THE RURAL SOCRATES. 9^ 



K>ne parifli and another (where great vehemence is ufu- 

 al) employing only a frauk, fimple, and molt accurate 

 llatiemeiit of fails, in oppofilion to the lieat of the ad- 

 verfe party ; and more than once, I have obferved him 

 Seizing with a kind of enthuiiafm, the means of procur- 

 ing accefs to his patrons for thofe, who envied and op- 

 pofed him ; feekir.g to regain their good will by marks 

 of the moft unequivocal frieuddiip and by fcrv ices the 

 mofi: important. — Such proceedings are exceedingly 

 rare in the inhabitants of the country. I notice care- 

 fully every occurrence which can make me acquainted 

 with this clais of people ; and 1 am every day more and 

 more confirmed in the pei faafion, that genius is as com- 

 mon in this clafs, as in any other whatfoevcr ; but that 

 generofity and difintercfLcdnefs are of all their natural 

 u^ualitiesj thofe v/hlch develope themfclves the leaft* ; 



the 



* The French tranfl^tor cites here two meixoraWe excepiicns. 



One isfaken Uom ilie Marqnis de Miraheau, who gives »he folloviing 

 Telation in the Ef.hf;ieri(/es du Citojen for 1769. *• The farmers and vaf- 

 *' his of M. de Kergroadez (io the diocefe of Leon, in France) learring 

 ** ihat h,e defigneu to fell his cftate, affembled and deputed to him (omt ct 

 *< ti.elr chiefs, to rf queft that he nuould mt f:ll the-vi to any in the admins 

 •* ijhatkn of the faancfSy and ta kno-jj in n.vhat they had cffen.-fed him.'* — 

 My friends, faiJ he vviih e^TiOtion, the ncafure is nefeff.iry ^fom the de- 

 fanged ftate of my affairs ; I can no longer live in my ufual i^yle ; and I 

 rnuli fell, that I may at lealr leave a wreck of my fortune to my children. — 

 Your children, replied the old mer, cannot be in letter hands than ours ; 

 but 33 we know thai they ought not to owe their fuhfulence 10 us, and our 

 only wifh is to reinPtaie the f.imsly, con-.^efcenJ to Introll: your rfFaJfi fo 

 us. What iii the amount of your debts, for ihey belong to us all ?— Your 

 kindnefs penecr/itcs trie, lie replied; but lowe above X.i2,oco fieriing, and 

 1 muft cf neccffiiy q-jit you. — The deputies rc;ired with this inrormaiion ; 

 thanking hiaa, and pfOiTiifirg him a fpeedy anfwer. In effed, ^ftcr fomr 

 lifT.e ihey returned with ihe j^.12,000, and flgned a contra^ wiih hia-, of 

 which the minute ftill fubfifls ; leaving him half his income to fupporc 

 him according to his r^nk, an.i providing fi>r their reiixburfement in for- 

 ty years ; and to conclude all, they prcfentcd him iviih eight catriage hor- 

 fes, that, in their own phrafe, his lady might go to church ,n a pro^tt mari- 

 ner, > 



The fecond anecdote refpe^^a the generoGty and delicacy cfanold An- 

 abaptiit of the country of Walc'tc'^f • I' ': ' ^"'°n recited. In th? year 1 76^, 



M. ds 



