"In fine," fays Lucian in the work above cited, "the hiftorian is to be confidered as a Phidias, a Praxiteles, or Alcamenes, or fome other of thofe mafters in the plaftic arts. For, neither are they the makers of the gold, the filver, the ivory, or other materials on which they work. No; thefe were furnished by the Elians, Athenians, or Argives. Their bufine fs was to bring them into form; to faw the ivory, to fhape and polish it, to unite and harmonize the parts, and add the gold in fuitable ornaments. This only is their proper art and business, to give to their materials the fhape, ceconomy, and compofition; and fuch, exactly, is the true art and skill of the hiftorian."

In the firft chapter of his fifth volume, Mr. G. traces the hiftory of the Byzantine Emperors, from Heraclius to the Latin conqueft; and describes the fucceffion of families, the characters of the Greek princes, and the tendency of their reign to accelerate or fufpend the downfall of the Eaftern empire. At the conclufion, he obferves, that if we compute the number and duration of the reigns, it will be found, that a period of fix hundred years is filled by fixty Emperors, including in the Augustan lift fome female fovereigns; and deducting fome ufurpers who were never acknowleged in the capital, and fome princes who did not live to poffefs their inheritance. The average proportion will allow ten years for each Emperor, far below the chronological rule of Sir Ifaac Newton, who, from the experience of more recent and regular monarchies, has defined about eighteen or twenty years as the term of an ordinary reign, The Byzantine empire was moft tranquil and profperous when it could acquiefce in hereditary fucceffion : five dynafties, the Heraclian, Ifaurian, Amorian, Bafilian, and Comnenian families enjoyed and tranfmitted the royal patrimony during their respective feries, of five, four, three, fix, and four generations; feveral princes number the years of their reign with thofe of their infancy; and Conftantine the Seventh and his two grand fons occupy the space of an entire century. But in the intervals of the Byzantine dynasties, the fucceffion is rapid and broken, and the name of a fuccefsful candidate is fpeedily erazed by a more fortunate competitor. Many were the paths that led to the fummit of royalty: the fabric of rebellion was overthrown by the ftroke of confpiracy, or undermined by the filent arts of intrigue: the favourites of the foldiers or people, of the fenate or clergy, of the women and eunuchs, were alternately clothed with the purple: the means of their elevation were base, and their end was often contemptible or tragic. A Being of the nature of man, endowed with the fame faculties, but with a longer measure of existence, would caft down a fmile of pity and contempt on the crimes and follies of human ambition, fo eager, in a narrow fpan, to grafp at a precarious and fhort-lived enjoyment. It is thus that the experience of history exalts and enlarges the horizon of our intellectual view. In a compofition of fome days, in a perufal of fome hours, fix hundred years have rolled away, and the duration of a life or reign is contracted to a fleeting moment: the grave is ever befide the throne; the faccefs of a criminal is almòft inftantly followed by

the

the lofs of his prize; and our immortal reafon furvives and difdains the fixty phantoms of Kings who have paffed before our eyes, and faintly dwell on our remembrance. The obfervation, that, in every age and climate, ambition has prevailed with the fame commanding energy, may abate the furprise of a philofopher; but while he condemns the vanity, he may fearch the motive, of this univerfal defire to obtain and hold the fceptre of dominion. To the greater part of the Byzantine feries, we cannot reasonably ascribe the love of fame and of mankind. The virtue alone of John Comnenus was beneficent and pure: the most illuftrious of the princes, who precede or follow that refpectable name, have trod with fome dexterity and vigour the crooked and bloody paths of a felfifh policy in fcrutinizing the imperfect characters of Leo the Ifaurian, Bafil the First, and Alexius Comnenus, of Theophilus, the fecond Bafil, and Manuel Comnenus, our esteem and cenfure are almoft equally balanced; and the remainder of the Imperial crowd could only defire and expect to be forgotten by pofterity. Was perfonal happiness the aim and object of their ambition? I fhall not defcant on the vulgar topics of the mifery of Kings; but I may furely obferve, that their condition, of all others, is the most pregnant with fear, and the leaft fufceptible of hope. For thefe oppofite paffions, a larger fcope was allowed in the revolutions of antiquity, than in the fmooth and folid temper of the modern world, which cannot eafily repeat either the triumph of Alexander or the fall of Darius. But the peculiar infelicity of the Byzantine princes expofed them to domeftic perils, without affording any lively promife of foreign conqueft. From the pinnacle of greatnefs, Andronicus was precipitated by a death more cruel and fhameful than that of the vileft malefactor; but the most glorious of his predeceffors had much more to dread from their fubjects than to hope from their enemies. The army was licentious without fpirit, the nation turbulent without freedom: the Barbarians of the Eaft and Weft preffed on the monarchy, and the lofs of the provinces was terminated by the final fervitude of the capital.'

