Excerpt from An Essay on Public Happiness, Vol. 2: Investigating the State of Human Nature, Under Each of Its Particular Appearances, Through the Several Periods of History, to the Present Times An ufelefs talk to make the leafl enquiry into the Rate of thofe earlier times, which may be confidered as the cradle of our modern dynalties: but we muf't recolleet, that it hath been already obl'erved that, to form a jolt idea ofthe true principles which c'onfiitute the bahs of governments, or rather, of the fpirit which animates them, we muf't examine attentively the circumfiances under which thele govern ments have been eftabliihed. And what people have preferved, more than o/prl'elves, the traces of our origin? If the French, as they are returning from' the reprel'entation of the tragedies of Andromache, or Merope, {hould imagine themfelves to be the rivals of the Greeks, they need only enter into the. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.