combination of battles, gave me some idea of the oppressive weight which slowly accumulates upon the minds of all students of the history of mankind, and the anguish with which the most sensitive of them must reflect, that they belong to a race of beings that are not only capable of the greatest enormities, but are actually guilty, in thousands of instances, of the bloodiest and most shocking barbarities. For these things every sensible man knows that there is retribution in store; the pity is, that the perpetrators will not believe it My own extraordinary adventure with the great conqueror who fell upon me need not be wondered at, when I confess that in my youth I was a warm admirer of that magnificent hero; but since my arrival at years of maturity and discretion, I have learned to estimate him at his true value.
The meditations into which the writer of a work of this nature is liable to fall are often weighty, if not terrible, but they are not likely to affect others, and, indeed, many would think it is not at all necessary to put them on paper. Men do not like to have the peaceful serenity of their lives disturbed by prosy platitudes which, if they please, they can manufacture in any quantity for themselves. Some authors, as Bacon, Addison, and Swift, had talents given them to instruct by letters and essays; others are permitted to do the same thing by writing histories and tales; but, unfortunately, there are men who cannot profit by either. Some men read and forget everything; others read and digest, but, like gluttons, the bigger they grow the fuller of diseases they become; others never read at all, or they will take pleasure in the story and despise the moral. The Bible itself is a sealed book to them, and their own minds are they do not require to be taught; and the writer of a book who tries to make the world better only wastes his time. Speak to them of money, glory, ambition, and
