court of Paris, by the authority of the parliament of Grenoble. Lefdiguieres, in a letter to the king, reprefented to his majefty, in a firm though refpectful tone, that his duty called him to restore the dignity of France in Italy, by fulfilling the engagements of that king dom to the Duke of Savoy, and chaftifing the perfidy and infolence of Spain. And he added, that, however treacherous counfels might beguile the good intentions of his majefty for a time, he did not defpair of his prefent conduct meeting one day with the approbation of his fovereign. Spanish nation. Before the ambi tious and warlike reigns of Ferdi nand, the emperor, and Philip II. the fagacity and vigilance of the Spaniards appeared formidable to the other nations of Europe+. Thefe reigns continued to call forth and exercise the fpirit of the nation, and to fupport, if not to heighten, that national character which had been formed by the wars with the Moors. And this national character ftill fhone forth with undiminished luftre after the imprudence of the court, and exhautted refources, had undermined the foundations of the grandeur of the empire. As profperous war roufes the genius of a nation, the Character of the Spaniards; from glory of letters would have corre A the fame Author. WAR with the Saracens, prolonged, with few intervals, for eight hundred years, nourished in the Spaniards a vigour of character, a love of their country, and a paffion for glory. The neceflity of continually engaging, formed as many heroes as there were men in each city: military renown was the great object of their vows; and the tombs of the deceafed were adorned with a number of obelifks equal to that of the enemy they had flain in battle". While they lived expofed to continual dangers they acquired that gravity of deportment, that deliberate valour, that perfeverance and vigi. lance which fill diftinguish the fponded to that of the Spanish arms, had not the progrefs of talte and knowledge been checked by the tyranny of the inquifition, and that defpotifm which was introduced into the government. But although thefe circumstances have prevented among the Spaniards the growth of found phil fophy, in their poetry, hiftory, romances, and even their commentaries on the facred fcriptures, as well as on Ariftotle, whofe metaphyfical notions were deemed fo orthodox by the Catholic church, we recognize that boldness and invention, that fubtlety and refinement which were confpicuous for ages in the military and political conduct of Spain. Thus, that power of genius and valour among his fubjects, which * Johannes Genefius Sepulveda de Rebus Geftis, Caroli V. lib. 1. + Machiavel fays, in his Account of the State of France, that the French were afraid of the Spaniards on account of their fagacity and vigilance. It is true, that this account was written after Ferdinand had begun to reign; but it was before the exertions of that prince could have ftamped on the minds of his fubjects, a national character. at once adorned and difgraced the feeble reign of Philip III. feems deducible from a train of moral caufes, as obvious in their exiftence as powerful in their nature, But when the reader revolves what is left on record concerning ancient Spain, he will be inclined perhaps to fubfcribe to the opinion of an ingenious writer, that the characters of nations as well as families, are influenced by accidents antecedent to birth*, and particularly by climate, acting either immediately with powerful energy on the fabric of their being, or as a local circumstance Character of King James the Second, from Mrs. M. Graham's Hiftory of England. leading to a variety of action in If Buckingham, that "Charles IT T was faid by the witty Duke of the economy of civil life. At all times, valour and genius have ennobled the character of the Spaniards. Not the robust German, impelled by the fury of a favage religion, difplayed fuch enthufiafm in arms and contempt of death, as fhone forth in the invincible refolution of the inhabitants of Numantia, Aftapha, and Saguntum. A greater hero than Viriatus is not to be found in the history of ancient Rome t. Between the times of the Scipios and thofe of Auguftus, there intervened a period of two hundred years. During this long space, Spain maintained a conteft with the policy and difciplined valour of Rome: and it feemed uncertain which mafters the world was to obey, the Spaniards or the Romans. The destiny of Rome to give law to the nations finally fubdued all refiftance, and Spain the Second might do well if he would," and that " James would do well if he could:" an obfervation which fays little for the underftanding of James, but a great deal for his heart; and, with all the blemishes with which his public character is ftained, he was not deficient in feveral qualities ne-, ceffary to compofe a good fovereign. His induftry in