Studies of nature

STUDIES

OF

NATURE.

VOL. IV.

STUDIES

OF

NATURE,

BY

JAMES - HENRY- BERNARDIN

DE SAINT -PIERRE.

.MISERÏS SUCCURERE DISCO.

TRANSLATED liY

HENRY HUNTER, D. D.

MINISTER OF THE SCOTS CHURCH, LONDON-WALL.

IN FIFE rO LUMES,

VOL. iV.

EonDon :

PRINTED FOR C. DILLY, IN THE POULTRY.

MDCCXCVI,

CONTENTS

OF VOL. IV.

SEQUEL OF Page

STUDY XII. /^F the Sentiments of the Soul, and,

V-/ firft, Of mental Affeeiions i

Of the Sentiment of Innocence .i 5

Of Pity — 6

Of the Love of Country • 10

Of the Sentiment of Admiration ■ 1 3

Of the Marvellous ' _-^__ i^

The Pkafure of Myflery — — 17

The Pleafure of Ignorance 1 9

Of the Sentiment of Melancholy 24

The Pleafure of Ruin ■ — 28

The Pleafure of Tombs — — — 38

Ruins of Nature — — — 45

The Pleafure of Solitude ■ 47

Of the Sentiment of Love ^— ib.
Of fome other Sentiments of Deity, and,

among others, of that of Virtue — 75
STUDY XIII. Application of the Laws of Nature to the

Diforders of Society — — 97

Of Paris i8r

Of Nobility > 246

Of an Elyfium — — -. 25L

Of the Clergy 288

STUDY XIV. Of Education — 297

National Schools — 326

Recapitulation ■■ — ■■ 371

9 O .n

,^..,

STUDIES

NATURE

SE QUEL OF ST UD Y XII.

OF THE SENTIMENTS OF THE SOUL.

AND, FIRST,

Of mental AjfeBions.

SHALL fpeak of mental afTfiflions, chiefly in
the vieu' of diftinguilhing them from the ien-
ciments of the foul : they diifcr efTentialîy fr.oiii
each other. For ex mi pie, the pleafure which co-
medy beftows is widely different from that of
which tragedy is the fource. The eir.otion which
excites laughter is an affection of the mind, or of
human reafon^ that which dilL.-lves us into tears
is a fentireient of the foul. Not that 1 would make
of the mind, and of the foul, two powers of a dif-
ferent nature j but it feems to me, as his been
already faid, that the one is to the odier, what
fight is to the body; mind is a faculty, and foul
is the principle of it : the foul is, if i may venture
VOL. IV. B thus

2 STUDIES OF NATURE.

thus to exprefs myfelf, the body of our intelîï-
gence. 1 confider the mind, then, as an intellec-
tual eye, to which may be referred the other facul-
ties of the underftanding, as the mûginationj 'wh.ich
apprehends things future ; memory, which contem-
plates things that are paftj and Judgment, which
difcerns their correfpondencies. The impreflion
made upon us by thefe different adls of vifion,
fometimes excites in us a fentiment which is de-
nominated evidence ; and in that cafe, this laft per-
ception belongs immediately to the foul ; of this
we are made fenfible by the delicious emotion
which it fuddenly excites in us ; but, raifed to
that, it is no longer in the province of mind ; be-
caufe, when we begin to feel, we ceafe to reafon;
it is no longer vifion, it is enjoyment.

As our education and our manners dired us to-
ward our perfonal intereft, hence it comes to pafs,
that the mind employs itfelf only about focial con-
formities, and that reafon, after all, is nothing
more than the intereft of our paffions ; but the
foul, left to itfelf, is inceffantly purfuing the con-
formities of Nature, and our fentiment is always
the intereft of Mankind.

Thus, I repeat it, mind is the perception of the
Laws of Society, and fentiment is the perception
of the Laws of Nature. Thofe who difplay to us

the

STUDY XII. 3

the conformities of Society, fuch as comic Writers,
Satyrifts, Epigrammatifts, and even the greatefl: part
of Moralifts, are men of wit : fuch were the Abbé
de Choify^ La BruyerCy St. Evremont, and the like.
Thofe who difcover to us the conformities of Na-
ture, fuch as tragic, and other Poets of fenfibility,
the Inventors of arts, great Philofophers, are men
of genius : fuch were Shakefpeare, Corneille, Racine,
Newton, Marcus Aurelius, Montefquieu, La Fontaine,
Fenelon, J. J. Rotijfeaii. The firft clafs belong to
one age, to one feafon, to one nation, to one junto;
the others to pofterity and to Mankind.

We (hall be flill more fenfiblc of the difference
which fubfifts between mind and foul, by tracing
their affeftions in oppofite progreffes. As often,
for example, as the perceptions of the mind are
carried up to evidence, they are exalted into a
fource ofexquifite pleafure, independently of every
particular relation of intereft ; becaufe, as has been
faid, they awaken a feeling within us. But when
we go about to analyze our feelings, and refer
them to the examination of the mind, or reafoning
power, the fublime emotions which they excited in
us vanifli away ; for in this cafe, wç do not fail to
refer them to fome accommodation of fociety, of
fortune, of fyflem, or of fome other perfonal inte-
reft, whereof our reafon is compofed. Thus, in

B 2 the

4" STUDIES OF NATURE.

the firft cafe, we change our copper into gold ;
and m the fécond, our gold into copper.

Again, nothing can be lefs adapted, at the long-
run, to the ftudy of Naiure, than the reafjning
powers of Man ; for though they may catch here
and there fome natural conformities, they never
purfue the chain to any great length : befides,
there is a much o-reater number which the mind
does not perceive, becaufe it always brings back
every thing to itfelf, and to the little focial or fci-
entific order within which it is circumfcribed.
Thus, for example, if it takes a glitiipfe of the ce-
leftial fpheres, it will refer the formation of them
to the labour of a glafs-houfe ; and if it admits the
exiflence of a creating Power, it will reprefent him
as a mechanic out of employment, amufing himfelf
with making globes, merely to have the pleafure
of feeinsT them turn round. It will conclude, from
it's own diforder, that there is no fuch thing as
order in Nature ; from it's own immortality, that
there is no mortality. As it refers every thing to
it's own reafon, and feeing no reafjn for exifii-
ence, when it fhall be no longer on the Earth, it
thence concludes, that, in fad, it fliall not in that
cafe exift. To be confident, it ought equally to
conclude, on the fame principle, that it does not
exift nows for it certainly can difcover, neither in

itfelf,

STUDY XII. 5

itfeif, nor in any thing around, an acliial realon
for ix's exiiicnce.

We arc convinced of our exiflence b}' a power
greatly fuperior to our mind, which is fentiment,
or intelledual feeling. We are going to carry
this natural inftind: alono- with us into our re-
fearclies refpeâ;ing the exidence of tlie Deity,
and the immortality of the foul ; fnbjeds, on
which our verfatile reafon has fo frequently en-
gaged, fomecimes on this, fometimes on the other
fide of the queftion. Though our infufficiency
be too great to admit of launching far into this
unbounded career, we prefume to hope, that our
perceptions, nay, our very miflakes, may encou-
rage men of genius to enter upon i,f. Thcfe fu-
blime and eternal truths feem to us fo deeply im-
printed on the human heart, as to appear them-
felves the principles of our intelledual feeling,
and to manifefl: themfelves in our m-fh oidinary
.affedions, as in the wildeft excelles of our paffions.

OF THE SENTIMENT OF INNOCENCE.

The fentiment of innocence exalts us toward the
Deity, and prompts us to virtuous deeds. The
Greeks and Romans employed litHe children Cb
fing in their religious feftivals, and to prefenc

E 2 their

b STUDIES OF NATURE.

their offerings at the altar, in the view of rendering
the Gods propitious to their Country, by the fpec-
tacle of infant innocence. The fight of infancy
calls men back to the fentiments of Nature. When
CrJo of Utica had formed the refolution to put
himfelf to death, his friends and fervants concealed
his fword ; and upon his demanding it, with ex-
preffions of violent indignation, they delivered it
to him by the hand of a child : but the corrup-
tion of the age in which he lived, had ftified in
his heart the fentiment which innocence ought to
have excited.

Jesus Christ recommends to us to become as
little children : We call them innocents, non no-
centes^ becaufe they have never injured any one.
But, notwithftanding the claims of their tender
age, and the authority of the Chriliian Religion,
to what barbarous education are they not aban-
doned ?

Of Pity.

The fentiment of innocence s the'native fource
of compaffion ; hence we are more deeply affefted
by the fufferings of a child than by thofe of an old
man. The reafon is not, as certain Philofophers
pretend, becaufe the refources and hopes of the
child are inferior; for they are, in truth, greater

than

STUDY XII. 7

than thofe of the old man, who is frequently in-
firm, and haftening to diflblutioni whereas the
child is entering into life; but the child has never
offended ; he is innocent. This fentiment extends
even to animals, which, in many cafes, excite our
fympathy more than rational creatures do, from
this very confideration, that they are harmlefs.
This accounts for the idea of the good La Fon-
taine^ in defcribing the Deluge, in his fable of
Baucis and Philemon.

Tout dlfparut fur l'heure.

Les vieillards déploroient ces fevères deftins :
Les animaux périr ! Car encor les humains,
Tous avoient dû tomber fous les célèftes armes,
Baucis en répandit en fecret quelques larmes.

AU difappear'd in that tremendous hour.

Age felt the weight of Heaven's infulted power :

On guilty Man the ftroke with jullice fell,

But harmlefs brutes i — the fiercenefs who can tell

Of wrath divine ? — At thought of this, fome tears

Stole down the cheeks of Baucis

Thus the fentiment of innocence develops, in
the heart of Man, a divine charaâier, which is that
of generofity. It bears, not on the calamity ab-
ftradedly confidered, but on a moral quality,
which it difcerns in the unfortunate being who is
the objeâ: of it. It derives increafe from the view
of innocence, and fometimes ftill more from that
of repentance. Man alone, of all animals, is fuf-

B 4 ceptible

o STUDIES OF KATURE,

cepiible of it ; and this, not by a fecret retrofpect
to himlcif, as (ome enemies of the Human Race
have pretended : for, were that the cafe, on ftaiing
a comparifon beiween a child and an old man,
both of them unfortunate, we ought to be move
aiFeCied by the mifery of the old man, confidering
that we are removing from the wretch.cdneis oi
chik'iiood, and drawins; nearer to thole ot old-
age : the contrary, however, takes place, in virtue
of the moral fcntiment which I have alleged.

When an old man is virtuous, the moral Icnti-
ment of his diftrefs is excited in us with redoubled
force ; this is an evident proof, that pity in Man
is by no means an animal affedion. The fight of
a Belifariiis is, accordingly, a moft affecling objeCl.
If you heighten it by the introducftion of a child
holding out his little hand to receive the alms be-
flowcd on that illullrious blind beggar, the imprefT
fion of pity is ftill more powerful. But let me put
a fcntlmental cafe. Suppofe you had fallen in
with Belifarius foliciting charity, on the one hand,
and on the other, an orphan child, blind and
VvTetched, and that you had but one crown, with-
out the podibiiity of dividing it, to which of the
two would you have given it }

If on reflection you (ind, that the eminent fer-
vlces rendered by Belifarius to his iingraieful Coun-
try,

STUDY XII. 9

try, have inclined the balance of fentiment too
decidedly in his favour, fuppofe the child over-
whelmed with the woes of Belifarhis, and at the
fame time poffeffing fome of his virtues, fiich as
having his eyes put out by his parents, and, never-
thelefs, continuing to beg alms for their relief* ;
there would, in my opinion, be no room for hefi-
tation, provided a man felt only : for if you rea-
fon, the cafe is entirely altered; the talents, the
victories, the renown of the Grecian General, would
prefently abforb the calamities of an obfcure child.
Reafon will recal you to the political intereft, to
the / human.

The fentiment of innocence is a ray of the Di-
vinity. It invefls the unfortunate perfon with a
celeftial radiance, which falls on the human heart,
and recoils, kindling it into generofity, that other
fiame of divine original. It alone renders us fen-
fjble to the diftrefs of virtue, by reprefenting it to
us as incapable of doing harm ; for othervvife, we
might be induced to confider it as fufficient to it-
felf. In this cafe it would excite rather admira-
tion than pity.

* The reélor of a country village, in the vicinity of Paris,
not far from Dravet, underwent, in his infancy, a piece of inhu-
manity not lefs barbarous, from the hands of his parents. He
fufFered cailration from his own father, who was by profeffion a
furgeon : he, neverthelefs, fupported that unnatural parent in
bis old age. I believe both father and fon are flill in life.

Of

iÔ STUDIES OF NAtfRE.

Of the Love of Country.

This fentiment is, ftill farther, the fource of
Jove of Country, becaufe it brings to our recollec-
tion the gentle and pure affcftions of our earlier
years. It increafes with extenfion, and expands
with the progrefs of time, as a fentiment of a celef-
tial and immortal nature. They have, in Switzer-
land, an ancient mufical air, and extremely fimple,
called the rans des vaches. This air produces an
cffeâ: fo powerful, that it was found neceflary to
prohibit the playing of it, in Holland and in
France, before the Swifs foldiers, becaufe it fee
them all a-deferting one after another. I imagine
that the rans des vaches muft imitate the lowing
and bleating of the cattle, the repercuffion of the
echos, and other local aflbciations, which made
the blood boil in the veins of thofe poor foldiers,
by recalling to their memory the valleys, the lakes,
the mountains of their Country *, and, at the fame

time,

* I have been told that Poutaverl^ the Indian of Taiti, who
tvas fome years ago brought to Paris, on feeing, in the Royal
Garden, the paper-mulberry tree, the bark of which is, in that
ifland, manufaélured into cloth, the tear ftarted to his eye, and
clafping it in his arms, he exclaimed : Ah ! tree of my country !
I could wifh it were put to the trial, whether, on prefenting ta
a foreign bird, fay a paroquet, a fruit of it's country, which it

had

STUDY XII. Il

time, the companions of their early life, their firfl;
loves, the recolledion of their indulgent grand-
fathers, and the like.

The love of Country feems to ftrengthen in pro-
portion as it is innocent and unhappy. For this
reafon Savages are fonder of their Country than
poliflied Nations are ; and thofe who inhabit re-
gions rough and wild, fuch as mountaineers, than
thofe who live in fertile countries and fine cli-
mates. Never could the Court of Ruffia prevail
upon a fingle Samoïcde to leave the fliores of the
Frozen Ocean, and fettle at Peterfburg. Somp
Greenlanders were brought, in the courfe of the
laft century, to the Court of Copenhagen, where
they were entertained with a profufion of kindnefs,
but foon fretted themfelves to death. Several of
them were drowned, in attempting to return to
their Country in an open boat. They beheld all
the magnificence of the Court of Denmark with
extreme indifference ; but there was one, in par-
had not feen for a confiderable time, it would exprefs fome ex-
traordinary emotion. Though phyfical fenfations attach us
llrongly to Country, moral fentiments alone can give them a
vehement intenfity. Time, which bkints the former, gives only
a keener edge to the latter. For this reafon it is, that veneration
for a monument is always in proportion to it's antiquity, or to
it's diflance ; this explains that expreffion of Tacitus: Major e
longirtquo renjcrentia : diilaace increafes reverence.

ticular,

12 STUDIES OF NATURE.

ticular, whom they obferved to weep every time
he law a woman with a child in her arms ; hence
they conjectured that this unfortunate man was a
father. The gentlenefs of domeftic education,
undoubtedly, thus powerfully attaches thole poor
people to the place of their birth. It was this
which infpired the Greeks and Romans with (o
much courage in the defence of their Country.
The lentiment of innocence ftrengthens the love of
it, becaufe it brings back all the affecftions of early
life, pure, facred, and incorruptible. Virgil was
well acquainted with the effeft of this fentiment,
when he puts into the mouth of Nifns, who was
diffuading Enryalns from undertaking a nodurnal
expedition, fraught with danger, thofe affecting
words :

Te fuperefTe velim : tua vita dignior œtas.

If thou furvive me, I fliall die content :
Tliv tender ag[e deferves the lonoer life.

But among Nations with whom infancy is ren-
dered miferable, and is corrupted by irkfome, fe-
rocious, and unnatural education, there is no more
love ot Country than there is of innocence. This
is one of the caufes which fends fo many Euro-
peans a-raoibling over the World, and which ac-
counts for our having fo few modern monuments
in Europe, becaufe the next generation never fails

to

STUDY xiî. r;

îû dellroy the monuments of that which preceded
it. This is the rcaion that our books, our fa-
ihions, our cuftoms, our ceremonies, and our lan-
guages, become obfolete fo Toon, and arc entirely
different this age from what they were in ihe l;al ;
whereas all thefe particulars continue the lame
among the fedcntary Nations of A fia, for a long
feries of ao-c^ together ; becaufe children brouQ-lit:
up in Afia, in the habitation of their parents, and
treated with much gentlenefs, remain attached to
the efLabliQiments of their anceftors, out of grati-
tude to their memory, and to the places of their
birth, from the recolleJilion of their happinefs and
innocence.

OF THE SENTIMENT OF ADMIRATION.

The fentiment of admiration tranfports us im-
mediately into the bofom of Deity. If it is ex-
cited in us by an ob;e6l which infpires delight, we
convey ourfelves thither as to the fource of joy ;
if terror is roufed, we flee thither for refuge, in
either cafe, Admiration exclaims in thefe words,
Jb, my God I This is, we are told, the eftcél of
education r.ierely, in the courfe of which frequent
mention is made of the nantie of God ; but men-
tion is flill more frequently made of our father, of
the king, of a protector, of a celebrated literary

charader.

14 STUDIES OF NATURE.

charaâiei'. How comes it, then, that when we
feel ourfelves ftanding in need of fupport, in fuch
unexpefled concuffions, we never exclaim, Ah, my
King I or, if Science were concerned, Ah, Newton!

It is certain, that if the name of God be fre-
quently mentioned to us, in the progrefs of our
education, the idea of it is quickly effaced in the
ufual train of the affairs of this World ; why then
have we recourfe to it in extraordinary emergen-
cies ? This fentiment of Nature is common to all
Nations, many of whom give no theological in-
ftruftion to their children. I have remarked it in
the Negroes of the coaft of Guinea, of Madagaf-
car, of Cafrerie, and Mofambique, among the
Tartars, and the Indians of the Malabar coaft j
in a word, among men of every quarter of the
World. I never faw a lîngle one who, under the
extraordinary emotions of furprize or of admira-
tion, did not make, in his own language, the fame
exclamation which we do, and who did not lift up
his hands and his eyes to Heaven.

Of the Marvellous.

The fentiment of admiration is the fource of the
inftinft which men have, in every age, difcovered
for the marvellous. We are hunting after it con-
tinuai! v.

STUDY XII. 15

tinuaîly, and every where, and we difFufe it, prin-
cipally, over the commencement and the clofe of
human life : hence it is that the cradles and the
tombs of fo great a part of Mankind have been
enveloped in fidion. It is the perennial fource
of our curiofity ; it difclofes itfelf from early in-
fancy, and is long the companion of innocence.
Whence could children derive the tafte for the
marvellous ? They muft have Fairy-tales ; and
men muft have epic poems and operas. It is the
marvellous which conftitutes one of the grand
charms of the antique ftatues of Greece and Rome,
reprefenting heroes or gods, and which contri-
butes, more than is generally imagined, to our de-
light, in the perufal of the ancient Hiftory of thofe
Countries. It is one of the natural reafons which
may be produced to the Prefident Henault, who
exprelies aftonifliment that we (hould be more
enamoured of ancient Hiftory than of modern,
efpecially that of our own country : the truth is,
independantly of the patriotic fentiments, which
ferve, at leaft, as a pretext to the intrigues of the
great men of Greece and Rome, and which were
fo entirely unknown to ours, that they frequently
embroiled their country in maintaining the inte-
refts of a particular houfe, and fometimes in aflert-
ing the honour of piecedency, or of fitting on a
joint-ftool; there is a marvellous in the religion of
the Ancients v/hich confoles and elevates human na-
ture,

l6 STUDIES OF NATURE.

ture, whereas that of the Gauls terrifies and debafes
it. The gods of the Greeks and the Romans were
patriots, hke their great men. Minerva had given
them the oHve, Neptune the horfe. Thefe gods
protefted the cities and the people. But thole of
the ancient Gauls were tyrants, like their Barons ;
they afforded protection only to the Druids. They
muft be glutted with hum.an facrifices. In a word,
this relig-ion was fo inhuman, that two fucceffive
Roman Emperors, according to the teftimony of
Suetonius and Pliny, commanded it to be abolidied.
I fay nothing of the modern intereils of our Hif-
tory ; but fure I am that the relations of our po-
litics will never replace in it, to the heai t of Man,
thofe of the Divinity.

I muft obferve that, as admiration is an invo-
luntary movement of the Soul toward Deity, and
is, of coniequencefublime, lèverai modern Authors
have ftrained to multiply this kind of beauty in
their produ6lions, by an accumulation of fur-
prizing incidents; but Nature employs them fpar-
ingly in hers, becaufe Man is incapable of fre-
quently undergoing conçu ffions fo violent. She
difclofes to us, by little and little, the light of the
Sun, the expanfion of flowers, the formation of
fruits. She gradually introduces our enjoyments
by a long feries of harmonies ; flie treats us as hu-
man beings ; that is, as machines feeble and eafily

deranged j

STtJDY xii. if

deranged ; flie veils Deity from our view, that
we may be able to fupport his approach.

T/je Pkafiire of Myjlcry,

This is the reafon that myftery poflcfles fo many
charms. Pidures placed in the full glare of light,
avenues in ftraight lines, rofes fully blown, wo-
men in gaudy apparel, are far from being the ob-
jets which pleafe us moft. But fliady vallies, paths
winding about through the forefls, flowers fcarcely
half-opened, and timid fliepherdeffes, excite in us
the fweeteft and the moft lafting emotions. The
lovelinefsand refpeAability of objeâis are increafed
by their myfcerioufnefs. Sometimes it is that ofan^
tiquity, which renders fo many monuments vene-
rable in our eyes; fometimes it is that of diftance,
which diffufes fo many charms over objeds in the
Horizon ; fometimes it is that of names. Hence
the Sciences which retain the Greek names, though
they frequently denote only the moft ordinary
things, have a more impofing air of refped: than
thofe which have only modern names, though thefe
may, in many cafes, be more ingenious and more
ufeful. Hence, for example, the conftrudion of
lliips, and the art of navigation, are more lightly
prized by our modern Hieratic than feveral other
phyfical fciences of the moft frivolous nature, but
which are dignified by Greek names. Admira-
voL. IV. G tien.

l8 STUDIES OF NATURE.

tion, accordingly, is not a relation of the under
flanding, or a perception of our reafon ; but a
fentiment of the foul, which arifes in us, from a
certain undefcribable inftind of Deity, at fight of
extraordinary objeds, and from the very myfte-
rioufnefs in which they are involved. This is fo
indubitably certain, that admiration is deftroyed
by the fcience which enlightens us. If I exhibit
to a favage an eolipile darting out a flream of in-
flamed fpirit of wine, I throw him into an extafy
of admiration ; he feels himfelf difpofed to fall
down and worfhip the machine j he venerates me
as the God of Fire, as long as he comprehends it
not ; but no fooner do I explain to him the nature
of the procefs, than his admiration ceafes, and he
looks upon me as a cheat *.

* For this reafon it is that we admire only that which is un-
common. Were there to appear, over the Horizon of Paris,
one of thofe parhelia which are fo common at Spitzbergen, the
whole inhabitants of the city would be in the flreets to gaze at
it, and wonder. It is nothing more, however, than a refleftion
of the Sun's difk in the clouds j and no one (lands ftill to con-
template the Sun himfelf, becaufe the Sun is an objed too well
known to be admired.

It is myftery which conftitutes one of the charms of Reli-
gion. Thofe who infift upon a geometrical demonftration on
this fubjeft, betray a profound ignorance, at once, of the Laws
of Nature, and of the demands of the human heart.

rhe

STUDY XII. , 19

The Pleafures of Ignorance,

From an effed of thofe ineffable fentiments,
and of thofe univerfal inftinfts of Deity, it is, that
ignorance is become the inexhauftible fource of
delight to Man. We mull take care not to con-
found, as all our Moralifls do, ignorance and er-
ror. Ignorance is the work of Nature, and, in
many cafes, a bleffing to Man ; whereas error is
frequently the fruit of our pretended human Sci-
ences, and is always an evil. Let our political
Writers fay what they will, while they boaft of our
wonderful progrefs in knowledge, and oppofe to
it the barbarifm of paft ages, it was not ignorance
which then fet all Europe on fire, and inundated
it with blood, in fettling religious difputations.
A race of ignorants would have kept themfelves
quiet. The mifchief was done by perfons who
were under the power of error, who, at that time,
vaunted as much, perhaps, of their fuperior illu-
mination, as we now-a-days do of ours, and into
each of whom the European fpirit of education
had inftilled this error of early infancy, Be the firfi^

How many evils does ignorance conceal from
us, which we are doomed one day to encounter,
in the courfe of human life, beyond the poflibility

c 2 of

20 STUDIES OF NATURE.

of efcaping ! the inconflancy of friends, the revo-
lutions of fortune, calumnies, and the hour of
death itfelf, fo tremendous to moft men. The
knowledge of ills like thefe would mar all the
comfort of living. How many bleflings does igno-
rance render fublime ! the illufions of friendiliip,
and thofe of love, the perfpedives of hope, and
the very treafures which Science unfolds. The
Sciences infpire deiight only when we enter upon
the ftudy of them, at the period when the mind,
in a ftare of ignorance, plunges into the great ca-
reer. It is the point of contad between light and
darknefs, which prefents to the eye the moft fa-
vourable ftate of vifion : this is the harmonic
point, which excites our admiration, when we are
beginning to fee clearly ; but it lafts only a fingle
inftant. It vanilhes together with ignorance. The
elements of Geometry may have impaffioned young
minds, but never the aged, unlefs in the cafe of
certain illuftrious Mathematicians, who were pro-
ceeding from difcovery to difcovery. Thofe fci-
ences only, and thofe paflions, which are fubjeded
to doubt and chance, form enthufiafts at every age
of life, fuch as chemiftry, avarice, play, and love.

For one plealure which Science bellows, and
caufes to perilh in the bellowing, ignorance pre-
fents us with a thoufand, which flatter us infinitely
more. You demonftrate to me that the Sun is a

fixed

STUDY XII. 21

fixed globe, the attraftion of which gives to the
planets one half of their movements. Had the}'-,
who believed it to be conduced round the World
by Apollo, an idea lefs fublime ? They imagined,
at leaft, that the attention of a God pervaded the
Earth, together with the rays of the Orb of Day.
It is Science which has dragged down the chafte
Diana from her noclurnal car : flie has banilhed
the Hamadryads from the antique forefhs, and the
gentle Naiads from the fountains. Ignorance had
invited the Gods, to partake of it's joys and it's
woes; to Man's wedding, and to his grave: Science
difcerns nothing in either, except the elements
merely. She has abandoned Man to his fellow,
and thrown him upon the Earth as into a defert.
Ah ! whatever may be the names which (he gives
to the different kingdoms of Nature, celeftial fpi-
rits, undoubtedly, regulate their combinations fo
ingenious, fo varied, and fo uniform ; and Man,
who could beftow nothing upon himfelf, is not
the only being in the Univerfe who partakes of in-
telligei'ice.

It is not to the illumination of Science that the
Deity communicates the mod profound fenti-
ment of his attributes, but to our ignorance.
Night conveys to the mind a much grander idea
of infinity than all the glare of day. In the day-
time, I fee but one Suq ; during the night I dif-

c 3 cern

%% STUDIES OF NATURE,

cern thoùfands. Are thofe very ftars, fo varioufly
coloured, really Suns ? Are thofe planets, which
revolve around ours, adually inhabited, as ours
is? From whence came the planet Cybele "*, dif-
covered but yefterday, by a German of the name
of Herjchel? It has been running it's race from
the beginning of the Creation, and was, till of
late, unknown to us. Whither go thofe uncer-
tainly revolving comets, traverhng the regions of
unbounded fpace ? Of what confifts that milky
way which divides the firmament of Heaven ?
What are thofe two dark clouds, placed toward
the Antar6lic Pole, near the crofs of the South ?
Can there be ftars which diffufe darknefs, con-
formably to the belief of the Ancients ? Are there
places in the firmament which the light never
reaches ? The Sun difcovers to me only a terref-
trial infinity, and the night difclofes an infinity al-
together celeftial. O, myfterious ignorance, draw
thy hallowed curtains over thofe enchanting fpec-
tacles ! Permit not human Science to apply to
them it's cheerlefs compafTes. Let not virtue be
reduced, henceforth, to look for her reward from
the juftice and the fenfibility of a Globe ! Permit
her to think that there are in the Univerfe, defti-
nies far different from thofe which fill up the mea-
fure of woe upon this Earth.

* The Englifh, in compliment to their Sovereign, George III.
give it the name of Ceorgium Si Jus.

Science

STUDY XII.

Science is continually fhewing us the boundary
of our reafon, and ignorance is for ever removing
it. I take care, in my folitary rambles, not to afk
information refpeéling the name and quality of
the perfon who owns the caftie which I perceive
at a diflance. The hiftory of the mafter frequently
disfigures that of the landfcape. It is not fo with
the Hiftory of Nature j the more her Works are
ftudied, the more is our admiration excited. There
is one cafe only in which the knowledge of the
works of men is agreeable to us, it is when the
monument which we contemplate has been the
abode of goodnefs. What little fpire is that which
I perceive at Montfnorency ? It is that of Saint-
Gratian, where Catinat lived the life of a fage, and
under which his alhes are laid to reft. My foul,
circumfcribed within the precindls of a fmall vil-
lage, takes it's flight, and ranges over the capacious
fphere of the age of Louis XIV. and haftens thence
to expatiate through a fphere more fublime than
that of the World, the fphere of virtue. When I
am incapable of procuring for myfelf fuch per-
fpedives as thefe, ignorance of places anfwers my
purpofe much better than the knowledge of them
could do. I have no occafion to be informed that
fuch a foreft belongs to an Abbey or to a Dutchy,
in order to feel how majeftic it is. It's ancient
trees, it's profound glades, it's folemn, filent foli-
tudes, are fufficient for me. The moment I ceafe

c 4 to

24 STUDIES OF NATURE.

to behold Man there, that moment I feel a prefent
Deity. Let me give ever fo little fcopc to my
fentiment, there is no landfcape but what I am
able to ennoble. Thefe vaft meadows are meta-
morphofed into Oceans ^ thefe mift-clad hills are
iflands emerging above the Horizon ; that city
below, is a city of Greece, dignified by the re-
fidence of Socrates and of Xenophon. Thanks to
my ignorance, I can give the reins to the inftin(?t
of my foul. I plunge into infinity. I prolong the
diftance of places by that of ages ; and, to com-
plete the illufion, I niake that enchanted fpot the
habitation of virtue.

OF THE SENTIMENT OF MELANCHOLY.

So beneficent is Nature, that flie converts all
her phenomena into fo many fources of pleafure
to Man ; and if we pay attention to her proce-
dure, it will be found, that her moft common
appearances are the moft agreeable.

I enjoy pleafure, for example, when the rain
defcends in torrents, when I fee the old mofly
walls dripping, and when 1 hear the whiftling
of the wind, min2;led with the clattering, of the
Tain. Thefe melancholy founds, in the night-
time, throw me into a foft and profound ileep.

Neither

STUDY XII. 25

Neither am I the only perfon fufceptible of fuch
affeftions. Pliny tells us of a Roman Conful,
^N who, when it rained, had his couch fpread under
the thick foliage of a tree, in order to hear the
drops clatter as they fell, and to be lulled to lleep
by the murmuring noife.

I cannot tell to what phyfical Law Philofophers
may refer the fenfations of melancholy. For my
own part, I confider them as the moft voluptuous
affeâiions of the foul. Melancholy, fays Michael
Montaigne, is dainty. It proceeds, if I am not
miftaken, from it's gratifying, at once, the two
powers of which we are formed, the body and the
foul ; the fentiment of our mifery, and that of our
excellence.

Thus, for example, in bad weather, the fentiinent
of my human mifery is tranquillized, by my feeing
i-t rain, while I am under cover; by my hearing
the wind blow violently, while I am comfortably in
bed. I, in this cafe, enjoy a negative felicity.
With this are afterwards blended fome of thofe at-
tributes of the Divinity, the perceptions of which
communicate luch exquifite pleafure to the foul ;
fuch as infinity of extenfion, trom the diftant mur-
muring of the wind. This fentiment may be
heightened from refleclion on the Laws of Nature,
fuggefhing to me that this rain, which comes, for

the

Z6 STUDIES OF NATURE.

the fake of fuppofition, from the Weft, has been
raifed out of the bofom of the Ocean, and, per-
haps, from the coafts of America; that it has
been fent to fweep our great cities into cleanhnefs,
to replenifh the refervoirs of our fountains ; to
render our rivers navigable ; and whilft the clouds,
which pour it down, are advancing eaftward, to
convey fertility even to the vegetables of Tartarv,
the grains and the garbage, which it carries down
our rivers, are hurling away weftward, to precipi-
tate themfelves into the Sea, to feed the fifhes of
the Atlantic Ocean. Thefe excurfions of my un-
derftanding convey to the foul an extenfion corre-
fponding to it's nature, and appear to me fo much
the more pleafing, that the body, which, for it's
part loves repofe, is more tranquil, and more com-
pletely proteded.

If I am in a forrowful mood, and not difpofed
to fend my foul on an excurfion fo extenfive, I
flill feel much pleafure in giving way to the me-
lancholy which the bad weather infpires. It looks
as if Nature was then conforming to my fituation,
like a fympathizing friend. She is, befides, at all
times fo interefting, under whatever afped fhe ex-
hibits herfelf, that when it rains, I think I fee a
beautiful woman in tears. She feems to me more
beautiful, the more that (lie wears the appearance
of afflidion. In order to be imprefTed with thefe

fentiments.

STUDY XII. 27

fentiments, which I venture to call voluptuous, I
muft have no projeft in hand of a pleafant walk,
ofvifiting, of hunting, of journeying, which, in
fuch circumftances, would put me into bad hu-
mour, from being contradided. Much lefs ought
our two component powers to crofs, or clafli
againft each other, that is, to let the fentiment of
infinity bear upon our mifery, by thinking that this
rain will never have an end ; and that of our mi-
fery to dwell on the phenomena of Nature, by
complaining that the feafons are quite deranged,
that order no longer reigns in the elements, and
thus giving into all the peevilh, inconclufive
reafonings, adopted by a man who is wet to the
ikin. In order to the enjoyment of bad weather,
our foul muft be travelling abroad, and the body
at reft.

From the harmony of thofe two powers of our
conftitution it is, that the moft terrible revolutions
of Nature frequently intereft us more than her
gayeft fcenery. The volcano near Naples attradls
more travellers to that city, than the delicious gar-
dens which adorn her (hores ; the plains of Greece
and Italy, overfpread with ruins, more than the
richly cultivated lawns of England ; the pidure
of a tempeft, more connoifleurs than that of a
calm ; and the fall of a tower, more fpedators
than it's conftruftion.

the

2Î STUDIES OF NATURE.

The Pleafiire of Ruin.

I was for fome time imprefTcd with the belief,
that Man had a certain unaccountable tafte for de-
ilrudion. If the populace can lay their hands
upon a monument, they are fure to deftroy it. I
have feen at Drefden, in the gardens of the Count
de Brithl, beautiful ftatues of females, which the
Pruiïian foldiery had amufed themfclves with mu-
tilating by mufket-fliot, when they got poffeffion
of that city. Moft of the common people have a
turn for ilander ; they take pleafure in levelling
the reputation of all that is exalted. But this ma-
levolent inftinâ; is not the production of Nature.
It is infufed by the mifery of the individuals,
whom education infpires with an ambition which
is interdifted by Society, and which throv/s them
into a negative ambition. Incapable of raifing any
thing, they are impelled to lay every thing low.
The tafte for ruin, in this cafe, is not natural, and
is fimply the exercife of the power of the mife-
rable. Man, in a lavage ftate, deftroys the monu-
ments only of his enemies ; he preferves, with the
moft affiduous care, thole of his own Nation ; and,
what proves hiin to be naturally much better than
Man in a ftate of Society, he never llanders his
compatriots.

Se

STUDY XII. 29

Be it as it may, the paffive tafte for ruin is uni-
Verfal. Our voluptuaries embellifli their gardens
with artificial ruins ; favages take delight in a me-
lancholy repofe by the brink of the Sea, efpecially
during a ftorm, or in the vicinity of a cafcade fur-
rounded by rocks. Magnificent defirudion pre-
fents new piifturefque effedis ; and it was the cu-
riofity of feeing this produced, combined with
cruelty, which impelled Nero to fet Rome on fire,
that he might enjoy the fpedacle of a vafi; confla-
gration. The fentiment of humanity out of the
queftion, thofe long ftreams of flame which, in the
middle of the night, lick the Heavens, to make
ufe of Firgirs expreflion, thofe torrents of red and
black fmoke, thofe clouds of fparks of all colours,
thofe fcarlet reverberations in the fl:reets, on the
fummit of towers, along the furface of the waters,
and on the difliant mountains, give us pleafureeven
in pidtures and in defcriptions.

This kind of affcAion, which is by no means
connected with our phyfical wants, has induced
certain Philofophers to allege, that our foul, being
in a ftate of agitation, took pleafure in all extra-
ordinary emotions. This is the reafon, fay they,
that fuch crowds aflemble in the Place de Grève
to fee the execution of criminals. In fpedacles
of this fort, there is, in fad, no pidurefque effeâ:
whatever. But they have advanced their axiom as

flightly

$0 STUDIES OF NATURE.

nightly as fo many others, with which their Works
abound, Firlt, our foul takes pieafure in reft as
much as in commotion. It is a harmony very
gentle, and very eafily difturbed by violent emo-
tions J and granting it to be, in it's own nature, a
movement, 1 do not fee that it ought to take piea-
fure in thofe which threaten it with it's own de-
ftruftion. Lucretius has, in my opinion, come
much nearer to the truth, when he fays that taftes
of this fort arife from the fentiment of our own
fecurity, which is heightened by the fight of dan-
ger to which we are not expofed. It is a pleafant
thing, fays he, to contemplate a ftorm from the
fhore. It is, undoubtedly, from this reference to
felf, that the common people take delight in re-
lating, by the fire-fide, colledted in a family way,
during the Winter evenings, frightful ftories of
ghofts, of men lofing themfelves by night in the
woods, of highway robberies. From the fame fen-
timent, likewife, it is, that the better fort take piea-
fure in the reprefentation of tragedies, and in read-
ing the defcription of battles, of (hipwrecks, and
of the cra(h of empire. The fecurity of the fnug
tradefman is increafed by the danger to which the
foldier, the mariner, the courtier is expofed. Piea-
fure of this kind arifes from the fentiment of our
mifery, which is, as has been faid, one of the in-
ftinds of our melancholy.

But

STUDY XII. 31

But there is in us, befides, a fentiment more fu-
blime, which derives pleafure from ruin, indepcn-
dantly of all pidurefque effed, and of every idea
of perfonal fecurity ; it is that of Deity, which ever
blends itfelf with our. melancholy affedions, and
which conftitutes their principal charm. I (hall
attempt to unfold fome of the charaders of it, by
following the impreffions made upon us by ruins
of different kinds. The fubjed is both rich and
new ; but I poffefs neither leifure nor ability to
beftow upon it a profound invefligation. I fhall,
however, drop a fevv words upon it, by the way,
in the view of exculpating and exalting human
nature with what ability I have.

The heart of man is fo naturally difpofed to be-
nevolence, that the fpedacle of a ruin, which
brings to our recolledion only the mifery of our
fellow men, infpires us with horror, whatever may
be the pidurefque elFed which it prefents. I hap-
pened to be at Drefden, in the year 1765, which
was feveral years after it had been bombarded.
That fmall, but very beautiful and commercial
city, more than half compofed of Httle palaces,
charmingly arranged, the fronts of which were
adorned externally with paintings, colonades, bal-
conies, and pieces of fculpture, then prefented a
pile of ruins. A confiderable part of the enemy*s
bombs had been direded againfl: the Lutheran

church.

32 STUDIES OF NATURE.

church, called St. Peter's, built in form of à ra-
tiindo, and arched over with fo much folidity*,
that a greater number of thofe bombs ftruck the
cupola, without being able to injure it, but re-
bounded on the adjoining palaces, which they fet
on fire, and partly confumed. Matters were ftill
in the fame flate as at the conclufioii of the war,
at the time of my arrival. They had only piled
up, along fome of the ftreets, the (tones which
encumbered them ; fo that they formed, on each
lide, long parapets of blackened (lone. You might
fee halves of palaces ftanding, laid open from the
roof down to the cellars. It was eafy to diftin-
guiili in them the extremity of ftair- cafes, painted
cielings, little clofets lined with Chinefe papers,
fragments of mirror glaffes, of marble cliimnies, of
fmoked gildings. Of others, nothing remained,
except maffy ftacks of chimneys rifing amidft the
lubbifh, like long black and white pyramids.
More than a third part of the city was reduced to
this deplorable condition. You faw the inhabi-
tants moving backward and forward, with a fettled
gloom on their faces, formerly fo gay, that they
were called the Frenchmen of Germany. Thofe
ruins, which exhibited a multitude of accidents
lingularly remarkable, from their forms, their co-
lours, and their grouping, threw the mind into a
deep melancholy ; for you faw nothing in them
but the traces of the wrath of a King;, who had not

levelled

STUDY xiî, 33

kvelled his vengeance againfl the ponderous ram-
parts of a warlike city, bqt againft the pleafant
dwellings of an induftrious people. I obferved
even more than one PriilTian deeply affecfled at the
fight. I by no means felt, though a ftranger, that
refledion of felf-fecurity which arifes in us on
feeing a danger againft vvhiph we are flieîtered ;
but, on the contrary, a voice of affliftion thrilled
through my heart, faying to me, if this were thy
Country !

It is not fo with ruins which are the efFetfl of
time. Thefe give pleafure, by launching us into
infinity ; they carry us feveral ages back^ and in-
tereft us in proportion to their antiquity. This
is the reafon that the ruins of Italy affed us more
than thofe of our own country j the ruins of
Greece moie than thofe of Italy , and the ruins of
Ergypt more than thofe of Greece. The firft an-
tique monument which I had ever feen was in the
vicinity of Orange. It was a triumphal arch, which
Marins Cfiufed to be eredled, to compiemoTatc his
vidbory over the Cjrrjbri. |t ftands at a fmall dif-
îançe from the city, ip the midft of fields. It is
an oblong mafs, confifting of three arcades, fome-
what refembling the gate of 5t. Denis. On get-
ting near, I bepaifje all eye? to gaze at it. What!
e)f claimed I, ^ \yox\i of the îincient Romans I an4
iniagipatipii inftantly hurried me away to Rome,

VOL. IV. D and

34 STUDIES OF NATURE,

and to the age of Marins. It would not be ealy
for me to defcribe all the fucceffive emotions which
were excited in my bread. In the firft place, this
monument, though eredled over the fofFerings of
Mankind, as all the triumphal arches in Europe
are, gave me no pain, for I recollected that the
Cimbri had come to invade Italy, like bands of
Robbers. I remarked, that if this triumphal arch
v/as a memorial of the viélories of the Romans
over the Cimbri, it was likewife a monument of the
triumph of Time over the Romans. I could di-
dinguifh upon it, in the bafs-relief of the frize,
which reprefents a battle, an enfign, containing
rhefccharafters, clearly legible, S. P. Q^R. Senaius
Popidus êlîie Romanns 'i and another infcribed with

M. O the meaning of which I could not make

out. As to the warriors, they were fo completely
effaced, that neither their arms nor their features
were diftinguifhable. Even the limbs of fome
of them were worn our. The mafs of this mo-
nument was, in other refpecls, in excellent pre-
fervation, excepting one of the fquare pillars that
Supported the arch, which a vicar in the neigh-
bourhood had demolifhed, to repair his parfonage-
houfe. This modern ruin fuggefted another train
of refledion, refpefting the exquilite ikill of the
Ancients, in the conQ-rudtion of their public mo-
numents ; for, though the pillar which fupported
ooe of the arches, on one fide, had been demo-
lifhed

STUDY XII. 35

lulled, as I have mentioned, neverthelefs, tbat
part of the arch which refted upon it, hung un-
lupported in the air, as if the pieces of the vault-
ing had been olued to each other. Another idea
îikewife ftruck me, namely, that the demolifhing
parfon might, perhaps, have been a defcendant from
the ancient Cimbri, as we modern French trace up
onr defcent to the ancient Nations of the North,
which invaded Italy. Thus, the demoUiion ex-
cepted, of which I by no means approve, from
the refpe<ft I bear to antiquity, 1 mufed upon
the viciffitudes of all human affairs, which put the
vi(5lors in the place of the vanquifhed, and the
vanquished in that of the viétors. I fettled the
matter thus, therefore, in my own mind, that as
Marins had avenged the honour of the Romans,
and levelled the glory of the Cimbri, one of the
defcendants of the Cimbri had, in his turn, levelled
that OÏ }>Iarius ; while the young people of the vi-
cinity, who might come, perhaps, on their days of
feftivity, to dance under the fliade of this trium-
phal arch, fpent not a fingle thought about either
the perfon who conftrufted, or the perfon who de-
moliihed it.

The ruins, in which Nature combats with hu-
man Art, infpire a gentle m.elancholy. In thefe
fhe difcovers to us the vanity of our labours, and
the perpetuity of her own. As (he is always build-

D 2 ins

36 STUDIES OF NATURE.

ing up, evert when (lie deftroys, Hie calls foitii
from the clefts of our monuments, the yellow gil-
lyflower, the chîenopodium, graffes of various forts,
wild cherry-trees, garlands of bramble, ftripes of
mofs, and all the llvxatile plants, which, by their
flowers and their attitudes, form the moft agree-
able contrafts with the rocks,

T ufed to flop formerly, with a high degree of
pleafure, in the garden of the Luxembourg, at
the extremity of the alley of the Carmelites, to
contemplate a piece of architecture which ftands
there, and had been originally intended to form a
fountain. On one fide of the pediment which
crowns it, is ftretched along an ancient River-
god, on whofe face time has imprinted wrinkles
inexpreffibly more venerable than thofe which
have been traced by the chifel of the Sculptor : it
has made on©; of the thighs to drop off, and
has planted a mapk tree in it's place. Of the
Na-kd who was oppofite, on the other fide of the
pediment, nought remains except the lower part
of the body. The head, the flioulders, the arms,
have all difappeared. The hands are ûill fupport-
ing an urn, out of which iffue, inftead of fluviatic
plants, fome of thofe which thrive in the dried
fituations, tufts of yellow gillyfiovvers, dandelions^
and long fbeaves of faxatile graffes.

A fine

STUDY XII, 37

A fîne flyle of Architecture always produces
beautiful ruins. The plans of Art, in this cafe,
form an alliance with the majefty of thofe of Na-
ture. I know no obje6t which prefents a more im-
pofingafped than the antique and W€ll-conftruâ:ed
towers, which our Anceftors reared on the fummit
of mountains, to difcover their enemies from afar,
and out of the coping of which now (lioot out tall
trees, with their tops waving majeftieally in the
wind. I have feen others, the parapets and battle-
ments of which, murderous in former times, were
embellilhed with the lilach in flower, whofe (hades,
of a bright and tender violet hue, formed enchant-
ing oppofitions with the cavernous and embrowned
ftone-vvork of the tower.

The intereft of a ruin is greatly heightened, when
fome moral fentiment is blended with it ; for ex-
ample, v.fhcn thofc degraded towers are confidered
ashavingbecn formerly the refidence of rapine. Such
has been, in the Pais de Caux, an ancient fortifica-
tion, called the caflle of Lillebonne. The lofty
walls, which form it's precinâ;, are ruinous at the
angles, and fo overgrown with ivy, that there are
very few fpots where the layers of the ftones are
perceptible. From the middle of the courts, into
which 1 believe it mufb have bzsn no eafy matter
to penetrate, arife lofty towers with battlements,
out of the fummit of which fpring up great trees,
D 3 appearing

Ô

s STUDIES OF NATURE.

appearirg in the air like a head-drefs of thick
and bufhy locks. You perceive here and there,
through the manthng of the ivy which clothes the
fides of the caille, Gothic windows, embiafures,
and breaches which give a glimpfe of ftair-cafes,
and refemble the entrance into a cavern. No bird
is feen fl3^ing around this habitation of defolation,
except the buzzard hovering over it in filence;
and if the voice of any of the feathered race makes
itfelf fometimes heard there, it is that of fome foli-
tary owl which has retired hither to build her neft.
This caftle is fituated on a rifing ground, in the
middle of a narrow valley, formed by mountains
crowned with forefts. When I recolleft, at fight
of this m.anfion, that it was formerly the refidence
of petty tyrants, who, before the royal authority
was fufficiently eftabliflied over the kingdom,
from thence cxercifed their felf- created right of
pillage, over their miferable vaflals, and even over
jnofîenfive paflengers who fell into their hands, I
imagine to myfelf that I am contemplating the car-
cafe, or the Ikeleton, of fome huge, ferocious beaft
of prey.

'T^be Pleafure of Tombs.

But there are no monuments more intereftlng
than the tombs of men, and efpecially thofe of our
own anceftors. It is remarkable, th^t every Na-

tioHj

STUDY XII. 39

{jon, i»! a Rate of Nature, and even the greatcft
part of rhofe which are civilized, have made the
tombs of their forefluhers, the centre of their de-
votions, and an effential part of their religion.
From thefe, however, muft be excepted the people
whofe fathers rendered themfclves odious to their
children by a gloomy and fevere education, I mean,
the weftern and fouthern Nations of Europe.
This religious melancholy is diflufed every where
elfe. The tombs of progenitors are, all over
China, among the principal embellirnments of the
fuburbs of their cities, and of the hills in the
country. They form" the moft powerful bonds of
patriotic affedion among favage Nations. When
the Europeans have fometimes propofed to thefe a
change of territory, this was their reply : " Shall
*' we fay to the bones of our Fathers, arife, and
'" accompany .us to a foreign land ?" They always
cpnfidcred this objeclicn as infurmountable.

Tombs have furniflied, to the poetical talents of
Toung and Gefner, imagery the moll enchanting.
Our voluptuaries, who fometimes recur to the fen-
timents of Nature, have faftitious monuments
ereded in their gardens. Thefe are not, it muft
be confeii'ed, the tombs of their parents. But
whence could they have derived this fentiment of
funereal melancholy, in , the very raidft of plea-
fure ? Mufl it not have been from the perfuafion

D 4 that

4^'' STUDIES OF NATURE.

that fomethino; flill fubfills after we are gone ?
Did a toiTib fugged to their imagination only the
idea of what it is defigned to contain, that is, a
corpfe merely, the fight of it would fhock rather
than pleafe them. How afraid are moft of them
at the thought of death ! To this phyficat idea,
then, feme moral fentiment muft undoubtedly be
united. The voluptuous melancholy rcfulting
from it arife?, like every other attraftive fenfation,
from the harmony of the two oppofite principles ;
from the fentiment of our fleeting exiftence, and
ot that of our immortality ; which unite on be-
holding the lafh habitation of Mankind. A tomb
is a monument ereded on the confines of the two
Worlds.

It firft prefen^s to us the end of the vain dif-
quietudes of life, and the image of everlafling re-
pofe : it afterwards awakens in us the confufed
fentiment of a bleffed immortality, the probabili-
ties of which grow ftronger and ftronger, in pro-
portion as the perfon vvhofe memory is recalled
was a virtuous charader. It is there fhat our ve-
neration fixes. And this is fo unqueflionably true,
that though there be- no difference between the
dufl of Nero and that of Socrates ^ no one would
grant a place in his grove to the remains of the
Roman Emperor, were they depofited even in a
filver urt^ ^ whereas every one would exhibit thofe

of

STUDY XII. 4f

of the Philofopher in the mod honourable place
of his bed apartment, wete they contained in only
a vafe of clay.

it is from this iiltellcflual ihflinff:, therefore, in
favour of virtue, that the tombs of great men in-
fpire us with a veneration fo affeifting. Frorh the
fame fentiment loo it is, that thofe which contain
objefls that have been lovely excite fo much fileaf-
ing regret ; for, as we lliall make appear prefently,
the attradions of love arife entirely out of the ap-
pearances of virtue. Hence it is that we are moved
at the fight of the little hillock which covers thé
alliés of an amiable infant, from the recolletflioh
of it's innocence; hence, again, it is, that we are
melted into tendernefs on contemplating the tomb
in which is laid to repofe a young female, the de-
light and the hope of her family, by reafon of her
virtues. In order to render fuch monuments in-
terefting and refpe(5table, there is no need of
bronzes, marbles, and gildings. The more fimple
that they are, the more energy they comniunicate
to the fentiment of melancholy. They produce a
more powerful effeél:, when poor rather than rich,
antique rather than modern^ with details of mis-
fortune rather than with title's ëf hortofar^ with thé
attributes of virtue rather than with thofe of
power. It is in the country, principally, that their
iimprefTion makes itfelf felt in a very lively manner.

A fimple,

âf, STUDIES OF NATURE.

A fnnple, unornamented grave there, caufes morç
tears to flow than the gaudy fplendor of a cathe-
dral interment*. There it is that grief affiimes
fublimity ; it afcends with the aged yews in the
church-yard; it extends with the furrounding hills
g,nd plains ; it allies itfelf with all the effects of
Nature, with the dawning of the morning, the

* Our Artifts fet flatues of marble a-vveeping round the
tombs of the Great. It is very proper to make liatues weep,
where men fhed no tears. I have been many a time prefent at
the funeral obfequies of the rich ; but rarely have I feen any
one fhedding a tear on fuch occafions, unlefs it were, now and
then, an aged domeflic, who was, perhapv?, left defiitute. Some
time ago, happening to pafs through a little-frequented ftreet of
the Fauxbourg Saint-Marceau, I perceived a coffin at the door of
a houfe of but mean appearance. Clofe by the coffin was a wo-
man on her knees, in earhefi: praver to God, and who had all
the appearance of being abforbed in grief. This poor woman
having caught with her eye, at tlie farther end of the flreet, the
priefts and their attendants coming to carry off the body, got
upon her feet, and run off, putting her hands upon her eyes, and
crying bitterly. The neighbours endeavoured to flop her, and
to adminifter fome confolation ; but all to no purpofe. As flie
paffed clofe by me, I took the liberty to alk if it was the lofs of
a mother or of a daughter that fhe lamented fo piteoufly. "Alas !
*' Sir," faid fhe to me, the tears guihing down her cheeks, " I
" am mournine the lofs of a good lady, who procured me the
t' means of earning my poor livelihood ; flie kept me employed
'^ from day to day." I informed myfelf in the neighbourhood
refpefting the condition pf this beneficent lady : fhe was thç
wife of a petty joiner. Ye people of wealth, what ufe then do you
make of riches, during your life-time, feeing no tears are flied
over your grave !

murmuring

STUDY XII. 43

murm'iiring of the winds, the fetting of the Sun,
and the darknefs of the night.

Labour the mofl oppreffive, and humiliation the
moft degrading, are incapable of extinguifhing the
imprefTion of this fcniiment in the breads of even
the moft miferable of Mankind. *' During the
*' fpace of two years," fays Father du T'ertre^ *^ our
" negro Dominick, after the death of his wife,
*^ never failed, for a fingle day, as foon as he re-
'* turned from the place of his employment, to
*' take the little boy and girl which he had by her,
" and to condu<5l them to the grave of the de-
** ceafed, over which he fobbed and wept before
** them, for more than half an hour together,
" while the poor children frequently caught the
** infedion of his forrow *." What a funeral
oration for a wife and a mother ! This man, how-
ever, was nothing but a wretched flave.

There farther refults, from the view of ruins,
another fentiment, indépendant of all reflexion :
it is that of heroifm. Great Generals have oftener
than once employed their fublime efTedt, in order
to exalt the courage of their foldiers. Alexander
perfuaded his army, loaded with the fpoils of Per-
iia, to burn their baggage ; and the moment that

* Hiftory of the Antilles : Tr. viii. chap. i. feâ:, 4.

thç

44 STUDIES OF NATURE.

the fire was appliëdj they are on tiptoe to follow
him all over the World. William^ Duke of Nor-
mandy, as foon- as he had landed his troops on
England, fet fire to his own (hips, and the con-
queft of the kingdom was effeâied.

But there are no ruins which excite in us fenti-
ments fo fublime, as the ruins of Nature produce.
They reprefent to us this vaft prifon of the Earth,
in which we are immuredj, fubjeél itfelf to dellruc^
tion; and they detach us, at once, from ourpaffions
and prejudices^ as from a momentary and frivolous
theatrical exhibition. When Lifbon was deftroyed
by an earthquake, it's inhabitants, on making
their efcape from their houfes, embraced each
other ; high and low, frietids and enemies, Jews
and liiquifitors, known and unknown ; every one
fliarêd his clothing and provifions with ihofe who
had faved nothing. I have feen fomething fimilar
to this take place on board a fhip, on the point of
periOiing in a fl:orm. The firft efïeâ: of calamity,
fays a celebrated Writer, is to flrengthen the foul,
and the fécond is, to melt it down. It is becaufe the
firft emotion in Man, under the prefiure of cala-
mity, is to rife up toward the Deity ; and the fe^-
Gond, to fall back into phyfical wants. This laft
cfFetft is that of refledlion ; but the moral and fu-
blime fentiment, almoft always, takes pofTeffion of
the heartj a^ fight of a magnificent deftrudion.

Ruvu

STUDY XH. 45

Ruins of Nature.

When the prédirions of the approaching diffb-
lution of the World fpread over Europe, fome
ages ago, a very great number of perfons divefted
themfelves of their property j and there is no rea-
fon to doubt, that the very fame thing would hap-
pen at this day, fhould fimilar opinions be propa-
gated with effed. But fuch fudden and total ruins
are not to be apprehended in the infinitely fage
plans of Nature : under them nothing is deftroyed,
but what is by them repaired.

The apparent ruins of the Globe, fuch as the
rocks which roughen it's furface in fo many places,
have their utility. Rocks have the appearance of
ruins in our eyes, only becaufe they are neither
fquare nor poliflied, like the ftones of our monu-
ments ; but their anfraduofities are neceffary to
the vegetables and animals which are deftined to
find in them iiourifliment and (belter. It is only
for beings vegetative and fenfitive, that Nature
has created the foffil kingdom ; and as foon as
Man has raifed ufelefs mafles out of it, to thefe
objefts, on the furface of the Earth, fhe haftens to
apply her chifel to them, in order to employ them
in the general harmony.

If

46 STUDftS OF NATURE.

If we attend to the origin and the end of her
Works, thofe of the moft renowned Nations will
appear perfedly frivolous. It was not neceffary
that mighty Potentates fhould rear fuch enormous
maffes of ftone, in order, one day, to infpire me
with refpecl, from their antiquity. A little flinty
pebble, in one of our brooks, is more ancient than
the pyramids of Egypt. A multitude of cities
have been deftroyed fuice it was created. If I feel
myfelf difpofed to blend fome moral fentiment
with the monuments of Nature, I can fay to myfelf,
on feeing a rock : " It was on this place, perhaps,
" that the good Fenelon repofed, while meditating
** the plan of his divine Telemachtis ; perhaps the
" day will come, when there fliall be engraved on
" it, that he had produced a revolution in Europe,
*' by inftrudling Kings, that their glory confided
*' in rendering Mankind happy ; and that the
** happinefs of Mankind depends on the labours
*' of agriculture : Pofterity will gaze with delight
" on the very ftone on which my eyes are at this
" moment fixed." It is thus that I embrace, at
once the pad and the future, at fight of an infen-
fible rock, and which, by confecrating it to virtue,
by a fimple infcription, I render infinitely more
venerable, than by decorating it with the five or-
ders of Architedlure.

Of

SttDY xti, 47

Of the ricafure of Solitude.

Once more, it is melancholy which renders foli"-
tude lo attradive. Solirude flatters our animal in-
fhinâ:, by inviting us to a retreat ^o much more
tranquil, as the agitations of our life have been
more reftlefs^ and it extends our divine inftinâr,
by opening to us pcrfpedives, in which natural
and moral beauties prefent themfelves with all the
attradlion of fentiment. From the effect of thefe
contrafts, and of this double harmony, it comes
4:0 pafs, that there is no folitude more foothing
than that which is adjoining to a great city; and
no popular feftivity more agreeable than that which
ÎS enjoyed in the bofom of a folitude.

OF THE SENTIMENT OF LOVE.

Were love nothing fuperior to a phyfical fenfation,
I would wifli for nothing more than to leave two
lovers to reafon and to ad, conformably to the
phyfical laws of the motion of iLe blood, of the
filtration of the chyle, and of the other humours
of the body, were it my objeâ; to give tjie groffeft
libertine a difguft for it. It's principal ad: itfelf

is

45 STUDIES OF NATURE.

is accompanied with the fentirrient of fhame, in the
men of all countries. No Nation permits public
proftitution ; and though enlightened Navigators
may have advanced, that the inhabitants of Taïti
conformed to this infamous pracflice, obfervers
mpre attentive have fince adduced proof, that, as
to the ifland in queflion, it was cliargeable only on
young women in the lowed rank of Society, but
that the other claffes there preferved the fenfe of
modelly common to all Mankind.

I am incapable of difcovering, in Nature, any
direâ: caufe of (hame. If it be alleged, that Man-
is alhamed of the venereal aft, becaufe it renders
him fimilar to the animal, the reafon will be found
infufficient ; for fleep, drinking, and eating, bring
him ftill more frequently to the limilitude of the
animal, and yet no Ihame attaches to thefe. There
is, in truth, a caufe of fhame in the phyfical aâ; :
but whence proceeds that which occafions the mo-
ral fentiment of it ? Not only is the aâ: carefully
kept out of fight, but even the recolleftion of it.
Woman confiders it as a proof of her weaknefs :
(he oppofes long refiftance to the folicitations of
Man. How comes it that Nature has planted this
obftacle in her heart, which, in many cafes, ac-
tually triumphs oyer the moft powerful of propen-
sities, and the moft headftrong of paflions ?

Indépendant!]^

StUDY XII. 4^

Independantly of the particular caufes of (hame,
which are unknown to me, I think I difcern one
in the two powers of which Man is conftituted.
The fenfe of love being, if I may fo exprefs my-
felf, the centre toward which all the phyfical fen-
fations converge, as thofe of perfumes, of mufic,
of agreeable colours, and forms, of the touch, of
delicate temperatures and favours; there refults
from thefc a very powerful oppofition to that other
intelledlual power, from which are derived the fen-
timents of divinity and immortality. Their con-
traft is fo much the more collifive, that the adl of
the firfl is in itfelf animal and blind, and that the
moral fentiment, which ufually accompanies love,
is more expanfive and more fublime. The lover,
accordingly, in order to render his miftrefs pro*-
pitious, never fails to make this take the lead, and
to employ every effort to amalgamate it with the
other fenfation. Thus, (hame arifes, in my opi-
nion, from the combat of thefe two powers; and
this is the reafon that children naturally have it
not, becaufe the fenfe of love is not yet unfolded
in them ; that young perfons have a great deal of
it, becaufe thofc two powers are afling in them
with all their energy ; and that moft old people
have none at all, becaufe they are pad the fenfe of
love, from a decay of Nature in them, or have loft
it's moral fentiment, from the corruption of So-
ciety ; or, which is a common cafe, from the effeâ:

VOL. IV. E of

^ STUDIES OF NATURE.

of both together, by the concurrence of thefe two
caufes.

As Nature has affigned to the province of this
paflion, which is defigned to be tlie means of re-
perpetuating human hfe, all the animal fenfationsj
flie has likewife united in it all the fentiments of
the foul i fo that love prefents to two lovers, not
only the fentiments which blend with our wants,
and with the inftind: of our mifery, fuch as thofc
of proteftion, of afhftance, of confidence, of fup-
port, ofrepofe, but all the fublime inftindls, be-
fides, which elevate Man above humanity. In this
fenfe it is that P/aio defined love to be, an inteir
pofition of the Gods in behalf of young people *.

