Page:Essays, Moral and Political - David Hume (1741).djvu/187

 has ever happen'd, or can possibly happen. Sejanus might project the dethroning the Cæsars; but Fleury, though ever so vicious, could not, while in his Senses, entertain the least Hopes of dispossessing the Bourbons.

was never esteem'd an Affair of State, 'till within this last Century; nor is there any antient Writer on Politics, who has made mention of it. Even the Italians have kept a profound Silence with regard to it; though it has now excited the chief Attention, as well of Ministers of State, as of speculative Reasoners. The great Opulence, Grandeur, and military Archievements of the two Maritime Powers, seem first to have instructed Mankind in the vast Importance of an extensive Commerce.

, therefore, intended in this Essay to have made a full Comparison of Liberty and Despotism, and have shown the Advantages and Disadvantages of each, I began to entertain a Suspicion, that no Man in this Age was sufficiently qualified for such an Undertaking, and that whatever he should advance on that Head would, in all Probability, be refuted by fur-