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ftances of birth, fortune, and fituation that call us to this fervice; and, above all, to the talents which God has given us to perform

it.

It is in this view, that I fhall address to your lordship whatever I have further to fay on the study of history.

LET

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LETTER VI.

From what period modern history is peculiarly useful to the service of our coun try, viz.

From the end of the fifteenth century to the present.

The divifion of this into three particular periods:

In order to a sketch of the history and state of Europe from that time.

SINCE then you are, my lord, by your birth, by the nature of our government, and by the talents God has given ́ you, attached for life to the fervice of your country; fince genius alone cannot enable you to go through this fervice with honor to yourself and advantage to your country, whether you fupport or whether you oppose the adminiftrations that arife; fince

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a great ftock of knowledge, acquired betimes and continually improved, is neceffary to this end; and fince one part of this ftock must be collected from the study of history, as the other part is to be gained by obfervation and experience; I come now to fpeak to your lordship of fuch hiftory as has an immediate relation to the great duty and business of your life, and of the method to be observed in this study. The notes I have by me, which were of fome little ufe thus far, ferve meno farther, and I have no books to confult. No matter; I fhall be able to explain my thoughts without their affistance, and lefs liable to be tedious. I hope to be as full and as exact on memory alone, as the manner in which I fhall treat the subject requires me to be.

I SAY then, that however clofely affairs are linked together in the progreffion of governments, and how much foever events that follow are dependent on thofe that precede, the whole connexion diminishes to fight as the chain lengthens; till at last it feems to be broken, and the links that are continued from that point bear no propor-, tion nor any fimilitude to the former.. I would not be understood to fpeak only of thofe great changes, that are wrought by a

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concurrence of extraordinary events; for inftance the expulfion of one nation, the deftruction of one government, and the establishment of another: but even of thofe that are wrought in the fame governments and among the fame people, flowly and almost imperceptibly, by the neceffary effects of time, and flux condition of human affairs. When fuch changes as these happen in feveral states about the fame time, and consequently affect other states by their vicinity, and by many different relations which they frequently bear to one another; then is one of those periods formed, at which the chain spoken of is fo broken as to have little or no real or visible connexion with that which we fee continue. A new fituation, different from the former, begets new interests in the fame proportion of difference; not in this or that particular state alone, but in all thofe that are concerned by vicinity or other relations, as I faid juft now, in one general fyftem of policy. New interests beget new maxims of government, and new methods of conduct. Thefe, in

their turns, beget new manners, new habits, new customs. The longer this new conftitution of affairs continues, the more will this difference increase: and altho fome analogy may remain long between what L

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