our 
 very reafon tells us ; and yet it has not anfwered the 
 end which princes expected. Prejudices of a more 
 ancient date than this law, have hindred it from tak- 
 ing effect ; and the public, who are generally carried 
 away by falfe notions feem to have entered into a tacit. 
 
 agreement
 
 90 v i o a & K. i A i i u IN iv. 
 
 agreement not to obey it. A miftaken point of ho- 
 nour, but generally received, bids defiance to the 
 power of fovereigns ; and, indeed, they cannot put 
 this law in full force, without being guilty of a kind of 
 cruelty. Every man, who has had the misfortune of 
 being infulted by an inconfidefate fool, pafles for a 
 coward all over the world, if he does not revenge the 
 affront, by the death of the perfon who offered it. If 
 the injury is done to a man of family, he is looked up- 
 on as unworthy of the noble titles he bears, unlefs he 
 demand fatisfa&ion ; and if he belongs to the army, 
 and does not take this method of deciding the diffe- 
 rence, he is obliged to quit the fervice with ignomi- 
 ny ; nor will he afterwards find employment in any 
 court in Europe. What method then muft a private 
 perfon take, if he happens to be engaged in fo thorny 
 an affair ? muft he incur infamy and difgrace by obey- 
 ing the law ; or mall he not rather run the rifk of his 
 life and fortune to fave his reputation ? 
 
 THE difficulty that now remains, is, to find out an 
 expedient, for faving the honour of private perlbns, 
 and of preferving at the fame time the law in its full 
 vigour 
 
 THE authority of the greateft princes has been in- 
 effectual againft this barbarous cuflom. Lewis XIV. 
 Frederick [. and Frederick William publifhed very fe 
 vere edicts againft duels, but all to no purpofe ; only 
 that duels afterwards changed their name, and were 
 called rencounters ; and feveral noblemen who were 
 killed on thefe occafions, were faid to have died fud- 
 denly. 
 
 IF all the princes in Europe do not appoint a con- 
 grefs, and unanimoufly agree to brand with infamy 
 thofe, who, in contempt of their laws, attempt 
 to cut one another's throats in thefe fingle combats j if 
 I fay, they do not enter into an agreement not to af- 
 ford any afylum to this kind of murderers, and to in- 
 
 -
 
 DISSERTATION IV. 91 
 
 flift fevere punifliments on fuch as mall infult their 
 equals either by word, deed or writing, there will ne- 
 ver be an end of duels. 
 
 LET me not be charged with having copied the vi- 
 fionary notions of the Abbe de Saint Pierre. I fee no 
 impoffibility in this, that private perfons fhould fub- 
 mit their quarrels to the decifion of judges, no more 
 than in fiibmitting the difputes they may have relating 
 to property. And why mould not princes affemble a 
 congrefs for the general good of mankind, after hav- 
 ing held fb many fruitlefs ones for matters of lefler 
 importance ? To return to the point, I may venture 
 to maintain, that this is the only effectual way of abo- 
 lifhing throughout Europe that ill judged notion of 
 honour, which has coft the lives of fb many brave men, 
 whofe country might have expected the moft eminent 
 fervices from their abilities. 
 
 SUCH is the abftract of the reflexions that have oc- 
 curred to me upon laws. I have confined myfelf to 
 the outlines, without drawing a full planj and yet I 
 am afraid I have faid too much. 
 
 THE laft remark I have to make, is, that thole na- 
 tions who have but juft begun to (hake off their bar- 
 baroufnefs, feem to require a greater feverity of laws ; 
 but nations that have been long civilized, and whofe 
 manners are gentle and mild, have need of humane 
 legiflators. 
 
 To imagine that men are all devils, and to fall up- 
 on them with inveterate rancour, is the vifionary no- 
 tion of a four mifanthrope : to fuppofe that they are 
 all angels, and to leave them entirely to their own gui- 
 dance, is the dream of a filly monk: to beperfuaded 
 that they are neither all good, nor all bad ; to reward 
 virtuous actions even beyond their merit ; to punifh 
 vicious ones below their defert ; is fhewing indulgence 
 to their infirmities, and humanity to them all ; and, 
 in fine, is acting like a reafonable man. 
 
 ODE
 
 YET a few year s^ or days perhaps,. 
 Or moments pafs with filent lapfe, 
 
 And time to me mail be no more j ! 
 