Whoever

*■ It was by means of the fublime influence of this paffion,
that the Thebans formed a battalion of heroes, called the facred
band ; they all fell together in the battle of Cheronea. They
"were found extended on the ground, all in the fame flraight line,
transfixed with ghaftly wounds before, and with their faces turned
toward the enemy. This fpeélacle drew tears from the eyes of
Philip himfelf, their conqueror. Lyciirgus had likewife em-
ployed the power of love in the education of the Spartans, and
rendered it one of the gr. at props of his republic. But, as the
animal counterpoife of this celeftial fentiment was no longer
found in the beloved objeft, it fometimes threw the Greeks into
•certain irregularities, which have juftly been imputed to them as
matter of reproach. Their Legiflators confidered women as the
inftruments merely of procreating children ; they did not per-
ceive that, by favouring love between men, they enfeebled that

. . which

STUDY XII. 51

Whoever would wifh to be acquainted with hu-
man nature, has only to ftudy that of love; he
would perceive fpringing out of it, all the fenti-

ments

which ought to unite the faxes, and that in attempting fo
ftrengthen their political bands, they were burfting afunder thofe
of Nature.

The Republic of Lycurgus had, befides, other natural defeats j
I mention only one, the flavery of the Helots. Thefe two par-
ticulars, however, excepted, T confider him as the moft fublime
genius that ever exifted : and even as to thefe he Hands, in fome
meafure, excufeable, in confideration of the obftacles of every
kind which he had to encounter in the eftablifhment of his
Laws.

There are, in the harmonies of the different ages of human
life, relations fo delightful, of the weaknefs of children to the vi-
gour of their parents ; of the courage and the love between
young perfons of the two fexes to the virtue and the religion of
unimpaffioned old people, that I am aftonifhed no attempt has
been made to prefent a pifture, at leaft, of a human fociety thus
in concord with all the wants of life, and with the Laws of Na-
ture. There are, it is tl-ue, fome (ketches of this fort, in the
Telemachus^ among others, in the manners of thé inhabitants of
Bœtica ; but they are indicated merely. I am perfuaded that
fuch a Society, thus cemented in all it's parts, would attain the
higheft degree of fecial felicity, of which human nature is fuf-
ceptible in this World, and would be able to bid defiance to all
tlie ftorms of political agitation. So far from being expofed to
the fear of danger, on the part of neighbouring States, it might
make an eafy conqueft of them, without the ufe of arms, as an-
cient China did, fimply by the fpeftacle of it's felicity, and by
the influence of it's virtues. I once entertained a defign, on the
fuggeftion of J. J. Roujfeau^ of extending this idea, by compofing

E 2 the

^i STUDIES OF NATURE.

ments of which I have fpoken, and a multitude of
others, which I have neither time nor talents to
unfold. We (hall remark, firft, that this natural
affe(5tion difclofes, in every being, it's principal
charadter, by giving it all the advantage of a com-
plete extenfion. Thus, for example, it is in the
feafon when each plant re-perpetuates itfelf by it's
flowers and it's fruit, that it acquires all it's per«
feflion, and the charafters which invariably deter-
mine it. It is in the feafon of loves that the birds
of fong redouble their melody, and that thofe
which excel in the beauty of their colouring, ar-
ray themfelves in their fineft plumage, the various
fliades of which they delight to difplay, by fwcl-
ling their throats, by rounding their tail into the
form of a wheel, or by extending their wings along
the ground. It is then that the lufty bull prefents
his forehead, and threatens with the horn ; that
the nimble courfer frifks along the plain ; that the
ferocious animals fill the forefts with the dreadful
noife of their roaring, and that the tigrefs, exhaling
the odour of carnage, makes the folitudes of Africa
to refound with her hideous yells, and appears

the Hiftory of a Nation of Greece, well known to the Poets, be-
caufe it lived conformably to Nature, and, for that very reafon,
almoft altogether unknown to our political Writers; but time
permitted me only to trace the outline of it, or, at moft, to finifh
the (irft Book.

clothed

STUDY xii;

s^

fiothed with every horrid, attra6live grace, in die
eyes of her tremendous lover.

It is, likewife, in the feafon of loving, that all
the affedions, natural to the heart of Man, unfold
themfelves. Then it is that innocence, candour,
Sincerity, modefty, generofity, heroifm, holy faith,
piety, exprefs themfelves, with grace ineffable, in
the attitude and features of two young lovers.
Love affumes, in their fouls, all the charadlers of
religion and virtue. They betake themfelves to
flight, far from the tumultuous aflemblies of the
city, from the corruptive paths of ambition, in
queft of fome fequeflered fpot, where, upon the
rural altar, they may be at liberty to mingle and
exchange the tender vows of everlafting affedlion.
The fountains, the woods, the dawning Aurora,
the conftellations of the night, receive by turns
the facred depofit of the oath of Love. Loft, at
times, in a religious intoxication, they confider
each other as beings of a fuperior order. The
miftrefs is a goddefs, the lover becomes an idola-
ter. The grafs under their feet, the air which they
breathe, the (hades under which they repofe, all,
all appear confecrated in their eyes, from filling
the fame atmofphere with them. In the widely
extended Univerfe, they behold no other felicity
but that of living and dying together, or, rather,
|bey have loft all fight of death. Love tranfports

E 3 them

54 STUDIES OF NATURE.

them " into ages of infinite duration, and death
feems to them only the tranfition to eternal union*

But Ihould cruel deftiny feparate them from
each other, neither the profpeds of fortune, nor
the friendfhip of companions the mofl endeared,
can afford confolation under the lofs. They had
reached Heaven, they languifh on the earth, they
are hurried, in their defpair, into the retirement of
the cloifter, to employ the remaining dregs of life,
in re-demanding of God the fehcity of which they
enjoyed but one tranfient glimpfe. Nay, many an
irkfome year after their feparationi when the cold
Ji^nd of age has frozen up the current of fenfe >
after having been diftrafled by a thoufand and a
thoufand anxieties foreign to the heart, which io
many times made them forget that they were hu-
man, the bofom fliU palpitates at fight of the tomb
which' contains the objed once fo tenderly beloved.
They had parted with it in the World, they hope
to fee it again in Heaven. Unfortunate Heloïfa !
what fublime emotions were kindled in thy foui
by the albes of thy Abelard f .

Such ceieftial emotions cannot poflibly be the
effefts of a mere animal act. Love is not a flight
convulfion, as the divine Marcus-Aurelius calls ,it.
It is to the charms of virtue, and to the fentiment
pf her divine attributes, that love is indebted foj

ali

STUDY XIÎ. ^5

all that enthufiaftlc energy. Vice itfelf, in order
to pleafe, is under the neceflîty of borrowing it's
looks and it's language. If theatrical female per-
formers captivate fo many lovers, the feduftion is
carried on by means of the illufions of innocence,
of benevolence, and of magnanimity, difplayed in
the charadlers of the (hepherdefles, of the heroines,
and of the goddelTes, which they are accuftomed
to reprefent. Their boafled graces are only the
appearances of the virtues which they counterfeit.
If fometimes, on the contrary, virtue becomes
difpleafing, it is becaufe fhe exhibits herfelf in the
difguife of harflinefs, caprice, peevilhnefs, or fome
©ther repulfive bad quality.

Thus, beauty is the offspring of virtue, and ug-
linefs that of vice ; and thefe characters frequently
imprefs themfelves from the earlieft infancy by
means of education. It will be objeded to me,
that there are men handfome, yet vicious, and
others homely, yet virtuous. Socrates and J/ci-
biades have been adduced as noted inftances, in an-
cient times. But thefe very examples confirm my
pofition. Socrates was unhappy and vicious at the
time of life when the phyfionomy affumes it's prin-
cipal charaders, from infancy up to the age of fe-
venteen years. He was born in a poor condition ;
his father had determined, notwithftanding his de-
clared reludance, to breed him to thç art of fculp-r

E 4 ture.

^6 STUDIES OF NATURE.

ture. Nothing lefs than the authority of an oracle
could refcue him from this parental tyranny, Sa~
crates acknowledged, in conformity to the decifion
of a Phyfiognomift, that he was addifted to women
and wine, the vices into which men are ufually
thrown by the preffure of calamity : at length, he
became reformed, and nothing could be more
beautiful than this Philofopher, when hedifcourfed
about the Deity, As to the happy Akibiades,
born in the very lap of fortune, the leflbns of So-
craieSy and the love of his parents and fellow-citi-
zens, expanded in him, at once, beauty of perfoti
and of foul ; but having been, at laft, betrayed into
irregular courfes, through the influence of evil
communications, nothing remained but the bare
phyfionomy of virtue. Whatever fedu6lion may
be apparent in their firft afpeâ:, the uglinefs of vice
foon difcovçrs itfelf on the faces of handfome men
degraded into wickednefs. You can perceive,
even under their fmiles, a certain marked trait of
falfehood and perfidy. This diffbnance is commu-
nicated even to the voice. Every thing about then:^
is maiked, like their face,

I beg leave, farther, to obferve, that all the
forms of organized beings exprefs intelledual fen-
riments, not only to the eyes of Man, who ftudies
Nature, but to thofe of animals, which are inftrud:-
fd, at once, by their inftinft, in fuch particulars of

knowledge^

STUDY Xïl. 57

jknowledge, as are, in many refpefts, fo obfcure to
us. Thus, for example, every fpecies of animal
has certain traits, which are expreffive of it's cha-
racfler. From the fparkling and reftlefs eyes of
the tiger, you may difcover his ferocity and per-
fidy. The gluttony of the hog is announced by
the vulgarity of his attitude, and the inchnation of
his head toward the ground. All animals are per-
fedlly well acquainted with thofe charadlers, for
the Laws of Nature are univerfal. For inftance,
though there be in the eyes of a man, iinlefs he is
very attentive, an exceedingly flight exterior diffe-
rence between a fox and a fpecies of dog which
refembles him, the hen will never miftake the one
for the other. She will take no alarm on the ap-
proach of the dog, but will be feized with horror
the in liant that the fox appears.

It is, ftill farther, to be remarked, that every
animal expreifes, in it's features, fome one ruling
paffion, fuch as cruelty, fenfuality, cunning, ilu-
pidity. But Man alone, unlefs he has been debafed
by the vices of Society, bears upon his counte-
nance the imprefs of a celeftial origin. There is
no one trait of beauty but what may be referred
10 fome virtue : fuch an one belongs to innocence,
fuch another to candour, thofe to generofity, to
roodefly, to heroifm. It is to their influence that
Man is indebted, in every country, for the refpeA

and

58 STUDIES OF NATURE.

and confidence with which he is honoured by the
brute creation, unlefs they have been forced out of
Kature by unrelenting perfecution on the part of
Man,

Whatever charms may appear in the harmony
of the colours and forms of the human figure,
there is no vifible reafon why it's phyfical effedt
fhould exert an influence over animals, unlefs the
imprefs of fome moral power were combined with
it. The plumpnefs of form, or the freflmefs of
colouring, ought rather to excite the appetite of
ferocious animals, than their refpefl: or their love.
Finally, as we are able to diftinguifh their impaf-
fioned charafter, they, in like manner, can diftin-
guifli ours, and are capable of forming a very ac-
curate judgment as to our being cruel or pacific?
The game-birds, which fly the fanguinary fowler,
gather confidently around the harmlefs fliepheïd.

It has been affirmed, that beauty is arbitrary in
every Nation ; but this opinion has been already
refuted by an appeal to matter of fadt. The muti-r
lations of the Negroes, their incifions into the
fkin, their flattened nofes, their compreflTed fore-
heads; the flat, long, round, and pointed heads
of the favages of North- America; the perforated
lips of the Brafilians ; the large ears of the people
of Laos, in Afia^ and of fome Nations of Guiana,

are

STUDY XÏI. 59

are the effeâ:s of fuperftition, or of a faulty educa-
tion. The ferocious animals themfelves are ftruck
at fight of thefe deformities. All travellers uraixir
moully concur in their teftimony, that when lions
or tygers are famiflied, which rarely happens, and
thereby reduced to the neceffity of attacking cara-
vans in the night time, they fall firft upon the
beafts of burden, and next upon the Indians, or
the black people. The European figure, with it's
fimplicity, has a much more impofing efFedt upon
them, than when disfigured by African or Afiatiç
çharadlers.

When it has not been degraded by the vices of
Society, it's expreffion is fublime. A Neapolitan,
of the name of John-Baptijle Porta, took it into his
head to trace in it relations to the figures of the
beafts. To this effedt, he has compofed a book,
pmbelliflied with engravings, reprefenting the hu-
man head under the forced refemblance of the
head of a dog, of a horfe, of a fheep, of a hog, and
of an ox. Hi? fyftem is fomewhat favourable to
certain modern opinions, and forms a very tolerable
alliance with the hideous changes which the paC-
fions produce in the human form. But I (hould
be glad to know after what animal Pigalk has co-
pied that charming Mercury which I have feen at
Berlin ; and after the paffions of what brutes the
iQrecian Sculptors produced the Jupiter of the Ca-
pitol,

6o STUDIES OF NATURE.

pitol, the Venus pudica, and the Apollo of the Vai»
tican ? In what animals have they ftudied thofe
divine expreffions ?

I am thoroughly perfuaded^, as I have faid al-
ready, that there is not a fingle beautiful touch in
a figure, but what may be allied to fome moral
fentiment, relative to virtue and to Deity. The
traits of uglinefs might be, in like manner, referred
to fome vicious affedlion, fuch as jealoufy, avarice,
gluttony, or rage. In order to demonftrate to our
Philofophers, how far they are wide of the mark,
when they attempt to make the pafTions the only
moving principles of human life, I wiQi they could,
be prefented with the expreflion of all the paflions,
colleded in one fingle head; for example, the
wanton and obfcene leer of a courtezan, with the
deceitful and haughty air of an ambitious courtier;
and accompanied with an infufion of fome touches
of haired and envy, which are negative ambitions.
A head which fliould unite them all would be
more horrid than that of Aleditja ; it would be a,
likcnefs of Nero.

Every paffion has an animal charadcr, as John-
Baptijle Porta excellently obferved. But every
virtue, too, has it's animal charadler; and never is
a phyfionomy more interefting than when you di-
ftinguiûi in it a ceîeftial affedion confliéling with

an

STUDY XII. €l

an anlnml paffion. Nay, 1 do not know whether it
be poffible to exprefs a virtue otherwife than by a
triumph of this kind. Hence it is that modefty
appears fo lovely on the face of a young female,
becaufe it is the conflid: of the moft powerful of
animal pafîîons with a fublime fentiment. The
expreffion of fenfibility, likewife. renders a face
extremely interefting, becaufe the foul, in this cafe,
(hews itfelf in a ftate of fufFering, and becaufe the
(ight of this excites a virtue in ourfelves, namely,
the fentiment of compaflion. If the fenfibility of
the figure in queftion is aélive, that is, if it fprings,
itfelf, out of the contemplation of the mifery of
another, it ftrikes us ftill more, becaufe then it
becomes the divine expreffion of generofity.

I have a convidion, that the mofl celebrated fta-
tues and piélures of Antiquity owe much of their
high reputation entirely to the expreffion of this
double charafler, that is, to the harmony arifing out
of the two oppofite fentiments of paffion and virtue.
This much is certain, that the moil juftly boafted
mafter-pieces, in fculpture and painting, among
the Ancients, all prefented this kind of contrail.
Of this abundance of examples might be adduced
from their ftatues, as the Fenus piidicay and the
dying Gladiator, who preferves, even when fallen,
refped; for his own glory, at the moment he is
finking into the arms of death. Such, likewife,

was

6i S'rUDIES OF NATURE.

was that of Cifpid hurling the thunder after the in-
fant Alcibiades^ which Pliny afcribes to Praxiteles,
or to Scopas. An amiable child, launching from
his little hand the dread thunderbolt of Jupitevi
muft excite, at once, the fentiment of innocence,
and that of terror. With the charader of the God
was blended that of a man equally attraftive and
formidable.

I believe that the paintings of the Ancleftts ex=^
prelTed, ftill better, thofe harmonies of oppofite
fentiments. PJiny^ who has preferved to us the
memory of the moft noted of them, quotes, among
others, a pidture by Athenion of Maronea, which
reprefented the cautious and crafty Ulyjfes deted:-^
ing Achilles under the difguife of a young woman,
by prefenting an aflbrtment of female trinkets,
among which he had carelefsly, and without ap-
pearance of art, introduced a fword. The lively
emotion with which Achilles lays hold of that
fword, muft have exhibited a charming contraft
with the habit, and the compofed deportment of
his nymph charader. There muft have refulted
another, no lefs interefting, in the charader of
UlyJJeSy with his air of referve, and the exprcffion
of his fatisfadion, under the reftraint of prudence,
fearful left, in difcovering Achilles, he (hould at
the lame time betray himfelf.

Anothef

.'- -■ STUDY xn. 63

' Another piece, flill more affeding, from the
pencil of Jrijiides of Thebes, reprefented Biblis
ianguifliing to death of the love which (he bare to
her own brother. In it there muft have been di-
ftinftly reprefented the fentiment of virtue, repel-
ling the idea of a criminal paffion, and that of fra-
ternal friendfliip, which recalled the heart to love,
under the very appearances of virtue. Thefe cruel
confonances ; defpair at the thought of being be-
trayed by her own heart, the defire of dying, in
order to conceal her (hame, the délire of life to en-
joy the fight of the beloved objed, health wafling
away under the prelTure of confli<5ls fo painful,
muft have expreffed, amidft the languors of death
knd of life, contrafts the raoft interefting, on the
countenance of that ill-fated maid.

In another pi(5lure, of the fame JriJiUes, was
reprefented to admiration, a mother wounded in
.the breaft, during the fiege of a city, giving fuck
to her infant. She feemed afraid, fays Pliny, left
it fhould draw in her blood, together with her
milk. Alexander prized it fo highly, that he had it
conveyed to Pella, the place of his birth. What
emotions muft have been excited, in contemplating
a triumph fo exalted as that of maternal affedion
abforbing all fenfe of perfonal fuffering ! PouJJîn, as
we have feen, has borrowed, from this virtue, the
principal expreflion of his pidure of the Deluge.
^ Rubens

64 STUDIES OF NATURE.

Rubens has employed it, in a moft wonderful
manner, in giving expreffion to the face of his
Mary de Medicis, in which you diftinguilh, at
once, the anguifh and the joy of child-bearing.
He farther heightens the violence of the phyfica!
paflion, by the carelefs attitude into which the
Queen is thrown, in an eafy-chair, and by her
naked foot, which has (haken off the flipper; and,
on the other hand, conveys the fublimity of the
moral fentiment awakened in her, by the high def-
tiny of her infant, who is prefented to her by a
God, repofed in a cradle of bunches of grapes and
ears of corn, fymbols of the felicity of his reign.

It is thus that the great Matters, not fatisfied
with oppofing mechanically groups of figures and
vacuity, fhades and lights, children and old men^
feet and hands, purfue with unremitting care,
thofe contrats of our internal powers which ex-
prefs themfelves on '* the human face divine," in
touches ineffable, and which mufb conflitute the
eternal charm of their produdlions. The Works of
Le Sueur abound in thefe contrafts of fentiment,
and he places them in fuch perfeâ: harmony with,
thofe of the elementary nature, that the refult from
them is the fweetefl, and the moft profound me-
lancholy. But it has been much ealier for his pen-
cil to paint, than it is for my pen to defcribe,
them,

I flwll-

STUDY XII. 65

i iliall adduce but one example more to my
prefent purpofe, taken from Poujfin, an Artiil mod
admirable for his fkill in graphic compofition) but
Nvhofe colours have fuffered confiderably from the
hand of time. The piece to which I refer is his
pidure of the rape of the Sabine women. While
the Roman foldiery are carrying off by force, in
their arms, the terrified young women of the Sa-
bines, there is a Roman officer, who is defirous of
getting pofTeffion of one extremely beautiful as
well as young. She has taken refuge in the arms
of her mother. He dares not prefume to offer vio-
lence to her, but feems to addrcfs the mother with
all the ardour of love, tempered with refped; his
countenance thus fpeaks : " She will be happy
" with me ! Let me be indebted for her to love,
*' and not to fear ! I am lefs eager to rob you of
^' a daughter, than to give you a fon." It is thus
that, while he conforms himfelf, in dreffing his
charaders, to the fimplicity of the age, which ren-
dered all conditions nearly fimilar, he has diftin-
guilhed the officer from the foldier, not by his
garb, but by his manners. He has caught, as he
ulually does, the moral charader of his fubjed,
which produces a very different effed from that of
mere cojîume,

Ï (îiould have been extremely happy had we been

favoured, from the pencil of the fame ingenious

VOL. IV. F Artifr,

66 STUDIES OF NATURE*

Artift, with a reprefentation of thefe fame female
Sabines, after they had become wives and mo-
thers, rufhing in between the two contending ar-
mies of the Sabines and Romans, " Running,'*
as Plutarch tells us, *' fome on this fide, others
** on that, in tears, fhrieking, exclaiming; thruft-
'' ing themfelves through the clafliing of arms,
" and heaps of the dead llrewed along the ground,
*' like perfons frantic, or polTefled with a fpirit,
** carrying their fucking infants in their arms,
*' with hair dilhevelled, appealing now to Romans,
*' now to Sabines, by every tender adjuration that
" can reach the heart of Man *."

The moft powerful effefts of love, as has been
faid, arife out of contradiflory feelings, melting
into each other, juft as thofe of hatred, frequently,
are produced from fimilar fentiments which hap-
pen to clafli. Hence it is that no feeling can
be more agreeable than to find a friend in a
man whom we confidered as an enemy ; and no
mortification fo poignant as meeting an enemy in
the man whom we depended upon as a friend.
Thefe harmonic effeds frequently render a flight
and tranfient kindnefs more eftimable than a con-
tinued feries of good offices ; and a momentary
offence more outrageous than the declared enmity

* Plutarch''^ Life of Romulus,

of

STUDY XII. 6^

bf a whole life-time ; becaufe, in the firft cafej
feelings diametrically oppofite gracioully unite ;
and, in the fécond, congenial feelings violently
clalh. Hence too it is, that a fingle blemifh,
amidft the valuable qualities of a man of worth,
frequently appears more ofFenfive than all the vices
" of a libertine, who difplays only a folitary virtue,
becaufe, from the effed of contrail, thefe two qua-
lities become more prominent, and eclipfe the
others in the two oppofite charadters. It proceeds,
likewife, from the weaknefs of the human mind,
which, attaching itfelf always to a fingle point of
the objeâ: which it contemplates, fixes on the moft
prominent quality, in framing it's decifions. It is
impoifible to enumerate the errors into which wc
are every day falling, for want of ftudying thefe
elementary principles of Nature. It would be pof-
lible, undoubtedly, to extend them much farther;
it is fufficient for my purpofe, if I have given a de-
monftration of their exiftence, and infpired others
with an inclination to apply them properly.

Thefe harmonies acquire greater energy from
the adjoining contrails which detach them, from
the cbnfonances which repeat them, and from the '
other elementary Laws which have been indicated s
but if with thefe are blended fome one of the mo-
ral fentiments of which I have been prefenting a

F 2 ^aint

68 STUDIES OF NATURE,

faint fketch, in this cafe, the effeâ: refulting front
the whole is inexpreiïibly delightfLil. Thus, fof
example, a harmony becomes, in fome fort, celef-
tial, when it contains a myftery, which always fup-
pofes fomething marvellous and divine. I one day
felt a mod agreeable effed, as I was looking over
a colleâiion of old prints, which reprefented the
hiftory of Adonis, remis had flolen the infant
Adonis from Diana, and was educating him with
her fon Cupid. Diana was determined to recover
him, as being the fon of one of her nymphs»
Fenusj then, having, on a certain day, alighted
from her chariot, drawn by doves, was walking
with the two boys in a valley of Cythera. Diana,
at the head of her armed retinue, places herfelf in
ambufli, in a foreft through which Venus was to
pals. Fenus, as foon as flie perceived her adver-
fary approaching, and incapable either to efcape,
or to prevent the re-capture of Adonis, was in-
ftantly ftruck with the thought of clapping wings
on his flioulders, and prefenting Cupid and him to-
gether to Diana, defired her to take either of the
children which (he believed to be her property.
Both being equally beautiful, both of the fame
age, and both furnifhed with wings, the chafle
Goddefs of the woods was deterred from choofing
cither the one or the other, and refrained from
taking Adonis, for fear of taking Cupid,

Thl^

STUDY XIÏ. 69

This fable contains feveral fentimental beauties.
I related it pne day to J. J. Rùiijfeau, who was
highly delighted with it. " Nothing pleafes me
*' fo much," faid he, "as an agreeable image,
" which conveys a moral fentiment." We were
at that time in the plain of Neuilly, near a park,
in which we faw a group of Love and Friendship,
undfr the forms of a young man and young wo-
iT)an, of fifteen or fixteen years of age, embracing
each other with mouth to mouth. Having looked
at it, he faid to me, *' Here is an obfcene image
" prefented, after a charming idea. Nothing
" coul4 have been more agreeable, than a repre-
*' fentation of the two figures in ïjieir natural ftate :
** Friendfhip, as a grown young woman carefîing
** an infant Cupide Being on that interefting fub-
jeâ:, I repeated to him the conclu fion of that
touching fable pf Philomela and Progné.

Le défert eft-il fait pour des talens fi beaux ?
Venez faire aux cités éclater leurs merveilles :

Auffi bien, en voyant les bois,
Sans cefTe il vous fouvient que Térée autrefois,

JPArmi des demeures pareilles,
Exerça fa fureur fur vos divins appas.—
Et c'eft le fouvenir d'un fx cruel outrage,
Qui fait, reprit fa fœur, que je ne vous fuis pas :

En voyant les hommes, helas !

Il m'en fouvient bien davantage.

F 3 Why

^O STUDIES OF NATURE.

Why wafte fuch fweetnefs on the defert air !

Come, charm the city with thy tuneful note.
Think too, in folitude, that form fo fair

Felt violation : flee the horrid thought.

Ah ! filler dear, fad Philomel replies,

'Tis this that makes me fhun the haunts of men :

Terëus and Courts the anguifh'd heart allies,
And haftes, for flielter, to the woods again.

*' What a feries of ideas !" cried he, " how
** tenderly affeding it is !" His voice was ftifled,
and the tears rufhed to his eyes. I perceived that
he was farther moved by the fecret correfponden-
cies between the talents and the deftiny of that
bird, and his own fituation.

It is obvious, then, in the two allegorical fubjeds
of Diana and Jdonis, and of Love and Friendfliip,
that there are really within us, two diftinft powers,
the harmonies of which exalt the foul, when the
phyfical image throws us into a moral fentiment,
as in the firft example j and abafe it, on the con-
trary, when a moral fentiment recals us to a phy-
fical fenfation, as in the example of Love and,
Friendlhip.

The fupprefTed circumftances contribute farther
to the moral expreffions, becaufethey are conform-
able to the expanfive nature of the foul. They

conduct

STUDY XII. ^I

conduâ: it over a vaft field of ideas. It is to thefc
fuppreffions that the fable of the Nightingale is
indebted for the powerful effedt which it produces.
Add to thefe a multitude of other oppofitions,
which I have not leifure to analyze.

The farther that the phyfical image is removed
from us, the greater extenfion is given to the mo-
ral fentiment ; and the more circumfcribed the
firft is, the more energetic the fentiment is ren-
dered. It is this, undoubtedly, which communi-
cates fo much force to our affecflions, when we re-
gret the death of a friend. Grief, m this cafe, con-
veys the foul from one World to the other, and
from an objed: full of charms to a tomb. Hence
it is, that the following paflage from Jeremiah con~
tains a ftrain of fublime melancholy : Fox in Rama
audita eft ; ploratus y ululatus multus : Rachel plorans
fiUos fuoSj y noluit confolari, quia non Junt. " A
" voice was heard in Ramah, lamentation and
" bitter weeping ; Rachel weeping for her chil»
*' dren, refufed to be comforted for her children,
^* becaufe they were not *." All the confolations
which this World can adminifter, are dalhed to
pieces againft this word of maternal anguifh, ,non
funty

* Jeremiah, chap. xxxi. ver. 15.

F 4 The

72. STUDIES OF NATURE.

The fingle jet d*eau of Saint-Cloud pleafes m©
more than all it's cafcades. However, though the
phj'fical image fhould not efcape, and lofe itfelf in
infinity, it may convey forrow thither, when it re-
flets the fame fentiment. I find, in Plutarchy a
noble effed of this progreflive confonance. '* Bru-
*' tus y' fays he, " giving all up for loft, and hav-
*' ing refolved to withdraw from Italy, paffed by
" land through Lucania, and came to Elea, which
" is fituated on the fea-lide. Portia being to re-
*' turn from thence to Rome, endeavoured to
** conceal the grief which opprefled her, in the
" profpeét of their approaching feparation ; but,^
** with all her refolution and magnanimity, fhe
" betrayed the forrow which was preying on her
" heart, on feeing a pifture which there acciden-
** tally caught her eye. The fubjed of the piece
" was taken from the Iliad, and reprefented the
" parting of Hedor and Andromache, when he was
" preparing to take the field, and at the inftant
" when he was delivering the infant Aflyanax into
*' the arms of his mother, while her eyes remain
" immoveably fixed on HeBar, The refemblance
** which the pidure bore to her own diftrefs made
*' her burft into tears ; and feveral times a day the
" reforted to the place where it hung, to gaze at
" it, and to weep before it. This being obferve(^
" by Acilius, one of the friends of BrmnSy he re-
peated

STUDY XIÏ, 73

^f peated the paflage from Homer, in which Andre-
f * mache exprefles her inward emotion ;

E;iTwp «Tap a-v (A.01 ea-at •na.r-Df y^xt votvix (Arimpf

Yet while my He(fior ftill furvives, I fee
My father, mother, kindred, all in thee,
My wedded Lord

** Bruitis replied, with a fmile. But I mujl not an-
^^ fwer Portia in the words of Heâîor to Andromache t

AXX' E/Î oiMv tSax, roc arxvrrn ïfyx xo/x/^e,
Ifoy T v^xKCcrmv te, xxi çc[A.(pivé\oi<Ti Kif^vi,

haften to thy tafks at home,

There guide the fpindle, and direft the loom.

** For though the natural zveaknefs of her body prevent i
■* her from aâing zvbat the flrength of men only can
^* perform, yet fhe has a mind as valiant, and as ac-
^* live for the good of her Country as we have."

This pidure was, undoubtedly, placed under
the periftyle of fome temple, built on the fhore of
the Sea. Brutus was on the point of embarking
without pomp, and without a retinue. His wife,
the daughter of Cato, had accompanied him, per-
haps on foot. The moment of feparation ap-
proaches ; in order to foothe her anguifh, (lie fixes
her eyes on that painting, confecrated to the Gods.

She

74 STUDIES OF NATURE.

She beholds in it the lafl, long farewel of HeBor
and Andromache ; fhe is overwhelmed j and to xt"
animate her fortitude, turns her eyes upon her huf-
band. The comparifon is completed, her courage
forfakes her, tears gufh out, conjugal affeâ:ioi>
triumphs over love of Country. Two virtues in
oppofition ! Add to thefe the charaders of a wild
nature, which blend fo well with human grief:
profound folitude, the columns and the cupola of
that antique temple, corroded by the keen air of
the Sea, and marbled over with mofles, which
give them the appearance of green bronze ; a fet-
ting Sun, which gilds the fummit of it -, the hol-
low murmurs of the Sea, at a diftance, breaking
along the coaft of Lucania ; the towers of Elea
perceptible, in the bofom of a valley, between two
fteep mountains, and that forrow of Portia, which
hurries us back to the age of Andromache. What
a pidture, fuggefted by the contemplation of a
pidure ! O, ye Artifts, could you but produce it,
Portia would, in her turn, call forth many a tear.

I could multiply, without end, proofs of the
two powers by which we are governed. Enough
has been faid on the fubjedt of a paflion, the in-
ftinét of which is fo blind, to evince that we are
atirafted to it, and aftuated by it, from Laws
widely different from thofe of digeftion. Our af-
fections demonftrate the immortality of the foul,

becaufc

STUDY XU. 75

becaufe they expand in all the circumflances, in
which they feel the attributes of Deity, fuch as that
pf infinity, and never dwell with delight on the
Earth, except on the attrapions of virtue and in-
nocence.

PF SOME OTHER SENTIMENTS OF DEITY, AND AMONG
OTHERS, OF THAT OF VIRTUE.

There are, befides thefe, a great number of fen-
timental Laws, which it has not been in my power,
at prefent, to unfold : fuch are thofe which fug-
geft pre-fentiments, omens, dreams, the reference
of events, fortunate and unfortunate, to the fame
epochs, and the like. Their efFeds are attefled
among Nations, polifhed and favage, by Writers
profane and facred, and by every man who pays at-
tention to the Laws of Nature. Thefe communica-
tions of the foul, with an order of things invifible,
are rejeâied by the learned of modern times, be-
caufe they come not within the province of their
fyftems and of their almanacs j but how m.any
things exift, which are not reducible to the plans
of our reafon, and which have not been fo much
as perceived by it !

There are particular laws which demonftrate the
immediate adion of Providence on the Human

Race,

76 STUDI]&S OF NATURE.

Race, and which are oppofite to the general Laws
of Phyfics. For example, the principles of reafon,,
of paffion, and of fentiment, as well as the organs
of fpeech and of hearing, are the fame in men of
all countries j neverthelefs, the language of Nations,
differs all the world over. How comes it that the
art of fpeech is fo various among beings who all
have the fame wants, and that it Ihould be con-
ftantly changing in the tranfmiffion from father to
fon, to fuch a degree, that we modern French no
longer underftand the language of the Gauls, and
that the day is coming, when our pofterity will be
linable to comprehend ours ? The ox of Benga
bellows like that of the Ukraine, and the nightin-
gale pours out the fame melodious ftrains to this
day, in our climates, as thofe which charmed the
ear of the Bard of Mantua, by the banks of the Po,

It is impoflible to maintain, though it has been
alleged by certain Writers of high reputation, that
languages are characterized by climates ; for, if
they were fubjefled to influence of this kind, they
would never vary in any country, in which the cli-
mate is invariable. The language of the Romans
was at firft barbarous, afterwards majeftic, and is
become, at laft, foft and effeminate. They are not
rough to the North, and foft to the South, as
y. J. Roujfeau pretends, who, in treating this point,
has given far too great extenfion to phyfical Laws.

The

STUD'i' xii. 77

The language of the Ruffias, in the North of
Europe, is very fofr, being a dialeél of the Greek;
and the jargon of the fouthern provinces of France
is îiarlh and coarfe. The Laplanders, who inhabit
the fliores of the Frozen Ocean, fpeâk a language
that is very grateful to the ear; and the Hotten-
tots, who inhabit the very temperate climate of the
Cape of Good- Hope, cluck like India cocks.
The language of the Indians of Peru is loaded
with ftrong afpirations, and confonants of difficult
pronunciation. Any one, without going out of his
clofet, may diftinguifli the different charafters of
the language of each Nation, by the names pre-
fented on the geographical charts of the Country,
and may fatisfy himfelf that their harlhnefs, or
foftnefs, has no relation whatever to thofe of La-
titude.

Other obfervers have affcrted, that the languages
of Nations have been determined and fixed by
their great Writers. But the great Writers of the
age of Augnjlus did not fecure the Latin language
from corruption, previoufly to the reign of Marcus
Aurelius. Thofe of the age of Lowi XIV. already
begin to be antiquated among ourfelves. If pof-
terity fixes the charader of a language to the age
which was productive of great Writers, it is be-
caufe, as they allege, it is then at it's greateft pu-
i^ty ; for you find in them as many of thofe i-nvcr-

fions

78 STUDtES OF NATURE.

(ions of phrafeology, of thofe decompofitiohs of
words, and of thofe embarraffed fyntaxes, which
render the metaphyfical ftudy of all Grammar tire-
fome and barbarous ; but it is becaufe the Writ-
ings of thofe great men fparkle with maxims of
virtue, and prefent us with a thoufand perfpedives
of the Deity. I have no doubt that the fublime
fentiments which infpire them, illuminate them ftill
in the order and difpofition of their Works, feeing
they are the fources of all harmony. From this,
if I am not miftaken, tefults the unalterable charm
which renders the perufal of them fo delicious, at
all times, and to the men of all Nations. Hence
it is that Plutarch has -eclipfed moft of the Writers
of Greece, though he was of the age neither of
Pericles^ nor of Alexander ; and that the tranllation
of his Works into old French, by the good Amyoty
will be more generally read by pollerity than moft
of the original Works produced even in the age of
Louis XIV. It is the moral goodnefs of a period
which charafterizes a language, and which tranf-
mits it unaltered to the generation following. This
is the reafon that the languages, the cuftoms, and
even the form of drefles arc, in Afia, tranfmitted
inviolably from generation to generation, becaufe
fathers, all over that Continent, make themfelves
beloved by their children. But thefe reafons do
not explain the div-erfity of language which fubfifts
between one Nation and another. It muft ever

appear

STUDY xîi. 79

appear to me altogether fupernatural, that men
who enjoy thfe (imie elements, and are fubjefted
to the fame wants, fhould not employ the fame
words in expreffing them. There is but one Sun
to illuminate the whole Earth, and he bears a dif-
ferent name in every different land.

I beg leave to fuggeft a farther effed of a Law
lo which little attention has been paid ; it is this,
that there never arifes any one man eminently di-
flinguiflied, in whatever line, but there appears,
at the fame time, either in his own Country, or in
lome neighbouring Nation, an antagonift, poflef-
fing talents, and a reputation, in complete oppo-
fition : fuch were Democritus and HeracliluSf Alex-
ander and Diogenes, Defcartes and Newton, Corneille
and Racine, Bojfiiet and Fenelon, Voltaire and J. J,
RouJJeau. I had colleded, on the fubjed: of the
two extraordinary men laft mentioned, who were
contemporaries, and who died the fame year, a
great number of ftriftures, which demonftrate
that, through the whole courfe of life, they pre-
fented a ftriking contrafl; in refpeft of talents, of
manners, and of fortune : but I have relinquifhed
this parallel, in order to devote my attention to &
purfuit which I deemed much more ufeful.

This balancing of illuftrious characters will not
appear extraordinary, if we confider- that it is a

confequence

80 Sti/blES OF NATURE.

confequènce from the general Law of contrariée^
which governs the World, and from which all the
harmonies of Nature refult : it muft, therefore^
particularly manifeft itfelf in the Human Race,
which is the centre of the whole ; and it actually
does difcover itfelf, in the wonderful equilibrium,
conformably to which the two fexes are born in
equal numbers. It does not fix on individuals, in
particular, for we fee families confiding wholly of
daughters, and others all fons ; but it embraces
the aggregate of a whole city, and of a Nation,
the male and female children of which are always
produced very nearly equal in number. Whatever
inequality of fex there may exift in the variety of
births in families, the equality is confl:antly re-
ilored in the aggregate of a people.

But there is aiiother equilibrium no lefs wonder-
ful, which has not, I believe, become an objeft of
attention; As there are a great many men who
perifh in War, in fea-voyages, and by painful and
dangerous employments, it would thence follow,
that, at the long run, the number of women would
daily go on in an increafing proportion. On the
fuppofition, that there periQies annually one tenth
part more of men than of women, the balancing
of the fexes muft become more and more un-
equal. Social ruin muft increafe from the very
regularity of the natural order^ This, however,

does

STUDY XII. 8l

does not take place ; the two fexes are always,
very nearly, equally numerons : their occupations
are different ; but their deftiny is the fame. The
women, who frequently impel men to engage in
hazardous enterprizes to fupport their luxury, or
who foment animofities, and even kindle wars
among them, to gratify their vanity, are carried
off, in the fecurity of pleafure and indulgence, by
maladies to which men are not fubjed; j but which
frequently refult from the moral, phyfical, and po-
litical pains which the men undergo in confe-
quence of them. Thus the equilibrium of birth
between the fexes, is re-eftabliihed by the equili-
brium of death.

Nature has multiplied thofe harmonic contrails
in all her Works, relatively to Man ; for the fruits
which minifler to our neceffities, frequently pof-
fefs, in themfelves, oppofite qualities, which ferve
as a mutual compenfation,

Thefe effedls, as has been elfewhere demon-
ilrated, are not the mechanical refults of climate,
to the qualities of which they are frequently in
oppofition. All the Works of Nature have the
wants of Man for their end ; as all the fentiments
of Man have Deity for their principle. The final
intentions of Nature have given to Man the know-
ledge of all her Works, as it is the inltinâ: of

VOL. iVc G Deity

bZ STUDIES OF NATURE.

Deity which has rendered Man fupcrior to the
Laws of Nature. It is this inftinâ: which, diffe-
rently modified by the paffions, engages the inha-
bitants of Ruflia to bathe in the ices of the Neva,
during the fevereft cold of Winter, as well as the
Nations of Bengal in the waters of the Ganges;
which, under the fame Latitudes, has rendered
women flaves in the Philippine Iflands, and defpots
in the Illand of Formofa; which makes men effe-
minate in the Moluccas, and intrepid in Macalfar;
and which forms, in the inhabitants of one and
the fame city, tyrants, citizens, and flaves.

The fentiment of Deity is the firft mover of the
human heart. Examine a man in thofe unforefeen
moments, when the fecret plans of attack and de-
fence, with which focial man continually enclofes
himfelf, are fupprelfed, not on the fight of a vaft
ruin, which totally fubverts them, but fimply on
feeing an extraordinary plant or animal : *' Ah,
*' my God !" exclaims he, " how wonderful this
" is !" and he invites the firft perfon who happens
to pafs by, to partake of his aftonifliment. His
firft emotion is a tranfport of delight Which raifes
him to God ; and the fécond, a benevolent difpo-
fition to communicate his difcovery to men; but
the focial reafon quickly recals him to perfonal in-
tereft. As foon as he fees a certain number of
•fp^edators affembled round the objedl of his curi^

ofity.

STUDY XII. 83

©fity, ^* It was I," fays he, " who obferved it
"^ firfl:." Then, if he happens to be a Scholar, he
fails not to apply his fyftem to it. By and by he
begins to calculate how much this difcovery will
bring him in ; he throws in fome additional cir-
cumftances, in order to heighten the appearance
of the marvellous, and he employs the whole
credit of his junto to puff it off, and to perfecute
every one who prefumes to differ from him in opi-
nion. Thus, every natural fentiment elevates us
to God, till the weight of our pafïïons, and of
human inftitutions, brings us back again to felf.
y. y. RouJJeau was, accordingly, in the right, when
he faid that Man was good, but that men were
wicked.

It was the inflinâ: of Deity which firfl affembled
men together, and which became the bafis of the
Religion and of the Laws whereby their union was
to be cemented. On this it was that virtue found
a fupport, in propofing to herfelf the imitation of
the Divinity, not only by the exercife of the Arts
and Sciences, which the ancient Greeks, for this
efîeét, denominated the petty virtues ; but in the
refult of the divine power and intelligence, which
is beneficence. It conlifled in efforts made upon
Gurfelves, for the good of Mankind, in the view of
pleafing God only. It gave to Man the fentiment

6 2 of

84 STUDIES OF NATURE.

of his own excellence, by infpiring liim with the
contempt of terreftrial and tranfient enjoyments,
and with a defire after things celeftial and immor-
tal. It was this fublime atiradion which exalted
courage to the rank of a virtue, and which made
Man advance intrepidly to meet death, amidft fo
many anxieties to preferve life. Gallant d'JJfas,
what had you to hope for on the Earth, when you
poured out your blood in the night, without a
witnefs, in the plains of Klofterkam, for the falva-
tion of the French army ? And you, generous
E'i/ince de St. Pierre^ what recompence did you ex-
peft from your Country, when you appeared be-
fore her tyrants, with the halter about your neck,
ready to meet an infamous death, in fiving your
fellow-citizens ? Of what avail, to your infenfible
afhes, were the ftatues and the elogiums which
pofterity was one day to confecrate to your me-
mory ? Could you fo much as hope for this re-
ward, in return for facrifices either unknown, or
loaded with opprobrioufnefs ? Could you be fiat-
tered, in ages to come, with the empty homage of
a world feparated from you by eternal barriers }
And you, more glorious (till in the fight of God,
obfcure citizens, vvho fink inglorioufiy into the
grave; you, whofe virtues draw down upon your
heads (hame, calumny, perfecution, poverty, con-
tempt, even on the part of thofe who difpenfe the

honour^

STUDY XII. 85

honours of a prefent flate, could you have forced
your way through paths fo dreary and fo rude, had
not a Hght from Heaven ilkiminated your eyes * ?

Tt

* It is itnpoffible for virtue to fubfift independantly of Reli-
gion, t do not mean the theatrical virtues, wiiich attract public
admiration, and that, many a time, by means fo contemptible,
that they may be rather confidered as fo many vices. The very
Pagans have turned them into ridicule. See what Marcus Aurclius
has faid on the fubjefl. By virtue I underftand the good which
we do to men, without expeftation of reward on their part, and,
frequently, at the expence of fortune, nay, even of reputation.
Analyze all thofe whofc traits have appeared to you the moft
ftriking; there is no one of them but what points out Deity,
nearer or more remote. I fliall quote one not generally known,
and fingularly interefting from it's very obfcurity.

In the laft war in Germany, a Captain of cavalry was ordered
out on a foraging parfy. He put himfelf at the head of his
troop, and marched to the quarter affigned him. It was a foli-
tary valley, in which hardly any thing but woods could be feen.
In the midft of it flood a little cottage ; on perceiving it, he
went up, and knocked at the door ; out comes an ancient Her-
jiouten, with a beard filvered by age. " Father," fays the officer,
*' fliew me a field where I can fet my troopers a-foraging"... ...

*' Prefently," replied the Hernouten. The good old man walked
before, and conduced them out of the valley. After a quarter
of an hour's march, they found a fine field of barley : " There

*' is the very thing we want," fays the Captain " Have pa-

*' tience for a ïtw minutes," replies his guide, ** you (liall be
*' fatisfied." They went on, and, at the diftance of about a
quarter of a league farther, they anive at another field of barley.
The troop immediately difmounted, cut down the grain, truffed
It up, and remounted. The officer, upon this, fays to his con-

G 3 du(5tor,

36 HTUDIES OF NATURE,

This refpeft for virtue, is the fource of that
which we pay to ancient Nobility, and which
has introduced, in procefs of time, unjuft and

odious

dyflor, " Father, you have given yourfelf and us unneceflaiy

*' trouble; the firft field was much better than this'". " Very

" true, Sir," replied the good old man, *' but it was not mine."

This ftroke goes direéWy to the heart. I defy an atheifl to
produce me any thing once to be compared with it. It may be
proper to obferve, that the Hernoutens are a fpecies of Quakers,
icattered over fome cantons of Germany. Certain Theologians
have maintained, that heretics were incapable of virtue, and that
their good aftions were utterly deftitute of merit. As I am no
Theologian, I fhall not engage in this metaphyfical difcuflion,
though I might oppofe to their opinion the fentiments of St.
Jerome^ and even thofe of St. Pder^ with refpe6t to Pagans, when
he fays to Cornelius the centurion : " Of a truth, I perceive that
•"J Gou is no refpefter of perfons ; but in every Nation, he that'
" feareth Him, and wQiketh righteoufnefs, is accepted with
" Him f ." But I fliould be glad to know what thofe Theolo-
gians think of the charity of the good Samaritan, who was a
fchifmatic. Surely they will not venture tp ftart objecflions
againfla decifion pronounced by Jesus Christ himfelf. As the
iimplicity and depth of his divine refponfes, form an admirable
contraft with the diflionefty and fubtilty of modern do£lors, I
fliall tranfcribe the whole paflage from the Gofpel, word for
ivord.

" And behold, a certain lawyer flood up, and tempted him,
*' faying, Mafter, what fliall I do to inherit eternal life ?

" He faid unto him, What is written in the law ? how readeft
« thou ?

f Afis of the Apcftles, chap. x. ver, 34, 35.

" And

STUDY XI,I. %*/

©dious differences among men, whereas, origi-
nally, it was defigned to eftablifli among them,
refpedable diftindions alone. The Afiatics, more

equitable,

" And he anfwering, faid, Thou (halt love the Lorp thy Goj>
*' with all thy heart, and with all thy foul, and with all thy
*< llrength, and with all thy mind ; and thy neighbour 9S thy
" felf.

" And he faid unto him, Thou haft anfwered right: this do,
*' and thou fhalt live.

" But he willing to juftify himfelf, faid unto Jssus, And who
•' is my neighbour ?

-*' And Jesus anfwering, faid, A certain matt went dowa
*♦ from Jerufalem to Jericho, and fell among thieves, which
*' ftripped him of his raiment, and wounded /^/zw, and departed,
•' leaving ^im half-dead.

" And by chance there came down a certain prieft that way ;
*' and when he faw him, he pafled by on the other fide.

*' And likewife a Lévite, when he was at the place, came and
" looked on him, and pafled by on the other fide.

" But a certain Samaritan, as he journeyed, came where he
** was ; and when he faw him, he had compaflion m him.

*' And went to him, and bound up his wounds, pouring in oil

•* and wrne, and fet him on his own beaft, and brought him to

*' an inn, and took care df him.

" And on the morrow, when he departed, he took out two

^' pence, and gave them to the hoft, and faid unto him. Take

*' care of him : and whatfoever thpu fpendeft more, when I come

*' again, I will repay thee.

•' Which now of thefe three, thinkeft thou, was neighbour
«* unto him that fell among the thieves ?

*' And he faid, He that Ihewed mercy on him. Then faid
•** Jcî.vr. unto hiroj Go, and do thou likewife ^.''

X X.uk,e, chap. x. ver. 25—37.

G 4 I Ihall

fis STUDIES OF NATURE.

equitable, attached nobility only to places ren-
dered illuflrious by virtue. An aged tree, a well,
a rock, objecfls of ftability, appeared to them as
alone adapted to perpetuate the memory of what
was worthy of being remembered. There is not,
all over Afia, an acre of land, but what is digni-
fied by a monument. The Greeks and Romans
who ifliied out of it, as did all the other Nations
of the World, and who did not remove far from
it, imitated, in. part, the cuftoms of our firft Fa-
thers. But the other Nations which fcattered
themfetves ovej: the reft of Europe, where they

I fliall be carefully on my guard againft adding any refle£lion$
of my own on this fubjeft, except this fimplc obfervation, that
the adlion of the Samaritan is far fuperior to that of the Hernou-
ten ; for, though the fécond makes a great facrifice, he is in fome
fort determined to it by force : a field muft of neceffity have been
fubjefled to forage. But the Samaritan entirely obeys the im-
pulfe of humanity. His aélion is free, and his charity fponta-
neous. This ilrifture, like all thofe of the Gofpel, contains, in
a few words, a multitude of clear and forcible inftruftions, re-
fpeding the duties inculcated in the fécond table of the Law. It
would be impoflible to replace them by others, were imagination
itfelf permitted to diftate them. Weigh all the circumftances of
the reftlefs and perfevering charity of the Samaritan. He drefles
the wounds of an unfortunate wretch, and places him on his own
horfe ; he expofes his own life to danger, by flopping, and
walking on foot, in a place frequented by thieves. He after-
wards makes provifion, in the inn, for the future, as well as for
the prefent, neceffities of the unhappy man, and continues his
journey, without expelling any recompenfe whatever from the
gratitude of the perfon whom he had fuccoured.

were

STUDY XII. S9

were long in an erratic flate, and who withdrew
from thofe ancient monuments of virtue, chofe
rather to look for them in the poflerity of their
great men, and to fee the living images of them in
their children. This is the reafon, in my opinion,
that the Afiatics have no Noblefle, and the Euro-
peans no monuments.

This infhinft of Deity conftitutes the charm of
the performances which we perufe with mofl de-
light. The Writers to whom we always return
with pleafure, are not the mofl fprightly, that is,
thofe who abound the moft in the focial reafon
which endures but for a moment, but thofe who
render the adlion of Providence continually pre-
fent to us. Hence it is that Homer, Firgil, Xeno-
pboH, Phtarchy Fenelon, and moft of the ancient
Writers, are immortal, and pleafe the men of all
Nations. For the fame reafon it is, that books of
travels, though, for the moft part, written very
artlefsly, and though decried by multitudes, of
various orders in Society, who difcern in them an
indireâ: cenfure of their own conduét, are, never^
thelefs, the moft interefting part of modern read-
ing ; not only becaufe they difclofe to us fome
new benefits of Nature, in the fruits and the ani-
mals of foreign countries, but becaufe of the dan-
gers by land and by water which their authors have
fsfcaped, frequently beyond all reafonable expeda-

tion.

$flr STUDIES OF NATURE.

tion. Finally, it is becaufe the greateft part of
our very learned produftions fludioufly (leer clear
of this natural fentiment, thi\t the perufal of them
is fo very dry and difgufling, and that pofterity
will prefer Herodotus to David Hiwie, and the My-
thology of the Greeks to all our treatifes on Phy-
£cs; becanfe wre love (till more to hear the fic-
tions of Deity blended with the Hillory of men,
than to fee the reafon of men in the Hiflory of
Deity.

This fublime fentiment infpires Man with a
tafte for the marvellous, who, from his natural
weaknefs, muft have ever been crawling on the
ground, of which he is formed. It balances in
him the fentiment of his mifery, which attaches
him to the pleafures of habit ; and it exalts his
foul, by infufing into him continually the defire of
novelty. It is the harmony of human life, and
the fource of every thing delicious and enchanting
that we meet with in the progrefs of it. With
this it is that the illufions of love ever veil them-
felves, ever reprefenting the beloved objeél as
fomething divine. It is this which opens to am-
bition perfpeclives v/ithout end. A peafant ap-
pears deiirous of nothing in the World, but to be-
come the church-warden of his village. Be not
deceived in the man ! open to him a career with?
out any impediment in his way ; hç is groom, he

becomes

STUDY XII. gi

becomes highwayman, captain of the gang, a com-
mander in chief of armies, a king, and never refts
till he is worfhipped as a God, He Ihall be a
Tamerlane or a Mahomet,

An old rich tradefman, nailed to his eafy-chaij?
by the gout, tells ns, that he has no higher ambi-
tion than to die in peace. But he fees himfelf eter-
nally renovating in his pofterity. He enjoys a fc-
cret delight in beholding them mount, by the
dint of his money, along all the afcending fteps
of dignity and honour. He himfelf refleéts not
that the moment approaches when he fhall have
nothing in common with that pofterity, and
that while he is congratulating himfelf on being
the fource of their future glory, they are already
employing the upftart glory which they have ac-
quired, in drawing a veil over the meannefs of
their original. The atheift himfelf, with his ne-
gative wifdom, is carried along by the fame im-
pulfe. To no purpofe does he demonftrate to
himfelf the nothingnefs, and the fluduation of all
things : his reafon is at variance with his heart.
He flatters himfelf inwardly with the hope, that
his book, or his monument, will one day attract
the homage of pofterity ; or, perhaps, that the
book, or the tomb, of his adverfary will ceaTe to
be honoured. He miftakes the Deity, merely
becaufe he puts himfelf in his place.

With

92. STUDIES OF NATURE.

With the fentiment of Deity, every thing is
great, noble, beautiful, invincible, in the moft
contrafted fphere of human life ; without it, all
is feeble, difpleafing, and bitter, in the very lap of
greatnefs. This it was which conferred empire
on Rome and Sparta, by Ihevving to their poor
and virtuous inhabitants the Gods as their protec-
tors and fellow-citizens. It was the deftrucTtion of
this fentiment which gave them up, when rich and
vicious, to llavery ; when they no longer faw, in
the Univerfe, any other Gods except gold and
pleafure. To no purpofe does a man make a bul-
wark around himfcif of the gifts of fortune j the
moment this fentiment is excluded from his heart,
languor takes pofleffion of it. If it's abfence is
prolonged, he finks into fadnefs, afterwards into
profound and fettled melancholy, and finally into
defpair. If this ftate of anxiety becomes perma-
nent, he lays violent hands on himfelf. Man is
the only fenfible being which deftroys itfelf in a
flate of liberty. Human life, with all it's pomp,
and all it's delights, ceafes, to him, to have the ap-
pearance of life, when it ceafes to appear to hira
immortal and divine *,

* Plutarch remarks, that Alexander did not abandon himfelf
to thufe excelles, which fuUied the conclufion of his glorious ca-
reer, tin he beUeved himfelf to be forfakcn of the Gods. No^
enly does this fentiment become a fource of mifery, when it fe-
parates itfelf from our pleafures ; but when, from the effecft of

our

STUDY XÎI. 93

Whatever be the diforders of Society, this celef-
tial inflind is ever amnfing itfelf with the children
of men. It infpires the man of genius, by dif-
clofing itfelf to him under eternal attributes. It
prefents to the Geometrician, the inefïlible pro-
greffions of infinity; to the Mufîcian, rapturous
harmonies ; to the Hiftorian, the immortal Hiades

cur paffions, or of our inftitiitions, which pervert the Laws of
Nature, it prefles upon our miferies themfelves. Thus, for ex-
ample, when after having given mechanical Laws to the opera-
tions of the foul, we come to make the fentiment of infinity to
bear upon our phyfical and tranfient evils; in this cafe, by a
jufl" re-adion, our mifery becomes infupportable. I have pre-
fented only a faint fketch of the two principles in Man ; but to
whatever fenfation of pain, or of pleafure, they may be applied,
the difference of their nature, and their perpetual re-aclion, will
be felt..

On tbe fiibje<fl of Alexander forfaken of the Gods, it is matter
of furprize to me, that the expreffion of this fituation fliould not
ha^e infpired the genius of fome Grecian Artift. Here is what
I find on this fubjeft in Addifon : " There is in the fame gallery,
" (at Florence) a fine buft of Alexander the Great, with the face
" turned toward Heaven, and imprefied with a certain dignified
" air of chagrin and diflatisfaélion, I have feen two or three
" ancient bufts of Alexander, with the fame air, and in the fame
"attitude; and I am difpofed to believe, that the Sculptor pur-
*' fued the idea of the Conqueror fighing after new worlds, or
*' fome fimilar circumftance of his Hiftory." {Addifon'^ Voyage
to Italy.) I imagine that the circumftance oî Alexander''^ Hif-
torj'^, to which thofe bufi:s ought to be referred, is that which rc-
prefents him complaining of being abandoned of the Gods. I
have no doubt that it would have fixed the exquifite judgment of
Addi/on, had he recollected the obfervation made by Plutarch.

of

94 STUDIES OF NATURE.

of virtuous men. Jt raifes a ParnalTus for the Poet,
and an Olympus for the Hero. It (heds a luftre
on the unfortunate days of the labouring poor.
Amidft the luxury of Paris, it extraits a figh from
the bread of the humble native of Savoy, after the
facred covering of the fnows upon his mountains.
It expatiates along the vaft Ocean, and recals, from
the gentle climates of India, the European mari-
ner, to the ftormy (hores of the Weft. It beflows
a country on the wretched, and fills with regret
thofe who have loft nothing. It covers our cradles
with the charms of innocence, and the tombs of
our forefathers with the hopes of immortality. It
repofes in the midft of tumultuous cities, on the
palaces of mighty Kings, and on the auguft tem-
ples of Religion. It frequently fixes it's refidence
in the defert, and àttraéts the attention of the
Univerfe to a rock. Thus it is that you are clothed
with majefty, venerable ruins of Greece and
Rome ; and you, too, myfterious pyramids of
Egypt ! This is the objed which we are invariably
purfuing, amidft all our reft lefs occupations; but
the moment it difcovers itfelf to us, in fome unex-
peéted aâ: of virtue, or in fome one of thofe events
which may be denominated ftrokes of Heaven, or
in fome of thofe indefcribably fublime emotions,
which are called fentimental touches, by way of
excellence, it's firft efFedl is to kindle in the breaft
a very ardent movement of joy, and the fécond is

to

STUDY XII. 9_5

to melt us into tears. The foul, ftruck with this
divine light, exults, at once, in enjoying a glimpfe
of the heavenly Country, and finks at the thought
of being exiled from it.

., Oculis errantibus alto

Qusefivit cœlo lucem, ingemuitque repertfi.

aïlNriD, Book IV.

With wandering eyes explor'd the heavenly light.
Then figh'd, and funk into the fliades of night.

STUD 7

iSTlîDY XIII* 57

STUDY THIRTEENTH.

laaaSBtZteaa

APPLICATION OF THE LAWS OF NATURE TO THE
DISORDERS OF SOCIETY.

1HAVE ejtpofed, in this Work, the errors of
human opinion, and the mifchief which has
refulted from them, as affeding morals, and ibcial
felicity. I have refuted thofe opinions, and have
ventured to call in queftion even the methods of
human Science ; 1 have invefligated certain Laws
of Nature, and have made, I am bold to affirm, a
happy application of them to the vegetable or-
der : but all this mighty exertion would, in my
own opinion, prove to be vain and unprofitable,
unlefs I employed it in attempting to difcover
fome remedies for the diforders of Society.

A Pruffian Author, who has lately favoured the
World with various productions, carefully avoids
faying a word refpeding the adminiftration of the
government of his own Country, becaufe, being
only a paflenger, as he alleges, in the veflel of the
State, he does not confider himfelf as warranted to

VOL. IV. H intermeddle

98 STUDIES OF NATURE.

intermeddle with the pilot's province. This thonglit,
like fo many others borrowed from books, is a
mere efFufion of wit. It refembles that of the man,
who, feeing a houfe on the point of being feized
with the flames, fcampered off, without making
any attempt to fave it, becaufe, forfooth, the houfe
was not his. For my own part, I think myfelf fo
much the more obliged to take an intereft in the
veflel of the State, that I am a paffenger on board,
and thereby bound to contribute my efforts toward
her profperous navigation. Nay, I ought to em-
ploy my very leifure, as a paffenger, to admonifh
the (leerfman of any irregularity, or negleft, which I
may have perceived incondu6ting the bufinefs of the
fhip. Such, to my apprehenfion, are the examples
fet us by a Montefqiiieu^ a Fenelon^ and fo many
other names to be held in everlafting refped, who
have, in every country, confecrated their labours
to the good of their compatriots. The only thing
that can be, with juPiice, obje^fled to me, is my in-
fufficiency. But I have feen much injuftice com-
mitted ; 1 myfelf have been the vidbim of it.
Images of diforder have fuggeflied to me ideas of
order. Befides, my errors may, perhaps, ferve as
a foil to the wifdom of thofe who (hall deted
them. Were 1 but to prefent one fingle, ufefui
idea to my Sovereign, whofe bounty has hitherto
fupported me, though my fervices remain unre-
warded, I (l^iall have received the mofl precious re-

compenfc

Study xiiï. 99

tômpenfe that my heart can defire : if I am encou-
raged to flatter myfelf with the thought that I have
wiped away the tears from the eyes of but one un-
fortunate fellow-creature ; fuch a refledion would
wipe away mine own in my dying moments.

The men who can turn the diftreffes of their
t^ountry to their own private emolument, will re-
proach me with being it's enemy, in the hacknied
obfervation, that things have always been (o, and
that all goes on very well, becaufe all goes on well
for them. But the perfons who difcover, and who
linveil the evils under which their Country labours,
they are not the enemies which fhe has to fear ;
the perfons who flatter her, they are her real ene-
mies. The Writers afluredly, fuch as Horace and
'Juvenal, who prediftcd to Rome her downfal,
when at the very height of her elevation, were
much more fincerely attached to her profperiry,
than thofe who offered incenfe to her tyrants, and
made a gain of her calamities. How long did the
Roman Empire furvive the filutary yearnings of
the firft ? Even the good Princes, who afterwards
afTumed the government of it, were incapable of
replacing it on a folid foundation, becaufe they
were impofed upon by their contemporary Wri-
ters, who never had the courage to attack the mo-
ral and political caufes of the general corruption.
They fatisfied themfelves with th'.^ir own perfonal
H 2 reiormation.

lOO STUDIES OF NATURE.

reformation, without daring to extend it To much
as to their families. Thus it was that a Titus and
a Marcus Aurelius reigned. They were only great
Philofophers on the throne. As far as I am con-
cerned, I (hould believe that I had already de-
ferved well of my Country, had I only announced
in her ear this awful truth ; That (he contains, in
her bofom more than feven millions of poor, and
that their number has been proceeding in an in-
creafing proportion, from year to year, ever fincc
•the age of Louis XIV.