In the fecond chapter of this volume, which is the 49th of the work, Mr. G. examines the introduction, worship, and perfecution of images, which was immediately followed by the revolt of Rome and Italy from the Eastern empire. The Romans once more attempted to affert their freedom; the Popes afpired at temporal as well as fpiritual jurifdiction, and the Lombards threatened the fafety and exiftence of Rome. But the fate of Italy depended on the movements beyond the Alps. Charles Martel, who governed the French monarchy with the humble title of Mayor or Duke, had faved his country, and perhaps Europe, from the yoke of the Saracens. His fon Pepin, the heir of his power and virtues, affumed the office of champion of the Roman church; and Charlemagne, the fon of Pepin, imitated and furpaffed the glorious example of his father. The mutual obligations of the Popes and the Carlovingian family, form the important link of ancient and modern, of civil and ecclefiaftical hiftory; and Mr. G. has explained them with an ac

curacy's

uracy, fulness, and perfpicuity, which we have not met with in any other writer. The paffage being too long for infertion, we fhall only mention that the Carlovingian race were invefted by the Popes with the dignities of King of France, and of Patrician of Rome. The feeble Childeric, the laft defcendant of Clovis, was degraded, shaved, and immured in a convent for the remainder of his days. The royal unction of the Kings of Ifrael was dexterously applied in confecrating the title of Pepin; a German chieftain was transformed into the Lord's Anointed; the Franks were abfolved from their ancient oath ; and a dire anathema was thundered against them, and their pofterity, if they should dare to renew the fame freedom of choice, or to elect a King, except in the holy and meritorious race of the Carlovingian princes. In confequence of the dignity of Patrician, thefe princes were prefented with the keys of the fhrine of St. Peter, as a pledge and fymbol of fovereignty, and with a holy banner, which it was their right and duty to unfurl in defence of the church and city. Charlemagne, having conquered the Lombards, was received by the Romans as a faviour and a mafter. The people fwore allegiance to his perfon and family; in his name money was coined, and juftice was administered; the election of the Popes was examined and confirmed by his authority; and except an original, and felf-inherent claim of fovereignty, there was not any prerogative remaining, which the title of Emperor could add to the Patrician of Rome. The Carlovingians were not ungrateful for thefe obligations. The farms and houfes, which formed the ancient patrimony of the church, were extended into the temporal dominion of cities and provinces; and the donation of the exarchate to the Pope was the firft fruits of the conqueft of Pepin.' The fplendid gift was granted in fupreme and abfolute dominion; and the world beheld for the first time a Chriftian Bishop invefted with the wealth and prerogatives of a temporal prince. Not fatisfied with this ample jurifdiction, fome apoftolical fcribe compofed, before the end of the eighth century, the decretals and the donation of Conftantine. The firft of the Chriftian Emperors, according to the legend, being healed of the leprofy by St. Sylvefter, the Roman Bishop, declared his refolution of founding a new capital in the Eaft, and refigned to the Popes the free and perpetual fovereignty of Rome, Italy, and the provinces of the Weft. This fiction was received by the ignorance and credulity of the times, and though univerfally rejected after the revival of letters, by the contempt of hiftorians and poets, it is ftill enrolled among the decrees of the Canon law. The Popes themselves, fays Mr. G. have indulged a smile at the credulity of the vulgar; but a falle and obfolete title still fanctifies their reign; and by the fame for tune which has attended the decretals and the Sibylline oracles,

the

the edifice has fubfifted, after the foundations have been under mined.

In the three following chapters (the 50th, 51ft, and 52d), Mr. G. gives an account of the Arabians, or Saracens, whofe valour and enthufiafm had fo great a fhare in the deftruction of the Eaftern empire. This interefting part of his hiftory opens with an animated defcription of Arabia, with its inhabitants; which is followed by an account of the birth, character, and doctrine of Mahomet, the voluntary or reluctant fubmiffion of the Arabs to his authority-his death, and fucceffors. Mr. G. then purfues the victories and conquefts of thefe fucceffors, through Perfia, Syria, Egypt, Africa, and Spain; and having defcribed the empire of the Caliphs, in its full extent and greateft fplendor, he unfolds the caufes which led to its decline and diffolution their unsuccessful fieges of Conftantinople, their invafion of France, and defeat by Charles Martel, the civil wars of the Ommiades and Abbaffides, and the luxury of the Caliphs, which at the fame time that it proved ufelefs to their private happinefs, relaxed the nerves, and terminated the progrefs, of the Arabian power.

