foo THE RURAL SOCRATES, 



' population is fuper-abundant, and the government 

 ' meddles in the mofl minute concerns'^. — To do juflice 



* then to the merits of Kliyogg, we mufl confider him 

 ' as independent of circumftances. 



' The civil and ecclefiaftical conflitution of his vil- 



* lage was entirely contrary to his principles ; and he 



* ftrnggled againfl ir, with all the warmth and finccrity 

 of his nature. -He confidered morality and human 

 happinefs as founded not only upon an indefatigable 

 zeal for bullnefs, but upon fmiple truths, purified from 

 ufelefs and foreign dodrines ; *** for he difliked 



' much of what was taught in the fchools, and even by 

 *- the clergy of Zurich. 



^ He carried to great leDgtlis the maxim, that man 



* ought to fband upon his own bafis, without yielding to 

 companions or neighbors. He was alarmed at the 

 meeting together of perfons who were Grangers to 

 each other; and affirmed that men grew worfe when- 

 c er they remained in each other's company without 



* rcc nidation. In this view, he clafTed under one de- 



* f::ription all afTemblies at church- doors, taverns, mar- 

 kets, town-halls, fchools, and military reviews ; fay- 



^ ing that in thefe cafes men wei^e fure lo unlearn fome- 



* thing which was elTential to them. I recolle<fl diftin^i'- 

 ly one of his ren^arks ; namely, that when three per- 

 fons are together, they will certainly fay three things 



* which are improper ; and if there are an hundred of 

 them, they will fay an hundred. 



' It feems that Kliyogg has been extolled too much ^% 



* a fiirmcr, and at the cxpence too of his charader of a 

 man. We have j)eafants by hundreds, who have done 



* as much as himfelf for the improvement of their 

 farms; but, in all our country, there is not a fecond 



* Kliyogg, confidered as a ?;/«/;. With refpetH: to 



* the 



* This was hut too true a charge. There was even an ccclefiaftica; 

 offirer, who among other things had a right to examine what fermcns the 

 ^Xt^gy had preacbct! inihe courf? af every lix months preceding. E- 