God forbid that I (hould wifli or attempt to
difturb, much lefs deftroy, the different orders of
the State. I would only wifli to bring them back
to the fpirit of their natural Jnftituiion. Would
to God that the Clergy would endeavour to merit,
by their virtues, the firft place, which has been
granted to the facrednefs of their fundions; that
tlie Nobility would give their protedion to the
citizens, and render themfelves formidable only to
the enemies of the people; that the adminiftrators
of finance, directing the treafures of the Public to
flow in the channels of agriculture and commerce,
would lay open to merit the road which leads to
all uftful ap.d honourable employment ; that every
woman, exempted, by the fecblcncfs of her confti-
tiition, from moft of the burthens of Society,
would occupy herfelf in fulfilling tiie duties of her

gentle

STUDY XIII. lOI

gentle deftination, tbofe of wife and mother, and
thus cementing the felicity of one family j that,
invefted with grace and beauty, (he would confider
herfelf as one flower in that wreath of delight, by
which Nature has attached Man to life ; and while
flîe proved a joy and a crown to her hufband in
particular, the complete chain of her fex might in-
diflblubly compaâ: all the other bonds of national
felicity !

It is not my aim to attrafl the applaufe of the
million ; they will not read my Book ; belides,
they are already fold to the rich and the powerful.
They are continually, I grant, maligning their
purchafers, and even frequently applaud the per-
fons who treat them with fome degree of firmnefs ;
but they give fuch perfons up, the moment they
are difcovered to be objects of hatred to the rich ;
for they tremble at the frown of the great, or crawl
among their feet, on receiving the flighted token
of benevolence. By the million, I underftand not
only the loweft order in Society, but a great num-
ber of others, who confider themfelves as very far
above it.

The people is no idol of mine, If the powers
which govern them are corrupted, they themfelves
are the caufe of it. We exclaim againfl: the reigns
of Nero and Caligula ; but thefe deteftable Princes

H 3 were

Î02 STUDIES OF NATURE,

were the fruit of the age in which they lived, juf^
as bad vegetable fruits are produced by bad trees :
they vv'ould not have been tyrants, had they not
found among the Romans, informers, fpies, para-
fites, poifoners, proftitutes, hangmen, and flat-
terers, who told them that every thing went on
very well. I do not believe virtue to be the allot-
ment of the people, but I confider it as portioned
out among all conditions in life, and in very fmall
quantities, among the little, among the middling,^
and among the great ; and fo neceflfary to the fup-
port of all the orders of Society, that were it en-r
tirely deftroyed. Country would crumble to pieces^
like a temple whofe pillars had been undermined.

But Î am not particularly interefted in the people,
either from the hope of their applaufe, or refped to.
their virtues, but from the labours in which they are
employed. From the people it is that the greateft
part of my pleafures, and of my diftrefles, pror
cecd ; by the people I am fed, clothed, lodged,
and they are frequently employed in procuring fu-
perfiuities for me, while neceflaries are fometimes
wanting to themfelves ; from them, likewife, iflue
epidemic difeafes, robberies, feditions ; and did
they prefent nothing to me, but fimply the fpec-
tacle of their liapplnefs or mifery, I could not rcr
main in a ftate of indifference. Their joy invo-
luntarily infpires me with joy, and their mifery

wrinsis

STUDY XIIÏ. 103

Wrings my heart. I do not reckon my obligation
to them acquitted, when I have paid them a pecu-
niary confideration for their fervices. It is a maxim
of the hard-hearted rich man, " that artifan and
*' I are quit," fays he, ** I have paid him." The
money which I give to a poor fellow for a fervice
which he has rendered me, creates nothing new
for his ufe; that money would equally circu-
late, and perhaps more advantageoufly for him,
had I never exifled. The people fupports, there-
fore, without any return on my part, the weight of
my exiftence : it is ftill much worfe when they are
loaded with the additional burthen of my irregu-
larities. To them I ftand accountable for my vices
and my virtues, more than to the magiflrate. If
I deprive a poor workman of part of his fubfift-
ence, I force him, in order to make up the defi-
ciency, to become a beggar or a thief; if I feduce
a plebeian young woman, I rob that order of a
virtuous matron ; if I manifefb, in their eyes, a
difregard to Religion, I enfeeble the hope which
fuftains them under the preffure of their labours.
Befides, Religion lays me under an exprefs injunc-
tion to love them. When (he commands me to
love men, it is the People (he recommends to me,
and not the Great ; to them fhe attaches all the
powers of Society, which exift only by them, and
for them. Of a far different fpirit from that of
modern politics, which prefent Nations to Kings

H 4 as

I04 STUDIES OF NATURE.

as their domains, fhe prefents Kings to Nations, âS
their fathers and defenders. The peo,)le were not
made for Kings^ but Kings for the people. 1 am
bound, therefore, I who am nothing, and who
can do nothing, to contribute my wanneil wiilies,
at leaft, toward their fehcity.

Farther, I feel myfclf conflrained, in juftice to
the commonalty of our own Country, to declare,
that I know none in Europe fuperior to them in
point of gencrofity, though, liberty excepted, they
are the moll; mifcrable of all with wdiom I have
had an opportunuy to be acquainted. Did time
permit, I could produce inftances innumerable of
their beneficence. Our wits frequently trace ca-
ricatures of cur fifli-women, and of our pcafantry,
becaufe their only objett is to amufe the rich ; but
they might receive fublime lelfons of virtue, did
they know how to ftudy the virtues of the com-
mon people; f )r my own part, I have, ofcener
than once, found ingots of gold on a dunghill.

I have remarked, for ex.imple, that many of our
inferior (hop- keepers fell their wares at a lower
price to the poor man than to the rich ; and w^hen
I afked the reafon, the reply was, " Sir, every body
*' muft hve." I have likewife obferved, that a
great many of the lower order never haggle, when
jhey arc buying from poor people like themfelves:

*' Every

STUDY XIII. 105

*' Every one," fay they, *' muft live by his trade."
I faw a little child, one day, buying greens from
the herb-woman : fhe filled a large apron with the
articles which he wanted, and took a penny : on
my expreffing furprize at the quantity which fhe
had given him, (he faid to me, *' I would not,
*' Sir> have given fo much to a grown perfon ; but
** I would not tor the world take advantage of a
" child." 1 knew a man of the name of Chriftal,
in the rue de la Magdelaine^ whofe trade was to go
about felling Auvergne- waters, and who fup ported
for five months, gratis^ an upholfterer, of whom
be had no knowledge, and whom a law-fuit had
brought to Paris, becaufe, as he told me, that poor
upholfterer, the whole length of the road, in a
public carriage, had, from time to time, given an
arm to his fick wife. That fame man had a fon
eighteen years old, a paralytic and changeling
from the womb, whom he maintained with the
tendered attachment, without once contenting to
his admiflion into the Hofpital of Incurables,
though frequently folicited to that effed, by per-
fons who had intereft fufRcient to procure it :
*' God," faid he to me, " has given me the poor
*' youth : it is my duty to take care of him." I have
no doubt that he ftill continues to fupport him,
though he is under the neceffity of feeding him
with his own hands, and has the farther charge of
a frequently ailing wife.

1 once

J06 STUDIES OF NATURE.

I once flopped, with admiration, to contem*-
plate a poor mendicant, feated on a poft, in the
rue Bergère, near the Boulevards. A great many
well-drefled people pafTed by, without giving him
any thing ; but there were very few fervant- girls,
or women loaded with baflcets, who did not flop
to beftow their charity. He wore a well-powdered
peruque, with his hat under his arm, was dreffed
in a furtout, his linen white and clean, and every
article To trim, that you would have thought thefe
poor people were receiving alms from him, and
not giving them. It is impoffible, affuredly, to
refer this fentiment of generofity in the common
people to any fecret fuggeflion of felf-intereft, as
the enemies of mankind allege, in taking upon
them to explain the caufes of compaffion. No
one of thofe poor benefaélrefles thought of putting
herfelf in the place of the unfortunate mendicant,
who, it was faid, had been a watchmaker, and had
loft his eye-fight ; but they were moved by that
fublime inftinft which intercfts us more in the di-
ftreffes of the Great, than in thofe of other men ;
becaufe we eftimate the m.agnitude of their fufFer-
ings by the ftandard of their elevation, and of the
fall from it. A blind watchmaker was a Bclifarius
in the eyes of fervant- maids.

1 Ihould never have done, were Î to indulge my-
felf in detailing anecdotes of this fort. They would

be

STUDY XIII. 107

be found worthy of the admiration of the rich,
were they extraded from the Hiflory of Savages,
or from that of the Roman Emperors; were
they two thoufand years old, or had they taken
place two thoufand leagues off. They would amufc
their imagination, and tranquillize their avarice.
Our own commonalty, undoubtedly, well deferves
to be loved. I am able to demonftrate, that their
moral goodnefs is the firmeft fupport of Govern-
ment, and that, notwithftanding their own necef-
lities, to them our foldiery is indebted for the
fupplement to their miferable pittance of pay, and
that to them the innumerable poor with whom the
kingdom fwarms, owe a fubfiftence wrung from
penury itfelf,

Salus Populi suprema Lex esto, faid the
Ancients : let the fafety of the People be the pa-
ramount Law, becaufe their mifery is the general
mifery. This axiom ought to be fo much the
more facred in the eyes of Legiflators and Refor-
mers, that no Law can be of long duration, and
no plan of reform reduced into etfedt, unlefs the
happinefs of the people is previoufly fecured. Out
of their miferies abufes fpring, are kept up, and
are renewed. It is from want of having reared the
fabrick on this fure foundation, that fo many illuf-
trious Reformers have feen their political edifice
crumble into ruins, If Jgis and Cleomenes failed

in

lO^ STUDIES OF NATURE.

in their attempts to reform Sparta, it was becanlc
the wretched Helots obferved with indifference a
fyflem of happinefs which extended not to them.
If China has been conquered by the Tartars, it
was becaufe the difcontented Chinefe were groan-
ing under the tyranny of their Mandarins, while
the Sovereign knew nothing of the matter. If
Poland has, in our own days, been parcelled out
by her neighbours, it was becaufe her enflaved
peafantry, and her reduced gentry, did not fland up
in her defence. If fo many efforts toward reform,
on the fubjeâ: of the clergy, of the army, of
finance, of our courts of juflice, of commerce, of
concubinage, have proved abortive with us, it is
becaufe the mifery of the people is continually re-
producing the fame abufes.

I have not feen, in the whole courfe of my tra-
vels, a country more flourifhing than Holland.
The capital is computed to contain, at lead, a
hundred and four-fcore thoufand inhabitants. Aft
immenfe commerce prefents, in that city, a thou-
fand objeds of temptation, yet you never hear of
a robbery committed. They do not even employ
foldiers for mounting guard. I was there in 1762,
and for eleven years previous to that period, no
perfon had been punifhed capitally. The Laws,
however, are very fevere in that Country ; but the
people, who polTefs the means of eafily earning a

livelihood.

STUDY XIII. 109

livelihood, are under no temptation to infringe
them. It is farther worthy of remark, that though
they have gained millions by printing all our ex-
travagances in morals, in politics, and in religion,
neither their opinions nor their moral conduft have
been affeded by it, becaufe the people are con-
tented with their condition. Crimes fpring up
only from the extremes of indigence and opulence.

When I was at Mofcow, an aged Genevois,
who had lived in that city from the days of
Peter I. informed me, that from the time they had
opened to the people various channels of fubfift-
ence, by the eftabliOiments of manufaâiures and
commerce, feditions, affaffinations, robberies, and
wilful fires, had become much lefs frequent than
they ufed to be. Had there not been at Rome
multitudes of miferable wretches, no Catiline wovàà
have ftarted up there. The police, I admit, pre-
vents at Paris very alarming irregularities. Nay,
it may be with truth affirmed, that fewer crinies
are committed in that capital, than in the other
cities of the kingdom, in proportion to their po-
pulation ; but the tranquillity of the common
people in Paris is to be accounted for, from their
finding there readier means of fubfiftence, than in
the other cities of the kingdom, becaufe the rich
of all the provinces fix their refidence in the me-
tropoli"?. After all, the expenfe of our police, in

guards,

ïld STUDIES OF NATURE.

guards, in fpies, in houfes of correâiion, and in
gaols, are a burthen to that very people, and be-
comes an expenfe of punifhments, when they
might be transformed into benefits. Befides, thefe
methods are repercuffions merely, whereby the
people are thrown into concealed irregularities,
which are not the leaft dangerous.

The firft ftep toward relieving the indigence of
the commonalty, is to diminifli the exceflive opu-
lence of the rich. It is not by them that the
people live, as modern politicians pretend. To
no purpofe do they inftitute calculations of the
riches of a State, the mafs of them is undoubtedly
limited ; and if it is entirely in the pofleflion of a
fmail number of the citizens, it is no longer in the
fervice of the multitude. As they always fee in
detail men, for whom they care very little, and in
overgrown capitals money, which they love very
much, they infer, that it is more advantageous for
the kingdom, that a revenue of a hundred thou-
fand crowns Ihould be in the pofTeflion of a lingle
perfon, rather than portioned out among a hun-
dred families, becaufe, fay they, the proprietors of
large capitals engage in great enterprizesj but
here they fall into a moft pernicious error. The
financier who polfefTes them, only maintains a few
footmen more, and extends the reft of his fuper-
fluity to objeds of luxury and corruption : more-
over.

STUDY xiir. lit

over, every one being at liberty to enjoy in his
own way, if he happens to be a mifer, this money-
is aitogether loft to Society. But a hundred fa-
milies of refpedable citizens could live comfortably
on the fame revenue. They will rear a numerous
progeny, and will furniOi the means of living to a
multitude of other families of the commonalty, by
arts that are really ufeful, and favourable to good
morals.

It would be neceffary, therefore, in order to
check unbounded opulence, without, however,
doing injuftice to the rich, to put an end to the
venality of employments, which confers them all
on that portion of Society which needs them the
leaft, as the means of fubfiftence, for it gives them
to thofe who have got money. It would be necef-
fary to abolifli pluralities, by which two, three, four,
or more offices, are accumulated on the head of one
perfon j as well as reverfions, which perpetuate them
in the fame families. This abolition would, un-
doubtedly, deftroy that monied ariftocracy, which
is extending farther and farther in the bofom of the
the monarchy, and which, by interpofmg an infur-
mountable barrier between the Prince and his fub-
jecfls, becomes^ in procefs of time, the moft dan-
gerous of all governments. The dignity of em-
.ployments would thereby be greatly enhanced, as
they muft, in this cafe, rife in eflimation, being

CO a fide red

112 STUDIES OF NATiTRE.

confidered as the reward of merit, and not the pur-
chafe of money : that refpect for gold, which has
corrupted every moral principle, would be dimi-
niOied, and that which is due to virtue would be
heightened i the career of public honour would be
laid open to all the orders of the State, which, for
more than a century paft, has been the patrimony
of from four to five thoufand families, which have
tranfmitted all the great offices from hand to hand,
without communicating any fhare of them to the
reft of the citizens, except in proportion as they
ceafe to be fuch, that is, in proportion as they fell
to them their liberty, their honour, and their con
fcience.

Our Princes have been taught to believe, that it
was fafer for them to truft to the purfes, than to
the probity of their fubje6ts. Htre we have the
origin of venality in the civil ftate ; but this fo-
phifm falls to the ground, the moment we refleâ:
that it fubfifts not in either the ecclefiaftical or mi-
litary order ; and that thefe great bodies ftill are,
as to the individuals which coinpofe them, the bed
ordered of any in the State, at leaft with relation
to their police, and to their particular interefts.

The Court employs frequent change of faQiions,
in order to enable the poor to live on the fuper-
fluity of the rich. This palliative is fo far good,

though

STUDY XIII. 113

though fubjed to dangerous abufe : it ought, at
lead, to be converted, to it's full extent, to the
profit of the poor, by a prohibition of the intro-
duftion of every article of fore'gn luxury into
France ; for it would be very inhuman in the
rich, who engrofs all the money in the Nation, to
fend out of it immenfe fums annually, to the In-
dies and to China, for the purchafe of mullins,
filks, and porcelains, which are all to be had within
the kingdom. The trade to India and China is
neceflary only to Nations which have neither mul-
berry-trees nor filk worms, as the Englifh and
Dutch. They, too, may indulge themfelves in
the ufe of tea, becaufe their country produces no
wine. But every piece of callico we import from
Bengal, prevents an inhabitant of our own iflands
from cultivating the plant which would have fur-
nifhed the raw material, and a family in France
from fpinning and weaving it into cloth. There
is another political and moral obligation which
ough to be enforced, that of giving back to the
female fex the occupations which properly belong-
to them, fuch as midwifery, millinery, the employ-
ments of the needle, linen-drapery, trimming, and
the like, which require only tafte and addrefs, and
are adapted to a fedentary way of life ; in order to
refcue great numbers of them from idlenefs, and
from proftitution, in which fo many feek the means
of fupporting a miferable exiftence.

VOL. lY. I Again,

ÏÏ4 STUDIES OF NATURE.

Again, a vaft channel of fubfiflcnce to the people
might be opened, by Tuppreffing the exclufive pri-
vileges of commercial and manufafturing compa-
nies. Thefe companies, we are told, provide a
livelihood for a whole country. Their eftabliih-
ments, I admit, on the firft glance, prefent an,
impoiing appearance, efpecially in rural lituations.
They difplay great avenues of trees, vaft édifices,
courts within courts, palaces ; but while the un-
dertakers are riding in their coaches, the reft of
the village are walking in wooden (hoes. I never
beheld a peafantry more wretched than in villages
where privileged manufaftures are eftabliQied.
Such exclufive privileges contribute more than is
generally imagined, to check the induftry of a
country. I fhall quote, on this occafion, the re-
mark of an anonymous Englifh Author, highly re-
fpectable for the foundnefs of his judgment, and
for the ftriûnefs of his impartiality. *' I paffed,"
fays he, " through Montreuil, Abbeville, Pe-

" quigni The fécond of thefe cities has, like-

" wife, it's caftle : it's indigent inhabitants greatly
*' cry up their broad-cloth manufacture : but it is
" lefs confiderable than thofe of many villages of
** the county of York *."

* Voyage to France, Italy, and the Iflands of the Archipelago,
in 1750. Four fmaU volumes ia izmo.

I could.

STUDY xni. X15

Ï could likewife oppofe to the woollen manu-
factures of the villages of the County of York,
thofe of handkerchiefs, cotton-ftuffs, woollens, of
the villages of the Pays de Caux, which are there in
a veryflourhhing ftate, and where the peafantry are
very rich, becaufe there are no exclufive privileges
in that part of the country. The privileged un-
dertaker having no competitor in a country, fettles
the workman's wages at his own plcafure. They
have a thoufand devices befides, to i educe the
price of labour as low as it can go. Tney give
them, for example, a trifie of money in advance,
and having thereby inveigled them inio a Aate of
infolvency, which may be done by a loan of a tew
crowns, they have them thencef^brward at their
mercy. I know a confiderable branch of the falt-
water fifhery, almoft totally deftroyed, in cne of
our Tea ports, by means of this underhand fpecies
of monopoly. The tradefmen of that town, at
firft, bought the filh of the fidiermen, to cure ic
for fale. They afterwards were at the expenfe of
building velTels proper for the trade: they pro-
ceeded next to advance money to the fifiiermens*
wives, during the abfencecf their hufbmds. Thefe
were reduced, on their return, to the neceffity of
becoming hired fervants to the merchant, in order
to difcharge the debt. The m.erchant having thus
become rnafter of the boats, of the fiflierman, and
of the commiodity, regulated the conditions of the

I a trade

ri6 STUDIES CF NATURE.

trade j Lift as he pleafed. Moft of the fifhermen,
dilheartened by the fmallnefs of their profits, quit»
ted the employment; and the fifhery, which was
formerly a mine of wealth to the place, is no\y
dwindled to almoft nothing.

On the other hand, if I objeft to a monoply,
which would engrofs the means of fubfiftence be-
flowed by Nature on every order of Society, and
on both fexes, much lefs would I confent to a mo-
nopoly that fliould grafp at thofe which fhe has
afijgned to every man in particular. For example,
the Author of a book, of a machine, or of any in-
vention, whether ufeful or agreeable, to which a
man has devoted his time, his attention, in a word,
his genius, ought to be, at leaft, as well fecured in
a perpetual right over thofe who fell his book, or
avail themfelves of his invention, as a feudal Lord
is to exaâ: the rights of fines of alienation, from
perfons who build on his grounds, and even from
thofe who re-fell the property of fuchhoufes. This
claim would appear to me ftill better founded, on
the natural right, than that of fines of alienation.
If the Public fuddenly lays hold of a ufeful inven-
tion, the State becomes bound to indemnify the
Author of it, to prevent the glory of his difcovery
from proving a pecuniary detriment to him. Did
a Law fo equitable exift, we fliould not fee a fcore
of bookfellers wallowing in affluence at the ex-

penfs

STUDY XIII. 117

penfe of an Author who did not know, fometirnes,
where to find a dinner. We fliould not have ften,
for inliance, in our own days, the pofterity of Cor-
neille and of La Fontaine reduced to fubfift on
alms, while the bookfellers of Paris have been
building palaces out of the fale of their Works.

Immenfe landed property is ftill more injurious
than thac of money and of employments, becaufe it
deprives the other citizens, at once, of the focial
and of the natural patriotifm. Befides, it comes, in
procefs of time, into the poffeffion of thofe who
have the employments and the money ; it reduces
all the fubjeds of the State to dépendance upon
them, and leaves them no refource for fubfiftence
but the cruel alternative, of degrading rhemfelves
by a bafe flattery of the paffions of thofe who have
got all the power and weakh in their hands, or of
going into exile. Thefe three caufes combined,
the laft efpecially, precipitated the ruin of the
Roman Empire, from the reign oï Trajan, as Pliny
has very juflly remarked. They have already ba-
niflied from France more fubjefts than the revo-
cation of the Edld of Nantes did. When I was in
Pruffia, in the year 1765, of the hundred and fifty
thoufand regular troops which the King then main-
tained, a full third was computed to confifl: of
French deferters. I by no means confider that

I 3 number

IlS STUDIES OF NATURE.

number as exaggerated, for I myfelf remarked,
that all the foldiers on guard, wherever i paifed,
were compofed, to a third at le^ftj ot Frenchmçn ;
and fuch guards are to be found at the gates of all
the cities, and in all the villages on the great read,
efpecially toward the froniier.

When I was in the Ruffian fervice, they reck-
oned near three thoufand teacher^ of language of
our nation in the city of Mofcow, among whom I
knew a great many perfons of refpeclable f smilies,
advocates, young ecclehafMcs, gentlemen, and. even
officers. Germany is filled wiih our wretched
compatriots. In the Courts of the Souih and of
the North, what is to be feen but trench dancers
and comedians? This we have in common, at this
day, with the Italians, and this we had in common
with the Greeks of the lower empire. In order to
find the means of fubfiftencc, we hunt after a
country different from that to which we owe our
birth. We do not find the other nations of Eu-
rope in this erratic ftate, except the S-.vifs, who
trade in the human fpecies, but who ali return
home, after having made their fortune. Our com-
patriots never return ; becaufe the precarious em-
ph yments which they jurfue do not admit of their
amafiing the means of a reputable fubliftencej
one day, in their native country.

Meîj

STUDY XIII. TÏ9

Men of letters, who were never out of their
country, or who refle6t fuperficially, arc conftanily
exclaiming againfl the revocation of the Edi(ft
of Nantes. But if they imagine that the reftora-
tion of that Ediâ: would bring back to France the
pofterity of the French Refugees, they are greatly
miftaken. Thofe, furely, who are rich, and com-
fortably fettled in foreign countries, will never
think of refigning their efiablidiments, and of re-
turning to the country of their fathers : none but
f)Oor Proteftants, therefore, would come back.
But what Qiould they do there, when fo many na-
tional Catholics are under the necefTity of emi-
grating for want of fubfiftence ? I have b^en oftener
than once aftoniflied at hearing our pretended po-
liticians loudly re-demanding fo many citizens to
religion, while, by their iilence, they abandon fuch
numbers of them to the infaiiable avidity of our
great proprietors. The truth ought to be told :
they have written rather out of hatred lo priells,
than from love to men. The fpirit of tolerance
which they wifli to edablifh, is a vain pretext,
with which they conceal their real aim ; for the
Proteftants whom they are difpofed to recal, arejuft
as intolerant as they accufe the Catholics of being;
of which we had an inftance, a few years ago, in
the very Land of Liberty, in England, where a
Rom.an-Catholic Chapel was burnt down to the
ground. Intolerance is a vice of European edu-

I 4 cation.

122 STUDIES OF NATURE,

cation, and which inanifefts itfelf in literature, in
fyftems, and in puppet-Qiovvs. There is a fanner
reafon to be affigned for thefe clamours : it is the
fame reafon which fets them a-ta!king for the ag-
grandizement of commerce, and filences them on
the fubjeft of agriculture, which is, from it's very
natnre, the moft noble of all occupations. It is, fmce
we muftfpeak out,becaufe rich merchants, and great
proprietors, give fplendid fuppers, which are at-
tended by fine women, who build up and deflroy re-
putations at their pleafure, whereas the tillers of the
ground, and perfons ftarved into exile, give none.
The table is now-a-days the main-fpring of the ari-
ftocracy of the opulent. By means of this engine
it is, that an opinion, which may fometimes in-
volve the ruin of a State, acquires preponderanc)'".
There, too, it is, that the honour of a foldier, oi
a bidiop, of a magiftrate, of a man of letters, is
frequently blafted by a woman who has forfeited
her own.

Modern politics have advanced another very
grofs error, in alleging that riches always find their
level in a ftate. When the indigent are once mul-
tiplied in it to a certain point, a wretched emula-
tion is produced among thofe poor people, who
fhall give himfelf away the cheapeft. Whilft, on
the one han 1, the rich man, teized by his famill^ed
compatriots for employment, over-rates the value

of

STUDY XIII. 121

of his money, the poor, in order to obtain a pre-
ference, let down the price of their labour, till, at
length, it becomes inadequate to their fubfiftence*
And then we behold, in the beft countries, agri-
culture, manufadures, and commerce, all expire.
Confiilt, for this purpofe, the accounts given us,
of different diftrids of Italy, and, among orhers,
what Mr. Brydone has advanced, in his very fen-
fible Tour*, notwithftanding the fevere ftriftures
of a canon of Palermo, refpeding the luxury and
extreme opulence of the Sicilian nobility and
clergy, and the abjeft mifery of the peafantry ; and
you will perceive whether money has found it's
level in that ifland or not.

I have been in Malta, which is in no refped
comparable, as to fertility of foil^ with Sicily ; for

* I quote a great many books of travels, becaufe, of all lite-
rary produélions, I love and efteem them the moft. I myfelf
have travelled a great deal, and I can affirm, with truth, that I
have almoft always found them agreed, refpecling the produc-
tions and the manners of every country, unlefs when warped by
national or party fpirit. We muft, however, except a fmall num-
ber, whofe romantic tone ftrikes at firfi: fight. They are run
down by every body, yet every body confults them. They af-
ford a conftant fupply of information to Geographei's, Natu-
ralifts, Navigators, Traders, Political Writers, Philofophers,
Compilers on all fubje£ls,Hifl:orians of foreign Nations, and even
thofe of our own Country, when they are deiirous of knowing
the truth.

it

122, STUDIES OF NATURE.

it confifts entirely of one white rock ; but that
rock is extremely rich in foreign wealth, from the
perpetual revenue of the commanderies of the Or-
der of St. John, the capitals of which are depofited
in all the Catholic States of Europe, and from the
reverfions, or fpoils, of the Knights who die in
foreign countries, and which find their way thither
every year. It might be rendered ftill more opu-
lent by the commodioufnefs of it's harbour, which
is fituated the moft advantageoufly of any in
the Mediterranean : the peafant is there, never-
thelefs, in a moft miferable condition. His whole
clothing confifts of drawers, which defcend no
lower than his knees, and of a fliirt without fleeves.
He fometimes takes his ftand in the great fquare,
his breaft, legs, and arms, quire naked, and fcorch-
ed with the heat of the Sun, waiting for a fare,
at the rate of one {hilling a day, with a carrlag..' ca-
pable of holding four perfons, drawn by a horfe,
from day- break till midnight; and, thus equipped,
to attend travellers to any part of the ifland they
think proper, without any obligation on their part,
to give either him or his beaft fo much as a draught
of water. He conducls hiscalafh, running always
bare-footed over the rocks before his horfe, which
he leads by the bridle, and before the lazy Knight,
who hardly ever deigns to fpeak to him, unlefs it
be to regale hun with the appellation of fcoundrel;
whereas the guide never prefumes to make a reply

but

STUDY XIII. 125

but with cap in hand, and with the addrefs of.
Your Moft llkiftrious Lorclfhip. The treafuiy of
the Republic is filled with gold and filver, and the
common people are never paid but in a fort of
copper coin, called a piece of four tarins, equi-
valent, in ideal value, to abour eightpence of our
mony. and intrinfically worth tittle more than two
farthings. It is ftamped with this device, no?i as,
fedfidcs ; " nor value, but confidence." What a
difference do exclufive poffeiïions, and gold, intro-
duce between man and man 1 A grave porter, in =
Holland demands of you mgoiitgueldt, that is, good
money, for carrying your portmanteau the length
of a ftreet, as much as the humble Maltefe Baftaze
receives for carrying you and three of your friends,
a whole day together, around the ifland. The
Dutchman is well clothed, and has his pockets lined
with good pieces of gold and filver. His coin pre-
fents a very différent infcription from that of a
Malta : you read thefe words on it : Concordia res
farva crefcunt ; " through concord fmall things in-
creafe." There is, in truth, as great a difference
between the power and the felicity of one State and
another, as between the infcriptions and the fub-
llances of their coin.

In Nature it is that we are to lock for the fub-
fiftence of a people, and in their liberty, the chan-
pel in which it is to flow. The fpirit of monopoly

has

324 STUDIES OF NATURE.

has deftroyed many of the branches of it among
us, which are pouring in tides of wealth upon our
neighbours; fuch are, among others, the whale,
cod, and herring fillieries. I admit, at the fame
time, on the prefent occafion, that there are enter-
prizes which require the concurrence of a great
number of hands, as well for their prefervation and
proteétion, as in order to accelerate their opera-
tions, fuch as the falt-water fifheries : but it is
the bufinefs of the State to fee to the adminiflra-
tion of them. No one of our companies has ever
been actuated by the patriotic fpirit ; they have
been aflbciated, if I may be allowed the expreffion,
only for the purpofe of forming fmall particular
States. It is not fo with the Dutch. For example,
as they carry on the herring fifhery to the north-
ward of Scotland, for this fifli is always better the
farther North you go in queft of it, they have
fhips of war to protect the filbery. They have
others of very large burthen, called bufles, em-
ployed night and day in catching them with the
net : and others contrived to fail remarkably faft,
which take them on board, and carry them quite
freQi to Holland. Befides all this, they have pre-
miums propofed to the veflel which firft brings
her cargo of filTi to market at Amfterdam. The
fifh of the firft barrel is paid at the Stadt-Houfe,
at the rate of a golden ducat, or about nine (hil-
lings and fixpence a- piece, and ikofe of the reft

of

STUDY XIÎI. Ï25

of the cargo, at the rate of a florin, or one fliiiling
and tenpence each.

This is a powerful inducement to the proprietors
of the fifliing vefTels, to ftretch out to the North
as far as poflible, in order to meet the fifii, which
are there of a fize, and of a deHcacy of flavour far
fuperior to thofe which are caught in the vicinity
of our coafts. The Dutch 'erecfled a ftatue to the
man who firft difcovered the method of fmokina::
them, and of making what they call red- herring.
They thought, and they thought juftly, that the
citizen who procures for his country a new fource
of fubfiilence, and a new branch of commerce, de-
ferves to rank with thofe who enlighten, or who
defend it. From fuch attentions as thefe, we fee
with what vigilance they v/atch over every thinf
capable of contributing to public abundance. It
is inconceivable to what good account they turn
an infinite number of produdions, which we fuifer
to run to wafte, and from a foil fandy, marfny, and
naturally poor and ungrateful.

I never knew a country in which there was fuch
plenty of every thing. They have no vines in the
country, and there are mere wines in their cellars
than in thofe of Bordeaux : they have no forefts,
and there is more fliip-building timber in their
dock-yards than at the fources of the Meufe and

of

12b STUDIES OF NATURE.

of the Rhine, from which their oaks are tranfmit-
ted. Holland contains lit lie or no arable ground,
and her granaries contain more Polifh corn than
that great kingdom referves for the fupport of it's
own inhabitants. The fame thing holds true as
to articles of luxury ; for, though they obfervc ex-
treme fimplicity in drefs, furniture, and domeflic
economy, there is more marble on fale in their
magazines than lies cut in the quarries of Italy
and of ihe Archipelago ; more diamonds and pearls
in their calliets than in thofe of the jewellers of
Portugal ; and more rofe-wood. Acajou, Sandal,
and India canes than there are in all Europe be-
fides, though their own country produces nothing
but willows and linden-trees.

The felicity of the inhabitants prefents a fpec-
tacle ftill more interefting. I never faw, all over
the country, fo much as one beggar, nor a houfe
in which there was a fingle brick, or a fingle pane
of glafs, deficient. But the 'Change of Amfter-
dam is the great objed of admiration. It is a
very large pile of building, of an architeélure
abundantly fimple, the quadrangular court of
which is furrounded by a colonade. Each of it's
pillars, and they are very numerous, has it's cha-
piter infcribed with the name of fome one of the
principal cities of the World, as Conftantinople,
Leghorn, Canton, Peterfburg, Batavia, and fo on;

and

STUDY XIII, 127

and Is, in propriety of fpeech, the centre of it's
commerce in Europe. Of thefe are very few but
what every day witneffes tranfa6lions to the amount
of millions. Mod of the good people who there
affemble are drtiied in brown, and without ruffles.
This contraft appeared to me fo much the more
ilriking, that only five days before, 1 happened to
be upon the Palais Royal at Paris, at the fame hour
of the day, which was then crowded with people
dreffed in brilliant colours, vnûi gold and filver laces,
and prating about nothings, the opera, literature,
kept miflreffes, and fuch contemptible trifles, and
who had not, the greateft part of them at leaft, a
fmgle crown in their pocket which they could call
their own.

We had with us a young tradefman of Nantes,
whofe affairs had been unfortunately deranged, and
who had come to feek an afylum in Holland,
where he did not know a fingle perfon. He dif-
clofed his fituation to my travelling companion, a
gentleman of the name of Le Breton. This Mr.
Le Breton was a Swifs officer, in the Dutch fervice,
half foldier, half merchant, one of the beft men
living, who fiift gave him encouragement, and re-
commended him, immediately on his arrival, to
his own elder brother, a refpeftable trader, who
boarded in the fame houfe where we had fixed.
Mr. Le Breton the elder carried this unfortunate

refugee

128 STL^DIES O? NATURE.

refugee to the Exchange, and recommended hîm
without ceremony, and without humihation, to a
commercial agent, who fimply afked of the young
Frenchman a fpecimen of his hand-writing; he
then took down his name and addrefs in his
pocket-bock, and defired him to return next day
to the fame place at the fame hour. I did not fail
to obferve the affignation in company with him
and Mr. Le Brelon. The agent appeared, and pre*
fented my compatriot with a hft of feven or eight
fituaiions of clerk, in different counting-houfes,
fome of which were worth better than thirty gui-
neas a year, befide board and lodging ; others,
abont fixty pounds without board. He was, ac-
cordingly, fettled at once, without farther folici-
tation. I afked the elder Mr. Le Breton whence
came the aftive vigilance of this agent in favour
of a ftranger, and one entirely unknown to him :
He replied : " It is his trade ; he receives, as an
*' acknowledgment, one mondi's falary of the per-
*' fon for whom he provides. Do not be furprized
*' at this," added he, " every thing here is turned
'' to a commercial account, from an odd old (hoc
" up to a fquadron of fliips.'*

We muft not fufFer ourfelves to be dazzled,
however, by the illuiions of a prodigious com-
merce ; and here it is that our politics have fre-
quently mifled us. Trade and man.ufadures, we

are

STUDY XIII. 129

are told, introduce millions into a State ; but the
fine wools, the dye-ftufFs, the gold and filver, and
the other preparatives imported from foreign coun-
tries, are tributes which muft be paid back. The
people would not have manufailured the lefs of
the wools of the country on their own account;
and if it's cloths had been of the loweft quality,
they would have been, at leaft, converted to their
ufe. The unlimited commerce of a country is
adapted only to a people pofleffing an ungracious
and contrafled territory, fuch as the Dutch ;
they export, not their own fuperfluity, but that
of other nations ; and they run no rifk of wanting
neceflaries, an evil which frequently befals many
territorial powers. What does it avail a people to
clothe all Europe with their woollens, if they them-
felves go naked ; to colleâ; the befl wines in the
World, if they drink nothing but water; and to
export the fined of flour, if they eat only bread
made of bran ? Examples of fuch abufes might
eafily be adduced from Poland, from Spain, and
from other countries, which pafs for the mod re-
gularly governed.

It is in agriculture chiefly that France ought to
look for the principal means of fubfiftence for her
inhabitants. Befides, agriculture is the great fup-
port of morals and religion. It renders marriages
eafy, neceflary, and happy. It contributes toward

VOL. IV. K r^^^i^g

I^O STUDIES OF NATURE.

ralfing a numerous progeny, which it employs, al»
moll as loon as they are able to crawl, in collecting,
the fruits of the earth, or in tending the flocks and
herds J but it beftows thefe advantages only on
fmall landed properties. We have already faid,
and it cannot be repeated too frequently, that
fmall pofleflions double and quadruple in a coun-
try both crops, and the hands which gather them.
Great eftates, on the contrary, in the hand of one
man, transform a country into vaftfolitudes. They
infpire the wealthy farmers with a relilli for city
pride and luxury, and with a diflike of country
employments. Hence they place their daughters
in convents, that they may be bred as ladies, and
fend their fons to academies, to prepare them for
becoming advocates or abbes. They rob the chil-
dren of the trades-people of their refources ; for if
the inhabitants of the country are always preffing
toward an eftablilhment in town, thofe of the
great towns never look toward the plains, becaufe
they are blighted by tallages and impofts.

Great landed properties expofe the State to an-
other dangerous inconvenience, to which I do not
believe that much attention has hitherto been paid.
The lands thus cultivated lie in fallow one year,
at leaft, in three, and, in many cafes, once every
other year. It muft happen, accordingly, as in
every thing left to chance, that fometimes great

quantities

STUDY XIII. rji

quantities of fuch land lie fallow at once, and at
other times very little. In thofe years, undoubt-
edly, when the greateft part of thofe lands is lying
fallow, much lefs corn mud be reaped, over the
kingdom at large, than in other years. This
fource of diftrefs, which has never, as far as I know,
as yet engaged the attention of Government, is
one of the caufes of that dearth, orunforefeen fear-
city of grain, which, from time to time, fall heavy
not on France only, but on the different Nations
of Europe.

Nature has parcelled out the adminiftration of
agriculture between Man and herfelf. To herfelf
file has referved the management of the winds, the
rain, the Sun, the expanfion of the plants ; and fhe
is wonderfully exaâ: in adapting the elements con-
formably to the feafons : but flie has left to Man, the
adaptation of vegetables, of foils, the proportions
which their culture oug-ht to have to the focieties
to be maintained by them, and all the other cares
and occupations which their prefervation, their di-
ftribution, and their police demand. I confider
this remark as of fufficient importance to evince
the neceffity of appointing a particular Minifier of
agriculture*. If it (hould be found impoffible for

* There are many other reafons v/hich militate in favour of
the appointment of a Minifter of Agriciiiture. The watering
canals abfgrbed by the luxury of the great Lords, or by the com-

K 2 merce

t^2 STUDIES OF NATURE.

Him to prevent chance-combinations in the larldât^
■which might be in fallow all at once, he would
have it, at leaft, in his power to prohibit the tranf-
portation of the grain of the country, in thofe
years when the greateft part of the land was in full
crop, for it is clear, almoft to a denionftration, that
the following year, the general produce will be {o
much lefs, as a confiderable proportion of the lands
will then, of courfe, be in fallow.

Small farms are not fubje^led to fuch viciffi-'
tudes; they are every year producflive, and almoft
at all feafons. Compare, as I have already fug-
gefled, the quantity of fruits, of roots, of pot-
herbs, of grafs, and of grain annually reaped, and
without intermiffion, on a track of ground in the
vicinity of Paris, called the Pré Saint-Gervais, the
extent of which is but moderate, fituated befides
on a declivity, and expofed to the North, with the

merce of the great Towns ; the puddles and Jayftalls which
poifon the villages, and feed perpetual focufes of epidemic dif-
eafe ; the fafety of the great roads, and the regulation of the inns
upon them ; the militia-draughts and imports of the peafantry ;
the injuftice to which they are in many cafes fubjefted, without
daring fo much as to complain, thefe would prefent to him a
multitude of ufeful eftablifliments which might be made, or of
abufes which might be correded. I am aware that moft of thefe
functions are apportioned into divers departments ; but it is ini-
poffible they fliould harmonize, and etfedually co-operate, till
the refponfibility attaches to a fingle individiiaU

produdions

STUDY xiir. .13,3

,produ(5bions of an equal portion of ground, taken
in the plains of the neighbourhood, and managed
on the great fcale of agriculture ; and you will be
fenfible of a prodigious difference. There is,
likewifè, a difference equally ftriking in the num-
ber, and in the moral charader of the labourinsi:
poor who cultivate them. I have heard a refpedt-
,^ble Ecclefiaftic declare, that the former clafs went
regularly to confeffion once a month, and that fre-
quendy their confeffions contained nothing which
called for abfolution.

1 fay nothing of the endlefs variety of delight
which refults from their labours ; from their beds
of pinks, of violets, of larks-heel; their fields of
corn, of peafe, of pulfe ; their edgings of lilach,
of vines, by which the fmall polTeffions are fub-
divided : their ftripes of meadow-ground difplay-
ing alternately, opening glades, clumps of willows
and poplars difcovering through their moving um-
brage, at the diftance of feveral leagues, either the
mountains melting away into the Horizon, or un-
known cailles, or the village-fpires in the plain,
whofe rural chimes, from time to time, catch the
ear. Here and there you fall in with a fountain of
limpid water, the fource of which is covered with
^n arch enclofed, on every fide, with large flabs of
ftone, which give it the appearance of an antique
.^monument, I have, fometimes, read the following

ic 3 innocent

1^4 STUDIES OF NATURE.

innocent infcriptions traced on the ftones with â
bit of charcoal :

Colin and Colette, this Stb of March,
Antoinette dt«^ Sebastian, ibh 6ih of May,

And I have been infinitely more delighted with
fuch infcriptions than with thofe of the Academy
of Sciences. When the families which cultivate
this enchanted fpot are fcattered about, parents
and children, through it's glens, and along it's
ridges, while the ear is ftruck with the diftant voice
of a country lafs Tinging unperceived, or while the
eye is caught by the figure of a lufty young fwain;
mounted on an apple-tree, with his balket and
ladder, looking this way and that way, and liften-
ing to the fong, like another Fertumnus : Where is
the park with it's ftatues, it's marbles, and it's
bronzes, once to be compared with it ?

O ye rich ! who wifli to encompafs yourfelves
with elyfian fcenery, let your park-walls enclofe
villages blefl with rural felicity. What deferted
tracks of land, over the whole kingdom, might
prefent the fame fpedacle ! I have feen Brittany,
and other provinces, covered, as far as the eye
could reach, with heath, and where nothing grew
but a fpecies of prickly furze, black and yellowifh.
Our agricultural companies, which there, to no

purpofcj

. STUDY. XIIÎ. 135

purpofe, employ their large ploughs of new con-
fcrudion, have pronounced thole regions to be
fmitten with perpetual fterility ; but thefe heaths
difcover, by the ancient divifions of the fields,
and by the ruins of old huts and fences, that they
have been formerly in a ftate of cultivation. They
are, at this day, furrounded by farms in a thriving
condition, on the felf-iame foil. How many others
would be ftiii more fruitful, fuch as thofe of Bor-
deaux, which are covered over with great pines 1
A foil which produces a tall tree, is, furely, capable
of bearing an ear of corn.

In fpeaking of the vegetable order, we have în-
<licated the means of dillinguilTiing the natural
analogies of plants, with each latitude and each
foil. There is aftually no foil whatever, ucrc it
mere fand, or mud, on which, through a paiTicu-
lar kindnefs of Providence, fome one or other of
our domeftic plants may not thrive. But the firfh
flep to be taken, is to re-fow the woods which for-
merly fheltered thole places, now expofed to the
adion of the winds, whereby the germ of every
fmaller plant is cankered as it flioots. Thefe means,
however, and many others of a fimilar nature, be-
long not to the jurifdidlion of iniatiable compa-
nies, with their delineations on the great fcale,
neither are they confident with provincial impofts
and oppreffion ; they depend on the local and pa-

ÎÇ 4 tient

136 STITDIES OF NATURE.

tient aiîîdulty of families enjoying liberty, poflef-
fing property which they can call their own, not
fubjeâ:ed to petty tyrants, but holding in?*mediately
of the Sovereign. By fuch patriotic means as thefe,
the Dutch have forced oaks to grow at Scheveiling,
a village in the neighbourhood of the Hague, in
pure fea-fand, of which I have had the evidence
from my own eyes. I repeat an aflertion already
hazarded : It is not on the face of vaft domains,
but into the baiket of the vintager, and the apron
of the reaper, that God pours down from Heaven
the precious fruits of the Earth,

Thefe exteniive diftriâis of land in the king-
dom, lying totally ufelefs, have attraded the at-
tention of fordid cupidity ; but there is a ftill
greater quantity which has efcaped it, from the
impoffibility of forming fuch tracks into marqui-
fates or feignories ; and becaufe, too, the great
plough is not at all applicable to them, Thefe
are, among others, the flripes by the high- way fide,
which are innumerable. Our great roads are, I
admit, for the moft part rendered produdive, be-
ing fkirted with elms. The elm is undoubtedly
a very ufeful tree : it's wood is proper for cart-
wright's work. But we have a tree which is far
preferable to it, becaufe it's wood is never at-
tacked by the infed; it is excellent for wainfcot-
ting, and it produces abundance of very nutrimental

food :

STUDY XIII. Î37

food : it is the cheftnut-tree I mean, A judgment
may be formed of the duration and of the beauty
of it's wood, from the ancient vvainfcotting of the
market St. Germain, before it was burnt down.
The joifts were of a prodigious length and thick-
nefs, and perfectly found, though more than four
hundred years old. The durable quality of this
wood may ftill be afcertained, by examining the
wainfcotting of the ancient caille of Marcouffi,
built in the time of Charles VI. about five leagues
from Paris. We have, of late, entirely neglefted
this valuable tree, which is now allowed to grow-
only as coppice- wood in our forefts. It's port,
however, is very majeftic, it's foliage beautiful,
and it bears fuch a quantity of fruit, in tiers mul-
tiplied one a-top of the other, that no fpot, of the
fame extent, fown with corn, coqld produce a crop
of fubiiftcnce fo plentiful.

It muft be admitted, as we have feen, in dif-
Gufiing the charaders of vegetables, that this tree
takes pleafure only in dry and elevated fituations ;
but we have another, adapted to the vailles and
humid places, of not much inferior utility, whether
we attend to the wood or to the fruit, and whofe
port is equally majeftic : it is the walnut-tree.
Thefe beautiful trees would magnificently decorate
our great roads. With them might, likewife, be
intermixed other trees, peculiar to each diftrid.

They

l^S STUDIES OF NATURE,

They would announce to travellers the various pro-
vinces of the kingdom : the vine, Burgundy ; the
apple tree, Normandy; the mulbery-tree, Dau-
phiny ; the olive-tree, Provence. Their ftems
loaded with produce, would determine much bet-
ter than ftakes furnidied with iron collars, and
than the tremendous gibbets of criminal juftice,
the limits of each province, and the gently diver-
jGiied feignories of Nature.

It may be objeded, that the crops would be ga-
thered by paffengers ; but they hardly ever touch
the grapes in the vinej'-ards which fometimes fkirt
the highway. Befides, if they were to pick the
fruir, what great harm would be done ? When the
King of Pruffia ordered the fides of many of the
great roads through Pomerania to be planted with
fruit-trees, it was infinuated to him that the fruit
would be ftolen : " The people," replied he, " at
^' leaft, will profit by it." Our crofs-roads pre-
fent, perhaps, ftill more loft ground than the great
highways. If it is confidered, that by means of
them the communication is kept up between the
fmaller cities, towns, villages, hamlets, abbeys,
caftles, and even lingle country-houfes ; that feveral
of them iflue in the fame place, and that every one
niuft have, at leaft, the breaddi of a chariot ; we
fliall find the whole fpace which they occupy to
be of incredible magnitude. It would be proper

to

STUDY XIII, 139

to begin with applying the line to them ; for mod
of them proceed in a Terpentine diredion, which,
in many cafes, adds a full third to their length, be-
yond what is neceflary. I acknowledge, at the
fame time, that thefe finuofities are highly agree-
able, efpecially along the declivity of a hill, over
the ridge of a mountain, in rural fituations, or
through the midft of forefts. But they might be
rendered fufceptible of another kind of beauty, by
ikirting them with fruit-trees, which do not rife to
a great height, and which, flying off in perfpeftive,
would give a greater apparent extenfion to the
landfcape. Thefe trees would likewife afford a
ihade to travellers. The hufbandmen, I know,
allege, that the (hade, fo grateful to paffengers, is
injurious to their ftanding corn. They are un-
doubtedly in the right, as to feveral forts of grain ;
but there are fome which thrive better in places
fomewhnt fliaded than any where elfe, as may be
feen in the Pré Saint -Qervais. Befides, the farmer
would be amply indemnified by the wood of the
fruit-trees, and by the crops of fruit. The interefls
even of the hufbandman and of the traveller, might
farther be rendered compatible, by planting only
the roads which go from North to South, and the
South fide of thofe which run Eafh and Wefl, fo
that the Ihade of their trees fliould fcarcely fall on
jhe arable lands,

It

140 STUDIES OF NATURE.

It would be, moreover, neceflary, in order tQ
increafe the national fubfiftence, to reflore to th^
plough great quantities of land now in pafture^
There is hardly fuch a thing as a meadow in all
China, a country fo extremely populous. The
Chinefe fow every where corn and rice, and feed
their cattle with the flraw. They fay it is better
that the beads fliould live with Man than Man
with the beads. Their cattle are not the lefs fat
for this. The German horfes, the mofl vigorous
of animals, feed entirely on ftraw cut fliort, with a
fmall mixture of barley or oats. Our farmers are
every day adopting practices the direél contrary of
this economy. They turn, as I have obferved in
many provinces, a great deal of land which for-
merly produced corn, into fmall grafs-farms, to
fave the cxpence of cultivation, and efpecially to
efcape the tithe, which their clergy do not receive
from pailure-lands. I have feen, in Lower- Nor-
mandy, immenfe quantities of land, thus forced
out of their natural flate, greatly to the public de-
triment. The following anecdote was told me,
on my taking notice of an ancient track of corn-
land, which had undergone a metamorphofis of
this fort. The redor, vexed at lofing part of his
revenue, without having it in his power to com-
plain, faid to the owner of the land, by way of
advice : " Mafter Peter, in my opinion, if you

" would

STUDY XIII. 141

•* would remove the {tones from that ground, dung
" it well, plough it thoroughly, and fow it with
*' corn, you might flill raife very excellent crops.'*
The farmer, an arch, flirewd fellow, perceiving the
drift of his tithing-man, replied : " You are in the
*"' right, good Mr. Reâior ; if you will take the
" ground, and do all this to it, 1 fliall afk no more
*"* of you than the tithe of the crop."

Our agriculture will never attain all the aâ:ivity
of which it is fufceptible, unlefs it is reflored to it's
native dignity. Means ought, therefore, to be
employed to induce a multitude of cafy and idle
burghers, who vegetate in our fmall cities, to go
and live in the country. In order to determine
them to this, hufbandmen ought to be exempted
from the humiliating importions of tallage, of
feignorial exaftions, and even of thofe of the mili-
tia-fervice, to which they are at prefent fubjeded.
The ftate mull undoubtedly be ferved, when ne-
ceffity requires ; but wherefore affix charaders of
humiliation to the fervices which fhe impofes ?
Why not accept a commutation in money ? It
would require a great deal, our Politicians tell us.
Yes, undoubtedly. But do not our Burgeffes,
likewife, pay many impofts in our towns, in lieu
of thofe very fervices ? Befides, the more inhabi-
tants that there are fcattered over the country, the
lighter will fall the burthen on thofe who are affef-

fable.

142. SrtjlJIES OF NATURE»

fable. A man properly brought up would mucîï
rather be touched in his purfe, than fuffer in his
felf-love.

By what fatal contradidion have we fubjeded
the greateft part of the lands of France to foccage-
tenures, while we have ennobled thofe of the New
World ? The fame hufbandman who, in France,
muft pay tallage, and go, with the pick-axe in his
hand, to labour on the high-road, may introduce
his children into the King's Houlhold, provided
he is an inhabitant of one of the Weft-India
]llands. This injudicious difpenfation of nobility
has proved no lefs fatal to thofe foreign poffeffions,
into which it has introduced flavery, than to the
lands of the Mother-Country, the labourers of
which it has drained of many of their refources.
Nature invited, into the wildernefTes of America,
the overflowings of the European Nations : (he
had there difpofed every thing, with an attention
truly maternal, to indemnify the Europeans for the
lofs of their country. There is no neceffity, in
thofe regions, for a man to fcorch himfelf in the
Sun, while he reaps his grain, nor to be benumbed
with cold in tending his flocks as they feed, nor
to cleave the ftubborn earth with the clumfy plough,
to make it produce aliment for him, nor to rake
into it's bowels to extract from thence iron, ftone,
clay, and the firft materials of his houfe and furni-
ture.

STUDY XIII. 143

turc. Kind Nature has there placed on trees, in
the (hade, and within the reach of the hand, all
that is neceffary and agreeable to human life. She
has there depofited milk and butter in the nuts of
the cocoa-tree; perfumed creams in the apples of
the atte ; table-linen and provifion in the large fat-
tiny leaves, and in the delicious figs of the banana;
loaves ready for the fire in the potatoes, and the
roots of the manioc ; down finer than the wool of
the fleecy flieep in the fliell of the cotton plant ;
dilhos of every form in the gourds of the calabafTe.
She had there contrived habitations, impenetrable
by the rain and by the rays of the Sun, under the
thick branches of the Indian fig-tree, which, rifing
toward Heaven, and afterwards defcending down
to the ground where they take root, form, by their
continued arcades, palaces of verdure. She had
fcattered about, for the purpofes at once of de-
light and of commerce, along the rivers, in the
bofom of the rocks, and in the very bed of tor-
rents, the maize, the fugar-cane, the chocolate-
nut, the tobacco plant, with a multitude of other
ufeful vegetables, and, from the refemblance of
the Latitudes of this New World to that of the
different countries of the Old, flie promiled it's
future inhabitants to adopt, in their favour, the
coffee- plant, the indigo, and the other mod: val un-
able vegetable produdions of Africa and of Alia.
Wherefore has the ambition of Europe inundated

thofe

144 STUDIES OF NATURE.

thofe happy climates with the tears and blood of
tlie human race ? Ah ! had liberty and virtue col-
leded and united their firft planters, how many
charms would French induflry have added to the
natural fecundity of the foil, and to the happy
temperature of the tropical regions 1

No fogs or excefiîve heats are there to be dread-
ed ; and though the Sun pâlies twice a year over
their Zenith, he every day brings with him, as he
rifes above the Horizon, along the furface of the
Sea, a cooling breeze, which all day long rcfrelhes
the mountains, the forefts, and the valleys. What
delicious retreats might our poor foldiers, andpof-
feffionlefs peafants, find, in thofe fortunate iflands I
What expenfe in garrifons might there have been
fpared ! What petty feigniories might there have
become the recompenfe either of gallant officers,
or of virtuous citizens ! What nurferies of excellent
fcamen might be formed by the turtle-fifhery, fo
abundant on the fliallows furrounding the iflands,
or by the ftill more extenfive and profitable cod-
fifliery of the banks of Newfoundland ! It would
not have coft Europe much more than the expenfe
of the fettlement of the firft families. With what
facility might they have been fucceffively extended
to the moft remote diftances, by forming them,
after the manner of the Caraïbs themfelves, one
after another, and at the expenfe of the commu-
nity !

* STUDY XIII* 145

ïilty ! Undoubtedly, had this natural progrefTion
been adopted, our power would at this day have
extended to the very centre of the American Con-
tinent, and could have bidden defiance to every
attack.

Government has been taught to believe, that
the independence of our colonies would be a ne-
ceffary confequence of their profperity, and the
cafe of the Anglo-American colonies has been ad-
duced in proof of this. But ihefe colonies were
not loft to Great-Britain becaufe flie had rendered
them too happy ; it was, on the contrary, becaufe
flie oppreffed them. Britain was, befides, guilty
of a great error, by introducing too great a mixture
of ftrangers among her colonifts. There is, far-
ther, a remarkable difference between the genius
of the Englifli and ours. The Engliiliman carries
his country with him wherever he goes : if he is
making a fortune abroad, he embellifhes his habi-
tation in the place where he has fettled, introduces
the manufactures of his own Nation into it, there he
live?, and there he dies; or, if he returns to his coun-
try, he fixes his refidence near the place of his birth.
The Frenchman does not feel in the fame manner:
all thofe whom I have feen in the Weft-Indies, al-
ways confider themfelves as ftrangers there. During
a twenty years relidence in one habitation, they
will not plant a fingle tree before the door of the
VOL, IV. L houfe.

146 STUDIES OF NATUIE.

houfe, for the benefit of enjoying it's (hade ; to
hear them talk, they are all on the wing to depart,
next year at fartheft. If they aclually happen to
acquire a fortune, away they go, nay, frequently,
without having made any thing, and, on their re-
turn home, fettle, not in their native province or
village, but at Paris.

This is not the place to unfold the caufe of that
national averfion to the place of birth, and of that
prediledion in favour of the Capital ,• it is an ef-
feâ; of feveral moral caufes, and, among others, of
education. Be it as it may, this turn of mind is
alone fufhcient to prevent for ever the indepen-
dence of our colonies. The enormous expence of
preferving them, and the facility with which they
are captured, ought to have cured us of this pre-
judice. They are all in fuch a ftate of weaknefs,
that if their commerce with the Metropolis were
to be interrupted but for a few years, they would
prefently be diflrelTed for want of many articles
effentially neceffary. It is even Angularly remark-
able, that they do not manufacture there a fingle
produdlion of the country. They ralfe cotton of
the very fineft quality, but make no cloth of it as
in Europe ; ihey do not fo much as praétife the
art of fpinning it, as the Savages do; nor do they,
like them, turn to any account the threads of
phiet of thofe of the banana, or of the leaves of

the

STUDY XIII,

147

the palmift. The cocoa-tree, which is a treafurc
to the Eaft-lndies, comes to great perfedion in
our iflands, and fcarcely any ufe is made of the
fruit, or of the threaden hufk that covers it. They
cuhivate indigo, but employ it in no procefs
whatever of dying. Sugar, then, is the only ar-
ticle of produce which is there purfued through
the feveral necelTary procefles, becaufe it cannot
be turned to commercial account till it is manu-
faflured ; and, after all, it muft be refined in Eu-
rope, before it attains a ftate of full perfedion.

We have had, it muft be admitted, fome fedi-
tious infurredions in our Colonies ; but thefe have
been much more frequent in their ftate of weak-
nefs than in that of their opulence. It is the inju-
dicious choice of the perfons fent thither, which
has, at all times, rendered them the feat of difcord.
How could it be expeded that citizens, who had
difturbed the tranquility of a long eftabliftied ftate
of Society, (hould concur in promoting the peace
and profperity of a rifing community ? The Greeks
and Romans employed the flower of their youth,
and their moft virtuous citizens, in the planration
of their colonies ; and they became themfelves
kingdoms and empires. Far different is the cafe
with us : bachelor-foldiers, feamcn, gownmen,
and of every rank ; officers of the higher orders,
fo numerous and fo ufelefs, have filled ours with

L z the

i48 STUDIES OF NATURE.

the pafllons of Europe, with a rage for fa{liion>
with unprofitable luxury, with corruptive maxims,
and licentious manners. Nothing of this kind was
to be apprehended from our undebauched pea-
fantr)^ Bodily labour foothes to reft the folici-
tudes of the mind ; fixes it's natural reftleffnefs;
and promotes among the people health, patriotifm,
religion, and happinefs. But admitting that, in
procefs of lime, thefe Colonies (hould be feparated.
from France : Did Greece wafte herfelf in tears,
when her flourifliing Colonies carried her laws and
her renown over the coafts of Afia, and along the
Ihores of the Euxine Sea, and of the Mediterra-
nean ? Did flie take the alarm, when they became
the flems out of which fprung powerful kingdoms
and illuftrious republics ? Becaufe they feparated
from her, were they transformed into her enemies;
and was (he not, on the contrary, frequently pro-
tedled by them ? What harm would have enfued,
had Ihoots from the tree of France borne lilies in
America, and ihaded the New World with their
nmjeftic branches ?

Let the truth be frankly acknowledged, Few
men, admitted to the councils of Princes, take a
lively intereft in the felicity of Mankind. When
fight of this great objeél is loft, national profpe-
rity, and the glory of the Sovereign, quickly dif-
appear. Our Politicians, by keeping the Colonies

in

STUDY XIIÏ. 149

in a perpetual ftate of dépendance, of agitation and
penury, have difcovered ignorance of the nature of
Man, who attaches himfelf to the place which he
inhabits, only by the ties of the felicity which he
enjoys. By introducing into them the flavery of
the Negroes, they have formed a connedlion be-
tween them» and Africa, and have broken afunder
that which ought to have united them to their poor
fellow -citizens. They have, farther, difcovered
ignorance of the European charader, which is con-
tinually apprehenfive, under a warm climate, of
feeing it's blood degraded, like that of it's Haves ;
and whi(](j| fighs inceflantly after new alliances with,
it's compatriots, for keeping up, in the veins of
thofe little ones, the circulation of the clear and
lively colour of the European blood, and the fen-
timents of country, flill more interefting. By
giving them perpetually new civil and military
rulers, magiftrates entire ftrangers to them, who
keep them under a fevere yoke ; men, in a word,
eager to accumulate a fortune, they have betrayed
ignorance of the French charader, which had no
need of fuch barriers to reftrain it to the love of
country, feeing it is univerfally regretting it's pro-
ductions, it's honours, nay, it's very diforders.
They have, accordingly, fucceeded, neither in
forming colonifts for America, nor patriots for
France ; and they have miftaken, at once, the in-

h 3 terefts

Î^O STUDIES OF NATURE.

terefts of their Nation, and of their Sovereigns,
whom they meant to ferve.

I have dwelt the longer on the fubjeâ: of thefe
abufes, that they are not yet beyond the power of
remedy in various refpeds, and that there are ftill
lands in the New Worlds, on which a change may
be attempted in the nature of our eftablifliments.
But this is neither the time nor the place for un-
fold, ng the means of thefe. After having propofed
fome remedies for the phyfical diforders of the
Nation, let us now proceed to the moral irregula-
rity which is the fource of theiTi. Thegprincipal
caufe is the fpirit of divifion which prevads be-
tween the different orders of the State. There are
only two methods of cure; the firft, to extinguifli
the motives to divifion ; the fécond, to multiply
and increafe the motives to union.

The greatefl part of our Writers make a boafl;
of our national fpirit of fociety ; and foreigners,
in reality, look upon it as the moft fociable in
Europe. Foreigners are in the right, for the truth
is, we receive and carefs them with ardor ; but
our Writers are under a miftake. Shall I venture
to expofe it ? We are thus fond of ftrangers, be-
caufe we do not love our compatriots. For my
own part, 1 have never met with this fpirit of

union.

