Be capitulation. 309 



greatly fruitful, it has perhaps been exceeded by 

 some former ages*^ but in the general prevalence 

 of taste and refinement, it may be confidently 

 asserted that no age ever equalled the last. This 

 remark might be illustrated at great length, by 

 recurring to the state of the various branches of 

 human knowledge and art during the period in 

 question. 



In the Physical Sciences it might be shown, that, 

 though great and splendid discoveries have l^een 

 made in this period, much more has been done 

 in pursuing former discoveries, in extending the 

 limits of principles before established, in forming 

 systems of classification, arrangement, and nomen- 

 clature, and in conferring beauty and elegance on 

 every part. In the Mechanic Arts, also, inventions 

 have been made highly honourable to the genius 

 of the age; but the improvements in simplicity, 

 convenience, accuracy, and exquisite nicety of 

 workmanship, are far more numerous and more 

 strikingly characteristic of the age f. But, per- 

 haps, to Polite Literature this general remark may 

 be applied with still more confidence, and to a 

 greater extent. The poets and historians of the 

 eighteenth century have the advantage of all their 



* " Much has been ZLritten ia this age," says Voltaire, " but 

 genius belonged to the last." 



f It cannot be denied, that some articles of ancient manufac- 

 ture which have come down to our times discover an exquisite 

 polish and elegance of workmanship, which we seldom find ex- 

 ceeded, perhaps not equalled, at the present day. But that the 

 mechanic arts, //i general, reached a degree of improvem,ent in 

 the eighteenth century which they could never before boast, 

 particularly in simplicity, convenieace, and beauty, it is pre- 

 sumed none will hesitate to admit. 



