cluded, that Walterius Dapifer filius Alani was the fon of that Aldenus Dapifer who is a witnefs to the charters of Gofpatrick and Waldeve.

I perfuade myself, that Alden Dapifer, and Alan the father of Walter Stewart of Scotland, in the reign of Malcolm IV. were different perfons, and that they had nothing in common but the Chriflian name, if indeed they had that in common.

'Some of my readers may demand, "Who then was Alan the father of Walter, ftewart of Scotland in the reign of Malcolm IV.?"

I can only answer this question by demanding, Who was the father of Martach earl of Marre in the reign of Malcolm III. of Gilchrift earl of Angus in the reign of Alexander I.; of Fergus lord of Galloway in the reign of Malcolm IV.; or of Friskinus de Moravia, ancestor of the family of Sutherland,' in the reign of William the Lion ?" or, to keep in the fuppofed line of the royal family of Stewart, "Who was the father of Banquho thane of Lochaber?"

Many answers may, no doubt, be made to this laft quef tion. Kennedy fays, that the father of Banquho was one of the seven fons of Corc king of Munfter; Sir George McKenzie, of Ferquhard, the fon of Kenneth II; and Simpfon, the fon of Ferquhard thane of Lochaber, the fon of Kenneth, the fon of Murdoch, the fon of Doir, the fon of Eth king of Scotland.;

It is remarkable, that Abercrombie relates all thofe contradictory ftories, without ever fufpecting the natural inference arising from them, "That, if noble perfons are not fatisfied with a long pedigree, proved by authentic inftruments, they muft believe in flattering and ignorant fictions; and that, if they fcorn to wait for the dawn of record to enlighten their defcent, they must bewilder themselves in dark and fabulous genealogies."

In the reign of David I. before the middle of the twelfth century, the family of the Stewarts was opulent and powerful. It may, therefore, have fubfifted for many ages previous to that time; but when, and what was its commencement, we cannot determine.'

The volume concludes with Tables, fhewing the fucceffion of the kings of Scotland, from Malcolm III. to Robert 1. Their marriages, children, and the time of their death; and alfo, the kings of England, France, and the popes, who were their contemporaries.

Sir David Dalrymple informs us, that if the prefent work is approved of, and if he has health and leifure, he proposes to continue the Annals of Scotland to the restoration of James I. We are fully, perfuaded that the accomplishment of this defigu would be highly acceptable to the public, from a writer fo much distinguished for his various and extenfive learning, induftry, and minute invefligation of hiftorical facts and authoities,

VI. An Efay on Public Happiness, investigating the State of Human Nature, under each of its particular Appearances, through the Jeveral Periods of Hiftory, to the prefent Times. 2 vols. 800, 10s. boards. Cadeli.

IT

T is univerfally allowed, that the happiness of individuals is not to be estimated by their riches, their fplendid retinues, their fumptuous villas, their grand apartments, or any other external advantages; fince thousands are happy without them, and many are miserable with them. The cafe is the fame with ftates and kingdoms. A nation is not to be called happy, because it has ere&ed vaft pyramids, or magnificent palaces ; or because it has obtained many fignal victories, and extensive territories. It may labour, at the fame time, under the malignant influences of war, the convulfions of an ill regulated policy, or fome other unfortunate circumstances.

The author of this Effay, in order to difcover wherein public happiness confifts, has inveftigated the state of human nature, under all its different appearances, through every period of history. His enquiry commences with a fhort account of Egypt, in which he fays, a melancholy idea muft arife from the reflection, that the firft epoch, with which hiftory prefents us, owes its exiftence to war. Ofiris, or Bacchus, carrying the fword in his hand, croffes the Nile, to teach the arts of agriculture to the people whom he had reduced into a fubjection to his laws. In fome ages, after this period, Sefoftris, at the head of a formidable army, marches to the con queft of several nations, of whofe names he undoubtedly was ignorant. These are the most diftant æras of the ancient and refpe&table Ægyptian monarchy, which, as it was distinguished by two victorious kings, fo, confequently, was marked by two wars exceedingly unjuft.