STUDÎ XIII. 151

union, either in families, or in aflbciations, or in
natives of the fame province ; I except only the
inhabitants of a fingle province, which I mud not
name ; who, as foon as they are got a little from
home, exprefs the greatefl ardor of affedion for
each other. But, as all the truth muft out, it is
rather from antipathy to the other inhabitants of
the kingdom, than from love to their compatriots,
for, from time immemorial, that province has been
celebrated for inteftine divifions. In general, the
real fpirit of patriotifm, which is the firft fenti-
ment of humanity, is very rare in Europe, and par-
ticularly among ourfclves.

Without carrying this reafoning any farther, let
us look for the proofs of the fadt, which are level
to every capacity. When we read certain relations
of the cuftoms and manners of the Nations of Afia,
we are touched with the fentiment of humanity,
which, among them, attracfts men to each other,
notwithftanding the phlegmatic taciturnity which
reigns in their aflemblies. If, for example, an
Afiatic, on a journey, flops to enjoy his repaft, his
fervants and camel-driver collect around him,
and place themfelves at his table. If a ftranger
happens to pafs by, he too fits down with him,
and, after having made an inclination of the head
to the mafter of the family, and given God
thanks, he rifes, and goes on his way, without

L 4 being

t^Z STUDIES OF N7VTITRE.

being interrogated by any one, who he is, v/hence
he cornes^ or vvhiiher he goes. This hofpitabie
pradice is common to the Armenians, to the
Georgians, to the Tuiks, to the Perlians, to the
Siamefe, to the Blacks of Madagafcar, and to dif-
ferent Nations of Africa and of America. In thofc
countries Man is ftill dear to Man.

At Paris, on the contrary, if you go into the
dining-room of a Tavern, where there are a dozen
tables fpread, (liould twelve perfons arrive, one
after another, you fee each of them take his place
apart, at a feparate table, without uttering a fyl-
lable. If new guefts did not fucceffively come in,
each of the firft twelve would eat his morfel alone,
like a Carthufian monk. For fome time, a pro-
fo-ijnd filence prevails, till fome thoughtlefs fellow,
put into good humour by his dinner, and preffed
by an inclination to talk, takes upon him to let the
converfation a-going. Upon this, the eyes of the
whole company are drawn tovsard the orator, and
he is meafured, in a twinkling, from head to foot.
If he has the air of a perfon of confequence, that
is, rich, they give him the hearing. Nay, he finds
perfons difpofed to flatter him, by confirming his
intelligence, and applauding his literary opinion,
or his loofe maxim, But if his appearance difplays
no mark of extraordinary diftindlion, had he de-
livered fentimcnts v/oithy of a SocrafeSj fcarce has

he

STUDY XIII. 153

he proceeded to the opening of his thefis, when
fome one interrupts him with a flat contradidion»
His opponents are contradifted in their turn, by
other wits who think proper to enter the lifts;
then the converfation becomes general and noify,
Sarcafms, harfh names, perfidious infmuations,
grofs abufc, ufually conclude the fitting ; and each
of tlie guefts retires, perfedly well-pleafed with
himfelf, and with a hearty contempt for the reft.

You find the fame fcenes afted in our coffee-
houfes, and on our public walks. Men go thither
exprefsly to hunt for admiration, and to play the
critic. It is not the fpirit of Society which allures
us toward each other, but the fpirit of divifion.
In what is called good company matters are ftill
vvorfe managed. If you mean to be vvell received,
you muft pay for your dinner at the expenfe of the
family with whom you fupped the night before.
Nay, you may think yourfelf very well off, if it
cofts you only a few fcandalous anecdotes ; and if,
in order to be well with the hulband, you are not
obliged to bubble him, by making love to his
wife 1

Tlie original fource of thefe divifions is to
be traced up to our mode of education. We
are taught, from carlieft infancy, to prefer our-
felves to another, by continued fuggeftions to be

the

154 STUDIES OF NATURE.

the firfl: among our fchool-companions. As this
unprofitable emulation prefents not, to far the
greatefb part of the citizens, any career to be per-
formed on the theatre of the World, each of them
alTumes a preference from his province, his birth,
his rank, his figure, his drefs, nay, the tutelary
faint of his parifh. Hence proceed our focial ani-
mofities ; and all the infulting nicknames given by
the Norman to the Gafcogn, by the Parifian to the
Champenois, by the man of family to the man of
no family, by the Lawyer to the Ecclefiaftic, by
the Janfenift to the Molinift, and fo on. The man
aflerts his pre-eminence, efpecially, by oppofing
his own good qualities to the faults of his neigh-
bour. This is the reafon that flander is fo eafy,
fo agreeable, and that it is, in general, the mafter-
fpring of our converfations.

A man of high quality one day faid to me, that
there did not exift a man, however wretched,
whom he did not find fuperior to himfelf, in re-
fpedt of fome advantage whereby he furpaffes per-
fons of our conditon, whether it be as to youth,
health, talents, figure, or, in ihorr, fome one good
quality or another, whatever our fuperiority in
other refpeds may be. This is literally true ; but
this manner of viewing the members of a Society
belongs to the province of virtue, and that is not
ours. The contrary maxim being equally true,

our

STUDY XIII. 155

our pride lays hold of that, and finds a determi-
nation to it from the manners of the World, and
from our very education, which from infancy fug-
gefts the neceffity of this perfonal preference.

Our public fpeâracles fnrther concur toward the
incrcafe of the fpirit of divifion among us. Our
mofl celebrated comedies ufuaily reprefent tutors
cozened by their pupils, fathers by their children,
hufbands by their wives, matters by their fervants.
The (hows of the populace exhibit nearly the fame
pi(5bures ; and, as if they were not already fufficiently
difpofed to irregularity, they are prefented with
fcenes of intoxication, of lewdnefs, of robbery, of
conftables drubbed : thefe inftrud them to under-
value, at once, morals and magiftrates. Speftacles
draw together the bodies of the citizens, and alie-
nate their minds.

Comedy, we are told, cures vice by the power
of ridicule ; cajiigat ridendo mores. This adage is
equally falfe with many others, which are made
the bafis of our morality. Comedy teaches us to
laugh at another, and nothing more. No one fays,
when the reprefentation is over, the portrait of this
mifer has a ftrong refemblance of myfelf ; but every
one, inftantly difcerns in it the image and likenefs
of his neighbour. It is long fince Horace made
this remark. But, on the fuppofition, that a man

fliould

156 STUDIES OF NATURE.

fliould perceive himfelf in the dramatic reprefenta-
tion, I do nor perceive how the reformation of
vice would enfue. How could it be imagined,
that the way for a phyîician to cure his patient,
would be to clap a mirror before his face, and
then laugh at him ? If my vice is held up as aa
objeâ; of ridicule, the laugh, fo far from giving
me a difguft at it, plunges me in the deeper. I
employ every effort to conceal it ; 1 become a hy-
pocrite : without taking into the account, that the
laugh is much more frequently levelled againfl:
virtue than againft vice. It is not the faithlefs wife,
or profligate (on who are held up to fcorn, but the
good-natured hulband, or the indulgent father.
In juftification of our own tafte, we refer to that of
the Greeks j but we forget that their idle fpec-
tacles direfted the public attention to the mod
frivolous objects ; that their flage frequently turned
into ridicule the virtue of the moft illuftrious citi-
zens ; and that their fcenic exhibitions multiplied
among them the averfions and the jealoufies which
accelerated their ruin.

Not that I would reprefent laughing as a crime,
or that I believe, with Hobbes, it muft proceed
from pride. Children laugh, but moft afluredly
not from pride. They laugh at fight of a flower, at
the found of a rattle. There is a laugh of joy, of
fatisfadion, of compofure. But ridicule differs

widely

STUDY XIII. 157

widely from the fmile of Nature. It is not, like
this laft, the ejflfed of fome agreeable harmony in
OUT fenfations, or in our fentiments : but it is the
refult of a harflb contraft between two objeds,
of which the one is great, the otlier little j of which
the one is powerful, and the other feeble. It is
remarkably fingular, that ridicule is produced by
the very Came oppofitions which produce terror ;
with this difference, that in ridicule, the mind
makes a tranfition from an object that is formi-
dable, to one that is frivolous, and, in terror, from
an objeft that is frivolous to one that is formidable.
The afpic of Cleopatra^ in a baiket of fruit ; the
fingers of the hand which wrote, amidft the mad-
nefs of a feftivity, the doom of Beljloazzar ; the
found of the bell which announces the death of
Clarijja ; the foot of a (iwage imprinted, in a de-
fert ifland, upon the fand, fcare the imagination
infinitely more than all the horrid apparatus of
battles, executions, maffacres and death. Accord-
ingly, in order to imprefs an awful terror, a frivo-
lous and unimportant objed: ought to be firft ex-
hibited ; and in order to excite exceffive mirth,
you ought to begin with a folemn idea. To this
may be farther added fome other contraft, fuch as
that of furpize, and fome one of thofe fentiments
which plunge us into infinity, fuch as that of myftcry;
in this cafe, the foul, having loft it's equilibrium,
precipitates itfelf into terror, or into mirth, accord-
ing to the arrangement which has been made for it.

We

I5S STUDIES OF NATURE.

We frequently fee thefe contrary 'efFeds pro-
duced by the fame means. For example, if the
nurfe wants her child to laugh, flie (hrowds her
head in her apron ; upon this the infant becomes
ferious ; then, all at once, (he (hews her face, and
he burfts into a fit of laughter. If (he means to
terrify him, which is but too frequently the cafe,
Ihe firfl fmiles upon the child, and he returns it :
then, all at once, (he afTumes a ferious air, or con-
ceals her face, and the child falls a-crying.

I (hall not fay a word more refpeding thefe vio-
lent oppofitions; but (hall only deduce this con-
fequence from them, that it is the mod wretched
part of Mankind which has the greateft propen(ity
to ridicule. Terrified by political and moral
phantoms, they endeavour, firft of all, to drown
relpedt for them , and it is no difficult matter to
fucceed in this ; for Nature, always at hand, to
fuccour opprelfed humanity, has blended, in moft
things of human inftitucion, the effulions of ridi-
cule with thofe of terror. The only thing requi-
fite is to invert the objefts of their comparifon. It
was thus that Ariflophmies, by his comedy of The
Clouds, fubverted the religion of his country. At-
tend to the behaviour of lads at college ; the pre-
fence of the mafter at firft fets them a-trembling ;
what contrivance do they employ to familiarize
themfelves to his idea ? They try to turn him into

ridicule.

STUDY XIII. 159

ridicule, an effort in which they commonly fuc-
ceed to admiration. The love of ridicule in a
people, is by no means, therefore, a proof of their
happinefs, but, on the contrary, of their mifery.
This accounts for the gravity of the ancient Ro-
mans ; they were ferious, becaufe they were happy :
but their defendants, who are, at this day, very
miferable, are like wife famous for their pafqui-
nades, and fupply all Europe with harlequins and
buffoons,

I do not deny that fpeftacles, fuch as tragedies,
may have a tendency to unite the citizens. The
Greeks frequently employed them to this effedt.
But by adopting their dramas, we deviate from
their intention. Their theatrical reprefentations
did not exhibit the calamities of other Nations,
but thofe which they themfelves had endured, and
events borrowed from the Hiftory of their own
country. Our tragedies excite a compaffion whofe
objed is foreign to us. We lament the diftreffes
of the family of Agamemnon, and we behold, with-
out ihedding one tear, thofe who are in the depth
of mifery at our very door. We do not fo much
as perceive their diftreffes, becaufe they are not
exhibited on a ftage. Our own heroes, neverthe-
lefs, well reprefented in the theatre, would be fuffi-
cient to carry the patriotifm of the people to the
very height of enthufiafm. What crowds, of fpec-

tators

l60 STUDIES OF NATURE.

tators have been attraéled, and what burfts of ap-
plaufe excited, by the heroifm of Euftace Saint-
PierrCj in the Siege of Cahiis ! The death of Joan
cf Arc would produce efFeéts ftiil more povverful, if
a man of genius had the courage to efface the ridi-
cule which has been lavifhed on that refpedable
and unfortunate young woman, to whofe name
Greece would have confecrated altar upon altar.

T will deliver my thoughts on the fubjeâ:, in a
few words, if, perhaps, it may incite fome virtuous
man to undertake it. I could wifh, then, without
departing from the truth of Hiftory, to have her
reprefented, at the moment when (lie is honoured
with the favour of her Sovereign, the acclamations
of the army, and at the very pinnacle of glory, de-
liberating on her return to an obfcure hamlet,
there to refume the employments of a fimple fliep-
herdefs, unnoticed and unknown. Soliciied after-
wards by Dunois, flie determines to brave new
dangers in the fervice of her country. At laft,
made prifoner in an engagement, fhe falls into the
hands of the Englilh. Interrogated by inhuman
judges, among whom are the Bilhops of her own
Nation, the fimplicity and innocence of her replies
render her triumphant over the iniidioiis queftions
of her enemies. She is adjudged by them to per-
petual imprifonment. I would have a reprefenta-
tion of the dungeon in which (lie is doomed to pafs

the

STUDY XIII. l6l

the remainder of her mlferable days, with it's long
fpiracles, it's iron grates, it's maffy arches, the
wretched truckle-bed provided for her repofe, the
cruife of water atid the black bread, which are to
ferve her for food. I would draw from her own
lips the touchingly plaintive refledions, fnggefted
by her condition, on the nothingnefs of human
grandeur, her innocent expreffions of regret for
the lofs of rural felicity : and then the gleams of
hope, of being relieved by her Prince, extinguiQied
by defpair, at fight of the fearful abyfs which has
clofed over her head.

I would then difplay the fnare laid for her, by
her perfidious enemies, while flie was afleep, in
placing by her fide the arms with which Ihe had
com batted them. She perceives, on awakening,
thefe monuments of her glory. Hurried away by
the pafTion at once of a woman and of a hero, llie
covers her head with the helmet, the plume of
which had fhewn the difpirited French army the
road to viftory ; (he grafps with her feeble hands
that fword fo formJdable to the Englilb ; and, ac
the inflant when the fentiment of her o'.vn glory is
making her eyes to overflow with tears of exulta-
tion, her daftardly foes fuddenly prefent them-
felves, and unanimoufly condemn her to the mofl
horrible of deaths. Then it is we (hould behold
a fpedacle worthy the attention of Heaven itfelf,

VOL. IV. M virtue

102 STUDIES OF NATURE.

virtue confllcling with extreme mifery ; we fliould
hear her bitter complaints of the indifference of
her Sovereign, whom (lie had fo nobly ferved; we
fhoul.d fee her perturbation, at the idea of the hor-
lid punifliment prepared for her, and ftill more,
at the apprehenfion of the calumny which is for
ever to fully her reputation ; we (hould hear her,
amidft conflids fo tremendous, calling in queftion
the exiftence of a Providence, the protedlor of the
innocent.

To death at laft, however, walk out (he mud.
At that moment it is, I could wifli to fee all her
courage re-kindle. I would have her reprefented
on the funeral- pile, where (he is going to termi-
nate her days, looking down on the empty hopes
with which the World amufes thofe who ferve it ;
exulting at the thought of the everlafting infamy
with which her death will clothe her enemies, and
of the immortal glory which will for ever crow^n
the place of her birth, and even that of her execu-
tion. 1 could wifli that her laft words, animated
by Religion, might be more fubHme than thofe of
Vidoy when flie exclaims, on the fatal pile : —
Exoriare aliquis nofiris ex ojfibiis idtor. '' Start up
*' fome dire avenger from thefe bones."

I could wiîli, in a word, that this fubjed.
Created by a man of genius, after the manner of

Shakefpçart

STUDY XIII. 16;}

Shake/pear *, which, undoubtedly, he would not
have failed to do, had Joan of Arc been an Englifh-
woman, might be wrought up into a patriotic

Drama ;

* The compliment here paid to Shake/pear is juftly merited ;
and how well he could have managed the ftory of the Maid of
Orleans, had he taken the incidents as St. -Pierre has ftated them,
and written with the partiality of a Frenchman, may beafcer-
tained by the mafterly touches which he a£lually has beftowed oa
this diftinguifhed charafter, in his Firfi: Part of Hewy VI. It
may afford fome amufement, to compare the above profe fketch,
by our Author, with the poetical painting of our own immortal
Bard, in the Drama now mentioned. I take the liberty
to tranfcribe only the fcene in which the audience is prepared
for her entrance, and that in which flie aftually makes her ap-
pearance. For the reft, the Reader is referred to the Play itfelf.

H. H.

Efiter tbe Bast AKT) OF Orleans /o //^^ Dauphin, Alençon,
am/ Reignier.

Ba/l. Where's the Prince Dauphin? I have news for him.

Dau. Baftard of Orleans, thrice welcome to us.

Bajl. Methinks your looks are fad, your cheer appall'd ;
Hath the late overthrow wrought this offence ?
Be not difmay'd, for fuccour is at hand :
A holy maid hither with me I bring,
Which, by a vifion fent to her from Heaven,
Ordained is to raife this tedious liege,
And drive the Englifli forth the bounds of France.
The fpirit of deep prophecy {he hath.
Exceeding the nine Sibyls of old Rome ;
What's paft, and what's to come, flie can defcry.
Speak, fhall I call her in ? Believe my words,
For they are certain and infallible.

^i z Dan.

164 STUDIES OF NATURE.

Drama; in order that this illuftrious Hiepherdfers
may become, with us, the patronefs of War, as
Saint Genevieve is that of Peace 5 I would have the

reprefentation

Dûîi. Go, call her in : But firft, to try her (kill,
Reignier, ftand thou as Dauphin in my place:
Queftion her proudly, let thy looks be ftern ;
By this means fliali wc found what ikill flie hath.

Enter Joan la Pucelle.

Rei^. Fair maid, is't thou will do thefè wond'rous feats?

Puce!. Reignier, is't thou that thinkeft to beguile me?
Where is the Dauphin ? — Come, come from behind ;
I know thee well, though never kcw befoi'e.
Be not amazed, there's nothing hid from me :
In private will T talk with thee apart ; —
Stand back, j ou Lords, and give us leave awhile.

Reig. She takes upon her bravely at firft dafti.

Pucfl. Dauphin, I am by birth a fliepherd't» daughter»
My wit untrain'd in any kind of art.
Heav'tn, and our Lady gracious, hath it pleas'd
To (hine on my contemptible ellate :
Lo, whilll: I waited on mv tender lambs,
And to Sun's parching heat difplay'd my cheeks,
God's IMother deigned to appear to me ;
And, in a vifion full of maiefty,
Will'd me to leave my bale vocation.
And free my cojuitry from calamity :
Mer aid ilie promised, and alTur'd fuccefs ;
\n complete glory fhe reveal'd herfelf ;
And, whereas I was black and fvvart before,
With thofe clear rays which (he infus'd on me,
That beauty am I blell with, which you fee.

STUDY XIII. 165.;

reprefentation of her tragedy referved for the peri-
lous fitnations in which the Stare might happen
to be involved, and ihtn exhibited to the people,
as they difplay, in fimilar cafes, to the people of,
Conflantinople, the fiandard oï Ala hornet ; and I
have no doubt that, at fight of her innocence, of
her fervices, of her misfortunes, of the cruelty of
her enemies, and of the horrors of Jicr execution,
our people, in a tranfport of fury, would exclaim :
** War, war with the EngliQi* I"

Aft me what queflion thou can ft poffible.
And I will anfwer unpremeditated :
My courage try by combat, if thou dar'ft,
And thou (liait find that I exceed my fex.
Refolve on this : Thou flialt be fortunate
If thou receive me for thv warlike mate.

— Affign'd I am to be the E'lglifli fcnurge.
This night the fiege alTuredly I'll raife :
Expeft Saint Martin's Summer, hjiicyon days,
Since I have enterd thus into thefe wars.
Glory is like a circle in the water,
Which never ceafes to enlarge itfelf,
^Till by broad fpreading it difperfe to nought.
With Hcyn-ys death, the Englifli circle ends;
Difperfed are the glories it included.
Now am I like that proud infulting fliip,
Which Co'/ar and his fortune bare at once.

* Gou forbid T fhould mean to roufe a fpirit of animofity iix
our people againft the Englifli, now fo woi^hy of all our efteem.
But as their Writers, and even their Government, have, in more

M 3 inftances

l66 STUDIES OF NATURE.

Such means as thefe, though more powerful than
draughts for the militia, and than either prefling
or tricking men into the fervice, are ftill infufh-
cient to form real citizens. We are accuftomed
by them to love virtue and our country, only
when our heroes are applauded on the theatre.
Hence it comes to pafs, that the greateft part even
of perlons of the better fort, are incapable of ap-
praifing an adion, till they fee it detailed in feme
journal, or moulded into a drama. They do not
form a judgment of it after their own heart, but
after the opinion of another ; not as it is in reality,
and in it's own place, but as clothed with imagery,
and fitted to a frame. They delight in heroes
when they are applauded, powdered and perfum*
ed ; but were they to meet with one pouring out
his blood in fome obfcure corner, and perilhing
in unmerited ignominy, they would not acknow-
ledge him to be a hero. Every one would wifli to
be the Alexander of the opera, but no one the Alex-^
under in the city of the Mallians *,

inftances than one, defcended to exhibit odious reprefentationa
of us, on their ftage, I was willing to fhew them, how eafily we
could make reprifals. Rather, may the genius of Fetielo», which
they prize fo highly, that one of their moft amiable fine writers,
Lord Liitleton, exalts it above that of Plato, one day unite our
hearts and minds Î

* See Plutarch's, Life of Ak.xamh;

Patriotifm

STUDY XIII. Ï67

Patriotifm ought not to be made too frequently
the fubjed of fcenic reprefentation. A heroifm
fhould be fuppofed to exift, which braves death,
but which is never talked of. In order, therefore,
to replace the people, in this refped, in the road
of Nature and Virtue, they ihould be made to
ferve as a fpedacle to themfelves. They ought to
be prefented with realities, and not fidions; with
foldiers, and not comedians ; and if it be impof-
fible to exhibit to them the terrible fpedacle of a
real engagement, let them fee, at leaft, a reprefen-
tation of the evolutions and the vlciffitudes of one,
jn military feftivals.

The foldiery ought to be united more inti-
mately with the Nation, and their condition ren-
dered more happy. They are but too frequently
the fubjeds of contention in the provinces through
which ihey pafs. The fpirit of corps animates them
to fuch a degree, that when two regiments happen
to meet in the fame city, an infinite number of
duels is generally the confequence. Such ferocious
animofities are entirely unknown in Pruffian and
Ruffian regiments, which I confider as, in many
refpeds, the beft troops in Europe. The King of
Pruffia has contrived to infpire his foldiers, not
with the fpirit of corps, which divides them, but
with the fpirit of country which unites them. This

M 4 he

l68 STUDIES OF NATURE.

he has been enabled to accomplifh, by conferring
on them moft of the civil employments in his
kingdom, as the recompenfe of military fervices.
Such are the political ties by which he attaches
them to their country. The Ruffians eii^ploy only
one, but it is ftill more powerful ; 1 mean Reli-
gion. A Ruffian foldier believes, that to ferve his
Sovereign is to ferve God. He marches into the
fi-eld of battle, like a neophyte to martyrdom, in
the full perfuafion, thar, if he falls in it, he goes di^
redly to Paradife,

I have heard M. de Filkhois, Grand Mafler of
the Ruffian artillery, relate, that the foldiets of
his corps who ferved a battery, in the afîair of
Zornedorfï\ having been moftly cut off, the few
who remained feeing; the Piuffians advance, with
bayonets fixed, unable to make any farther refift-
ance, but determined not to fly, embraced their
guns, and fulTered themfelves to be all maflacred,
in order to preferve inviolate the oath which they
are called upon to take, when received into the
artillery, namely, never to abandon their cannon.
A refiftance fo pertinacious ftripped the Pruffians
of the vidory which they had gained, and made
the King of Pruffia acknowledge, that it was eafiec
to kill the Ruffians than to conquer them. This
heroic intrepidity is the fruit of Religion.

STUDY XIII. 169

It would be a very difficult matter to redore this
power to it's proper elafticity among the French
foldiery, who are formed, in part, of the diffolute
youth of our great towns. The Ruffian and Pruf-
fian foldiers are draughted from the clafs of the
peafantry, and value themfelvesupon their condi-
tion. With us, on the contrary, a peafant is terri-
fied left his fon fhould be obliged to go for a fol-
dier. Adminiftration, on it's part, contributes to-
ward ihe increafe of this apprehenfion. If there
be a fingle blackguard in a village, the deputy
takes care that the black ball fliall fall upon him,
as if a regiment were a galley for criminals.

I once compofed, on this fubjeâ:, a memorial-
which fuggefted propofals of a remedy for thefe
difordcrs, and for the prevention of defertion
among our foldiers ; but, like many other things
of the fame fort, it came to nothing. The prin-
cipal means of reform which I propofed, were a
melioration of the condition of the foldiery, as in
Pruffiia, by holding up the profped of civil em-
ployments, which, with us, are infinite in number;
and, in order to prevent the irregularities into
which they are thrown by a life of celibacy, I pro-
pofed to grant them permiffion to marry, as moft
of the Ruffian and Pruffian foldiers do *. This

* I could likewife wifli that the wives of failors might be per-
lanitted tp go to fea with their huibands ; they would prevent, on

fhip-

I70 STUDIES OF NATURE.

method, fo much adapted to the reformation of
manners, would farther contribute toward conci-
liating our provinces to each other, by the mar-
riages which regiments would contradl, in their
continual progrefs from place to place. They
would ftrengthen the bands of national affedion
from North to South ; and our peafantry would
ceafe to be afraid of them, if they faw them march-
ing through the country as hufbands and fathers.
If the foldiery are fometimes guilty of irregulari-
ties, to our military inftitutions the blame muft be
imputed. I have feen others under better difci-
pline, but I know of none more generous.

fhip-board, more than one fpecies of irregularity. Befides, the\'
might be ufefully engaged in a variety of employments fuitabte
to their fex, fuch as dreffing the vifluals, wafliing the linen,

mending the fails, and the like They might, in many cafes,

co-operate in the labours of the fliip's crew. They are much
lefs liable to be affected by thefcurvy, and by various other dif-
orders, than men are.

The projed of embarking women will, no doubt, appear ex-
travagant to perfons who do not know that there are, at leaft,
ten thoufand women who navigate the coafting veflels of Hol-
land ; who affift, on deck, in working the fliip, and manage the
helm as dexrroufly as any man. A handfome woman would,
undoubtedly, prove the occafion of much mifchief on board a
French fhip ; but women, fuch as J have been defcribing, hardy
and laborious, are exceedingly proper, on the contrary, to pre-
vent, or remedy, many kinds of mifchief, which are already but
too prevalent in a fea life.

I was

STUDY XIII. lyi

I was witnefs to a difplay of humanity on their
partj of which I doubt whether any other foldiery
in Europe would have been capable. It was in the
year 1760, in a detachment of our army, then in
Germany, and an enemy's country, encamped hard
by an inconfiderable city, called Stadberg. I lodged
in a miferable village, occupied by the head-quar-
ters. There were in the poor cottage, where I and
two of my comrades had our lodgings, five or fix
women, and as many children, who liad taken re-
fuge there, and who had nothing to eat, for our
army had foraged their corn, and cut down their
fruit-trees. We gave them fome of our provifions;
but what we could fpare was a fmall matter in-
deed, confidering both their numbers and their ne-
ceffities. One of them was a young woman big
with child, who had three or four children befide.
I obferved her go out every morning, and return
fome hours after, with her apron full of flices of
brown bread. She flrung them on packthreads,
and dried them in the chimney like mudirooms.
I had her queftioned one day by a fervant of ours,
who fpoke German and French, where fhe found
that provifion, and why flie put it through that
procefs. She replied, that (he went into the camp
to folicit alms among the foldiers ; that each of
them gave her a piece of his ammunition-bread,
and that flie dried the iliccs in order to preferve
them ; for (he did not know where to look for a

fupply

172

STUDIES OF NATURE.

fupply, after we were gone, the country being ut-
terly defolated,

A foldier's profeffion is a perpetual exercife of
virtue, from the necefiity to which it conftantly
fubjeéts the man, to fubmit to privations innume-
rable, and frequently to expofe his life. It has
Religion, therefore, for it's principal fupport. The
Ruffians keep up the fpirit of it, in their national
troops, by admitting among them not fo much as
one foreign foldier. The King of Pruffia, on the
contrary, has accompliflied the fame purpofe, by
receiving into his, foldiers of every religion 3 but
he obliges every one of them exaclly to obferve
that which he has adopted. I have feen, both at,
Berlin and at Potfdam, every Sunday morning, the
officers muftering their men on the parade, about
eleven o'clock, and then filing off with them in
feparate detachments, Calvinifts, Lutherans, Ca-
tholics, every one to his own church, to woriliip
God in his own way.

I could wifli to have aboliflied among us the
other caufes of divifion, which lay one citizen un-
der the temptation, that he may live himlelf, to
wifh the hurt or the death of another. Our poli-
ticians have multiplied, without end, thefe fources
of hatred, nay, have rendered the State an accom-
plice in fuch ungracious fentiments, by the efta-

blillament

STUDY XIII. Ï73

blifhment of lotteries, of tontines, and of annuities.
** So many perfons," fay they, *' have died this
** year ; the State has gained fo much." Should
a peftilence come, and fweep off one half of the
people, the State would be wonderfully enriched !
Man is nothing in their eyes ; gold is all in all.
Their art conflits in reforming the vices of Society,
•by violences offered to Nature : and, what is paf-
iing ftrange, they pretend to ad after her example.
** It is her intention, they gravely tell you, that
** every fpecies of being (hould fubfift only by the
'** ruin of other fpecies. Particular evil is general
*' good." By fuch barbarous and erroneous
maxims are Princes mifled. Thefe Laws have no
exiftence in Nature, except between fpecies which
are oppofite and inimical. They exift not in the
fame fpecies of animals, which live together in a
ftate of Society. The death of a bee, moft af-
furedly, never tended to promote the profperity
of the hive. Much lefs ftill can the calamity and
death of a man be of advantage to his Nation,
and to Mankind, the perfeét happinefs of which
muft confift in a perfeâ: harmony between it's
members. We have demonflrated in another place,,
that it is impoffible the flightefl evil Qiould befal
a fimple individual, without communicating the
impreffion of it to the whole body politic.

Our

174 STUDIES OF NATURE.

Our rich people entertain no doubt that the good
things of the lower orders will reach them, as they
enjoy the productions of the arts which the poor
cultivate ; but they participate equally in the ills
which the poor fufFer, let them take what precau-
tions they will to fecure themfelves. Not only do
they become the viftims of their epidemical mala-
dies, and of their pillage, but of their moral opi-
nions, which are ever in a progrefs of depravation
in the breafts of the wretched. They ftart up,
like the plagues which iflued from the box of
Pandora^ and, in defiance of armed guards, force
their way through fortrefles and cadle-walls, and
fix their refidence in the heart of tyrants. In vain
do they dream of perfonal exemption, from the ills
of the vulgar ; their neighbours catch the infec-
tion, their fervants, their children, their wives, and
impofe the neceflity of abRinence from every thing,
in the very midft of their enjoyments.

But when, in a Society, particular bodies are
conftantly converting to their own profit the dif-
treffes of others, they perpetuate thefe very dif-
trefles, and multiply them to infinity. It is a faâ;
eafily afcertained, that wherever advocates and phy-
ficians peculiarly abound, law-fuits and difeafes
there likewife are found in uncommon abundance,
Though there be among them men of the beft dif-

pofitions

STUDY XIII. 17^

pofitions, and of the foundeft intellect, they do
not fet their face agiinft irregularities which are
beneficial to their corps.

Thefe inconveniencics are by no means defpe-
rate^ I am able to quote inftances to this effed:,
which no fophiftry can invalidate. On my enter-
ing into the fervice of Ruflia, the firft month's re-
venue of my place was flopped, as a complete in-
demnification for the expenfe attending the treat-
ment of every kind of malady with which I might
be attacked ; and this included, together widi my-
felf, my fervants, and my family, if I fhould hap-
pen to marry ; and extended to every poffible ex-
penfe.of Phyfician, Surgeon, and Apothecary. There
was farther flopped, for the fame objedl, a fmall
fum, amounting to one, or one and a half, per cenRr
of my appointnients ; this was to have been paid
annually ; and every flep higher I might have
rifen, I was to have given an additional month's
pay of that fuperior rank. This is the complete
amount of the tax upon officers, in confideration
of which they and their families are entitled to
every kind of medical advice and affiftance, under
whatever indifpofition.

The Phyficians and Surgeons of every corps
have, at the fame time, a fufficiently ample reve-
nue arillng from thefe payments. I recoiled: that

the

176 STUDIES OF NATirRE*.

the Phylician of the corps in which I fcrved, had
an annual income of a thoufand roubles, or five
thoufand livres (about two hundred guineas), and
little or nothing to do for it 5 for, as our maladies
brought him nothing, they were of very fliort du-
ration. As to the foldiers, if my recolleftion is
accurate, they are medically treated, without any
defalcation of their pay. The grand Difpenfary
belongs to the Emperor. It is in the city of Mof-
cow, and confifts of a magnificent pile of building.
The medicines are depofited in vafes of porcelaia,
and are always of the very beft quality. They are
thence diflributed over the reft of the Empire, at
a moderate price, and the profit goes to the Crown.
There is not the flighteft ground to apprehend im-
pofition in the .condud of this bufmefs. The per-
fons employed, in the preparation and dillribu-
tlon, are men of ability, who have no kind of in-
tereft in adulterating them, and who, as they rife
in a regular progreflion of rank and falary, are ac-
tuated with no emulation but that of difcharging
their duty with fidelity *.

* The infatiable ihirfl of gold and luxury might be allayed in
the greatefl part of our citizens, by prefenting them with a great
number of thefe political perfpecVives, They conflitute the
charm of petty conditions, by difplaying to them the attraclions
of infinity, the fentiment of which, as we have feen, is fo natural
to the heart of Man. It is by means of thefe, that mechanics
and fmall fhopkeepers are much more powerfully attached, by
moderate profits, to their contracted fpheres, enlivened by hope,

than

STUDY XIII. 177

The example of Peter the Great challenges imita-
tion ; and the order which he has eflablilhed among
his troops, with refpeft to Phyficians and Apothe-
caries, might be extended all over the kingdom,
not only in the line of the medical profcffion,
though even this would bring an immenfe increafe
of revenue to the State, but might alfo be ufefully
applied to the profeffion of the Law. It is greatly
to be wiQied that Attorneys, Advocates, and
Judges, were paid by the State, and fcattered over
the whole kingdom, not for the purpofe of arguing
caufes, but of fettling them by reference. Thefe
arrangements might be extended to all defcriptions
of profeffion, which fubfift on the diftrefs of the
Public : then the whole bodv of the citizens, find-
ing their repofe and their fortune in the happinefs

than the rich and great are to lofty fituations, the term of which
is before them. The procefs which pafîès in the head of the little,
is fomething fimilar to the milk-maid's train of thought, in the
fable. With the price of this milk I will buy eggs; eggs will
give me chicks ; thofe chicks will grow up to hens ; I will fell
my poultry, and buy a lamb, and fo on. The pleafure which,
they enjoy, in purfuing thofe endlefs progreffions, is the fweet
jllullon that carries them through their labours ; and it is fo
real, that, when they happen to accumulate a fortune, and are
able to live in eafe and affluence, their health gradually declines,
and moft of them terminate their days in languor and melan-
choly. Modern Politicians, revert then to Nature ! The fweeteft
mufic is not emitted frons flutes made of gold, and filver, but
iVom thofe which are conftru6ledof fimple reeds.

VOL. IV, N pf

lyS STUDIES OF NATURE.

of the State, would exert themfelves, to the utter-
moft, to maintain it.

Thefe caufes, and many others, divide, among
us, all the different claffes of the Nation. There is
not a fingle province, city, village, but what di-
ftinguifhes the province, city, village, next to it,
by fome injurious and infulting epithet. The fame
remark applies to the various ranks and conditions
of Society. Divide & iwpera, Divide and govern,
fay our modern Politicians. This maxim has
ruined Italy, the country from whence it came.
The oppolite maxim contains much more truth.
The more united citizens are, the more powerful
and happy is the Nation which they compofe. At
Rome, at Sparta, at Athens, a citizen was at once
advocate, fenator, pontiff, edile, hufbandman, war-
rior, and even feaman. Obferve to what a height
of power thofe republics advanced. Their citizens
were, however, far inferior to us in refped of ge-
neral knowledge, but they were inftrufted in two
great Sciences, of which we are ignorant, namely,
the love of the Gods, and of their Country. With
thefe fubUme fentiments, they were prepared for
every thing. Where they are wanting, Man is
good for nothing. With all our encyclopedic li-
terature, a great man with us, even in point of ta-
lents, would be but the fourth part, at moft, of a
Greek or a Roman. He would diflinguifh himfelf
' much

STUDY XIII. 179

much more in fupporting the honour of his parti-
cular profeffion, but very little in maintaining the
honour of his country.

It is our wretched political conftitution vvhicli
produces in the State fo many different centres.
There was a time when we talked of our being re-
publicans. Verily, if we had not a King, we
fliould live in perpetual difcord. Nay, how many
Sovereigns do we make of one fmgle and lawful
Monarch ! Every corps has it's own,, who is noc
the Sovereign of the Nation. How many projeds
are formed, and defeated, in the King's name! The
King of the waters, and of the forefts, is at variance
with the King of the bridges and highways. The
King of the colonies fandions a plan of improve-
ment, the King of the finances refufes to advance
the money. Amidft thefe various conflids, of pa-
ramount authority, nothing is executed. The
real King, the King of the People, is not ferved.

The fame fpirit of divifion prevails in the Reli-
gion of Europe. What mifchief has not been prac-
tifed in the name of God ! All acknowledge the
One Supreme Being, who created the Heavens,
and the Earth, and Man ; but each kingdom has
it's own, who muil be worfliipped according to a
certain ritual. To this God it is that each Na-
tionj in particular, offers thankfgiving, on occafion

N a of

îSô STUDIES OF NATURE.

of every battle. In his name it was that the poor
Americans were exterminated. The God of Eu-
rope is clothed with terror, and devoutly adored.
But where are the altars of the God of Peace, of
the Father of Mankind, of Him who proclaims the
glad tidings of the Gofpel ? Let our modern Po-
liticians trumpet their own applaufe, on the happy
fruits of thofe divifions, and of an education dic-
tated by ambition. Human life, fo fleeting and
fo wretched, pafles away in this unremitting ftrife;
and while the Hiftorians of every Nation, well paid
for their trouble, are extolling to Heaven the vic-
tories of their Kings and of their Pontiffs, the
People are addrefllng themfelves, in tears, to the
GoD of the Human Race, and afking of Him the
way in which they ought to walk, in order to
reach his habitation at length, and to live a life of
virtue and happinefs upon the earth.

The caufe of the ills which we endure, I repeat
it, is to be found in our vain-glorious Education j
and in the wretchednefs of the commonalty, which
communicates a powerful influence to every new
opinion, becaufe they are ever expedling from no-
velty fome mitigation of the preflure of inveterate
woes. But as foon as they perceive that their opi-
nions become tyrannical, in their turn, they pre-
fently renounce them : and this is the origin of
their levity. Whenever they can find the means

of

sinjDY XIII. i8i

of living in eafe and abundance, they will be no
longer fubjeft to tliefe viciffitudes, as we havefeen
in the inftance of the Dutch, who print and fell
the theological, political, and literary controverfies
of all Europe, without being themfelves, in the
leaft, affedted, as to their civil and religious opi-
nions ; and when our public education fliall be re-
forrned, the people will enjoy the happy and unin-
terrupted tranquility of the Nations of Afia.

Before I proceed to fugged my ideas on this
fubjeél:, I take the liberty to propofe fome other
means of general union. 1 Ihall confider myfelf
as amply recompenfed for the labour which my
refearches have cod me, if fo much as a fingle one
of my hints of reform fliall be adopted.

OF PARIS.

It has already been obferved, that few French-
men are attached to the place of their birth. The
greateft part of thofe who acquire fortune in fo-
reign countries, on their return, fettle at Paris.
This, upon the whole, is no great injury to the
State. The flightar their attachment to their Coun-
try, the eafier it is to fix them at Paris, One fmgle
point of union is neceffary to a great Nation.
Every country which has acquired celebrity by it's

N 3 patriotifm.

iSz STUDIES OF NATURE.

patriotifni, has iikewife fixed the centre of it in
their Capital, and frequently in fome particular
monument of that Capital ; the Jews had theirs at
Jerufalem, and it's Temple ; the Romans, theirs
at Rome, and the Capitol ; the LacedemonianSj
theirs at Sparta, and in citizenfhip.

I am fond of Paris. Next to a rural fituation,
and a rural fituation fuch as I like, I give Paris
the preference to any thing I have ever feen in the
World. 1 love that city, not only on account of
it's happy fituation, becaufe all the accommoda-
tions of human life are there colledcd, from it's
being the centre of all the powers of the kingdom,
and for the other reafons, which made Michael
Montaigne delight in it, but becaufe it is the afy-
lum and the refuge of the miferable. There it is
that the provincial ambitions, prejudices, aver-
fions, and tyrannies, are loft and annihilated.
There a man may live in obfcurity and liberty.
There, it is poffible to be poor without being de-
fpifed. The afflicted perfon is there decoyed out
of his mifery, by the public gaiety ; and the feeble
there feels himfelf ftrong in the ftrength of the
multitude. Time was when, on the faith of our
political Writers, 1 looked upon*that city as too
great. But I am now far from thinking that it is
of fufficient extent, and fufEciently majeftic, to be
the Capital of a kingdom fo flourifhing.

I could

STUDY XIII, 183

I could «vifh that, our fea-ports excepted, there
were no city in France but Paris ; that our pro-
vinces were covered only with hamlets, and vil-
lages, and fub-divided into fmall farms; and that,
as there is but one centre in the kingdom, there
might likewife be but one Capital. Would to God
it were that of all Europe, nay, of the whole
Earth ; and that, as men of all Nations bring thi-
ther their ;ni^uftry, their paffions, their wants, and
their misfortunes, it (hould give them back, in for-
tune, in enjoyment, in virtues, and in fublime
confolations, the reward of that afylum which they
there refort to feek !

Of a truth, our mind, illuminated as it is, at this
day, with fuch various knowledge, wants the nobly
comprehenlive grafp which didinguifhed our fore-
fathers. Amidfl their fimple and Gothic manners,
they entertained the idea, I believe, of rendering
it the Capital of Europe. The traces of this defign
are vifible in the names which mofh of their efta-
bliOiments bear : the Scotiilh College, the Irifh,
that of the Four Nations ; and in the foreign names
of the Royal houfehold- troops. Behold that noble
monument of antiquity, the church of Notre-
Dame, built more than fix hundred years ago, at
a time when Paris did not contain the fourth part
of the inhabitants with which it is now peopled ;
it is more vaft, and more majeftic than any thing

N 4 of

i04 STUDIES OF NATURE.

of the kind which has been fince reared. I could
\\'\(h that this fpivit of Phi/ip the Auguft, a Prince
too httle known in our frivolous age, might ftill
prefide over it's eQabliQiments, and extend the ufe
of them to all Nations. Not but that men of
every Nation are welcome there, for their money ;
our enemies themfelves may live quietly there, in
the very midft of war, provided they are rich ;
but, above all, I could wiQi to render her good and
propitious, to her own children. I do not know
of any advantage which a Frenchman derives from
having been born within her walls, unlefs it be,
when reduced to beggary, that of having it in his
power to die in one of her hofpitals. Rome be-
llowed very different privileges on her citizens ;
the moft wretched among them, there enjoyed pri-
vileges and honours, more ample than were com-
municated even to Kings, in alliance with the Re-
public.

Ir is pleafure which attrafls the greateft part of
flrangers to Paris ; and if we trace thofe vain plea-
fures up to their fource, we fliall find that they
proceed from the mifery of the People, and front
the eafy rate at which it is there pofTible to procure
girls of the town, fpedacles, modifli finery, and
the other produélions which miniller to luxury.
Thefe means have been highly extolled by modern
politicians. 1 do not deny that they occafion a

confiderablc

STUDY XIII. 185

confiderable influx of money into a country ; but,
at the long run, neighbouring Nations imitate
them J the money of ftrangers difappears, but their
debauched morals remain. See what Venice has
come to, with her mirrors, her pomatums, her
courtezans, her mafquerades, and her carnival.
The frivolous arts on which we now value our*
felves, have been imported from Italy, whofe feeble-
nefs and mifery they this day conftitute.

The nobleft fpedacle which any Government
can exhibit, is that of a people laborious, induf-
trious, and content. We are taught to be well-
read in books, in piftures, in algebra, in heraldry,
and not in men. Connoifleurs are rapt with admi-
ration at fight of a Savoyard's head, painted by
Greuze; but the Savoyard himfelf is at the corner
of the flreet, fpeaking, walking, almoft frozen to
death, and no one minds him. That mother, with
her children around her, forms a charming group;
the pifture is invaluable : the originals are in a
neighbouring garret, without a farthing whereupon
to fubfift. Philofophers ! ye are tranfported with
delight, and well you may, in contemplating the
numerous families of birds, of fiQies, and of qua-
drupeds, the inftincls of which are fo endlefsly va-
ried, and to which one and the fame Sun commu--
nicates life. Examine the families of men, of which
the inhabitants of the Capital confift, and you

would

l86 STUDIES OF NATURE.

would be difpofed to fay, that each of them had
borrowed it's manners, and it's indiiftry, from fome
fpecies of animal; fo varied are their employ-
ments.

Walk out to yonder plain, at the entrance of
the city J behold that general officer mounted on
his prancing courfer : he is reviewing a body of
troops : fee, the heads, the (houlders, and the feet,
of his foldiers, arranged in the fame ftraight line ;
the whole embodied corps has but one look, one
movement. He makes a fign, and in an inftant
a thoufand bayonets gleam in the air ; he makes
another, and a thoufand fires ftart from that ram-
part of iron. You would think, from their preci-
fion, that a lingle fire had iifued from a fingle
piece. He gallops round thofe fmoke-covered re-
giments, at the found of drums and fifes, and you
have the image of Jupiter's eagle, armed with the
thunder, and hovering round Etna. A hundred
paces from thence, there, is an infed: among men.
Look at that puny chimney-fweeper, of the colour
of foot, with his lantern, his cymbal, and his lea-
thern greaves : he refembles a black-beetle. Like
the one which, in Surinam, is called the lantern-
bearer, he fhines in the night, and moves to the
found of a cymbal. This child, thofe foldiers, and
that general, are equally men ; and while birth,
pride, and the demands of fecial life eftablifli in-
finite

STUDY XIII. 187

finite differences among them, Religion places
them on a level : fhe humbles the head of the
mighty, by (hewing them the vanity of their
power ; and fhe raifes up the head of the unfor-
tunate, by difclofmg to them the profpedts of im-
mortality : (lie thus brings back all men to the
equality which Nature had eftablilhed at tUeir
birth, and which the order of Society had di-
fturbed.

Our Sybarites imagine they have exhaufted every
pofTible mode of enjoyment. Our moping, melan-
choly old men confîder themfelves as ufelefs to the
World ; they no longer perceive any other per-
fpedive before them, but death. Ah ! paradife
and life are ftill upon the earth, for him who has
the power of doing good.

Had I been blefTed with but a moderate degree
of fortune, I would have procured for myfelf an
endlefs fuccefTion of new enjoyments. Paris (hould
have become to me a fécond Memphis. It's im-
menfe population is far from being known to us.
I would have had one fmall apartment, in one of
it's fuburbs, adjoining to the great road ; another
at the oppofite extremity, on the banks of the
Seine, in a houfe (haded vvith willows and pop-
lars ; another in one of it's m oft frequented ftreets;
a fourth in the manfion of a gardener, furrounded

wkb

ïSS STUDIES OF NATURE.

with apricot-trees, figs, coleworts, and lettuces ; a^
fifth in the avenues of the city, in the heart of a
vineyard, and fo on.

It is an eafy matter, undoubtedly, to find, every
where, lodgings of this defcription, and at an eafy
rate; but it may not be fo eafy to find perfons of
probity for hofts and neighbours. There is, it
muft be admitted, much depravity among the
lower orders ; but there are various methods which
may be employed to find out fuch as are good and
honeft : and with them I commence my refearches
after pleafure. A new Diogenes^ 1 am fet out in
learch of men. As I look only for the miferable,
I have no occafion to ufe a lançern. I get up at
d^y-break, and ftep, to partake of a firfi: mefs,
into a church ftill but half illumined by the day-
light : there I find poor mechanics come to im-
plore God's bleffing on their day'$ labour. Piety,
exalted above all refpedl to Man, is one alTured
proof of probity : cheerful fubmiffion to labour is
another. I perceive, in raw and rainy weather, a,
whole family fquat on the ground, and weeding
the plants of a garden*; here, again, are good.

people,

* Perfons eiTipioyed in the culture of vegetables are, in gene-
ral, a better fort of people. Plants have their Theology im-
prefled upon them. I one day, however, fell in with a hufband-
nir.n who was an atheifl. It is true, he had npt picked up his

opiniocss,

STUDY XIII. 189

people. The night Itfelf cannot conceal virtue.
Toward midnip,ht, the glimmering of a lamp an-
nounces to me, through the aperture of a garret,
fome poor widow prolonging her nodurnal induf-
try, in order to bring up, by the fruits of ir, her
little ones who are ileeping around her. Thefe
lliall be my neighbours and my hofts. I announce
myfelf to them as a wayfiiring man, as a ftranger,
who wifhes to breathe a little in that vicinity. I
befeech them to accommodate me with part of
their habitation, or to look out for an apartment
that will fuit me, in the neighboijrhood. I offer
a good price, and am domefticated prefently.

I am carefully on my guard, in the view of fe-
cuting the attachment of thofe honed people,
againft giving them money for nothing, or by way
of alms ; I know of means much more honourable
to gain their friendfliip. I order a greater quan-
tity of provifion than is neceffary for my own ufe,
and the overplus turns to account in the family; I
reward the children for any little fervices which they

opinions in the fields, but from books. He feemed to be exceed-
ingly well fatisfied with his attainments in knowledge. I could
not help faring to him at parting : " You have really gained a
" mighty point, in employing the refearches of your under-
*' (landing, to render yourfelf miferable !"

In the hypothetical examples hereafter adduced, there isfcarcely
any one article of invention merely, except the good which I did
not do.

render

îgo STUDIES OF NATURE.

render me : I carry the whole houfehold, of a ho-
liday, into the country, and fit down with them
to dinner upon the grafs ; the father and mother
return to town in the evening, well refrefhed, and
loaded with a fupply for the reft of the week. On
the approach of Winter, I clothe the children with
good woollen ftuffs, and their little warmed limbs
blefs their benefador, becaufe my haughty, vain-
glorious bounty, has not frozen their heart. It is
the godfather of their little brother who has made
them a prefent of the clothes. The lefs clofely
you twift the bands of gratitude, the more firmly
do they contra(5t of thcmfelves.

I enjoy not only the pleafure of doing good,
and of doing it in the beft manner 3 I have the
farther pleafure of amufmg and inftruding myfelf.
We admire in books the labours of the artifan, but
books rob us of half our pleafure, and of the gra-
titude which we owe them. They feparate us from
the People, and they impofe upon us, by difplay-
jng the arts with exceflive parade, and in falfe
lights, as fubjeéls for the theatre, and for the ma-
gic-lantern. Befides, there is more knowledge iq
the head of an artifan than in his art, and more
intelligence in his hands, than in the language of
the Writer who tranflates him. Objeds carry their
own expreffion upon them : Rem verba feqmmtur
(words follow things). The man of the com-
monalty

STUDY XIII. 191

tnonalty has more than one way of obferving and
of feeling, which is not a matter of indifference^
While the Philofopher rifes as high into the clouds
as he poffibly can, the other keeps contentedly at
the bottom of the valley, and beholds very diffe-
rent perfpedives in the World. Calamity forms
him at the length, as well as another man. His
language purifies with years ; and I have frequently
remarked, that there is very little difference, in
point of accuracy, of peifpicuity, and of fimpli-
city, between the expreffions of an aged peafant
and of an old courtier. Time effaces from their
feveral flyles of language, and from their manners,
the ruflicity and the refinement, which Society had
introduced. Old-age, like infancy, reduces all
men to a level, and gives them back to Nature.

In one of my encampments, I have a landlord
who has made the tour of the Globe. He has
been feaman, foldier, bucanier. He is fagacious
as Ulyjfes^ but more fmcere. When I have placed
him at table with me, and made him tafte my
wine, he gives me a relation of his adventures.
He knows a multitude of anecdotes. How many
times was he on the very point of making fortune,
but failed ! He is a fécond Ferdinand Mendez Pinto»
The upfhot of all is, he has got a good wife, and
lives contented.

My

192 STUDIES OF NATURE,

My landlord, in another of my ftations, ha«
lived a very différent life ; he fcarcely ever was
bej'-ond the walls of Paris, and but feldom beyond
the precinct of his fliop. But though he has not
travelled over the World, he has not miffed his
Ihare of calamity, by flaying at home. He was
very much at his eafe ; he had laid up, by means
of his honeft favings, fifty good Louis d'or, when
one night his wife and daughter thought proper to
elope, carrying his treafure with them. He had
almoft died with vexation. Now, he fays, he
thinks no more about it ; and cries as he tells me
the ftory. I compofe his mind, by talking kindly
to him ; I give him employment ; he tries to dif-
lipate his chagrin by labour ; his induftry is an
amuiement to me : I fometimes pafs complete
hours in looking at him, as he bores, ^d turns,
pieces of oak as hard as ivory.

Now and then I flop in the middle of the city
before the fliop of a fmith ; and then I am trans-
formed into the Lacedemonian LicbeSy at Tegeum,
attending to the proceffes of forging and hammer-
ing iron. The moment that the man perceives
me attentive to his work, 1 will foon acquire his
confidence. I am not, as Liches was, looking for
the tomb of Oreftes * ; but 1 have occafion to

* See Hcrodotu'^ book i.

employ

^

STUDY XIII. 193

employ the art of a fmith : if not for myfelf, for
the benefit of feme one elfe. I order this honeft
fellow to manufadlure for me fome folid ufeful ar-
ticles of houfehold furniture, which I intend to be-
ftow, as a monument to preferve my memory in
fome poor family. I wilh, befides, to purchafe
the friendfliip of an artificer; I am perfecflly furc
that the attention which he fees I pay to his work,
will induce him to exert his utmofl fkill in exe-
cuting it. I thus hit two marks with one ftone.
A rich man, in (imilar circumftances, would give
alms, and confer no obligation on any one.

7- 7' Roiijfeau told me a little anecdote of him-
felf, relative to the fubjed in hand. " One-day,"
faid he, " I happened to be at a village- feftival,
*' in a gentleman's country-feat, not far from Paris.
*' After dinner, the company betook themfelves to
'' walking up and down the fair, and amufed
" themfelves with throwing pieces of fmall money
" among the peafantry, to have the pleafure of
" feeing them fcramble and fight, in picking them
*^ up. For my own part, following the bent of my
** folitary humour, I walked apart in another dircc-
" tion. I obferved a little girl felling apples, dif-
*' played on a flat bafket, which Ihe carried before
*' her. To no purpofe did fhe extol the excel-
" lence of her goods; no cuftomer appeared to
*' cheapen them. How much do you aik for all

VOL. IV. o ** your

194 STUDIES OF NATURE.

*' yonr apples, faid I to her ? — All my apples ? re-
** plied fhe, and at the fame time began to reckon
"' with herfelf. — Threepence, Sir, faid (he. — I take
'' them at that price, returned I, on condition you
** will go and diftribute them among thefe little
** Savoyards, whom you fee there below : this was
•*' inftantly executed. The children were quite
** tranfported with delight at this unexpeded re-
'' gale, as was likevvife the little merchant at
*' bringing her wares to fo good a market. I ïhould
** have conferred much lefs pleafure on them had
*' I given them the money. Every one was fatis-
*' fied, and no one humbled." The great art of
doing good confifts in doing it judicioufly. Re-
ligion inftruds us in this important fecret, in re-
commending to us to do to others what we widi
ihould be done to us.

I fometimes betake myfelf to the great road,
like the ancient Patriarchs, to do the honours of
the City to fhrangers who may happen to arrive^
I recoiled: the time when I myfelf was a ftranger
in flrange lands, and the kind reception I met with
when far from home. I have frequently heard the
nobility of Poland and Germany complain of our
grandees. They allege, that French travellers of
diftinâiion are treated in thefe countries with un-
bounded hofpitality and attention ; but that they,
on viliting France, in their turn, are almoft en-
tirely

- STUDY XIII. 195

tirely neglected. They are invited to one dinner
on their arrival, and to another when preparing to
depart : and this is the whole amount of our hof-
pitaiity. For my own part, incapable of acquit-
ting the obligations of this kind which I lie under
to the Great of foreign countries, I repay them to
their commonalty.

I perceive a German travelling on foot; I ac-
coft him, I invite him to flop and take a little re-
pofe at my habitation. A good fupper, and a glafs
of good wine, difpofe him to communicate to me
the occafion of his journey. He is an officer ; he
has ferved in Pruffia and in Ruffia; he has been
witnefs to the partition of Poland. I interrupt him
to make my enquiries after Marefchal Count Mu-
nichy the Generals de Fillebois and du Bofquet, the
Count de Munchio, my friend M. de Taiibenheim,
Prince Xatorinjki, Field Marefchal of the Polifli
Confederation, whofe prifoner I once was. Moffc
of them are dead, he tells me ; the reft are fuper-
annuated, and retired from all public employment.
Oh ! how melancholy it is, I exclaim, to travel
from one's country, and to make acquaintance
with eftimable men abroad, whom we are never to
fee more ! Oh Î how rapid a career is human life !
Happy the man who has it in his power to employ
it in doing good I My gueft favours me with a
(hort detail of his adventures : to thefe I pp.y the

o 2 ciofeft

196 STUDIES OF NATURE.

clofeft attention, from their refemblance to my
own. His leading objed was to deferve well' of
his fellow creatures, and he has been rewarded by
them with calumny and perfecution. He is under
misfortunes ; he has come to France to put him-
felf under the Queen's protedion, he hopes a great
deal from her goodnefs. I confirm his hopes, by
the idea which public opinion has conveyed to me
of the charaéler of that Princefs, and by that which
Nature has imprefled on her phyfionomy. I am
pouring the balm of confolation, he tells me, into
his heart. Full of emotion, he preffes my hand.
My cordial reception of him is a happy prefage
of the reft ; he could have met with nothing fo
friendly even in his own country. Oh ! what pun-
gent forrow may be foothed to reft by a fingle
word, and by the feebleft mark of benevolence !

I remember that one day I found, not far from
the iron- gate de Caillot, at the entrance into the
Elyfian Fields, a young woman fitting with a child
in her lap, on the brink of a ditch. She was hand-
fome, if that epithet may be applied to a female
overwhelmed in melancholy. 1 walked into the
fequeftered alley where fhe had taken her ftation ;
the moment that i\\Q perceived me, (lie looked the
other way : her timidity and modefty fixed my
eyes on her. I remarked that fhe was very de-
cently drefled, and wore very white linen j but

her

STUDY XIII. 197

lief gown and neck handkerchief were fo com-
pletely darned over, that you would have faid the
fpiders \iad fpun the threads. I approached her
with the refpeâ: which is due to the miferable ; I
bowed to her, and (he returned my falute with an
air of gentility, but with referve. I then endea-
voured to engage her in converfation, by talking
of the wind and the weather : her replies confided
of monofyllables only. At length, I ventured to
afk if (he had come abroad for the pleafure of en-
joying a walk in the country : upon this (he began.
to fob and weep, without uttering a (ingle word.
I fat down by her, and infifted, with all po(îîble
circumfpedlion, that (lie would difclofe to me the
caufe of her diftrefs. She faid to me; ** Sir, my
*' hufband has juft been involved in a bankruptcy
*' at Paris, to the amount of five thoufand livres
*' (;^.2o8 6s, Sd.) y I have been giving him a con-
** voy as far as Neuilly : he is gone, on foot, a
•' journey of (ixty leagues hence, to try to recover
*' a little money which is due to us. I have given
'* him my rings, and all my other little trinkets,
** to defray the expenfe of his journey; and all
** that I have left in the world, to fupport myfelf

•* and my child, is a (ingle fliilling piece."

" What parifh do you belong to, Madam ?'* faid
I.—" St. Euftache," replied (he.—" The Redor,"
I fubjoined, " palles for a very charitable, good
" man." — " Yes, Sir," faid (he, " but you need

03 " not

I9S STUDIES OF NATURE.

** not to be informed, that there is no charity in
** pariflies for us miferable Jews." At thefe words,
her tears began to flow more copioufly, and (lie
arofe to go on her way. I tendered her a fmall
pittance toward her prefent relief, which I befought
her to accept, at lead as a mark of my good-will.
She received it, and returned me more reverences
and thanks, and loaded me with more benedic-
tions, than if I had re-eftabliflied her hufband's
credit. How many delicious banquets might that
man enjoy, who would thus lay out three or four
hundred pounds a year ! ,

My different eftablilhments, fcattered over the
Capital and the vicinity, variegate my life moft in-
nocently and moft agreeably. In Winter, I take
up my refidence in that which is expofed com-
pletely to the noon-day Sun; in Summer, I re-
move to that which has a northern afpeâ:, and
hangs over the cooling ftream. At another time,
I pitch my tent in the neighbourhood of the Rue
d'Artois, among piles of hewn ftone, where I fee
palaces rifing around me, pediments decorated
with fphynxes, domes, kiofques. I take care never
to enquire to whom they belong. Ignorance h
the mother of pleafure and of admiration. I am
in Egypt, at Babylon, in China. To-day I fup
under an acacia, and am in America : to-morrow,
I Ihall dine in the midft pf a kitchen-garden,

under

STUDY xni, 199

under an arbour fhaded with lilach ; and I fhall
be in France.

But, I Ihall be alked. Is there nothing to be
feared in fuch a ftyle of living ? May I meet the
final period of my days, while engaged in the
practice of virtue ! I have heard many a hiftory of
perfons who perifhed in hunting-matches, in par-
ties of pleafure, while travelling by land and by.
water; but never in performing afts of beneficence.
Gold is a powerful commander of refpeft with the
commonalty. I difplay wealth fufficient to fecure
their attention, but not enough to tempt any one
to plunder me. Befides, the police of Paris is in
excellent order. I am very circumfpeâ: in the
choice of my hods ; and if 1 perceive that I have
been miftaken in my feledion, the rent of my
lodgings is paid beforehand, and I return no more.

On this plan of life, I have not the leaft occa-.
fion for the encumbrances of furniture and fer-
vants. With what tender folicitude am 1 ex-
pected, in each of my habitations ! What fatis-
faclion does my arrival infpire ! What attention
and zeal do my entertainers exprefs to outrun my
wi flies ! I enjoy among them the choiceft bleffings
of Society, without feeling any of the inconve-
niences. No one fits down at my table to back-
bite his neighbour, and no one leaves it with a

o 4 difpofition

200 STUDIES OF NATURE.

difpofitlon to fpeak unkindly of me. I have no
children ; but thofe of my landlady are more eager
to pleafe me than their own parents. I have no wife :
the moft fublime charm of love is to devife and ac-
complifh the felicity of another. 1 affift in the forma-
tion of happy marriages, or in promoting the hap-
pinefs of thofe which are already formed. I thus
difiipate my perfonal languor, I put my paffions
upon the right fcent, by propofing to them the no-
bleft attainments at which they can aim, upon the
earth. I have drawn nigh to the miferable with
an intention to comfort them, and from them, per-
haps, I fliall derive confolation in my turn.

