pÔ STUDIES OF NATURE. 



out their money to advantage, a tafte for elegant 

 expenfe, infpired by the fight of fiims of money 

 fuch as they never before had in their coffers, in a 

 word, frequent journies to Paris, and back to the 

 country, foon meked away the price of their pa- 

 trimony. Thefe refpedable families difappeared 

 one after another ; and thirty years afterward, one 

 of their defcendants, who could reckon among his 

 ancefhors a long fucceffion of captains of dragoons, 

 and knights of St. Louis, was found fcampering 

 over his paternal inheritance, on foot, foliciting 

 the place of keeper of a falt-office, to keep him 

 from ftarving. 



Such are the mifchiefs produced among the ci- 

 tizens of a country, by the exceffive accumulation 

 of property. Thofe produced on the ftate of the 

 lands are not lefs to be deplored. I was, fome 

 years ago, in Normandy, at the houfe of a gentle- 

 man in affluent circumftances, who cultivated, 

 himfelf, a very confiderable grafs-farm, fituaied 

 on a rifing ground, of a very indifferent foil. He 

 walked me round his vaft enclofure, till we came 

 to a large fpace, completely over-run with moflfes, 

 horfetail, and thillles. Not a blade of good grafs 

 was to be feen. The foil, in truth, was at once 

 ferruginous and marfhy. They had interfered it 

 with many trenches, to drain off the water, but 

 all to no purpofe : nothing could grow. 



Immediately 



