BOOK I PART III
ists. One edition passes into another, and that
into a third, and so on, till we come to that vol-
ume we peruse at present. There is no varia-
tion in the steps. After we know one we know
all of them; and after we have made one, we
can have no scruple as to the rest. This circum-
stance alone preserves the evidence of history,
and will perpetuate the memory of the present
age to the latest posterity. If all the long chain
of causes and effects, which connect any past
event with any volume of history, were com-
posed of parts different from each other, and
which it were necessary for the mind distinctly
to conceive, it is impossible we should preserve
to the end any belief or evidence. But as most
of these proofs are perfectly resembling, the
mind runs easily along them, jumps from one
part to another with facility, and forms but a
confused and general notion of each link. By