_That those who lived Two Thousand Years ago, were larger than the
present Race of Mankind._
We are obliged to the Poets for this Patagonian System. Their Fictions of
Titan and Briareus, and the whole Fraternity of Giants, is a Fable which
conveys a Moral: The Giants, upon attempting to scale the Walls of Heaven
by heaping Mountains one upon another, are repelled by Jupiter's Thunder,
made Prisoners, and bound under those Mountains upon which they made the
Attempt. The Moral of the Fable is only this, that it is impossible for any
Force to oppose the Omnipotent. Not to dispute whether the Ancients were of
Opinion, that at the Creation of the World all the Animals were of a
gigantic Size, or what might be their Sentiments about that Matter; it is
certain that there has been an Opinion among Men, in all Ages, that the
Time in which they themselves lived, produced Men of less Stature than
those who lived some Time before them. This is a Persuasion which the Poets
all encouraged, as it suited their Purpose; nothing being so great an
Enchantment, to the Mind of a poetical Reader, as to be struck with the
Marvellous.
When Virgil makes Turnus throw a large Stone at Æneas, he tells us, that it
was such a Stone as twelve Men of his degenerate Age could scarce have
carried upon their Shoulders.
_Nec plura effatus, saxum circumspicit ingens:_
_Saxum antiquum ingens, campo quod forte jacebat,_
_Limes agro positus litem ut discerneret arvis._
_Vix illud lecti bis sex cervice subirent,_
_Qualia nunc hominum producit corpora tellus._
A Person who reads this Passage, and really believes that Men were larger
in Æneas' Time than in Virgil's, reasons thus with himself: "The Works of
Nature degenerate: Those who lived in Æneas's Time, were larger than those
who lived in Virgil's; and those who lived in the Time of Virgil, were
larger than those who live now."
With regard to those who lived in Æneas's Time, we cannot indeed have any
positive Proof to the contrary; but it is not impossible to prove, that the
generality of those Romans who lived in Virgil's Time, were not so tall as
the present Inhabitants of Great Britain are at this Day.
The English in general are a tall People; we are obliged to a Mixture of
Saxons and Danes for our Stature. A curious Observer may discover a great
deal of the Dane in many of the English, not only from their Names, but
likewise from their Features and Complexions. Those People who have
straight Hair between a white and a red, and have fine Skins, but withall a
fierce Countenance, seem to be of Danish Extraction. It is not difficult,
neither, to trace the Saxon in many of our Nation; such as are tall and
lusty, and of a peaceable and quiet Demeanor till they are provoked, and
with nothing very brisk in their Countenances, seem to have had Saxon
Ancestors. Not to dwell long upon this, as it is certain that England has
been over-run by the Danes and Saxons (whom it would be prudent not to
speak ill of, lest we should abuse some of our own Relations) we will
return to our Subject.
There is no Cause to apprehend that the Works of Nature degenerate in the
least, as it is a Supposition which is repugnant to all the Observations
which may be made upon the Generation of Animals. Any one who has bred
Horses, Dogs, or Poultry, must have observed, that instead of degenerating,
they always improve upon his Hands, unless he opposes Nature, which seems
to struggle hard against a Stagnation, by confining the Breed too long in
the same Family.
We have two Reasons, then, to suppose that the present Inhabitants of Great
Britain are larger in Stature than the old Romans were, viz. because they
are the Posterity of a taller People, and because the Breed is so much
crossed.
But we beg Leave to offer a Reason why it may be apprehended that the
Ancients were not larger in Stature than the Moderns, which seems to carry
along with it something which has very much the Air of a Proof.
Whoever observes the Size of the Remains of those People who lived in the
Time of the old Romans, or before that Time, will find, that they are no
larger in their Dimensions than the Remains of those who died fifty Years
ago. I have seen Abundance of Stone Coffins, which, as they are found in a
Place which has all the manifest Signs of having been a Roman Camp, both in
respect of it's advantageous Situation, the Name of the present Town, which
is Caster, the Roman Coin which is constantly found there, the Urns in
which the Coin is found, the Inscriptions cut in Cedar in the Coffins, the
Stones of a Bridge, which may be felt with a Sprit, at the Bottom of the
River, at the Back of an Enclosure, which is called the Castle Ground to
this Day; all these are Indications of a Roman Camp, and may be seen near
the great North Road between Stilton and Stamford; where the Curious, by a
proper Application, may have a Pocket full of Roman Coin for a Shilling.
Indeed, whether these Stone Coffins, which are found in this Camp,
contained the Bodies of Romans, no one can positively determine, especially
as the Romans generally burnt their Dead, if they had a convenient
Opportunity: However, as they are found in a Roman Camp, upon the same Spot
where the Coin is found, it is enough to make one think that they are Roman
Coffins, and that the Romans did sometimes bury their Dead; nevertheless,
we leave that to the Determination of the Curious.--Of whatever Nation
their Contents were, the Marks of great Antiquity are strong upon them; and
we can assure the Reader, that none of them were ever troubled with Remains
of a Patagonian.
But these are not the only Reliques by which we may form our Judgments;
numberless Libraries and Repositories in this Kingdom afford us Instances
of the Size of the Ancients: We have several Egyptian Mummies which seem to
be of very ancient Standing, and must have contained the Bodies of Men of
less Stature than the present English.
Upon the whole, then, we have just Cause to conclude, that in all Ages of
the World, the Egyptians and Romans were in general of the same Size with
the present Inhabitants of those Countries.
It must nevertheless be allowed, that Luxury and Debauchery, which are the
Concomitants of Wealth, do very much tend to decrease the Stature of the
Inhabitants of those Cities which have long continued in that State. To
which we may apply this Philosophical Maxim, _When any Thing is so small as
to be of no Consequence to the Point in Hand, it is considered as Nothing_.
Those Cities which have acquired so much Wealth as to be able to commit
such Excesses, are inconsiderable when compared to the Inhabitants of the
whole Earth, therefore they are to be considered as nothing.
Besides, so great is the Caprice of Fortune, that even the most powerful
State in the Universe, cannot presume to declare how soon a Period may be
put to its Grandeur. But having said something upon this Subject before, we
shall proceed to another Error.
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