"Upon the survey of these dispositions in mankind and these conditions of government, it seems much more reasonable to pity than to envy the _fortunes_ and _dignities_ of princes or _great_ ministers of _state_; and to _lessen_ and _excuse_ their _venial_ faults, or at least their misfortunes, rather than to _encrease_ and _make them worse_ by _ill colors_ and _representations_."----Of Pop. Dis. _Fortunes_ and _dignities_ might have been better expressed by _elevated rank_ or _high stations_; _great_ is superfluous, and so are _lessen_ and _make them worse_, and either _colors_ or _representations_ might have been omitted. "The first safety of _princes_ and _states_ lies in avoiding all _councils_ or _designs_ of innovation, in _ancient_ and _established forms_ and _laws_, especially those concerning liberty, property and religion (which are the possessions men will ever have most at heart;) and thereby leaving the channel of _known_ and _common_ justice _clear_ and _undisturbed_." Several words might here be retrenched, and yet leave the author's meaning more precise and intelligible. This is the principal fault in Temple's stile. "But men, accustomed to the free and vagrant life of hunters, are incapable of regular application to labor; and consider agriculture as a _secondary_ and _inferior_ occupation."--Robertson's Hist. Amer. book 4. Supposing _secondary_ and _inferior_ not to be exactly synonimous, in this sentence one would have answered the purpose. "_Agriculture_, even when the strength of man is seconded by that of the animals _which he has subjected to the yoke_, and his power augmented by _the use of the various instruments with which_ the discovery of metals has furnished him, is still _a work_ of great labor."--The same. This sentence is very exceptionable. Is _agriculture, a work?_ Can so _definite_ a term be applied to such a _general_ idea? But what a group of useless words follow! It was not sufficient to say, _the strength of man seconded by that of animals_, but the kinds of animals must be specified; viz. such as _he has subjected to the yoke_; when every person knows that other animals are never used; and consequently the author's idea would have been sufficiently explicit without that specification. In the subsequent clause, the words, _his power augmented by the use of the various instruments of metal_, would have been explicit; for the _discovery of metals_ must have been implied. Such expletive words load the mind with a chain of particular ideas which are not essential to the discourse. "--And if any one of these prognostics is deemed unfavorable, they instantly abandon the pursuit of _those_ measures, _on which they are most eagerly bent_."--The same.