bufinefs was exemplary, he was frugal of the public money, he cherished and extended the maritime power of the empire, and his encouragement of trade was attended with fuch fuccefs, that, according to the obfervation of the impartial hiftorian Ralph, as the frugality of his adminiftration helped to increafe the number of malecontents, fo his extreme attention to trade was not lefs alarming to the whole body of the Dutch than his *Effay on the History of Mankind, &c. by Dr. Dunbar. + This man, who had refifted the Roman armis for twenty years, and who was deemed invincible, was at laft infidiously cut off by the Romans, who bribed his body guards. B 3 folu refolution not to rush into a war with France was mortifying to their ftadtholder. In domeftic life, the character of James, though not irreproachable, was comparatively good: it is true, he was in a great meafure tainted with that licentioufnefs of manners, which, at this time, pervaded the whole fociety, and which reigned triumphant within the circle of the court; but he was never carried into any exceffes which trenched deeply on the duties of focial life; and if the qua lities of his heart were only to be judged by his conduct in the different characters of Eufband, father, master, and friend, he might be pronounced a man of a very ami ble difpofition. But thofe who know not how to forgive injuries, and can never pardon the errors, the infirmities, the vices, or even the virtues of their fellow-creatures, when in any refect they affect perfonal interest or inclination, will arm against them the fenfibility of every humane mind, and can never expect from others that justice and commiferation which themfelves have never exercifed. But whilft we execrate that rancorous cruelty with wich James, in the fhort hour of triumph, perfecuted all those who endeavoured to thwart his ambitious hopes, it is but juftice to obferve, that the rank vices of pride, malice, and revenge, which fo deeply blacken his conduct, whilft he figured in the ftation of prefumptive heir to the crown, and afterwards in the character of fovereign on the fuccefsful quelling the Monmouth rebellion, were thoroughly corrected by the chatening hand of affliction; that the whole period of his life, from his return from Ireland to the day of his death, was fpent in the exercife of the first chriftian virtues, viz. patience, fortitude, humility, and refignation. Brettonneau, his biographer, records, that he al ways fpoke with an extreme moderation of the individuals who had acted the most fuccessfully in his disfavour; that he reproved thofe who mentioned their con. duct with feverity; that he read, even with a ftoical apathy, the bittereft writings which were pu lifhed against him; that he re. garded the lofs of empire as a ne. ceffary correction for the milde. meanors of his life, and even re, buked thofe who expreffed any concern for the iffue of events which he refpected as ordinations of the divine will. According to the fame biograper, James was exact in his devotion, moderate even to abftinence; in his life, full of fentiments of the highest contrition for palt offences; and, according to the difcipline of the Romish church, was very fevere in the aufterities which he inflicted on his perfon. As this prince juitly regarded himself as a mar. tyr to the Catholic faith, as his warmt friends were all of this perfuafion, as his converíation in his retirement at St. Germain's was entirely in a great mealore confined to priefts and devotees, it is natural that his fuperftition fhould increafe with the increase of religious fentiment; and as he had made ufe of his power and authority, whilft in England, to enlarge the number of profelytes to popery, fo in a private station he laboured inceffantly by prayer, exhortation, and example, to con difgraceful terms of abjuring the principles of the re'or nation, and embracing the principles of a religion, which, from his early in fancy, he had been taught to regaid as idolatrous and prophane. firm the piety of his popish adhe. rents, and to effect a reformation in thofe who ftill continued firm to the doctrines of the church of England. He vifited the monks of la Trappe once a year, the feveret order of religionists in France; and his conformity to the difcipline of the convent was fo ftrict and exact, that he impreff d thofe devotees with fe timents of admiration at his piety, umi, lity, and conftancy. Thus hav. ing (pent t elve years with a higher degree of peace and tran. quillity than he haver xperienced in the moft triumphant part of his life, he was feized with a palfy in September, 1701, and after languifhing fiteen days, died in the fixty-eighth year of his age, having filled up the interval, b. tween his firft feizure and final exit, with the whole train of re. ligious exerci es enjoined on fi. milar occafions by the church of