Eustace, John Cretwode: A classical tour through Italy An. MDCCCII (Vol. 4): 3. ed., rev. and enl (London: J. Mawman, 1815)

370 CLASSICAL TOUR
sovereignty of the French despot, and to reject
with contemptuous disdain both his claims and
his offers.
Inconcussa tenens dubio vestigia mundo.
Lucan ii.
How long this subjugation of Italy may last,
it is not for human foresight to determine ; but
we may without rashness venture to assert, that
as long as the population and the resources
of Italy are annexed to the destinies of France,
so long France must be triumphant. A peace
that consigns the garden of Europe to the tran-
quil sovereignty of that overgrown and most
restless Power, consigns the Continent over to
hopeless slavery ; and of a peace that brings
such a dire disaster with it, it may justly be
asserted that it will be more pernicious in its
consequences than the longest and most destruc-
tive warfare.
The islands may flatter themselves in vain
with the advantages of their situation ; a popu-
lation of sixty millions, active, warlike, and
intelligent, with all the ports and all the forests
of the Continent at their command, with increas-
ing experience on their side, and with the skill