A ray of light beams from the darkness of the tenth century; and Mr. G. availing himfelf of the labours of Conftantine Porphyrogenitus, ventures to defcribe, in his 53d chapter, the state of the capital and provinces in that age, when the remnant of the empire ftill exceeded the measure of the largest of the European kingdoms.

The fame princes (viz. the Greek Emperors) might affert, with dignity and truth, that of all the monarchs of Christendom they poffeffed the greatest city, the moft ample revenue, the moft flourishing and populous ftate. With the decline and fall of the empire, the cities of the Weft had decayed and fallen; nor could the ruins of Rome, or the mud walls, wooden hovels, and narrow precincts of Paris and London, prepare the Latin ftranger to contemplate the fituation and extent of Conftantinople, her ftately palaces and churches, and the arts and luxury of an innumerable people. Her treafures might attract, but her virgin ftrength had repelled, and still promised to repel, the audacious invafion of the Perfian and Bulgarian, the Arab and the Ruffian. The provinces were lefs fortunate and impregnable; and few diftricts, few cities, could be difcovered which had not been violated by fome fierce Barbarian, impatient to defpoil, because he was hopeless to poffefs. From the age of Juftinian the Eaftern empire was finking below its former level: the powers of deftruction were more active than thofe of improvement; and the calamities of war were embittered by the more permanent evils of civil and ecclefiaftical tyranny. The captive who had escaped from the Barbarians wds often ftripped and imprifoned by the minifters of his fovereign: the Greek fuperftition relaxed the mind by prayer, and emaciated the body by fafting; and the multitude of convents and feftivals diverted many hands and many days

from

from the temporal fervice of mankind. Yet the fubjects of the Byzantine empire were ftill the moft dexterous and diligent of nations; their country was bleffed by nature with every advantage of foil, climate, and fituation; and, in the support and reftoration of the arts, their patient and peaceful temper was more ufeful than the warlike fpirit and feudal anarchy of Europe. The provinces that ftill adhered to the empire were repeopled and enriched by the misfortunes of those which were irrevocably loft. From the yoke of the Caliphs, the Catholics of Syria, Egypt, and Africa, retired to the allegiance of their prince, to the fociety of their brethren: the moveable wealth, which eludes the fearch of oppreffion, accompanied and alleviated their exile; and Conftantinople received into her bofom the fugitive trade of Alexandria and Tyre. The chiefs of Armenia and Scythia, who fled from hoftile or religious perfecution, were hofpitably entertained their followers were encouraged to build new cities and to cultivate wafte lands; and many fpots, both in Europe and Afia, preferved the name, the manners, or at least the memory, of thefe national colonies. Even the tribes of Barbarians, who had feated them felves in arms on the territory of the empire, were gradually reclaimed to the laws of the church and ftate; and as long as they were separated from the Greeks, their pofterity fupplied a race of faithful and obedient foldiers. Did we poffefs fufficient materials to furvey the twenty-nine themes of the Byzantine monarchy, our curiofity might be fatisfied with a chofen example: it is fortunate enough that the cleareft light should be thrown on the most interesting province; and the name of PELOPONESUS will awaken the attention of the claffic reader.'

Mr. Gibbon's defcription of the ftate of the Peloponefus is too long for infertion; but one paragraph, refpecting manufactures, efpecially that of filk, is fo curious, that we cannot refufe it a place:

But the wealth of the province, and the trust of the revenue, were founded on the fair and plentiful produce of trade and manufactures: and fome fymptoms of liberal policy may be traced in alaw which exempts from all perfonal taxes the mariners of Peloponefus, and the workmen in parchment and purple. This denomination may be fairly applied or extended to the manufactures of linen, woollen, and more efpecially of filk: the two former of which had flourished in Greece fince the days of Homer; and the laft was introduced perhaps as early as the reign of Juftinian. These arts, which were exercifed at Corinth, Thebes, and Argos, afforded food and occupation to a numerous people: the men, women, and children, were diftributed according to their age and ftrength; and if many of these were domeftic flaves, their mafters, who directed the work and enjoyed the profit, were of a free and honourable condition. The gifts which a rich and generous matron of Peloponefus prefented to the Emperor Bafil, her adopted fon, were doubtlefs fabricated in the Grecian looms. Danielis beftowed a carpet of fine wool, of a pattern which imitated the fpots of a peacock's tail, of a magnitude to overfpread the floor of a new church, erected in the triple name of Chrift, of Michael the archangel, and of the prophet Elijah. She gave fix hundred pieces of filk and linen, of various ufe and denomination: the filk was painted with the Tyrian dye, and adorned