XLVIII ACCOUNT OF THE LIFE AN (T

of Copernicus . It is fomewhat remarkable, thata theoretical hiltory of this very fcience (in whichwe have, perhaps, a better opportunity than inany other inftance whatever, of comparing the na-tural advances of the mind with the actual fuccef-fion of hypothetical l’yftems) was one of Mr. Smith’searlieft compofitions, and is one of the very fmallnumber of his manufcripts which he did not def-troy before Ins death.

I already hinted, that inquiries perfe£!ly analo-gous to thefe may be applied to the modes of go-vernment, and to the municipal inflitutions whichhave obtained among different nations. It is butlately, however, that thefe important fubjects havebeen coulidered in this point of view; the great-er part of politicians before the time of Montes­ quieu , having contented themfelves with a hif-Torical flatement of facts, and with a vague refer-euce of laws to the wifdom of particular legiila-tors, or to accidental circumftances, which it isnow impoffible to afcertain. Montesquieu , onthe contrary, confidered laws as originating chieflyfrom the circumftances of fociety; and attemptedto account, from the changes in the condition ofmankind, which take place in the different ftagesof their progrefs, for the correfponding alterationswhich their inftitutions undergo. It is thus, thatin his occafional elucidations of the Roman jurif-prudence, inftead of bewildering himfelf among