THE RURAL SOCRATES. loi 



i^ur return, he gave us a country collation. ?.nd tl was 

 with difficulty that we prevented him from re conduiS^- 

 ing us to Zurich. This trait will fliew you, to what a 

 point cordiality and courtefy have become ingrafted in- 

 to his chara<Slcr. 



I am next queflioned, as to the jnanner in ivhlck Klh 

 yogg employs his Ivn^ evenings in vointer f Whether he 

 reads ; and particularly wlaether lie reads the bTble^- 

 pialms, and catechifm ? whether he is given to philolb- 

 phical meditations \ whether the events, manners, and 

 cufloms of mankind, as alfo the occupations and amufe- 

 ments of other cialTc^s in life befides his ov/n, interefi 

 him \ 



To all this I anfwer plainly and ^im^^Xy in one word. 

 No. The philofophy of Kiiyogg is entirely bcunded to 

 that fphere, in which providence has placed him. Def- 

 tined to be a hufbandman, he thinks that his only voca- 

 tion lies in cultivating his land, in fupporting himlelf 

 and family out of the produce of his labor, and in mak- 

 ing this his true happinefs, (which is no other than 

 content.) In this, all the faculties of his mind are em- 

 ployed. His lands arc worked upon principles derived 

 from his experience or his fagacity, and fom-ctimes from 

 tlie inflructions of others. The ufe which he makes cf 

 the fruit of his induflry refls upon grounds no lefs ju- 

 dicious ; bounding itfelf to the nourifnment of his body, 

 and to the prefervation and (if poifible) the increafe of 

 his health and flrength. Every other employment of 

 the produce of his fields, vines, and cattle, every thing 

 tending to delicacy or luxury, excites his' indignation. 

 \\\ the abufes of the good things of this life, he fees the 

 origin of poverty, fraud, and every vice. Hence his 

 well-founded complaints againfl drunken nefs and the 

 diifolute merriment prevailing on feafl days, and even 

 during the week ; and hence above ail, the fcrupnious 

 attention v.^hich he gives to the education of his chil- 

 dren, and his anMiety to keen them out of the way of 



