his successor, make the nearest approach to that magnanimity, which is the standard of political men. But they were all, particularly Sixtus and Julius, rather profligates than hypocrites. Hypocrisy, as essential to the Romish constitution, was only an under instrument with them. Leo X was rather a man of taste and elegance than a great man; but this is praise in comparison of what hypocrisy can exhibit, and he is entitled to this praise, if for no other reason, because he was the constant and liberal patron of literary men. The Romish church subjected to its spiritual dominion all Europe, and its hypocrisy seems to have subjected the mind also. Genius slept for a thousand years. Charlemagne, Alfred, Henry II, Edward III, and Henry V, all of England, with Henry IV of France, are all whom you would enroll in the catalogue of great men. I except Charles V of Germany. His period was that of great events. To this, to the vast extent of his hereditary dominions, and to his generals and ministers, he owed

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his fame, not to his own personal magnanimity. When he acted from his own mind, he took the road of dissimulation, hypocrisy, and treachery. When the Reformation dawned, and the fetters of hypocrisy were broken, genius burst forth with a splendour, that surpassed the most brilliant days of Greece and Rome. Among the princes of Europe more great characters were found in the space of two hundred years, than in the thousand years that preceded. Resistance to the patrons of that mental darkness, from which Europe had emerged, seemed to have originated with Elizabeth of England, the three first princes of the house of Orange, with William III of England, Gustavus Vasa and Gustavus Adolphus of Sweden; the last of whom was altogether the greatest general and the greatest statesman that history has recorded, and which is more extraordinary, with as much simplicity and honesty, as you would be pleased to meet with in a private station. I ought to have reserved for this list Henry IV of France, as he suc

ceeded

ceeded the Reformation, and the most brilliant actions of his life and all the energy of his mind were displayed in the cause of the Reformation. Hypocrites and profligates are found in the cabinet, among the ministers of state, whom history often speaks more than of their masters. But in the ministers, who have been marked by intrigue, duplicity, and hypocrisy, grandeur of mind has almost never been found. They are mentioned in their day, and committed to oblivion. But those who live, whose names are in every mouth, and in every day, from á certain greatness of soul walked in a bold and open road, and scorned the timid, wary, lying spirit of hypocrisy. They were great men, though some of them great profligates. A more profligate and wicked minister than Richlieu never lived; but he was no hypocrite, and the vastness of his genius was felt by all Europe. The Spanish power, the fabric of Charles V, which was thought to have menaced a revival of the Roman empire, was humbled by the genius of this great,

great, though wicked minister, and feels the depression to this day. To him Mazarin was indeed proximus, sed longo proximus intervallo. He was of such stuff, as ordinary, intriguing, insidious ministers are made of; he found every thing fitted to his hand by the comprehensive genius of Richlieu, and his duplicity and treachery, together with his timidity, had often nearly ruined all. Sully, the minister of the great Henry of France, and Oxenstiern, the minister of the still greater Gustavus of Sweden, were great men. They had all the talents, but not the vices of Richlieu; they had his intrepidity, but not his cruelty; they incurred no stain of hypocrisy. Their character was open, ingenuous, and manly.

It is another circumstance akin to the former, and remarkably adverse to the hypocrite, but which bears not against the profligate beyond what is charged to the account of men in general, that his life is one continued 'lie. To be an habitual liar, damns a man to everlasting and irretrieva

ble

ble infamy. The abhorrence, in which this character is universally held, is witnessed by the unappeasable resentment, which the imputation of a lie excites. Every thing may be forgiven by man, but this. It dissolves the strongest bond of friendship, so as never to be united again. Now a hypocrite is a lie all over, in his speech, in his looks, in his manners, in his gesture. Once known, he has credit for nothing; his very talents, if any magnitude of talent can associate with so low a mind, are depreciated below all estimation. He is not considered as man enough even to be hated, unless in the first shock, which the mind feels in the discovery of his character. This would give a dignity to so debased a thing. He is only rejected, despised; contempt excommunicates him, as unfit for, as below the commerce of man. This is a decisive circumstance, and more perhaps than any other accounts for the abhorrence and contempt, in which the character is universally held. He has no fel low, because no one, who has a portion of honesty