LETTER VII.

A fketch of the ftate and hiftory of Europe fromthe Pyrenean treaty in one thoufand fix hundredand fifty-nine, to the year one thoufand fixhundred and eighty-eight.

TPH E firft obfervation I flhall make on this thirdperiod of modern hiftory is, that as the ambitionof Charles the fifth, who united the whole for-midable power of Auftria in himfelf, and the reftlefstemper, the cruelty, and bigotry of Philip thefecond, were principally objedls of the attentionand folicitude of the councils of Europe , in the’firft of thefe periods; and as the ambition of Fer-dinand the fecond, and the third, who aimed atnothing lefs than extirpating the proteftant intereft,and under that pretence fubduing the liberties ofGermany , were objedts of the fame kind in thefecond ; fo an oppofition to the growing power ofFrance , or to fpeak more properly, to the exorbitantambition of the houfe of Bourbon, has been theprincipal affair of Europe , during the greateft partof the prefent period. The defign of afpiring touniverfal monarchy was imputed to Charles thefifth, as foon as he began to give proofs of hisambition and capacity, The fame defign was im-puted to Lewis the fourteenth, as foon as hebegan to feel his own ftrength, and the weaknefs