It might be transposed, "Being in honour, he will not abide, except in it and with it." He will not marry to condemn his issue to a discreditable poverty; he will neither impose existence on others, nor submit his own to conditions which depress his sense of the position in which he was born.

Say what we will, men who have filled a distinguished position in society, or in the world, feel the wish of surviving beyond the grave, and of leaving behind them some living representative of their name and race, which shall not descend into the tomb with themselves. And yet, in spite of this desire, so strongly implanted in the bosoms of men of every nation and belief, one finds the lineage of great historical names in most countries have long ceased to exist. In Spain, France, Holland, and Zealand, the old families are nearly all extinct. In Switzerland, William Tell's female descendants became so in 1720. In France, in order to prevent it, nothing was more common than the adoption of collaterals, the issue of females, on condition that the name of the family should be assumed and continued. 66 'Perhaps there was in this excusable desire a secret sympathy with the national pride; for the prince found in it an additional ornament to his throne, and the country became identified with the glory of its chiefs."

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If it be natural that the last representative of an illustrious house should regret its extinction with his demise, and try all means of perpetuating it, it is not less so that a whole nation should lament the loss of the men whose or whose sword have ennobled or defended it-that deprived of their presence, it should still fondly attach itself to their name, and that the fiction which preserves them in the midst of their countrymen should be equally agreeable to the memory and the gratitude of the country.

These remarks on the French nobility are applicable to most of the European states, but whether they are likewise so to that of Great Britain and the British army, is a question which we leave to the reader's own judgment to decide.

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67. Silk Garments in Alfred's time. Haller allows Amund to speak of silk as of an unknown tissue to Alfred; but historians, whose veracity may be relied that that material was in use among inform upon, the Anglo-Saxons soon after their establishment in Britain; but so expensive an article, we may reasonably suppose, must have been confined to the highest rank of the people. Coronation vestments and mantles, the external garments

of the dignified clergy, and the robes of the queens and princesses were often made of this valuable material, it was also used for the adornment of altars, and for other religious purposes.

68. Monarchical Power does not originate from Adam. Ancient Christian writers pretend that "monarchical power originated from Adam, and his title of sovereignty was founded by creation, and also by donation, and likewise the inheritance of monarchy." This origin of monarchy was not a moderate one, but an absolute monarchical power allotted to Adam. And an author of the end of the 17th century endeavours to prove: 66 Firstly, that this power of Adam was not to end with him, but was, upon his decease, conveyed entire to some other person, and so on to posterity. Secondly, that the princes and rulers now on earth are possessed of this power of Adam by a right way of conveyance derived to them."

We have extracted these sentences from Locke's "Two Treatises on Government," wherein he contradicts "the false principles and foundations of Sir Robert Filmer and his followers" with great spirit and philosophical reasons. We regret that our space does not allow us to give as many extracts from it as it were otherwise our wish to do, and will therefore at present confine ourselves to the paragraph 105 of his "Essay on Civil Government:"

"I will not deny, that if we look back as far as history will direct us towards the origin of commonwealths, we shall generally find them under the government and administration of one man. And I am also apt to believe, that where a family was numerous enough to subsist by itself, and continue together, without mixing with others, as it often happens where there is much land and few people, the government commonly began in the father, for the father having, by the law of nature, the same power with every man else to punish, as he thought fit, any offences against that law, might thereby punish his transgressing children, even when they were men and out of their pupilage; and they were very likely to submit to his punishment, and all join with him against the offender in their turns, giving him thereby power to execute his sentence against any transgression, and so in effect make him the law-maker and governor over all that remained in conjunction with his family. He was fitted to be trusted; paternal affection secured their property and interest under his care, and the

custom of obeying him in their childhood made it easier to submit to him rather than to any other. If, therefore, they must have one to rule them, as government is hardly to be avoided amongst men that live together; who so likely to be the man as he that was their common father, unless negligence, cruelty, or any other defect of mind or body made him unfit for it. But when either the father died, and left his next heir, for want of age, wisdom, courage, or any other qualities, unfit to rule; or, where several families met and combined together; there, 'tis not to be doubted, but they used their natural freedom to set up him whom they judged the ablest and most likely to rule well over them. Conformable hereunto we find the people of America, who living out of the reach of the conquering swords and spreading domination of the two great empires of Peru and Mexico, enjoyed their own natural freedom, through coteris paribus, they commonly prefer the heir of their deceased king; yet if they find him any way weak or incapable, they pass him by and set up the stoutest and bravest man for their ruler."

