Madness overtakes the cool satirist Swift, and mental degeneracy is the final condition of the fertile-minded Scott.

This Degeneracy is not only the Guilt of particular Persons, but also at some times of a whole People; and perhaps it may appear upon Examination, that the most polite Ages are the least virtuous.

Degeneracy was as marked and rapid in the former, notwithstanding all the civilizing influences of letters, jurisprudence, arts, and utilitarian science, as in the latter nations,a most significant and impressive commentary on the uniform destinies of nations, when those virtues on which the strength of man is based have passed away.