 No more the fun thefe Eyes fhall view, 
 Earth o'er thefe limbs her duft (hall ftrewy ' 
 
 And life's fantaftick dream be o'er. 
 Alas ! I touch the dreadful brink, 
 From nature's verge impell'd I fink, 
 
 And endlefs darknefs wraps me round ! 
 Yes, Death is ever at my hand, 
 fraft by my bed he takes his ftand, 
 
 And conftant at my board is found. 
 Earth, air, and fire, and water, join 
 Againft this fleeting life of mine, 
 
 And where for fuccour can I fly ! 
 If Art with flattering wiles pretend 
 To fhield me like a guardian friend, 
 
 By Air, ere nature, bids I dye. 
 I fee this tyrant of the mind, 
 This idol flefh to duft confign'd, 
 
 Once calPd from duft by pow'r divine ^ 
 It's features change, 'tis pale, *tis cold- 
 Hence, dreadful Spe<ftre ! to behold 
 
 Thy afpeft, is to make it mine. 
 And can 1 then with guilty pride, 
 "Which fear nor fhame can quell or hide^ 
 
 This flefh ftill pamper and adorn ! 
 Thus viewing what I foonjball be, 
 Can what I am demand the knee, 
 
 Or look on ought around whith fcorn ? 
 But then this fpark, that warms, that guides, 
 That lives, that thinks, what fate betides ? 
 
 Can this be duft, a kneaded clod . l 
 This yield to death ! the foul, the. mind, 
 That meafures heav'n, and mounts the wind, 
 
 That knows at once itfelf and God ? 
 Great caufe of all, above, below, 
 Who knows thee muft for ever know, 
 
 Immortal and divine ! 
 Thy image on my foul impreft.
 
 O D E on D E A T H. 93 
 
 Of endlefs being is the teft, 
 
 And bids Eternity be mine ! 
 Tranfporting thought ! but am I fure 
 That endlefs life will joy fecure : 
 
 Joys only to the juft decreed ! 
 The guilty wretch expiring, goes 
 Where vengeance endlefs life beflows, 
 
 That endlefs mis'ry may fucceed. 
 Great God, how awful is the fcene 
 A breath, a tranfient breath between ; 
 
 And can I jeft, and laugh, and play ? 
 To earth, alas ! too firmly bound, 
 Trees deeply rooted in the ground, 
 
 Are fhiver'd when they're torn away. 
 Vain joys, which envy'd greatnefs gains, 
 How do ye bind with filken chains, 
 
 Which alk Herculean ftrength to break ! 
 How with new terrors have ye arm'd, 
 The pow'r whofe flighted glance alarm'd, 
 
 How many Deaths of one ye make ! 
 Yet, dumb with wonder, I behold 
 Man's thoughtlefs race in error bold, 
 
 Forget or fcorn the laws of death - 9 
 With tbefe no projects coincide^ 
 Nor vows, nor toils, nor hopes, they guide, 
 
 Each thinks he draws immortal breath. 
 Each blind to Fate's approaching hour, 
 Intrigues, or fights, for wealth or pow'r, 
 
 And flumb'ring dangers dares provoke : 
 And he who tott'ring fcarce fuftains 
 A century's age, plans future gains, 
 
 And feels an unexpected ftrokc. 
 Go on, unbridled defp'rate band, 
 Scorn rocks, gulphs, winds, fearch fea and land, 
 
 And fpoii new worlds wherever found, 
 Seize, hafte to feize the glittering prize, 
 And fighs, and tears, and pray'rs defpife, 
 
 Nor fpare the temple's holy ground. 
 They go, lucceed, but look again* 
 The defp'rate band you feek in vain, 
 
 Now trod in duft {he peafanv's fcorn, But
 
 94 O D E on D E A T H. 
 
 But who that faw their treafures fwell, 
 That heard the infatiate vow rebel, 
 
 Would e'er have thought them mortal born ? 
 See the world's viftor mount his car, 
 Blood marks his progrefs wide and far, 
 
 Sure he mall reign, while ages fly, 
 No, vanifh'd like a morning cloud, 
 The hero was but juft allow'd, 
 
 To^fight, to conquer, and to die. 
 And is it true, I afk with dread, 
 That nations heap'd on nations bled, 
 
 Beneath his chariot's fervid wheel, 
 With trophies to adorn the fpot, 
 Where his pale coarfe was left to rot, 
 
 And doom'd the hungry reptile's meal ? 
 Yes, fortune weary'd with her play, 
 Her .toy, this hero cafts away, 
 
 And fcarce the form of man is feen : 
 Awe chills my breaft, my eyes o'erflow, 
 Around my brows no rofes glow, 
 
 The cyprefs mine, funereal green ! 
 Yet in this hour of grief and fears, 
 When awful truth unveil'd appears, 
 
 Some pow'r unknown ufurps my breaft 
 Back to the world my thoughts are led, 
 My feet in folly's lab'rynth tread, 
 
 And fancy dreams that life is bled. 
 How weak an emprefs is the mind, 
 Whom Pleafure's flow'ry wreaths can bind, 
 
 And captive to her altars lead! 
 Weak reafon yields to frenzy's rage, 
 And all the World is Folly's ftage, 
 
 And all that aft are fools indeed. 
 And yet this ftrange , this fudden flight, 
 From gloomy cares to gay delight, 
 
 1 This ficklenefs, fo light and vain, 
 Irt life's delufive tranfient dream, 
 Where men nor things are what they feem, 
 
 Is all the real good we gain. 
 
