J92 THE RURAL SOCRATES. 



Anecdotes of the Family of Fleuriot, knoiun in Lor" 

 raine by the Name of Valdajon ; by the Count de 

 TrejQTan ; with an hUroduciion and Remarks by the 

 French Tranjlator, 



THE piece before us is by the Count de TrefTant.— 

 In reading the Rural Socrates, he recoliedVed the feve- 

 ral particulars of a journey he took feme years iince, 

 from a dedre of gaining a peifec^t information concern- 

 ing a family, of peafants, as philofophical, and perhaps 

 even yet more to be refpe6led than Kliyogg ; afid whofe 

 character and inftitutions peculiarly aife6led the ienfibil- 

 ity of M. de TrefTan. — He not only paid due deference 

 to the work of M. Hirzel ; but the friendQiip with 

 which he honors me, palliated the imperfections of my 

 tj;aif{lation ; nor did he difdain to oblige me in the fol- 

 lowing memoir, with a parallel to the Rural Socrates. 



^ A league and a half from Plombieres, in that part of 

 * the Voiges, which borders on Franche Comte a pretty 

 ' extenfive valley is formed by feveral openings betwixt 

 ' the hills, which has a chearful appearance, and fliews 

 ' the {kill and alTiduity of the cultivators. 



' Thefc conlill of a fingle family, who occupy four 

 ' or five houfes : they are brought up in the flime prin- 

 ' ciples ; they are governed by a chief chofen out of 

 ' their body for his age and wifdom ; and are incef- 

 ^ fantly employed in ailifling the public, in educating 

 ^ their children, in comforting the diftrelTed, and in 

 ^ tilling the ground, 



' This 



+ Lieutenant- General in the French fervlce, Governor of Bitche nnd 

 German Lorraine, lord chanmberlain of the houdiold to the Polilh King 

 Stlniflans, and member of the academies of feiences at Parisi Berlin, Lon- 

 don, Edinburgh, Nantz, Metz, &c. F. 



The Count dc Treff^n, W2J a friend of Voltalre'fi and a poet. He died 

 at an advanced ogf, E, 



