to his imperial master; what is more singular is, the circumstance of their both being born in the same month, and dying nearly at the same age. It is to be lamented that, while the great mind of Louis encouraged the fine arts and literature, it should have been warped by superstition and bigotry; and the persecution of Protestantism, with the odious _Dragonades_, will ever be a blot upon his memory. We can only account for these atrocities by considering them as the terms upon which he obtained priestly absolution for his many vices. It must certainly be acknowledged that duelling was discountenanced during the reign of this prince, and was much less frequent than under his predecessors; but I apprehend that this circumstance was more to be attributed to the rapid progress of civilization and polished manners, to which I have alluded, than to the severity of legal enactments. The refinement of manners that accompanied the quick advance of intellectual attainments materially tended to humanize society, and to make those who could reflect on the horrors of the past, blush at the fashionable countenance bestowed upon a practice which should have sunk into the grave with Gothic ignorance and barbarism. War was the sole occupation in savage times; and amongst barbarians, strangers to all the blessings of civilized life and social enjoyments, personal and brute courage was the only claim to distinction and pre-eminence. Mandeville has fully illustrated such a condition of society in his fable of the Bees: “If we well mind what effects man’s bravery, without any other qualifications to sweeten him, would have out of an army, we shall find that it would be very pernicious to civil society; for, if a man could conquer all his fears, you would hear of little else but rapine and violence of all sorts, and valiant men would be like giants in romance. Politics, therefore, discovered in men a mixed principle, which was a compound of justice, honesty, and all the moral virtues, joined to courage; and all that were possessed of it turned knights-errant, of course. They did abundance of good throughout the world, by taming monsters, delivering the distressed, and killing oppressors. But the wings of all the dragons being clipped, the giants destroyed, and the damsels everywhere set at liberty, (except some few in Spain and Italy, who remain still captivated by religious monsters,) the order of chivalry, to whom the standard of ancient honour belonged, has been laid aside for some time. It was like their armour, very massy and heavy; the many virtues about it served to make it very troublesome; and, as ages grew wiser and wiser, the principle of honour at the beginning of the last century (1600) was melted over and over again, and brought into a new standard. They put in the same weight of courage half the quantity of honesty, and a very little justice, but not a scruple of any other virtue; which has made it very easy and portable to what it was.”