PLES. The following, I think, are the most remarkable:

I. Numbers collected into one place.

II. Free communication between different societies, and different members of the same society. III. Wealth.

IV. Great public events." Two others, and those of the greatest importance, might be add. ed, viz. Freedom from the necessity of labour; and, Freedom from coercion. But as these possess rather a negative character, it appears to me more philosophical to refer their opposites to a different class of prin ciples; of which I shall treat in due time.

I.-Numbers collected into one

Place.

That this circumstance has a powerful tendency to produce moral corruption, seems confirmed by the universal consent of mankind. Such a general impression, in a case thus obvious to every one's observation, affords a stronger proof than the most laboured in duction. The city, where multitudes are crowded together, has been universally found to teem with every species of disorder; while the country has been celebrated as the abode of innocence and primitive simplicity. All those passions, which in their excess become crimes; the love of power, the love of distinction, the licentious pursuit of pleasure, are, amid great assemblages of men, cherished and stimulated. The benevolent affections, which could embrace every member of a small and secluded circle, are chilled by the variety of objects which press on

them. In every operation of an assembled multitude, the lead is generally taken by the most vio lent, the most daring, the least scrupulous, in short, by the worst.

In all places where a great num. ber is collected together,-public schools, manufactories, very nu merous popular assemblies,-the effects are uniformly found to be injurious. A mob, most of whose members, when confined to their domestic sphere, were perhaps quiet, peaceable, and industrious, soon become turbulent and furious, when their passions are inflamed by the presence of a multitude. They be come incapable too of forming any sound and deliberate judgment, rash, credulous, hurried along by every impulse of the moment.

As the meeting of persons ill affected towards each other is natu. rally a signal for quarrels, so that of friends is generally supposed to authorize a more than ordinary indulgence in sensuality. And rude natures, when once provided with the means of gratification, will sel dom be found to keep within due limits. Great collections of peo ple, formed either for business or amusement, markets, festivals, public rejoicings, are seldom unaccom panied by intoxication and excess.

A curious illustration of this principle may be seen in the direc tion which it gives to that universal passion, the love of distinction.

There is a strong desire in man to be the object of general atten. tion to the society in which he lives. This propensity meets with easy gratification amid a small circle, each of whose members must be an important object in the eyes of the rest. All that is required of a man in such a situation, is, that he

should

should do nothing to forfeit that attention which others are disposed to pay to him. But in the nu. merous society of a great city, every individual becomes, as it were, nothing; he is lost, like a drop of water in the ocean, The only means of escaping from this mortifying insignificance, is to find some mode, either of rising above, or at least of separating himself from, the surrounding crowd. But a superior degree of truly valuable attainments is always laborious, and can fall to the lot of only a few. Distinctions, therefore, are sought after, adventitious at least, if not absolutely dishonourable; and they are pursued with an immoderate eagerness, which of itself tends to vitiate the character. Hence the crowd of follies which spring up in a great city; hence men glorying even in their vices, anxious to be distinguished for any thing, rather than to remain in obscurity.

I have already noticed the general impression which prevails upon this subject; an impression formed not with a view to any particular theory, but arising immediately from the observation of human life. Peculiar stress is here to be laid on the sentiments of the earlier moralists, who lived at a period when the corrupting process was already far advanced, while that of improvement had scarcely begun to shew itself. Among these, soli. tude, and the shades of retirement, have been always extolled, as the surest safeguard of innocence. Hence, in every age, those who wished to shun the temptations of life, and to devote themselves to heaven and to virtue, have sought the seclusion of the cloister and the hermitage. Doubtless, this pro. VOL. L.

pensity has been carried too far; yet its prevalence seems clearly to indicate the general conviction of the favourable influence of retirement upon human conduct.

This principle seems injurious, in the first instance, not only to the moral, but also to the intellectual character of man. The proverb, that "in a multitude of counsellors there is wisdom," doubtless contains much truth; yet its application depends much on the nature of these counsellors. Where they are ignorant and clamorous, the very opposite effect follows. Io a numerous assembly, the passions are kindled; a multitude of contradictory opinions dazzles and confounds, rather than enlightens the judgment; and nothing remains of that deliberate calmness, which is necessary for just and candid deci sion. The wisdom of a deliberative assembly is often found to be in the inverse proportion of its num. bers.

The small number of objects which present themselves in a narrow circle, has no tendency to in. spire enlarged views, or philosophical habits of thinking. But it is favourable to the exercise of na. tive intuitive good sense. These few objects are suited to the limited faculties of the untaught mind; their various aspects and relations may be embraced with ease, and without confusion. As they multiply, the understanding, which has not learn. ed to enlarge its views, and to ge. neralize, is bewildered and lost.

We have thus found, that the collection of numbers is hostile to that simplicity of character which rests upon moderate passions and the absence of temptation. But it is at the same time indispensable to N

the

the formation of that more improved character, which cousists in fixed principles, extensive views, and high intellectual cultivation, It is essential to the production of all those arts which refine and ex. alt human nature. The emulation, kindled by assembled numbers, be comes the source of excellence in every department. Even that violence of the passions, and the activity to which it prompts, while it is the source of present disorder, leads ultimately to improvement. The periods of history most pregnant with guilt and suffering, are also those which afford the most instructive and important lessons to future times.

