The remains of the Celtic tribes are found in the Highlands of Scotland, in Wales, Ireland, Britanny, and Biscay in Spain. They are rather low in sta ture, have lively eyes, prominent cheek bones, red or yellow hair in the north, but sometimes black hair in the south.
The Finns in the north of Europe have a language of their own, and the characters of a peculiar race. They have light brown eyes, a pale complexion, cheeks hollow, are of middling stature, but heavy and muscular.
The Samoieds, Laplanders, and other tribes who live within the polar circle, are distinguished by their very low stature, the smallness of the legs and feet, and largeness of the head, prominent cheek bones, small round black eyes, black and bristly hair, and a swarthy skin. The Laplanders from inter mixture with the Finns, Russians, and Norwegians, have lost, in some degree, the characteristic traits of the original race.
The modern Greeks and Albanians are to be descended chiefly from the ancient inhatan of the country, whose language they have preserved. They have a greater resemblance to the Latin na tions than to those of the Gothic race. The Turks are an Asiatic tribe.• Europe has been gradually advancing from po verty and barbarism to wealth and refinement since the tenth century, but the progress of the different nations has been very unequal. No single cause has contributed so much to their improvement as commerce ; and hence the first advances have always been made by maritime states ' • and the progress of the different communities has been nearly in propor tion to their vicinity to the sea, or the facility of their communication with it. The small republics of Italy and the Hanse towns were the seats of in. dustry, wealth, knowledge, and freedom, while sla very, ignorance, and rapine, reigned in the countries around them. The tendency of commerce to enrich a country seems to depend on its power to create disposable capital. Though a certain species of opulence exists among the great landholders of agri cultural countries, those masses of disposable capital which give vigour to industry, and supply the means of great improvements, are only found in commer cial states. Commerce also favours the growth of manufactures, and these two species of industry raise up a middle class closely allied with the great body . of the people. It is among this class that ideas of civil and religious liberty take their rise, and find their (firmest supporters ; whereas in countries en tirely agricultural, liberty means only the domina tion of the aristocracy. The spirit of liberty once introduced, laws are improved, prejudices hostile to industry extinguished, and new vigour infused into every branch of society. It is thus that freedom and
wealth have generally followed in the train of com merce ; and that the commercial states have led the way in those improvements which have so much ameliorated the condition of Europe. When the Italian republics flourished, however, Europe was not in a state to be much benefited by the lights their experience afforded. The Dutch republic, which flourished at a later period, gave a more strik ing demonstration of the advantages of industry, free.. dom, toleration, and good government, at a time when neither liberty nor toleration were understood even in England, and when industry was in a very low state all over Europe. The example of the Dutch furnished statesmen with new ideas, and had a sen sible influence on the policy of England, France, and other countries. The genius of Peter the Great derived from this small republic the seeds of those improvements by which civilization was spread over the vast empire of Russia. The superiority which the Dutch possessed has since been transferred to Britain, and she has acquired with it the privilege of instructing other nations in the sources of public wealth, and the science of government.
The Reformation had a material effect in acce lerating the progress of society. It put an end to a multitude of abuses and prejudices adverse to im provement, and inspired the human mind with a new activity. Those countries in which it took no root seemed to have had their progress suddenly arrest ed, while others, less favoured by nature, derived new life and vigour from its influence. Italy and Spain, now so far behind Britain, France, and Ger many, were the first countries in Europe for know ledge, wealth, and industry, at the period of the Re formation. The establishment of the Protestant re ligion produced a more liberal spirit among the Ca tholics in those countries where the two churches exist together ; but in those countries where pro testantism has never obtained a footing, the dread of its introduction has thrown the government more and more into the hands of the clew ; the clergy, armed with power, have become more jealous and intolerant, and have nearly put an end to all free dom of thought. The literary glory of Spain ex pired some time after the Reformation, and Italy has been checked in her career. The older writers of these countries breathe a spirit which would not be tolerated at the present day, nee does society there afford the elements out of which such characters could be formed. And thus it happened that the very same event which called forth the powers of the hu man mind in the north of Europe, extinguished the intellectual activity of the south.