Chap. V. ANTIENT METAPHYSICS. 163 



order, of fuch prodigious fjze, that the above mentioned traveller, 

 Mr Wraxall, is afraid to tcli the dimenfions of them, though he 

 meafured them exadly, for fear the reader fhould think he hed : 

 And, he fays, he is ahnoft tempted to think that they are weapons 

 of oftentation, Hke thofe which Alexander buried in India * : — So 

 much fuperior were thefe fvvords 10 the fvvord of Charles XII. of 

 Sweden, and fuch was the decline of the flrength of men, from the 

 twelfth or thirteenth centuries, when thofe Knights fiourifhed, 

 down to this century. 



There are, however, dill to be found in Europe fome remains of 

 the antient ftature of men, or what may be fuppofed to be near 

 to it. Such men fome of the princes of Germany have a fancy 

 to collect, and make part of their retinue. I was informed by a 

 Lady, to whom I can give perfect credit, that fhe faw, fome years 

 ago in Venice, the Prince of Wirtemberg, who travelled with a 

 train of that kind. She was entertained at the Prince's houfe, where 

 there was a page that was feven feet two inches high, who carried 

 about the tea to the ladies ; and, at dinner, there was a man of {even 

 feet fix inches, that ftood behind the Prince's chair. Thefe men, 

 flie told me, were from Hungary. 



Before I conclude this chapter, I will mention fome things, which 

 are obvious to every body, and, in my apprehenfion, are evident 

 marks of the degeneracy of the fpecies among us. When the ani- 

 mal is complete and perfed:, fuch as every animal undoubtedly is 

 in the natural ftate, it muft have every part that is neceffary for its 

 prefervation. Of thefe none is more neceffary than teeth to fuch an 

 animal as Man. Now, how many, even young people, do we fee 



X 2 among 



* Ibid. p. 330, 