In this manner it is in your power to live, O ye
great ones of the earth ! and thus might you mul-
tiply your fleeting days in the land through which
you are merely travellers. Thus it is that you may
learn to know men ,- and form no longer, with
your own Nation, a foreign race, a race of conque-
rors, living on the fpoils of the country you have
fubdued. Thus it is, that, ilTuing from your pa-
laces, encircled with a crowd of happy vafTals,
who are loading you with benedidions, yon might
prefent the image of the ancient Patricians, a
name fo dear to the Roman people. You are every
day looking out for fome new fpeclacle ; there is
no one which poflefles fo much the charm of no-
velty ^s the happinefs of Mankind. You wifli for

objeds

STUDY XIII. 201

objeâiS that are interefting : there is no one more
interefling than the fight of the families of the
poor peafantry, diffufing fruitfulnefs over your
vaft and folitary domains, or fuperannuated fol-
diers, who have deferved well of their country,
feeking refuge under the fliadow of your wings.
Your compatriots are furely much better than tra-
gedy heroes, and more interefting than the fhep-
herds of the comic opera.

The indigence of the commonalty is the firft
caufe of the phyfical and moral maladies of the
rich. It is the bufinefs of adminiftration to pro-
vide a remedy. As to the maladies of the foul rc-
fulting from indigence, I could wifli fome pallia-
tives, at leaft, might be found. For this purpofe,
I would have formed, at Paris, fome eftablifhment
fimilar to thofe which humane Phyficians and fage
Law5'^ers have there inftituted, for remedying the
ills of body and of fortune; I mean difpenfaries of
confolation, to which an unfortunate wretch, fe-
cure of fecrefy, nay, of remaining unknown, might
refort to difclofe the caufe of his diftrefs. We have,
I grant, confeffors and preachers, for whom the
fublime fundlion of comforting the miferablefeems
to be referved. But confeflbrs are not always of
the fame difpofition with their penitents, efpecially
when the penitent is poor, and not much known
to them. Nay, there are many confeffors who have

neither

202 STUDIES OF NATURE.

neicher the talents nor the experience requilite to
the comforter of the afflided. The point is not
to pronounce abfolution to the man who confeffes
liis fins, but to affift him in bearing up under
thofe of another, which lie much heavier upon
him.

As to preachers, their fermons are ufually too
vague, and too injudicioully applied to the various
neceflities of their hearers. It would be of much
more importance to the Public, if they would an-
nounce the fubjecfl of their intended difcourfes, ra-
ther than difplay the titles of their ecclefiaftical
dignities. They will declaim againft avarice to a
prodigal, or againft profufion to a mifer. They
will expatiate on the dangers of ambition to a
young man in love ; and on thofe of love to an
ancient female devotee. They will inculcate the
duly of giving alms on the perfons who receive
them ; and the virtue of humility on a poor water-
porter. There are fome who preach repentance to
the unfortunate, who promife the joys of paradife
to voluptuous courts, and who denounce the
flames of hell againft ftarving villages. I have
known, in the country, a poor female peafant
driven to madnefs, by a fermon of this caft. She
believed herfelf to be in a ftate of damnation, and
lay along fpeechlefs and motionlefs. We have no
fermons calculated to cure languor, forrow, fcru-

puloufnefs

STUDY XIII.

203

puloufnefs of confcience, melancholy, chagrin, and
{o many other diftempers which prey upon the
foul. Befides, how many circumftances change,
to every particular auditor, the nature of the pain
which he endures, and render totally ufelefs to
him all the parade of a trim harangue. It is no
eafy matter to find out, in a foul wounded, and
opprefTed with timidity, the precife point of it's
grief, and to apply the balm and the hand of the
good Samaritan to the fore. This is an art known
only to minds endowed with fenfibility, who have
themfelves fufFered feverely, and which is not al-
ways the attainment of thofe who are virtuous only.

The people feel the want of this confolation ;
and finding no man to whom they can make ap-
plication for it, they addrefs themfelves to ftones.
I have fometimes read, with an aching heart, in
our churches, billets affixed by the wretched, to
the corner of a pillar, in fome obfcure chapel.
They reprefented the cafes of unhappy women
abufed by their hufbands ; of young people la-
bouring under embarraffment : they folicited not
the money of the compaffionate, but their prayers.
They were upon the point of finking into defpair.
Their miferies were inconceivable. Ah ! if men
who have themfelves been acquainted with grief,
of all conditions, would unite in prefenting to the
fons and daughters of afilidtion, their experience

and

204 STUDIES OF NATURE.

and their fenfibility, more than one illuilrloiis fiif-
fcrer would come and draw from them thofe con-
folations, which all the preachers, and books, and
philofophy in the World, are incapable to admi-
nifter. All that the poor man needs, in many-
cafes, in order to foothe his woe, is a perfon into
whofe ear he can pour out his complaint.

A Society, compofed of men fuch as I have
fondly imagined to myfelf, would undertake the
important tafk of eradicating the vices and the pre-
judices of the populace. They would endeavour,
for example, to apply a remedy to the barbarity
which impofes fuch oppreflive loads on the mi-
ferable horfes, and cruelly abufes them in other re-
fpefls, while every ftreet of the city rings with the
horrible oaths of their drivers. They would like-
wife employ their influence with the rich, to take
pity, in their turn, upon the human race. You
fee, in the midft of exceffive heats, the hewers of
ftone expofed to the meridian Sun, and to the
burning reverberation of the white fubftance on
which they labour. Hence thefe poor people are
frequently feized with ardent fevers, and with dif-
orders in the eyes, which ifTue in blindnefs. At
other times, they have to encounter the long rains,
and pinching cold of Winter, which bring on
rheums and confumptions. Would it be a very
coflly precaution for a mafter-builder, poffelTed of

humanity^

STUDY XIII. 205

humanity, to rear in his work-yard, a moveable
fhed of matting or ftraw, fupportsd by poles, to
ferve as a flicker to his labourers ? By means of a
fabric fo fimple, they might be fpared various ma-
ladies of body and of mind ; for moft of them, as
I have obferved, are, in this refpeft, aâ;uated by
a falfe point of honour ; and have not the courage
to employ a fcreen againft the burning heat of the
Sun, or againft rainy weather, for fear of incurring
the ridicule of their companions.

The people might farther be infpired with a re-
lilli for morality, without the ufe of much expen-
fivc cookery. Nay, every appearance of difguife
renders truth fufpeâ:ed by them. 1 have many a
time feen plain mechanics (hed tears at reading
fome of our good romances, or at the reprefenta-
tion of a tragedy. They afterwards demanded, if
the ftory which had thus affeded them was really
true ; and on being informed that it was imagi-
nary, they valued it no longer j they were vexed
to think that they had thrown away their tears.
The rich muft have fàdion, in order to render mo-
rality palatable, and morality is unable to render
fjftion palata,ble to the poor; becaufe the poor
man fhill expèfts his felicity from truth, and the
jrlch hope for theirs, only from illufion.

Tljt.

206 STUDIES OP NATURE.

The rich, however, ftand in no lefs need than
the populacCj of moral afFeâiions. Thefe are, as we
have feen, the moving fprings of all the human
paffions. To no purpofe do they pretend to refer
the plan of their felicity to phyfical objeâis ; they
foon lofe all tafte for their caftles, their pidures,
their parks, when, inftead of fentiment, they pof-
fefs merely the fenfations of them. This is fo in-
dubitably true, that if, under the preflure of their
languor, a ftranger happens to arrive to admire
their luxury, all their powers of enjoyment are re-
novated. They feem to have confecrated their life
to an indefinite voluptuoufnefs ; but prefent to
them a (ingle ray of glory, in the very bofom of
death itfelf, and they are immediately on the wing
to overtake it. Offer them regiments, and they
poft away after immortality. It is the moral prin-
ciple, therefore, which muft be purified and di-
reiled in Man. It is not in vain, then, that Re-
ligion prescribes to us the pradice of virtue, which
is the moral fentiment by way of excellence, feeing
it is the road to happinefs, both in this World,
and in that which is to come.

The fociety of which I have been fuggefting
the idea, would farther extend it's attentions, into
the retreats of virtue itfelf. I have remarked that,
about the age of forty- five, a ftriking revolution

takes

STUDY XIII. 207

takes place in mofl; men, and, to acknowledge the
truth, that it is then they degenerate, and become
deflitiite of principle. At this period it is that
women transform themfelves into men, according
to the expreffion of a celebrated Writer, in other
M'ords, that they become completely depraved-
This fatal revolution is a confequence of the vices
of our education, and of the manners of Society.
Both of thefe prefent the profped: of human hap-
pinefs, only toward the middle period of life, in
the poffeffion of fortune and of honours. When
we have painfully fcrambled up this fteep moun-
tain, and reached it's fummir, about the middle of
our courfe, we re-defcend with our eyes turned
back toward youth, becaufe we have no perfpective
before us but death. Thus the career of life is
divided into two parts, the one confiding of hopes,
the other of recolleclions j and we have laid hold
of nothing, by the way, but Ululions.

The firft, at lead, fupport us by feeding defire ;
but the others overwhelm us, by infpiring regret
only. This is the reafon that old men are lefs
fufceptible of virtue than young people, though
they talk much more about it, and that they are
much more miclancholy among us than among fa-
vage Nations. Had they been direded by Reli-
gion and Nature, they muft have rejoiced in the
approach of their latter end, as vefTsls juft ready

to

208 STUDIES OF NATURE.

to enter the harbour. How much more wretched
are thofe who, having devoted their youth to vir-
tue, reduced by that treacherous commerce with
the World, look backward, and regret the plea-
fures of youth, which they knew not how to prize !
The empty glare which encompalTes the wicked,
dazzles their eyes ; they feel their faith ftaggering,
and they are ready to exclaim with Brutus: —
*' O Virtue ! thou art but an empty name." Where
Ihall we find books and preachers capable of re-
floring confidence to them in tempefls, which have
fliaken even the Saints ? They transfix the foul
with fecret wounds, and torment it with gnawing
ulcers, which (hrink from difcovery. They are
beyond all poffibility of relief, except from a fo-
ciety of virtuous men, who have been themfelves
tried through all the combinations of human woe,
and who, in default of the ineffectual arguments
of reafon, may bring them back to the fentiment
•of virtue, at leafl by that of their friendOiip.

There is in China, if I am not miflaken, an
eflablidiment fimilar to that which I am propofing.
At lead certain Travellers, and, among others,
Ferdinand Mendez Pinïo, make mention of a houfe
of Mercy, which takes up and pleads the caufe of
the poor and the opprefled, and which, in an in-
finite number of inftances, goes forth to meet the
calls of the miferable, much farther than our cha-
ritable

STUDY XIII, 101)

ritable Ladies do. The Emperor has beftowed
the moft diftingiiiflied privileges on it's members ;
and the Courts of Juftice pay the utmoft deference
to their requefts. Such a fociety, employed in
adiing well, would merit, among us, at leaft pre-
rogatives as high as thofe vvhofe attention is re-
ftricfled to fpeaking well ; and by drawing forward
into view the virtues of our own obfcure citizens,
would defcrve, at the leaft, as highly of their Coun-
try, as thofe who do nothing but retail the fen-
tences of the fages, or, what is not lefs common,
the brilliant crimes, of Antiquity.

Scrupulous care ought to be taken not to give
to fuch an aflfociation, the form of an Academy or
Fraternity. Thanks to our mode of education,
and to our manners, every thing that is reduced to
form among us, corps, congregation, feft, party,
is generally ambitious and intolerant. If the men
which compofe them draw nigh to a light, which
they themfelves have not kindled, it is to extin-
guilh it ; if they touch upon the virtue of another,
it is to blight it. Not that the greateft part of the
members of thofe bodies are deftitute of excellent
qualities individually; but their incorporation is
good for nothing, for this reafon fimply, that it
prefents to them centres different from the com-
mon centre of Country. What is it that has ren-
dered the word fo dear to humanity, theatrical

VOL. IV. p and

2IO STUDIES OF NATURE.

and vain ? What fenfe is now-a-days affixed to the
term charity, the Greek name of which, x«V;?,
fignifies attraftion, grace, lovelinefs ? Can any
thing be more humiliating than our parochial
charities, and than the humanity of our Philo-
fophers ?

I leave this prqjeâ: to be unfolded and matured
by fome good man, who loves God and his fel-
low-ereatures, and who performs good adions, in
the way that Religion prefcribes, withont letting
his left hand know what his right hand doth. Is
it then a matter of fo much difficulty to do good ?
Let us purfue the oppofite fcent to that which is
followed by the ambitious and the malignant.
They employ fpies to furnifli them with all the
fcandalous anecdotes of the day ; let us employ
ours in difcovcring, and bringing to light, good
works performed in fecret. They advance to meet
men in elevated fituations, to range themfelves
under their flandards, or to level them with the
ground ; let us go forth in queft of virtuous men
in obfcurity, that we may make them our models.
They are furniQied with trumpets to proclaim
their own aclions, and to decry thofe of others ;
let us conceal our own, and be the heralds of other
mens' goodnefs. There is fuch a thing as refine-
ment in -vice ; let us carry virtue to perfedion*

I am

êTUDY XÎII. 211

1 am fenfible that T may be apt to ramble a
little too far. Bur fhould I have been fo happy as
to fuggeft a fingle good idea to one more enlight-
ened than myfelf 5 fhould I have contributed to
prevent, fome day in time to come, one poor
wretch, in defpair, from going to drown himfelf,
or, in a fit of rage, from knocking out his enemy's
brains, or, in the lethargy of languor, from going
to fquander his money and his health among loofe
women ; I (hall not have fcribbled over a piece of
paper in vain.

Paris prefents many a retreat to the miferable,
known by the name of hofpitals. May Heaven
reward the charity of thofe who have founded
them, and the ftill greater virtue of thofe perfons
of both fexes who fuperintend them ! But firft,
tvithout adopting the exaggerated ideas of the po-
pulace, who are under the pcrfuafion that thefe
houfes poffefs immenfe revenues, it is certain, that
a perfon well known, and an adept in the fcience
of public finance, having undertaken to furnidi
the plan of a receptacle for the lick, found, on
calculation, that the expenfe of each of them would
not exceed eight-pence halfpenny a day : that they
might be much better provided on thefe terms,
and at an eafier rate, than in the hofpitals. For
my own part, I am clearly of opinion, that thefe
fame pence^ diflributed day by day, in the houfe

p 2 q£

212 STUDIES OF "NATURE.

of a poor Tick man, would produce a ftill farmer
faving, by contributing to the fupport of his wife
and children. A fick perfon of the commonalty
has hardly need of any thing more than good
broths ; his family might partly fubfift on the
meat of which they were made.

But hofpitals are fubj^d to many other incon-
veniencies. Maladies of a particular chafa6ler are
there generated, frequently more dangerous than,
thofe which the fick carry in with them. They are
fufficiently known, fuch efpecially as are denomi-
nated hofpital-fevers. Befides thefe, evils of a
much more ferions nature, thofe which aiTed: mo-
rals, are there communicated. A perfon of exten-
five knowledge and experience has affured me,
that mod of the criminals who terminate their days
on a gibbet, or in the galleys, are the fpawn of
hofpitals. This amounts to what has been already
afl'erted, that a corps, of whatever defcription, is
always depraved, efpecially a corps of beggars. I
could wifh, therefore, that fo far from coUeding,
and crowding together, the miferable, they might
be provided for, under the infpedion of their own
relations, or entrufted to poor families, who would
take care of them.

Pui^lic prifons are necefTary ; but it is furely de-
firable that the unh.ippy creatures there immured,

fliould

STUDY XIII. 213

ftioLild be lefs miferable while under confinement.
Juftice, undoubtedly, in depriving them of liberty,
propofes not only to punifli, but to reform, their
moral charafter, Excefs of mifery and evil com-
munications can change it only from bad to worfe.
Experience farther demonftrates, that there it is
the wicked acquire the perfection of depravity.
One who went in only feeble and culpable, comes
out an accompliQied villain. As this fubjeét has
been treated profoundly by a celebrated Writer, I
fhall purfue it no farther. I fliall only beg leave
to obferve, that there is no way but one to reform
j(nen, and that is to render them happier. Ho\v
many who were living a lifeof criminality in Europe,
have recovered their charader in the Weft-India
Iflands, to which they were tranfported ! They are
become honeft men there, becaufe they have there
found more liberty, and more happinefs, than they
enjoyed in their native country.

There is another clafs of Mankind ftill more
worthy of compaffion, becaufe they are innocent :
1 mean perfons deprived of the ufe of reafon.
They are Ibut up; and they feldom f.iil, of conie-
quence,to become more infane than they were before.
I fhall, on this occafion, remark, that I do not believe
there is through the whole extent of Afia, China
howeveij excepted, a fmgle place of confinement
for perfons of this defcription. The Turks treat

p ? them

414 STUDIES OF NATURE.

them with Angular refpefl ; whether it be that
Mahomet himfelf was occafionally fubjed: to mental
derangement, or whether from a religious opinion
they entertain, that as fcon as a madman fets his
foot into a houfe, the bleffing of God enters it
with him. They delay not a moment to fet food
before him, and carefs him in the tendered man-
ner. There is not an inflance known of their
having injured any one. Our madmen, on the
contrary, are mifchievous, becaufe they are mifer-
able. As foon as one appears in the (Ireets, the
children, themfelves already rendered miferable by
their education, and delighted to find a human
being, on whom they can vent their malignity
with fafety, pelt him with ftones, and take pleafure
in working him up into a rage. I mufi; farther
obferve, that there are no madmen among favages;
and that I could not wifli for a better proof that
their political conftitution renders thein more
happy than polillied Nations are, as mental de-
rangement proceeds only from exceffive chagrin.

The number of inlane peifons under confine-
ment is, with us, enormouily great. There is not
a provincial town, of any conhderable magnitude,
but what contains an edifice deftined to this ufe.
Their treatment in thefe is furely an object of
commifcration, and loudly calls for the attention of
Government, confidering that if after all they are

no

STUDY XIII. 215

no longer citizens, they are ftill men, and innocent
men too. When I was purfuing my ftudies at
Caen, I recoiled having feen, in the madman's
ward, fome fhut up in dungeons, where they had not
feen the light for fifteen years. I one evening ac--
companied into fome of thofe difmal caverns, the
good Curé de S. Martin, whofe boarder I then
was, and who had been called to perform the lad
duties of his office to one of thofe poor wretches,
on the point of breathing his laft. He wasobhged,
as well as I, to flop his nofe all the time he was
by the dying man ; but the vapour which exhaled
from his dunghill v/as [o infedtious, that my clothes
retained the fmell for more than two months, nay,
my very linen, after having been repeatedly fent to
the wafhing. I could quote traits of the mode of
treatment of thofe miferablfc objects, which would
excite horror. I fliall relate only one, which is
flill frefh in my memory.

Some years ago, happening to pafs through
l'Aigle, a fmall town in Normandy, I flroUed out
about fun-fcr, to enjoy a little frefli air. I per-
ceived, on a riling ground, a convent mofl de-
lightfully fituated. A monk, who flood porter,
invited me in to fee thehoufe. He conduced me
through an immenfe court, in which the firfl thing
that flruck my eye, was a man of about forty years
old, with half a hat on his head, who advanced di-

T 4. redly

2l6 STUDIES OF NATURE.

reftly upon me, laying, " Be fo good as flab me
" to the heart; be fo good as ftab me to the heart."
The monk, who was my guide, laid to me, " Sir,
'' don't be alarmed ; he is a poor captain, v^ho lofb
" his reafon, on account of an unmilitary prefer-
" ence that palled upon him in his regiment."

*' This houfe, then," faid I to him, " ferves as
*' a receptacle for lunatics :" " Yes," replied he,
** I am Superior of it." He walked me from
court to court, and conducted me into a fmall en-
clofure, in which were feveral little cells of mafon
work, and where we heard perfons talking with a
good deal of earnelinefs. There we found a canon
in his Qiirt, with his Qioulders quite expofed, con-
verfing with a man of a fine figure, who was feated
by a fmall table, in front of one of thofe little cells.
The monk went up to the poor canon, and, with
his full flrength, applied a blow of his fift to the
wretch's naked flioulder, ordering him, at the
fame time, to turn out. His comrade inftantly
took up the monk, and emphatically fajd to him :
*' Man of blood, you are guilty of a very cruel
" aâ:ion. Do not you fee that this poor creature
-** has loft his reafon ?" The monk, ftruck dumb
for the moment, bit his lips, and threatened him
with his eyes. But the other, without being dif-
concerted, faid to him: " I know 1 am your vic-
*' rim ; you may do with me whatever you pleafe."

Then,

STUDY XIII. 217

Then, addreffing himfelf to me, he fhewed me his
two wriils, galled to the quick by the iron ma-
nacles with which he had been confined.

" You fee. Sir," faid he to me, " in what man-
** ner I am treated !" I turned to the monk, with
an expreffion of indignation at a conduct fo bar-
barous. He coolly replied : *' Oh ! I can put an
" end to all his fine reafoning in a moment." I
addrefl'ed, however, a few words of confolation to
the unfortunate man, who, looking at me with an
air of confidence, faid, *' I think, Sir, 1 have feen
*' you at S. Hubert, at the houfe of M. the Mare-
** fchal de Broglio^ " You muft be miftaken,
*' Sir," replied I, ** 1 never had the honour of
*^ being at the Marefchal de Broglio's,.^' Upon
that, he inftituted a procefs of recolledion, re-
fpeding the different places where he thought he
had feen me, with circumftances fo accurately de-
tailed, and clothed with fiich appearances of pro-
bability, that the monk, nettled at his well-me-
rited reproaches, and at the good fenfe which he
difplayed, thought proper to interrupt his conver-
fation, by introducing a difcourfe about marriage,
the purchafe of horfes, and fo on. The moment
that the chord of his infanity was touched, his head
was gone. On going out, the monk told me, that
this poor lunatic was a man of very conliderablc
birth. Some time afterward, I had the pleafure of

being

2l8 STUDIES OF NATURE.

being informed, that he had found means to efcapc
from his prifon, and had recovered the ufe of his
reafon.

A great many phyfical remedies are employed
for the cure of madnefs ; and it frequently proceeds
fram a moral caufe, for it is produced by chagrin.
Might there not be a polTibility to employ, for
the reftoration of reafon to thofe difordered beings,
means direflly oppofcd to thole which occafioned
tlie lofs of reafon; I mean, mirth, pleafure, and,
above all, the pleafures of mufic ? We fee, from
the inftance of Saul, and many others of a fmiilar
nature, what influence mufic poflefles for re-efta-
blifliing the harmony of the foul. With this ought
to be united treatment the mod gentle, and care
to place the unhappy patients, when vifited with
paroxyfms of rage, not under the reflraint of fet-
ters, but in an apartment matted round, whero-
they could do no mifchief, either to themfelves
or others. I am perfuaded that, by employing
fuch humane precautions, numbers might be re-
ftored, efpecially if they were under the charge of
perfons who had no intereft in perpetuating their
derangement ; as is but too frequently the cafe,
with refpedt to families who are enjoying their
eftates, and hcufes of reflraint, where a good board
is paid for their detention. It would likewife be
proper, in my opinion, to commit the care of men

difordered

STUDY XIII. 219

difordered in their underftanding, to females,
and that of females to men, on account of the
mutual fympathy of the two fexes for each other.

I would not wifli that there fliould be in the
kingdom any one art, craft, or profeflion, but
whofe final retreat and recompenfe fliould be at
Paris. Among the different claffes of citizens
who pradlife thefe, and of whom the greater part
is little known in the capital, there is one, and that
very numerous, which is not known at all there,
though one of the moft miferable, and that to
which, of all others, the rich are under the flrongeft
obligations, I mean the feamen, Thefe hardy and
unpoliflied beings are the men, who go in queft of
fuel to tneir voluptuoufnefs to the very extremities
of Afia, and who are continually expofing their
lives upon our own coafts, in order to find a fup-
'ply of delicacies for their tables. Their converfa-
tion is at lead as fprightly as that of our peafantry,
and incomparably more interefting, from their
manner of viewing objeâis, and from the fingularity
of the countries which they have vifited in the
courfe of their voyages. At the recital of their
many-formed difafters, and of the rempefls which
threatened them, while employed in conveying to
you obje6\s of enjoyment, from every region of
the Globe, ye happy ones of the earth ! your own
repofe ïïiay be rendered more precious to you.

By

22& STUDIES OF NATURE.

By contrafls fuch as thefe, your felicity will be
keightened.

I know not whether it was for the purpofe of
procuring for himfelf a pleafure of this nature, or
to give an enlivening fea air to the park of Ver-
failles, that Louis XIV. planted a colony of Venetian
gondoliers on the great canal which fronts the pa-
lace. Theirdefcendantsfubiifttheretothisday. This
eflablifliment, under a better direftion, might have
furnilhed a very defirable and ufeful retreat to our
own feamen. But that great King, frequently mlf-
led by evil counfellors, almoft always carried the
fentiment of his own glory beyond his own people.
What a contrail would thefe hardy fons of the
waves, bedaubed with pitch, their wind and wea-
ther-beaten faces, refembling fea-calves, arrived
fome from Greenland, others from the coaft of
Guinea, have prefented, with the marble ftatues,
and verdant bowers of the park of Verfailles !
X^on'is XIV. would oftener than once have derived
from thofe blunt, honeft fellows, more ufeful in-
formation^ and more important truth, than either
books, or even his marine officers of the higheft
rank, could have given him; and, on the other
hand, the novelty of their charaderiftic fingularity,
and that of their refk;â:ions on his own greatnefs,
would have provided for him fpedacles much more
i)ighly amuimg than thofe which the wits* (if his

Court

5TUÏ)Y XIII. 221 •

Court devifed for him, at an enormous expenfe.
Befides, what emulation would not the profpeft of
fuch preferments have kindled among our failors ?

I afcribe the perfedion of the Englifh Marine,
in part at leafl, fimply to the influence of their Ca-
pital, and from it's being inceflantly under the eye
of the Court. Were Paris a fea-port, as London
is, how many ingenious inventions, thrown away
upon modes and operas, would be applied to the
improvement of navigation ! Were failors feen
there even as currently as foldiers, a paffion for the
marine fervice would be more extenfively diffufed.
The condition of the feaman, become more inte-
refting to the Nation, and to it*s rulers, would be
gradually meliorated ; and, at the fame time, this
would have a happy tendency to mitigate the bru-
tal defpotifm of thofe who frequently maintain
their authority over them, merely by dint of
fwearing and blows. It is a good, and an eafily
pradlicable piece of policy, to enfeeble vice, by
bringing men nearer to each other, and by render-
ing them more happy. Our country gentlemen
did not give over beating their hinds, till they faw
that this ufeful part of Mankind had become inte-
refting objeds in books, and on the theatre. '

Not that I wifli for our feamen, an eftablifhment
fimihr to that of the Hotel des Invalides. I am

charmed

222, STUDIES OF NATURE.

charmed with the architedure of that monument,
but I pity the condition of it's inhabitants. Moft
of them are diffatisfied, and always murmuring,
as any one may be convinced, who will take the
trouble to converfe with them : 1 do not believe
there is any foundation for this 5 but experience
demonftrates, that men, formed into a corps, fooner
or later, degenerate, and are always unhappy. It
would be wifer to follow the Laws of Nature, and
to affociate them by families. 1 could wifh that the
pradlice of the Englidi were obferved and copied,
by fettling our fuperannuated feamen on the ferries
of rivers, on board all thofe little barges which
traverfe Paris, and fcatter them along the Seine,
like tritons, to adorn the plains : we Ihould fee
them {lemming the tides of our rivers, in wherries
under fmack-fails, luffing as they go ; and there
they would introduce methods of Navigation more
prompt, and more commodious, than thofe hi-
therto known and pradifed.

As to thofe whom age, or woUnds, may have to-
tally difabled for fervice, they might be fuitably
accommodated and provided for, in an edifice
fimilar to that which the Englifli have reared at
Greenwich, for the reception of their decayed fea*
men. But, to acknowledge the truth, the State,
1 am perfuaded, would find it a much more eco-
nomical plan, to allow them penfions, and that

thefc

STUDY XIII. 223

tbefe very feamen would be much better difpofed
of in the bofom of their feveral families. This,
however, need not prevent the raifing, at Paris, a
majeftic and commodious monument, to ferve as a
retreat for thofe brave veterans. The capital fets
little value upon them, becaufe it knows them
not ; but there are fomc among them who, by go-
ing over to the enemy, are capable of conduding
a defcent on our Colonies, and even upon our own
coafts. Defertion is as common amongj our ma-
liners as among our foldiers, and their defertion is
a much greater lofs to the State, becaufe it requires
more time to form them, and becaufe their local
knowledge is of much higher importance to an
enemy than that of our cavaliers, or of our foot-
ibldiers.

What I have now taken the liberty to fugged,
on the fubjed: of our feamen, might be extended
to all the other eftates of the kingdom, without
exception. I could wifli that there were not a
fmgle one but what had it's centre at Paris, and
which might not find there a place of refuge, a
retreat, a little chapel. All thefe monuments of the
different claffes of citizens, which communicate
life to the body politic, decorated with the attri-
butes peculiar to each particular craft and profef-
fion, would there figure with perfecfl propriety, and
with moft powerful effedt.

After

C24 STUDIES OF NATURE.

After having rendered the Capital a refort of
happinefs, and of improvement, to our own Na-
tion, I would allure to it the men of foreign Na-
tions, from every corner of the Globe. O ! ye
Women, who regulate our deftiny, how much
ought you to contribute towards uniting Mankind,
in a City where your empire is unbounded 1 In
miniftring to your pleafures, do men employ them-
felves over the face of the whole Earth. While
you are engrofied wholly in enjoyment, the Lap*
lander iflues forth, in the midft of ftorm and tem-
peft, to pierce with his harpoon the enormous
whale, whofe beard is to ferve for fhuffing to your
robes: a man of China puts into the oven the
porcelain out of which you fip your coffee, while
an Arabian of Moka is bufied in gathering the
berry for you : a young woman of Bengal, on the
banks of the Ganges, is fpinning your mullin,
while a Ruffian, amidft the forefts of Finland, is
fellino; the tree which is to be converted into a
maft for the velTel that is to bring it home to you.

The glory of a great Capital is to affemble,
within it's walls, the men of all Nations who con-
tribute to it's pleafures. I (hould like to fee, at
Paris, the Samoïèdes, with their coats of fea-calf-
ikin, and their boots of fl:urgeon*s hide ; andrthe
black lolofs, dreffed in their waift-attire, ftreaked
with red and blue. Ï could widi to fee there the

beard lefs

STtTDY XIII. 225

beardlefs Indians of Peru, drefled in feathers from
head to foot, ftroUing about undifmayed, in our
pubHc fquares, around the flatues of our Kings,
mingled with ftarely Spaniards, in whifkers, and
fhort-cloaks. It would give me pleafure to fee
the Dutch making a fettlement on the thirfty
ridges of Montmartre ; and, following the bent of
their hydraulic inchnation, like the beavers, find
the means of there conftrufting canals filled with
■water; while the inhabitants of the banks of the
Oroonoko (liould live comfortably dry, fufpended
over the lands inundated by the Seine, amidft the
foliage of willows and alder-trees.

I could wifh that Paris were as large, and of â
population as much diverfified as thofe ancient ci-
ties of Afia, fuch as Nineveh and Saza, v/hofe ex-
tent was fo vaft, that it required three days to
make the tour of them, and in which /jhafuertis
beheld two hundred Nations bending; before his
throne. I could wilh that every people on the
face of the Earth kept up a correfpondence with
that ^ity, as the members with the heart in the
human body. What fecrets did the Afiatics pof-
fefs, to raife cities fo vafl: and fo populous ? They
are, in all refpeds, our elder brothers. They per-
mitted all Nations to fettle anions; them. Prefent
men with liberty and happinefs, and you will a:-
trad them from the ends of the Earth,

VOL. IV. Q, It

226 STUDIJES OF NATURE.

It would be much to the honour of his humanity,
if fome great Prince would propofe this queilion
to the difcuffion of Europe : Whether the happi-
nefs of a People did not depend upon that of it's
neighbours ? The affirmative, clearly demon-
ftrated, would level with the duft the contrary
maxim, that oï Machiavel, which has too long go-
verned our European politics. It would be very
cafy to prove, in the firft; place, that a good under-
ftanding with her neighbours would enable her
confidently to difband thofe land and naval forces,
which are fo burdenfome to a Nation. It might
be demonflrated, fecondly, that every people has
been a partaker in the bleflings and the calamities
of their neighbours, from the example of the Spa-
niards, who made the difcovery of America, and
have fcattered the advantages, and the evils of it,
over all the reft of Europe. This truth may be
iariher confirmed, from the profperity and great-
nefs attained by thofe Nations, who were at pains
to conciliate the good-will of their neighbours, as
the Romans did, who extended farther and farther
the privileges of citizenOiip, and thereby, in pro-
cefs of time, confolidated all the Nations of Italy
into one fmgle State. They would, undoubtedly,
have formed but one (ingle People of the whole
Human Race, had not their barbarous cuftom of
exadling the fervice of foreign (laves, counteraded
a policy fo humane- It might, finally, be made

apparent,

STUDY XIII. 227

apparent, how miferable thofe Governments were,
which, however well conftituted internally, lived
in a ftate of perpetual anxiety, always weak and
divided, becaufe ihey did not extend humanity be-
yond the bounds of their own territory. Such were
the ancient Greeks : fuch is, in modern times,
Perfia, which is funk into a flate of extreme weak-
nefs, and into which it fell immediately after the
brilliant reign oï Scba Abbas, \n\\oÏq political maxim
it was to furround himfelf with deferts ; his own
country has, at length, become one, like thofe of
his neighbours. Other examples, to the fame pur-
pofe, might be found among the Powers of Afia,
who receive the Law from handfuls of Europeans.

Henry IV. had formed the celeflial projed of en-
gaging all Europe to live in peace ; but his pro-
jeâ: was not fufficiently extcnfive to fupport itfelf :
war muft have fallen upon Europe from the other
quarters of the World. Our particular deftinies
are conneded with thofe of mankind. This is an
homage which the Chriftian Religion juftly chal-
lenges, and which it alone merits. Nature fays to
you, love thyfelf alone ; domeftic education fays,
love your family; the national, love your country;
but Religion fays, Love all Mankind, without ex-
ception. She is better acquainted with our inte-:
refts, than our natural inftind is, or our parentage,
or our politics. Human focieties are not detached

(i. 2 from

228 STUDIES OF NATURE.

from each other, like thofe of animals. The bees
of France are not in the leaft affeded by the de-
ftruction of the hives in America. But the tears
of Mankind, ihed in the New World, caufe
flreams of blood to flow in the ancient Continent ;
and the war-whoop of a favage, on the bank of a
lake, has oftener than once re-echoed through Eu-
rope, and difturbed the repofe of her Potentates.
The Religion which condemns love of ourfelves,
and which enjoins the love of Mankind, is not
felf.conrradiâior}^ as certain fophifts have alleged;
fhe exafts the facrifice of our paiTions only to di-
rect them toward th^ general felicity; and by in-
culcating upon us the obligation of loving all men,
Ihe furnilhes us with the only real means of loving
ourfelves.

I could wifn, therefore, that our political rela--
tions with all the Nations of the World, might be
direfted toward a gracious reception of their fub-
jeds in the Capital of the kingdom. Were we to
expend only a part of what we lay out on foreign
communications, we fliould be no great lofers.
The Nations of Afia fend no Confuls, nor Mini-
flers, nor Ambaffadors, out of the Country, unlefs
in very extraordinary cafes : and all the Nations
of the Earth feek to them. It is not by fending
Ambaffadors, in great flate, and at a vaft expenfe,
to neighbouring Nations, that we conciliate, or fe-

curs

STUDY XIII. 229

cure their fiiendlliip. In many cafes, our oflen-
tatious magnificence becomes a fecret fource of
hatred and jealoufy among their grandees. The
point is, to give a kind reception to their fubjeâis,
properly fo called, the weak, the perfecuted, the
miferable. Our French refugees were the men
who conveyed part of our fkill, and of our power,
to Prujfha, and to Holland. How many unfeen
relations of commerce, and of national benevo-
lence, have been formed upon the foundation of
fucii gracioufnefs of reception ! An honeft Ger-
man, who retires into Auftria, after having made a
little fortune in France, is the means offending to
VIS a hundred of his compatriots» and difpofes the
whole canton, in which he fettles, to \vi(h us well.
By bonds like thefe, national friend fiiips are con-
trafted, much better than by diplomatic treaties;
for the opinion of a Nation always determines that
of the Prince.

After having rendered the city of men wonder-
fully happy, I .would direél my attention to the
embellilhment and commodioufnefs of the city of
ftones. I w^ould rear in it a muhitude of ufeful
monuments : I would extend along the houfes,
arcades as in Turin, and a raifed pavement as in
London, for the accommodation of loot-palfen-
gers ; in the ftreets, where it was practicable, trees
•and canals, as in Holland, for the facility of car-

Q„ 3 J^i^gc ;

230 STUDIES OF NATURE.

riage ; in the fuburbs, caravanferics, as in the ci-
ties of the Eaft, for the entertainment, at a mode-
rate expenfe, of travellers from foreign lands ; to-
ward the centre of the city, markets of vafl extent,
and fiirrounded with houfes fix or feven flories
high, for the reception of the poorer fort, who will
foon be at a lofs for a place where to lay their
head. I would introduce a great deal of variety
into their plans and decorations. In the circular
furrounding fpace, I would difpofe temples, halls
of juftice, public fountains ; the principal ftreets
fhould terminate in them. Thefe markets, fhaded
with trees, and divided into great compartiments,
fhould difplay, in the moft beautiful order, all the
gifts of Flora, of Ceres, and of Pomona. I would
ereA in the centre the ftatue of a good King ; for
it is impoffible to place it in a fituation more ho-
nourable to his memory, than in the midft of the
abundance enjoyed by his fubjeds.

I know of no one thing which conveys to me an
idea more precife of the police of a city, and of
the felicity of it's inhabitants, than the fight of it's
markets. At Peterfburg, every market is parcelled
out irito fub-divilions, deftined to the fale ot a
fmgle fpecies of merchandife. This arrangement
pleafes at firft glance, but foon fatigues the eye by
it's uniformity. Peier the Firft wns fond of regu-
lar formS; becaufe they are flivourable to defpotifm.

For

STUDY XIII. 231

For my own parr, I fliould like to fee the moft
perfed harmony prevailing among our merchants,
and the moft complete contrafts among their wares.
By removing the rivalities which arife out of com-
merce in the fame fort of goods, thofe jealoufies,
which are produdive of fo many quarrels, would
be prevented. It would give me pleafure to be-
hold Abundance there, pouring out the treafure
of all her horns, pell-mell; pheafants, frefh-cod,
heath cocks, turbots, pot-herbs, piles of oyfters,
oranges, wild-ducks, flowers, and fo on. Pcrmif-
fion Ihould be granted to expofe to fale there, every
fpecies of goods whatever; and this privilege alone
would be fufficient to deilroy various fpecies of
monopoly.

I would ereâ: in the city but few temples ; thefe
few, however, fliould be auguft, immenfe, with
ga-lleries on the outfide and within, and capable
of containing, on feftival days, the third part of
the population of Paris. The more that temples
arc multiplied in a State, the more is Religion en-
feebled. This has the appearance of a paradox;
but look at Greece and Italy, covered with church-
towers, while Conftantinople is crowded with
Greek and Italian renegadoes. Independently of
the political, and even religious, caufes, which
produce thelc national depravations, there is one

0^4 which

9

232, STUDIES OF NATURE.

which is founded in Nature, the effecls of which
we have already recognifed in the weaknefs of thé
human mind. It is this, That afFecflion diminiflies,
in proportion as it is divided among a variety of
objeds. The Jews, fo aflonifliingly attached to
iheir religion, had but one fingle temple, the re-
collection of which excites their regret to this day.

I would have amphitheatres conflrufled at Paris,
like thofe at Rome, for the purpofe of aflembling
the People, and of treating ihem, from time to
time, with days of feftivity. What a fuperb fite
for fuch an edifice is prefented in the rifing ground
at the entrance into the Elyfjan Fields ! How eafy
would it have been, to hollow it down to the level
of the plain, in form of an afnphitheatre, difpofed
into afcending rows ot feats, covered with green
tui'fUmplj^j having it's ridge crowned with great
trees, exalted on an elevation of more than four-
fcore feet ! What a magnificent fpedlacle would it
have been, to behold an immenfc people ranged
round and round, like one great family, eating,
drinking, and rejoicing in the contemplation of
their own felicity !

All ihefe edifices fliould beconflrudced of fionc;
iiot in petty-layers, according to our mode of
building, but in huge blocks, iuch as the Ancients

employed,

STUDY XIII. 233

employed *, and as becomes a city that is to lad
for eer. The ftreets, and the public fquares,
(hould be planted with great trees of various forts.

Trees

■* And fuch as Savages employ. Travellers are aftonilhed
when they furvey, in Peinj, the monuments of the ancient Tncas,
formed of vaft irregular ftones, perfedly fitted to each other.
Their conlVuflion prefents, at firft fight, two great difficulties:
How could the Indians have tranfported thofe huge maffes of
flone ; and how did they contrive to adapt them fo exaélly to each
other, notwithftanding their irregularity ? Our men of Science
have firfl: fuppofed a machinery proper for the tranfportation of
them ; as if there could be any machine more powerful than the
arms of a whole people exerting themfelves in concert. They
next tell us, that the Indians gave them thefe irregular forms by
dint of labour and induftry. This is a downright infult to the
common fenfe of Mankind. "Was it not much eafier to cut them
into a regular, than into an irregular, fliape ? I myfelf was em-
barrafled in attempting a folution of this problem. At length,
having read in the Memoirs of Don Ulloa, and likewife in fomc
other travellers, that there are found in many places of Peru,
beds of Hone along the furface of the ground, feparated by clefts
and crevices, I prefently comprehended the addrefs of the an-
cient Peruvians. All they had to do was to remove, piece and
piece, thofe horizontal layers of the quarries, and to place them
in a perpendicular dire(5lion, by moving the detached pieces clofc
to each other. Thus they had a wall ready made, which cofl
them nothing in the hewing. The natural genius is pofiefTed of
refources exceedingly fimple, but far fiiperior to thofe of our arts.
For example, the Savages of Canada had no cooking pots of me-
tal, previous to the arrival of the Europeans. They had, how-
ever, found means to fupply this want, by hollowing the trunk
of a tree with fire. But how did they contrive to fet it a boiling,

fo

?-34 STUDIES OF NATURE.

Trees are the real monuments of Nations. Time,
which fpeedily impairs the Works of Man, onl/
increafes the beauty of thofe of Nature. It is to
the trees, that our favourite walk, the Boulevards,
is indebted for it's principal charm. They delight
the eye by their verdure ; they elevate the foul to
Heaven, by the loftinefs of their ftems ; they com-
municate refpeâ: to the monuments which they
fhade, by the majefty of their forms. They con-
tribute, more than we are aware of, to rivet our
attachment to the places which we have inhabited.
Our memory fixes on them, as on points of union,
which have lecret harmonies with the foul of Man.
They poffefs a commanding influence over the
events of our life, like thofe which rife by the
fliore of the Sea, and which frequently ferve as a
diredion to the pilot.

I never fee the linden tree, but I feel myfeif
tranfported into Holland ; nor the fir, without re-
prefenting to my imagination the forefts of Rufïia.

fo as to drefs a whole ox, which they frequently did ? I have ap-
plied to more than one pretended man of genius for a folution of
this difficulty, but to no purpofe. As to myfeif, I was long puz-
zled, I acknowledge, in deviling a method by which water might
be made to boil, in kettles made of wood, which were frequently
large enough to contain lèverai hundred gallons. Nothing, how-
ever, could be eafier to Savages: they heated pebbles and flints
till they were red-hot, and call: them into the water in the pot,
till it boiled. Confult Cbam'^lain.

Trees

STUDY XIII. 235

Trees frequently attach us to Country, when the
other ties which united us to it are torn afiinder.
I have known more than one exile who, in old-
age, was brought back to his native village, by the
recoUeftion of the elm, under the fhade of which
he had danced when a boy. I have heard more
than one inhabitant of the Ifle of France fighing
after his Country, under the fhade of the banana,
and who faid to me j "I fhould be perfeélly tran-
*' quil where I am, could I but fee a violet.'*
The trees of our natal foil have a farther, and moft
powerful attradion, when they are blended, as was
the cafe among the Ancients, with fome religious
idea, or with the recolleftion of fome diftinguiflied
perfonage. Whole Nations have attached their
patriotifm to this objed:. With what veneration
did the Greeks contemplate, at Athens, the olive-
tree which Minerva had there caufed to fpring
up, and, on Mount Olympus, the wild-olive with
which Hercules had been crowned! Plutarch relates,
that, when at Rome, the fig-tree, under which
Romulus and Remus had been fuckled by a wolf, dif-
covered figns of decay from a lack of moifture,
the firft perfon who perceived it, exclaimed. Wa-
ter ! water ! and all the people, in confternation,
flew with pots and pails full of water to refrefh it.
For my part, I am perfuaded that, though we have
already far degenerated from Nature, we could not
without emotion behold the cherry-tree of the fo-

reft.

±2^ STUDIES OF NATURE.

reft, into which our good King Henry IV. clani-
bei^ed up, when he perceived the army of the
Duke ot Alayenne filing oif to the bottom of the
adjoining valley.

A city, were it built completely of marble, would
have to me a melancholy appearance, unlefs I faw
in it trees and verdure * : on the other hand, a
landfcape, were it Arcadia, were it along the banks

* Trees air, from their duration, the real monuments of Na-
tions ; and they are, farther,- their calendar, from the different
feafons at which they fend forth their leaves, their flowers, and
their fruks. Savages have no othei-, and our own peafantry
make li'eqtlent ufe of it. I met one day, toward the end of Au-
Wmn, a country girl all in tears, looking about for a handker-
chief which flie had lofl upon the great road. " Was your hand-
'• kerchief very pretty-?" faid I to her. "Sir," replied flie,
" it was quite new ; I bought it laft bean-time." It has long
been rîiy opinion, that if our hiftorical epochs, fo loudly trum-
peted, wei-e dated by tholfe of Nature, nothing more would be
wanting to mark their injuftice, and expofe them to ridicule.
\Vere we fo read, for example, in our books of Hiftory, that a
Prince had caufedpart of his fubieâs to be maiTacred, to render
Heaven propitious to him, precifcly at the feafon when his king-
dom v/as clothed with the plenty of harveft ; or were we to read
the relations of bloady engagements, arjd of the bombardment
of cities, dated with- the flowering of the violet, the firfi crtam-
cheefe making, the flieep-marking feafon ; Would any other
contraft be neceflary to lender the penifal of fuch hiftories de-
tefrable } On the other hand, fuch dates would communicate im-
mortal graces to the actions of good Princes, and would confound
the bleflings which they bellowed, with thofe of Pleaven.

of

STUDY xiir. 237

of îhe AlphenSj or did it prefent the fwelling ridges
of Mount Lyceum, would appear to me a wilder-
nefs, if J did not fee in it, at leaft, one little cot-
tage. The works of Nature, and thofe of Man^
cnutually embellifh each other. The fpirit of felf-
iihnefs has deftroyed among us a tafte for Nature.
Our peadmtry fee no beauty in our plains, but
there where they fee the return of their labour. I
o,ne day met, in the vicinity of the Abbey of la
Trappe, on the flinty road of Notre Dame d'Apre,
a countrywoman walking along, with two large
loaves of bread under her arm. It was in the
month of May ; and the weather inexpreffibly
fine. '^ Vv'hat a charming feafon it is !" faid I to
the good woman: " How beautiful are thofe apple
*' trees in bloflbm! How fweetly thefe nightingales
*' fing in the woods !"...." Ah!" replied (he, '' I
" don't mind nofegays, nor thefe little fquallers !
" It is bread that we want." Indigence hardens the
heart of the country people, and fliuts their eyes.
But the good folk of the town have no greater re-
lilli for Nature, becaufe the love of gold regulates
all their other appetites. If fome of them ('Zi a
value on the liberal arts, it is not becaufe thofe arts
imitate natural objeds ; it is from the price to
which the hand of great mailers raifes their pro-
duftions. That man gives a thoufand crowns for
a pidure of the country painted by Lorrain^ who
would nor take the trouble to put his head gut of

£h§

238 STUDIES OF NATURE.

the window to look at the real landfcape : and
there is another, who oftentatioully exhibits the
buft of Socrates in his ftudy, who would not re-
ceive that Philofopher into his houfe, were he in
life, and who, perhaps, would not fcruple to con-
cur in adjudging him to death, were he under pro-
fecution.

The tafle of our Artifts has been corrupted by
that of our trades-people. As they know that it is
not Nature, but their own {kill, which is prized,
their great aim is to difplay themfeives. Hence it
is, that they introduce a profufion of rich accef-
fories into mad of our monuments, while they fre-
quently omit altogether the principal objefl. They
produce, for inftance, as an embellifliment for gar-
dens, vafes of marble, into which it is impoflible
to put any vegetable ; for apartments, urns and
pitchers, into which you cannot pour any fpecies
of fluid; for our cities, colonnades without palaces,
gates in places where there are no walls, public
fquares fenced with barriers, to prevent the people
from aflembling in them. It is, they tell us, that
the grafs may be permitted to flioot. A fine pro-
jed; truly ! One of the heavieft curfes which the
Ancients pronounced againft their enemies was,
that they might fee the grafs grow in their public
places. If they willi to fee verdure in ours, why
do they not plant trees in them, which would give

i)ie

' SÏUDY Xîîî, "239

tÎTie people at once fliade and ûielter? There are
iome who introduce into the trophies which orna-
cnenr the town relidences of our grandees, bows,
aiTows, catapuks ; and who have carried the fim-
plîcity of the thing to fuch a height, as to plant
on them Roman ftandards, infcribed with thefe
charafters, S. P. Q. R. This may be feen in the
Palace de Bourbon. Pofterity will be taught to
believe, that the Romans were, in the eighteenth
century, mafters of our country. And in what
«iliraation do we mean, vain as we are, that our
memory fliould be heid by them, if our monu-
nients, our medals, our trophies, our dramas, our
ânfcriptions, coniinually hol4 out to them, flrangers
and antiquity ?

The Greeks and Romatis were much more con-
iiftent. Never did they dream of conftruifling ufc-
iefs monuments. Their beautiful vafes of alabaRer
and calcedony were employed, in feftivals, for
holding wine, or perfumes^ their periftyles al-
ways announced a palace; their public places were
deftined only to the purpofe of alTembling the
people. There they reared the ftatues of their
great men, without enclofmg them in rails of iron,
in order that their images might ftill be within
reach of the miferabie, and be open to their invo-
cation after death, as they themfelves had been
while they were alive. Juvenal fpeaks of a ftarue

Pf

1^.0 STUDIES OF NATURE.

of bronze at Rome, the hands of which had been
worn away by the kifles of the People. What
glory to the memory of the perfon whom it repre-
fented ! Did it ftill exift, that mutilation would
render it more precious than the Fenus de Medicis,
with it's fine proportions.

Our populace, we are told, is deftitute of pa-
triotifm. I can eafily believe it, for every thing is
done, that can be done, to deflroy that principle in
them. For example, on the pediment of the beau-
tiful church which we are building in honour of
Saint Genevieve-, but which is too fmall, as all our
modern monuments are, an adoration of the crofs
is reprefented. You fee, indeed, the Patronefs of
Paris in bas-reliefs, under theperiftyle, in the midft
of Cardinals ; but would it not have been more in
charafter, to exhibit to the People their humble
Patronefs in her habit of fliepherdefs, in a little
jacket and cornet, wiih her fcrip, her crook, her
dog, her fheep, her moulds for making cheefe,
and all the peculiarities of her age, and of her con-
dition, on the pedim.ent of the church dedicated
to her memory ? To thefe might have been added
a view of Paris, fuch as it was in her time. From
the whole would have refulted contrafts, and ob-
jets of comparifon of the moft agreeable kind.
The People, at fight of this rural fcenery, would
have called to memory the days of old. They

v.'ould

STUDY XIIT. 241

would have conceived efteem for the obfcure vir-
tues which are neceffary to their happinefs, and
would have been flimulated to tread in the rough
paths of glory which their lowly patronefs trod be-
fore them, whom it is now impoffible for them to
diftinguifli in her Grecian robes, and furrounded
by Prelates.

Our Artifts, in fome cafes, deviate fo completely
from the principal objeâ:, that they leave it out al-
together. There was exhibited fome years ago,
in one of the workQiops of the Louvre, a monu-
ment in honour of the Dauphin and Dauphinefs,
defigned for the cathedral of the city of Sens,
Every body flocked to fee it, and came away in
raptures of admiration. I went wiih the reft ; and
the firft thing I looked for was the refemblance ot
the Dauphin and Dauphinefs, to whofe memory
the monument had been ereâied. There was no
fuch thing there, n(࣠even in medallion?. You
faw Time with his fcythe, Hymen with urns, and all
the thread-bare ideas of allegory, which frequently
is, by the way, the genius of thofe who have none.
In order to complete the elucidation of the fub-
jeâ:, there were on the panels of a fpecies of altar,
placed in the midft of this group of fymbolical
figures, long infcriptions in Latin, abundantly fo-
reign to the memory of the great Prince who was
?he objed of ihcm. There, faid I to myfelf, there

VOL. IV, B, is

242 STUDIES OF NATURE.

is a fine national monument ! Latin infcriptions
for French readers, and pagan fymbols for a ca-
thedral ! Had the Artift, whofe chifel I in other
refpeèls admired, meant to difplay only his own
talents, he ought to have recommended to his fuc-
ceffor, to leave imperfecfl a fmall part of the bafc
of that monument, which death prevented himfelf
from finifhing, and to engrave thefe words upon
it : CousTOu moriens faciehat *. This confonance
of fortune would have united him to the royal
monument, and would have given a deep impref-
fion to the refledions on the vanity of human
things, which the fight of a tomb infpireSr

Very few Artifts catch the moral objeft ; they
aim only at the pidurefque, " Oh, what a fine
" fubjed: for a Belifarius /" exclaim they, when
the converfation happens to turn on one of our
great men, reduced to diftrefs. Nev^rthelefs, the
liberal arts are deftined only^o revive the memory
of Virtue, and nor Virtue to give employment
to the fine Arts. I acknowledge, that the cele-
brity which they procure is a powerful incentive
to prompt men to great aftions, though, after all,
it is not the true one ; but though it may not in-
fpire the fentiment, it fometimes produces the aéls.
Now-a-days we go much farther. It is no longer

* The work of Cok/Jou^ left xinfiniflied by death.

the

STUDY xiii; ^43

the glory of virtue which affociations and indivi-
duals endeavour to merit; ii is the honour of dif-
tributing it to others at which they aim. Heaven
knows the ftrange confufion which refults from
this ! Women of very fufpicious virtue, and kept-
miftrefles, eftabliQi Rofe-feafls : they difpenfe pre-
miums on virginity ! Opera-girls crown our viélo-
rious Generals ! The Marefchal de Saxe, our Hif-
torians tell us, was crowned with laurels on the na-
tional theatre : as if the Nation had confifted of
players, and as if it's Senate were a theatre ! For
my own part, I look on Virtue as {o refpedable,
that nothing more would be wanting, but a fingle
fubjedt, in which it was eminently confpicuous, to
overwhelm with ridicule thofe who dared to dif-
penfe to it fuch vain and contemptible honours.
What ftage-dancing girl, for example, durft have
had the impudence to crown the auguft forehead
of Turenne, or that of Fenelon.

The French Academy would be much more
fuccefsful, if it aimed at fixing, by the charms of
eloquence, the attention of the Nation on our
great men, did it attempt lefs, in the elogiums
which it pronounces^ to panegyrize the dead, than
to fatyrize the living. Befides, poHierity will rely
as little on the language of praife, as on that of
ccnfure. For, firil, the very term elogium is U^^-
pefted of flattery : and farther, this fpecies of elo-

R 2 quenc-e

244 STUiJfES op NAtURE.

quence charaderizes nothing. In order to painf
virtuCj it is neceflary to bring forward defedls and
vices, that conflidl and triumph may be. rendered
confpicuous. The ftyle employed in it is full of
pomp and luxuriance. It is crowded with reflec-
tions, and paintings, foreign, very frequently, to
the principal objed:. It refembles a Spanifli horfe;
it prances about wonderfully, but never gets for-
ward. This kind of eloquence, vague and inde-
cifive as it is, fuits no one great man in particular^
becaufe it may be applied, in general, to all thofe
who have run the fame career. If you only change
a few proper names in the elogium of a General,
you may comprehend in it all Generals, paft and
future. Befides, it's bombaft tone is fo little
adapted to the fimple language of truth and virtue,
that when a Writer means to introduce charafterif-
tical traits of his hero, that we may know at lead
of whom he is fpeaking, he is Under the neceffity
of throwing them into notes, for fear of deranging
his academical order.

AiTuredly, had Plutarch w^mttn the elogium only
of illuftrious men, he would have had as few
readers at this day as the Panegyric of Trajan,
whith coft the younger Pliny fo many years labour.
You will never find an academical elogium in the
hands of one of the common People. You might
fee them, parhaps, turning over thofe oï Fontenelle,

and

STUDY XIII. 245

and a few others, if the perfons celebrated in them,
had paid attention to the People while 'they lived.
But the Nation takes pleafure in reading Hiftory.

As I was walking fome time ago, toward the
quarter of the Military School, I perceived at fome
diftance, near a fand-pit, a thick column of fmoke.
I bent my courfe that way, to fee what produced
it, I found, in a very folitary place, a good deal
refembling that which Sbakefpear makes the fcene
where the three witches appear to Macbeth, a poor
and aged woman fitting upon a ftone. She was
deeply engaged in reading in an old book, clofe
by a great pile of herbage, which flie had fet on
fire. I firft afked her for what purpofe (he was
burning thofe herbs? She replied, that it was
for the fake of the alhes, which fhe gathered
up and fold to the laundrefles ; that for this end
Ihe bought of the gardeners the refufe plants of
their grounds, and was waiting till they were en-
tirely confumed, that flie might carry off the alhes,
becaufe they were liable to be ftolen in her ab-
fence. After having thus fatisfied my curiofity,
fhe returned to her book, and read on with deep
attention. Eagerly defirous to know what book
it was with which (he (illed up her hours of lan-
guor, I took the liberty to afk the title of it. *' It
*' is the life of M. de Turenne,'' (he replied. *' Well,
*' what do you think of him ?" faid I. ** Ah!"

R 3 replied

246 STUDIES OF NATURE.

replied Oie, with emotion, " he was a very brave
*' man, who fuffered much uneafinefs from a Mi-
*' nifter of State, while he was alive !" I withdrew,
filled with increafed veneration for the memory of
M. de Turenne, who ferved to confole a poor old
woman in diftrefs. It is thus that the virtues of
the lower clafles of fociety fupport themfelves on
thofe of great men, as the feeble plants, which, to
efcape being trampled under foot, cling to the
trank of the oak.

OF NOBILITY.

The ancient Nations of Europe imagined, that
the moft powerful ftimulus to the pradice of vir-
tue, was to ennoble the defcendants of their virtu-
ous citizens. They involved themfelves, by this,
in very great inconveniencies. For, in rendering
nobility hereditary, they precluded, to the reft of
the citizens, the paths which lead to diftin6lion.
As it is the pei*petual, exclufive, poffeffion of a cer-
tain number of families, it ceafes to be a national
recompenfe, otherwife, a whole Nation v/ould con-
fift of Nobles at length; which would produce a
lethargy fatal to arts and handicrafts ; and this is
actually the cafe in Spain, and in part of Italy.

Many other mifchiefs neceflarily refult from he-
reditary nobleffe, the principal of which is, the

formation.

STUDY XIÎI. 247

formation, in a State, of two feveral Nations, which
come, at laft, to have nothing in common between
them ; patriotifm is annihilated, and both the one
and the other haftens to a ftate of fubjeftion.
Such has been, within our recolledion, the fate of
Hungary, of Bohemia, of Poland, and even of
part of the provinces of our own kingdom, fuch
as Britanny, where a nobility, infufferably lofty,
and multiplied beyond all bounds, formed a clafs
abfolutely diftind from the reft of the citizens. It
is well worthy of being remarked, that thefe coun-
tries, though republican, though fo powerful, in
the opinion of our political Writers, from the free-
dom of their conftitution, have been very eafily
fubjedled by defpotic Princes, who were the maf-
ters,*they tell us, of flaves only. The reafon is,
that the People, in every country, prefer one So-
vereign to a thoufand tyrants, and that their fate
always decides the fate of their lordly oppreflbrs.
The Romans foftened the unjuft and odious di-
ftindtions which exifted between Patricians and
Plebeians, by granting to thefe laft, privileges and
employments of the liigheft refpedability.

Means, in my opinion, ftill more effectual, were
employed by that People, to bring the two clafles
of citizens to a ftate of clofer approximation ; par-
ticularly the pradice of adoption. How many great
men ftarted up out of the mafs of the People, toi

R 4 merit

24» STUDIES OF NATURE.

merit this kind of r^compenfe, as illuftiious as
thofe which Country beftows, and ftill more ad-
drefled to the heart ! Thus did the Catos and the
Scipios di{lingui(h themfelves, in hope of being in-
grafted into Patrician famiUes. Thus it was that the
Plebeian Jgricola obtained in marriage the daughter
of Aiignftus. I do not know, but, perhaps, I am only
betraying my own ignorance, that adoption ever
was in ufe among us, unlefs it were between cer-
tain great Lords, who, from the failure of heirs of
blood, were at a lofs how to difpofe of their vaft
pofTefilons when they died. I confider adoption
as much preferable to nobility conferred by the
State. It might be the means of reviving ilkif-
trious families, the defcendants of which are now
languifhing in the miofl" abjeâ; poverty. It #ould
endear the Nobility to the People, and the People
Î0 the Nobility. It would be proper that the pri-
vilege of beftowing the rights of adoption, (liould
be rendered a fpecies of recompenfe to the No-
blefle themfelves. Thus, for example, a poor man
of family, who had diftinguilhed himfelf, might
be empowered to adopt one of the commonalty,
who Ihould acquire eminence. A man of birth
would be on the look-out for viitue among the
People ; and a virtuous man of the commonalty,
would go in queft of a vyorthy nobleman as a pa-
tron. Such political bonds of union appear to me
more poweiful, and more honourable, than mer-

cenarv

STUDY XIII. 249

cenary matrimonial alliances, which, by uniting
two individual citizens of different clafles, fre-
quently alienate their families. Nobility, thus
acquired, would appear ro me far preferable to that
which public employments confer; forthefe, being
entirely the purchafe of fo much money, from that
very circumftance lofe their refpcftability, and,
confequently, degrade the nobility attached to
them.

But, taking it at the befl, one d i fad vantage m u ft
ever adhere to hereditary nobility, namely, the
eventual exceffive multiplication of perfons of that
defcription. A remedy for this has been attempted
among us, by adjudging nobility to various pro-
feffions, fuch as maritime commerce. Firft of all,
it may be made a queftion. Whether the fpirit
of commerce can be perfedly confiftent with the
honour of a gentleman ? Befides, What commerce
fhall he carry on, who has got nothing ! Muft not
a premium be paid to the merchant for admitting
a young man into his counting- houfe, to learn the
lirft principles of trade ? And where Ihould fo
many poor men, of noble birth, find the means,
who have not wherewithal to clothe their chil-
dren ? 1 have feen fome of them, in Britanny, the
defcendants of the moft ancient families of the pro-
vince, fo reduced, as to earn a livelihood by mow-
ing down the hay of the peafantry for fo much a day.

Would

i^<y STUDIES OF NATURE.

Would to God, that all conditions were nobi-
litated, the profeffion of agriculture in particular !
for it is that, above all others, of which every func-
tion is allied to virtue. Jn order to be a hufband-
man, there is no need to deceive, to flatter, to de-
grade one's-ielf, to do violence to anoîher. He
is not indebted, for the profits of his libour, to the
vices or the luxury of his age, but to the bounty
of Heaven. He adheres to his Country, at leaff,
by the little corner of it which he cukivates. If
the condition of the hufbandman were ennobled, a
multitude of benefits, to the inhabitants of the
kingdom, would refult from it. Nay, it would be
fiifficienr, if it were not confidered as ignoble. But
here is a refource which the State might employ,
for the relief of the decayed nobility. Moft of the
ancient feignories are purchafed now-a-days, by
perfons who pofTefs no other merit but that of
having money; fo that the honour of thofe illuf-
trious houfes have fallen to the fliare of men who,
to confefs the truth, are hardly worthy of them.
The King ought to purchafe thofe lordfhips as
often as they come to market ; referve to himfelf
the feignorial rights, with part of the lands, and
form, of thofe fmall domains, civil and military be-
nefices, to be bellowed as rewards on good officers,
ufeful citizens, and noble and poor families, nearly
as the Ti mari Qts are in Turkey.

