842 ADVANCEMENT OP LEARNING. [bOOK VIIL 



bo far inferior in extent and number of inhabitants, yet it 

 lias almost constantly got the better of France m war : for 

 this reason, that the rustics, and lower sort of people in Eng- 

 land, make better soldiers than the peasants of France. And 

 in this respect it was a very political and deep foresight of 

 Henry the Seventh of England, to constitute lesser settled 

 farms, and houses of husbandry, with a certain fixed and 

 inseparable proportion of land annexed, sufficient for a life 

 of plenty : so that the proprietors themselves, or at least the 

 renters, and not hirelings, might occupy them. For thus a 

 nation may acquire that character which Yirgil gives of 

 ancient Italy: "A country strong in arms, and rich of soil," — 



(( Terra potens armis, atque ubere glebse."* 

 We must not here pass over a sort of people, almost peculiar 

 to England, viz., the servants of our nobles and gentry ; as 

 the lowest of this kind are no way inferior to the yeomanry 

 for foot-service. And it is certain that the hospitable mag- 

 nificence and splendour, the attendance and large train, in 

 use among the nobility and gentry of England, add much to 

 our military strength ; as, on the other hand, a close retired 

 life among the nobility causes a want of forces. 



It must be earnestly endeavoured, that the tree of monar- 

 chy, like the tree of Nebuchadnezzar, have its trunk suffi- 

 ciently large and strong, to support its branches and leaves ; 

 or that the natives be sufficient to keep the foreign subjects 

 under : whence those states best consult their greatness, 

 which are liberal of naturalization. For it were vain to 

 think a handful of men, how excellent soever in spirit and 

 counsel, should hold large and spacious countries under the 

 yoke of empire. This, indeed, might perhaps be done for a 

 season, but it cannot be lasting. The Spartans were reserved 

 and difficult in receiving foreigners among them ; and, there- 

 fore, so long as they ruled within their own narrow bounds, 

 their affairs stood firm and strong ; but soon after they began 

 to widen their borders, and extend their dominion farther 

 than the Spartan race could well command the foreign crowd, 

 their power sunk of a sudden. Never did commonwealth 

 receive new citizens so profusely as the Roman ; whence its 

 fortune was equal to so prudent a conduct : and thus the 



» -SJneid, i. 531. 



