FRANCE. 115 



mains, we will fuppofe^ 2os. and, if rent 

 of 6s. be deducted, there remains, of clear 

 profit, 145. from an expenditure of i6s. 

 which is 90 per cent, inftead of 7 per cent, 

 which they make by their vineyards. I 

 admit, that a whole country could not well 

 be fainfoine , but thefe vignerons them- 

 felves allowed, that a whole farm might, 

 fince, mown and given green, no food ex- 

 cels it for cows and oxen ; and in hay it 

 forms the beft winter fupport for all forts of 

 cattle. Nor is it at all necefTary to fuppofe 

 the profit 90 per cent. If it is only 20 or 30* 

 the difference is very great between that and 

 7 from vines. But, when men have, for; 

 ages, been famous for a product, and all 

 the inhabitants of a country interefted in 

 it, and accuftomed to it in every gradation, 

 they naturally abide by what was the fup- 

 port of their fathers ; and will not, by any 

 arguments, be convinced, that it would be 

 much for their profit totally to abandon the 

 object, which has fo long been neareft their 

 hearts. This reafoning is certainly true, 

 only in relation to the prefent fyftem of 

 the government ; for, if wines, in all their 

 ftages, from the land on which they grow, 



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