If, fays he, from Egypt, we turn our attention towards the Affyrians, the Babylonians, the Medes, and the Lydians, we shall every where observe a defpotism the most absolute, a feries of victories the moft abfurd, an avarice infatiably collecting riches, and an extravagance, which perverted them to the worst purposes.

Upon the whole, it is impoffible, he thinks, to estimate the happiness of the people in the firft ages of antiquity, by either the frugality of fome, or the extravagance of others. Their virtue can no more be proved from the great fimplicity of their manners, than their felicity from the profufion of their magnificence. Through every period, ignorance, defpotism, war, and fuperftition, have by turns plundered mankind of thefe advantages, with which nature had prefented them.'

From

From Egypt and Afia he proceeds to Greece. Here perhaps fome readers might expect a different scene of things. At the very name of Greece, enthusiasm awakes, and prefents to our ideas a picture of virtue, courage, difinterestedness, and aufterity of manners, united with perfection in the arts, all the delicacy of taste, and all the refinements of pleasure. But, alas, as we advance we are so far from perceiving these people to be enlightened with ideas of their real interest, that we observe an univerfal increase of confusion and diforder.

• Shall we not, fays our author, perceive in the republic of Athens, an ill-difpofed populace, vain, frivolous, ambitious, jealous, interested, incapable of marking out a proper conduct for themselves, and grudging their chiefs that fortune which they shared with them: full of fagacity in their difcuffions, but deprived of it, when it is neceffary to determine: bigotted to an idle eloquence, always ready to abandon the depths of ar gument, for empty forms, and give the found of words a preference to reafon: unjust to their allies, ungrateful to their chiefs, and cruel to their enemies? On the other fide, if we curn our examination upon the Spartans, and fcrutinize them more attentively, inftead of perceiving the celebrated masterpiece of morality, and politics, we fhall be at a loss how to deícribe them. Are they a nation? yet they cultivate no land: they defpife its produce, and claim a merit from difpenfing wi h it, as much as poflible. Are they a fociety? yet the ties of fa milies, of marriage, of parentage, of love, and of friendship are entirely unknown to them. The bonds which join the wo men to their husbands, are precarious, and uncertain: the children do not belong to their own fathers: nature is fentenced to be filent. Only one imperious voice is heard. The country expects, claims, and poffeffes every thing; and yet it neither gives, nor offers, nor promifes any thing. What then is Sparta P an army always under arms; if it be not, rather, one vatt mo-, nastery. In fact, when we obferve, on the one hand, their continual exercises, their mock fights, and their abfolute renunciation of arts, agriculture, and commerce; and, on the other hand, their fevere difciplines, their macerations, their refectories, and their public ceremonies, we fhall be inclined to fuppofe ourselves, at one moment, in the fortrefs of Spandaw, and at another, in the convents of the Camaldulians. What heart, unless it were defended by the three-fold fhield of erudition, but would fhudder with as much terror, at the recital of the Lacedæmonian manners, as at that of the feverities, practised by the Fakirs, and Jammaboes ? *)'

Having confidered the ftate of humanity among the Athenians, the Spartans, &c. our author fubjoins this general remark:

• Japonese hermits.

We can boldly affirm, that each of the little republics of Greece, underwent during a period of fifty years, feveral revolutions, to which one half of its citizens became the victims; that each throughout the fame space of time, faw its territories ravaged by wars; in fhort, that no individual of these unhappy towns had run the common courfe of life, without detefting the hour he had received it.'

From Greece he proceeds to Italy, and confiders the influence of the Roman government over the Romans themselves, and other nations. The following atrocious facts will give the reader fome idea of that mifery and defolation, which was occafioned by their unbounded ambition, and a vain enthusiasm of glory.