OF

STUDY XIII. 251

OF AN ELYSIUM.

The hereditary tranfmifTion of nobility is fub^
je(5t to a farther inconveniency ; namely this.
Here is a man, who fets out with the virtues of a
Marius, and finiQies the career, loaded with all his
vices. I am going to propofe a mode of diftin-
guifhing fuperior worth, which (hall not be liable
lo the dangers of inheritance, and of human in-
conftancy : it is to with-hold the rewards of virtue
till after death.

Death affixes the laft feal to the memor}'^ of
Man. It is well known of what weight the deci-
fions were, which the Egyptians pronounced upon
their citizens, after life was terminated. Then,
too, it was, that the Romans fometimes exalted
theirs to the rank of demi-gods, and fometimes
threw them into the Tiber. The People, in de-
fault of priefts and magiftrates, ftill exercifes,
among us, a part of this priefthood. I have oftener
than once flood ftill, of an evening, at fight of a
magnificent funeral proceffion, not fo much to ad-
mire the pomp of it, as to llften to the judgment
pronounced by the populace on the high and puif-
fant Prince, whofe obfequies were celebrating. I
have frequently heard the queftion afked. Was he

a good

i,^Z STUDIES OF ÎTATURE.

a good mafter ? Was he fond of his wife and chil-
dren ? Was he a friend to the poor ? The People
infift particularly on this laft queflion; becaufe,
being conunually influenced by the principal call
of Nature, they diftingui(b, in the rich, hardly any
other virtue than beneficence. I have often heard
this reply given : " Oh ! he never did good to any
«' one : he was an unkind relation, and a harfh
*^ mafter." I have heard them fay, at the inter-
ment of a Farmer-General, who left behind him
more than twelve millions of livres, (half a mil-
lion fterling) : " he drove away the country poor,
*' from the gate of his caftle, with fork and flail."
On fuch occaiions, you hear the fpedators fall a
fwearing, and curfing the memory of the deceafed.
Such are, ufually, the funeral orations of the rich,
in i,he mouth of the populace. There is little
doubt, that their decifions would produce confe-
quences of a certain kind, were the police of Faris.
lefs ftrict than it is,

Death alone can enfure reputation, and nothing
fhort of religion can confecrate it. Ourgiandeesare
abundantly aware of this. Hence the fumptuoufnefs
of their monuments, in our churches. It is not that
the clergy make a point of their being interred
there, as many imagine. The clergy would equally
receive their perquihtes, were the interment in the
country : they would take care, and very juftly, to

be

STUDY Xlli. 2J3

be well paid for fuch journies j and they would bo
relieved from breathing, all the year round, in
their ftalls, the putrid exhalations of rotting car^
cafes. The principal obftacle to this neceflary re*
form in our police, proceeds from the great and
the rich, who, feldom difpofed to crowd the church
in their life time, are eager for admiffion after their
death, that the people may admire their fuperb
maiifeieay and their virtues portrayed in brafs and
marble. But, thanks to the allegorical reprefenta-
tions of our Artifts, and to the Latin infcriptions
of our Literatiy the People know nothing about
the matter ; and the only reflexion which they
make, at fight of them, is, that all this muft have
coft an enormous fum of money ; and that fuch a
vaft quantity of copper might be converted, to
advantage, into porridge-pots.

' Religion alone has the power of confecrating,
in a manner that (hall laft, the memory of Virtue.
The King of Pruffia, who was fo well acquainted
with the great moving fprings of politics, did not
overlook this. As the Proteftant Religion, which
is the general profeflîon of his kingdom, excludes
from the churches the images of the Saints, he fup-
plied their place with the portraits of the moft di-
flinguifhed officers who had fallen in his fervice.
The firft time I looked into the churches at Berlin, I
was not a little aftonilhed to fee the walls adorned

with

«54 STUDIES OF NATURE.

with the portraits of officers in their nniforrn. Be-
neath, there was an infcription indicating their
names, their age, the place of their birth, and the
battle in which they had been killed. There is
likewife fubjoined, if my recolledion is accurate,
a line or two of elogium. The military enthufiafm
kindled by this fight is inconceivable.

Among us, there is not a monkifih order (o
mean, as not to exhibit in their cloifters, and in
their churches, the pidures of their great men, be-
yond all contradiftion more refpefted, and better
known, than thofe of the State. Thefe fubjeds,
always accompanied with pidlurefque and intereft-
ing circumftances, are the mofh powerful means
which they employ for attracting novices. The
Carthufians already perceive, that the number of
their novices is diminiQied, now that ihey have no
longer, in their cloifters, the melancholy hiftory of
S. Bruno, painted, in a ftyle fo mafterly, by Le
Sueur. No one order of citizens prizes the por-
traits of men who have been ufeful only to the Na-
tion, and to Mankind ; print-fellers alone fome-
tinies difplay the images of them, filed on a firing,
and illuminated with blue and red. Thither the
People refort to lock for them among thofe of
players and opera-girls. We il.all foon have, it is
faid, the exhibition of a mufeum at the Tuille-
ries i but that royal monument is confecrated ra-
ther

STUDY XIII. 255

ther to talents than to patriotifm, and like fo many
others, ic will, undoubtedly, be locked up from the
People.

Firft of all, I would have -it made a rule, that
no citizen whatever fhould be interred in the
church. Xenophon relates that Cyr.us^ ihe fovereign
Lord of the gseateft part of Alia, gave orders, at
his death, that his body fhould be buried in the
open country, under the trees, to the end that,
faid this great Prince, the elements of it might be
quickly united to thofe of Nature, and contribute
a-new to the formation of her beautiful Works.
This fentiment was worthy of the fublime foul of
Cyrus. But tombs in every country, efpecially the
tombs of great Kings, are the moft endeared of all
monuments to the Nations. The Savages confider
thofc of their anceftors as titles to the poffeffion of
the lands which they inhabit. " This country is
** ours," fay they, " the bones of our fathers are
** here laid to reft." When they are forced to
quit it, they dig them up with tears, and carry
them off with every token of refpeâ.

The Turks ereft their tombs by the fide of the
high-ways, as the Romans did. The Chinefe make
theirs enchanted fpots. They place them in the
vicinity of their cities, in grottos dug out of the
fide of hills ,• they decorate the entrance into them

with

2.^6 STUDIES OP NATURE.

with pieces of architedlure, and plant before them,
and all around, groves of cyprefs, and of firs, in-
termingled with trees which bear flowers and fruits.
Thefe fpots infpire a profound and a delicious me-
lancholy ; not only from the natural efFeâ: of their
decoration, but from the moral fentiment excited
in us by tombs, which are, as we have faid in an-
other place, monuments ereded on the confines of
two Worlds.

Our great ones, then, would lofe nothing of the
refpeft which they wifli to attach to their memory,
were they to be interred in public receptacles of
the dead, adjoining to the Capital. A magnificent
fepulchral chapel might be conftruded in the midfl
of the burying ground, devoted folely to funereal
obfequies, the celebration of which frequently di-
flurbs the worfliip of God in pariQi-churches. Ar-
tifts might give full fcope to their imagination, in
the decorations of fuch a maufoleum ; and the
temples of humility and truth would no longer be
profaned, by the vanity and faKhood of monu-
mental epitaphs.

While each citizen Iliould be left at liberty to
lodge himfelf, agreeably to his own fancy, in this
lafl and lafling abode, I would have a large fpace
feleded, not far from Paris, to be confecrated by
every folemnity of Religion, to be a general recep-
tacle

STUDY XIII. 257

tacle of the afhes of fuch as may have deferved well
of their country.

The fervices which may be rendered to ouf
Country, are infinite in number, and very various
in their Nature. We hardly acknowledge any
but what are of one and the fame kind, derived
from formidable qualities, fuch as valour. We
revere that only which terrifies us. The tokens
of our efteem are frequently teftimonies of our
weak nefs. We are brought up to fenfe of fear
only, and not of gratitude. There is no mo-
dern Nation fo infignificant, as not to have it's
Alexander and it's Cefar to commemorate, but no
one it's Bacchus and it's Ceres. The Ancients, as
valiant, at leaft, as we are, thought incomparably
better. Plutarch obferves fomewhere, that Ceres
and Bacchus, who were mortals, attained the fu-
preme rank of Gods, on account of the pure, uni-
verfal, and lading bleffings which they had pro-
cured for Mankind ; but that Hercules, Thefeus,
and other Heroes, were raifed only to the fub-
ordinate rank of demi»gods, becaufe the fervices
which they rendered to men, were traniient, cir-
cumfcribed, and contained a great mixture of evil,

I have often felt aftonifiiment at our indifference
about the memory of thofe of our Anceftors who
introduced ufeful trees into the country, the fruits

■VOL, IV. s and

^5^ STUDIES OF NATURE.

and (hade of which are to this day fo delicious.
The names of thofe benefaâiors are, moft of them,
entirely unknown ; their benefits are, however,
perpetuated to us from age to age. The Romans
. did not ad in this manner. Pliny tells us, with no
fmall degree of feif- complacency, that of the eight
fpecies of cherry known at Rome in his time, one
was called the Plinian, after the name of one of
his relations, to whom Italy was indebted for it.
The other fpecies of this very fruit bore, at Rome,
the names of the moft illuftrious families, being
denominated the Apronian, the Aclian, the Cseci-
lian, the Julian. He informs us that it was Z-k-
cullits who, after the defeat of Mit bridâtes, tranf-
planted, from the kingdom of Pontus, the firft
cherry-trees into Italy, from whence they were pro-
pagated, in lefs than a hundred and twenty years,
all over Europe, England not excepted, which
was then peopled with barbarians. They were,
perhaps, the firft means of the civilization of that
Ifland, for the firft laws always fpring up out of
agriculture : and for this very reafon it is, that the
Greeks gave to Ceres the name of Legiflatrix.

Pliny, in another place, congratulates Pompey
and Vejpafian on having difplayed, at Rome, the
ebony-tree, and that of the balm of Judea, in the
midft of iheir triumphal proceflions, as if they had
then triumphed, not only over the Nations, but

over

STUDY XIII. 459

over the very Nature of their countries. AlTaredly,
if I entertained a wifh to have my name perpe-
tuated, I would much rather have it affixed to a
fruit in France, than to an ifland in America.
The People, in the feafon of that fruit, would recal
my memory with tokens of refped:. My name,
preferved in the balkets of the peafantry, would
endure longer, than if it were engraved on columns
of marble. I know of no monument, in the noble
family of Montmorenci^ more durable, and more en»
deared to the People, than the cherry which bears
it*s name. The Good-Henry, otherwife Japathum^
which grows without culture in the midft of our
plains, will confer a more lading duration on the
memory of Henry IV. than the ilatue of bronze
placed on the Pont-Neuf, though proteded by an
iron rail and a guard of foldiers. • If the feeds, and
the heifers, which Louis XV. by a natural move-
ment of humanity, fent to the Ifland of Taiti,
(hould happen to multiply there, they will preferve
his memory much longer, and render it much
dearer, among the Nations of the South-Sea, than
the pitiful pyramid of bricks, which the fawning
Academicians attempted to rear in honor-r of him
at Quito, and, perhaps, than the ftatues ereéted ta
him in the heart of his own kingdom.

The benefit of a ufeful plant is, in my opinion,
ojae of the moft important fervicçs, which a citizen

s 2i can

2.6o STUDIES OF NATURE.

can render to his Country. Foreign plants unite
us to the Nations from whence they come j they
convey to us a portion of their happinefs, and of
their genial Suns. The olive-tree reprefents to
me the happy climate of Greece, much better than
the book of Paujanias -, and I find the gifts of
Minerva more powerfully expreffed in it, than
upon medallions. Under a great-cheftnut in blof-
fom, I feel myfelf laid to reft amidft the rich um-
brage of America ; the perfume of a citron tran-
fporrs me to Arabia ; and I am an inhabitant of
voluptuous Peru, whenever I inhale the emanations
of the heliotrope.

I would begin, then, with erecting the firft mo-
numents of the public gratitude to thofe who have
introduced among us the ufeful plants ; for this
purpofe, I would feled one of the illands of the
Seine, in the vicinity of Paris, to be converted into
an Elyfium. I would take, for example, that
one which is below the majeftic bridge of Neuilly,
and which, in a few years more, will aftually be
joined to the fuburbs of Paris. I v/ould extend
my field of operation, by taking in that branch of
the Seine which is not adapted to the purpofes of
navigation, and a large portion of the adjoining
Continent. I would plant this extenfive diftriâ:
with the trees, the (hrubbery, and the herbage,
with which France has been enriched for feveral

ages

STUDY XIII. 261

ages paft. There fliould be aflemblcd the great
Indian-cheftnut, the tulip-tree, the mulberry, the
acacia of America and of Afia ; the pines of Vir-
ginia and Siberia; the bear's-ear of the Alps; the
tulips of Calcedonia, and fo on. The fervice-tree
of Canada, with it's fcarlet clufters ; the magnolia
grandiflora of America, which produces the largeft
and m oft odoriferous of flowers: the ever-green
thuia of China, which puts forth no apparent
flower, fhould interlace their boughs, and form,
here and there, enchanted groves.

Under their fliade, and amidft carpets of varie-
gated verdure, Ihould be reared the monuments of
thofe who tranfplanted them into France. We
fliould behold, around the magnificent tomb of
Nicoty AmbafTador from France to the Court of
Portugal, which is at prefent in the church of St.
Paul, the famous tobacco-plant fpring up, called
at firft, afcer his name, Nuotiana, becaufe he was
the man who firft diffufed the knowledge of it
over Europe. There is not a European Prince
but what owes him a ftatue for that fervice, for
there is not a vegetable in the World which has
poured fuch fums into their treafuries, and fo many-
agreeable illufions into the minds of their fubjefts.
The nepenthes of Homer is not once to be compared
to it. There might be engraved on a tablet of
piarblcj adjoining to it, the name of the Fleniiili

s 3 Anger

262r STUDIES OF NATURE.

Auger de Bujbequius, Ambaflador from Ferdinand
the Firft, King of the Romans, to the Porte, in
other refpeds fo eftimable, from the charms of his
epiflolary correfpondence j and this fmall monu-
ment might be placed under the fhade of the li-
lach, which he tranfported from Conftantinople,
and of which he made a prefent to Europe *, in
1562. The lucern of Media fhould there furround,
with it's (hoots, the monument dedicated to the
memory of the unknown hufbandman, who firft
fowed it on our flinty hillocks, and who prefented
us with an article of pafture, in parched fituations,
which renovates itfelf at Icaft four times a year.
At fight of the folanum of America, which pro-
duces at it's root the potatoe, the poorer part of
the community would blefs the name of the man
who fecured to them a fpecies of aliment, which is
not liable, like corn, to fufFer by the inconflancy of
the elements, and by the granaries of monopolizers.
There too fhould be difplayed, not without a lively
intereft, the urn of the unknown Traveller who
adorned, to endlefs generations, the humble win-
dow of his obfcure habitation, with the brilliant
colours of Aurora, by tranfplanting thither the nun
of Peru -j~.

* See Matthiola on Dïefcondes.
f For my own part, I would contemplate the monument of
that man, were it but a fimple tile, with more refpeft than the
fuperb roaufolea which have been reared, in many places of Eu-

'^ rope.

STITDY XIII, 263

On advancing into this delicious fpot, we (l:ould
behold, under domes and porticos, the a(hes and
the bufts of thofe who, by the invention of ufeful
arts, have taught us to avail ourfelves of the pro-
dudtions of Nature, and who, by their geniu-s,
have fpared us the neceflity of long and painful
labours. There would be no occafion for epi-
taphs. The figures of the implements employed
in weaving of ftockings j of thofe ufed in twifting
of filk, and in the conftruftion of the windmill,
■would be monumental infcriptions as a-uguft, and
as expreflive, on the tombs of their inventors, as
the fphere infcribed in the cylinder on that of
Archimedes. There might, one day, be traced the
aëroftatic globe, on the tomb of Mongolfier ; but
it would be proper to know beforehand, whether
that ftrange machine, which elevates men into the
air, by means of fire, or gas, (hall contribute to
the happinefs of Mankind; for the name of the
inventor of gunpowder himfelf, were we capable
of tracing it, could not be admitted into the re-
treats of the benefaâ:ors of Humanity.

rope, and of America, in honour of the inhuman conquerors of
Mexico and Peru. More Hiftorians than one have given us
their elogium ; but divine Providence has done them juftice.
They all died a violent death, and moft of them by the hand of
the executioner.

S 4 On

â64 STUDIES OF NATURE.

On approaching toward the centre of this Ely-
fium, we fhould meet with monuments ftill more
venerable, of thofe who, by their virtue, have
tranfmitted to pofterity, fruits far more delicious
than thofe of the vegetables of Afia, and who have
called into exercife the moft fublime of all talents.
There fhould be placed the monuments, and the
flatues of the generous Diiquefnej who himfelf fitted
out a fquadron, at his fole expenfe, in the defence
of his Country : of the fage Calinat, equally tran-
quil in the mountains of Savoy, and in the humble
retreat of St. Gratian ; and of the heroic Chevalier
d' AJfas^ facrificing himfelf by night, for the pre-
fervation of the French army, in the woods of
Klofterkam.

There, fhould be the illuftrious Writers, who
inflamed their compatriots with the ardor of per-
forming great adlions. There we fliould fee Amyot,
leaning on the buft oï Plutarch y and Thou, who
haft given, at once, the theory, and the example
of virtue, divine Author of Telemachus ! we fliould
revere thy allies, and thy image, in an image of
thofe elyfian fields, which thy pencil has delineated
in fuch glowing colours.

I would likewife give a place to the monuments
of eminent women, for virtue knows no diftinc-

tion

STUDY XIII. 265

«îon of fex : there ftiould be reared the ftatues of
thofe who, with all the charms of beauty, prefer-
red a laborious and obfcure life, to the vain de-
lights of the World; of matrons who re-eftabliflied
order in a deranged family ; who, faithful to the
memory of a hufband, frequently chargeable with
infidelity, preferved inviolate the conjugal vow,
even after death had cancelled the obligation, and
devoted youth to the education of the dear pledges
of an union now no more : and, finally, the vene-
rable effigies of thofe who attained the higheft
pinnacle of diflinâiion, by the very obfcurity of
their virtues. Thither (bould be tranfported the
tomb of a Lady of Lamoignon, from the poor
cHurch of Saint Giles, where it remains unno-
ticed ; it's affedling epitaph w^ould render it flill
more worthy of occupying this honourable flation,
than the chifel of Girardon, whofe mafter-piece it
is : in it we read that a defign had been enter-
tained to bury her body in aaother place ; but the
poor of the parifh, to whom fhe was a mother all
her life long, carried it off by force, and depofited
it in their church : they themfelves would, un-
doubtedly, tranfport the remains of their benefac-
trefs, and refort to this hallowed fpor, to difplay
them to the public veneration.

Hie manus ob Patriam, pugnando vulnera paffi j
Quique Sacerdotes cafti, Hum vita manebat ;
Çî^iiqpe pii Vates, & Phxsbo digna locuti ;

Inventas

266 STUDIES OF NATURE.

Inventas âut qui vitam excoluere per artes ;
Quique fui memores alios fecere merendo *.

^NEiD. Book vi.

' ** Here inhabit the heroic bands who bled in
" fighting the battles of their Country; the facred
** miniflers of religion, whofe life exhibited un-
** fullied purity ; venerable bards, who uttered
'* ftrains not unworthy of Jpoi/o himfelf ; and
" thofe, who, by the invention of ufeful arts, con-
'* tributed to the comfort of human life ; all thofe,
** in a word, who, by deferving well of Mankind,
** have purchafed for themfelves adeathlefs name.**

* Thus imitated :

Here, Patriot-bands, who for their Country bled :

Priefts, who a life of pureft virtue led :

Here, Bards fublime, fraught with ethereal fire,

Whofe heavenly ftrains outvied Apollo'% lyre :

Divine Inventors of the ufeful Arts :

Ail thofe whofe generous and expanfive hearts,

By goodnefs fought to purchafe honeft fame ;

And dying left behind a deathlefs name.

Had St. Pierre.) in the courfe of his travels, come over to this Ifland,
and vifited Stonve, he would have found his idea of an Elyfium
anticipated, and upon no mean fcale, by the great Lord Cobham,
who has rendered every fpot, of that terreftrial Paradife, facred to
the memory of departed excellence. What would have given our
Author peculiar fatisfaftion, the Parifli Church ftands in the
centre of the Garden ; hence the People have unreftrained accefs
to it ; the monuments are, for the moft part, patriotic, without
regard to the diftinftions of rank and fortune, except as allied to
yirtue ; and the beft infcriptions are in plain English, and

humble

STUDY xiiï. aSy

There I would have, fcattered about, monu-
ments of every kind, and apportioned to the va-
rious degrees of merit ; obelifks, columns, pyra-
mids.

humble profe. In a beautifully folemn valley, watered by a filent
ftream, and (haded by the trees of the Country, ftands the Temple
of the Britifh Worthies. The decorations, and the arrangements,
are fixnple : only that there is mythological Mercury peeping over
in the centre, to contemplate the immortal fliades whom he has
conducted to the Elyfian Fields. Were I Marquis of Bucking-
ham, the wing-heeled God, with hiscaduceus, and Latin motto,
fhould no longer disfigure the uniformity and fimplicity of that
enchanting fcene; an4 if Charoti''i o\à crazy barge, too, were
funk to the bottom, the place and the idea would be greatly im^
proved.

To thofe who have never been at Stowe, it may not be unac-
ceptable to read the Names ; and the charaéleriftic Jnfcriptions,
of this lovely retreat, confecrated to Patriot worth, exalted ge-
nius, and the love of the Human Race.

SIR THOMAS GRESHAM,

Who, by the honourable profefTion of a Merchant, having en-
riched himfelf, and his Country, for carrying on the .Commerce
of the World, built the Royal Exchange.

IGNATIUS JONES,

Who, to adorn his Country, introduced and rivalled the Greek
and Roman Architeélure.

JOHN MILTON,
Whofe fublime and unbounded genius equalled a fubjeél that
«arried him beyond the limits of the World.

WILLIAM

268 STUDIES OF NATURE.

mids, urns, bas-reliefs, medallions, flatues, tablets,
periftyles, domes; I would not have them crowded
together, as in a reppfitory, but difpofed with taflej

neither

WILLIAM SHAKESPEAR,

Whofe excellent genius opened to him the whole heart of IMait,
all the mines of Fancy, all the flores of Nature ; and gave him
power, beyond all other Writers, to move, aftonifh, and delight
Mankind.

JOHN LOCKE,

Who, beft of all Philofophers, undtrftood the powers of the
Human Mind, the nature, end, and bounds of Civil Govern-
ment ; and, with equal courage and fagacity, refuted the flavifti
fyilems of ufurped authority over the rights, the CQnfciences, or
the reafon of Mankind.

SIR ISAAC NEWTON.
Whom the God of Nature made to comprehend his Works ;
and, from fimple principles, to difcover the Laws never known
before, and to explain the appearances, never uaderftood, of
this flupendous Univerfe,

SIR FRANCIS BACON, (Lord Verulam.)
Who by the ftrength and light of a fuperior genius, reje<fling
vain fpeculation, and fallacious theory, taught to purfue truth,
and improve Philofophy by the certain method of experîment.

KING ALFRED,

The mildefl:, jufteft, moft beneficent of Kings ; who drove out
the Danes, fecured the Seas, proteéled Learning, eftabliflied Ju-,
ries, cruflied Corruption, guarded Liberty, and was the Founder
of the Englifli Conftitutio|i.

EDWARD,

STUt)Y xni. 469

neither would I have them all of white marble, as
if they came out of the fame quarry ; but of
marbles, and ftones, of every colour. There would

be

EDWARD, PRINCE OF WALES,

The terror of Europe, the delight of England; who preferved,
unaltered, in the height of Glory and Fortune, his natural Gen-
dene& and Modefty.

QUEEN ELIZABETH,

Who confounded the projets, and deftroyed the Power that
threaterved to opprefs the Liberties of Europe j Ihook off the
yoke of EccIefiaiHcal Tyranny ; reftored Religion from the Cor-
ruptions of Popery ; and, by a wife, a moderate, and a popular
Government, gave Wealth, Security, and Refpedl to England.

KING WILLIAM III.

Who by his Virtue and Conftancy, having faved his Country
from a foreign Mafter, by a bold and generous enterprize, pre-
ierved the Liberty and Religion of Great-Britain.

SIR WALTER RALEIGH,

A valiant Soldier, and an able Statefman ; who, endeavouring
to rouze the fpirit of his Mafter, for the Honour of his Country,
againft the ambition of Spain, fell a facrifice to the influence of
that Court, whofe arms he had vanquilhed, and whofe defigns
he oppofed.

SIR FRANCIS DRAKE,

Who, through many perils, was the firft of Britons that adven-
tured to fail round the Globe ; and carried into unknown Seas
and Nations, the knowledge and glory of the Englifli Name.

2-70 STUDIES OF NATURE.

be no occafion, through the whole extent of this
vaft enclofure, which I fuppofe to be, at lead, a
mile and a half in diameter, for the application of
the line, nor for digging up the ground, nor for
grafs-plots, nor for trees cut into fliape, and fan-
taflically trimmed, nor for any thing refembling
what is to be feen in our gardens. For a fimilar
reafon, I would have no Latin infcriptions, nor
mythological exprefïions, nor any thing that fa-
voured of the Academy. Still lefs would 1 admit
of dignities, or of honours, which call to remem"
brance the vain ideas of the World ; I would re»
trench from them all the qualities which are de-
ftroyed by death ; no importance Hiould there be
affigned but to good actions, which furvive the
man and the citizen, and which are the only titles
that pofterity cares for, and that God recompenfes.
The infcriptions upon them (hould be fimple, and
be naturally fuggefted by each particular fubje(fl,
I would not fet the living a-talking ufelcfsly to the
dead, and to inanimate objedls, as is the cafe in
our epitaphs ; but the dead, and inanimate objeds,
ihould fpeak to the living, for their inftru»5lion, as
among the Ancients. Thefe correfpondencies of

JOHN HAMPDEN,

Who with great fpirit, and confummate abilities, begun a noble
oppofition to an arbitrary Court, in defence of the Liberties of
his Country j fupported them in Pailiament, and died for thetn
in the Field.

an

STUDY XIII. 271

an invifible to a vifible nature, of a time remote to
the time prefent, convey to the foul the celeftial
cxtenlion of infinity, and are the fource of the de-
light which ancient infcriptions infpire.

Thus, for example, on a rock, planted amidfl: a
tuft of ftrawberry-plants of Chili, thefe words
might be infcribed :

X WAS UNKNOWN TO EUROPE;

BUT,

IN SUCH A YEAR,

SUCH A PERSON, BORN IN SUCH A PLACE,

TBANSFLANTEU ME FROM

THE LOFTY MOUNTAINS OF CHILI,

AND NOW

I BEAR FLOWERS AND FRUIT

IN THE HAPPY CLIMATE OF FRANCE.

Underneath a bas-relief of coloured marble,
which fliould reprefent little children eating, drink-
ing, and playing, tlie following infcription might
appear ;

WE WERE EXPOSED IN THE STREETS TO THE DOGS,
TO FAMINE AND COLD;

SUCH A COMPASSIONATE FEMALE,

OF SUCH A PLACE,

LODGED us, CLOTHED US, AND FED US WITH THE MFLK
WHICH OUR OWN MÛTîiEIlS HAD DENIED.

At

tyZ STUDIES OJ NATURE.

At the foot of a flatue of white marble, of a
young and beautiful woman, fitting, and wipiiig
her eyes, with fymptoms of gfief and joy :

I WAS ODIOUS

IV

THE SIGHT OF GOD AND MAN ;

BUT,

MELTED INTO PENITENCE,

/ bave made my Peace with Heaven by Contrition^

AND MAVK

REPAIRED THE MISCHIEF WHICH I HAD DONE TO MEN,

JET

Befriending the Miferable,

Near this might be infcribed, under that of a
young girl, in mean attire, employed with her dif-
taff and fpindle, and looking up to Heaven with
rapture ;

Î HAVE LEARNED TO DESPISE

THE FAIN DELIGHTS OF THE WORLD i

AKD NOW

I ENJOY HAPPINESS.

Of thofe monuments, feme fhould exhibit no
other elogium, but the name fimply : fuch (hould
be, for example, the tomb which contained the
afhes of the Author of Tekmachus; or, at moft, I

would

STUDY XIII. 273

would engrave on it the following words, fo ex-
preffive of his affeclionate and fublime character :

HE FULFILLED THE TWO GREAT PRECEPTS OF THE LAW :

HE LOVED GOD AND MAN.

I have no need to fugged, that thefe infcrip-
tions might be conceived in a much happier ftyle
than mine ; but I would infift upon this, that in
the figures introduced, there Ihould be difplayed
no air of infolence ; no didieveiled locks flying
about ih the wind^ like thofe of the Angel found-
ing the refurredion-trumpet, no theatrical grief,
and no violent toffing of the robes, like the Mag-
dalene of the Carmelites ; no mythological attri-
butes, which convey nothing inflruflive to the
People. Every perfonage (liould there appear with,
hîs appropriate badge of diftinflion : there fhould
be exhibited the fea-cap of the failor, the cornet
of the nun, the ftool of the Savoyard, pots for
milk, and pots for foup.

Thefe flatues of virtuous citizens ought to be
fully as refpedable as thofe of the Gods of Pagan-
ifm, and unqueftionably more interefting than
that of the antique grinder or gladiator. But it
would be neceflary that our Artifts (hould ftudy to
convey, as the Ancients did, the charaflcrs of the
foul in the attitude of the body, and in the traits

VOL. IV. T ef

274 STUDIES OF NATURE.

of the countenance, fuch as penitence, hope, joy^
fenfibility, innocence. Thefe are the peculiarities
of Nature, which never vary, and which always
pleafe, whatever be the drapery. Nay, the more
contemptible that the occupations and the garb of
fuch perfonages are, the more fublime will appear
the expreffion of charity, of humanity, of inno-
cence, and of all their virtues. A young and beau-
tiful female, labouring like Penelope at her web,
and modeftly dreffed in a Grecian robe, with long
plaitSj would there, no doubt, prefent an objed
pleafmg to every one : but I fliould think her a
thoufand times more interefling than the figure of
Penelope herfelf, employed in the fame labour, un-
der the tatters of misfortune and mifery.

There fhould be on thofe tombs, no ikeletons,
no bats-wings, no Time with his fcythe, no one
of thofe terrifying attributes, with which our 11a-
vifli education endeavours to infpire us with hor-
ror at the thought of death, that laft benefit of
Nature; but we fhould contemplate on them
fymbols, which announce a happy and immortal
life; veflels, fhattered by the tempeft, arriving ûfe
in port ; doves taking their flight toward Heaven,
and the like.

The facred effigies of virtuous citizens, crowned
with flowers, with the characters of felicity, of

peace,

STUDY XIII. 275

peace, and of confolation, in their faces, flioiild be
arranged toward the centre of the ifland, around
a vafl moffy down, under the trees of the Country,
fuch as (lately beech-trees, majeftic pines, cheft-
nut-trees loaded with fruit. There, Jiktwifc,
fhould be feen the vine wedded to the elm, and
the apple-tree of Normandy, clothed with fruit of
all the variety of colours which flowers difplay.
From the middle of that down fhould afcend a
magnificent temple in form of a rotundo. It fliould
be furronnded with a periftyle of majeftic columns,
as was formerly at Rome the Moles Adriani, But I
could wifli it to be much more fpacious. On the
frize thcfe words might appear ;

TO

THE LOVE OF THE HUMAN RACE.

In the centre, I would have an altar fimple and
unornamented, at which, on certain days of the
year, divine fervice might be celebrated. No pio-
dudion of fculpture, nor of painting, no gold, nor
jewels, fhould be deemed worthy of decorating
the interior of this temple j but facred infcriptions
fliould announce the kind of merit which there
received the crown. All thofe who might repofe
within the precinds, undoubtedly would not be
Saints. But over the principal gate, on a tablet of
T 2 white

176 STUDIES OF NATURE.

white marble, thefe divine words might meet the
eye:

Her Sins, which are many, are forgiven j

FOR

SHE LOVED MUCH.

On another part of the frize, the following inv
fcription, which unfolds the nature of our duties,
might be difplayed :

VIRTUE IS AN EFFORT MADE UPON OURSELVES,

FOR

THE GOOD OF MEN,

IN THE VIEW ©F

PLEASING GOD ONLY.

To thiâ might be fubjorned the following, very,
much calculated to reprefs our ambitious emu-
ktions :

THE SMALLEST ACT

OF

VIRTUE IS OF MORE VALUE

THAN THE EXERCISE OF

^ THE GREATEST TALENTS.

On other tablets might be infcribed maxims of
triift in the divine Providence, extraded from th«

Philofophers

STUDY XIII.

277

rhilofophers of all Nations ; fuch as the follow-
ing, borrowed from the modern Perfians :

WHEN AFFLICTION IS AT THE HEIGHT,

THEN

IVe are the moji encouraged to look for Confolation.

THE NARROWEST PART OF THE DEFILE IS

AT

The Entrance of the Plain *.
And that other of the fame country :

WHOEVER HAS CORDIALLY DEVOTED HIS SOUL

TO GOD,

HAS EFFECTUALLY SECURED HIMSELF AGAINST ALL THE ILLS
WHICH CAN BEFAL HIM,

BOTH IN THIS WORLD, AND IN THE NEXT.

There might be inferted fome of a philofophic
çaft, on the vanity of human things, fuch as the
following :

ESTIMATE EACH OF YOUR DAYS

By Pleafures, by Loves, by Treafiires, and by Grandeurs;

THE LAST WILL

ACCUSE THE^ ALL OF VANITYi^

t Cbarttitth Palace of Ifpahan.

T 3 Or

278 STUDIES OF NATURE.

Or that other, which opens to us a perfpeflive of
the hfe to come :

HE WHO HAS PROVIDED

LIGHT FOR THE EYE OF MAN, SOUNDS FOR HIS EAR,
PERFUMES FOR HIS SMELL, AND FRUITS FOR HIS PALATE,

WILL rXND

^he Means of One Day replenijhing his Heart,

WHICH NOTHING HERE BELOW CAN SATISFY.

And that other, which inculcates charity toward
men, from the motives of felf-intereft :

WHEN A MAN STUDIES THE WORLD,

He prizes thoje only who pojjefs Sagacity ;

BUT,

WHEN HE STUDIES HIMSELF,

He ejteems only thoje who exercije Indulgence.

I would have the following infcribed round the
cupola, in letters of antique bronze ;

Mandatum novum do vobis, ut diligatis invicem ficut
dilexi vos, ut et vos diligatis invicem.

Joan. cap. xiii. v. 34.

A NEW COMMANDMENT I GIVE UNTO YOU, THAT YE LOVE

ONE ANOTHER ; AS I HAVE LOVED YOU, THAT YE

ALSO LOVE ONE ANOTHER.

In

STUDY XIII.

279

In order to decorate this temple externally, with
a becoming dignity, no ornament would be necef-
fary, except thofe of Nature. The firft rays of
the rifing, and the laft of the fetting Sun, would
gild it's cupola, towering above the forefts : in
the day-time, the fires of the South, and by night,
the luftre of the Moon, would trace it's majeftic
fliadow on the fpreading down : the Seine would
repeat the rejflexes of it in it's flowing ftream. In
vain would the tempefh rage around it's enormous
vault ; and when the hand of Time fliould have
bronzed it with mofs, the oaks of the Country
(hould ifTue from it's antique cornices, and the
eagles of Heaven, hovering round and round,
would refort thither to build their nells,

Neither talents, nor birth, nor gold, fhould con-
ftitute a title for claiming the honour of a monu-
ment in this patriotic and holy ground. But it
will be afked, Who is to judge, and to decide, the
merits of the perfons whofe aQies are to be there
depofited ? The King alone (liould have the power
of decifion, and the People the privilege of report-
ins: the caufe. It fhould not be fufîicient for a ci-
tizen, in order to his obtaining this kind of diftinc-
tion, that he had cultivated a new plant in a hot-
houfc, or even in his garden ; but it fhould be requi-
fite to have it naturalized in the open field, and the
fruit of it carried for fale to the j^'ublic market. It

T 4 o^SK^

2So STUDIES OF NATURE.

ought not to be deemed fufficient, that the model
of an ingenious machine was preferved in the coî-
le6lion of an Artift, and approved by the Academy
of Sciences ; it fliould be required to have the
machine itfelf in the hands of the People, and con-
verted to their ufe. It ought by no means to fuf-
fice, in order to eftablilh the claim of a literary
Work, that the prize had been adjudged to it by
the French Academy ; but that it fliould be read
by that cLifs of men for whofe ufe it was defigned.
Thus, for example, a patriotic Ode fliould be ac-
counted good for nothing, unlefs it were fung about •
the ftreets by the common people. The merit of
a naval or military Commander fhould be afcer-
tained, not by the report of Gazettes, but by the
luffrages of the failors or foldiery.

The People, in truth, diftinguifh hardly any
other virtue in the citizen except beneficence :
they confult only their own leading want ; but
their inftindl, on this article, is conformable to the
divine Law : for all the virtues terminate in that,
even thofe which appear the moft remote from it^
and fuppofing there were rich men who meant to
captivate their affections, by doing them good,
that is precifely the feeling with which we propofe
to infpire them. They would fulfil their duties,
and the lofty and the low conditions of humanity
would be reduced to a (late o^ï approximation.

Fr«tu,

STUDY XIII. i8i

From an Inftitution of this kind would refult
the re-eftablifhment of one of the Laws of Nature,
of all others the moft important to a Nation j I
mean an inexhauftible perfpeftive of infinity, as
neceflary to the happinefs of a whole Nation, as to
that of an individual. Such is, as we have caught
a glimpfe in another place, the nature of the hu-
man mind ; if it perceives not infinity in it's prof-
peels, it falls back upon itfelf, and deflroys itfelf
by the exertion of it's own powers. Rome pre-
fented to the patriotifm of her citizens the con-
queft of the World : but that objed: was too li-
mited. Her laft viâiory would have proved the
commencement of her ruin. The eftablifhment
which I am now propofing, is not fubjedlcd to this
inconveniency. No objedt can pofîîbly be pro-
pofed to Man more unbounded, and more pro-
found, than that of his own latter end. There are
no monuments more varied, and more agreeable,
than thofe of virtue. Were there to be reared an-
nually, in this Elyfium, but a fmgle tablet of the
marble of Britanny, or of the granite of Auvergne,
there would always be the means of keeping the
People awake, by the fpedacle of novelty. The
provinces of the kingdom would difpute with the
Capital, the privilege of introducing the monu-
ments of their virtuous inhabitants.

What

^Bz STUDIES OF NATURE.

What an auguft Tribunal might be formed, of
3ifhops eminent for their piety, of upright Ma-
giftrates, of celebrated Commanders of armies, to
examine their feveral pretenfions ! What memoirs
might one day appear, proper to create an intereft
in the minds of the People, who fee nothing in
their library, but the fenrences of death pronounced
on illuftrious criminals, or the lives of Saints,
which are far above their fphere. How many new
fubjedts.for our men of letters, who have nothing
for it, but to trudge eternally over the beaten
ground of the age of Louis ^IV. or to prop up
the reputation of the Greeks and Romans ! What
.curious anecdotes for our wealthy voluptuaries !
They pay a very high price for the Hiftory of an
American infed, engraved in every pofiible man-
ner, and fludied through the microfcope, minute
by minute, in all the phafcs of it's exiftence. They
would not have lefs pleafure in ftudying the man-
ners of a poor collier, bringing up his family vir-
tuoufly in the forcfts, in the midft of fmugglers
and banditti ; or thofe of a wretched filherman,
who, in finding delicacies for their tables, is
obliged to live, like a heron, in the midft of
tempefls.

I have no doubt that thefe monuments, exe-'
cuted with the tafte which we are capable of dif-

playing

STUDY XIII. aS^

playing, would attraft crowds of rich flrangers to
Paris. They refort hither already to live in it,
they would then flock hither to die among us.
They would endeavour to deferve well of a Na-
tion become the arbiter of the virtues of Europe,
and to acquire a lafl. alykim, in the holy land of
this Elyfium ; where all virtuous and beneficent
men would be reputed citizens. This eftablifh-
ment, which might be formed, undoubtedly, in a
manner very fuperior to the feeble fketch which I
have prefented of it, would ferve to bring the
higher conditions of life into contad: with the
lower, much better than our churches themfelves,
into which avarice and ambition frequently intro-
duce among the citizens, diftindions more humi-
liating, than are to be met with even in Society.
It would allure foreigners to the Capital, by hold-
ing out to them the rights of a citizenfliip illuftri-
ous and immortal. It would unite, in a word,
Religion to Patriotifm^ and Patriotifm to Religion,
the mutual bonds of which are on the point of
being torn afunder.

It is not neceflary for me to fubjoin, that this
eftablilhment would be attended with no expenfe
to the State. It might be reared, and kept up, by
the revenue of fome rich abbey, as it would be con-
fecrated to Religion, and to the rewards cf virtue.
There is no reafon why it ihould become, like the

monuments

284 STUDIES OF NATURE.

monuments of modern Rome, and even like many
of our own royal monuments, an objeâ: of filthy
lucre to individuals, who fell the fight of them to
the curious. Particular care would be taken not
to exclude the People, becaufe they are meanly
habited ; nor 10 hunt out of it, as we do from
our public gardens, poor and honed artifans in
jackets, while well-drefled courtefans flaunt about
with effrontery, in their great alleys. The lowed
of the commonalty fhould have it in their power
to enter, at all feafons. It is to you, O ye mifer-
able of all conditions, that the fight of the friends
of Humanity fliould of right appertain ; and your
patrons are henceforth no where but among the
flatues of virtuous men ! There, a foldier, at fight
OÎ Catinat^ would learn to endure calumny. There,
a girl of the town, fick of her infamous profeflion,
would, with a (igh, call her eyes down to the
ground, on beholding the flatue of Modefty ap-
proached with honour and refped : but at light of
that of a female of her own condition, reclaimed
to the paths of virtue, flie would raife them to-
ward Him who preferred repentance to innocence.

It may be objeded to me, That ouc poorer fort
would very foon fpread deftrudion oVer all thofe
monuments; and it muft, indeed, be admitted,
that they feldom fail to treat in this manner, thofe
which do not intereft them. There fhould, un-
doubtedly.

STUDY XIII. 26^

doubtedly, be a police in this place; but the
People refpedl monuments which are deftined to
their ufe. They commit ravages in a park, but do
not wantonly deftroy any thing in the open coun-
try. They would foon take the Elyfium of their
Country under their own proteflion, and watch
over it with zeal much more ardent than that of
Swifs, and military guards.

Befides, more than one method might be de-
Tifed, to render that fpot refpedable and dear to
them. It ought to be rendered an inviolable afy-
lum to the unfortunate of every defcription ; for
example, to fathers who have incurred the debt of
the month's nurfing of a child ; and to thofe who
have committed venial and inconfiderate faults j
it would be proper to prohibit any arreft taking
place there, upon any one's peffon, except by
an exprefs warrant from the King, under his own
fignature. This likewife fhould be the place to
which laborious families, out of employment,
might be dlrefted to addrefs themfelves. There
ought to be a ftrid prohibition to make it a place
of alms-giving, but an unbounded permiffion todo
good in it. Perfons of virtue, who underftand
how to diftinguifh, and to employ men, would tc-
fbrt thither in queft of proper objeds, in whofe
behalf they might employ their credit; others, in
the view of putting refpedt on the memory of fome

illaftrious

286 STUDIES OF NATURE.

illudrious perfonage, would give a repaft, at the foot
of his ftatiie, to a fainily of poor people. The State
would fee the example of this, at certain favourite
epochs, fuch as a feftival in honour of the King's
birth-day. Provifions might then be diftributed
among the populace, not by toffing loaves at their
heads, as in our public rejoicings; but they might
be clafled, and made to fit down on the grafs, in
profeflional alTemblages, round the ftatues of thofe
who invented, improved, or perftded the feveral
arts. Such repafts would have no refemblance to
ihofe which the rich fometimes give to the wretch-
ed, out of ceremony, and in which they refpedl-
fuUy wait upon their humble guefts, with napkins
under their arm. The perfons who gave the en-
tertainment fhould be obliged to fit down at table
with their company, and to eat and drink with
them. It would be needlefs to impofe on them
the tafk of wathing the feet of the poor ; but they
might be adrnonilhed of rendering to them a fer-
vice of much more real importance, that of fup-
plying them with (hoes and (lockings.

There, the man *of wealth would be inftrufled
really to praftife virtue, and the People to know
it. The Nation would there learn their great du-
ties, and be affifted in forming a juft idea of true
greatnefs. They would behold the homage pre-
ferited to the tnemory of virtuous men, and the

oiferino^s

STUDY XIII. 287

offerings tendered to the Deity, ultimately ap-
plied to the relief of the mifcrable.

Such repafts would recal to our remembrance
the love-feafts of the primitive Chriftians, and the
Saturnalia of death, toward which every day is car-
rying us forward, and. which, by fpeedily reducing
us all to an eftate of equality, will efface every
other difference among us, except that of the good
which we (hall have done in life.

In the days of other times, in order to do ho-
nour to the memory of virtuous men, the faithful
affembled in places confecrated by their adions,
or by their fepulchres, on the brink of a fountain,
or under the ihade of a forefl. Thither they had
provifions carried, and invited thofe who had none,
to come and partake with them. The fame cuf-
toms have been common to all religions. They
ftill fubfift in thofe of Afia. You find them pre-
vailing among the ancient Greeks. When Xe-
nophon had accomplilhed that famous retreat, by
which he faved ten thoufand of his compatriots,
ravaging, as he went, the territory of Perlia, he
deftined part of the booty thus obtained, to the
founding of a chapel, in Greece, to the honour of
Diana. He attached to it a certain revenue, which
(liould annually fupply with the amufement of the

chace.

288 STUDIES OF NATURE,

chace, and with a plentiful repaft, all perfons wh»
fhould repair to it on, a particular day.

OF THE CLERGY.

If our poor are fometimes partakers of fomc
wretched ecclefiaftical diftribution, the relief which
they thence derive, fo far from delivering them
out of their mifery, only ferves to continue them
in it. What landed property, however, has been
bequeathed to the Church, exprefsly for their be-
nefit ! Why, then, are not the revenues diflribut-
ed, in fums fufficiently large, to refcue annually
from indigence, at leaft a certain number of fa-
milies ? The Clergy allege, that they are the ad-
miniftrators of the goods of the poor : but the
poor are neither ideots nor madmen, to ftand in
need of adminiftrators : befides, it is impoflible to
prove, by any one palTage of either the' Old, or
New Teftament, that this charge pertained to the
priefthood : if they really are the adminiftrators of
the poor, they have, then, no lefs than feven mil-
lions of perfons, in the kingdom, in their temporal
adminiftration. I fliall pufh this refledlon no
farther. It is a matter of unchangeable obligation
to render to every one his due : the priefts are, by
divine right, the agents of the poor, but the King
alone is the natural adminiftrator.

As

STUDY XIII. 289

As indigence is the principal caufe of the vices
of the People, opulence may, like it, produce, in
it's turn, irregularities in the Clergy. I fhall not
avail myfelf here of the reprehenfions of St. Jerome.,
of St. Bernard^ of St. Augujîin, and of the other Fa-
thers of the Church, to the Clergy of their times,
and of the Countries in which they lived; wherein
they predided to them the total deftrudion of Re-
ligion, as a neceflary confequence of their manners
and of their riches. The predidion of feveral of
them was fpeedily verified in Africa, in Afia, in
Judea, and in the Grecian Empire, in which not
only the religion, but the very civil government
of thofe Nations, totally difappeared. The avidity
of mod ecclefiaftics foon renders the fundlions of
the Church fufpicious ; this is an argument which
flrikes all men. I believe witnefles, faid Pafcal^
who brave death. This reafoning, however, muil
be admitted, not without many grains of allow-
ance ; but no objedion can be offered to this : I
diftrufl witnefles who are enriching themfelves by
their teftimony. Religion, in truth, has proofs
natural and fupernatural, far fuperior to thofe
which men are capable of furnifhing it with. She
is independent of our regularity, and of our irre-
gularity j but our Country depends on thefe.

The World, at this day, looks on mod prJeAs

with an eye of envy ; ftiall I lay of hatred ? But

VOL. IV. u they

290 STUDIES OF NATURE.

they are the children of their age, juft like other
men. The vices which are laid to their charge,
belong partly to their Nation, partly to the times
in which they live, to the political conflicution of
the State, and to their education. Ours are French-
men, like ourfelvesj they are our kinfmen, fre-
quently facrificed to our own fortune, through the
ambition of our fathers. Were we charged with
the performance of their duties, we ihould fre-
quently acquit ourfelves worfe than they do. I
know of none fo painful, none fo worthy of rtfpeâ:,
as thofe of a good ecclefiafhic.

I do not fpeak of thofe of a Bifhop, who exer-
cifes a vigilant care over his diocefe, who inftitutes
judicious feminaries of inftruftion, who maintains
regularity and peace in communities, who refifts
the wicked, and fupports the weak, who is always
ready to fuccour the miferable, and who, in this
age of error, refutes the objeftions of the enemies
of the faith, by his own virtues. He has his re-
ward in the public efteem. It is poffible to pur-
chafe, by painful labours, the glory of being a
Fenelon, or a Jitipié. I fay nothing of thofe of a
parifh minifler, which, from their importance,
fomeiimes attract the attention of Kings ; nor of
thofe of a mifTionary, advancing to the crown .of
martyrdom. The conflids of this laft frequently
endure but for a fingle day, and his glory is im-
mortal.

STUDY XIII. 291

mortal. But I fpeak of thofe of a fitnple and ob-
fcure parifh-drudge, to whom no one pays any
manner of attention. He is under the neceffity,
in the firft place of facrificing the pleafures, and
the liberty, of his juvenile days, to irkfome and
painful ftudies. He is obliged to fupport, all the
days of his life, the exercife of continency, like a
cumberfome cuirafs, on a thoufandoccafions which
endanger the lofs of it. The World honours thea^
trical virtues only, and the vidlories of a fmgle mo-
ment. But to combat, day after day, an enemy
lodged within the fortrefs, and who makes his ap-
proaches under the difguife of a friend ; to repel
inceflantly, without a witnefs, without glory, with--
out applaufe, the mod impetuous of paffions, and
the gentleft of propenfities — this is not eafy.

Conflits of another kind await him, from with-
out. He is every day called upon to expofe his
life to the attack of epidemical diftempers. He
is obliged to confefs, with his head on the fame
pillow, perfons attacked with the fmall-pox, with
the putrid and the purple fever. This obfcure for-
titude appears to me very far fuperior to the cou-
rage of a foldier. The military man combats in
the view of armies, animated with the noife of can-
non aiid drums; he prefents himfelf to the flroke
of death as a hero. But the prieft devotes himfelf
to it as a vidim. What fortune can this lall pro-

u z mifs

?gZ STUDIES OF NATURE.

'mife himfelf from his labours ? In many cafes, a
precarious fubfiftence at mod ! Befides, fuppofing
him to have acquired weahh, he cannot tranfmit
it to his defcendants, He beholds all his temporal
hopes ready to expire with him. What indemni-^
fication does he receive frorn men ? To be called
upon, many a time, to adminifter the confolations;
of Religion, to perfons who do not believe it ; to
be the refuge of the poor, with nothing to give
them ; to be fometimes perfecuted for his very
virtues ; to fee his conflids treated with contempt,
his beft-intentioned adions mif-interpreted intq
artifice, his virtues transformed into vices, his re-
ligion turned into ridicule. Such are the duties
impofed, and fuch the recompenfe which the
World beftows on the men whofe lot it envies.

This is what I have affumed the courage to pro-
pofe, for the happir^efs of the People, and of the
principal orders of the State, in fo far as I have
been permitted to fubrpit my ideas to the public
eye. Many Philofophers and Politicians have de-j
claimed againft the diforders of Society, without
troubling themfelves to enquire into their caufes,
and flill lefs into the remedies which might be ap-
plied. Thofe of the greateft ability have viewed
Qur evils only in detail, and have recommended
palliatives merely. Some have profcribed luxury;
orliers- gjyç no quarter to celibacy, and would load

with

StUDY XIII. 2.93

with the charge of a family, pcrfons who have not
the means of fupplying their perfonal neceffities.
Some are for incarcerating all the beggars ; others
Would prohibit the wretched women of pleafure to
appear in the ftreets. They would ad in the man-
ner which that phyfician does, who, in order to
cure the pimples on the body of a perfon out of
order, ufes all his fkill to force back the humours.
Politicians, you apply the remedy to the head, be-
caufe the pain is in the forehead ; but the mif"
chief is in the nerves : it is for the heart you inuft
provide a cure ; it is the People, whofe health yoa
muft endeavour to reftore.

Should fome great Minifter, animated with a
noble ambition, to procure for us internal happi-
nefs, and to extend our power externally, have the
courage to undertake a re-eftablidiment of things,
he muft, in his courfe of procedure, imitate that
of Nature. She ads, in every cafe flowly, and by
means of re-adions. I repeat ir, the caufe of the
prodigious power of gold> which has robbed the
People at once of their morality, and of their fub-
fiftence, is in the venality of public employments.
That of the beggary which, at this day, extends to
feven millions of fubjeds, confifts in the enor«
mous accumulation of landed and official • pro'-
perty. That of female proftitution, is to be
-imputed, on the one hand, to extreme indigence;

■y 3 and

2^4 STUDIES OF NATUÏtEa

and on the other, to the celibacy of two millions
of men. The unprofitable fuperabundance of the
idle and cenforious burghers in our fécond artd
third-rate cities, arifes from the impoils which de-
grade the inhabitants of the country. The preju-
dices of the nobility are kept alive by the refent-
ments of thofe who want the advantage of birth j
and all thefe evils, and others innumerable, phyfical
and intelleftual, fpring up out of the mifery of
the People. It is the indigence of the People
which produces fuch fwarms of players, courtefans,
highwaymen, incendiaries, licentious fcholars, ca-
lumniators, flatterers, hypocrites, mendicants, kept-
miftrefles, quacks of all conditions, and that infi-
nite multitude of corrupted wretches, who, inca-
pable of coming to any thing by their virtues, en-
deavour to procure bread and confideration by
their vices. In vain will yoii oppofe to thefe,
plans of finance, projefts of equalization of taxes
and tithes, of ordonnances of Police, of arrets of
Parliament ; all your efforts will be froitlefs. The
indigence of the People is a mighty river, which
is, every year, colledling an increafe of ftrength,
which is fweeping away before it every oppofmg
mound, and which will ilfue in a total fubverfion
of order and government.

To this phyfical caufe, of our diflrelTes, mufl be
added another, purely moral ,; I mean our educa-
•'. . - . ., . tion.

STUDY XIII. 295

tion. I fhall venture to fuggefl: a few reflexions
on this fubjedt, though it far exceeds my higheft
powers : but if it be the moft important of our
abufes, it appears to me, on the other hand, the
moft eafily fufceptible of reformation i and this
reform appears to me fo abfolutely neceflary, that,
without it, all the reft goes for nothing.

w 4 STUPY

STUDY XIV. 297

STUDY FOURTEENTH.

OF EDUCATION.

' npO what higher objea," fays Plutarch'^,
JL " could Numa have diredled his atten-

* tion, than to the culture of early infancy, and
' to uniformity in the treatment of young per-

* fons ; in the view of preventing the collifion of

* different manners, and turbulency of fpirit arit-
' ing from diverfity of nurture ? Thus he pro-

* pofed to harmonize the minds of men, in a flate
' of maturity, from their having been, in child-

* hood, trained in the fame habits of order, and

* caft into the fame mould of virtue. This, inde-
' pendent of other advantages, greatly contribut-

* ed, likewife, to the fupport of the Laws of Ly-
' ciirgus ; for refpeâ: to the oath, by which the
' Spartans had bound themfelves, mufl have pro-
' duced a much more powerful effeâ:, from his

having, by early inftruflion and nurture, died
in the wool, if I may ufe the expreffion, the mo-

* Comparifon of 'K^ma and Lycurgus,

" rals

îgS STUDIES OF NATURE.

" rals of the young, and made them fuck in, with
" the milk from their nurfe's breaft, the love of
'* his Laws and Inftitutions."

Here is a decifion, which completely condemns
OLir mode of education, by pronouncing the elo-
gium of that of Sparta. 1 do not hefitate a (ingle
moment to afcribe to our modern education, the
reftlefs, ambitious, fpiteful, pragmatical, and into-
lerant fpirit of moft Europeans. The effefts of it:
are vifible in the miferies of the Nations. It is re-
markable, that thofe which have been moft agi-
tated internally and externally, are precifely the
Nations among which our boafted ftyle of educa-
tion has flouriûied the moft. The truth of this
may be afcertained, by ftepping from country to
country, from age to age. Politicians have imar
gined, that they could difcern the caufe of public
misfortunes in the different forms of Government.
But Turkey is quiet, and England is frequently in
a ftate of agitation. All political forms are indif-
ferent to the happinefs of a State, as has been
faid, provided the People are happy. We might
have added, and provided the children are fo like^
wife

The Philofopher Lalouhre, Envoy from Louis
XIV. to Siam, fays, in the account which he gives
of his miffion, that the Afiatics laugh us to fcorn,

when

STUDY XIV, 299

when we boaft to them of the excellence of the
Chriftian Religion, as contributing to the happi-
nefs of States. They afk, on reading our Hiflories,
How it is poffible that our Religion fliould be (o
humane, while we wage war ten times more fre-
quently than they do? What would they fay, then,
did they fee among us our perpetual law-fuits, the
malicious cenforiournefs and calumny of our (o'
cieties, the jealoufy of corps, the quarrels of the
populace, the duels of the better fort, and our ani-
mofities of every kind, nothing fimilar to which is
to be feen in Afia, in Africa, among the Tartars,
or among Savages, on the teftimony of miffionaries
themfelves ? For my own part, I difcern the caufe
of all thefe particular and general diforders, in our
ambitious education. When a man has drunk,
from infancy upward, into the cup of ambition,
the third of it cleaves to him all his life long, and
it degenerates into a burning fever at the very feet
of the altars.

It is not Religion, afTuredly, which occafions
this. I cannot explain how it comes to pafs, that
kingdoms, calling themfelves Chriftian, fliould
have adopted ambition as the bafis of public edu-
cation. Independently of their political conftitu-
tion, which forbids it to all thofe of their fubjeds
who have not money, that is to the greateft part
of them, there is no paffion fo uniformly con-
demned

$QO STUDIES OF NATURE.

demned by Religion. We have obfervcd, that
there are but two paffions in the heart of Man,
love and ambition. Civil Laws denounce the fe-
verefi; punifhment againft the excefles of the firft :
they reprefs, as far as their power extends, the
more violent emotions of it. Proflitution is brand-
ed with infamous penalties ; and, in fome coun-
tries, adultery is puniflied even with death. But
thefe fame Laws meet the fécond more than half
way; they, every where, propofe to it prizes, re-
wards, and honours. Thefe opinions force their
way, and exercife dominion, incloiflers themfelves.
It is a grievous fcandal to a convent, if the amo-
rous intrigues of a monk happen to take air ; but
what elogiums are beftowed on thofe which pro-
cure him a cardinal's hat ! What raillery, impre-
cation, and malediélion, are the portion of impru-
dent weaknefs ! What gentle and honourable epi-
thets are applied to audacious crafc ! Noble emu-
lation, love of glory, fpirit, intelligence, merit re-
warded ; with how many glorious appellations do
we palliate intrigue, flattery, fimony, perfidy, and
all the vi( es which walk, in all States, in the train
of the ambitious 1

This is the way in which the World forms it's
judgments ; but Religion, ever conformable to
Nature, pronounces a very different decilion on the
charaders of thefe two pafiions. Jesus invites the

communications

STITDY XIV. 3OÏ

communications of die frail Samaritan woman, he
pardons the adultrefs, he abfolves the female of-
fender who bathed his feet with her tears ; but
hear how he inveighs againft the ambitious : —
*' Woe unto you, fcribes and pharifees, for ye love
" the uppermofl feats in the fynagogues, and the
" chief places at feafls, and greetings in the mar-
** kets, and to be called of men, Rabbi ! Woe
*' unto you, alfo, ye lawyers; for ye lade men with
** burdens grievous to be borne, and ye yourfelves
** touch njt the burdens with one of your fingers!
*■ Woe unto you, lawyers, for ye have taken away
*' the key of knowledge : ye entered not in your-
*' felves, and them that were entering in ye hin-
*^ dercd 1 and fo on *." He declares to them
that, notwithftanding their empty honours in this
Woild, harlots Iliould go before them into the
kingdom of God. He cautions us, in many
places, to be on our guard againft them; and inti-
mates that we (liould know them by their fruits.
In pronouncing decifions fo different from ours.
He judges our paffions according to their natural
adaptations. He pardons proftitution, which is
in itlelf a vice, but which, after all, is a frailty
only, relatively to the order of Society; and He
condemns, without mercy, the fm of ambition, as
a crime which is contrary, at once, to the order of

* Luke xi. 43, &-C.

Society,

302 STUDIES OF NATURE.

Society, and to that of Nature. The firCl involves
the diftrefs of only two guilty perfons, but the fé-
cond affefls the happincfs of Mankind.

To this our doflors reply, that the only objeâ:
purfued, in the education of children, is the in-
fpiring them with a virtuous emulation. I do not
believe there is fuch a thing in our Colleges, as
cxercifes of virtue, unlefs it be to prefcribe to the
iludents, on this fubjeâ;, certain themes, or ampli-
fications. But a real ambition is taught, by en-
gaging them to difpute the firft place in their fe«
veral claffes, and to adopt a thoufand intolerant
fyftems. Accordingly, when they have once got
the key of knowledge in their pocket, they refo-
lutely determine, like their matters, to let no one
enter but by their door.

Virtue and ambition are abfolutely incompa-
tible. The glory of ambition is to mount, and
that of virtue is to defcend. Obferve how Jesus
Christ reprimands his difciples, when they afked
him who fhould be the firft among them. He
takes a little child, and places him in the midft :
Not, furely, a child from oui" fchools. Ah ! when
He recommends to us the humility fo fuitable to
our frail and miferable condition, it is Ijecaufe He
did not confider that povver, even fupreme, was
capable of conllituting our happinefs in this

World 5

STUDY XIV. 303

World ; and it is worthy of being remarked, that
He did not confer the fuperiority over the reft on
the difciple whom he loved the moft ; but as a
reward to the love of him who had been faithful
nnto death, He bequeathed to him, with his
dying breath, his own mother as a legacy.

This pretended emulation, inftilled into chil-
dren, renders them, for life, intolerant, vain-glo-
rious, tremblingly alive to the llighteft cenfure,
or the meaneft token of applaufe from an unknown
perfon. They are trained to ambition, we are told,
for their good, in order to their profpering in the
World ; but the cupidity natural to the human
mind is more than fufficient for the attainment of
that objeâ:. Have merchants, mechanics, and
all the lucrative profeffions, in other words, all
the conditions of Society ; have they need of any
other ftimulus ? Were ambition to be inftilled
into the mind of only one child, deftined, at
length, to fill a ftation of high importance, this
education, which is by no means exempted from
inconveniencies, would be adapted, at leaft, to the
career which the young man had in profpeft. But
by infufing it into all, you give each individual as
many opponents as he has .got companions ; you
render the whole unhappy, by means of each other.
Thofe who are incapable of riiing by their talents,
endeavour to infmuate thcmfelves into the good

graces

304 STUDIES OF NATURE.

graces of their mafters by flattery, and to fupplant
iheir equals by calumny. If thefe means fucceed
not, they conceive an averfion for the objedts of
their emulation, which, to their comrades, has all
the value of applaufe, and becomes, to themfelves,
a perpetual fource of depreffion, of chaftifement,
and of tears.

