Hume shows up his publishers

Longinus thought  himself sufficiently justified, in asserting, that the arts and sciences  could never flourish , but in a free government: And in this opinion , he has been followed by several eminent writers  in our own country, who either confined their view merely to ancient  facts, or entertained too great a partiality in favour of that form of  government, established amongst us. But what would these writers have said, to the instances of modern Rome and of Florence?
This is in the edition published by the Liberty Fund of Indianapolis.