gainst the Swedes, whom he had reason to apprehend. No matter, the governor of Luxembourg was ordered to surprise Treves, and to feize the elector. He executed his orders with fuccefs, and carried this prince prifoner into Brabant. Richelieu feized the lucky circumftance; he reclaimed the elector: and, on the refusal of the cardinal infant, the war was declared. France, you fee, appeared the common friend of liberty, the defender of it in the low Countries against the king of Spain, and in Germany against the emperor, as well as the protector of the princes of the empire, many of whose states had been illegally invaded, and whose perfons were no longer fafe from violence even in their own palaces. All thefe appearances were kept up in the negociations at Munster; where Mazarin reaped what Richelieu had fowed. The demands that France made for herself were very great: but the conjuncture was favourable, and the improved it to the utmoft. No figure could be more flattering than her's, at the head of these negociations; nor more mortifying than the emperor's through the whole courfe of the treaty. The princes and ftates of the empire had been treated as vaffals by the emperor; France determined them to treat with him on this occafion as fovereigns, and fupported them in this determination. Whilft Sweden feemed concerned for the proteftant interest alone, and fhewed no other regard, as the had no other alliance; France affected to be impartial alike to the proteflant and to the papift, and to have no intereft at heart, 'but the common interest of the Germanic body. Her demands were exceffive; but they were to be fatisfied principally out of the emperor's patrimonial dominions. had been the art of her minifters to establish this general maxim on many particular experiences, that the grandeur of France was a real, and would be a conftant fecurity to the rights and liberties of the empire against the Emperor: and it is no wonder therefore, this maxim prevailing, injuries, refentments and jealoufies being fresh on one fide, and fervices, obligations and confidence on the other, that the Germans were not unwilling France fhould extend her empire on this fide of the Rhine, whilft Sweden did the fame on this fide of the Baltic. These treaties, and the immenfe credit and influence that France had acquired by them in the empire, put it out of the power of one branch of the houfe of Auftria to return the obligations of affiftance to the other, in the war that continued between France and Spain, till the Pyrenean treaty. By this treaty the fuperiority of the houfe of Bourbon over the houfe of

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Auftria

"Auftria was not only completed and confirmed, but the great defign of uniting the Spanish and the French monarchies under the former was laid.'

In the fubfequent part of this letter the reader will find a clear and distinct view of the manner in which France pursued her grand object, the fucceffion to the whole Spanifh monarchy; and of the bad policy and divided interests of thofe, whofe common intereft it was to oppose her. We fhall close this article with giving our readers his lordfhip's character of Lewis XIV. and his account of the state of France at the beginning of the prefent period.

When Lewis XIV. fays he, took the administration of affairs into his own hands, about the year 1660, he was in the prime of his age, and had what princes feldom have, the advantages of youth and thofe of experience together. Their education is generally bad; for which reafon royal birth, that gives a right to the throne among other people, gave an abfolute exclufion from it among the Mamalukes. His was in all refpects, except one, as bad as that of other princes. He jefted fometimes on his own ignorance: and there were other defects in his character, owing to his education which he did not fee. But Mazarin had initiated him be-times in the myfteries of his policy. He had seen a great part of those foundations laid, on which he was to raife the fabric of his future grandeur: and, as Mazarin finifhed the work that Richelieu began, he had the leffons of one, and the examples of both, to inftruct him. He had acquired habits of fecrecy and method in business; of referve, difcretion, decency and dignity, in behaviour. If he was not the greatest king, he was the beft actor of majefty at least that ever filled a throne. He by no means wanted that courage which is commonly called bravery, tho' the want of it was imputed to him in the midst of his greatest triumphs: nor that other courage, lefs oftentatious and more rarely found, calm, steady, perfevering refolution; which feems to arise less from the temper of the body, and is therefore called courage of the mind. He had them both most certainly; and I could produce unquestionable anecdotes in proof. He was, in one word, much fuperior to any prince with whom he had to do, when he began to govern. He was furrounded with great captains bred in former wars, and with great minifters bred in the same fchool as himself. They who had worked under Mazarin, worked on the fame plan under him: and as they had the advantages of genius and experience over most of the mi

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nifters of other countries, fo they had another advantage over those who were equal or fuperior to them; the advantage of ferving a master, whofe abfolute power was establifhed; and the advantage of a fituation, wherein they might exert their whole capacity without contradiction; over that, for inftance, wherein your lordship's great grandfather was placed, at the fame time in England, and John de Wit in Holland. Among these minifters, Colbert must be mentioned particularly upon this occafion; because it was he who improved the wealth, and confequently the power of France extremely, by the order he put into the finances and by the encouragement he gave to trade and manufactures. The foil, the climate, the fituation of France, the ingenuity, the industry, the vivacity of her inhabitants are fuch; fhe has fo little want of the product of other countries, and other countries have fo many real or imaginary wants to be fupplied by her; that, when fhe is not at war with all her neighbours, when her domestic quiet is preserved, and any tolerable adminiftration of government prevails, fhe muft grow rich, at the expence of those who trade, and even of those who do not open a trade, with her. Her bawbles, her modes, the follies and extravagancies of her luxury, coft England. about the time we are fpeaking of, little less than eight hundred thousand pounds Sterling a-year; and other nations in their proportions. Colbert made the moft of all these advantageous circumftances: and, whilft he filled the national fpunge, he taught his fucceffors how to fqueeze it; a fecret that he repented having difcovered, they fay, when he faw the immenfe fums that were neceflary to fupply the growing magnificence of his mafter.

