( 53) 



but I feel interested in her glory; she has 

 risen upon ray affections by absence, and 

 upon my esteem by comparison; her pro- 

 gress, however rapid, halts behind the im- 

 patience of my wishes. 



Our fathers have left us a noble inheri- 

 tance , and it is our duty to improve it. What 

 surer basis can we choose for national wealth, 

 than a learned and enterprising agriculture? 

 How can we more effectually strengthen the 

 ties of interest that bind the extremities of 

 our country in indissoluble union , than by 

 augmenting the number and the value of their 

 useful productions? How can the intelligence 

 of a people be more favourably developed, 

 than by an art which gives so wide a scope 

 to comparative sagacity, and which brings 

 its conclusions to the test of immediate expe- 

 rience? Who are more likely to be devoted 

 to their country, than those who have attach- 

 ed the hopes of their children to its soil? 

 There is , besides , in the profession of agri- 

 culture, something so congenial to republi- 

 can manners, that we should naturally expect 

 to see the freest country the best cultivated. 

 Ilemate from the contest of sordid passions, 



