STUDY XII. 39 



{jon, i»! a Rate of Nature, and even the greatcft 

 part of rhofe which are civilized, have made the 

 tombs of their forefluhers, the centre of their de- 

 votions, and an effential part of their religion. 

 From thefe, however, muft be excepted the people 

 whofe fathers rendered themfclves odious to their 

 children by a gloomy and fevere education, I mean, 

 the weftern and fouthern Nations of Europe. 

 This religious melancholy is diflufed every where 

 elfe. The tombs of progenitors are, all over 

 China, among the principal embellirnments of the 

 fuburbs of their cities, and of the hills in the 

 country. They form" the moft powerful bonds of 

 patriotic affedion among favage Nations. When 

 the Europeans have fometimes propofed to thefe a 

 change of territory, this was their reply : " Shall 

 *' we fay to the bones of our Fathers, arife, and 

 '" accompany .us to a foreign land ?" They always 

 cpnfidcred this objeclicn as infurmountable. 



Tombs have furniflied, to the poetical talents of 

 Toung and Gefner, imagery the moll enchanting. 

 Our voluptuaries, who fometimes recur to the fen- 

 timents of Nature, have faftitious monuments 

 ereded in their gardens. Thefe are not, it muft 

 be confeii'ed, the tombs of their parents. But 

 whence could they have derived this fentiment of 

 funereal melancholy, in , the very raidft of plea- 

 fure ? Mufl it not have been from the perfuafion 



D 4 that 



