Page:The Lusiad; Or, The Discovery of India.djvu/32

 in the one, is also necessary for perfection in the other; and the same causes impede, and are alike destructive of both. The of mankind is the parent of each. According to the confinement or extent of Intercourse, barbarity or civilization proportionately prevail. In the dark Monkish ages, the Intercourse of the learned was as much impeded and confined as that of the merchant. A few unwieldy vessels coasted the shores of Europe, and mendicant friars and ignorant pilgrims carried a miserable account of what was passing in the world from monastery to monastery. What Doctor had last disputed on the peripatetic philosophy at some university, or what new heresy had last appeared, comprised the whole of their literary intelligence; and which was delivered with little accuracy, and received with as little attention. While this thick cloud of mental darkness overspread the western world, was Don Henry prince of Portugal born, born to set mankind free from the feudal system, and to give to the whole world every advantage, every light that may possibly be diffused by the Intercourse of unlimited commerce:

Author:James Thomson (1700-1748)

In contrast to this melancholy view of human nature, sunk in barbarism and benighted with ignorance, let the present state of Europe be impartially estimated. Yet though the great increase of opulence and learning cannot be denied, there are some who assert, that virtue and happiness have as greatly declined. And the immense overflow of riches, from the East in particular, has been pronounced big with destruction to the British empire. Every thing human, it is true, has its dark as well as its bright side; but let these popular complaints be examined, and it will be found, that modern Europe, and the British empire in a very particular manner, have received the greatest and most solid advantages from the modern enlarged system of. merce