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ESSAY VIII.

ON BASTARDS.

THAT there is a reigning quality in every age, has been demonstrated by the exploring genius of history. If we turn to the annals of antiquity, we shall discover that heroism and cowardice, œconomy and dissipation, have been, by turns, the distinguishing characteristics of the states of Greece and Italy. Much, however, as we are addicted to extol the past at the expence of the present times, the remark may be safely hazarded, that human nature is the same in all ages: the benevolent sentiments of affection and friendship, the angry passions of jealousy and envy, and the detestable ones of malice, hatred, and rage, alike possess the breast of the Hottentot and the European. The character of mankind has, indeed, been always compounded of a mixture of virtues and vices, though at different periods they have appeared under different forms; but upon the general character of a particular nation, its government unquestionably possesses a considerable influence,

since it would be the most striking of all political anomalies, for the rulers of the state to be wise and virtuous, and the people ignorant and profligate.

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Every man who has looked upon the late debates in the great council of this nation, will feel no hesitation to avow, that the present age has but small pretensions to that character of devoted patriotism which marked the actions of an early Roman. The sense of a danger, the most unprecedented and unparalleled that ever menaced this country, instead of terminating party dissensions, seems to have rekindled them with greater fury than ever. No, the balance of Europe will sooner be restored, than an union of councils for the public good take place between the leaders of opposition and those of administration.

Some writers have ventured to declare, that selfishness is the ruling principle of this age; others, with more confidence, have affirmed it to be luxury, and have brought forward several instances in support of their peremptory decision; but as it is the part of true wisdom to be careful in erecting general theories on a few particular observations or appearances, we see every reason, from an examination of the particular cases adduced by them, to consider such views as hasty and erroneous, and to concur with those who think that

libertinism is the distinguishing characteristic of the

present age.

In coinciding, however, with this conclusion, we are fully sensible that it admits of no small modification and restriction; yet it is certainly to be preferred to those which have determined the character of the present age to be that of selfishness or luxury. Upon the supposition, therefore, that the majority in the low, middle, and high stations of life in this country, are actuated by the dreadful vice of libertinism, (and many facts unfortunately exist to prove, that this hypothesis is founded on the basis of truth,) we are naturally led to the consideration of the peculiar state of those persons denominated Bastards-a theme which may be said to come home to the feelings of almost every man.

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According to the calculation of Dr. Colquhoun, in his treatise on Indigence, it appears that the number of persons who are supported wholly or partly by the bounty of others, amounts to more than a million. If this computation be just, and it seems too well founded to excite any suspicion of inaccuracy, we may fairly estimate, that a great part of this melancholy catalogue is swelled by those whose spurious birth deprives them of all rights of society, and upon whose mis

fortunes, which they owe not to their own follies and vices, but to the crimes of their parents, the most opprobious epithets have been thrown, in almost every nation and every age.

But before we proceed to survey the condition of Bastards, and express our wishes that the legislature would adopt measures that should re-adjust or remodel some of the existing statutes relative to that description of persons, (for assuredly the attempt may be made without infringing upon any of those proud distinctions which are regarded as the appendages of chastity,) a cursory review of the situation of Bastards in ancient times will not perhaps be here misplaced.

From the days of Homer down to the present times, a mark of infamy, more or less, has been affixed upon the issue of concubinage: it is true, indeed, that in the earliest periods, instances have occurred, of natural children being preferred to, or at least being put on an equal footing with, the offspring of marriage; but we may fairly assign the origin of such conduct in the father, to the concubine having taken an entire hold of his affections by her beauty, or an amiable disposition, superior to that of his wife. Under such circumstances we may suppose Telamon to be actuated, when he declared his son Teucer worthy of a seat at his table,

TEG EOUTα volov, although a Bastard. This solitary example, or even that of natural+ children succeeding to their fathers' kingdoms, in cases chiefly, however, of failure in legitimate issue, cannot therefore be urged as a just reason for rejecting the belief of a practice which has been confirmed by the whole course of antiquity.

If we turn our eyes towards the republics of Athens and Rome, we shall not fail to discover, that the laws made against Bastards were well calculated to inspire the minds of the people with a deep and lasting respect for the institution of marriage. According to the jurisprudence of Solon, the Athenian Bastard was declared incapable of assuming the name of his father, and likewise of inheriting any of his estates, and was most rigorously excluded from any interference in the affairs of government. Still farther to widen the distinction between the offspring of the concubine and that of the wife, it was established by the same lawgiver, that those who had no legitimate sons, should be compelled to give their estates to their daughters: some faint traces, however, of commi

* See Iliad, Lib. viii. line 284.

+ In the Odyssey, Ulysses avows himself to be the son of a concubine. - ἐμὲ δ' ωνητη τέκε μητηρ παλλακις. "Lib. xiv. v. 202.

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