an the speculations of a philosopher; and the savage
tribes of mankind, as they approach nearer to the condition of animals,
preserve a stronger resemblance to themselves and to each other. The
uniform stability of their manners is the natural consequence of the
imperfection of their faculties. Reduced to a similar situation, their
wants, their desires, their enjoyments, still continue the same: and
the influence of food or climate, which, in a more improved state
of society, is suspended, or subdued, by so many moral causes, most
powerfully contributes to form, and to maintain, the national character
of Barbarians. In every age, the immense plains of Scythia, or Tartary,
have been inhabited by vagrant tribes of hunters and shepherds, whose
indolence refuses to cultivate the earth, and whose restless spirit
disdains the confinement of a sedentary life. In every age, the
Scythians, and Tartars, have been renowned for their invincible courage
and rapid conquests. The thrones of Asia have been repeatedly overturned
by the shepherds of the North; and their arms have spread terror and
devastation over the most fertile and warlike countries of Europe. [6]
On this occasion, as well as on many others, the sober historian is
forcibly awakened from a pleasing vision; and is compelled, with some
reluctance, to confess, that the pastoral manners, which have been
adorned with the fairest attributes of peace and innocence, are much
better adapted to the fierce and cruel habits of a military life. To
illustrate this observation, I shall now proceed to consider a nation of
shepherds and of warriors, in the three important articles of, I. Their
diet; II. Their habitations; and, III. Their exercises. The narratives
of antiquity are justified by the experience of modern times; [7] and
the banks of the Borysthenes, of the Volga, or of the Selinga, will
indifferently present the same uniform spectacle of similar and native
manners. [8]

[Footnote 6: Imperium Asiae ter quaesivere: ipsi perpetuo ab alieno
imperio, aut intacti aut invicti, mansere. Since the time of Justin,
(ii. 2,) they have multiplied this account. Voltaire, in a few words,
(tom. x. p. 64, Hist. Generale, c. 156,) has abridged the Tartar
conquests. Oft o'er the trembling nations from afar, Has Scythia
breathed the living cloud of war. Note *: Gray.--M.]

[Footnote 7: The fourth book of Herodotus affords a curious though
imperfect, portrait of the Scythians. Among the modern