STUDY XIV. 361 



Pertenîant guad'ta peBus : (the bofom glows with 

 joy.) Some officers, booted, and in their uniform, 

 having flipped away by ftealth from the exercifes 

 of the parade, ftep in to enjoy, amidft this lovely 

 circle, fome moments of delightful tranquility ; 

 and while each of the young females hopes to find, 

 in one of them her proteftor and her friend, each 

 of the men fighs after the partner who is one day 

 to foothe, by the charm of domeflic talents, the 

 rigour of military labours. I never faw any coun- 

 try, in which the youth of both fexes difcovered 

 greater purity of manners, and in which marriages 

 were more happy. 



There is no occafion, however, to have recourfe 

 to ftrangers, for proofs of the power of love over 

 fanfbity of manners. I afcribe the innocence of 

 thofe of our own peafantry, and their fidelity in 

 wedlock, to their being able, very early in life, to 

 give themfelves up to this honourable fentiment. 

 It is love which renders them content with their 

 painful lot : it even fufpends the miferies of fla- 

 very. I have frequently feen, in the Ifle of France, 

 black people, after being exhaufted by the fatigues 

 of the day, fet off, as the night approached, to vifit 

 their miftrefles, at the diftance of three or four 

 leagues. They keep their affignation in the midft 

 of the woods, at the foot of a rock, where they 

 kindle a fire ; they dance together a great part of 



the 



