On the Moral Injlucnce ofllhtorxj. 549 



mild and equitable laws, and the cultivation 

 of the arts of peace; but for an inordinate 

 and selfish spirit of ambition and aggrandise- 

 ment. The reign of just and peaceful so- 

 vereigns, which, like the tranquil seasons of 

 nature, impart health and life and chear- 

 fulness to every thing around, has been re- 

 garded as but an inferior and secondary object 

 of their attention, valued perhaps most, as it 

 renovates the energies of a nation, and fits it 

 for the ambitious views of a military successor. 

 No ! it is the mighty troublers of the earth, the • 

 hurricanes of proud war and conquest which 

 deform the fair face of nature, which in their 

 wasteful progress sweep whole nations to the 

 grave, that has been too much the theme of 

 historic applause and admiration. When we 

 behold the title of Great conferred on such 

 men as Alexander, Caesar, Lewis the XlVth, 

 or even Peter of Muscovy, every moral and 

 humane mind must reprobate the profanation 

 of the attribute, and lament the folly of the 

 world, w^hich can join in the applause of what 

 it ought severely to condemn, and dignify 

 what .merits it$ abhorrence and execration. 

 But the common vulgar of mankind too easily 

 adopt the very prejudices which are their ruin, 

 and cajUght with, the whis^tling.of a name, faj| , 

 down before and worship the very beast that 

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