394 STUDIES OF NATURE. 



at lead their images. They have reftored to manjr 

 infants the breads of their mothers, and to the 

 rich a relifli for the country, which induces them, 

 now a-days, to quit the centre of cities, and to take 

 up their habitation in the fuburbs. They have 

 infpired the whole Nation with a tafte for agri- 

 culture, which is degenerated, as ufual, into fana- 

 ticifm, fmce it became a fpirit of corps. They 

 have the honour of bringing back the noblefle to 

 the commonalty, toward whom, it muft be con- 

 feffed, they had already made fome fleps of ap- 

 proximation, by their alliances with finance ; they 

 have recalled that order to their peculiar duties by 

 thofe of humanity. They have direfted all the 

 powers of the State, the women themfelves not ex- 

 cepted, toward patriotic objeds, by arraying them 

 in attradive ornaments and flowers. 



O ye men of letters ! without you the rich man 

 would have no manner of intelleftual enjoyment ; 

 his opulence and his dignities would be a burthen 

 to him. You alone reftore to us the rights of our 

 nature, and of Deity. Wherever you appear, in 

 the military, in the clergy, in the laws, and in the 

 arts, the divine Intelligence unveils itfelf, and the 

 human heart breathes a figh. You are at once the 

 eyes and the light of the Nations. We fliould be-, 

 perhaps, at this hour, much nearer to happinefs, 

 if feveral of your number^ intent on pleafing the 



multitudes 



