66 tion, it is true, to arbitrary government. "Hence, the prevailing manners made too strong an impression on our infant minds, " and the infection was sucked in with the "milk of our nurses. We have never tasted Greece, Athens was most democratical, and a state of the greatest liberty. And hence it was, that, according to the observation of Paterculus (l. i. near the end), Eloquence flourished in greater force and plenty in "that city alone, than in all Greece besides: insomuch "that (says he) though the bodies of the people were. dispersed into other cities, yet you would think their 66 66 genius to have been pent up within the bare precincts "of Athens." Pindar the Theban, as he afterwards owns, is the only exception to this remark. So the city of Rome was not only the seat of liberty and empire, but of true wit and exalted genius. The Roman power indeed out-lived the Roman liberty, but wit and genius could not long survive it. What a high value ought we then to set upon liberty, since without it, nothing great or suitable to the dignity of human nature, can possibly be produced! Slavery is the fetter of the tongue, the chain of the mind, as well as the body. It embitters life, sours and corrupts the passions, damps the towering faculties implanted within us, and stifles in the birth the seeds of every thing that is amiable, generous, and noble. Reason and Freedom are our own, and given to continue so. We are to use, but cannot resign them, without rebelling against him who gave them. The invaders of either ought to be resisted by the united force of all men, since they incroach on the privileges we receive from God, and traverse the designs of infinite goodness. 66 liberty, that copious and fertile source ❝of all that is beautiful and of all that is "great, and hence are we nothing but pompous flatterers. It is from hence "that we may see all other qualifications displayed to perfection, in the minds of "slaves; but never yet did a slave become "an orator. His spirit being effectually "broken, the timorous vassal will still be up"permost; the habit of subjection conti"nually overawes and beats down his ge-"nius. For, according to Homer*, Jove fix'd it certain, that whatever day MR. POPE. "Thus I have heard (if what I have heard "in this case may deserve credit) that the 66 cases in which dwarfs are kept, not only "prevent the future growth of those who are “inclosed in them, but diminish what bulk they already have, by too close constric"tion of their parts. So slavery, be it never so 66 66 easy, yet is slavery still, and may deservedly "be called, the prison of the soul, and the "public dungeon." Here I interrupted. "Such complaints, "as your's against the present times, are ge * Odyss. p, ver, 322, nerally 66 nerally heard, and easily made. But are you sure that this corruption of genius is "not owing to the profound peace which reigns throughout the world? or rather, "does it not flow from the war within us, " and the sad effects of our own turbulent "passions? Those passions plunge us into "the worst of slaveries, and tyrannically drag us wherever they please. Avarice 66 66 (that disease of which the whole world is "sick beyond a cure), aided by voluptuous"ness, holds us fast in chains of thraldom, "or rather, if I may so express it, over"whelms life itself, as well as all that live, "in the depths of misery. For love of money is the disease which renders us "most abject; and love of pleasure is that "which renders us most corrupt. I have, "indeed, thought much upon it, but after "all judge it impossible for the pursuers, or, "to speak more truly, the adorers and worshippers of immense riches, to preserve "their souls from the infection of those vices "which are firmly allied to them. For pro"fuseness will be wherever there is affluence. "They are firmly linked together, and con"stant attendants upon one another. Wealth "unbars the gates of cities, and opens the 66 "doors "doors of houses: Profuseness gets in at the “same time, and there they jointly fix their "residence. After some continuance in "their new establishment, they build their "nests (in the language of philosophy) and 66 propagate their species. There they hatch 66 arrogance, pride, and luxury, no spurious "brood, but their genuine offspring. If "these children of wealth be fostered and "suffered to reach maturity, they quickly engender the most inexorable tyrants, and "make the soul groan under the oppres"sions of insolence, injustice, and the most "seared and hardened impudence. When 66 men are thus fallen, what I have men❝tioned must needs result from their depra vity. They can no longer endure a sight "of any thing above their grovelling selves; "and as for reputation, they regard it not. "When once such corruption infects an age, "it gradually spreads and becomes universal. "The faculties of the soul will then grow stupid, their spirit will be lost, and good 66 66 sense and genius must lie in ruins, when "the care and study of man is engaged "about the mortal the worthless part of him-` 66 self, and he has ceased to cultivate virtue, "and polish his nobler part, the soul. "A cor "A corrupt and dishonest judge is inca"pable of making unbiassed and solid deci❝sions by the rules of equity and honour. "His habit of corruption unavoidably pre"vents what is right and just, from appear 66 ing right and just to him. Since then the "whole tenor of life is guided only by "the rule of interest, to promote which, we " even desire the death of others to enjoy "their fortunes, after having, by base and 66 disingenuous practices crept into their "wills; and since we frequently hazard our "lives for a little pelf, the miserable slaves "of our own avarice, can we expect, in such a general corruption, so contagious a depravity, to find one generous and impar"tial soul above the sordid views of avarice, "and clear of every selfish passion that may distinguish what is truly great, what works "are fit to live for ever? Is it not better, "for persons in our situation, to submit to "the yoke of government, rather than con tinue masters of themselves, since such headstrong passions, when set at liberty, "would rage like madmen, who have burst "their prisons, and inflame the whole world "with endless disorders? In a word, an in |