A short time before this event, Montesquieu had quitted his judicial charge. Full of the important ideas which had long occupied his attention, he determined to renounce every engagement which might obstruct the perfection and publication of them. To qualify himself for the arduous task of investigating and appreciating the different political or civil constitutions of ancient and modern times, he judged it requisite to travel--that, so far as possible, he might study the manners and charac ter, the physical and moral condition of the European nations, by actual inspection. In pursuance of this ob ject, he set out for Vienna, along with Lord \Valdegravc, the English ambassador. From this city, after convers ing with the celebrated Prince Eugene, and surveying all that seemed worthy of notice, he passed into Hungary, and afterwards to Italy, where he met with Lord Ches terfield, and travelled in his company to Venice. Here he found our noted countryman, John Law, still fostering magnificent projects, though reduced to gain a preca rious livelihood by often risking his sole possession, a diamond, at the gaining table. Whilst examining the singular institutions of this republic, and canvassing the subject with eager frankness in places of public resort, Montesquieu, being informed by a friend that the go vernment took offence at his procedure, was cautioned to withdraw, if he wished to avoid a scrutiny which might be troublesome, and perhaps dangerous. He in stantly embarked for Fucina, where he arrived in safety, though not till, in his fear of being overtaken by some gondolas which appeared to aim at reaching the ship, he had consigned his manuscript remarks to the waves.f He next visited Rome; and having surveyed Switzer land and the United Provinces, he repaired to this coun try in 1730. Newton and Locke were dead ; but the philosophical traveller found men in England qualified to estimate his talents ; respected and patronized by Queen Caroline, he enjoyed the intimacy of Pope, Bo lingbroke, and many other eminent characters of that period.
From England, Montesquieu returned to La Brede. The striking scenes which he had examined, and the distinguished persons with whom he had associated, could not but furnish matter of deep and extensive re flection to a mind so gifted. Perhaps his well known observation, that Germany is a country fit to travel in, Italy to sojourn, England to think, and France to live in, exhibits rather more pointedness than truth ; but the practical knowledge which he had acquired respecting men and governments, was advantageously applied in his future productions. The first, in order of time, is an Essay, Sur les causes de la Grandeur et de la Deca dence des Romaine, completed during the two years of his seclusion at la Brede, and published in 1734.
In attempting to derive the grandeur and downfall of Rome from the admitted principles of human nature, Montesquieu gave a new turn to such investigations. If some elements of a problem so complex have been omitted, and others rated too high or too low, the work must be allowed to exhibit views of political society, at all times specious, often equally just and profound : the vivid pictures, the acute and original thoughts, with which it every where abounds, are to be traced in many succeeding speculations. It deserves praise also for the
manly and liberal tone of feeling that pervades it.
But the chief basis of Montesquieu's fame is the Esprit des Lois, published in 1748. His profession had led him to examine the subject of law with great mi nuteness; and he appears, from an early period, to have aimed at discovering some system which might serve to connect the isolated facts of a science, the extent and confusion of which increased with his knowledge of it. Hitherto, writers on jurisprudence had limited their views to the codes of particular states, or to metaphysical dis cussions concerning the abstract rectitude of those codes. But the object of Alontesquieu was different, and much more comprehensive. Embracing the various, and ap parently capricious systems of law, as they regard com merce, religion, or civil rights, in every country which travellers or historians make known to us, he endeavours to elicit regularity from this chaos, and to derive the in tention of each legislator, or at least the utility of his law, from some circumstances in the natural or political situation of those to whom it is addressed. The attempt, if not entirely successful, was arduous and vast : it was likewise altogether new. The reading alone 'which it presupposes would hare deterred a man of common ardour ; especially if, like the author, almost totally de prived of sight, he had been compelled to employ the eyes of others. But although the Esprit des Lois can nel. be 'regarded as a full and correct solution, it is at least a splendid theory ; and the labour of twenty years devoted to produce it, the enthusiasm required for sus taining such an effort, were by no means misapplied. The abundance of curious, and generally authentic informa tion, with which the work is sprinkled, renders it in structive even to a superficial reader; while the vigor ous and original ideas to be found in every page of it, by an attentive one, never fail to delight and astonish where they convince, and to improve even where the truth of them seems doubtful. The brilliant hints, correct or otherwise, which the author scatters round him with a liberal hand, have excited or assisted the speculations of others, in almost every department of political eco nomy; and Montesquieu is deservedly mentioned as a principal founder of that important science. The me rits of his work are farther enhanced by his style, which, though emphatic and perspicuous, rather than polished, abounds in elegant sarcasm, in Nivid and happy turns of expression, which remind us of his cournryman, Mon taigne.
Among the defects of the Esprit de Lois may be numbered its wart of method, partly apparent, partly real. The transitions are universally abrupt ; the brevity sometimes degenerates into obscurity, and the smartness into affectation. Though the author's tone is always de cided and positive, his statements and specul—ions are oc casionally uncertain or erroneous : in particular, the ef fects attributed to climate (some of which may have been borrowed from Bodin's Methodus Historic) are greatly exaggerated. But whatever blemishes the work may have, it is entitled to the high praise of steadily sup porting the cause of justice and humanity, without de parting from the moderation and reserve proper in com bating established prejudices.