may be accurately observed. Between the same ordinary powers in the inhabitant of a civilized nation, and of one left to its original barbarity, the difference is astonishing. In a savage state, the power of Common Sense seems so languid as to be nearly extinct. The extreme indolence and stupidity of the American Indian almost exceeds belief. He has no foresight beyond the moment, no conceptions of rewards and punishments as motives to action, no ideas except those which are strictly sensible, and no words to express any thing abstract or immaterial. "Their vacant countenance," observes an eminent historian', "their staring unexpressive eye, their listless inattention, and total ignorance of subjects, which seem to be the first which should occupy the thoughts of rational beings, made such an impression on the Spaniards, when they first beheld those rude people, that they considered them as animals of an inferior order, and could not believe that they belonged to the human species."

We need not, however, have recourse to man in a state of nature, in order to illustrate the power which cultivation possesses over the operations of this faculty. In cases drawn from the inhabitants of the same nation, the distinction, though not so considerable, is still great

Dr. Robertson in his History of America, vol. ii. book 4.

and obvious. The man who has spent his life in an obscure hamlet, seems to partake but in a small degree of this general endowment. His mind, oppressed with ignorance, and torpid for want of opportunities of being exercised, appears to have lost those capacities it might have originally possessed. Never called to any intellectual operations, he is incapable of apprehending or comparing ideas, if they rise in any considerable degree above the objects of his gross and uncultivated experience. The worlds of science and literature are to him unknown. The most familiar propositions appear deep and complicated. Yet in this state he is contented with his measure of knowledge, and feels no want and no anxiety for any higher attainments.

To this character how opposite is the situation of multitudes, who, possessing no natural superiority, have been favoured with the advantages of unremitted culture! The emulation of society, the intercourse of literary and polished life, the urgent calls of profession and duty, unite to elevate and expand their mind. Every spark of latent energy is thus elicited, all the powers of the intellect are called forth and excited to enterprise; diligence supplies the ardour, or rivals the exercises, of superior talents; and the man, who in the contracted sphere of a village would have remained in obscurity, brought forth to notice, and placed in a happy

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and congenial situation, becomes an important, if not a brilliant, character.

This truth, obvious in the case of individuals, loses none of its force when applied to collective bodies. The general depression of the Common Sense of the inhabitants of Europe, which began with the decline of the Roman empire, and was completed by the irruption of the fierce and barbarous nations of the North, is too well known to require a particular detail. It was not till the thirteenth century that the overwhelming and impenetrable darkness of ignorance and superstition began to be dissipated. For the space of more than six centuries, circumstances, which excite ridicule for their absurdity, or regret on account of their injustice, fill and disgrace the annals of Europe. The trial by judicial combat, the various appeals to accidental circumstances for the decision of the most important causes, the right of private war, the extravagant pretensions of chivalry, the gross and complicated impositions of the Papal See, and the unrelenting vigour of the Feudal System, are only so many outrages on the ordinary judgment of mankind, to which the Christian world were gradually subjugated. To compare these circumstances with the present state of general information in all the nations of Christendom, is sufficient, without any comment, to illustrate the influence which

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cultivation and refinement have on the advancement and operations of Common Sense.

To the effects which arise from different circumstances of improvement, those are to be added which spring from its connection with moral excellence. The higher and more important exercises of this faculty are not often to be found where the mind is enervated by licentious indulgence. Not to insist on the consequences of irregular conduct on the intellectual powers which are direct and physical, a dulness is gradually induced, which checks the operations of the mind, weakens the decisions of the judgment, and causes the finest energies of the understanding to languish and decay. The most celebrated have therefore been in general the most virtuous characters. Virtue bestows a certain vigour and independence and alacrity, which, like health to the body, give a tone to every exertion of the intellect, and strengthen the efforts of Common Sense. The judgment has a tendency on the other hand, if its suggestions were regarded, to produce the most accurate conduct. The prescriptions of morality are so consonant with its very first principles, and derive so much authority from its unbiassed exercise, that a conformity to the rules of Common Sense is only another term for propriety of behaviour, and the discharge of every personal and relative obligation.

After every consideration, however, of culture and morals, great differences will still exist in the appearances of this power, arising from the measure of original endowment. Where every circumstance which can be supposed to have an influence is exactly similar, some will be distinguished by a masculine and comprehensive understanding, to which no exterior advantages can elevate the mass of mankind. With the recollection of a late eminent moralist and philosopher2 every idea of esteem and veneration must be awakened. Under the guidance of an unrivalled proportion of this faculty, united with superior literary attainments, he developed every subject to which he approached, threw new and important light on the most obscure and intricate topics, and formed by his weighty and authoritative decisions a distinguished æra in the style and criticism and lexicography of our country. He may be considered, indeed, as a singular monument of the powers of a strong and enlightened judgment.

When the faculty of Common Sense, however, has been equally bestowed and similarly cultivated, if its general appearances are still different, a case obvious and important, it may perhaps be resolved into national complexion,

2 Dr. Samuel Johnson.