a 
136 
making a large fortune, are only prepar- 
ing tor the moment when they will be in 
detpair for their want of birth. 
A greater number of vices are occa- 
fioned by our not fufficiently eiteeming 
eurfelves, than from a too high opinion 
of our merit. 
In the whole courfe of my life, I never 
faw any perfons univerfally defpited but 
fuch as univerfally kept bad company. 
Experiments make the hiftory of phy- 
fics, and theories its fables. 
Every nation and every man ought to 
be civilized; but every nation and man 
ought alfo to be free. 
Modefty becomes every one; but 
though we fhould give it a place in our 
minds, we fhould keep it in tubjection to 
greater qualities. 
Be fingular, if you will; but let it be 
in the elevation of your thoughts.” He 
that can diftinguith himfelt no otherwtie 
than by his dreis, is a deipicable creature 
tn every country. 
I once had the curijofity to keep an ac- 
count of the number of times I hearda 
flory repeated, that never deferved te have 
been related ; during three weeks that it 
occupied the polite world, I heard it told 
two hundred and twenty-five times, which 
‘I thought quite futicient. 
Modefty is a fpecies of fund that 
brings its owner great intereit. 7 
I vifited the galleys, and faw no one 
unhappy face ; here, I {ee many unhappy 
faces, whofe owners are feeking to be 
happy in the purfuit of blue ribbands. : 
This is a fine faying of Seneca---** Sic 
prafentibus utaris voluptoiisus, ut futuris 
zon noceas. ———** Enjoy ihe prefent hour, 
fo as nat to injure thofé tiat follow.” 
" ‘There is an error which pervades the 
whole of the Greek philofophy ; its phy- 
fics, morals, and metaphylics, were in- 
correét for want of the diftinétion between 
pofitive and relative qualities. Thus 
Ariftotle falls into miftakes, {peaking of 
the heat and the cold; and Plato and So- 
crates, of the beautitul, the good, the 
great, and the perfect. It is 2 great dif- 
covery, that there are no pafitive quali- 
ties. The terms beautiful, good, great, 
&c. are attributes of objects relative only 
to the beings that contemplate them, This 
principie is a {ponge to wipe away almott 
every prejudice. The dialogues of Plato 
are a tiffue of fophifms, wove through 1g- 
norance of this principle. Malebranche 
committed a thoufand miitakes trom the 
fame caule. 

Mijcellaneous Thoughts, by Mantefquien. 
[Feb. 
Never did a philofopher make men more 
perfectly feel the fweetnefs of virtue, and 
the dignity of their nature, than Marcus 
Anioninus ; he touches the heart, elevates 
the mind, enlarges the foul ! 
We mutt read the politics of Ariftotle, 
and the two republics ot Flato, to have a 
juft idea of the laws and manners of the 
ancient Greeks. ‘To look ior thofe in 
their hiftorians, is as fruitlefs as to look 
for French laws and cuitoms in the hiitery 
of Lewis the Fourteenth’s ware. 
The republic of Plato is not more chi- 
merical than that of Sparta. 
To judge juftiy of men, we muft over- 
look the prejudices of their times. 
Our comedies begin to degenerate, be- 
caufe our writers are in fearch of the ridi- 
‘cuious in the paffions, initead of the ridi- 
culous in manners: the paiions are not 
ridiculous in themfelves. 
If I were to give the chara&ter of our 
ets, I would compare Corneille to 
Michael Angelo; Racine to Raphael; 
Marat to Correggio; La Fontaine to 
Titian ; Defpreaux to Dominichino ; Cre- 
bilion to Guerchino; Voltaire to Guido; 
Fontenelle to Bernini; and La Motte te 
Rembrant. 
I have teldom given my opinion cf any 
authors but thole I admire, having as 
feldom as poflible read any authors but 
the beft. 
Fanaticifm will find reafons to juftify 3 
bad action, that an honeft man could not 
find. 
Priefts are the fycophants of princes 
-wheh they cannot be their matters. 
The Englith efteem but two things— 
wealth and merit. 
The Englifh are too much employed to 
be polifhed. 
The pride of ordinary people is quite 
as well tounded as that betrayed by the 
Cardinal de Poligsac one day that I dined 
with him, He took the hand ot the Duke 
@’Elboeut, heir of the houfe of Lorraine ; 
and when the prince had retired, he gave 
me his hand. When he gave me his hand, 
it was a mark of his iuperiority; when 
he took the hand ef the prince, it was an 
exprefiion of his efteem. It is ia the fame 
{pirit that princes are familiar with their 
interiors: thefe tHink it a proof of their 
regard ; it is connected with no idea but 
of their condefcenficn. 
I confefs my partiality for the ancients... 
T am ready to fay with Pliny---“ You are 
going to Athens, once the refidence of the 
gods.” 
Extract? 
