200 STUDIES OF NATURE. 



difpofitlon to fpeak unkindly of me. I have no 

 children ; but thofe of my landlady are more eager 

 to pleafe me than their own parents. I have no wife : 

 the moft fublime charm of love is to devife and ac- 

 complifh the felicity of another. 1 affift in the forma- 

 tion of happy marriages, or in promoting the hap- 

 pinefs of thofe which are already formed. I thus 

 difiipate my perfonal languor, I put my paffions 

 upon the right fcent, by propofing to them the no- 

 bleft attainments at which they can aim, upon the 

 earth. I have drawn nigh to the miferable with 

 an intention to comfort them, and from them, per- 

 haps, I fliall derive confolation in my turn. 



In this manner it is in your power to live, O ye 

 great ones of the earth ! and thus might you mul- 

 tiply your fleeting days in the land through which 

 you are merely travellers. Thus it is that you may 

 learn to know men ,- and form no longer, with 

 your own Nation, a foreign race, a race of conque- 

 rors, living on the fpoils of the country you have 

 fubdued. Thus it is, that, ilTuing from your pa- 

 laces, encircled with a crowd of happy vafTals, 

 who are loading you with benedidions, yon might 

 prefent the image of the ancient Patricians, a 

 name fo dear to the Roman people. You are every 

 day looking out for fome new fpeclacle ; there is 

 no one which poflefles fo much the charm of no- 

 velty ^s the happinefs of Mankind. You wifli for 



objeds 



