248 TRAVELS THROUGH 



Auvergne, to view our new acquifition, 

 which we did immediately, taking with us 

 the whole of our fortune. 



'* Upon this journey we confidered feri- 

 oufly what was toLe our future courfe, when 

 my wife made a propofal, which was the 

 mod exprefiive proof of her excellent un- 

 derftanding, and the clearnefs of her pene- 

 tration : " My dear La Place, faid {he, you 

 have had all the experience you can wifh of 

 what the gay and the polite world are $ if 

 your fortune would allow you a life of plea- 

 fure, the f;iend(hips, the acquaintance you 

 contract, would, like thofe you once knew, 

 turn their back on you for every rever.fe of 

 fortune ;---the thing itfelf is not fo much 

 the objection as the idea which muft be 

 confcantly in our mind, that thofe who ap- 

 pear io kind are at bottom fo deceitful, it 

 would poifon my enjoyment. We have alfo 

 had experience of trade; we know, that, 

 when the mod inexorable induftry has 

 amalTed a fortune, that yet you are open to 

 the knavery and the folly of many you deal 

 with, and may in a moment be ruined with- 

 out a fpai'li .. indefcretion. Let me, there- 

 fore, propofe a third fyiiem. You are going 



to 



