continuance; but what continuance of happineſs can be expected, when the whole ſyſtem of European empire can be in danger of a new concuſſion, by a contention for a few ſpots of earth, which, in the deſerts of the ocean, had almoſt eſcaped human notice, and which, if they had not happened to make a ſea-mark, had perhaps never had a name.
Fortune often delights to dignify what nature has neglected, and that renown which cannot be claimed by intrinſick excellence or greatneſs, is ſometimes derived from unexpected accidents. The Rubicon was ennobled by the paſſage of Cæſar, and the time is now come when Falkland’s Iſlands demand their hiſtorian.
But the writer to whom this employment ſhall be aſſigned, will have few opportunities of deſcriptive ſplendor, or narrative elegance. Of other countries it is
