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My inquiry then is, what may be the reafon that tho' wars are for the most part unjuft, and always a terrible calamity, yet not only the bulk of mankind, but you, and I, and many more who condemn and abhor all • wars not abfolutely neceffary, are neverthelefs delighted with the accounts and defcriptions which history and poetry give of wars and battles?

RESPECTING the bulk of mankind, I fear their favage tempers have the greatest fhare in this pleasure: but as to the delight that humane and peaceable perfons take in fuch accounts and descriptions, I think it may partly proceed from their obferving the forefight, contrivances, and ftratagems of the generals and commanders of armies, which are made use of to defeat their enemies that change of scenes, and variety of action, which fo frequently occur in war; and, above all, that intrepidity, that courage, which enables men to look fteadily at death without fhrinking: thefe are incidents that both please and astonish.

PERHAPS there are few fights in the world which would afford more pleasure, even to a humane compaffionate man, (fuppofing him to be a mere spectator,) than two great armies drawn up in order of battle, and ready to engage. This pleasure, to fuch a person,

cannot

cannot proceed from the idea of the slaughter of his fellow-creatures foon to ensue, which on the contrary muft ftrike him with horror; but probably he feparates thefe ideas in his mind, from those objects which are prefent to his fight; fuch as the multitude of men and horfes, the like of which is never to be feen on any other occafion but that of war; their orderly and exact arrangement, the gaudy trappings of the horses, the fplendor of the habits of the men, and the fhining brightness of their armour and weapons: thefe, I fay, if viewed and confidered abstractedly from what is to follow, must give great pleasure; but I confefs that which is to follow, will be very apt to obtrude upon the mind, and will then caft a horrible gloom over all these glaring objects.

IT is alfo certain, that not only two armies thus drawn up in order of battle, and ready to engage, will give pleasure to such a mere fpectator as I have described, but the very battle itself may be viewed with a fort of pleafing horror. Here, befide the ancient and common obfervation, that feeing others in danger while we ourselves are in fafety, affords a kind of delight, we muft likewise allow, that as the mind is. apt to reft principally on those objects,

which afford it most pleasure; fo in this cafe fome of the particulars above-mentioned, as the multitude, their fplendid appearance, &c. joined with their different motions, evolutions, and the like; the addrefs and courage which appear in attacking and defending, with the fuccefs on each fide frequently varying, and the fufpence the mind is held in, are apt to engross the attention, and in fome degree at least to divert it from the flaughter.

HOMER, after having praised the great fkill fhewn in a battle he had been just defcribing between the Greeks and Trojans, supposes such a fpectator in the following words, as tranflated by Mr. Pope:

Had fome brave chief this martial scene beheld,
By Pallas guarded thro' the dreadful field;
Might darts be bid to turn their points away,
And fwords around him innocently play,
The war's whole art with wonder had he seen.

SINCE the view, then, of a real battle, may afford a fort of pleasure to a humane compaffionate man, as a mere fpectator, it is no wonder that the descriptions of battles and other war-like tranfactions given us by hiftorians and poets should do the fame; especially when drawn in fo lively, juft,

b Iliad, book IV.

juft, and masterly a manner, as to bring the subjects of these descriptions, as it were, before our view: thus Cæfar, Polybius, Livy, Quintus Curtius, and other hiftorians; as well as the above-mentioned poets and others, have done. Indeed, juft, lively, and natural descriptions and representations, whether by the pen or the pencil, tho' the fubjects of them may be horrible, do yet afford a fort of pleasure to the reader or spectator. How many pictures of martyrdoms, and other subjects in themselves fhocking, have you and I seen, particularly in Roman Catholic countries, which notwithstanding they have made us fhudder, yet the exquifite skill they have been performed with, has greatly engaged our attention, and even extorted our applaufe?

PERHAPS alfo the reading romances in our youth, which are all made up of love and fighting, may contribute to the pleasure we receive in our mature age, by historical and poetical accounts and defcriptions of wars and battles. May not the delight we took in reading the Seven Champions of Christendom in our infancy, give us the greater gufto for Quintus Curtius and Homer in our more advanced years? Don Quixote, as defcribed by Cervantes, that just and fine copier of human nature, was, you know,

fuppofed

supposed to be fo affected by reading ro-mances in his youth, as afterwards to ram

ble about the world, and act the very parts of his admired heroes. And tho' we are far from being Don Quixotes, yet that which might be thought to influence him in fo great a degree, may influence us in a lefs.

IN reading historical accounts of the wars of different nations, tho' they may have happened many hundred years fince, we are apt to take party, intereft ourselves in the difpute, and wifh fuccefs to one fide. I remember, in a late conversation with you on this fubject, I observed, that respecting those wars which the Romans were concerned in, I was generally on their fide: you smiled, and acknowledged that you were so too. (Our fimilar manner of thinking, on more material points, has often given me pleasure, and caused me to entertain a better opinion. of my own judgment than I fhould otherwife have done.) May not this proceed partly from the many inftances of virtue, both public and private, that are fre quently met with in the hiftories of that brave people, and the very contrary so notorious in many of their enemies?

THE Romans, I mean the ancient Ro mans, as a people, except in the triumphs

of

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