118 
they enter. It is too ludicrous to be paf- 
fed over in filence, and is performed with 
the folemnity it merits. The young men 
have certain fees to pay the regittry, and 
during the payment of the fees, and the 
buftle of coming in and going out of the 
room, and inaking of the hands, and talk, 
and fun, each young man fubfcribes in his 
turn the tollowing declaration. 
1. A. B. do declare that Iam bona fide 
a. member of the church of England as by 
law efiablifned. 
Attempts have been madeito get rid of 
this abfurd cuftom, but the old dons ftick 
to the fiuff; they had figned it, and, there- 
fore every young man fhould fign it too. 
Ais to the value affigned to this declara- 
tion, you fhall hear more when we come 
to {peak of the moral charaéter of this fa- 
mous orthodox bond jide univerfity. 
ACADEMICUS, 
R oe 
fo the Editor of the Meuthly Magazine. 
piiSlRs 
: AVING, at cecafional Jeifure hours, 
entertained myfelf by tranflating 
the following, valuable ob{ervations on the 
Priucples of Policy of the Antients from the 
French. of the ingenious and philofophic 
Citizen Bitaubé or the National Inftitute, 
fo, advantageoufly known to the literary 
world by his ** Fofeph,”” his tranflation of 
Homer, his ‘* Bataviazs*’—I fend you 
my, tranflation, witha, requeft: that you 
may.give it a place in your valuable re- 
pofitory. Eiam,;Sir, 
ours, &es firC,. 
4Analyfis of Arifiotle’s Principles refpeGing 
. bbe prft Elements of civil Societies. 
Among the works of Aviftotle, one of 
the anoft efieemed-is his ‘* Politics,’ or 
his. Treatife. on Government. Plato, a 
philofopher of refined feelings, and fre- 
quently led aftray by, a brilliant imagina- 
tion, had. embellified: that. fubje€t with 
the charms of his eloquence: Ariftotle, 
armed. with a more -fevere logic, wrote 
partly with a view of refuting feveral opi- 
nions,advanced by that author. et 
His-parallels between the: different go- 
vernments which he had before his eyes, 
and his-principlesion the art of igovern-, 
ment, prefent a ufciul and curious fubjeét, 
of meditation to the politician and the 
man. of letters, fheda light on the caufes 
of the revolutions in thole governments, 
.*, Of, this, elegant: and interefting profe- 
epic, an)Englifa tranflation has lateiy appeare 
ed, under the title of ‘* The Batavians, vor: 
Virtue and Valour crowned by Perfeverance,” 
Bitaubé on the Policy of the Ancients. 
[ March ty 
and difplay the march and -progrefs of the 
human mind in the inftitution of civil fo- 
cieties. In examining the opinions of va- 
rious legiflators, and furveying thofe ftates 
whote laws were held in_efteem, he fays 
that he propofes to himfelf to adopt what 
is good and reje& what is, bad, and that it 
was the defects which he had remarked in 
them, not the oftentation of fuperior wif- 
dom, that had induced him co write. 
What a {petator was Ariflotle ! the moft - 
univerfal and profound fchoiar of his age. 
In general, univerfality of {cience excludes | 
depth ‘of knowledge: but Arittotle was 
one of the favoured few in whom both 
thofe:qualifications were united. If, ac- 
cording to the common opinion, he de- 
{cribed the generality of the republics of 
his age, time has deprived us of a confis. 
derab!e portion of his work. | Inmiwhat yet 
remains of it, we have feveral of his obs 
fervations on the {ubjeét, and: particularly, 
in: the fecond book of his ¢*Politecs,’’ thofe 
on Crete, on Sparta, on Carthage, and on 
Athens. What he fays of thefe repub- 
lics as very concHe. Thofe fhort pic~ 
tures, however, are extremely valuable, 
even it we were to confider them only as 
the fragments of monuments worthy of 
attention, aE ea 
In modern writers we difcover feveral 
of the ideas contained. in that work: for 
found reafon is common to every zra of 
_the world; and. the produétions: of the 
ancients are asi it'were a great mine from 
which treafures have inceffantly been 
drawn. ‘The diverfity of circumftances, 
and the more advanced ‘ftate ofshuman 
knowledge, may: lead to a conclufian that 
Arittotle’s principles ave not applicable to 
our modern governments. . ‘Somie! of thofe 
principles, however, are. admitted by all 
leviflators, becaufe they are derived from 
the nature of man. Civil conftitutions: 
are, no doubt, different fom: each other, 
but not in every refpect ; and wefhall have 
occafion to fhow that their diffimilitudes 
are fometimes nothing more than modifi- 
cations, though imperfe&, of theifamé 
regimen. ‘Several. principles of | the an+ 
cient philofophers draw their fource from 
the origin of focial inftitutions, and have 
to it a reference more or >lefs direét.. In 
Aviftotle’s treatife certain errors are dif. 
coverable:. for the greateft genius is not 
wholly exempt from the imperfeétions in 
cident to the. productions of man. — 
Befides, like all the other fciences, that: 
of politics, whofe object is focomplicated, 
is flow in its advances to. perfeétion, and: 
requires the aid of experience: it even 
_mects, in certain refpects, more numerous 
obftacles, 
a! 
