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HISTORY OF

I cannot omit to mention, before I leave the subject of France, ano-ther magnilicent work of Louis XIV. as if his grand canal were notluihcient to immortalize his name: I mean the famous aqueduct hebuilt near Maintenon, for carrying the river Bure to Versailles, fromone mountain to another, across a valley, which contains two hundredand forty arcades, and is seven thousand toises, or nearly eight Englishmiles and a half long, and raised to such an elevation, that it is certainlyaltogether the greatest piece of modern architecture of the kind in theworld.

SPAIN.

SPAIN is a vast body without a substance, which has greater richesthan strength. The mines of Mexico and Potosi furnish that kingdomwith means to purchase every thing except liberty; but bigotry andsuperstition, together with the Inquisition, prevent the subjects of othercountries from emigrating to it, and population is far from being en-couraged. The pride of the Spaniards will not permit them to cultivatetheir lands, which are some of the finest in Europe, nor to apply them-lelves to commerce ; and notwithstanding all their riches their countryis barren, and the body of the people poor.

History informs us, that it has frequently been proposed in Spain, tocut a canal through the isthmus of Darien, from Panama to Nombre deDios, to effect a ready communication between the Atlantic and Southseas, and thus open a straight paffage to China and the East Indies :but the project appears to have been considered as chimerical, andtreated with ridicule. It cannot indeed be supposed, that the Spaniardswould neglect to furnish their own country with canals, of which it isreally in want, and yet be anxious to improve, by means of such works,a colony, and that a barren mountainous country, at three thousand milesdistance.

Spain,