STtTDY XII. 383 



their deftruction. We mud by no means depend 

 on ever hearing there any of thofe affecting dia- 

 logues which cTUrfeius puts into the mouth of 

 Ajlrtea and Celadon ; they are dictated neither by 

 animal love, nor by enlightened reafon. Both of 

 thefe employ a very different logic. When a lover, 

 illuminated there with the fcience which he had 

 borrowed of us, wifhed to infpire his miftrefs with 

 a mutual paffion, if, however, it were needful to 

 employ difcourfe in order to accomplish this, he 

 would talk to her of fprings, of mafles, of attrac- 

 tions, of fermentations, of the electric fpark, and 

 of the other phyfical caufes which determine, ac- 

 cording to our modern fyftems, the propenfities of 

 the two fexes, and the movements of the parlions. 

 Political reafons would interpofe, and affix the feal 

 to their union, by ftipulating, in the melancholy 

 and mercenary language of our contracts, for dow- 

 ries, maintenances, redemptions, pin-monies, ponS 

 obits. But the perfonal reafon of each contracting 

 party would quickly feparate them. As foon as a 

 man faw his wife overtaken with difeafe, he would 

 fay to her : (i My temperament calls for a wife 

 * f who enjoys health, and conftrains me to abandon 

 " you." She would anfwer him, undoubtedly, 

 in order to preferve confiftency : " You do well 

 " to obey the dictates of Nature. I fliould, in 

 " like manner, have looked out for another huf- 

 * { band, had you been in my place." A fon would 



fay 