Rome, with fol mn and repeated profeffions of his faith, and ear. neft exhortations to his two chil. dren, the youngest of whom was born in the fec nd year of his exile, to keep fted faft to the reli. gion in which they had been edu. cate. Thefe precepts and com. mands have acted with a force fu. perior to all the temptations of a crown, and have been adhered to with a firmiefs which obliges an hiftorian to acknowledge te fu. periority which James's defcend. ants, in the nice points of honour and confcience, have gained over the character of Henry the Fourth, who, at the period when he was looked up to as the great hero of the proteftant caufe, made no fcruple to accept a crown on the on fe. The dominion of error over the minds of the generality of mankin is irrefistible. James, to the laft hour of his life, continued as great a bigot to his political as his religious errors: he could not hel co fidering the ftrengh and power of the crown as a circum. ftance neceffary to the prefervation and happiness of the people; and, in a letter of advice, which he wrote to his fon, whilft he con. jures him to pay a religious ob fervance to all the duties of a good fo ereign, he cautions him againft fuffering any entrenchment royal prerogative. Among veral heads, containing excellent inftructions on the art of reigning happily and july, he warns the young prince never to attempt to difquiet his fubjects in their pro. perty or their religion; and, what is very remarkable, to his last breath he perfiled in afferting, that he never intended to fubvert the laws, or procure more than a toleration and an equality of privilege to his catholic fubjects. As there is great reafon to believe this affertion to be true, it fhews, that the delufion was incurable under which the king laboured, by the trust he had put in the knavih doctrines of lawyers and priefts; and that neither himself, nor his proteftant abetters, could fathom the confequences of that enlarged fyttem of toleration which he endcavoured to establish. Defcription of the Rejangs in the TH Sumatra, it will be totally impof fible to difcriminate, with entire accuracy, thofe which are origi nal, from thofe which are bor. rowed; and of courfe, what I fhall fay of the Rejangs, will apply for the most part, not only to the Sumatrans in general, but may fome. times be, in ftrictness, pr proper to the Malays alone, and by them taught to the higher rank of country people. HEY are placed in what may be called a central fituation, not geographically, but with respect to the encroachments of foreign manners and opinions, introduced by the Malays, from The country of the Rejangs is the north, and Javans from the divided, to the north-weft, from fouth; which gives them a claim the kingdom of Anae Songey (of to originality, fuperior to that of which Mocs Moco is the capital) by most others. They are a people the fmall river of Oari, near that whofe form of government and of Cattown; which laft, with the whofe laws extend, with very little diftrict of Labsgne on its banks, variation, over a confiderable part bounds it on the north or inland of the island, and principally that fide. The country of Moajer, portion where the connexions of where Palembang river takes its. the English lie. There are tra- rife, forms its limit to the 'eakditions of their having formerly ward. Bencoolen river, precifely fent forth colonies to the fouth- fpeaking, cenines it on the fouthward; and in the country of Paf- eat; though the inhabitants of fummah, the fite of their villages the district called Lemba, extend. is fill pointed out; which would ing from thence, to Silebar, are en prove that they have formerly tirely the fame people, in manbeen of more confid ration than, ners and language. The printhey can boat at prefet. They have a proper language, and a perfect written character, that is become of general ufe in many remote diftricts. Thefe advantages point out the Rejang pe ple as an eligible tandard of defcription; and a motive equally trong that induces me to adopt them as fuch, is, that my fituation and connexions on the iflan 1, led me to a more intimate and nt te acqarance with their aws and menners, than with thofe of any other class. I must premife however that the Malay cuftoms having made their way, in a greater. or lets degree, to every part of cipal rivers, befides thofe already mentioned, are Laye, Fally, and Scon ylamo; on all of which the Eith have factories, the ref. dont or chief being flationed at Laye. The perfons of the inhabitants of the ifland, though differing cnfiderably in districts remote from each other, may in general be comprehended in the following defcription; excepting the Ac nefe, whole commixture with the Moors of the weft of India, has diftinguished them from the other Sumatrans. They are rather below the minddle ftature; their bulk is in pro portion; |