Ch. vi. Inhabitants of the North of Europe. 115 



rate in a greater or less degree, though every 

 where with considerable force, in all parts of Eu- 

 rope. Happily the more tranquil state of the mo- 

 dern world does not demand such rapid supplies 

 of human beings; and the prolific powers of na- 

 ture cannot therefore be so generally called into 

 action. 



Mallet, in the excellent account of the northern 

 nations which he has prefixed to his History of 

 Denmark, observes that he had not been able to 

 discover any proofs that their emigrations pro- 

 ceeded from want of room at home ;* and one of the 

 reasons which he gives, is, that after a great emi- 

 gration the countries often remained quite deserted 

 and unoccupied for a long time.f But instances 

 of this kind, I am inclined to think, were rare, 

 though they might occasionally happen. With 

 the habits of enterprise and emigration which pre- 

 vailed in those days, a whole people would some- 

 times move in search of a more fertile territory. 

 The lands, which they before occupied, must of 

 necessity be left desert for a time; and if there 

 were any thing particularly ineligible yi the soil 

 or situation, which the total emigration of the peo- 

 ple would seem to imply, it might be more con- 

 genial to the temper of the surrounding barbarians, 

 to provide for themselves better by their swords 

 than to occupy immediately these rejected lands. 

 Such total emigrations proved the unwillingness 



* Hist. Dan. torn. i. c. ix. p. 206. 

 I III. p. 205, 206. 



i 2 