To the perfecting of moral judg. ment, the existence of numerous societies is peculiarly subservient. It is equally so, whether we con. sider this judgment as intuitive, or as derived from a view of the ultimate tendency of human actions, The lover of the arts, by contem plating a variety of models, learns to distinguish with certainty between beauty and deformity; and it is by a similar process that a correct moral taste must be formed. And the bustle and activity to which this assemblage gives rise, by presenting human nature under a variety of aspects, must greatly extend these means of observation. A variety of examples being thus presented, of the opposite nature of virtue and vice, the distinction between them will be clearly per. ceived, and the superiority of the latter will be gradually acknowJedged. The criterion of virtue, too, which is founded on its tendency to promote the general wel.. fare, is evidently to be ascertained by that wide observation of human

nature, which can be made only in a numerous society. Such attempts, founded upon narrow and partial views, must be altogether erroneous. But the more, in consequence of an extensive acquaintance with mankind, we enlarge our views of the consequences of human actions, the more evident are the marks of that close connection, which exists between the virtue and the happiness of man,

These views are, I think, fairly deduced from general and ascer. tained principles of human nature. At the same time it must be owned, that, on a cursory view, this latter part of the process (the tendency to improvement) is less obvious than the other. Its advance is gradual and insensible; and as new sources of corruption are continually opening, through the augmentation of numbers, wealth, and in. tercourse, (always injurious in the first instance,) the two processes are so mixed and blended, that to separate them becomes a very complicated operation. It will be, at present, more casy and more satisfactory to consider the influence which the progressive principles produce upon the cultivation of arts and sciences; the grand instru. ment which nature employs for effecting the improvement of man, considered as a moral and intelli. gent being. And here two ques. tions occur: How far do the progressive principles lead to the suc cessful cultivation of the arts and sciences? and, How far does this successful cultivation lead to the improvement of the moral nature of man ?

The formation of cities is coeval with the origin of all those : arts, which relate either to external ele

gance,

gance, or to mental improvement. There only we meet that refined taste, that active emulation, and those wide views of society, with out which no great writer can be formed. Athens, Rome, Florence, Paris, London, have been all large cities, most of them of the first magnitude. This effect does not, indeed, take place in any exact proportion to the population; nay, there are cities o equal or greater extent, in which it does not take place at all. That circumstance is not alone sufficient; nor, indeed, is any single principle ever sufficient: but it is an indispensable requisite. While men, roved in tents, or dwelt in scattered and thinly inhabited villages, they might acquire talents of various kinds; they might display skill and activity in the con duct of life but with the individual all these attainments perished; nothing was done for the species. It is in cities, amid great assemblages of men, that science first strikes its roots, and is thence diffused over other parts of the world.

II.-Free Communication between different Societies, and different Members of the same Society.

immense distance. In other cases, where the absolute population is exceedingly small, the constant and intimate intercourse between individuals enables it to produce powerful progressive influence.

The immediate effect of mixing with persons of very various habits and moles of thinking seems to be, that of unsettling the principles upon which a man bad previously acted, and thus depriving him of any fixed standard of conduct. Even thinking men, bewildered by the various and contradictory systems of moral judgment adopted by different ages and nations, have doubted the existence of any real and permanent standard, and have considered it as the mere creature of habit and education.

It is a general observation, that knowledge of the world (which consists chiefly in free intercourse with men of various habits and professions), though it may iucrcase a man's ability, and forward his success in life, at least extremely dangerous to his moral without any fixed character, sets principles. The young heir, who, out on the tour of Euroffe, gene. rally returns fully accomplished in all the vices of the countries through which he has passed, but with a very small share of what ever is landable.

whether individuals or nations are concerned, it uniformly gives rise to the most malignant passions; to jealousy, distrust, and aversion. Hence the deadly hatred which reigns between persoas of narrow views, who, while they differ in N 2

manners,

mous.

In the opposite case, where the connection is productive of mutual pleasure, the intercourse is doubt. less amicable; but it gives, at the same time, a powerful impulse to folly and sensuality. Each party is thus brought acquainted with modes of licentious indulgence, which wear for him the gloss of novelty, and which none of his previous habits have enabled him to withstand. He generally, therefore, not only adopts, but carries them to a much greater excess than those, who, from previous acquaint. ance, had learned to use them with more moderation.

The most decided criterion of the immediate effects arising from this intercourse, seems to be afforded by that, which, in consequence of extended navigation, has taken place between the civilized nations of Europe, and the savage inhabitants of America and the South Sea. The two extremes of society have thus been brought into contact. Now all navigators and travellers agree, (so far as I know, without a single exception,) that the effect produced upon the character of these tribes is decidedly pernicious; that they have adopted and carried to excess all the vices of their foreign visitors, without learning one of their good qualities. It seems, indeed, to ef

And that the injury is reciprocal, the annals of the New World too abundantly testify. The splen. did objects, exaggerated by novel. ty, which were presented to the eyes of the first adventurers, fired them with an unbounded lust of wealth; while the difference of . manners and appearance made the natives be regarded as beings of an inferior species, and consigned, without remorse, to tortures, slavery, and death. Horrors were committed, which no pen can describe; and hardly, throughout the wide extent of Asia, Africa, and America, is there any shore, which European ambition has not deluged with blood. Happily, indeed, a better order of things has now begun to arise.

Yet communication, though thus pernicious in its first effects, becomes ultimately one of the prime sources of human improvement. To rouse the mental powers, and inspire an active emulation, it is not enough that a man be brought into contact with other individuals, whose situation and habits are the same with his own. The unifor. mity of such a scene leaves still the