STUDY XI. 225 



pretending that he had received it from France, by 

 the couriers of the Court. The great people did 

 not fail to pay him magnificently for his prefents ; 

 and this fpecies of commerce became to him the 

 foundation of an ample fortune, by means of which 

 his great-grand-children are at this day the molt 

 opulent Bankers of that Country. 



What I have faid refpecYing the pofiibility of 

 enriching Ruflia and Poland with ufeful vege- 

 tables, is not only in the view of acknowledging, 

 the beft way in my power, the gracious reception 

 with which I was honoured by perfons of rank, 

 and by the Government of thofe Countries, when 

 I was a flranger among them ; but becaufe thefe 

 indications tend equally to the improvement of 

 France, the Climate of which is more temperate. 

 We have icy mountains, capable of producing all 

 the vegetables of the North ; and reverberating 

 vallies equally adapted to the production of moft 

 of thofe of the South. It would not be proper, as 

 our cuftom is, to make an effort to render this 

 fpecies of culture general through a whole diftridt, 

 but to fet it a-going in fome little fheltered expo- 

 fure, or fmall winding valley. The influence of 

 thefe pofuions is of no great extent. Thus, the 

 famous Conftantia vine of the Cape of Good-Hope 

 fucceeds perfectly only on a fmall fpot of ground, 

 fituated at the bottom of a little hill, whereas the 



vol. in. q, adjoining 