 FINIS,
 
 A fatyrical Defcription and Cbarafter of the celebrated 
 M. de Voltaire. 
 
 MDe Voltaire is below the Stature of tall Men, 
 or, in other Words, he is a little above thofe 
 of a middling Size ; he is extremely thin, and of an 
 aduft Temperament, hot and atrabilious i his Vifage 
 is meagre, his Afpect ardent and penetrating, and 
 there is a malignant Quicknefs in his Eye ; the fame 
 Fire that animates his Works appears in his Actions, 
 which are lively even to Abfurdity ; he is a kind of 
 Meteor, perpetually coming and going with a quick 
 Motion, and a fparkling Light that dazzles our Eyes. 
 A Man thus conftituted cannot fail of being a Valetu- 
 dinarian ; the Blade eats away the Scabbard ; gay by 
 Complexion, grave by Regimen, open without 
 Franknefs, politick without Refinement, fociable 
 without Friends : He knows the World and he for- 
 gets it i in the Morning he is Ariftippus, and Diogenes 
 at Night ; he loves Grandeur, and defpifes the Great ; 
 with his Superiors his Carriage is eafy, but with his 
 Equals conftrained ; he is firft polite, then cold, then 
 difgufting. He loves the Court, yet makes himfelf 
 weary of it ; he has Senfibility without Connections, 
 and is voluptuous without Paifion. He is attached to 
 nothing by Choice, but to every thing by Inconftan- 
 cy. As he reafons without Principle, his Reafon has 
 its Fits like the Folly of others. He has a clear Head, 
 and a corrupt Heart; he thinks of every thing, and 
 treats every Thing with Derifion. He is a Libertine 
 without a Conftitution for Pleafure, and he knows 
 how to moralize without Morality. His Vanity is ex- 
 ceflive, but his Avarice is yet greater than his Vanity; 
 he therefore writes lefs for Reputation than Money, for 
 which he may be faid both to hunger and thirft. He 
 is in hafte to work, that he may be in hafte to live ; 
 he was made to enjoy, and he determines only to 
 hoard. Such is the Man, and fuch is the Author. 
 
 There is no other Poet in the World, whofe Verfes 
 coft him fo little Labour, but this Facility of Compo- 
 fition hurts him becaufe he abufes it : As there is but 
 little for Labour to fupply, he is content that little 
 
 fliould
 
 96 A Defcription offlA. de Voltaire. 
 
 fliould be wanting, and therefore almqfl all his Pieces 
 are unfinished. But tho' he is an eafy, an ingenious, 
 and elegant Writer of Poetry, yet his principal Ex- 
 cellence would be Hiftory, if he made fewer Reflecti- 
 ons, and drew no Parallels, in both of which howe- 
 ver, he has fometimes been very happy. In his laft 
 "Work he has imitated the Manner of Bayle, of whom, 
 even in his Cenfure of him, he has exhibited a Copy. 
 It has been long faid, that for a Writer to be without 
 Paflion and without Prejudice, he muft have neither 
 Religion nor Country, and in this Refpect Mr. Voltaire 
 has made great Advances towards Perfection. He 
 cannot be accufed of being a Partifan to his Nation ; 
 he appears on the contrary to be infected with a Spe- 
 cies of Madnefs fomewhat like that of old Men, who 
 are always extolling the Time paft, and bitterly com- 
 plaining of the prefent. Voltaire is always diflatisfied 
 with his own Country, and lavifh in his Praife of thofe 
 that are a thoufand Leagues off. As to Religion, he 
 Is in that Refpect evidently undetermined, and he 
 would certainly be the neutral and impartial Being, fb 
 much defired for an Author, but for a little Leven of 
 Anti-Janfenifm, which appears fomewhat too plainly 
 diftinguiflied in his Works. Voltaire has much fo- 
 reign and much French Literature, nor is he deficient 
 In that mixed Erudition which is now fo much in fa- 
 fhion. He is a Politician, a Naturalift, a Geometri- 
 cian, or what ever elfe he pleafes, but he is always 
 fuperficial, becaufe he is not able to Jbe deep. He 
 could not, however, flourifh as he does upon thefe 
 Subjects without great Ingenuity. HisTafle is rather 
 delicate than juft ; he is an ingenious Satyrift, a bad 
 Critic, and a Dabler in the abftracted Sciences. Ima- 
 gination is his Element, and yet, ftrange as it is, he 
 has no Invention. He is reproached with continually 
 paffingfrom one Extream to another ; now a Philan* 
 tbropift, then a Cynic; now an exceflive Encomiaft, 
 then an outragious Satyrift. In one Word, Voltaire 
 would fain be an extraordinary Man, and an extraor- 
 dinary Man he moft certainly is ! 
 The E N D,