Page:The Lusiad; Or, The Discovery of India.djvu/23

 And to this principle their customs and ideas of honour serve as rituals and ministers. The ancient cruelties practised by the American savages on their prisoners of war (and war was their chief employment) convey every idea expressed by the word diabolical, and give a most shocking view of the degradation of human nature. But what peculiarly completes the character of the savage, is his horrible superstition. In the most distant nations the savage is in this the same. The terror of evil spirits continually haunts him, and his God is beheld as a relentless tyrant, and is worshipped often with cruel rites, always with a heart full of horror and fear. In all the numerous accounts of savage worship, one trace of filial dependence is not to be found. The very reverse of that happy idea is the hell of the ignorant mind. Nor is this barbarism confined alone to those ignorant tribes, whom we call savages. The vulgar of every country possess it in certain degrees, proportionated to their opportunities of conversation with the more enlightened. Selfishness, cruel and often cowardly ferocity, together with the most unhappy superstition, are every where the proportionate attendants of ignorance and severe want. And ignorance and want are only removed by intercourse and the offices of society. So self-evident are these positions, that it requires an apology for insisting upon them; but the apology is at hand. He who has read knows how many eminent writers, and he who has conversed knows how many respectable