ART. XXXV.

(To be concluded in our next.)

DISCOURSES on the following fubjects: our Saviour's converfation with the young ruler; the love of our neighbour; christian perfection; humility; the imitation of God; chriftian fincerity; religious knowledge; the penitent thief, &c. By Charles Bulkeley. 8vo. 5 s. NOOR.

'N thefe difcourfes the reader will find religious and moral duties explained and illuftrated in a clear and eafy manner. The author's notions of religion are manly and rational, without any tincture of bigotry or en

thufiafm:

thufiafm: the fubjects, he treats are all of them interefting; not abftruse and fpeculative points that only ferve to fill the head with unmeaning founds, but fuch as have a direct tendency to infpire juft and honourable apprehenfions of -the divine perfections, and to promote inward purity and rectitude. As to his ftile and manner, our readers will be able, in fome measure, to form a judgment, from the following specimen, taken from his difcourfes on the imitation of God.

He introduces the first of thefe difcourfes with obferving, -that when the imitation of God is confidered as the proper 1study, and bufinefs of man, and as containing the fubftance -of all religion and moral duty, it is to be taken under two rreftrictions: the one is, that an adequate and perfect refemblance is not required, but only a real, prevailing, and ever-improving likeness; the other, that the imitation injoined relates only to the moral perfections of the Deity. After this he proceeds to give a fummary view of the moral perfections of God. When we fpeak of God indeed, fays he, we fpeak of a Being who is infinitely exalted above us, and of whom even the highest of his creatures can form but imperfect and comparatively low concepstions: and it is with the greateft propriety faid by Zophar to Jab, canst thou by fearching find out God, canft thou find out -the Almighty to perfection? Tho' nothing can be plainer sthan that God is a felf-exiftent eternal mind, and the crezator and preferver of the world; yet, when we come to fix our meditations more particularly and intenfely upon felf-existence, eternity, production into being, and that almighty power and univerfal energy, which upholds the whole fyftem of created nature in continued existence and regular order, the mind foon finds itself loft in painful reflexion and awful wonder. And as to fome particular parts and methods of God's government, tho' we may have the -greatest reason to believe, that they are in fome way or another adapted to, anfwer the good defign, and ultimate purspofe of his univerfal providence, we may not be able clearly or diftinctly to difcern that happy fubferviency, that juft and wife connexion. But as to the moral perfections of: God in general, and the great, end he had in view in creating, and continues to have in, view in governing the world, we must be fuppofed to have more exact and determinate ideas; elfe, how could it be expected we should imitate him herein, or with what propriety could they be VOL..VI.

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fet before us, as the model and example of our own temper and conduct? And,

• What, for instance, can be plainer, more intelligible, or more familiar to creatures of our fpecies and make, than the idea of goodness? What man can we fuppofe fo degenerated, as not to feel at fome time or another, and to fome degree or other, the meaning of it in his own breast ? And as the meaning and idea of it must be fo thoroughly clear and diftinct, fo we have all poffible reafon to attribute it to the Deity, in its highest and most extenfive degree. Upon the flighteft view of the order and operations of nature, and from the firft appearance and obvious face of things around us, we cannot but obferve a general tendency to happiness, a kind and friendly design prevailing throughout all the works of God, and that defign every where taking effect. We fee a vaft variety of creatures, of different fpecies and orders, rejoicing in their existence, which the divine goodness and bounty has made fo defirable, by furnishing them with whatever is best suited, not only to the mere support of life, but for gratifying and regaling their different appetites and instincts: which, confidering their prodigious and immenfe number, muft immediately ftrike the mind with a conviction not to be refifted, of the benevolence and goodnefs of the great author of nature. And what is the refult of a farther fearch and a more accurate enquiry? of ftudying the magnitude and number, the distances and revolutions of the heavenly bodies, the curious formation and contexture discoverable in the animal fabric and economy, all directly tending to life and defence, convenience and beauty, and diverfified, in the different fpecies, after a manner best suited to the elements allotted for their respective habitations; the wonderful ftructure and growth of plants and vegetables, produced in fuch rich variety for the refreshment and delight of men and the creatures merely animal; the ftrong inftinct univerfally implanted in these lower fpecies, for the continuance and prefervation of their diftinct, peculiar kind; but above all, the powers, faculties, and affections of the human foul: that noble principle of reafon and understanding, by which we are capable of fearching into and inveftigating the other wonderful works of God, of observing their order and harmony, and making fuch difcoveries with relation to his nature and perfections, the plan of his providence, and the defign of his government, which our natural love of truth, and order and goodness must render fo highly pleasant and entertaining;