SHAFTESBURY, naturally of a benevolent temper, shocked with the debafing principles of Hobbes, and captivated with the generous vifions of Plato, brought to light an enchanting system of morals, which every friend to humanity would wish to be true. And what is no small matter toward its confirmation, if it has not always obtained the approbation of the wife, it has feldom failed to conciliate the affent of the good; who are generally willing to believe, that the Divinity has implanted in the human breast a sense of right and wrong, independent of religion or custom; and that virtue is naturally as pleafing to the heart of man as beauty to his eye. WHILE Shaftesbury was conceiving that amiable theory of ethics, according to which beauty and good are united in the natural as well as in the moral world, which embroiders with brighter colours the robe of fpring, and gives mufic to the autumnal blaft; which reconciles man to the greatest calamities, from a conviction that all is ordered for the beft, at the fame time that it makes him enjoy with more fincere fatiffaction the gifts of fortune, and the pleasures of society, Newton, leaving behind all former aftronomers, furveyed more fully, and established by demonftration that harmonious fyftem of the univerfe, which had been difcovered by Copernicus; and Locke, no less wonderful in his walk, untwifted the chain of human ideas, and opened a vista into the myfterious regions of the mind. THE philofophy of Newton, all founded on experiment and demonftration, can never be fufficiently admired; and it particularly merits the attention of every gentleman, as an acquaintance with the prinVOL. IV. U cipte LETTER PART II. ciple of gravitation, or with the theory of light and co lours, would be fufficient to ftamp an indelible mark of ignorance on the moft refpectable character. But the difcovery of Locke, though now familiar, That all our IDEAS are acquired by fenfation and reflection, and confequently, that we brought none into the world with us, has had a more ferious influence upon the opinions of mankind. It has not only rendered our reasonings concerning the operations of the Human understanding more distinct; it has alfo induced us to reafon concerning the nature of the Mind itself, and its various powers and properties. In a word, it has ferved to introduce an universal system of scepticism, which has fhaken every principle of religion and morals. BUT the fame philofophy which has unwifely called in question the divine origin of Christianity, and even the hinge on which it refts, the immortality of the foul; that philofophy which has endeavoured to cut off from man the hope of heaven, has happily contributed to render his earthly dwelling as comfortable as poffible. It has turned its researches, with an inquifitive eye, toward every object that can be made fubfervient to the cafe, pleasure, or conveniency of life. Commerce and manufactures, government and police, have equally excited its attention. The arts, both useful and ornamental, have every where been diffeminated over Europe, in confequence of this new manner of philofophifing; and have all, unless we hould perhaps except fculpture, been carried to a higher degree of perfection than in any former period in the history of the human race. Even here, however, an evil is difcerned :-and where may not evils, either real or imaginary, be found? Commerce and the arts are fuppofed to have introduced luxury and effeminacy. But a certain degree of luxury is necef XIX. idry to give activity to a ftate; and philofophers have LETTER Hot yet afcertained where true refinement ends, and effeminacy or vicious luxury begins. A general View of the Affairs of EUROPE, from the As S we approach toward our own times, the materials of history grow daily more abundant; and confquently a nicer felection becomes neceffary, in order to preferve the memory from fatigue. I fhall, therefore, endeavour to throw into fhade all unproductive negociations and intriguès, as well as unimportant events, and to comprehend under one view the general transactions of Europe, during the enfuing bufy period. Happily the negociations in regard to the Spanish fucceffion, and the war in which fo many of the great powers of the South and Weft afterward engaged, to prevent the union of the crowns of France and Spain under a prince of the house of Bourbon, are highly favourable to this defign. In like manner, the affairs of the North and the Eaft are fimplified, by the long and bloody conteft between Charles XII. and Peter the Great; fo that I hope to be able to bring forward, without confufion, the whole at once to the eye. THE first object, after the peace of Ryfwick, which engaged the general attention of Europe, was the settlement of the Spanish fucceflion. The declining health of Charles II. a prince who had long been in a languishing condition, and whofe death was daily expected, gave new fpirit to the intrigues of the com LETTER A. D. 1697. A. D. 1697. PART II. petitors for his crown.. These competitors were Lewis. XIV. the emperor Leopold, and the elector of Bava-, ria. Lewis and the emperor were in the fame degree of confanguinity to Charles, both being grandsons of Philip III. The Dauphin and the emperor's eldest son Jofeph, king of the Romans, had therefore a double claim, their mothers being two daughters of Philip IV. The right of birth was in the house of Bourbon, the king and his fon the Dauphin being both defcended from the eldest daughters of Spain; but the imperial family afferted, in fupport of their claim, befide the folemn and ratified renuciations of Lewis XIII. and XIV. of all title to the Spanish fucceffion, the blood of Maximilian, the common parent of both branches of the house of Auftria-the right of male reprefentation. The elector of Bavaria claimed, as the husband of an archduchefs, the only furviving child, of the emperor Leopold, by the infanta, Margaret, fe-. cond daughter of Philip IV. who had declared HER defcendants the heirs of his crown, in preference to thofe of his eldest daughter, Maria Therefa; fo that the son of the elector, in default of iffue by Charles II. was entitled to the whole Spanish fuccefion, unless the teftament of Philip IV. and the renunciation of Maria Therefa, on her marriage with the French monarch, were set aside. BESIDE thefe legal titles to inheritance, the general interefts of Europe required that the prince of Bavaria fhould fucceed to the Spanish monarchy. But his two competitors were obftinate in their claims; the elector was unable to contend with either of them ; and the king of England, though fufficiently difpofed to adopt any measure for preserving the balance of power, was in no condition to begin a new war. From a laud XX. à laudable, but perhaps too violent jealousy of LETTER liberty, the English parliament had paffed a vote, foon after the peace of Ryfwick, for reducing the army to A.D. 1697. feven thousand men, and these to be native subjects'; in confequence of which, when fupported by a bill, the king, to his great mortification, was obliged to difmifs even his Dutch guards. THUS circumftanced, William was ready to liften to any terms calculated to continue the repofe of Europe. Lewis XIV. though better provided for war, was no less peacably difpofed; and fenfible, that any attempt to treat with the emperor would be ineffectual, he proposed to the king of England a partition of the Spanish dominions, at the fame time that he fent the marquis d'Harcourt, as his ambaffador to the court of Madrid, with a view of procuring the whole. Leopold alfo fent an ambaffador into Spain, where intrigues were carried high on both fides. The body of the Spanish nation favoured the lineal fucceffion of the house of Bourbon; but the queen, who was a German princefs, and who, by means of her creatures, governed both the king and kingdom, fupported the pretenfions of the emperor:-and all the grandees, connected with the court, were in the fame interest. MEANWHILE a treaty of partition was figned, A.D. 1698. through the temporizing policy of William and Lewis, by England, Holland, and France. In this treaty it was ftipulated, That, on the eventual demise of the King of Spain, his dominions fhould be divided among the competitors for his crown in the following manner. Spain, her American empire, and the fo |