subjects, which is easily to be obtained, as Machiavelli observes in chap. 9, as the people demand nothing, save that they shall not be oppressed. And as the affection of the people is a prince's only resource in adversity, (chap. 9,) our author very wisely concludes that their favour is to be preferred to that of the nobility, whom he can displace and dispose of at his pleasure.
The tactics of Europe have undergone such a material change since the days of our author, that his advice respecting the fortification of a prince's capital is of much less importance than heretofore, for a British besieging force would destroy any town in Europe in the course of one or two months, and not leave a single chimney standing. We shall, therefore, pass over the tenth chapter, and proceed to the eleventh, on ecclesiastical principalities; which, being governed by supernatural means, and whose permanency depends on their degree of superstition, no certain rules, as Machiavelli observes, can be laid down respecting them.