69. Honour and its meaning.

It is an established fact, that comfort produces cowardice, and that "the delicate sense of honour" exists and must exist to a far greater extent with warriors, the nobility, their descendants, and with those nations where every man is obliged to be a soldier, and is destined to begin his career in the practice of arms, than with such as are given to domestic occupations only; but the word "honour" is not more accurately defined than the word "beauty," varying according to country and taste; nor is it clearly demonstrated whether it implies external distinction or the inner worth of man. "The delicate sense of honour" which characterizes some nations is too often confounded with amour-propre, which makes a duel the immediate consequence of the slightest offence; and although that exaggeration has certainly its share of good, we maintain that probity, impregnated in the heart of man, should be far more esteemed than the feeling of false honour. By the expression which our author attributes to Alfred, that "life becomes a burthen if spent without honours," it is manifest that external honour alone is meant.

70. Conscription, and Purchased Commissions. We cannot agree with Alfred here, as we have many examples of the most valiant warriors rising from mere

countrymen. Such can naturally seldom be leaders, since they fail in the knowledge required thereto. Yet we believe that in every state men should be brought up so as to be able to defend the country in case of necessity, whereby standing armies might be reduced. (Is it from fear that such a system has not been used in the latter times in England?) We are not defenders of general conscription, as it was introduced into France by Napoleon; for we have closely witnessed its evils, even in France, and in some parts of Germany subdued by the French emperor; but we have also witnessed the very great advantages that arise from the three years' military service every Prussian must perform, which, however, does not prevent him from following his civic occupation, and gives to young men a regularity in employing their time, and a physical and moral education which otherwise many would not acquire.

On the whole continent of Europe the custom of becoming a hero by paying down a sum of money has been abolished, and military commissions are only now sold in England.

We leave it to others to make more ample commentaries on this subject.

71. Momentary Inspirations in the People.

In note 69, we have given our opinion upon "the sense of honour spread over the whole population;" and, alas! our terrestrial world does not at all seem to be fitted for that feeling to be spread over the whole population; and if it does for a short time, and "every citizen glows for victory with the same ardour that inspires a general," (of which the history of ancient and recent times furnishes us with many examples ;) human nature and human wants are so constructed that it cannot continue for any lengthened period. The heroical inspiration in the lower classes soon evaporates or takes false directions, therefore it is better (as they mostly do) for them to return to their own peaceable occupations.

72. Nation of Shopkeepers.

Amund observes, that "among the Serens there are too many shopkeepers and artisans." And Napoleon called the British (6 a nation of shopkeepers." Both had probably the same idea in using those expressions; for the lower kind of trade admits, in truth, of no elevation of mind, which varies in man according to his occupation; and notwithstanding

our esteem for men in general, (to whatever class they may belong,) we cannot deny that constant occupation in minor matters, with the apparent necessity of practising a little fraud, abases man so low as to disregard probity; and for that reason we consider a working man as much higher than a shopkeeper. But Napoleon, who very well understood military tactics, politics, and something of fine arts, does not seem to have-nor that he ever would have-conceived the poetical and superior side of high trade. It is not profit alone that induces men to undertake great mercantile enterprises. There is a charm in the combination and execution of extensive mercantile transactions, in which one man employs innumerable branches. Foreign settlements, productions, ships, circumstances of war and peace, famine and abundance, are all instruments for the execution of his will; and he holds the thread of all the different means which he employs, and calculates their strength and effects as well as Napoleon did that of his different corps d'armeés. The high trade is really a grand occupation, but its abuses alone abase man; and a nation as England was at the end of the last century-the highest in the world-cannot be compared to one of "shopkeepers."

But with all the credit that we give to the high station of the merchant in society, we cannot deny that while he remains in commercial activity, he is unfit for public business; his mind is wholly engrossed with fear and hope, not only in business time, but in every moment that he is awake-in his dreams—in the circle of his family and friends—in places of public amusement, and perhaps even of worship; as it is almost impossible for a man, whose existence depends partly on chance, to suppress these ideas, which constantly occupy him and if merchants rise to high public functions, and remain at the same time in mercantile business, examples have already proved that the latter must suffer from it. As concerns shopkeepers, Montesquieu relates that, "Tout bas commerce etait infâme chez les Grecs. Il aurait fallu qu'un citoyen eut rendu des services à un esclave, à un locataire, à un étranger: cette idée choquait l'esprit de la liberté grecque. Aussi Platon veut-il, dans ses lois, qu'on punisse un citoyen qui ferait le commerce."

73. Moral Degradation produced by Comfort.

Notwithstanding our observations on the high trade in the foregoing note, we cannot conceal that almost every trading nation sinks to the degree expressed by the words