, now dried her tears.
At last a steady line of dawning light
Show'd that her son was saved, and banish'd night.
Though sad her heart, of one fair pledge bereft,
She sees and owns the bounties Heaven hath left.
In natural drops her anguish finds relief,
And leaves the Matron beautified by grief;
While consolation, beaming from above,
Fills her with new-felt gratitude and love.
O happy He! before whose waking eyes,
So bright a vision may resplendent rise--
The New PANDORA, by the Gods designed,
Not now the bane, but blessing of Mankind!

THE REIGN OF GEORGE THE THIRD.[33]

It is scarcely theoretical to say, that every century has a character
of its own. The human mind is essentially progressive in Europe. The
accumulations of past knowledge, experience, and impulse, are
perpetually preparing changes on the face of society; and we may
fairly regard every hundred years as the period maturing those changes
into visible form. Thus, the fifteenth century was the age of
discovery in the arts, in the powers of nature, and in the great
provinces of the globe: the sixteenth exhibited the general mind under
the impressions of religion--the Reformation, the German wars for
liberty and faith, and the struggles of Protestantism in France. The
seventeenth was the brilliant period of scientific advance, of
continental literature, and of courtly pomp and power. The eighteenth
was the period of politics; every court of Europe was engaged in the
game of political rivalry; the European balance became the test, the
labour, and the triumph of statesmanship. The negotiator was then the
great instrument of public action. Diplomacy assumed a shape, and
Europe was governed by despatches. The genius of Frederick the Second
restored war to its early rank among the elements of national life;
but brilliant as his wars were, they were subservient to the leading
feature of the age. They were fought, not, like the battles of the old
conquerors, for fame, but for influence--not to leave the king without
an enemy, but to leave his ambassadors without an opponent--less to
gain triumphs, than to ensure treaties: they all began and ended in
diplomacy!

It is remarkable, that this process was exhibited in Europe alone. In
the East, comprehending two-thirds of human kind, no change was made
since the conquests of Mahomet. That vast convulsion, in which the
nervousness of frenzy had given the eff