The enquirer. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1804-1815, 1804-09-15

ell TO preierve, enlarge and ripen Il, after it was
transferred to the Greeks As thisperiod is within
the compass OF hiory, conca;icns from it viii be
more juh and accurate, than from any prior Era.
1heie colonts, fmall in number furrounded by
numerous bands Of hottie barbarians and unable TO
occupy extenlve territory, contracted thenielves
within the walls of cities together with FINAL mar
gin of lard around them. As population increaied,
this land became Insufficient for their iupport, aud
hence they driven to the invention OF new arts;
hence they reorted to commerce as mode al procur-
ing fubitence hence many turned their enquiries in
to the walks of literature, gave Greece her iplen
did pre-em:nence over the nations OF antiquity.
Greece loft her liberties but retained her fcence The
barbarians who came to defpoil her of her wealth,
carried off alto precious treaiure of whole
lue they unconcious, the feeds Of learning and
the fublme fpecuatons of ethicls, which required on
ly time terminate and mature. The rihed flower
faded and expired but its fwees Were boarded up by
the induitrous punderers, become the lources of
more permanent delight. The human mind, which
had flowed like maeftc river through the favoured
foil of Greece, and diipenfed its befngs around,
changed its channel aud by this melancholy aluvion,
left its ancient bed naked, dreary, and terile deer
1t happened fortunately for Europe that all the
tries into which literature introduced after the
III and fubiugation of the Grecian Rates, limited
like them in of territory, Astounding inhabi-
tants and condenfed within the dimen6ons of fngle
munities is that dviiion of labor fhould take place
which infably leads to excellence all the which
embelhih fe as well in thoe which nliniter the
of The Arcadian fcenes of rural life may
be the redence of peace, implicitly, innocence and
happuefs but it in the coion of towns that the
human energies called FORTH and the human mind
fwells into gigantic Ratre 1t is in towns that the
and licences receive their BIRTH and there ALTO
they carried to perfection Rome alumed the
wreath of the mufes which had been pucked from the
brow of Greece; and fhe in her turn reGgned it 70
the Northern barbarians who have founded the pre-
ent political focieties of Europe. From this rapio
view of the progres of learning it appears, that Eu
rope peculiarly happy, rf, in having received the
germs of literature from another country; and fecond
ly, in having them depofted in cities, which like hot
beds quickened their growth.
The fituation of America the reverfe of all this.
A country OF uubounded extent poiieihDg ipontane
ouiy every pecies of wholefome anent; its foreits
filed with thoe animals which invite man to the
chafe thee apparent advantages of are the
real caufes Of the retardation Of the human intellect
America. None of thole cauies exilted which could
compel the American to take the .P ffs towards inn
provement and men only to be driven from ig-
norance by the itrong arm of necelity.
America it is occupied, like ancient Greece,
by nhoipitable and ferocious tribes. But this crcun
tance could only induce them remove farther from
each other, which un,ounded continent enabled
them perform, without limitation. ifiouid !;
be forgotten, that uniform experience tells us, that
there is certain aicnation in the wild and unrerain
ed fate of nature, which would forever deter
from the yoke Of civzation did not neceiity
them. T.