This is the reafon that fo many grown men, en-
deavour to banifh from their memory, the times
and the objeds of their early ftudles, though it be
natural, to the heart of Man, to recolleft with dc'
light the epochs of infancy. How many behold,
in the maturity of life, the bowers of ofiers, and
the ruftic canopies, which ferved for their infant
lleeping and dining apartments, who could not
look, without abhorrence, upon a Turfdlin^ or a
Defpauter ! I have no doubt that thofe difgufts, of
early education, extend a moft baleful influence to
that love with which we ought to be animated to-
ward Religion, becaufe it's elements, in like man-
ner, are difplayed only through the medium of
gloom, pride, and inhumanity.

The plan of moft mafters confifts, above all, in
compofing the exterior of their pupils. They form,
on the fame model, a multitude of characters,
which Nature had rendered effentially different. One
will have his to be grave and ftately, as if they v.'ere

fo

STUDY XIV, " 305

{o many little prefidents ; others, and they are the
moft numerous, wifli to make' theirs alert and
lively. One of the great burdens of the leflbn is,
an inceflfant fillip of: " Come on, makehafte, don'c
" be lazy." To this impulfion fimply, I afcribe
the general giddinefs of our youth, and of which
the Nation is accufed. It is the impatience of the
mafter which, in the firfi; inftance, produces the
precipitancy of the fcholars. It, afterwards, ac«
quires ftrength, in the commerce of the World,
from the impatience of the women. But, through,
the progrefs of human life, Is not refledion of
much higher importance than promptitude? How
many children are deftined to fill fituations which
require ferioufnefs and folemnity ? Is not reflec-
tion the bafis of prudence, of temperance, of wif-
dom, and of moft of the other moral qualities ?
For my own part, I have always feen honeft people
abundantly tranquil, and rogues always alert.

There is, in this refpe6t, a vefy perceptible dif-
ference, between two children, the one of whom
has been educated in his Father's houfe, and the
other, at a public fchool. The firft is, beyond all
contradiction, more polite, more ingenuous, lefs
jealoufly difpofed ; and, from this fingle circum-.
ftance, that he has been brought up without the
defire of excelling any one, and ftill lefs of furpaf-
ling himfelf, according to our great fafiiionabie

VOL. IV. X phrafeology

3ô6 STUDIES OF KATURE.

phrafeology, but as deftitute of common fenfe as
many others of the kind. Is not a child, itiflu-
cnced by the emulation of the fchools, under the
necelfity of renouncing it, from the very firft ftep
be makes in the World, if he means to be fup-
portable to his equals, and to himfelf ? If he pro-
pofes to himfelf no other objedt but his own ad-
vancement, Will he not be afflided at the profpe-
rity of another ? Will he not, in the courte of his
progrefs, be liable to have his mind torn with the
averfions, the jealoufies, and the defires, which muft
deprave it, both phyfically and morally ? Do not
Philofophy and Religion impofe on him the necef-
lity, of exerting himfelf every day of his life, to
eradicate thofe faults of education? The World
itfelf obliges him to mafk their hideous afpecl.
Here is a fine perfpedive opened to human life,
in which we are conftrained to employ the half of
our days, in deftroying, with a thoufand painful
efforts, what had been raifing up in the other, with
fo many tears, and fo much parade.

We have borrowed thofe vices from the Greeks,
without being aware, that they had contributed to
their perpetual divifions, and to their final ruin.
The greateft part, at leaft, of their exercifes, had
the good of their Country, as the leading objeft.
If there were propofed, among the Greeks, prizes
for fiiperloriiy in \vrefi:ling, in boxing, in throwing

the

iH^DY XIV. 307

the quoit, in foot and chariot races, it was becaufe
fuch exercifes had a reference to the art of war.
If they had others eflabHlhed for the reward of fu-
perior eloquence, it was becaufe that art ferved to
maintain the interefts of Country, from city to
city, or in the general Affemblies of Greece. But
to what purpofe do we employ the tedious and
painful ftudy of dead languages, and of cuftoms
foreign to our Country ? Mod of our inftitutions,
with relation to the Ancients, have a ftriking re-
femblance to the paradife of the Savages of Ame-
rica. Thofe good people imagine that, after death,
the fouls of their compatriots migrate to a certain
country, where they hunt down the fouls of bea-
vers with the fouls of arrows, walking over the foul
of fnow with the foul of rackets, and that they
drefs the foul of their game in the foul of pots.
We have, in like manner, the images of a Colif-
eum, where no fpeâ;acles are exhibited ; images
of periftyles and public fquares, in which we are
not permitted to walk ; images of antique vafes, in
which it is impoffible to put any liquor, but which
contribute largely to our images of grandeur and
patriotifm. The real Greeks, and the real Romans,
would believe themfelves, among us, to be in the
land of their (hades. Happy for us, had we bor-
rowed from them vain images only, and not natu-
ralized in our Country their real evils, by tranf-

X a planting

308 STUDIES OF NATURE.

planting thither the jealoufies, the hatreds, and the
vain emulations which rendered them miierable.

It was Charlemagne, we are told, who inflituted
our courfe of ftudies ; and fome fay it was in the
view of dividing his fubje<5ts, and of giving them
employment. He has fucceeded in this to a mi-
racle. Seven years devoted to humanity^ or clajjical
learning, two to Philofnphy, three to Theology : twelve
years of languor, of ambition, and of felf-conceitj
without taking into the account the years which
well-meaning parents double upon 'their children,
to make fure work of it, as they allege. I afk
whether, on emerging thence, a ftudent is, accord-
ing to the denomination of thofe refpeftive branches
of ftudy, more humane, more of a philofopher, and
believes more in God, than an honefl peafant, who
has not been taught to read ? What good purpofe,
then, does all this anfvver to the greateft part of
Mankind? What benefit do the majority derive,
from this irkfome courfe, on mixing with the
World, toward perfefting their own intelligence,
and even toward purity of diftion. We have feen,
that the claffical Authors themfelves have borrowed
their illumination only from Nature, and that thofe
of our own Nation who have diftinguiflied them-
felves the moft, in literature and in the fciences,
fi.ch as Dcjcartes, Michael Montaigney J. J. RouJ

feau.

STUDY XIV. 309

feau, and others, have fucceeded only by deviating
from the track which their models purfued, and
frequently by purf^jing the diredly oppofite path.
Thus it was that Defcartes attacked and fubverted
the philofophy of Arijiotle : you would be tempted
to fay, that Eloquence and the Sciences are com-
pletely out of the province of our Gothic Infti-
tutions.

I acknowledge, at the fame time, that it is a for-
tunate circumftance for many children, who have
wicked parents, that there are colleges ; they are
lefs miferable there than in the father's houfe. The
faults of matters, being expofed to view, are in
part repreffed by the fear of public cenfure ; but
it is not fo, as to ihofe of their parents. For ex-
ample, the pride of a man of letters is loquacious,
and fometimes inftruélive ; that of an ecclefiaftic
is clothed with diffimulation, but flattering; that
of a man of family is lofty, but frank; that of a
clown is infolent, but natural : but the pride of a
warm trad efman is fullen and ftupid; it is pride
at it's eafe, pride in a night-gown. As the cit is
never contradiâied, except it be by his wife, they
unite their efforts to render their children un-
happy, without fo much as fufpeéting that they do
fo. Is it credible that, in a fociety, the men of
which all moralifts allow to be corrupted, in which
the citizens maintain their ground only by the ter-

X 3 ror

$iO STUDIES 01* NATURE.

ror of the Laws, or by the fear which they have oi
each other, feeble and defencelefs children fliould
not be abandoned to the difcretion of tyranny ?
Nothing can be conceived fo ignorant, and fo
conceited, as the greateft part of tradefmen ; among
them it is that folly fhoots out fpreading and pro-
found roots. You fee a great many of this clafs,
both men and women, dying of apopledic fits,
from a too fedentary mode of life ; from eating
beef, and fwallowing ftrong broths, when they are
out of order, without fufpeding for a moment that
fuch a regimen was pernicious. Nothing can be more
wholefome, fay they ; they have always feen their
Aunts do fo. Hence it is that a multitude of falfe
remedies, and of ridiculous fuperftitions, maintain
a reputation among them, long after they have
been exploded in the World. In their cup-boards
is flill carefully treafured up the cajis, a fpecies of
poifon, as if it were an univerfal panacea. The re-
gimen of their unfortunate children, refemb.les that
which they employ where their own health is con-
cerned J they form them to melancholy habits ;
all that they make them learn, up to the Gofpel
itfelf, is with the rod over their head ; they fix
them in a fedentary pofture all the day long, at an
age vvhen Nature is prompting them to ftir about,
for the purpofe of expanding their form. Be good
children, is the perpetual injundion ; and this
goodnefs conllils in never moving a limb. A wo-
man

STUDY XIV. 311

man of fpirit, who was fond of clilldren, took
notice one day, at the houfe of a fliop-keeper, in
St. Denis-flreet, of a little boy and girl, who had a
very ferious air. *' Your children are very grave,'*
faid (he to the mother...." Ah ! Madam," replied
the fagacious fhop-dame, " it is not for want of
" whipping, if ihey are not fo."

Children rendered miferable in their fports, and
in their (Indies, become hypocritical and referved
before their fathers and mothers. At length, how-
ever, they acquire ftature. One night, the daughter
puts on her cloke, under pretence of going to
evening-prayers, but it is to give her lover the
meeting : by and by, her fhapes divulge the fe-
cret ; fhe is driven from her father's houfe, and
comes upon the town. Some fine morning, the
fon enlifts for a foldier. The father and mother
are ready to go didrafled. We fpared nothing,
fay they, to procure them the beft of education :
they had mafters of every kind : Fools ! you forgot
the effential point ; you forgot to teach them to
love you.

They juftify their tyranny by that cruel adage :
Children mujl be cor7-e6îed ; human nature is corrupted.
They do not perceive that they themfelves, by t4ieir
exceffive feverity, fland chargeable with the cor-

X 4 ruj)tion.

312. STUDIES OF NATURE.

riiptlon *, and that in every country where fathers
are good, the children refemble them.

I could

* To certain fpecies of chailifement, I afcribe the phyfical
and moral corruption, not only of children, and of feveral orders
of monks, but of the Nation itfelf. You cannot move a ftep
through the ftreets, without hearing nurfes and mothers me-
nacing their little charge with, / fiall give you a flogging. I
have never been in England, but I am perfuaded, that the fero-
city imputed to the Englifh, mufl proceed from fome fuch caufe.
I have indeed heard it affirmed, that punifliment by the rod was
more cruel, and more frequent, among them, than with us. See
what is faid on this fubjeft by the illuftrious Authors of the Spec-
tator., a Work which has, beyond contradiction, greatly contri-
buted to foften both their manners and ours. They reproach
the Englifh Nobility, for permitting this charaéler of infamy to
be imprefled on their children. Confult, particularly. No.
CLVII. of that Colleélion, which concludes thus : " I would
" not here be fuppofed to have faid, that our learned men of
'* either robe, who have been whipped at fchool, are not ftill
*' men of noble and liberal minds ; but I am fure they had been
*' much more fo than they are, had they never fuffered that in-
•' famy."

Government ought to profcribe thfs kind of chaftifement, not
only in the public fchools, as Ruffia has done, but in convents,
on ihipboard, in private families, in boarding houfes : it cor-
rupts, at once, fathers, mothers, preceptors, and children. I
could quote terrible re-aftions of it, did modefty permit. Is it
not very aftonifliing, that men, in other refpefts, of a ftaid and
ferious exterior, fliould lay down, as the bafis of a Chriftian edu-
cation, the obfervance of gentlenefs, humanity, chaftity ; and
punilh timid and innocent children, with the moft barbarous,
and the moil obfcene of all chaftifements ? Our men of letters,

who

STUDY XIV.

313

I could demonftrate, by a multitude of exam-
ples, that the depravation of our moft notorious
criminals, began with the cruelty of their educa-
tion.

who have been employed in reforming abufes, for more than a
century part, have not attacked this, with the feverity which it
deferves. They do not pay fufficient attention to the miferies of
the rifing generation. It would be a queftion of right, the dif-
cuffion of which were highly interefting and important, namely.
Whether the State could permit the right of infliéling infamous
punifliment, to perfons who have not the power of life and
death ? It is certain, that the infamy of a citizen produces re-
aftions more dangerous to Society, than his own death merely.
It is nothing at all, we are told, they are but children; but for
' this very reafon, becaufe they are children, every generous fpiiit
is bound to proteft them, and becaufe every miferable child be-
comes a bad man.

At the fame time, it is far from being my intention, in what I
have faid refpefting mafters in general, to render the profeffion
odious, I only mean to fuggeft to them, that thofe chaftife-
ments, the praétice of which they have borrowed from the cor-
rupted Greeks of the Lower Empire, exercife an influence much
more powerful than they are aware of, on the hatred which is
borne to them, as well as to the other miniflers of Religion,
monks as well as the regular clergy, by a people more enlightened
than in former times. After all, it muft be granted, that maf-
ters treat their pupils as they themfelves were treated. One fet
of miferable beings are employed in forming a new fet, fre-
quently without fufpe6ling what they are doing. All I aim at
prefent to eftablifli is this, That man has been committed to his
own forefight; that all the ill which he does to his fellow- crea-
tures, recoils, fooner or later, upon himfelf. This re-a£lion is
the only counterpoife _^capable of bringing him back to huma-
nity.

314 STUDIES OF NATURE.

tion, from Guillery down to Defruçs. But, to take
leave, once for all of this horrid perfpedive, I
conclude with a fingle refledion : namely, if hu-
man nature were corrupted, as is alleged by thofe
who arrogate to themfelves the power of reforming
it, children could not fail to add a new corruption,
to that which they find already introduced into
the World, upon their arrival in it. Human So-
ciety would, accordingly, fpeedily reach the term
of it's diflblution. But children, on the contrary,
protradV, and put off that fatal period, by the in-
troduction of new and untainted fouls. It requires
a long apprenticefliip to infpire them with a tafte
for our paflions and extravagancies. New gene-
rations refemble the dews and the rains of Heaven,
which refrcfh the waters of rivers, llackened in
their courfe, and tending to corruption: change the
fources of a river, and you will change it in the
ftream ; change the education of a People, and
you will change their charader and their manners.

We fhall hazard a few ideas on a fubjeft of fo
much importance, and fhall look for the indica-
tions of them in Nature. On examining the neft
of a bird, we find in it, not only the nutriments

nity. All the Sciences are ftill in a ftate of infancy ; but that
of rendering men happy lias not, as yet, fo much as feen the
light, not even in China, whofe politics are fo far fuperior to

•urs.

which

STUDY XIV.

3IS

which are moft agreeable to the young, but, from
the foftnefs of the downs with which it is Hned ;
from it's fituation, whereby it is fheltered from
the cold, from the rain, and from the wind ; and
from a multitude of other precautions, it is eafy to
difcern that thofe who conflruded it, collefted
around their brood, all the intelligence, and all the
benevolence, of which they were capable. The fa-
ther, too, fings at a little diilance from their cradle,
prompted rather, as I fuppofe," by the folicitudes
of paternal afFeâ;ion, than by thofe of conjugal
love ; for this laft fentiment expires, in moft, as
foon as the procefs of hatching begins. If we were
to examine, under the fame afpecfl, the fchools of.
the young of the human fpecies, we fhould have
a very indifferent idea of the afiedion of their pa-
rents. Rods, whips, ftripes, cries, tears, are the
firft leflbns given to human life : we have here and
there, it is true, a glimpfe of reward, amidft fo
many chaftifements ; but, fymbol of what awaits
them in Society, the pain is real, and the pleafure
only imaginary.

It is worthy of being remarked that, of all the
fpecies of fenfible beings, the human fpecies is the
only one, whofe young are brought up, and in-
ftruded, by dint of blows. I would not wifh for
any other proof, of an original depravation of
Mankind. The European brood, in this refpeft,

furpafles

3l6 STUDIES OF NATURE.

furpafTes all the Nations of the Globe ; as they like-
wife do in wickednefs". We have already ob-
ferved, on the teftimony of mifTionaries them-
felves, with what gentlenefs Savages rear their chil-
dren, and what affedion the children bear to their
parents in return.

The Arabs extend their humanity to the very
horfes ; they never beat them ; they manage them
by means of kin(3nefs and careffes, and render
them fo docile, that there are no animals of the
kind, in the whole World, once to be compared
with them in beauty and in goodnefs. They do
not fix them to a flake in the fields, but fuffer them
to pafture at large around their habitation, to which
they come running the moment that they hear the
found of the mafter's voice. Thofe tradable ani-
mals refort at night to their tents, and lie down in
the midft of the children, without ever hurting
them in the flighteft degree. If the rider happens
to fall while a-courfing, his horfe ftands ftill in-
ftantly, and never ftirs till he has mounted again.
Thefe people, by means of the irrefiftible influence
of a mild education, have acquired the art of ren-
dering their horfes the firfl: courfers of the uni-
verfe.

It is impoffible to read, without being melted
into tears, what is related on this fubjed, by the

virtuous

STUDY XIV.

sn

virtuous Conful d'Hervieux, in his journey to
Mount Lebanon. The whole flock of a poor
Arabian of the Defert confifted of a moft beautiful
mare. The French Conful at Said offered to pur-
chafe her, with an intention to fend her to his
mafter Louis XIV. The Arab, prefled by want,
hefitated a long time j but, at length confented,
on condition of receiving a very confidsi'able fum,
which he named. The Conful, not daring, with-
out inftrudions, to give fo high a price, wrote to
Verfailles for permiffion to clofe the bargain on the
terms ftipulated. Louis XIV. gave orders to pay
the money. The Conful immediately fent notice
to the Arab, who foon after made his appearance,
mounted on his magnificent courfer, and the gold
which he had demanded was paid down to him.
The Arab, covered with a miferable rug, dis-
mounts, looks at the money ; then, turning his
eyes to the mare, he lighs, and thus accofts her :
" To whom am I going to yield thee up? To
" Europeans, who will tie thee clofe, who will beat
" thee, who will render thee miferable : return
•* with me, my beauty, my darling, my jewel !
** and rejoice the hearts" of my children !" As he
pronounced thefe words, he fprung upon her
back, and fcampered off toward the Defert.

If, witfi us, fathers beat their children, it is be-
caufe they love rhem not; if they fend them abroad

to

5l8 STUDIES OF NATURE»

to nurfe, as foon as they come into the World, it
is becaufe they love them not ; if they place them,
as foon as they have acquired a little growth, in
boarding-fchools and colleges, it is becaufe they
love them not ; if they procure for them fituations
out of their State, out of their Province, it is be-
caufe they love them not : if they keep them at a
diftance from themfelves, at every epoch of life, it
muft undoubtedly be, becaufe they look upon them
as their heirs.

I have been long enquiring into the caufe of
this unnatural fentiment, but not in our books ;
for the Authors of thefe, in the view of paying
court to fathers, who buy their Works, infift only
on the duties of children ; and if, fometimes, they
bring forward thofe of fathers, the difcipline which
they recommend to them, refpe(fling their chil-
dren, is fo gloomy and fevere, that it looks as if
they were furnifhing parents with new means of
rendering themfelves hateful to their offspring.

This parental apathy is to be imputed to the
diforderly ftate of our manners, which has ftifled
among us all the fentiments of Nature. Among
the Ancients, and even among Savages, the per-
fpedive of fecial life prcfented to them a feries of
employments, from infancy up to old age, which,
among them, was the era of the higher magiflra^

cies.

StUDY XIV. 319

des, and of the priefthood. The hopes of their
religion, at that period, interpofed to terminate an
honourable career, and concluded with rendering
the plan of their life conformable to that of Na-
ture. Thus it was that they always kept up in the
foul of their citizens, that perfpedive of infinity
which is fo natural to the heart of Man. But ve-
nality, and debauched manners, having fubverted,
among us, the order of Nature, the only age of
human exiftence which has preferved it's rights, is
that of youth and love. This is the epoch to
which all the citizens dire<5t their thoughts. Among
the Ancients, the aged bare rule -, but with us, the
young people aflume the government. The old
are conftrained to retire from all public employ-
ment. Their dear children then pay them back
the fruits of the education v,hichthey had received
from them.

Hence, therefore, it comes to pafs, that a father
and mother reftriding, with us, the epoch of their
felicity to the middle period of life, cannot, with-
out uneafinefs, behold their children approaching
toward it, juft in proportion as they themfelves are
withdrawing from it. As their faith is almoft, or
altogether extinguiQied, Religion adminifters to
them no confolation. They behold nothing but
death clofing their perfpeftive. This point of view
renders them fullen, harlh, and, frequently, crueh
■' ' This

320 ■ STUDIES OF NATURE.

This is the reafon that, with us, parents do not love
their children, and that our old people affed fo
many frivolous taftes, to bring themfelves nearer
to a generation which is repelling them.

Another confequence of the fame ftate of man-
ners is, that we have nothing of the fpirit of pa-
triotifm among us. The Ancients, on the con-
trary, had a great deal of it. They propofed to,
themfelves a noble recompenfe in the prefent, but
one ftill much more noble in the future. The
Romans, for example, had oracles which promifed
to their City that fhe fhould become the Capital
of the World, and fhe a6lually became fo. Each
citizen, in particular, flattered himfelf with the
hope of exercifing an influence over her deftiny,
and of preliding, one day, as a tutelary deity, over
that of his own pofterity. Their highefb ambition
was to fee their own age honoured and diftin-
guiihed above every other age of the Republic.
Thofe, among us, who have any ambition that re-
gards futurity, reftriâ: it to the being themfelves di-
flinguifhed by the age in which they live, for their
knowledge or their philofophy. In this, nearly,
terminates our natural ambition, direded, as it is,,
by our mode of education.

The Ancients employed their thoughts in prog-
nofticating the charader and condition of their

pofterity ;

STUDY XIV. 321

pofterity ; and we revolve what our Anceflors
were. They looked forward, and we look back-
ward. We are, in the State, like paffengers em-
barked, againft their will, onboard a veflel ; we
look toward the poop, and not to the prow ; to the
land from which we are taking our departure, and
not to that on which we hope to arrive. We colleft,
with avidity, Gothic manufcripts, monuments of
chivalry, the medallions of Childeric ; we pick up,
with ardour, all the worn out fragments of the an-
cient fabric of our State veflel. We purfue them
in a backward di region, as far as the eye can carry
us. Nay, we extend this folicitude about Anti-
quity, to monuments which are foreign to us ; to
thofe of the Greeks and Romans. They are, like
our own, the wrecks of their veflels, which have
perilhed on the vaft Ocean of Time, without being
able to get forward to us. They would have been,
accompanying us, nay, they would have been out-
failing us, had fkilful pilots always flood at the
helm. It is dill poflible to didinguifli them from
their fhattered fragments. From the fimplicity of
her conftruétion, and the lightnefs of her frame,
that mufl have been the Spartan Frigat. She was
made to fwim eternally ; but fhe had no bottom;
flie was overtaken by a dreadful tempeft; and the
Helots were incapable of reftoring the equilibrium.
From the loftinefs of her quarter-galleries, you
there diftinguifli the remains of the mighty firft-
voL. IV. Y rata

322 STUDIES OF NATURE'.

rate of proud Rome. She was unable to fupport
the weight of her unwieldy turrets ; her cumber-
fome and ponderous upper-works overfet her.
The following infcriptions might be engraved on
the different rocks againft which they have made
Ihip wreck ;

LOVE OF CONQUEST.

Accumulation of Property. Venality of Employments.,

AND, ABOVE ALL :

CONTEMPT OF THE PEOPLE.

The billows of Time ftill roar over their enor-
mous wrecks, and feparate from them detached
planks, which they fcatter among modern Nations,
for their inftrudiion. Thofe ruins feem to addrefs
them thus : '* We are the remains of the ancient
" government of the Tufcans, of Dardanus, and
'* of the grand-children of Numitor. The States
*' which they have tranfmitted to their defcendants
" ftill fupport Nations of Mankind; but they no
'* longer have the fame languages, nor the fame
*' religions, nor the fame civil dynafties. Divine
" Providence, in order to five men from fhip-
*' wreck, has drowned the pilots, and dalhed the
*' (hips to pieces."

We admire, on the contrary, in our frivolous
Sciences, their conquefls, their vaft and ufelefs

buildings.

STUDY XIV* 32^

buildings, and all the monuments of their luxury,
which are the veiy rocks on which they perifhed.
See, to what our ftudies, and our patriotifm, are
leading us. If pofterity is taken up with the
Ancients, it is becaufe the Ancients laboured for
pofterity : but if we do nothing for ours, alTur-
edly they will pay no attention to us. They will
talk inceflantly, as we do, about the Greeks and
Romans, without wafting a lingle thought upon
their fathers.

Inftead of falling into rapture?, over Greek and"
Roman Medallions, half devoured by the teeth of
Time, would it not be fully as agreeable, and much
more ufeful, to direft our views, and employ our
conjecftures, on the fubjeâ: of our frelh, lively,
plump children, and to try to difcover in their fe-
veral inclinations, who are to be the future co-ope-
rators in the fervice of their Country ^ Thofe who,
in their childifh fports, are fond of building, will
one day rear her monuments. Among thofe who
take delight in managing their boyifli fkirmiflies,
will be formed the Epaminondafes and the Scipios of
future times, Thofe who are feated upon the grafs,
the calm fpedators of the fports of their compa-
nions, will, in due time, become excellent Magi-
ftrates, and Philofophers, the complete mafters of
their own paffions. Thof who, in their reftlefs
courfe, love to withdraw from the reft, will be

Y 2 noted

324 STUDIES OF NATURE.

noted travellers, and founders of colonies, who
fhall carry the manners, and the language, of
France, to the Savages of America, or into the in-
terior of Africa itfelf.

If we are kind to our children, they will blefs
our memory ; they will tranfmit, unaltered, our
cuftoms, our faOiions, our education, our govern-
ment, and every thing that awakens the recollec-
tion of us, to the very lateft pofterity. We (hall
be to them beneficent deities, who have wrought
their deliverance from Gothk barbarifm. We
fliould gratify the innate tafte of infinity, ftill bet-
ter, by launching our thoughts into a futurity of
two thoufand years, than into a retrofpeâ: of the
fame diftance. This manner of viewing, more
conformable to our divine nature, would fix our
benevolence on fenfible objeâis which do exift, and
which ftili are to exift *. We (hould fecure to

ourfelves,

* There is a fublime character in the Works of the Divi*
NITV. They are not only perfecl in themfelves, but they are
always in a progreffive ftate toward perfeftion. We have fug-
gefted fome thoughts refpe^ling this Law, in fpeaking of the
harmonies of plants. A young plant is of more value than the
feed which produced it ; a tree bearing flowers and fruits ig
more valuable than the young plant ; finally, a tree is never
more beautiful than when, declined into years, it is furrounded
with a foreft of young trees, fprouted up out of it's feeds. The
fame thing holds good as to Man, The llat€ of an embryon is

fuperior

STUDY XIV. 325

ourfelves, as a fupport to an old age of fadnefs and
negleft, the gratitude of the generation which is
advancing to replace us j and, by providing for
their happinefs and our own, we (liould combine
all the means in our power, toward promoting the
good of our Country.

In order to contribute my little mite toward fo
bleffed a révolution, I fliall hazard a few more hafty
ideas. I proceed on the fuppofition, then, that I am
empowered to employ iifefully a part of the twelve
years, which our young people wade at fchools and
colleges. I reduce the whole time of their edu-
cation to three epochs, confiding of three years
each. The firft (hould commence at the age of
feven years, as among the Lacedemonians, and

fuperior to that of a non-entity ; that of infancy to the embiyon ;
adolefcence is preferable to infancy ; and youth, the feafon of
loves, more important than adolefcence. Man, in a ftate of ma-
turity, the head of a family, is preferable to a young man. The
old age which encircles him with a numerous poiterity ; which,
from it's experience, introduces him into the counfels of Na-
tions j which fufpends in him the dominion of the pallions,
only to give more energy to that of reafon : the old age which
feems to rank him among fuperior beings, from the multiplied
hopes which the practice of virtue, and the Laws of Providence,^
have bellowed upon him, is of more value, than all the other
ages of life put together. I could wifli it were fo with the ma-
turity of France, and that the age of Louis XVI. might furpafs
all that have preseded it.

y 3 even

326 STUDIES OF NATURE.

even earlier : a child is fufceptible of a patriotic
education, as foon as he is able to Ipeak, and to
walk. The fécond (hall begin with the period of
adolefcence j and the third end with it, toward the
age of fixteen, an age when a young man may
begin to be ufeful to his Country, and to affume a
profeffion.

I would begin with difpofing, in a central fitua-
tion, in Paris, a magnificent edifice, confiruéled
internally in form of a circular amphitheatre, di-
vided into afcending rows. The mafters, to be en-
trufted with the charge of the national education,
fhould be ftationed below, in the centre ; and
above, I would have feveral rows of galleries, in
order to multiply places for the auditors. On the
outfide, and quite round the building, I would
have wide porticos, ftory above ftory, for the re-
ception and accommodation of the People. On a
pediment, over the grand entrance, theie words
niight be infcribed :

NATIONAL SCHOOLS,

I have no need to mention, that as the children
pafs three years in each epoch of their education,
one of thefc edifices would be requifite for the in-
ftruâiion of the generation of ^e year, which re-

ftrias

STUDY XIV. 327

îlridls to nine the number of monuments deftined
to the general education of the Capital.

Round each of thefe amphitheatres, there fliould
foe a great park, ftored with the plants and trees of
the Country, fcattered about without artificial ar-
rangement, as in the fields and the woods. We
fhould there behold the primrofe and the violet
fhining around the root of the oak ; the apple and
pear-tree blended with the elm and the beech.
The bowers of innocence fhould be no lefs inte-
refling than the tombs of virtue.

If I have cxprefTed a wifli, to have monuments
raifed to the glory of thofe by whom our climate
has been enriched with exotic plants, it is not that
I prefer thefe to the plants of our own Country,
but it is in the view of rendering to the memory
of thofe citizens, a part of the gratitude which we
owe to Nature. Belides, the moll common plants
in our plains, independent of their utility, are thofe
which recal to us the moft agreeable fenfluions :
they do not tranfport us beyond feas, as foreign
plants do ; but recal us home, and reftore us to
ourfelves. The feathered fphere of the dandelion
brings to my recoUedlion the places where, feated
on the grafs with children of my own age, we en-
deavoured to fweep off, by one whiff of breath,
^U it's plumage, without leaving a fingle tuft be-

Y 4 hind.

328 STUDIES OF NATURE.

hind. ^Fortune, in like manner, has blown upon
us, and has fcattered abroad our downy-pinioned
circles over the face of the whole earth. I call to
remembrance, on feeing certain gramineous plants
in the ear, the happy age when we conjugated on
their alternate ramifications, the different tenfes
and moods of the verb aimer (to love). We trem-
bled at hearing our companions finifh, after all the
various inflexions, with, Je ne vous aime pluSy (I no
longer love you). The finefl flowers are not always
thofe for which we conceive the higheft afifeâiion.
The moral fentiment determines^ at the long run,
all our phyfical taftes. The plants which feem to
me the moft unfortunate, are, at this day, thofe
which awaken in me the moft lively intereft. I
frequently fix my attention on a blade of grafs, at
the top of an old wall, or on a fcabious, toffed
about by the winds in the middle of a plain.
Oftener than once, at fight, in a foreign land, of
an apple-tree without flowers, and without fruit,
have I exclaimed : " Ah ! why has Fortune de-
** nied to thee, as fhe has done to me, a little earth
*' in thy native land ?"

The plants of our Country, recal the idea of it
to us, wherever we may be, in a manner flill more
afFeding than it's monuments. I would fpare no
coft, therefore, to coUeâ; them around the children
of the Nation. I would make their fchool a fpot

charming

STUDY XIV. 329

charming as their tender age, that when the in-
juftice of their patrons, of their friends, of their
relations, of fortune, may have cruflied to pieces
in their hearts all the ties of Country, the place in
which their childhood had enjoyed felicity, might
be ftill their Capitol.

I would decorate it with piélures. Children, as
well as the vulgar, prefer painting to fculpture,
becaufe this laft prefents to them too many beau-
ties of convention. They do not love figures
completely white, but with ruddy cheeks and blue
eyes, like their images in plafter. They are more
ftruck with colours than with forms. I could wilh
to exhibit to them the portraits of our infant
Kings. Cyrus J brought up with the children of his
own age, formed them into heroes i ours fhould
be educated, at leaft, with the images of our So-
vereigns. They would affume, at light of them,
the firft fentiments of the attachment which they
owe to the Fathers of their Country.

I would prcfent them with pictures after reli-
gious fubjedts; not fuch as are terrifying, and
which are calculated to excite Man to repentance;
but thofe which have a tendency to encourage in-
nocence. Such would be that of the Virgin, hold-
ing the infant Jesus in her arms. Such would be
that of Jesus himfelf in the midft of children, dif-

playing

35© STUDIES OF NATURE.

playing in their attitudes, and in their features, the
limplicity and the confidence of their age, and
fuch as Le Sueur would have painted them. Be-
neath, there might be infcribed thefe words of
Jesus Christ himfelf;

S'lnite parvulos ad me venire»

SUFFER LITTLE CHILDREN TO COME TO ME.

Were it neceflary to reprefent, in this fchool,
any ad of juftice, there might be a painting of the
fruiilefs fig-tree withering away at his command.
It would exhibit the leaves of that tree curling up,
it's branches twilling, it's bark cracking, and the
whole plant, flruck with terror-, perifhing under
the maledidion of the Author of Nature.

There might be inferted fome fimple and (hort
infcription, from the Gofpel, fuch as this :

LOVE ONE ANOTHER.

Or this :

COME UNTO ME, ALL YE THAT ARE HEAVY LADEN,

AND

I WILL GIVE YOU REST.

Aod

STUDY XIV. 331

. And that maxim already neceflary to the infant
mind :

VIRTUE CONSISTS

IN PREFERRING

THE PUBLIC GOOD TO OUR OWN.
And that other :

IN ORDER TO BE VIRTUOUS,

A MAN
Muji rejtjl his Propenfities, his Inclinations^ his 'Tajlès^

AND MAINTAIN

An incejjant ConJii£i with himfelf*

But there are infcriptions to which hardly any
attention is paid, and the meaning of which is of
much higher importance to children ; thefe are
their own names. Their names are infcriptions,
which they carry with them wherever they go. It
is impofîible to conceive the influence which they
have upon their natural charadVer. Our name is
the firft and the lad pofleffion which is at our own
difpofal ; it determines, from the days of infancy,
our inclinations ; it employs our attention through
life, nay, tranfports us beyond the grave. I have
flill a name left, is the refledion. It is a name
that ennobles, or difhonours the earth. The rocks
of Greece, and of Italy, are neither more ancient,
nor more beautiful, than thofe of the other parts

of

352 STUDIES OF NATURE.

of the Worlds but we efteem them more, becaufe
they are dignified by more beautiful names. A
medal is nothing but a bit of copper, frequently
eaten with ruft, but it acquires value from being
decorated by an illuftrious name.

I could vv'fli, therefore, to have children diftin-
guifhed by interefting names. A lad fathers him-
felf upon his name. If it inclines toward any
vice, or if it furniflies matter for ridicule, as many
of ours do, his mind takes a bias from it. Bayk
remarks, that a certain Inquifitor, named Torre-
Cremada, or the Burnt-Tower, had, in his life-
time, condemned I know not how many heretics
to the flames. A Cordelier, of the name of Feij-
Ardent (Ardent- Flame) is faid to have done as
much. There is a farther abfurdity, in giving
children, deftined to peaceful occupations, turbu-
lent and ambitious names, fuch as thofe of AieX'
ander and Cefar. It is ftill more dangerous to give
them ridiculous names. I have feen poor boys fo
tormented, on this account, by their companions,
and even by their own parents, from the (illy cir-
cumftance of a baptifmal name, which implied
fome idea of fimplicity and good-nature, that they
infenfibly acquired from it an oppofite charafler of
malignity and ferocioufnefs. Inftances of this are
numerous. Two of our mod fatyrical Writers, in
Theology and Poefy, were named, the one Blaise

Pafcaly

STUDY XI^. J33

Pafcal, and the other Colin Boileau. Cvlin implies
aothing farcaftic, faid his father. That one word
infufed the fpirit of farcafm into him. The auda-
cious villainy 0Ï James Clement, took it's birth,
perhaps, from fome jeft that pafled upon his
name.

Government, therefore, ought to interpofe in
the bufinefs of giving names to children, as they
have an influence fo tremendous on the charaders
of the citizens. I could vvifli, likewife, that to
their baptifmal name might be added a furname of
fome family, rendered illuftrious by virtue, as the
Romans did ; this fpecies of adoption would at-,
tach the little to the great, and the great to the
little. There were, at Rome, Scipios without num-
ber, in Plebeian families. Wc might revive, in
like manner, among our commonalty, the names
of our illuftrious families, fuch as the Fenelons,
the CaiinatSy the Montav/iers, and the like.

I would not make ufe, in this fchool, of noify
bells, to announce the different exercifes, but of
the found of flutes, of hautboys, and of bag-pipes.
Every thing they learned (hould be verfified, and
fet to' mufic. The influence of thefe two arts
united is beyond all conception. I fliall produce
fome examples of it, taken from the Legiflation of
A People, whofe police was the beft, perhaps, in

the

334 STUDIES OF NATURE.

the World ; I mean that of Sparta. Hear what
Phtarch fays on the fubjeél, in his life of Lycurgus*
" Lycurgus, then, having taken leave of his Coun-
" try," (to efcape the calumnies which were the
reward of his virtues) " direded his courfe, firft,
*' towards Candia, where he ftudied the Cretan
" laws and government, and made an acquaint-
" ance with the principal men of the Country.
" Some of their laws he much approved, and re-
*' folved to make ufe of them in his own Country;
'' others he rejeâied. Amongft the perfons there,
*' the mod renowned for ability and wifdom, in
*' political affairs, was Thaïes, whom Lycurgus, by
*' repeated importunities, and aflurances of friend-
" fliip, at lad perfuaded to go over to Lacedemon.
** When he came thither, though he profefled only
" to be a lyric poet, in reality he performed the
" part of the ablefl legillator. The very fongs
*' which he compofed, were pathetic exhortations
*' to obedience and concord ; and the fweetnefs
*' of the mufic, and the cadence of the verfe,
" had fo powerful, and fo pleafmg an effeâ:,
*' upon the hearers, that they were infenfibly foft-
*' ened and civilized; and, at laft, renouncing
*' their mutual feuds and animolities, united in the
** love of humanity and good order. So that it
*' may truly be faid, that Thaïes prepared the way
" for Lycurgus, by difpofing the People to receive
" his inftitutions.'*

Lycurgus

STUDY xiv. 335

Lycurgus farther introduced among them the ufe
of mùfic, in various fpecies of exercife, and, among
others, into the art of war*. *' When their army
" was drawn up, and the enemy near, the King
" facrificed a goat, commanded the foldiers to fet
** their garlands upon their heads, and the mufi-
** cians to play the tune of the Hymn to Cajior, and
*' he himfelf advancing forwards, began the P^an,
" which ferved for a fignal to fall on. It was at
*' once a folemn and a terrible fight, to fee them
*' march on to the combat, cheerfully and fedately,
** without any diforder in their ranks, or difcom-
" pofure in their minds, meafuring their fleps by
** the mufic of their flutes. Men in this temper
" were not likely to be poffeffed with fear, or
" tranfported with fury ; but they proceeded with
** a deliberate valour, and confidence of fuccefs,
** as if fome divinity had fenfibly aflifted them."

Thus, confidering the difference of modern Na-
tions, mufic would ferve to reprefs their courage,
rather than to excite it ; and they had no occafion,
for that purpofe, of bears-fkin caps, nor of brandy,
nor of drums.

If mufic and poetry had fo much power at
Sparta, to recal corrupted men to the pradlice of

* Plutarch\ Life of Lycurgus,

virtue.

^^6 STUDIES OF NATURE.

virtue, and afterwards to govern them ; what in-
fluence would they not have over our children in
the age of innocence ? Who could ever forget the
facred Laws of Morality, were they fet to mufic,
and in verfes as enchanting as thofe of the Devin
du Village P From fimiliar inflitutions, there might
be produced, among us, Poets as fublime as the
fage Thaïes, or as TyrtaiiSy who compofed the Hymn
of Cafior.

Thefe arrangements being made for our chil-
dren, the firft branch of their education fhould be
Religion. I would begin with talking to them
about God, in the view of engaging them to fear
and love Him, but to fear Him, without making
Him an objeâ; of terror to them. Terrifying views
of God generate fuperftition, and infpire horrible
apprehenfions of priefts and of death. The firft
precept of Religion is to love God. Love, and do
zvhat you tvill, was the faying of a Saint. We are
enjoined by Religion to love Him above all things.
W^e are encouraged to addrefs onrfelves to Him as
to a Father. If we are commanded to fear Him,
k is only with a relation to the love which we owe
Him ; becaufe we ought to be afraid of offending
the perfon whom we are bound to love. Befides,
I am very far from thinking, that a child is inca-
pable of having any idea of God before fourteen
years of age, as has been advanced by a Writer

whom,

STUDY XÎV. 337

whom, in other refpefts, I love. Do we not con-
vey to the youngeft children, fentiments of fear,
and of averfion, for metaphyfical objeâis, which
have no exiftence ? Wherefore (hould they not
be infpired with confidence and love for the
Being who fills univerfal Nature with his bene-
ficence ? Children have not the ideas of God fuch.
as are taught by fyflems of Theology and Philo-
fophy ; but they are perfeclly capable of having
the fentiment of him, which, as we have feen, is
the reafon of Nature. This very fentiment has
been exalted among them, during the time of the
Crufades, to fuch a height of fervor, as to induce
multitudes of them to alTume the Crofs for the con-
quefl of the Holy Land. Would to God I had
preferved the fentiment of the exiftence of the
Supreme Being, and of his principal attributes, as
pure as I had it in my earlieft years ! It is the heart,
ftill more than the underftanding, that Religion
demands. And which heart, I befeech you, is
mofl filled with the Deity, and the mofl agree-
able in his fight ; that of the child who, elevated
with the fentiment of Him, raifes his innocent
hands to Heaven, as he ftammers out his prayer,
or of the fchoolman, who pretends to explain His
Nature.

It is very eafy to communicate to children ideas

of God, and of virtue. The daifies fpringing up

VOL. IV. z among

5^8 STUDIES OF NATtTRE.

among the grafs, the fruits fufpended on the trees
of their enclofure, fliould be their firft leflbns in'
Theology, and their firft exercifes of abftinence,
and of obedience to the Laws. Their minds might
be fixed on the principal objed; of Religion, by
the pure and fimple recitation of the life of Jesus
Christ in the Gofpel. They would learn in their
Creed, all that they can know of the nature of
God, and in the Pater-noJIer, every thing that tbey
can aik of Him.

It is worthy of remark, that of all the Sacred
Books, there is no one which children take in with
fo much facihty as the Gofpel. It would be proper
to habituate them betimes, in a particular manner,
to perform the aftrons which are there enjoined,
without vain glory, and without any refpeil ta
human obfervation or applauie. They ought to
be trained ap, therefore, in the habit of preventing
each other in ads of friendfhip, in mutual defe-
rence, and in good offices of every kind.

All the children of citizens fhould be admitted
into this National School, without making a fingle
exception. 1 would infift only on the mod perfedt
cleanlinefs, were they, in other refpeds, drefled
but in patches fewed together. There you might
fee the child of a man of quality, attended by his
governor, arrive in an equipage, and take his place

Dv

sTUDt xiv. 339

by the fide of a peafant's child, leaning on his
little ftick, drefled in canvas, in the very middle of
winter, and carryings in a fatchel, his little books,
and his flice of brown bread, for the provifion of
the whole day. Thus they would both learn to
know each other, before they came to be feparated
for ever. The child of the rich man would be in-
fhrudted to impart of his fuperfluity, to him who
is frequently deftined to fupport the affluent out
of his own neceflary pittance. Thefe children, of
all ranks, crowned with flowers, and diftributed
into choirs, would affift in our public procefiions.
Their age, their order, their fongs, and their in-
nocence, would prefent, in thefe, a fpeftacle more
auguft, than the lackeys of the Great bearing the
coats of arms of their mafters palled to wax-tapers,
and beyond all contradidion, much more affeâ:ing
than the hedges of foldiers and bayonets with
whit h, on fuch occalions, a God of Peace is en-
compafled,

Tn this fchool, children might be taught to read
and to cipher. Ingenious men have, for this effedV,
contrived boards, and methods fimple, prompt,
and agreeable , but fchoolmaflers have been at
great pains to render them uftlefs, becaufe they
deftroyed their empire, and made education pro-
ceed fafter tiian was conlîftent with their emolu-
ment. If you wilh children to learn quickly to

z 2 read.

34"^ STUDIES OF NATURE.

read, put a fugar-plumb over each of their letters ;
they will foon have their alphabet by heart ; and
if you multiply or diminilh the number of them,
they will foon become arithmeticians. However
that may be, they fliall have profited wonderfully
in this fchool of their Country, (liould they leave
it without having learned to read, write, and ci-
pher; but deeply penetrated with this one truth,
that to read, write, and cipher, and all the Sciences
in the World, are mere nothings ; but that to be
fincere, good, obliging; to love God and Man, is-
the only Science worthy of the human heart.

At the fécond era of education, which 1 fuppofe
to be about the age of from ten to twelve, when
their intelledual powers reftlefsly ftir, and prefs
forward, to the imitation of every thing that they
fee done by others, 1 would have them inftruded
in the means which men employ in making pro-
vifion for the wants of Society. I would not pre-
tend to teach them the five hundred and thirty
arts and handicrafts which are carried on at Paris,
but thofe only which are fubfervient to the firft
neceffities of human life, fuch as agriculture, the
different procefles employed in making bread, the
arts which, in the pride of our hearts, we denomi-
nate mechanical, fuch as thofe of fpinning flax and
hemp, of weaving thefe into cloth, and that of
building houfes. To thefe I would join the ele-
ments

STUDY XIV. 341

mcnts of the natural Sciences, in which thofe va-
rious handicrafts orioinated, the elements of Geo-
metry, and the experiments of Natural Philofophy,
which have invented nothing in this refpeâ:, but
which explain their proceffcs with much pomp and
parade.

I would, likewife, have them made acquainted
with the liberal arts, fuch as thofe of drawing, of
architedlure, of fortification, not in the view of
making painters of them, or architedls, or engi-
neers, but to fliew them in what manner their ha-
bitation is conftruded, and how their Courttry is
defended. I would make them obferve, as an anti-
dote to the vanity which the Sciences infpire, that
Man, amidft fuch a variety of arts and operations,
has imagined no one thing; that he has imitated,
in all his productions, either the fkill of the ani-
mal creation, or the operations of Nature; that
his induftry is a teftimony of the mifery to which
he is condemned, whereby he is laid under the ne-
cefFity of maintaining an inceflant confliâ: againft
the elements, againft hunger and thirft, againft his
fellow men, and, what is moft difficult of all, againft
himfelf. I would make them fenfible of thefe re-
lations of the truths of Religion, with thofe of Na-
ture ; and I would thus difpofe them to love the
clafs of ufeful men, who are continually providing
for their wants.

z c» I would

342- STUDIES OF NATURE.

Î would alwaj's endeavour, in the courfe of this
education, to make the exercifes of the body go
hand in hand with thofe of the mind. Accord-
ingl3% while they were acquiring the knowledge of
the ufeful arts, I would have them taught Latin. I
would not teach it them metaphyfically and gram-
matically, as in our colleges, and which is forgot-
ten much fafler than it was attained, but they
fliould learn it pradically. Thus it is that the Po-
lilh peafantry acquire it, who fpeak it fluently all
their life-time, though they have never been at
college. They fpeak it in a very intelligible man-
ner, as I know by experience, having travelled
through their Country. The ufe of that language
has been, I imagine, propagated among them, by
certain exiles from ancient Rome, perhaps Ovid,
who was fent into banifhment among the Sarma-
tians, their Anceftors, and for the memory of
which Poet they flill preferve the higheft venera-
tion. It is nor, fay our Liierati, the Latin of
Cicero. But what is that to the purpofe ? It is not
becaufe thefe peafants have not a competent know-
ledge of the Latin tongue, that they are incapable
of Ipeaking the language of Cicero; but becaufe,
being ilaves, they do not underftand the language
of liberty. Our French pcafants would not com-
prehend the beft tranflations which could be made
of that Author, v/ere they the production even of
the Univerllty. But a Savage of Canada would

take

STUDY XIV. 343

cake them in perfedly, and better than many Pro-
feffors of eloquence. It is the tone of foul of the
perfon who liftens, which gives the comprehenfion
of the language of him who fpeaks. A projeét was
once formed, 1 think under Louis X\V. of building
a city, in which no language but Latin was to
iiave been fpoken. This muft have inconceivably
facilitated the ftudy of that tongue ; but the Uni-
verfity, undoubtedly, would not have found it's
account in it. Whatever may be in this, I am
well affured, that two years, at moft, are fufficienc
for the children of the National School, to learn
the Latin by practice, efpecially if, in the leflures
which they attended, extracts were given from the
lives of great men, French and Roman, written
in good Latin, and afterwards well explained.

In the third period of Education, nearly about
the age when the paffions begin to take flight, I
would flievv, to ingenuous youth, the pure and
gentle language of them, in the Eclogues arid
Georgics of Firgil; the philofophy of them, in
feme of the Odes of Horace ; and pidiures of their
corruption, taken from Tacitus and Sueloniîis. I
would finifh the painting of the hideous excefTcs .
into which they plunge Mankind, by exhibiting
paiTages from fome Hiftorian of the Lower Em-
pire. I would make them rcm^irk how talents,.

z 4 taile.

344 STUDIES OF NATURE. -

tafte, knowledge, and eloquence, funk at once
among the Ancients, together with manners and
virtue. I would be very careful not to fatigue
my pupils with reading of this fort ; I would point
out to them only the more poignant paffages, in
order to excite in them a defire to know the reft.
My aim fliould be, not to lead them through a
courfe of Virgil, of Horace^ and of Tacitus, but a
real courfe of claffical learning, by uniting in their
ftudies whatever men of genius have .confidered as
beft adapted to the perfeding of human nature.

I would likewifehave them praflically inftrudled
in the knowledge of the Greek tongue, which is
on the point of going into total difufe among us,
I would make them acquainted with Homer, prin-
cipium Japienîia IE fons, (the original fource of Wif-
dom) as Horace, with perfed propriety calls him ;
with Herodotus, the father of Hiftory ; with fome
maxims from the fublime book qÎ Marcus Aurelius,
I would endeavour to make them fenfible how,
at all times, talents, virtues, great men, and States,
flouriQied together, with confidence in the Divine
Providence. But, in order to communicate greater
weight to thefe eternal truths, I would intermingle
with them., the enchanting fludies of Nature, of
■which they had hitherto feen only fome faint
fketches in the greateft Writers.

I would

STUDY XIV. 345

I would make them remark the difpofition of
this Globe, fufpended, in a moft incomprehenlVble
manner, upon nothing, with an infinite number
of different Nations in motion over it's folid, and
over it's liquid furface. I would point out to them,
in each climate, the principal plants which are ufe-
ful to human life; the animals which ftand re-
lated to thofe plants, and to their foil, without ex-
tending farther. I would then fhew them the hu-
man race, who alone, of all fenfible beings, are
univerfally difperfed, mutually to affift each other,
and to gather, at once, all the produdions of Na-
ture. I would let them fee, that the interefts of
Princes are not different from thofe of other men ;
and that thofe of every Nation are the fame with
the interefts of their Princes. I would fpeak of
the different Laws by which the Nations are go-
verned ; I would lead them to an acquaintance
with thofe of their own Country, of which moft of
our citizens are entirely ignorant. I would give
them an idea of the principal religions which divide
the Earth; and I vi^ould demonftrate to them, how
highly preferable Chriftianity is to all the political
Laws, and to all the religions of the World, be-
caufe it alone aims at the felicity of the whole hu-
man race. I would make them fenfible, that it is
the Chriftian Religion which prevents the different
ranks of Society from dafliing themfelves to pieces
by mutual collifion, and which gives them equal

powers

34^ STUDIES OF NATURE.

powers of bearing up under the preffure of un-
equal weights. From thefe fubHme confiderations,
the love of their Country would be kindled in
thofe youthful hearts, and would acquire increafing
ardor from the fpeétacle of her very calamities.

I would intermix thefe afFefting fpeculations
with exercifes, ufeful, agreeable, and adapted to
the vivacity of their time of life. 1 would have
them taught to fwim, not fo much by way of fe-
curity from danger, in the event of fuffering (hip-
wreck, as in the view of alTifting perfons, who may
happen to be in that dreadful fituation. What-,
ever particular advantage they might derive from
their ftudies, I would never propofe to them any
other end, but the good of their fellow-creature.
They would make a mod wonderful progrefs in
thefe, did they reap no other fruit except that of
concord, and the love of Country.

In the beautiful feafon of the year, when the
corn is reaped, about the beginning of September,
I would lead them out into the country, embodied
under various ftandards. I would prefent them with
the image of war. I would make them lie on the
grafs, under the fliade of forefts : there, they
iliould themfelves prepare their own vidluals; they
Ihould learn to attack, and to defend a poll, to
crofs a river by fwimming^ they fliould learn the

ufe

STUDY XIV.

347

ufe of fire-arms, and, at the fame time, to pradife
the evolutions borrowed from the tactics of the
Greeks, who are our mafters in every branch of
knowledge. I would bring into difrepute, by
means of thefe mihtary exercifes, the tafte for
fencing, which renders the foldiery formidable only
to citizens, an art ufelefs, and even hurtful in war,
reprobated by all great Commanders, and deroga-
tory to courage, as Philop^^men alleged. ** In my
■*' younger days," fays Michael Montaigne ^ *' the
*' nobility difclaimed the praife of being ikilful
*^ fencers, as injurious to their charadter, and
*' learned that art by ftealth, as a matter of trick,
?' inconfidentwith real native valour*.'* This art,
generated in the lame fociety, of the hatred of the
lower clafles to the higher, who opprefs them, is
an importation from Italy, where the military art
exifts no longer. It is this which keeps up the
{pirit of duelling among us. We have not derived
that fpirit from the Nations of the North, as fo
many Writers have taken upon them to afl'ert.
Duels are hardly known in Ruffia and in Pruilia ;
and altogether unknown to the Savages of the
North. Italy is their narive foil, as may be ga-
thered from the mofl celebrated treatifes on fenc-
ing, and from the terms of that art, which are
Italian, as tierce, quarte. It has been naturalized

* Efiays q{ Michael Montaigne. Bt)ok ii. chap. 27.

among

548 STUDIES OF NATURE.

among us, through the weaknefs and corruption
of many women, who are far from being difpleafed
with having a bully for a lover. To thofe moral
caufes, no doubt, we mult afciibe that flrange
contradidion in our government, which prohibits
duelling, and, at the fame time, permits the public
exercife of an art, which pretends to teach nothing
clfe but how to fight duels*. The pupils trained in
the National Schools (hould be taught to entertain
a very different idea of courage; and in the courfe
of their ftudies, they fliould perform a courfe of
human life, in which they fliould be inftruded in
what manner they ought one day to demean thcm-
felves toward a fellow-citizen, and toward an
enemy.

The feafon of youth would glide away agreeably
and ufefuUy, amidft fuch a number of employ-
ments. The mind and the body would expand

* Fencing-mafters tell us that their art expands the body, and
teaches to walk gracefully, Dancing-mafters fay the fame thing
of theirs. As a proof that they are miftaken, both thefe clafTes
of gentlemen are readily diftinguiflied by their afFci^ied manner
of walking. A citizen ought to have neither the attitude nor
the movements of a gladiator. But if the art of fencing be ne-
ceiTarv, duelling ought to be permitted by public authority, in
order to relieve perfons of charafter from the cruel alternative of
equally diftionouring themfelves, by violating the Laws of the
State and of Religion, or by obferving them. In truth, worth-
lefs people are, among us, very much at their eafe.

STUDY XÏV. 349

at one and the fame time. The natural talents,
frequently unknown in moft men, would manifeft
themfelves at fight of the different objeâ:s which
might be prefented to them. More than one
Achilles would feel his blood all on fire on behold-
ing a fword : more than one FancanfoUy at the af-«
peel of a piece of machinery, would begin to me-
ditate on the means of organizing wood or brafs. .

The attainment of all this various knowledge,
I (hall be told, will require a very confiderable
quantity of time : but, if we take into confidera-
tion that which is fquandered away in our colleges,
in the tirefome repetitions of lefTons; in the gram-
matical decompofitions and explications of the
Latin tongue, which âio not communicate to the
fcholar fo much as facility in fpeaking it; and in
the dangerous competitions of a vain ambition, it
is impoffible not to admit that we have been pro-
pofing to make a much better ufe of it. The
fcholars, every day, fcribble over, in them, as
much paper as fo many attorneys*, fo much the

more

* Ï am perfuaded, that if this plan of education, indigefted as
it is, were to be adopted, one of the greatefl obfi:acIes to the uni-
verfal renovation of our knowledge and morals would be, not
Regents, not academical Inftitutions, not Univerfity Privileges,
not the fquare caps of Doclors. It would come from the Paper
Merchants, one of whofe principal branches of commerce would

thereby

3i50 STtJDIES OF NATURE.

more unprofitably, that, thanks to the printing of
the books, the verfions, or themes, of which they
copy, they have no occafioh for all this irkfome
labour. But on what fliould the Regents them-
felves employ their own time, if the pupils did not
wade theirs >

In the National Schools, every thing would gd
on after the academic manner of the Greek Philo-
fophers. The pupils (hould there purfue their
ftudies, fometimes feated, fometimes flanding;
fometimes in the fields, at other times in the am-
phitheatre, or in the park which furrounded it.
There would be no occafion for either pen, or pa-
per, or ink j every one would bring with him only
the claflical book which might contain the fubjed:
of the lefTon. I have had frequent experience that
we forget what we commit to writing. That which
I have conveyed to paper, I difcharge from my
memory, and very foon from my recolledtive fa-
culty. I have become fenfible of this with refpedt
to complete Works, which I had fairly tranfcribed,
and which appeared to me afterward as ftrange, as
if they had been the produ(5lion of a different hand
from my own. This does not take place with re-

thereby be reduced to almoft nothing. There might be devifed
happy and glorious compenfations for the privileges of the Maf-
ters : but a money objection, in this venal age, feems to me abfo-
lutely unanfwerable,

gard

<

STUDY XIV. 35t

gard to the impreffions which the converfation of
another leaves upon our mind, efpecially if it be
accompanied with ftriking circumftances. The
tone of voice, the gefture, the irefpea: due to the
orator, the refleâiions of the company, concur in
engraving on the memory the words of adifcourfe,
much better than writing does, I fhall again
quote, to this purpofe, the authority of Plutarch^
or rather that of Lycurgus»

*' But it is carefully to be remarked, that Lycurgns

* would never permit any one of his Laws to be

* committed to writing; it is accordingly exprefsly
' enjoined by one of the fpecial ftatutes, which
' he calls p/^rpà; (oracular, paEla conventa^ Inftitutes)
' that none of his Inftitutes fhall be copied ; becaufe
' whatever is of peculiar force and efficacy toward

* rendering a city happy and virtuous, it was his
' opinion, ought to be impreffed by habitual cul-

* ture on the hearts and manners of men, in order
'• to make the charadlers indelible. Good-will is
' more powerful than any other mode of conftraint
' to which men can be fubjefted, for by means of

* it, every one becomes a Law unto himfelf *.'*

The heads of ©ur young people fhould nor,
then, be oppreffed, in the National Schools, with

* Plutarch^ Life oi Lycurgus,

an

%^Z STtJDIES OF I7ATURE.

an unprofitable and praltling Science. Sometimes
they (hould defend, among themfelves, the caufe
of a citizen ; fometimes they fhould deliver their
opinion refpeding a public event. They fliould
purfue the procefs of an art through it's whole:
courfe. Their eloquence would be a real elo-
quence, and their knowledge real knowledge*
They fliould employ their minds on no abftrufe
Science, in no ufelefs refcarch, which are ufually
the fruit of pride. In the ftudies which I propofe,
every thing fhould bring us back to Society, to
Concord, to Religion, and to Nature.

I have no need to fnggeft, that thefe feveral
Schools fhould be decorated correfpondently to
their ufe, and that the exterior of them all fliould
ferve as walking places and afylums to the People,
efpecially during the long and gloomy days of
Winter. There they fliould every day behold
fpedacles more proper to infpire them with vir-
tuous fentiments, and with the love of their coun-
try, I do not fay than thofe of the Boulevards, or
than the dances of Vauxhall, but even than the
tragedies of Corneille.

There fhould be among thofe young people, no
fuch thing as reward, nor puniQiment, nor emula-
tion, and, confequently, ijp envy. The only pu-
niihment there inflided fhould be, to banifli from

the

STUDY XiVé 3^3

the aflembly the perfon who (hould difturb it, and
even that only for a time proportioned to the fault
of the offender: and, withal, this fliould rather be
an aâ: of juftice than a punifhment ; for I would
have no manner of fhame to attach to that exile.
But, if you wifh to form an idea of fuch an affem-
bly, conceive, inftead of our young collegians, pale,
penfive, jealous, trembling about the fate of their
unfortunate comportions, a multitude of young
perfons gay, content, attracted by pleafure to vaft
circular halls, in which are ercdled, here and there,
the ftatues of the illuftrious men of Antiquity, and
of their own Country ; behold them all attentive
to the matter's leffons, affifting each other in com-
prehending them, in retaining them, and in re-
plying to his unexpedled queftions. One tacitly
fuggefts an anfwer to his neighbour : another
makes an excufe for the negligence of his abfent
comrade.

Reprefent to yourfelf the rapid progrefs of ftu-
dies elucidated by intelligent mafters, and drunk
in by pupils who are mutually affifting each other
in fixing the impreffion of them. Figure to your-
felf Science fpreading among them, as the fiame in a
pile, all the pieces of which are nicely adjufted,
communicates from one to another, till the whole
becomes one blaze. Obferve among them, in-
ftead of a vain emulation, union, benevolence,

VOL. IV. A a friendship.

354 STUDIES OF NATURE,

friendfhip, for an anfwer feafonably fuggefted, for
an apology made in behalf of one abfent by his
comrades, and other little fervices rendered and
repaid. The recolledion of thofe early intimacies
will farther unite them in the World, notwith-
flanding the prejudices of their various conditions.

At this tender age it is that gratitude and refent-
ment become engraved, for the reft of life, as in-
delibly as the elements of Science and of Religion.
It is not fo in our colleges, where every fcholar
attempts to fupplant his neighbour. I recoiled:
that one exercife day, I found myfelf very much
embarrafled, from having forgotten a Latin Au-
thor, out of which I had a page to tranflate. One
of my neighbours obligingly offered to diftate to
me the verfion which he had made from it. 1 ac-
cepted his fervices, with many expreffions of ac-
knowledgment. I accordingly copied his verfion,
only changing a few words, that the Regent might
not perceive it to be the fame with my compa-
nion's; but that which he had given me was only
a falfe copy of his own, and was filled with blun-
ders fo extravagant, that the Regent was aftonifhed
at it, and could not believe it, at firft, to be my
production, for 1 was a tolerably good fcholar. I
have not loft the recolleclion of that aâ: of perfidy,
though, in truth, I have forgotten others much
more cruel which I have encountered fince that pe-
riod ;

STUDY XIV. 355

riod; but the firft age of human life is the feafon
of refentments, and of grateful feelings, which are
never to be effaced.

I recoiled: periods of time ftill more remote.
When I went to fchool in frocks, I fometimes loft
my books through heedlefTnefs. I had a nurfe
named Mary Talbot, who bought me others with
her own money, for fear of my being whipped at
fchool. And, of a truth, the recoUeftion of thofe
petty fervices has remained fo long, and fo deeply
imprinted on my heart, that I can truly affirm, no
perfon in the World, my mother excepted, poffef-
fed my affedtion fo uniformly, and fo conftantly.
That good and poor creature frequently took a
cordial intereft in my ufelefs projedts for acquiring
a fortune. I reckoned on repaying her with ufury,
in her old age, when (he was in a manner defticute,
the tender care which (he took of my infancy ;
but fcarcely has it been in my power to give her
fome trifling and inadequate tokens of my good-
will. I relate thefe recollediions, traces of which
every one of my Readers probably pofTefTes,
fomewhat fimilar, and ftill more interefting, re-
lating to himfelf, and to his own childhood, to
prove to what a degree the early feafon of life
would be naturally the era of virtue and of grati-
tude, were it not frequently depraved among us,
through the faultinefs of our inftitution^.

