possession of the
crown: but this is a poor apology, when it is confessed, that he was
ready to commit the most horrid crimes which appeared necessary for that
purpose; and it is certain, that all his courage and capacity, qualities
in which he really seems not to have been deficient, would never have
made compensation to the people for the danger of the precedent, and for
the contagious example of vice and murder exalted upon the throne. This
prince was of a small stature, humpbacked, and had a harsh, disagreeable
countenance; so that his body was in every particular no less deformed
than his mind.

*****

Thus have we pursued the history of England through a series of many
barbarous ages, till we have at last reached the dawn of civility
and science, and have the prospect, both of greater certainty in our
historical narrations, and of being able to present to the reader a
spectacle more worthy of his attention. The want of certainty, however,
and of circumstances, is not unlike to be complained of throughout
every period of this long narration. This island possesses many ancient
historians of good credit, as well as many historical monuments; and
it is rare, that the annals of so uncultivated a people as were the
English, as well as the other European nations after the decline of
Roman learning, have been transmitted to posterity so complete, and
with so little mixture of falsehood and of fable. This advantage we
owe entirely to the clergy of the church of Rome; who, founding their
authority on their superior knowledge, preserved the precious literature
of antiquity from a total extinction;[*] [21] and, under shelter of
their numerous privileges and immunities, acquired a security by means
of the superstition, which they would in vain have claimed from the
justice and humanity of those turbulent and licentious ages.

* See note U, at the end of the volume

Nor is the spectacle altogether unentertaining and uninstructive, which
the history of those times presents to us. The view of human manners, in
all their variety of appearances, is both profitable and agreeable; and
if the aspect in some periods seem horrid and deformed, we may thence
learn to cherish with the greater anxiety that science and civility,
which has so close a connection with virtue and humanity, and which,
as it is a sovereign antidote against superstition, is also the most
effectual remedy against vice and disorders of every kind.

The ri