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in England. The exceptions to this general cenfure are found in 

 thofe provinces, where the reformed religion has prevailed moft. 

 The infinite number of ecclefiaftical eftablifhments and principali- 

 ties, which overfpread Germany, are fo many nurferies of igno- 

 rance, fullennefs, barbarifm, and depraved tafte, while politenefs 

 of manners, good tafte, and good writing, flourifh moft, in thofe 

 parts of Germany which have the freeft government.* 



There is another caufe, which may have contributed to the. 

 rude uncultivated ftate of the German Mufe, and to the unformed 

 tafte, which pervades her productions, in the vernacular tongue. 

 The men of letters in Germany have but very lately applied them- 

 felves to the ftudy of their native language. They feemed to def- 

 pife it, and, of courfe, remained ignorant of its capabilities, and 

 force; while they addided. themfelves, with eager enthufiafm, to 

 the [ftudy of the Greek and Latin claflics, and to that fpecies of 

 criticifm, which, under the name of philology, exhaufts the time, 

 the labour, and the talents of learned men in microfcopical re- 

 fearch, and beftows a minute and painful attention on words, 

 fyllables, and commas. I do not mean to difcredit the painful 

 toils, of thofe induftrious fcholars, or to deny their utility in the 

 republic of letters. I would only fugjeft, in this place, that a ge- 

 neral devotion among the German Literati to ftudies of this kind, 



( H 2 ) may 



* The continual fucceflion of civil wars is a further caufe of the backward ftate 

 of th6 Germans. 



