002 FRA 
Levantine olive-oil, their extenfive fale for their foap 
gives them the advantage of condant back-freights, and 
opens to mercantile fpeculation a valuable object of reci¬ 
procal commerce ; and it feems that this profpeCt was one 
of the principal motives of the emperor Napoleon, which 
influenced his endeavours in fecuring Leghorn ; as by this 
means he might eafily, in the event of a peace, monopo¬ 
lize the Turkey trade, to the prejudice of that which is 
now fo extenfively carried on by the Englifh merchants. 
It has been afl'erted by fuperficial writers, that not only 
the foreign commerce, but all the reJources arifing from 
the internal trade and agriculture of France, have been 
ruined or annihilated by the revolutionary war. In anfwer 
to this affertion, M. Hauterive, the next minider of hate 
to Talleyrand, remarks as follows: “The lofs of her 
external commerce has proved that, for a feries of years, 
France could fufficiently fatisfy her own wants; the con¬ 
tinuance of her efforts, and her fucceffes during the inter¬ 
ruption of her commercial relations, lias demonflrated 
that the impulfe and correfpondences of her internal trade 
were fufficiently aClive, multiplied, and fruitful, to main¬ 
tain in her bofom the principle of this great correfpond- 
ence of focial movements, that reproduces by the labour 
of every clafs, and diffributes for their wants, the mafs of 
objects necefTary to the fubfi(fence and to the propagation 
of the citizens. Thefe conclufions are flrong, fince the 
refults are fafts that flrike every eye. 
“ How has it happened then, that the decay and the 
lofs of feveral branches cff induffry, have not fenfibly af- 
fe&ed the principle of the focial organization of France, 
and the fpring of its political power ? It is, 1 believe, that 
during the revolution agriculture has been very confide- 
rably extended in France, and that circumffances have in 
fome degree favoured the means of its being brought to 
perfection ; that the fcarcity with which the nation was 
afflidted in the third year of the revolution, fuggefted the 
idea of cultivating the vvafte lands; that two meafures of 
government, which never can be fufficiently cenfured, 
viz. the law of the maximum, and the creation of paper- 
inone.y, had nevei tlielefs the effedt of inducing the major 
part of the landholders to increafe the cattle, thereby 
turning rural induffry to a fpecies of cultivation which 
hitherto had been too much negledled. I will however 
maintain, that if the war has very nearly annihilated a 
vaft number of trades, war itfelf has become a trade of a 
very active kind, for which the preparations and the fup- 
plies over the whole of the French territory have given 
fcope to an infinite variety of ('peculations, which have 
opened a channel to the capitaliffs, and procured a main¬ 
tenance to that numerous clafs of labourers who, by the 
interruption of commerce, and the pageantry of the court, 
were driven from their former induffrious purfuits.” 
Such, we might venture to affirm, is the real condition 
of the people of France, witli refpedt to their internal trade 
and avocations. But as to the prefent ffate of civilization, 
and of mental or moral improvement among the different 
orders of fociety, it is an inveffigation, under recent cir- 
cumffances, that is attended with difficulty and doubt. 
The manners and cuffoms of the French people have been 
frequently and loofely delineated ; but let it be remem¬ 
bered, that the habits and purfuits of men are generally 
pre-induced by tlie form or mode of the government un¬ 
der which they live; and will therefore vary with it. The 
mod pleafing traits in the maimers of the French people 
are vivacity, gaiety, politenefs, a lingular difpofition to¬ 
wards focial enjoyments, and that /avoir vivre which ena¬ 
bles the adept to difpofe his occupations and pleafures in 
an agreeable fucceffion, free from lilflelfnefs or fatigue. 
Ingeneral, F'renchmen regard care as a mortal poifon, and 
dudy, if poffible, to avoid its mod didant approach. On 
the other hand, ancient and recent events confpire to affix 
a fanguinary dain on the national character, which one 
would little expeCl amid fo much gaiety and feeming. be¬ 
nevolence. The caufes of this incongruity might afford 
ample fcope for philofophical enquiry. Even the violent 
4 
N C E. 
changes which have taken place feem to have little af- 
feCted their charaCteridic gaiety, and Paris continues to 
be one of the livelied places in the world : while the 
fereams of maffacre refounded in many parts of the city, 
in others the theatres were crowded, and nothing was 
heard but founds of acclamation and delight. 
