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at home. What place should a man solicit , 

 before his. country invites his services, who 

 can breathe an untainted air upon his own 

 estate? Nor have the French, in appreciat- 

 ing the dignity of agriculture, modelled their 

 taste upon that of the ancients, as scrupul- 

 ously as in their literature : under the former 

 monarchy, rural employments were consi- 

 dered as degrading to a gentleman. 1 



1 Respect for the useful arts has long been talcing place 

 of admiration for the frivolous accomplishments of the 

 ancient court, and it will finally dissolve the charm of 

 military glory. I am aware, also, that the present court is 

 not brilliant, but the cause is less simple and profound 

 than a thorough renovation of the public character. 



I speak on this subject, however, without preteulion* 

 to authority, and am farther than any man from meaning 

 to affront the gallant and amiable French. Who can for- 

 bear admiring the constancy with which they have adhered 

 to the legitimate principles of the revolution, through an 

 anarchy the most terrible, and a despotism at once the 

 most splendid and the most liberal of modern ages ! 



France was never more truly great than in her volun- 

 tary humiliation; her prospects were never brighter than 

 in the midst of her adversity. Though vestiges of arbitrary 

 power in every branch of administration remind her that 

 she has always had a government of men and not of 

 laws, public opinion is advancing with inevitable steps; 