A a 2 But^

350 STUDIES OF NATURE,

But, before we could pretend to eftablilh thefe
National Schools, we mufl; have men formed to
prefide in them. I would not have them chofen
from among thofe who are moft powerfully recom-
mended. The more recommendations they might
have, the more would they be given to intrigue,
and, confequently, the lefs would be their virtue.
The enquiry made concerning them ought not to
be, Is he a wit, a bright man, a Philofopher ? But,
Is he fond of children ? Does he frequent the un-
fortunate rather than the great ? Is he a man of
fenfibility ? Does he poffefs virtue ? With perfons
offucha charaéler, we fhould be furnifhed with
mafhers proper for conducing the public educa-
tion. Befides, I could wifh to change the appella-
tion of Mafter and Dodor, as harfh and lofty. I
would have their titles to import the friends of
childhood, the fathers of the Country 5 and thefe I
would have exprefled by beautiful Greek names,
in order to unite to the refpeâ: due to their func-
tions, the myfterioufnefs of their titles. Their con-
dition, as being deftined to form citizens for the
Nation, fhould be, at leaft, as noble, and as di-
flinguilhtd, as that of the Squires who manage
horles in the Courts cf Princes. A titled magi-
ftrate fliould prefide every day in each fchool. It
would be very becoming, that the magiPcrates
fhould caufe to be trained up, under their own
eyes, to juftice, and to the Laws, the children

whom

STUDY XIV.

357

whom they are one day to judge and to govern
as men. Children, likewife, are citizens in mi-
niature. A nobleman of the higheft rank, and
of the moft eminent accomplifhments, fliould
have the general fiiperintendance of thefe National
Schools, more important, beyond all contradidion,
than that of the ftuds of the kingdom ; and to the
end that men of letters, given to low flattery, might
not be tempted to infert in the public papers, the
days on which he was to vouchjafe to make his vi-
fits to them, this fublime duty Ihould have no re-
venue annexed to it, and the only honour that
could poffibly be claimed, (hould be that of pre-
(idingo

Would to God it were in my power to conci-
liate the education of women to that of men, as at
Sparta ! But our manners forbid it. I do not be-
lieve, however, that there could be any great in-
conveniency in aflbciating, in early life, the chil-
dren of both fexes. Their fociety communicates
mutual grace ; befides, the firft elements of civil
life, of religion, and of virtue, are the fame for the
one and for the other. This firft epoch excepted,
young women fhould learn nothing of what' men
ought to know ; not that they are to remain al-
ways in ignorance of it, but that they may receive
inftrudion with increafed pleafure, and one day
find teachers in their lovers. There is this moral
A a 3 difference.

358 STUDIES OF NATURE.

difference between man and woman, that the man
owes himfelf to his country, and the woman is de-
voted to the fehcity of one man alone. A young
woman will never attain this end, but by acquiring
a relifh for the employments fuitable to her fex.
To no purpofe would you give her a complete
courfe of the Sciences, and make her a Theologian
or a Philofopher : a hufband does not love to find
either a rival or an inftriiftor in his wife. Books
and mafters, with us, blight betimes in a young
female, virgin ignorance, that flower of the
foul, which a lover takes fuch delight in ga-
thering. They rob a hufband of the moft delicious
charm of their union, of thofe inter- communica-
tions of amorous fcience, and native ignorance, fo
proper for filling up the long days of married life.
They deftroy thofe contrafts of charader which
Nature has eftablilhed between the two fexes, in
order to produce the mod lovely of harmonies.

Thefe natural contrafts are fo neceflary to love,
that there is not a fingle female celebrated for the
attachment with which fhe infpired her lovers, or
her hufband, who has been indebted for her em-
pire to any other attraflions than thjs amufements
or the occupations peculiar to her fex, from the
age of Penelope down to the prefent. We have
them of all ranks, and of all charaélers, but not
one of them learned. Such of them as have me-
rited

STUDY XIV. 359

rited this defcription, have Hkewife been, almofl
all of them, unfortunate in love, from Sappho down.
to Chrijiina^ Queen of Sweden, and even ftill nearer
to us. It fhould be, then, by the fide of her mo-
ther, of her father, of her brothers and fifters, that
a young woman ought to derive inftruflion re-
fpedling her future duties of mother and wife.
In her father's houfe it is that fhe ought to learn
a multitude of domeftic arts, at this day unknown
to our highly bred dames,

I have oftener than once, in the courfe of this
Work, fpoken in high terms of the felicity enjoyed
in Holland ; however, as I only pafl'ed through
that country, I have but a flight acquaintance
with their domeftic manners. This much, never-
thelefs, I know, that the women there are con-
flantly employed in houfhold affairs, and that the
mofl undifturbed concord reigns in families. But
I enjoyed, at Berlin, an image of the charms which
thofe manners, held in fuch contempt among us,
are capable of diffufing over domçftic Hfe. A
friend whom Providence raifed up for me in that
city, where I was an entire ftranger, introduced me
to a fociety of young ladies ; for, in Prufïïa, thefe
alTemblies are held, not in the apartments of the
married women, but of their daughters. This
cuftom is kept up in all the families which have
not been corrupted by the manners of our French

A a 4 officers,

360 STUDIES OF NAtURE.

officers, who were prifoners there in the laft war.
It is cuftomary, then, for the young ladies of the
fame fociety to invite each other, by turns, to af-
femblies, which they call coffee parties. They are
generally kept on Thurfdays. They go, accom-
panied by their mothers, to the apartments of
her who has given the invitation. She treats them
with creamed coffee, and every kind of paftry and
comfits, prepared by her own hand. She prefents
them, in the very depth of Winter, with fruits of
all forts, preferved in fugar, in colours, in verdure,
and in perfume, apparently as frefli as if they were
hanging on the tree. She receives from her com-
panions thoufands of compliments, which (he re-
pays with intereft.

But, by and by, (he difplays other talents.
Sometimes (he unrols a large piece of tapeftry, on
which (he labours night and day, and exhibits fo-
refts of willows, always green, which (he herfelf has
planted, and rivulets of mohair, which (he has fet
a-flowing with her needle. At other times, (he
weds her voice to the founds of a harpiichord, and
feems to have colledled into her chamber all the
fongfters of the grove. She requefts her compa-
nions to fing in their turn. Then it is you hear
clogium upon elogium. The mothers, enraptured
with delight, applaud themfelves in fecret, like
Niobe^ on the praifes given to their daughters :

Vertentant

STUDY XIV. 361

Pertenîant guad'ta peBus : (the bofom glows with
joy.) Some officers, booted, and in their uniform,
having flipped away by ftealth from the exercifes
of the parade, ftep in to enjoy, amidft this lovely
circle, fome moments of delightful tranquility ;
and while each of the young females hopes to find,
in one of them her proteftor and her friend, each
of the men fighs after the partner who is one day
to foothe, by the charm of domeflic talents, the
rigour of military labours. I never faw any coun-
try, in which the youth of both fexes difcovered
greater purity of manners, and in which marriages
were more happy.

There is no occafion, however, to have recourfe
to ftrangers, for proofs of the power of love over
fanfbity of manners. I afcribe the innocence of
thofe of our own peafantry, and their fidelity in
wedlock, to their being able, very early in life, to
give themfelves up to this honourable fentiment.
It is love which renders them content with their
painful lot : it even fufpends the miferies of fla-
very. I have frequently feen, in the Ifle of France,
black people, after being exhaufted by the fatigues
of the day, fet off, as the night approached, to vifit
their miftrefles, at the diftance of three or four
leagues. They keep their affignation in the midft
of the woods, at the foot of a rock, where they
kindle a fire ; they dance together a great part of

the

362 STUDIES OF NATURE.

the night, to the found of their tamtam^ and return
to their labour before day-break, contented, full
of vigour, and as frefh as thofe who have llept
foundly all night long : fuch is the power pof-
feffed by the moral afFedions, which combine
with this fentiment, over the phyfical organization.
The night of the lover diffufes a charm over the
day of the Have.

We have, in Scripture, a very remarkable in-
flance to this effeâ: ; it is in the book of Genefis 5
** Jacob,** it is there written, " ferved feven years
" for Rachel-, and they feemed unto him but a few
" days, for the love he had to her *.'* I am per-
fedly aware that our politicians, who fet no value
on any thing but gold and titles, have no concep-
tion of all this ; but I am happy in being able to
inform them, that no one ever better underftood
the Laws of Nature than the Authors of the Sa-
cred Books, and that on the Laws of Nature only,
can thofe of happily ordered Societies be efta-
bliHied.

I could Vv^ifli, therefore, that our young people
might have it in their power to cultivate the fenti-
ment of love, in the midft of their labours, as
Jacob did. No matter at what age; as foon as

* Genefis, chap. xxix. ver. 20.

we

STUDY XIV. 363

we are capable of feeling, we are capable of loving.
Honourable love fufpends pain, banilhes languor,
faves from proftitution, from the errors and the
reftlefsnefs of celibacy : it fills life with a thoufand
delicious perfpeftives, by difplaying, in futurity,
the moft defirable of unions : it augments, in the
heart of two youthful lovers, a relifh for ftudy, and
a tafte for domeflic employments. What pleafure
muft it afford a young man, tranfported with the
fcience which he has derived from his mafters, to
repeat the lefTons of it to the fair one whom he
loves ! What delight to a young and timid female,
to fee herfelf diftinguifhed amidft her companions,
and to hear the value, and the graces, of her little
ikill and induflry, exalted by the tongue of her
lover !

A young man, deftined one day to reprefs, on
the tribunal, the injuftice of men, is enchanted,
amidft the labyrinths of Law, to behold his mif-
trefs embroidering for him, the flowers which are
to decorate the afylum of their union, and to pre-
fent him with an image of the beauties of Nature,
of which the gloomy honours of his ftation are
going to deprive him for life. Another, devoted
to conduit the flame of war to the ends of the
Earth, attaches himfelf to the gentle fpirit of his
female friend, and flatters himfelf with the thought
that the mifchief which he may do to mankind,

fhall

364 STUDIES OF NATURE.

fhall be repaired by the bleffings which (he bellows
on the miferable. Friendlhips multiply in fami-
lies ; of the friend to the brother who introduces
him, and of the brother to the fifter. The kindred
are mutually attrafted. The young folks form
their manners j and the happy perfpeâiives which
their union difclofes, cherifli in them the love of
their feveral duties, and of virtue. Who knows
but thofe unconftrained choices, thofe pure and
tender ties, may fix that roving fpirit, which fome
have fuppofed natural to women ? They would re-
fpefl the bands which they themfelves had formed.
If, having become wives, they aim at pleafing
every body, it is, perhaps, becaufe when they were
fingle, they were not permitted to be in love with
one.

If there is room to hope for a happy revolution
in our Country, it is to be effedted only by calling
back the women to domeftic manners. What-
ever fatire may have been levelled againft: them,
they are lefs culpable than the men. They are
chargeable with hardly any vices, except thofe
which they receive from us ; and we have a great
many from which they are free. As to thofe which
are peculiar to themfelves, it may be affirmed, that
they have retarded our ruin, by balancing the
vices of our political conllitmion. It is impoffible
to imagine what mull have become of a ftate of

Society

STUDY XIV. 365

Society abandoned to all the abfurdities of our
education, to all the prejudices of our various con-
ditions, and to the ambitions of each contending
party, had not the women crofled us upon the
road. Our Hiftory prefents only the difputes of
monks with monks, of doftors with doélors, of
grandees with grandees, of nobles with the bafe-
born ; while crafty politicians gradually lay hold
of all our pofieffions. But for the women, all
thefe parties would have made a defert of the State,
and led the commonalty, to the very laft man, to
the Slaughter, or to market, a piece of advice
which was aélually given not many years ago. Ages
have elapfed, in which we fhould all have been
Cordeliers, born and dying encircled with the cord
of St. Francis ; in others, all would have taken to
the road in the character of knights-errant, ram-
bling over hill and dale with lance in hand ; in
others, all penitents, parading through the ftreets
of our cities, in folemn procédions, and whipping
ourfelves to fome purpofe ; in others, quifquis or
quamquam of the Univerlity.

The women, thrown out of their natural (late,
by our unjuft manners, turn every thing upfide
down, laugh at every thing, deftroy every thing,
the great fortunes, the pretenfions of pride, and
the prejudices of opinion. Women have only one

paffion.

366 STUDIES OF NATURE.

paffion, which is love, and this paffion has only
one obje(5t ; whereas men refer every thing to am-
bition, which has thoufands. Whatever be the ir-
regularities of women, they are always nearer to
Nature than we are, becaufe their ruling paffion is
inceflantly impelling them in that diredion,
whereas ours, on the contrary, is betraying us into
endlefs deviations. A Provincial, and even a Pa-
rifian, tradefman, hardly behaves with kindnefs to
his children, when they are fomewhat grown up ;
but he bends with profound reverence before thofe
of ftrangers, provided thev are rich, or of high
quality : his wife, on the contrary, is regulated in
her behaviour to them by their figure. If they are
homely, flie negleâis them ; but (he will carefs a
peafant's child, if it is beautiful; fhe will pay
more refpecfb to a low-born man with gray hairs,
and a venerable head, than to a counfellor without
a beard. Women attend only to the advantages
which are the gift of Nature, and men only to
thofe of fortune. Thus the women, amidft all
their irregularities, ftill bring us back to Nature,
while we, with our affedation of fuperior wifdom,
are in a confiant tendency to deviation from her.

I admit, at the fame time, that they have pre-
vented the general calamity only by introducing
among us an infinite number of particular evils.

Alas!

STUDY XIV. 367

Alas ! as well as ourfelves, they never will find
happinefs except in the pradlice of virtue. In
all countries where the empire of virtue is at an
end, they are moft miferable. They were formerly
exceedingly happy in the virtuous Republics of
Greece and of Italy : there they decided the fate
of States : at this day, reduced to the condition of
flaves, in thofe very countries, the greateft part of
them are under the neceffity of fubmitting to prof-
titution for the fake of a livelihood. Ours ought
not to defpair of us. They poflefs over Man an
empire abfolutely inalienable * ; we know them
only under the appellation of the fex, to which we
have given the epithet of fair byway of excellence.

* It deferves to be remarked, that moft of the names of the
obje£ls of Nature, of morals, and of metaphyfics, are feminine,
efpecially in the French language. It would afford matter of
curious refearch, to enquire, whether mafculine names have
been given by the women, and feminine names by the men, to
objefts which are moft particularly fubfervient to the ufes of
each fex ; or whether the firft have been made of the mafculine
gender, becaufe they prefented charaders of energy and force,
and the fécond of the feminine gender, becaufe they difplayed
charafters of grace and lovelinefs. I am perfuaded, that the
men having given names to the objefls of nature, in general,
have laviflied feminine defignations upon them, from that fecret
propenfity which attracts them toward the fex : this obfervation
is fupported by the names affigned to the heavenly Conftellations,
to the four quarters of the Globe, to by far the greateft part of
rivers, kingdoms, fruits, trees, virtues, and fo on;

But

|68 STUDIES OF NATURE.

But how many other defcriptive epithets, ftill more
interefling, might be added to this, fuch as thofe
of nutritive, confolatory ! They receive us on our
entrance into life, and they clofe our eyes when we
die. It is not to beauty, but to Religion, that
our women are indebted for the greateft part of
their influence ; the fame Frenchman who, in
Paris, fighs at the feet of his miftrefs, holds her
in fetters, and under the difcipHne of the whip,
in St. Domingo. Our Religion alone of all, con-
templates the conjugal union in the order of
Nature ; it is the only Religion, on the face of
the Earth, which prefents woman to man as a com-
panion ; every other abandons her to him as a
flave. To Religion alone do our women owe the
liberty which they enjoy in Europe ; and from
the liberty of the women it is that the liberty of
Nations has flowed, accompanied with the profcrip-
tion of a multitude of inhuman ufages, which have
been diff'ufed over all the other parts of the World,
fuch as flavery, feraglios, and eunuchs. O charm-
ing fex ! it is in your virtue that your power
confifts. — Save your Country, by recalling to the
love of domeftic manners your lovers and your
hufbands, from a difplay of your gentle occupa-
tions : You would reftore Society at large to a
fenfe of duty, if each of you brings back one
fmgle man to the order of Nature. Envy not the

other

STUDY XIV. 369

Other fex their authority, their magiftracies, their
talents, their vain-glory ; but in the midft of
your weaknefs, furrounded with your wools and
your filks, give thanks to the Author of Nature,
for having conferred on you alone, the power of
being always good and beneficent.

VOL. IV.

B b RECA.

RECAPITULATION. 371

RECAPITULATION.

I HAVE prefented, from the beginning of this
Work, the different paths of Nature which I
propofed to purfue, on purpofe to form to myfelf
an idea of the order which governs the World.
I brought forward, in the firft place, the objedlions
which have, in all ages, been raifed againft a Pro-
vidence ; I have exhibited them as applied to the
feveral kingdoms of Nature, one after another;
which furnifhed me with an opportunity, in re-
futing them, of difplaying views entirely new, re-
fpeding the difpofition, and the ufe, of the diffe-
rent parts of this Globe : I have, accordingly, re-
ferred the direction of the chains of Mountains,
on the Continents, to the regular Winds which
blow over the Ocean ; the pofition of Iflands, to
the confluence of it's Current^, or of thofe of
Rivers; the confiant fiipply of fuel to Volcanos,
to the bituminous depofits on it's fliores ; the Cur-
rents of the Sea, and th-e movements of the Tides,
to the alternate eftufions of the Pouir Ices.

B b 2 In

372 STUDIES OF NATURE.

In the next place, I have refuted, in order, the
other objedions raifed on the fubjeâ: of the vege-
table and animal kingdoms, by demonftrating,
that thefe kingdoms were no more governed by
mechanical Laws than the foflîl kingdom is. J
have farther demonftrated, that the greateft part of
the ills which opprefs the human race, are to be
afcribed to the defeds of our political Inftitutions,
and not to thofe of Nature ; that Man is the only
Being who is abandoned to his own Providence,
as a punillmient for fome original tranfgreffion ;
but that the fame Deity who had given him up
to the diredion of his own intelligence, flill watch-
ed over his deftination ; that he caufed to recoil
on the Governors of the Nations the miferies with
which they overwhelm the little and the weak ;
and I have demonftrated the adion of a Divine
Providence from the very calamities of the Human
Race. Such is the fi^bjçd of my firft Part.

In the opening of my fécond, I have attacked
the principles of our Sciences, by evincing, that
they miflead us, either by the boldnefs of thofe
fame principles, from whence they would foar up
to the nature of the elements which elude their
grafp, or, by the infufficiency of their methods,
which is capable of catching only one Law of Na-
ture at once, becaufe of the weaknefs of our un-
derftanding, and of the vanity infpired by our edu-
cation.

R£CAPITULATION*

373

cation, whereby we are betrayed into the belief,
that the little paths in which we tread, are the only
roads leading to knowledge. Thus it is that the
natural Sciences, and even the political, which arc
refults from them, having been, with us, feparated
from each other, each one, in particular, has
formed, if I may ufe the expreffion, a lane, without
a thoroughfare, of the road by which it entered.
Thus it is that the phyfical caufes have, at the long
run, made us lofe light of intelleftual ends in the
order of Nature, as financial caufes have ftripped
us of the hopes of Religion, and of Virtue, in the
focial order.

I afterwards fet out in queft of a faculty better
adapted to the difcovery of truth than our reafon,
which, after all, is nothing but our perfonal inte-
rest merely. I flatter myfelf I have found it in
that fublime inftinâ; called fentimenty which is in
us the expreffion of natural Laws, and which is
invariable among all Nations. By means of it, I
have obferved the Laws of Nature, not by tracing
them up to their principles, which are known to
God only, but by defcending into their refulte,
which are deftined to the ufe of Man. I have had
the felicity, in purfuance of this track, to perceive
certain principles of the correfpondencies, and of
the harmonies, which govern the World.

E b 3 I cannot

374 STUDIES OF NATURE,

I cannot entertain a Ihadow of doubt, that it
was by proceeding in this fame track, the ancient
Egyptians diftinguiOied themfelves fo highly for
their attainments in natural knowledge, which they
carried incomparably farther than we have done.
They ftudied Nature in Nature herfelf, and not by
piecemeal, and with machines. Hence they formed
a moft wonderful Science, of juft celebrity all over
the Globe, under the name of Magic. The ele-
ments of this Science are now unknown ; the
name of it alone is all that remains, and is, at this
day, given to operations, the moft flupid in which
the error and depravity of the human heart can be
employed. This was not the charader of the Ma-
gic of the ancient Egyptians, fo much celebrated
by the moft refpedable Authors of Antiquity, and
by the Sacred Books themfelves. Thefe were the
principles of correfpondence and of harmony, which
Pythagoras derived from their flores, which he im-
ported into Europe, and which there became the
iources of the various branches of Philofophy that
appeared after his time, nay, the fource of the Arts
likewife, which did not begin to flourifh there till
that period ; for the Arts are only imitations of
tlie procèdes of Nature.

Though my incapacity is very great, thefe har-
monic principles are fo luminous, that they have
prefented to me, not only difpofitions of the Globe

entirely

RECAPITULATION. 375

entirely new ; but they have, befides, furniflied
me with the means of diftinguifhing the charaders
of plants on the firft infpeélion, fo as to be able
to fay, at once, This is a native of the mountains.
That is an inhabitant of the fhores. By them, I
have demonflrated the ufe of the leaves of plants,
and have determined by the nautical, or volatile
forms of their grains, the relations which they have
to the places where they are deftined to grow. I
have obferved that the corolU of their flowers had
relations, pofitive or negative, to the rays of the
Sun, according to the difference of Latitude, and
to the points of elevation at which they are to
blow. I have afterwards remarked the charming
contrails of their leaves, of their flowers, of their
fruits, and of their fliems, with the foil and the fky
in which they grow, and thofe which they form
from genus to genus, being, if I may fay fo,
grouped by pairs. Finally, I have indicated the
relations in which they ftand to animals, and to
Man J to fuch a degree, that, I am confident to
affirm, I have demonflrated, there is not a (ingle
ihade of colour imprefTed by chance, through the
whole extent of Nature.

By profecuting thefe views, I have fupplied the
means of forming complete chapters of Natural
Hiflory, from having evinced, that each plant was
the centre of the exiftence of an infinite number of

B b 4 animals,

37^ STUDIES Of NATURE.

animals, which pofTefs correfpondëhcies with it, to
us ftill unknown. Their harmonies might, un-
doubtedly, be extended fntich farther ; for, many
plants feem to have relations not only to the Sun,
but to different confteliations. It is not always
fuch an elevation of the Sun above the Horizon
which elicits the vegetative powers of plants. Such
a one flourilhes in the Spring, which would not put
out the fmallefl; leaf in Autumn, though it might
then undergo the fame degree of heat. The fame
thing is obfervable with refpedt to their feeds,
which germinate and fhoot at one feafon, and not
at another, though the temperature may be the
fame.

Thefe celeftial relations were known to the an-
cient Philofophy of the Egyptians, and of Pytha-
goras. We find many obfervations on this fubjecft
in Pliny ; when he fays, for example, that toward
the rifing of the Pleiades, the olive-trees and vines
conceive their fruit ; and, after Firgil, that wheat
ought to be fown immediately on the retiring of
this coiiftellation ; and lentils on that of Bootes;
that reeds and willows fliould be planted, when
the conftellation of the Lyre is fetting. It was
afrer thefe relations, the caufes of which are un-
known to us, that Limiaus formed, with the flowers
of plants, a botanical almanac, of which P/iny fug-
geiled the firfl idea to the hufbandmen of his

time.

RECAPITULATION.

37?

time*. But we have indicated vegetable harmonies
flill more interefting, by demonftrating, that the
time of the expanfion of every plant, of it's flower-
ing, and of the maturity of it's fruit, was conneded
with the expanfions, and the neceffities, of the ani-
mal creation, and efpecially with ihofe of Man.
There is not a fingle one but what poflefles rela-
tions of utility to us, dired or indireft : but this
immenfe and myfterious part of the Hiftory of
Man will, perhaps, never be known, except to the
Angels.

My third Part, prefents the application of thefe
harmonic principles to the nature of Man himfelf.
In it I have (hewn. That he is formed of two
powers, the one phyfical, and the other intelle6lual,
which afFe(ft him perpetually with two contrary
fentiments, the one of which is that of his mifery,
and the other that of his excellence. I have de-
monflrated, that thefe two powers were moft hap-
pily gratified in the different periods of the paf-
fions, of the ages, and of the occupations to which
Nature has deftined Man, fuch as agriculture,
marriage, the fettlement of pofterity. Religion.

I have dwelt, principally, on the affeftions of
the intelleftual power, by rendering it apparent,

* Confult his Natural Hiftory, Book xviii, chap. 28.

that

SjS STUDIES OF NATURE.

that every thing which has the femblance of deli-
cious and tranfpoiting in our pleafures, arofe from
the fentiment of infinity, or of fome other attribute
of Deity, which difcovered itfelf to us, as the
termination of our perfpedive. 1 have demon-
ftrated, on the contrary, that the fource of our mi-
feries, and of our errors, might be traced up to
this, That, in the focial ftate, we frequently crofs
thofe natural fentiments, by the prejudices of edu-
cation and of fociety : fo that, in many cafes, we
make the fentiment of infinity to bear upon the
tranfient objefts of this World, and that of our
frailty and mifery, upon the immortal plans of
Nature. I have only glanced at this rich and fu-
blime fubjed ; but I affert with confidence, that
by purfuing this track (imply, I have fufficiently
proved the necelTity of virtue, and that I have in-
dicated it*s real fource, not where our modern
Philofophers feek for it, namely, in our political
inftitutions, which are often diametrically oppofitc
to it, but in the natural Itate of Man, and in his
own heart.

I have afterwards applied, with what ability I
poffefs, the aftion of thefe two powers to the hap-
pinefs of Society, by fliewing, firft, that mofl of
the ills we endure are only focial re-adions, all of
which have their grand origin, in overgrown pro-
perty, in employments^ in honours, in money," and

in

RECAPITULATION. 579

in land. I have proved that thofe enormous pro-
perties produce the phyfical and moral indigence
of a Nation; that this indigence generated, in it's
turn, fwarms of debauched men, who employed all
the refources of craft and induftry to make the
rich refund the portion which their neceffities de-
mand ; that celibacy, and the difquietudes with
which it is attended, were, in a great many citi-
zens, the effects of that ftate of penury and an-
guifh to which they found themfelves reduced ;
and that their celibacy produced, by repercuffion,
the proftitution of women of the town, becaufe
every man who abftains from marriage, whether
voluntarily or from neceffity, devotes a young wo-
man to a fingle life, or to proftitution. This effe(5t
neceflarily refults from one of the harmonic Laws
of Nature, as every man comes into the World,
and goes out of it, with his female, or, what
amounts to the fame thing, the males and females
of the human fpecies are born and die in equal
numbers. From thefe principles I have deduced
a variety of important confequences.

T have, finally, demonftrated. That no incon-
fiderable part of our phyfical and moral maladies
proceeded from the chaftifemcnts, the rewards, and
the vanity of our education.

I have

380 STUDIES OF NATURE.

I have hazarded fundry conjedures, in the vie^
of furnifliing to the People abundant means of
fubfiftence and of population, and of re-animating
in them the fpirit of Reiigion and of Patriotifm,
by prefenting them with certain perfpeftives of in-
finity, without which the fehcity of a Nation, like
that of an individual, is negative, and quickly ex-
haufted, were we to form plans, in other refpedis,
the mod advantageous, of finance, of commerce,
and of agriculture. Provilion muft be made, at
once, for Man, as an animal, and as an intelligent
being. I have terminated thofe différent projeéls,
by prefenting the fketch of a National Education,
without which it is impoffible to have any fpecies
of Legillation, or of Patriotifm, that fliall be of
long duration. 1 have endeavoured to unfold in
it, at once, the two powers, phyfical and intellec-
tual, of Man, and to dired them toward the love
of Country and Religion.

I muft, no doubt, have frequently gone aftray
in purfuing paths fo new, and fo intricate. I muft
have, many a time, funk far below my fubjed,
from the conftruclion of my plans, from my inex-
perience, from the very embarraffment of my ftyle;
but, I repeat it, provided my ideas Oiall fuggeft
fuperior conceptions to others, I am well fatisficd.
At the fame time, if calamity be the road to Truth,

I have

RECAPITULATION. 381

1 have not been deditute of means to direâ: me
toward her. The di (orders of which I have fre-
quently been the witnefs, and the vidlim, have
fugg-fted to me ideas of order. I have fometimes
found upon my road, great perfonages of high re-
pute, and men belonging to refpedlable bodies,
who had the words Country and Humanity con-
tinually in their mouth. I alTociated with them,
in the view of deriving illumination from their in-
telligence, and of putting myfelf under the protec-
tion of their virtues ; but I difcovered them to be
intriguers merely, who had no other objecfl in view
but their perfonal fortune, and who began to per-
fecute me the moment that they perceived I was
not a proper perfon to be either the agent of their
pleafures or the trumpeter of their ambition. I
then went over to the fide of their enemies, pro-
mifing myfelf to find among them the love of
truth, and of the public good ; but however di-
verfified our feds, our parties, and our corps, may
be, I every where met the fame men, only clothed
in different garbs. As foon as the one or the other
found that I refufed to enlift as a partifan, he ca-
lumniated me, after the perfidious manner of the
age, that is, by pronouncing my panegyric. The
times we live in are highly extolled ; but, if we
have on the throne a Prince who emulates Alarcus
AureliuSi the age rivals that of Tiberm.

Were

382 STUDIES OF NATURE,

Were I to publifh the memoirs of my own life*,'
I could wifh for no ftronger proof of the contempt
which the glory of this World merits, than to hold

up

* It would be, I acknowledge, after all, a matter of very
fmall importance ; but however retired, at this day, my condi-
tion of life may be, it has been interwoven with revolutions of
high moment. I prefented, on the fubjeft of Poland, a veiy
circumftantial memoir to the Office for Foreign Affairs, in which
I prediéled it's partition by the neighbouring Powers, feveral
years before it was aftually accomplifhed. The only miftake I
committed was in going on the fuppofition, that the partitioning
Powers would lay hold of it entirely ; and I am aftonifhed to
this hour that they did not. This memoir, however, has been
of no utility either to that country or to myfelf, though I had
expofed myfelf to very great rifks in it, by throwing myfelf,
when I quitted the Ruffian fervice, into the party of the Polifli Re-
publicans, then under the protection of France and Auftria. I was
there taken prifoner in 1 765, as I was going, with the approba-
tion of the AmbafTador of the Empire, and of the French Mini-
fter at Warfaw, to join the army commanded by Prince Radji'viL
This misfortune befel me about three miles from Warfaw,
through the indifcretion of my guide. I was carried back to
that city, put in prifon, and threatened with being delivered up
to the Ruffians, whofe fervice I had jufl quitted, unlefs I ac-
knowledged that the AmbafTador of the Court of Vienna, and
the Minifter of France, had concurred in recommending this
ftep to me. Though I had every thing to fear on the part of
Ruffia, and had it in my power to involve in my difgrace, two
perfonages in illuflrious iituntions, and confequently, to render
it more confpicuous, I perfiiled in taking the whole upon myfelf.
I likewife did my utmofl to exculpate the guide, to whom I had
given time to burn the difpatches with which he was entrufted,

bv

RECAPITULATION. 383

up to view the perfons who are the objefls of it.
At the time when, unconfcious of having commit-
ted the flighteft injury to any one, after an infinity

of

by keeping back, with my piftol in my hand, the Houlands,
who had juft furprized us, by night, in the poft-houfe, where
we made our firfl: encampment, in the midll of the woods.

I never had the leaft fliadow of recompenfe for either of thefe
two pieces of fervice, which coft me a great deal of both time and
money. Nay, it is not very long fmce I was aftually in debt,
for part of the expenfe of my journey, to my friend M. Hennin
then Minifter of France at Warfaw, now Firfl Commiflary for
Foreign Affairs at Verfailles, and who has given himfelf much
fruitlefs trouble on the fubjeél. Undoubtedly, had M. the Count
de Fergennes been at that time Minifler for Foreign Affairs, I
fhould have been fuitabiy rewarded, as he has procured for mc
fome flight gratuities. I fland, however, to this hour, indebted
to the amount of more than four thoufand livres (;^i66 13;-. 4<^.)
on that account, to different friends in Rufiia, Poland, and
Germany.

I have not been more fortunate in the Ifle of France, to which
I was fent Captain-Engineer of the Colony ; for, in the firfl
place, I was perfecuted by the ordinary Engineers, who were
ftationed there, becaufe I did not belong to their corps. I had
been difpatched to that Country, as to a fituation favourable to
making a fortune, and I mufl have run confiderably in debt, had
I not fubmitted to live on herbs. I pafs over in filence all the
particular diflrefles I had there to undergo. I fliall only fay,
that I endeavoured to difiipate the mortification which they coft
me, by employing my mind on the fubjed: of the ills which op-
prefTed the ifland in general. It was entirely in the view of re-
medying thefe, that I publiflied, on my return from thence, in
1773, my Voyage to the Kle of France. I confidered mvfclf,

'firff,

384 STUDIES OF NATURE.

of fruitlefs voyages, fervices, and labours, I was
preparing, in folitude, thefe laft fruits of my expe-
rience and application, my fecret enemies, that is,
the men under whom I fcorned to enlift as a par-
tifan, found means to intercept a gratuity which I
annually received from the beneficence of my So-
vereign. It was the only fource of fubfiftence to
myfelf, and the only means I enjoyed of affifting
my family. To this cataftrophe were added the
lofs of health, and domeftic calamities, which
baffle all the powers of defcription. I have haf-
tened, therefore, to gather the fruit, though flill

firft, as rendering an eflential fervice to my Country, by mak-
ing it apparent, that this ifland, which is kept filled with troops,
was, in no refpec^t, proper for being the flaple, or the citadel of
our commerce with India, from which it is more than fifteen
hundred leagues diltant. This I have even proved by the events
of preceding wars, in which Pondicherry has always been taken
from us, though the Ifle of France was crowded with foldiers.
The late war has confirmed anew the truth of my obfervations.
For thefe fervices, as well as for many others, I have received no
other recoinpenfe fave indireft perfecutions, and calumnies,
on the part of the inhabitants of that ifland, whom I repre-
hended for their barbarity to their flaves. I have not even re-
ceived an adequate indemnification for a fpecies of Ihipwreck I
underwent, on my return, at the Ifland of Bourbon, nor for the
fmallnefs of my appointments, which were not up to the half of
thofe of the ordinary Engineers of my rank. I am well affured,
that, under a Marine Minifler, as intelligent, and as equitable
as M. the Marefchal de Cajlries, I fliould have reaped fome part
of the fruit of my literary and military fervices.

immature,

RRCAPITULATION* 385

immature, of the tree which I had cultivated with
fuch unwearied perfeverance, before it was torn up
by the tempeft.

But, I bear ho malice to any one of my perfecu-
tors. If I am, one day, laid under the neceffity of
expofing to the light their fecret pradices againft
me, it Ihall only be in the view of juftifying my
own condu6l. In other refpeds, I am under obli-
gation to them. Their perfecution has proved the
caufe of my repofe. To their difdainful ambition
I am indebted for a liberty, which I prize far
above their greatnefs. To them I owe the deli-
cious ftudies to which I have devoted my attention.
Providence has not abandoned me, though they
have. It has raifed up friends, who have ferved
me, as opportunity oifered, with my Prince; and
others will arife to recommend me to his favour,
when it may be neceffary. Had 1 repofed in God
that confidence which I put in men, I fliould have
always enjoyed undidurbed tranquillity : the proofs
of his Providence, as affeding myfelf, in the pad",
ought to fet my heart at reft about futurity. But,
from a fault of education, the opinions of men ftill
exercife too much dominion over me. By their
fears, and not my own, is my mind didurbed.
Neverthelefs, I fometimes fay to myfelf, Where-
fore be embarraffed about what is to come ? Before
you came into the World, were you difquieted

VOL. IV. c c WlLh

386 STUDIES OF NATURE.

with anxious thoughts about the manner in which
your members were to be combined, and your
nerves and your bones to expand ? When, in pro-
cefs of time, you emerged into light, did you fludy
optics, in order to know how you were to per-
ceive objects ; and anatomy, in order to learn how
to move about your body, and how to promote
it's growth ? Thefe operations of Nature, far fu-
perior to thofe of men, have taken place in you,
without your knowledge, and without any inter-
ference of your own. If you difqnieted not your-
felf about being born. Wherefore fliould you,
about living, and Wherefore, about dying ? Are
you not always in the fame hand ?

Other fentiments, however, natural to the mind
of Man, have filled me with dejedlion. For ex-
ample, Not to have acquired, after fo many pere-
grinations and exertions, one little rural fpot, in
which I could, in the bofom of repofe, have ar-
ranged my obfervations on Nature, to me of all
others the moft amiable and interefting under the
Sun. I have another fource of regret, ftill more
depreffmg, namely, the misfortune of not having
attached to my lot a female mare, fimple, gentle,
fenfible, and pious, who, much better than Philo-
fophy, would havefoothed my folicitudes,and who,
by bringing me children like herfelf, would have
provided me with a pofterity, incomparably more

dear

RECAPITULATION. 387

dear than a vain reputation. I had found this re-
treat, and this rare felicity, in Ruffia, in the midft
of honourable employment ; but I renounced all
thefe advantages, to go in queft, at the inftigation
of Miniflers, of employment, in my native Coun-
try, where I had nothing fimilar, after which to
afpire. Neverthelefs, I am enabled to fay, that
my particular ftudies have repaired the firft priva-
tion, in procuring for me the enjoyment not only
of a fmall fpot of ground, but of all the harmonies
difFufed over the vaft garden of Nature. An efti-
mable partner for life cannot be fo eafily replaced ;
but if I have reafon to flatter myfelf that this
Work is contributing to multiply marriages, to
render them more happy, and to foften the educa-
tion of children, I (hall confider my own family
as perpetuated in them, and I fliall look on the
wives and children of my Country, as, in fome
fenfe, mine.

Nothing is durable, virtue alone excepted. Per-
fonal beauty pafles quickly away ; fortune infpires
extravagant inclinations ; grandeur fatigues j re-
putation is uncertain ; talents, nay, genius itfelf,
are liable to be impaired : but virtue is ever beau-
tiful, ever diverfified, ever equal, and ever vigo-
rous, becaufe it is refigned to all events, to priva-
tions as to enjoyments, to death as to life,

c c 2 Happy

388 STUDIES OF NATURE.

Happy then/ happy beyond conception, if I
have been enabled to contribute one feeble effort
toward redreffing fome of the evils which opprefs
my Country, and to open to it fome new profpeft
of felicity ! Happy, if I have been enabled to wipe
away, on the one hand, the tears of fome unfor-
tunate wretch, and to recal, on the other, men
mifled by the i-ntoxication of pleafure, to the
DiviNiT.Y, toward whom Nature, the times, our
perfonal miferies, and our fecret affections, are at-
tracting us with fo much impetuofity !

I have a prefentiment of fome favourable ap-
proaching revolution. If it does take place, to the
influence of literature we fhall be indebted for it.
In modern times, learning produces little folid
benefit to the perfons who cultivate it ; never-
thelefs, it diredts every thing. I do not fpeak. of
the influence which letters pofl^efs, all the Globe
over, under the government of books. Afia is go-
verned, by the maxims of Confucius, the Korans,
the Beths, the Vidams, and the reft; but, in Eu-
rope, Orpheus was the firft who aflbciated it's in-
habitants, and allured them out of barbarifm by
his divine poefy. The genius of Homer, after-
wards, produced the legiflations and the religions
of Greece. He anim^jted Alexander, and fent him
forth on the conqueft of Afia. He exte'nded bis

influence

RECAPITULATION. 389

influence to the Romans, ^who traced upward, in
his fublime poetical effufions, the genealogy of the
founder, and of the fovereigns of their Empire, as
the Greeks had found in him the rudiments of
their Republics, and of their Laws. His auguft
fhade ftill prefides over the poetry, the liberal Arts,
the Academies, and the Monuments of Europe :
fuch is the power over the human mind, exercifed
by the perfpedives of Deity which he has pre-
fented to it 1 Thus, the Word which created the
World ftill governs it; but when it had defcended
itfelf from Heaven, and had (hewn to Man the
road to happinefs in Virtue alone, a light more pure
than that which had flied a luftre over the iflands
of Greece, illuminated the forefts of Gaul. The
Savages, who inhabited them, would have been the
happieft of Mankind, had they enjoyed liberty ;
but they were fubjeéled to tyrants, and thofe ty-
rants plunged them back into a facred barbarifm, by
prefenting to them phantoms fo much the more
tremendous, that the objeds of their confidence
were transformed into thofe of their terror.

The caufe of human felicity, and of Religion
herfelf, was on the brink of defperation, when two
men of letters, Rabelais, and Michael Cervantes,
^rofe, the one in France and the other in Spain,
and fhook, at once, the foundations of monaftic

c c 3 . power

390 STUDIES OF NATURE.

power * and that of cavalry. In levelling thefe
two Coloflufes to the ground, they employed no
other weapons but ridicule, that natural contraft
of human terror. I^ike to children, the Nations
of Europe laughed, and refumed their courage :
they no longer felt any other impuKions toward
happinefs, but thofe which their Princes chofe to
give them, if their Princes had then been capable
of communicating fuch impulfion. The Telemachus
made it's appearance, and that Baok brought Eu-
rope back to the harmonies of Nature. It pro-
duced a wonderful revolution in Politics. It re-
called Nations and their Sovereigns to the ufeful
arts, to commerce, to agriculture, and, above all,
to the fentiment of Deity. That Work united, to
the imagination of Homer the wifclom of Confucius.

* God forbid thatlfhould be thought to infinuate an invec-
tive againft perfons, or orders, trvily religious. Suppofing them
to poffefs no higher merit in this life, than that of paffing it
without doing mifchief, they would be refpeftable in the eyes
of infidelity itfelf. The perfons here expo'fed are not men really
pious, who have renounced the World, in order to cherifh,
without interruption, the fpirit of Religion : but thofe who have
aflumed a habit cdnfecrated by Religion, to procure for them-
felves the riches and the honours of this World ; thofe againft
whom St. Jerome thundered fo vehemently to no purpofe, and.
who have verified his prediftion in Paleftine and in Egypt, in
bringing Religion into difcredit, by the profligacy of their man-
ners, by their avarice, and their ambition.

It

RECAPITULATION.

391

It was tranilated into all the languages of Europe.
It was not in France that it excited the higheft ad-
miration : there are whole Provinces in England,
where it is ftill one of the books in which children
are taught to read. When the Englilh entered
the Cambraifis, with the allied army, they wifl-ied
to carry the Author, who was living there in a ftate
of retirement from "the Court, into their camp, to
do him the honours of a military feftival ; but his
modefty declined that triumph : he concealed him-
felf. I fhall add but one trait to his elogium : he
was the only man living of whom Louis XIV, was
jealous : and he had reafon to be fo ; for while he
was exerting himfelf to excite the terror, and pur-
chafe the admiration of Europe, by his armies, his
conquefts, his banquets, his buildings, and his
magnificence, Fenelon was commanding the ado-
ration of the whole World by a Book *.

Many

* It is abfurd to inftitute a comparifon between BoJJuet and
Fenelon : I am Hot capable of appraifing their feveral merits,
but I cannot help confidering the lecond as highly preferable to
his rival. He fulfilled, in my apprehenfion, the two great pre-
cepts of the Law .• He loved God and Men.

The Reader will, perhaps, not be difpleafed at being told what
J. J. Roujfeau thought of this great man. Having, one day, fet
out with him on a walking excurfion to Mount Valerien, when
we had reached the fummit of the mountain, it was refolved to
alk a dinner of it's hermits, for payment. We arrived at their
habitation a little before they fat down to tablcj and while they

004 Were

39^ STUDIES OF NATURE.

Many learned men, infpired by his genius, have
changed among us the fpirit of the Government,
and the public manners. To their Writings we
are indebted for the abolition of many barbarous
cuftoms, fuch as that of punifhing capitally the
pretended crime of witchcraft; the application of
the rack to all criminals without diftindion ; the
remains of feudal flavery ; the praftice of wearing
fwords in the bofom of cities, in times of profound

peace,

were ftill at Church. J. J. Roujfeau propofed to me to ftep in,
and otfer up cur devotions. The hermits were, at that time, re-
citing the Litanies of Providence, which are remarkably beau-
tiful. After we had addrefled pur prayer to God, in a little
chapel, and as the hermits were proceeding toward their refec-
tory, Rcujjeau faid to me, with his heart overflowing : •' At this
*' moment I experience what is faid in the GofpeJ : Where tivo
" or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midjl
*' of them. There is here a fcntiment of peace and of felicity
*' which penetrates the foul." I replied : " If Fenelon had lived,
*' you would have been a Catholic." He exclaimed in an extafy,
and with tears in his eyes : " O ! if Fenelon were in life, I would
*' rtriiggle to get into his fervice as lackey, in hope of meriting
'< the place of his valet de chambre."

Having picked up, feme time ago, on the Pont-Neuf, one of
thofe little urns which the Italians fell about the flreets for a itw
halfpence a-piece, the idea ftruck me of converting it, as a deco-
ration of my folitude, into a monument facred to the memory
oîjchîi-james-xwà oï Fenelon., after the manner of thofe which
the Chinefe fet up to the memory of Confucius. As there are
two little fcutcheons on this urn, I wrote on the one thefe
words, ].]. RoyssiiAU ; and on the other F. Fenelon. \

then

RECAPITULATION. 393

peace, and many others. To them we owe the re-
turn of the taftes, and of the duties, of Nviture, or,

then placed it in an angle of my cabinet, about fix feet from the
floor, and clofe by it, the following infcription-

D. M.

A la gloire durable & pure
De ceux dont le génie éclaira les vertus.
Combattit à la tois l'erreur & les abus,
Et tenta d'amener le ficcle à la Nature.
Aux Jean-Jacques Rousseaux, aux François FiiNELONS

J'ai dédié ce monument d'argile

Que j'ai coniacré par leur noms
Plus auguftes que ceux de César & d'AcHiLLE,
Ils ne font point fameux par nos malheurs :

Ils n'ont point, pauvres laboureurs

Ravi vos bœufs, ni vos javelles ;
Bergères, vos amans ; nouriifons, vos mamelles ;

Rois, les états où vous régnex :

Mais vous les comblerez de gloire.

Si vous donnez a leur mémoire

Les pleurs qu'ils vous ont épargnés.

Tp the pure and untading gloiy.
Of the men whofe virtues were illumined by genius j
Who fet their faces againft error and depravity.
And laboured to bring Mankind back to Nature :
To the RoussEAUS and the Fenelons of the Human Race,

I dedicate this humble monument of clay.

And infcribe it with their names.
Far more auguft than thofe of Cesar and Achilles.
TThey purchafed not fame by fpreadingdevattationj

They did not, O ye poor hufbandmen.

Seize your oxen, and plunder your bams ;
Nor, fliepherdefTes, carry off your lovers, nor, fucklings, your teats ;

Nor, Kings, did they ravage your domains ;

But their glory will be complete.

If on their memory you beftow

Tlie tears which they have fpared you,

at

394 STUDIES OF NATURE.

at lead their images. They have reftored to manjr
infants the breads of their mothers, and to the
rich a relifli for the country, which induces them,
now a-days, to quit the centre of cities, and to take
up their habitation in the fuburbs. They have
infpired the whole Nation with a tafte for agri-
culture, which is degenerated, as ufual, into fana-
ticifm, fmce it became a fpirit of corps. They
have the honour of bringing back the noblefle to
the commonalty, toward whom, it muft be con-
feffed, they had already made fome fleps of ap-
proximation, by their alliances with finance ; they
have recalled that order to their peculiar duties by
thofe of humanity. They have direfted all the
powers of the State, the women themfelves not ex-
cepted, toward patriotic objeds, by arraying them
in attradive ornaments and flowers.

O ye men of letters ! without you the rich man
would have no manner of intelleftual enjoyment ;
his opulence and his dignities would be a burthen
to him. You alone reftore to us the rights of our
nature, and of Deity. Wherever you appear, in
the military, in the clergy, in the laws, and in the
arts, the divine Intelligence unveils itfelf, and the
human heart breathes a figh. You are at once the
eyes and the light of the Nations. We fliould be-,
perhaps, at this hour, much nearer to happinefs,
if feveral of your number^ intent on pleafing the

multitudes

RECAPITULATION. 395

multitude, had not milled them by flattering their
paffions, and by miftaking their deceitful voices
for thofe of human nature.

See how theie paflions have milled yourfelves,
from your having come too clofely into contad
with men ! It is in foHtude, and living together in
unity, that your talents communicate mutual in-
tellectual light. Call to remembrance the times
when the La FontaineSy the Boileaus, the Racines^
the Molieres, lived with one another. What is, at
this day, )'Our deftiny ? That World, whofe paf-
lions you are flattering, arms you againft each
other. It turns you out to a ftrife of glory, as the
Romans expofed the wretched, to wild beafts.
Your holy lifts are become the amphitheatres of
gladiators. You are, without being confcious of
it, the mere inftruments of the ambition of corps.
It is by means of your talents that their leaders
procure for themfelves dignities and riches, while
you are fuffered to remain iri obfcurity and indi-
gence. Think of the glory of men of letters, among
the Nations who were emerging out of barbarifm ;
they prefented virtue to Mankind, and were ex-
alted into the rank of their Gods. Think of their
degradation among Nations funk into corruption :
they flattered their paffions, and became the vic-
tims of them. In the decline of the Roman Em-
pire,

396 STUDIES OF NATURE.

pire, letters were no longer cultivated, except by
a few enfranchifed Greeks. Suffer the herd to run
at the heels of the rich and the voluptuous. What
do you propofe to yourfelves in the facred career
of letters, except to march on, under the protec-
tion of Minerva ? What refpeft would the World
fhew you, were you not covered by her immortal
Egis ? It w^ould trample you under foot. Suffer
it to be deceived by thofe who are mean enough
to be it's worfliippers ; repofe your confidence in
Heaven, whofe fupport will fearch and find you
out wherever you may be.

The vine, one day, complained to Heaven,
with tears, of the feverity of her deftiny. She en-
vied the condition of the reed. *' I am planted,"
faid fhe, " amidll parched rocks, and am obhged
*' to produce fruits repleniflied with juice; whereas,
*' in the bottom of that valley, the reed, which
** bears nothing but a dry (hag, grows at her
" eafe by the brink of the waters." A voice
from Heaven replied ; " Complain not, O vine 1
" at thy lot. Autumn is coming on, when the
*' reed will perifli, without honour, on the border
*' of the marfhes ; but the rain of the ikies will go
*' in quett of thee in the mountain, and thy juices,
" matured on the rock, fhall one day ferve to
*' cheer the heart of God and Man."

We

RECAPITULATION. 397

We have, farther, a confiderable ground of hope
of reformation, in the afFeâ:ion which we bear to
our Kings. With us, the love of Country is one
and the fame thing with the love of our Prince.
This is the only bond which unites us, and which,
oftener than once, has prevented our falling to
pieces. On the other hand. Nations are the real
monuments of Kings. All thofe monuments of
ftone, by which fo many Princes have dreamt
of immortalizing their names, frequently ferved
only to render them deteftable. Pliny tells us,
that the Egyptians of his time curfed the me-
mory of the Kings of Egypt, who had built
the pyramids; and, befides, their names had funk
into oblivion. The modern Egyptians allege,
that they were raifed by the Devil, undoubtedly
from the fentiment of the diflrefs which rearing
thofe edifices muft have coft Mankind. Our own
People frequently afcribes the fame origin to our
ancient bridges, and to the great roads cut through
rocks, whofe fummits are loft in the clouds. To
no purpofe are medals ftruck for their ufe; they
underftand nothing about emblems and infcrip-
tions. But it is the heart of Man, on which the
imprefTion ought to be made, by means of benefits
conferred ; the ftamp there imprinted is never to
be effaced. The People have loft the memory of
their Monarchs who prefided in councils, but they

cherifli

398 STUDIES OF NATURE.

cherifli, to this day, the remertlbrance of thofe of
them who fupped with millers.

The affedion of the People fixes on one fingle
quality in their Prince J it is his popularity: for
it is from this that all the virtues flow, of which
they fland in need. A fingle aâ: of juftice, dif-
pcnfed unexpectedly, and without oftentation, to
a poor widow, to a collier, fills them with admira-
tion and delight. They look upon their Prince as
a God, whofe Providence is at all times, and in
every place, upon the watch : and they are in the
right; for a fingle interpofition of this nature,
well-timed, has a tendency to keep every oppreflbr
in awe, and enlivens all the oppreflied with hope.
In our days, venality and pride have reared, be-
tween the People and their Sovereign, a thoufand
impenetrable walls of gold, of iron, and of lead.
The People can no longer advance toward their
Prince, but the Prince has it ftill in his power to
defcend toward the People. Our Kings have been
prepoflefled, on this fubjedt, with groundlefs fears
and prejudices. It is fingularly remarkable, ne-
verthelefs, that, among the great number of Princes
of all Nations, who have fallen the vidims of dif-
ferent fadlions, not a fingle one ever perilled, when
employed in acls of goodnefs, walkirig about on foot,
and incognito i but all of them, either riding in their

coaches.

RECAPITULATION. 399

coaches, or at table in the bofom of plcafure, or in
their court, furrounded by their guards, and in the
very centre of their power.

We fee, at this hour, the Emperor and the King
ofPruffia, in a carriage fimply, with one or two
domeftics, and no guards, traverfing their fcattered
dominions, though peopled in part with ftrangers
and conquered Nations. The great men, and the
mofl illuftrious Princes of Antiquity, fuch as .Sa-
pio, Germanicus, Marcus Aureliiis^ travelled without
any retinue, on horfeback, and frequently on foot.
How many provinces of his kingdom, in an age
of trouble and faftion, were thus travelled over by
our great Henry IV ?

A King, in his States, ought to be like the Sun
over the Earth, on which there is not one fingle little
plant but what receives, in it's turn, the influence
of his rays. Of the knowledge of how many im-
portant truths are our Kings deprived, by the pre-
judices of courtiers ? What pleafures do they lofe
from their fedentary mode of life ! I do not fpeak
of thofe of grandeur, when they fee, on their ap-
proach. Nations flocking together, in millions,
along the highways ; the ramparts of cities fet on
fire with the thunder of artillery, and fquadrons
iflTuing out of their fea- ports, and covering the
face of the Ocean with flags and flame. I believe

they

40O STUDIES OF NATURE.

they are weary of the pleafures of glory. But I
can beheve them fenfible to thofe of humanity, of
■which they are perpetually deprived. They are
for ever conftrained to be Kings, and never per-
mitted to be Men. What delight might it not
procure them to fpread a veil over their greatnefs^
like the Gods, and to make their appearance in the
midft of a virtuous family, like Jupiter^ at the fire-
fide of Philemon and Baucis ! How little would it coft
them to make happy people every day of their
lives 1 In many cafes, what they lavifh on a fmgle
family of courtiers, would fupply the means of
happinefs to a whole Province. On many occa-
fions, their appearance merely, would overawe all
the tyrants of the diftriâ:, and confole all the mi-
ferable. They would be confidered as omnipre-
fent, when they were not known as confined to a
particular fpot. One confidential friend, a few
hardy fervants, would be fufficient to bring within
their reach all the pleafures of travelling from place
to place, and to fcreen them from all the incon-
veniencies of it.

They have it in their power to vary the feafons
as they will, without ftirring out of the kingdom,
and to extend their pleafures to the utmoft extent
of their authority. Inftead of inhabiting country-
reiidences on the banks of the Seine, or amidft the
rocks of Fontainbleau, they might have them on

the

STUDY XIV. 401

the fliores of the Ocean, and at the bottom of the
Pyrenees. It depends altogether on themfelves,
to pafs the burning heats of Summer, embofomed
in the mountains of Dauphiné, and encompaffed
with a horizon of fnowj the Winter in Provence,
under oHve-trees and verdant oaks ; the Autumn,
in the ever-green meadows, and amidft the apple
orchards, of fertile Normandy. They would every
day behold arriving on the fhores of France, the
fea-faring men of all Nations, Britifli, Spanifh,
Dutch, Italian, all exhibiting the peculiarities and
the manners of their feveral countries. Our Kings
have in their palaces, comedies, libraries, hot-
houfes, cabinets of Natural Hiflory ; but all thefe
colledions are only vain images of Men and of
Nature. They polTefs no gardens more worthy of
them than their kingdoms, and no libraries Co
fraught with inflrudtion as their own fubjedts *.

Ah!

* Here, undoubtedly, the Volume ought to have clofed. It
is no inconfiderable mortification to me, that my duty, as a
Tranflator, permitted me not to retrench the piece of extravagance
\vhich follows. In juflice to myfelf, however, I tranfmit it to the
Britifh Public, with an explicit difavowalof it's fpirit, of it's ftyle,
of it's fentiments, and of it's objeft. I can excufe the rapturous
vanity of a Frenchman, when his Prince, or when his Republic
is the theme ; I can not only excufe, but likewife commend, the
effufions of a grateful heart, filled with the idea of a kingly bene-
faftor ; I can excufe the felf-complacency 01 an Author contem-

voL, ÎV. D d plating

402 STUDIES OF NATURE.

Ah ! if it be pofllble for one fingle man to con-
ftitute, on this earth, the hope of the Human
Race, that Man is a King of France. He reigns

over

plating the probable fuccefs and influence of a good Book, his
own produélion ; nay, I can make allowance for a good Catho-
lic, exalting a Saint upon Earth into an Interceflbr in Heaven :
But who can forbear fmiling, or rather weeping, at the airy vi-
fions of a returning golden age, on the very eve of an explofion
of the age of iron, clothed in every circumftance of horror ? Who
but muft be kindled into indignation, at feeing genius degraded
into a fervile minifter, of fulfome adulation, to the vileft of wo-
men ? Who but muft deride the pretenfions fo frequently ad-
vanced, by the wife and by the unwife, and as frequently expofed,
to the gift of predicting future events.

In Latin, the fame word, Vates^ denotes both Poet and Pro-
phet ; and the two charaders are by no means incompatible.
Our Author is no mean Poet, he is a firft-rate Naturalift, he is
an eloquent Writer, and, what is above all, he is a good and efti-
mable Man ; but events have demonftrated, that he is but a
wretched Prophet, A few fnort years have fcattered his fond
prognoftics " into air, thin air." He makes it one of the glo-
ries of the reign of Louis XVI. that he " fupported the opprelîèd
*« Americans." Whatever political fagacity might have dic-
tated, or predided, at the time, refpeéling his interference in the
difpute between Great-Britain and her American Colonies, the
ifTue lias demonftrated, that this interference was injudicious and
impolitic, as far as he v>'as perfonally concerned. The fupport
which he gave to opprcjfcd America, laid an accumulated weight
on opprcj/ed Yrdiwcc, and precipitated that Revolution, which, by
progreffive fteps, abridged his power, annihilated his fplendor,
hurled him from his throne, fubjecled his neck to the axe, and

blafted

STUDY XIV. 403

over his People by love, his People over the reft
of Europe by manners, Europe over the reft of
the Globe by power. Nothing prevents his doing
good when he pleafes. It is in his power, not-
withftanding the venality of employments, to
humble haughty vice, and to exalt lowly virtue.
It is, farther, in his power, to defcend toward his
fubjedls, or to bid them rife toward him. Many
Kings have repented that they had placed their
confidence in treafures, in allies, in corps, and in
grandees ; but no one that he had trufted in his
People, and in God. Thus reigned the popular
Charles V. and the St. Lonifes. Thus you ftiall one
day have reigned, O Louis XVI ! You have, from
your very firft advances to the throne, given laws
for the re-eftablifliment of manners ; and, what
was ftill more difficult, you have exhibited the
example, in the midft of a French Court. You

blafted the profpcifts of his Family. Here was one of the fearful
re-aélions of a righteous Providence.

The naufeous elogium pronounced on the charms and fenfihility
of his augiiji Confort^ is fliU more intolerable. It is notorious to
all Europe, that thelewdnefs, the pride, the prodigality, the am-
bition, the refentments, of that bad woman, filled up the meafure
of moral depravity among the higher orders in France, embroiled
the two hemifpheres of the Globe in the horrors of war ; and
ruined her Country, ruined her Hufband, ruined Herfelf, ruined
her Pofterity. Another of the re-aélions of a righteous Pro-
vidence ! H. H.

D d 2. have

404 STUDIES OF NATURE.

have deflroyed the remains of feudal flavery,
mitigated the hardiliips endured b}?- unfortunate
prifoners, as well as the feverity of civil and mi-
litary puniQiments ; you have given to the inha-
bitants of certain provinces the liberty of aflefling
themfelves to the public impofts, remitted to the
Nation the dues of your accefiion to the Crown,
fecured 'to the poor feaman a part of the fruits of
war, and reflored to men of letters the natural pri-
vilege of reaping thofe of their labours.

While, with one hand, you were affifting and
relieving the wretched part of the Nation, with
the other, you raifed ftatues to it's illuftrious men
of ages pall, and you fupported the opprefled
Americans. Certain wife men, who are about
your perfon, and, what is ftill more potent than
their wifdom, the charms and the fenfibility of
your auguft Confort, have rendered the path of
virtue eafy to yOu. O great King ! if you pro-
ceed with conftancy in the rough paths of virtue,
your name will one day be invoked by the mifer-
able of all Nations. It will prefide over their def-
tinies even during the life of their own Sovereigns.
They will prefent it as a barrier to oppofe their ty-
rants, and as a model to their good Kings. It will
be revered from the rifing to the fetting of the
Sun, like that of the Titufes^ and of the Antonimifes.

When

STUDY XIV.

405

When the Nations which now cover the Earth
fliall be no more, your name fliall ftill live, and
(hall flouriOi with a glory ever ncvv. The Majefty
of ages (hail increafe it's vcnerability, and pofterity
the moft remote, (hall envy us the felicity of hav-
ing lived under your government.

I, Sire, am nothing. I may have been the
victim of public calamities, and remain ignorant
of the caufes. I may have fpoken of the means of
remedying them, without knowing the power and
the refources of mighty Kings. But if you render
us better and more happy, the Tacitufes of future
times will ftudy, from you, the art of reforming
and governing men in a difficult age. Other Fe-
nelons will one day fpeak of France, under your
reign, as of happy Egypt under that of Sefqftris,
Whilft you are then receiving upon Earth, the in-
variable homage of men, you will be their medi-
ator with Deity, of whom you iliall have been
among us, the moft lively image. Ah ! if it were
po(rible that we ftiould lofe the fentiment of his
exiftence from the corruption of thofe who ought
to be our patterns, from the diforder of our paf-
fions, from the wanderings of our own under-
(landing, from the multiplied ills of humanity ;
O King ! it would be ftill glorious for you to pre-
ferve the love* of order in the midft of the general

diforder.

4o6 STUDIES OF NATURE.

diforder. Nations, abandoned to the will of law-
lefs tyrants, would flock together for refuge to
the foot of your throne, and would come to feek,
in you, the God whom they no longer perceived
in Nature.

END OF THE FOURTH VOLUME.

ERRATA.

Page 4-, lines 6 and 7 from the bottom, for immortality and mortality
read immorality and morality.

6, line 6 from the bottom, for j, read is,

■ 32, line 3, {or greater, rt^à great.

.. 76, line 1 3, the / has dropped out of the word Bengal.

.— 77, line 3, from the bottom, for it is, read it is not.
—— ï28, line 15, for mefs, read mafs.

^

Y^l

cJ!/liJOçl ri

lVlUi)lOO?l y.

CIOO V-IAO