The French language is wonderfully adapted to the 
manners of the people; and is the mod univerfally dif- 
fufed of any in Europe. In variety, clearnefs, and pre- 
cifion, and idioms adapted to life, bufinefs, and pleafure, 
it yields to no modern fpeecli ; yet for deep and contem¬ 
plative literature it wants force and dignity, and often, 
fublimity. The critics and academicians of the feven. 
teenth century enaCted fuch fevere laws of purity, that, 
like gold reduced to the utmod finenefs, it is become foft 
and harmonious, but incapable of deep impredions. The 
French language is a well known corruption of the Ro¬ 
man, mingled with Celtic and Gothic words and idioms.' 
Even in the tenth century it continued to be called Romance ; 
a name which afterwards pafTed to the poems and tales of 
chivalry, as being compofed in this dialed. One of the 
the earlieft fpecimens of French profe, was the hidory 
by Villehardouin, which was followed £>y Joinville’s life 
of Sr. Louis, and the copious and lingular chronicle of 
Froidarr. But while the Italian remains the fame from 
the days of Dante and Petrarch, the epoch of cladical pu¬ 
rity of the French language commences with the reign of 
Louis XIV. The recent revolution has introduced fuch 
exuberance of new words and phrafes, that a neological 
dictionary has been written to explain them. 
The literature of France has in modern times excited 
great refpeCl and admiration. In the bold exertions of 
inventive genius, and in works of profound refearch, 
France cannot afpire to vie with Italy or England ; but in 
the pleafing and beautiful paths of invention, and in books 
of elegant and exalted fcience, die remains almod unri¬ 
valled. French literature, like that of the other modern 
countries of Europe, originated with the ecclefiadics, 
who compiled chronicles and theological productions. 
Even in the Roman period fome authors of refpe&ability 
appeared in France, as Aufonius, a native of Bourdeaux ; 
Sidonius Apollinaris, and others; and Severus Sulpitius, 
author of the life of St. Martin, has been dyled the French 
Saliud. Nor did the conqued of Gaul by the Franks 
break the golden chain of fcience, which was continued 
by Gregory of Tours, and other venerable writers. The 
collection of ancient hiftorians of France is Angularly im¬ 
portant. In the eleventh century the ufe of the Latin 
began to be fupplanted by the modern dialed:. But it 
would be fuperfluous to attempt to enumerate the crowd 
of modern French authors, who have dood forward in the 
canfe of literature, and redefted honour on their language 
and country. Who would be a dranger to the Roman 
grandeur of Corneille, to the tender and elegiac elegance 
of Racine, the tragic pomp and terror of Crebillon, the 
comic powers of Moliere, the naivete, the fubtle fimpli- 
city, of La Fontaine, the placid indruCtion of Fenelon, the 
gaiety of Greffet, the caudic vivacity of Voltaire? 
The date of education was, notwithdanding, very de¬ 
fective, till the Jefuits acquired edimation by their atten¬ 
tion to this important branch of human culture ; to which, 
if their exertions had been folely directed, they would 
have proved a.mod valuable body of men. National 
education has juftly attracted the attention of the new 
rulers ; but with what fuccefs time mud difeover. Under 
every form of government the ignorant will be found the 
mod unmanageable; and tliofe jacobins who attempted 
to extinguifh religion and knowledge, united, as uiual, 
every vice to confummate ignorance. 
France formerly boafted of no lefs than twenty-one 
univerfities ; in the north, Douay, Caen, Paris, Rheims, 
Nanci, Strafburgh; in the middle provinces, Nantes, An¬ 
gers, Poitiers, Orleans, Bourges, Dijon, Befangon ; and in 
the fouth, Bourdeaux, Pan, Perpignan, Touioufe, Mont¬ 
pellier, Aix, Orange, Valence. Of thefe the Sorbonne 
