t^Z STUDIES OF N7VTITRE. 



being interrogated by any one, who he is, v/hence 

 he cornes^ or vvhiiher he goes. This hofpitabie 

 pradice is common to the Armenians, to the 

 Georgians, to the Tuiks, to the Perlians, to the 

 Siamefe, to the Blacks of Madagafcar, and to dif- 

 ferent Nations of Africa and of America. In thofc 

 countries Man is ftill dear to Man. 



At Paris, on the contrary, if you go into the 

 dining-room of a Tavern, where there are a dozen 

 tables fpread, (liould twelve perfons arrive, one 

 after another, you fee each of them take his place 

 apart, at a feparate table, without uttering a fyl- 

 lable. If new guefts did not fucceffively come in, 

 each of the firft twelve would eat his morfel alone, 

 like a Carthufian monk. For fome time, a pro- 

 fo-ijnd filence prevails, till fome thoughtlefs fellow, 

 put into good humour by his dinner, and preffed 

 by an inclination to talk, takes upon him to let the 

 converfation a-going. Upon this, the eyes of the 

 whole company are drawn tovsard the orator, and 

 he is meafured, in a twinkling, from head to foot. 

 If he has the air of a perfon of confequence, that 

 is, rich, they give him the hearing. Nay, he finds 

 perfons difpofed to flatter him, by confirming his 

 intelligence, and applauding his literary opinion, 

 or his loofe maxim, But if his appearance difplays 

 no mark of extraordinary diftindlion, had he de- 

 livered fentimcnts v/oithy of a SocrafeSj fcarce has 



he 



