STUDY II. 127 



To whom arc we indebted for the ufe of fiigar, 

 of chocolate, of fo many agreeable means of fub- 

 fiftence, and fo many falutary medicines ? To 

 naked Indians, to poor Peafants, to wretched Ne- 

 gros. The fpade of flaves has done more good, 

 than the fword of conquerors has done mifchief. 

 But in which of our great fquares are we to look for 

 the flatues of our obfcure benefadors ? Our Hifto- 

 ries have not vouch fafed fo much as to preferve their 

 names. We need not, however, to go fo far, in 

 queft of proofs of the obligations under which we 

 lie to Nature ; Is it not to the ftudy of her laws, 

 that Paris is indebted for fuch multiplied illumi- 

 nation, collefled from every quarter of the Globe, 

 combined a thoufand different ways, and refledied 

 over Europe in Sciences the moft ingenious, and 

 enjoyments the moft refined, of every fpecies ? 



Where is now the time, when our forefathers 

 leaped for joy at finding a wild plumb-tree, on 

 the banks of the Loire ; or at catching a poor roe 

 in the chace in the vaft plains of Normandy ? Our 

 fields, now fo richly clothed with harvefts, and 

 orchards, and flocks, did not then produce the 

 common necefTaries of life. They wandered up 

 and down, living on the precarious fupplits of 

 hunting, and not daring to truft to Nature. Her 

 limpleft phenomena filled them with terror. They 

 trembled at the fight of an eclipfe, of an ignis- 



fatt'.uSj 



