tereft, in order that war may fometimes take place. To rely upon Providence in government of this world, is the wifdom of man.

the

Upon the whole, perpetual war is bad, because it converts men into beafts of prey perpetual peace is worse, because it converts men into beafts of burden, To prevent fuch woful degeneracy on both hands, war and peace alternately are the only effectual means; and thefe means are adopted by Providence.

<< powerful which occupies the fmaller territory. "It is by good laws, by a falutary police, and great "economical schemes, that a wife fovereign gains a "fure augmentation of ftrength, without trusting any thing to the fortune of his arms."

SKETCH

THE

be

HE members of a tribe in their original state of hunting and fishing, ing little united but by a common language, have no notion of a patria; and fcarce any notion of fociety, unless when they join in an expedition against an enemy, or against wild beafts. The fhepherdftate, where flocks and herds are poffeffed in common, gives a clear notion of a common intereft; but ftill none of a patria. The fenfe of a patria begins to unfold itfelf, when a people leave off wandering, to fettle upon a territory that they call their own. Agriculture connects them together; and government ftill more: they become fellow-citizens; and the territory is termed the patria of every perfon born in it. It is fo ordered by Providence, that a man's country and his countrymen, are to him in conjunction an object of a peculiar affection, termed amor patrie, or

patriotifm;

patriotifm; an affection that rifes high a mong a people intimately connected by regular government, by husbandry, by commerce, and by a and by a common intereft. "Cari funt parentes, cari liberi, propin"qui, familiares; fed omnes omnium caritates patria una complexa est: pro qua quis bonus dubitet mortem oppe→ 66 tere *>" *?”

In a man of a folitary difpofition who avoids fociety, patriotifm cannot abound. He may poffibly have no hatred to his countrymen; but were he defirous to fea them happy, he would live among them, and put himself in the way of doing good.

The affection a man has for the place where he was bred, ought to be distinguifhed from patriotism, being a paffion far inferior, and chiefly vifible in the low peo ple. A ruftic has few ideas but of external fenfe his hut, his wife, his children, the hills, trees, and rivulets around him,

* "Our parents are dear to us; fo are our chil"dren, our relations, and our friends: all these our country comprehends; and fhall we fear to "die for our country?"

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VOL. II.

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compose the train of his ideas. Remove him from these objects, and he finds a dismal vacuity in his mind. History, poetry, and other fubjects of literature, have no relation to time nor place. Horace is relished in a foreign country as at home: the pleasures of converfation depend on perfons, not on place.

Social paffions and affections, befide being much more agreeable than selfish, are those only which command our esteem (a). Patriotifm ftands at the head of focial affections; and ftands fo high in our esteem, that no actions but what proceed from it are termed grand or heroic. When that affection appears fo agreeable in contemplation, how glowing, how elevating, muft it be in those whom it infpires! like vigorous health, it beats conftantly with an equal pulfe: like the vestat fire, it never is extinguifhed. No fource of enjoyment is more plentiful than patriotifm, where it is the ruling paffion: it triumphs over every selfish motive, and is a firm fupport to every virtue. In fact, where-ever it prevails, the morals

(a) Elements of Criticism, vol. 1. p. 113. edit. 5.

of

of the people are found to be pure and correct *.

These are illuftrious effects of patriotifm with refpect to private happiness and virtue; and yet its effects with respect to the public are still more illuftrious. A nation in no other period of its progress is fo flourishing, as when patriotifm is the ruling paffion of every member: during that period, it is invincible. Atheneus remarks, that the Athenians were the only people in the world, who, tho' clothed in purple, put formidable armies to flight at Marathon, Salamine, and Platea. But at that period patriotism was their ruling paffion; and fuccefs attended them in every undertaking. Where patriotifm rules,

* I know of but one bad effect of patriotifm, that it is apt to infpire too great partiality for our countrymen. Excufable in the vulgar, but unbecoming in men of rank and figure. The Duke de Montmorenci, after a victory, treated his prifoners with great humanity. He yielded his bed to Don Martin of Arragon, fent his furgeon to dress his wounds, and visited him daily. That Lord, amaz'd at fo great humanity, faid one day to the Duke, "Sir, were you a Spaniard, you would be the "greatest man in the univerfe." It grieves me to hear it objected to the English, that they have too

much of the Spaniard in their fentiments.