STUDY VII.- loi 



experience, and on the teftimony of many parifli- 

 miniilers of undoubted veracity. Some Lords of 

 the Manor order a diftribution of bread to be 

 made, once a week, to moft of their peafantry, to 

 eke out their Uvelihood. Ye ftewards of the pub- 

 lic, refledt that Normandy is the richeft of our 

 provinces ; and extend your calculations, and your 

 proportions, to tlie reft of the Kingdom ! Let the 

 morality of the financier fuperfede that of the Gof- 

 pel ; for my own part, I defire no better proof of 

 the fuperiority of Religion to the reafonings of 

 Philofophy, and of the goodnefs of the national 

 heart to the enlarged views of our policy, than 

 thi^, that notwithftanding, the deficiency imputable 

 to our laws, and our errors in almoft every refpedV, 

 the State continues to fupport itfelf, becaufe cha- 

 rity and humanity almoft conftantly interpofe in 

 ^id of Government. 



Picardy, Brittany, and other provinces, are in- 

 comparably more to be pitied than Normandy. 

 If there be twenty-one millions of perfons in 

 France, as is alleged, there muft be then, at leaft, 

 feven millions of paupers. This proportion by no 

 means diminilhes in the cities, as may be con- 

 cluded from the number of foundlings in Paris, 

 which amounts, one year with another, to fix or 

 feven thoufand, whereas the number of children, 

 not abandoned by their parents, does not exceed,. 



H 7, in 



