Ofi ihcMorat Ifi/lu<f7H'e of Jlistori/, 341 



ncofty'tlmt can afftict or degrade hurilajiity ^ 

 Wc hardly turn over a page, which is wot 

 crimsoned with blood, or j)ol luted Vs'ith foul 

 crimes. Uarbarous violence, sanguinary war^, 

 horrid devastation^, merciless pcrscouribns, 

 murders, rapes, poisotis and' Assassinations, 

 Jordh^ UTants trampling-upon- and insulting the 

 rights of human nature,'* and abject slaves 

 crouching beneath the yoke of ^ withering 

 despotismi which from age to age- has gone 

 cMi debasing the huwwin character, jand blast- 

 ing 'every rising effort of geaiius and virtue. — 

 Such' are the scenes which: history chieflv'^x- 

 hibjifSlo our vkw. To the reader,- therefbr<^, 

 Jwho looks perhaps solely for amiusement, and 

 with no view to any spe<:ific instruction or ad- 

 vantage, such a picture of the debasement and 

 misery of his fellow creatures can aflfordiio gra 

 tifkatiotj. ^Vhere the heart is tiot strangeiy 

 corrupted, its most natural impression must be 

 that of pain and disgust. Who can peruse the 

 bloody proscriptions of a Roman triumvirate, 

 the I devastating march of a Genchischan or a 

 Tamerlane, the barbarities of a Mexican ^ 

 Peruvian conquest, the systematic cold-blooded 

 cruelties of a Spanish Inquisition, withoivttiie 

 most painful emotions of indignation and ab-i 

 horrence ? The frequent conten>pltftian -of su.'^ii 

 scenes> in which human nature •jVj*d^VrfT«i<»^ed, 

 u u 2 



