STUDY XIII. 187 



finite differences among them, Religion places 

 them on a level : fhe humbles the head of the 

 mighty, by (hewing them the vanity of their 

 power ; and fhe raifes up the head of the unfor- 

 tunate, by difclofmg to them the profpedts of im- 

 mortality : (lie thus brings back all men to the 

 equality which Nature had eftablilhed at tUeir 

 birth, and which the order of Society had di- 

 fturbed. 



Our Sybarites imagine they have exhaufted every 

 pofTible mode of enjoyment. Our moping, melan- 

 choly old men confîder themfelves as ufelefs to the 

 World ; they no longer perceive any other per- 

 fpedive before them, but death. Ah ! paradife 

 and life are ftill upon the earth, for him who has 

 the power of doing good. 



Had I been blefTed with but a moderate degree 

 of fortune, I would have procured for myfelf an 

 endlefs fuccefTion of new enjoyments. Paris (hould 

 have become to me a fécond Memphis. It's im- 

 menfe population is far from being known to us. 

 I would have had one fmall apartment, in one of 

 it's fuburbs, adjoining to the great road ; another 

 at the oppofite extremity, on the banks of the 

 Seine, in a houfe (haded vvith willows and pop- 

 lars ; another in one of it's m oft frequented ftreets; 

 a fourth in the manfion of a gardener, furrounded 



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