• Will it not be fufficient to excite the indignation of every feeling reader, if he be told to recollect, that, in a very fhort fpace of time, Carthage, Corinth, Numantia, and Athens were deftroyed? that, without mentioning millions of men, who were flaughtered in Spain, in Africa, and in Afia; the war of the flaves, in Italy, and Sicily only, was attended with the lofs of one million of men; and that, in Italy, exclufively, three hundred thousand men, perished, during the war of the allies. Add to all this, profcriptions and civil wars. Remember, alfo, that Cæfar boafted of having either taken, or reduced eight hundred cities; fubdued three hundred nations; engaged with three millions of men, a million of whom remained upon the field of battle, whilst another million were thrown into captivity. In fhort, recall to mind, the wars of Numidia; the punishment of Jugurtha; kings funk into the condition of mere vaffals; the people reduced to the most abject ftate of flavery; and you will, in few words, form an idea of the influence of the Roman people over the happiness of mankind.'

Under the reign of Auguftus and his fucceffors, the lot of humanity was equally unfortunate. Out of forty-two emperors, who filled up the interval between Julius Cæfar and Charlemagne, thirty at least died a violent death. During this epoch, the universe every where refounded with the clamours of rage, and the fighs of mifery.

Our author prefents us with this melancholy view of the state of mankind, in the fourth century :

In the bofom of the church, the errors of Donatus and Arius poifoned the first feeds of the faith; bithops were in arms against. bithops: the people efpoufed thefe quarrels, with a degree of fury; the temples, and the bafilics were difputed, fword in hand, and fprinkled with the blood of the citizens: odious accufations and atrocious calumnies were reciprocally fcattered abroad by the chiefs of each party, whilft these fanatics tore one another in pieces, with a ferocity, which, to borrow the expreffion of a

con

contemporary author, furpaffed even the ferocity of wild beats *. The first emperor, educated in the principles ef Chriftianity. introduces his reign with the murder of his uncle, and of his firft coufin. He madly throws himself into the party of the Arians, whilft, at one moment, a bloody perfecutor, and at another mo ment, an ignorant conciliator, he either deals out his orders for executions, or affembles councils. The bithops, perpetually hurried from place to place, abandon, for idle controverfies, the care of their flocks; whilft the provinces, drained by the expences of thefe journies, become at length fcarcely able to defray them.

The fame iniquity, the fame injuftice prevailed throughout the civil administration. A jealoufy, equally extravagant and cruel, became the leading principle of the government. Informers infested the provinces, nor did their fuperiors blush at having established them as a body, and given them a particular rank. The administration degenerated into a barbarous inquifition; punishments were inflicted with additional cruelty; criminals were burnt for flight offences; the faith of treaties was no longer kept facred; kings were affaffinated in the very midst of peace, and even during the convivial joy, with which they celebrated their feftivals; public morals became more and more corrupted; eunuchs, the vile inftruments of the most abo minable pleasures, were appointed generals and prime minifters; the expences of the table, and the luxury of the court, were, at once, boundless and abfurd; the laws, by being mul tiplied without end, were equal proofs of the depravity of the government, and the wickedness of the people: in short, every thing was altered; every thing was corrupted; even the dif cipline of the armies, and the intrepidity of the foldiers, were difordered and extinguished; thus, the deftruction of whole generations, became the only remedy against the evils, which afflicted the earth: in like manner, as the fetting fire to the thorns and briars, which over-run neglected fields, proves the fole means of obtaining a new and advantageous harvest.

Whilft we are painting this melancholy picture, the affecting ftrokes of which are not heightened beyond reality, we anxiously wish to remove, from the reader, every occafion of fufpecting, that we have the fmalleft intention of attributing to Christianity thofe diforders against which we have exclaimed. Far from harbouring fuch an idea, our only aim is to prove, that the misfortunes of the times did not permit religion to procure, for mankind, an happier fituation in this life. Perhaps, even this very religion became a new fource of evils; for, as the pureft aliments are apt to grow corrupted in bodies attacked by difeases, fo the most facred tenets of the faith are frequently con

* Nullas infeftas hominibus beftias ut funt fibi ferales plerique Chriftianorum. Ammian. Marcellin. 1. 22.

Conftantius.