66 THE RURAL SOCRATES, 



the labors of the hnfbandman : referving to bimfelf the 

 £nging-fchool ; where he employed, as is cuftomary, the 

 hours after fupper, on Saturdays.-— Vocal rtiufic has 

 ever been his mofl delightful recreation ; and he has the 

 notes of LobwafTer's pfalms by heart j* whilft his bro- 

 ther has much lefs (kill and tafte. 



Kliyogg 



* Claude Goud'meh a famous mufician of Franche Comte, (who ww 

 3nurd€red at Lyons on St, Bartholomew's day) coirpofed the mufiC) for a 

 poetical tranflation of the Pfalter by Clement Marot and Theodore de 

 Beze. Lobwafferj publifhed foon after a German tranflation in the fame 

 meafure, adapted to the raufic of Goudimcl. — The greaterpartof thePro- 

 tcftant chorcbes, (lill ufe mufic, which, without difcoveringany great fci- 

 ence, has fomething folemn and harmonious. — The French churches have 

 fubftituted Conrart's verficn of the pfalms, for that by Beze and Ma- 

 rot; though the former difplays no extraordinary genius in poetry. — The 

 Swifs and feme of the Germans, ftill fing the words of LobwafTer ; 

 nclwithftanding his language is more obfoleie and unintellfjgible to 

 them, than that of Marot and Beze to the French. A proof that ancient 

 cuftoms are often preferred to common fenfe, is, that the vcrfion publifhed 

 about twenty years ftnce, by M. Spring, profcffor of rhetoric at Bafie, 

 Ihould not yet be adopted in all thefe churches; though made to corref- 

 pond with Goudimers mufic, and fuperior even to the new French ver- 

 jion. — But on the other hand, the attention employed in teaching the peo- 

 ple, particularly in country parifnes, to fing with propriety, is worthy of 

 obfervation. A ft ranger woyld be furprifed to hear pfalms in four parts, 

 fung with judgment in a village church. The canton of Zurich is re- 

 markable forgooil finging. 



I (hall tranfcrihe a ftill more furprlftrg faft, related by the penetrating 

 and ingenious author of ** EJfojs on various fubjedSi inter^Jiing u politics 

 ^* and morality^*' which perhaps will not be thought inapplicable to the 

 prefent fub}?d. ♦' The difcoveiies of the learned" (fays that diflinguiih- 

 ed writer^ whom my country honors) ** would he an ufelefs acqoifition, 

 •« if they did cot extend to the proprietors of eftates, and remained unin» 

 «« telligible to the hufbandman^ For the information of the laborer, ac- 

 •• curate abridgments ought to be complied ; explaining in clear and 

 •* fimple terms, thefirft elements of agriculture, and the beft praflical lo- 

 ** cal rules. Thefe abridgments (hould be introduced into fchoojs where 

 *• the children of the peifantp are educated ; a meihod that has been often 

 ** recommended, and cannot be too often addreffed to the coniideration of 

 •* government. — Noi let it be regarded as chimerical, to inforoi the mindo 

 «* of the common people ; for experience proves its prafticability. A 

 «« German prince, E/neft the pious, Duke of SaxeGotha, entirely changed 

 ♦• chc fac» of bis principality, more than a cer.tary ajo, Tiuly gteat bjr 



»«lii* 



