IN WHAT ARTS HAVE THE MODERNS BEEN LESS SUCCESSFUL THAN THE ANCIENTS?

Κείνοισι δ ̓ ἂν οὔτις

Τῶν, οἳ νῦν βροτοί εἰσιν ἐπιχθόνιοι, μαχέοιτο.

ILIAD A.

THAT human society has a natural tendency to improvement, is a truth obvious in itself, and strikingly confirmed by experience. By the agency of this principle, the institutions and manners, the sciences and arts, of social life, seem to be progressively impelled towards perfection; and, though occasionally checked by accidental obstructions, they return invariably to their original course; as the shoots of a plant, though continually impeded, will uniformly resume their upright growth, when the obstacles that opposed it are removed.

If the existence of this principle of improvement should be disputed in those points, where moral excellence is concerned, it must at least be allowed that it operates very powerfully in those, which relate to invention or discovery. For here, the facility, with which each succeeding

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improver avails himself of the labours of his predecessors, enables us, when once the foundations of an art or science have been laid, to enlarge and embellish the superstructure to an extent, which knows no limits; while, by means of those contrivances, which so wonderfully facilitate the transmission of knowledge, we can derive nearly as much advantage from the labours of our ancestors, as from those of our contemporaries.

Accordingly, in the numerous circle of arts, which are employed about the conveniences of life, our superiority to the ancients is generally admitted. Two inventions, which were originally the productions of accident, have contributed to give us a decided superiority in the arts of navigation and war; while a new and superior method of investigation has proved of incalculable advantage in all those, which depend on the various branches of natural philosophy.

But when we turn our attention to the fine arts, we cannot but observe, that the superiority of modern times is either wholly lost, or at least considerably lessened. The weight of ancient excellence seems to be augmented, while a proportionate diminution on the opposite side is no less observable. Amidst the trepidations of a balance, which now becomes so nearly adjusted, a discerning eye may perhaps perceive a preponderance on the side of antiquity. But even those, who are of a contrary opinion, must at

least admit, that our improvements, in this class of pursuits, have by no means kept pace with those which have been made in the useful arts. The specimens, which have come down to us, of their skill in sculpture and architecture, in poetry and oratory; specimens, which are still acknowledged models for modern imitation, form a strong argument of their positive excellence, if not of their comparative superiority. In music and in painting their progress cannot be estimated with any degree of certainty; but we may fairly imagine it to have been far from contemptible, since these arts were studiously cultivated by a people, who displayed, in other points, the highest degree of taste and genius.

That the ancients, then, if not actually superior to us in the elegant arts, approached us, at least, much nearer in them than in the useful arts, and much nearer than, at first sight, we could have expected, will perhaps be universally allowed. And as this disproportionate excellence opens a field for much curious speculation, an investigation of the causes, which produced it, may prove both interesting in itself, and useful in our subsequent inquiry into the actual state of comparison between the ancients and moderns,

Without recurring to the fanciful notions of Milton, with respect to the degeneracy of later times, or attempting to explain the influence, which soil and climate may possess over the dis

positions and intellects of men, we may safely determine, that, as nature has distributed to different countries the advantages of fertility in unequal proportions, so she has poured on some nations, with greater profusion than on others, the richer endowments of genius and imagination. The inhabitants of Greece were, in this respect, highly favoured. To the external advantages, which they possessed, was added an extraordinary portion of natural acuteness and delicacy of taste; qualities, which, it is said, are still to be found in their descendants, though repressed by the iron hand of despotism. The Romans were, perhaps, not so fortunate; and, though they borrowed largely from the Greeks, they were seldom able to equal them. The facility, indeed, with which they availed themselves of the talents of a foreign nation, probably acted as a check upon domestic ingenuity, as importations are found unfavourable to the increase of manufactures.

As far, therefore, as the gifts of nature are concerned, no people had a fairer chance than the Greeks, of becoming highly eminent for productions of genius; and various circumstances concurred to give full play to their superiority of talent, and to advance the arts among them to a high degree of perfection.

Of these, that which principally arrests our attention is, the division of that country into a

great number of small independent states, all enjoying liberty, and mutually engaged in perpetual rivalship. The spirit of emulation must have been a powerful incentive to a people naturally ingenious: and the mass of talent roused into action by this minute division must have been proportionally great. In larger states, a considerable number of highly-gifted individuals must be forced into the throng of undistinguished mediocrity.

But these circumstances, which contributed to promote the advancement of the fine arts, had not an equal tendency to encourage the useful arts.-The number of independent neighbouring states necessarily produced continual wars, with their attendant, poverty; but it is in the midst of wealth and of tranquillity, that commerce and manufactures, together with most of the useful arts, are found to flourish and improve.

But not only will the same causes frequently produce different effects upon pursuits of different kinds; the pursuits themselves may occasionally be found to interfere. In those large and prosperous states, where the acquisition of wealth is pursued with the greatest earnestness, and the useful arts cultivated with the greatest attention, we shall generally find the separation of professions, and the division of labour, carried to the highest extent.-Now that this concentration of the powers of each individual advances