Pyrenees, proved a fatal blow to their European power, and from that moment they began to totter, and sink from preeminence. The internal divisions of their state, and the frequent assassinations of reigning princes by too powerful subjects, who aspired to fill their thrones, and who were in their turn themselves assassinated by others, equally aspiring, rendered this unhappy nation one continued scene of domestic misery. Ferocity seems to be one principle character of the Mahometan religion, and the bloody banquet of Abdalla will ever be remembered with horror and disgust. The Saracens after their expulsion from Spain, gradually lost every remnant of power, and now remain on the scorched coasts of Africa, the slaves of their conquerors the Turks, only conspicuous for the miseries arising to them from that dreadful visitant the plague, or from their own barbarity, the cruelties of their rulers, or the crimes of individuals. What was formerly called the garden of the world, is now become, under their influence, the miserable retreats of a few rapacious pirates, and sanguinary tyrants. From the wretchedness of her scanty inhabitants, and the natural miseries of the soil or climate, Africa seems, for the crimes of her sons, to have inherited the malediction of nature, while savage barbarism, robbery, and ty ranny, are become the characteristics of a coun try, once respected for its sciences and ennobled by its military atchievements. Since the fall of the Saracens, sovereign power ceased to be engrossed by any single nation; while, from the wreck of the Roman empire, the more equal states of modern Europe have taken their rise. But the revolutions which have happened and continue to happen in her governments, and the nations that rise and fall before our eyes, remain a lasting proof, that though perhaps Europe is become more refined in her learning, or accomplished in her arts, she is not become exempt from, or raised above the changes of adversity and prosperity, which have marked the progress of the ancient world. Would the fourteenth Lewis have given credit to him who asserted, that his unhappy descendant might by possibility embrue the violated throne with his blood, or that his race could eventually become wanderers on the face of the earth? And does it not raise emotions of wonder and compassion in our breasts, when we behold that very nation, whom we ourselves remember flourishing in native freedom and independance, now groaning beneath the enervating chain of Gallic tyranny? Yet glorious at least was her fall, and noble the last struggles of expiring liberty, when she sunk in the defence of that freedom, which she had so dearly prized, and till that moment, so rigidly preserved. One obvious moral seems to me the inevitable result of these contemplations. That the exuberance of national pride, should in any and every nation be restrained, and the haughtiness of individuals thoroughly eradicated, when they reflect that the united wisdom of nations, the collected force of empires, was unable to preserve them from decay, and even in some instances, have only proved instrumental to their own destruction. While Man however is taught, by a review of the weakness and calamities of his fellow-creatures, to think more humbly of himself, ought not his awe and veneration to be in the highest degree encreased towards' HIM, 66 Who sees with equal eye as God of all, "A hero perish or a sparrow fall; "Atoms, or systems into ruin hurl'd, "And now a bubble burst, and now a world." POPE. Who sits immovable amid the crumbling wreck, who sees and directs the impending ruin, alleyi ates or heigthens the blow, and diminishes or encreases its baneful effects? Through the whole series of history his omnipotent providence may clearly be traced, and whether under the name of destiny or chance, his mighty hand may be observed managing the vast design, administering universal justice, and drawing regular order out of extended confusion. THE MINIATURE, NUMB. V. MONDAY, May 21, 1804. Noctes atque dies niti præstante labore Ad summas emergere opes LUCRETIUS LIB. 3. v. 60. By night and day to strive with ardent toil IN every rank and situation of human life we may observe the character of man to be strongly impregnated with a degree of unceasing restlessness, which continually urges him on to the attainment of his desires, which enlivens the opening prospects of life, and teaches him never to be satisfied even with the most fortunate and unexpected termination of his pursuits. He fixes his attention upon one object, all his labours tend to G |