Of the S T U D Y O f H I S X O R Y.

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longer the free-booters we had been. Our nationmaintained her réputation iu arms whenever thepublic interest or the public authority required it ;ty but war ceased to be , what it had been, our

W principal and almost our sole profession. The arts

fl of peace prevailed among us. We becanae

et hulbandmen, manufacturers , and merchants, and

d we emulated neighbouring nations in literature.

!ê It is from this time that we ought to study the

r hiffory of our country, my lord, with the utmost

3 application. We are not much concerned to know

with critical accuracy what were the ancient forms, of our parliaments, concerning which, however,

there is little room for dispute from the reign ofsi Henry the third at least; n or in short the whole

o- system of our civil constitution before Henry the

iat seventh , and of our ecclesiastical constitution before

he Henry the eighth. But he who has not studied

a and acquired a thorough Knowledge of them

ble both, from thefe periods down to the présent

nd time, in ail the variety of events by which they

[ui hâve been affeéìed , will be very un si t to judge

h. or to take care of either. Just as little are we

g concerned to know, in any nice détail, what the

jj[ conduct of our princes, relatively to their neigli-

bours on the continent, was before this pericd,jf and at a time when the partition of power and a

^ multitude of other circumstances rendered the

D y whole political system of Europe fo vastly diffèrent

nt from that which has existed st n ce. But he who

w has not traced this conduct from the period we

w six, down to the présent âge, wants a principal