l6 STUDIES OF NATURE. 



ture, whereas that of the Gauls terrifies and debafes 

 it. The gods of the Greeks and the Romans were 

 patriots, hke their great men. Minerva had given 

 them the oHve, Neptune the horfe. Thefe gods 

 protefted the cities and the people. But thole of 

 the ancient Gauls were tyrants, like their Barons ; 

 they afforded protection only to the Druids. They 

 muft be glutted with hum.an facrifices. In a word, 

 this relig-ion was fo inhuman, that two fucceffive 

 Roman Emperors, according to the teftimony of 

 Suetonius and Pliny, commanded it to be abolidied. 

 I fay nothing of the modern intereils of our Hif- 

 tory ; but fure I am that the relations of our po- 

 litics will never replace in it, to the heai t of Man, 

 thofe of the Divinity. 



I muft obferve that, as admiration is an invo- 

 luntary movement of the Soul toward Deity, and 

 is, of coniequencefublime, lèverai modern Authors 

 have ftrained to multiply this kind of beauty in 

 their produ6lions, by an accumulation of fur- 

 prizing incidents; but Nature employs them fpar- 

 ingly in hers, becaufe Man is incapable of fre- 

 quently undergoing conçu ffions fo violent. She 

 difclofes to us, by little and little, the light of the 

 Sun, the expanfion of flowers, the formation of 

 fruits. She gradually introduces our enjoyments 

 by a long feries of harmonies ; flie treats us as hu- 

 man beings ; that is, as machines feeble and eafily 



deranged j 



