THE RURAL SOCRATES. 79 



t may fafely afiirni, that the admonitions, and above 

 all, the example of this worthy man, produced in me fa- 

 latary effects. — Let it not be thought an extravagance 

 of fancy, if I compare his wifdom with that of Socrates I 

 The parallel would have been much more ftriking, and 

 vh'tue would have gained the admiration and honor it 

 deferves ; had Kliyogg met with a Xenophon, whofe 

 energetic pen could have made the world properly ac- 

 quainted with his charaiSter. 



I am yet tempted to hope that this faint fivctch will 

 not be abfolutely void of utility, if the features I have 

 endeavored to mark, imprefs on the mind of my read- 

 ers only a part of thofe fenfations I have experienced 

 in contemplating the original. — Perhaps the defcrip- 

 tion I have given, may be an inducement to men of fur 

 pcrior fcience and abilities, ibmetimes to turn their 

 thoughts and obfervations upon the lower clafs of peo- 

 ple. Our knowledge of the various properties and 

 faculties of the human foul might be rnore complete ; 

 and our ideas of happinef?, and true greatnefs of mind 

 more certain and determined ;* nay, I apprehend the 

 queftion debated by the philofophers of the prefent age,^ 

 whether fcience and literature have been more beneficial 

 6r injurious to fociety, might again be refumed with great 

 benefit. — My Rural Socrates is to aie a proof, that the 

 human mind is capable, in all llations, of difplaying the 



whole 



♦ This author is not the di^ philcfoplcr who has entered into fuch invef- 

 tigations. There was a book pubiifried in 1756, nearly upon the fame 

 plan, intiiled, Tae Moral Philcfoph/rf by Mr. Hoffrpan of Drcfden ; with 

 a copper-plate and this infcripiion : Johannes Ludeiuig^ agri ac 'vivea co-^ 

 lonus^ Philofophnsy Maihematkasy Oratory Atttodida8us» Cajfehud^s frope 

 Dre/dasJi A, lyj^. JEtatis 41. — In the Jourrml Etrangert for Auguft^ 

 2758, p. 188, there ?s a curious exiraft fioiB this work. F. 



Having prefented to the Fiench tranflator the life of Ludwig in Ger- 

 man, he remarked, that Ludwig had inftrufled himfelf in various articleg 

 under great difficoltie?, but had done little which wasorigisah — The opin- 

 ion of my friend appears juftified by the account given of Ludwig, in the 

 3!rft volume of the EngUft; Annoal KegiSer, bting that for the year 125&, 

 See there p. 24.7, K, 



