AL 

‘former we have daily inftances; 
_ revolt, v 
630 
a bare frigid recital of events; or borne, 
by the ftrength of imagination, into the 
unfathomable depths of fpeculative re- 
finement: of the latt Metncie: how- 
ever inimitable in other refpe¢tsyDa- 
vila is a confpicuous example a4 the 
but the 
hiftorian who is free from both thefe 
faults, and to whom this power may with 
juftice be attributed, is Hume. . 
marks by way of introducing to your 
notice a fubjeét (as 1t appears to me) 
hiftorians of thofe.times, viz. the abdi- 
cation of Charles the Vth, emperor of 
Germany, and the refignation of the 
Imperial crown to his fon, Philip Hid. 
Fehert(on, in his Hiftory, attributes it to 
the declining ftate of his health 5 a fpe- 
ious reaton indeed; yet it* is hidhly 
improbable, that in fo aéti 
that of Charles the Vth, an 
ever have been extinét but with life. ~ 
The uncorrupt, the eyer»memorable 
Sully, in his Memoirs (a work’ replete 
with acute obfervations) attributes the 
emperor’s refignation to difappointment ; 
and this, froma review of circum frances, 
appears to me #0 ‘be the ‘true réafon. 
Flattered, as Charles had ever been, with 
the hope of univerfal moenafchy, the cru- 
el blow of Maurice, eleétor of Saxony’s 
> doubly felt: difappoinred in 
his hope of making the Imperial *digni- 
ty hereditary in his-family; and dif® 
gufted with the bad ftate of his affairs 
with refpeét to France, now exerti ig 
herfelf with renewed energy, under a 


young and ambiticus monarch; he was’ 
convinced, that the hope of obtaining uni- 
verfal dominion would never be realized. 
His hopes being thus @eftroyed, which 
he haa been fondly cherithing during the 
fatter part of his reign, he determined 
to refign his power,before it fuffered far- 
ther diminution; and that his defcent 
been 




bulent ambition in the gloomy 
choly of the eloifter : that he mi 
the world an inftance of magne 
not inferior to the boafted phil 
of Dioclefian. ; 
If this reafon fhould not appear to be 
the true one, [I truft that fome of your 
readers will communicate one More con- 
clufive. ' 
St. Fobn’s Collere, ” 
Cambridge, May 13. 
BLagros, 
Charles the Vth's abdication « «x Greece and Italy. 
To the Editor of the 
SIRs = 
f Sept. 
Moathly Magazine. 
ae 
~ 
SHE recent conquefts in Ttaly by the 
French armies, 
mind forme t 
has recalled to my 
ghts I have long enter- 
tained, relative to the paft viciffitndes, 
and the probable deftiny »of that beauti- 
ful country. 
On reading the hiitory of 
Italy, and of the Fralian language, and on 
I have been induced to offer thefe re- Ovfervimg the revolutions of the arts and 
fciences, it is diffitult to 
‘frog refemblance 
no means accounted for by the profeffed 2nd ancient * Greece. cron” & 
cy acquainted with their hiftories, 
l likewife find, that the courfé of civi- 
WL 
oid perceiving ® 
etweeh Italy 
A perfon thos 
lization and of decay, has been nearly 
the 
me in both of 
them. I am confi- 
dent, that the publication of thefe ideas, at 
a time when Italy is probably aboutto uf- 
de: go fuch very important cha: 
Sa bréait as. fail to’ be agreeable to youreres 
ition fhould Will, therefore, exhibit a kind of compara- 

tive map of both countries, in the four 
great periods of their refpeétive hiftories. 
“Firft period. 
Termination of the 
Trojan war ; the heroic 
sage 3 tyranny and abufe 
of power in the feveral 
fovereigns. 
The Greeks; irritated, 
rife in infurrections ; 
erect commonwealths, 
and eftablifh the Am- 
phictionic league, 
$3 
‘ ‘ . 
Games, feafts, facri- 
fices, in great requeft, 
among the free Greeks. 
By Lycurgus and his 
laws,Spartaacquires the 
greateit welght and au- 
thority; fhe becomes 
the feat of juftice and 
virtue, and the com- 
mon centre to whom 
the other itates refort 
in*their wants or dif- 
ferences. 
Athens, the rival of 
Spartain military valour, 
furpaties her imarts and 
politenefs. Themifio- 
cles, Miltiades, . 
and © 
ITALY. 
Firft period. 
Termination of the 
dark age, fewards the 
year Tc08 5 earls; mar- 
quiffes, andsdukes, ty- 
rannize over the people, 
and abufe their power 
in the name of German 
emperors. 
Freedom is purchafed 
or reconguered; Pifa 
and Genca become fice 
cities 3 the confuls fuc- 
ceed to earlsiand dukes 5 
league between the Ita- 
liane republics in the 
yearn 167. 
Horfe-races, military 
exercifés; laws and fa- 
tutes; bravery follows 
liberty. 
Venice, the greatett 
of the Italian cities, be- 
comes the common.pro~ 
tector of Italy. LZamus 
i: oe Venetos Was the 
common faying of al] 
difcordant cities.. 
Pe 
| Tufcany was the At- 
tica. In war, thesival of 
Venice. Pifa, and Flos 
rence, Venice and Ge- 
noa obtain great vitto- - 
others, as well as Leoni- ries, but their Themif- 
das} great generals. Wife tocles had no gocd hif- 
men; ¢ommeérce, cola- torian, Learned mem 
* 
