paul and virginia. i29 



Paul. 



** So my mother has told me j for my own part, 

 ** I do not To much as know the meaning of the 

 ** word. Birth. I never difcovered that i was more 

 ** deficient there than another, or that any other 

 ** perfon pofleffed it more than I do." 



The Old Man. 

 " Deficiency in birth will, in France, effeâiually 

 ** exclude you from any diftinguilhed employ- 

 ** ment ; what is more, no corps of any diftinc- 

 " tion will admit you.'* 



Paul. 

 " Yon have often informed me, that one of the 

 ** chief caufes of the prefent greatnefs of France 

 "was, that the lowed fubjed might obtain the 

 '* higheft pofts ; and you have given me many in- 

 ^' ftances of celebrated men, who, rifing from a 

 " low condition, had done honour to their coun- 

 ** try. Do you mean to damp my courage ?" 



The Old Man. 



•' My fon, nothing is farther from my intention: 

 " I told you the truth, but it related to times pad. 

 *' The face of affairs, in France, is, at prefent, 

 *' greatly altered ; every thing there is now become 

 ** venal ; all is the hereditary property of a fmall 

 ** number of families, or is divided among incor- 



voL. V. K " porated 



