246 STUDIES OF NATURE. 



replied Oie, with emotion, " he was a very brave 

 *' man, who fuffered much uneafinefs from a Mi- 

 *' nifter of State, while he was alive !" I withdrew, 

 filled with increafed veneration for the memory of 

 M. de Turenne, who ferved to confole a poor old 

 woman in diftrefs. It is thus that the virtues of 

 the lower clafles of fociety fupport themfelves on 

 thofe of great men, as the feeble plants, which, to 

 efcape being trampled under foot, cling to the 

 trank of the oak. 



OF NOBILITY. 



The ancient Nations of Europe imagined, that 

 the moft powerful ftimulus to the pradice of vir- 

 tue, was to ennoble the defcendants of their virtu- 

 ous citizens. They involved themfelves, by this, 

 in very great inconveniencies. For, in rendering 

 nobility hereditary, they precluded, to the reft of 

 the citizens, the paths which lead to diftin6lion. 

 As it is the pei*petual, exclufive, poffeffion of a cer- 

 tain number of families, it ceafes to be a national 

 recompenfe, otherwife, a whole Nation v/ould con- 

 fift of Nobles at length; which would produce a 

 lethargy fatal to arts and handicrafts ; and this is 

 actually the cafe in Spain, and in part of Italy. 



Many other mifchiefs neceflarily refult from he- 

 reditary nobleffe, the principal of which is, the 



formation. 



