\ 
26 
by Leonardo da Vinci, to which he at- 
taches a very high value, but upon nearer 
examination it might perhaps be only a 
* Luin : 
Such are the few obfervations I had an 
opportunity of m:king on literature and 
the arts during my expeditious journey 
througa Italy. I new haften to clofe my 
long letter, whileI catt a farewell look to- 
wards the enchaating land in which I 
have refided almoit ten years, which I 
love as my adopted country, which has 
farnifhed me with a never-failing fource of 
exguifite recolle@tions, and which, in the 
gicomy and inclement regions of the 
North, will prefent my fancy with the 
images of a ferener heaven and a more de- 
lightful earth. 
= ee 
For the Monthly Magazine. 
@BSERVATIONS 07 fome TRACES of the 
SAVAGE STATE aviong POLISHED NA- 
Tions, and particulars relative to the 
DISTRICT Of SATERLAND. By DR. J 
L. MOREAU (de /q@ SARTHE). 
MONG the curious faéts and inte- 
reftinz refults found in the beft voy- 
ages and travels, the philofophic reader 
mult remark with furprife thofe great dif- 
ferences of civilization, thofe contrafts of 
barbarifm and a polified ftate, under the 
fame degree of latitude, in the fame em- 
pire, and fomertimes in the fame province. 
In France, dreary beaths, lands covered 
with thorns and briars, extend to the very, 
gates of Nantes, one of its fineft cities, 
and at the fight of this oppofiticn, the be- 
hoider is cbliged to confels, with Arthur 
_ Young, that the opulence of the French 
towns has no connection with the prefpe- 
rity Of the country. 
Various towns of the fame province 
pre efent a fill more itriking contrait 5 and 
their inhabitants are as different from ‘the 
peafants of Lower Bretagne as from the 
Hotteatots or Hurons, with regard to un- 
derftanding and civilization. In the 
country, in genere!l, the lower claffes pre- 
fent to the eye of the obferver fmall half- 
civilized tribes, whitch retain almof all 
the cuftoms peculiar to the carly periods 
of focial life. 
Every thing belonging to the ordinary 
arts of life exhibits, evea #:ll more gene- 
ral.y, examples of thefe great di fferences in 
the developme at of perfectibility in the 
fame nation. Thus in almoft every part 
of the country, the peafant, though not 
peor, neither knows, how to feed nor to 
clothe himfelf ; he does not even fully en- 
joy air acd leks ; and his habitation, 
Traces of the Savage State among Polifhed Nations. 
‘ 
[Feb. 1, 
fomewhat more regular, indeed, than the 
fhed of the Otaheitan, is almoft as incon- 
venient as the fmoky hut of the Lap- 
lander or Samoyede. 
Here men and all the domeftic animals 
are frequently crowded into the fame apart- 
melt, which receives light only by the 
door, as I have obferved in feveral vil- 
lages of Poitou and Bretagne ; and in 
general rural architeéture has made fo Jit- 
tle progrefs in France, that there is réafon 
to wonder that epidemic and contagious 
difeafes are not more frequent and deftruc- 
tive. 
Even inthe towns, the benefits of civi- 
lzation are confined to the higher orders of 
¥ 
~ 
fociety, and reach the lower by very flow * 
fteps. At Paris, for inftance, there is a 
particular variety of the human fpecies, 
who regard vaccination, lightning-rods, 
inoculation, and economical foups, as au- 
dacious innovations; and in many, middle 
as well as lower, mothers, who never 
heard of Reufleau, continue, in fpite of 
the illumination and philolophy of of ‘the 
Igth century, to fhackle and ftifle their 
children out of exceffive tendernefs, or, 
without fear, without remorfe, and almoft 
without motive, deliver them up to the 
care of hireling nurfes. 
It may, therefore, be afferted, ina ge- 
neral manner, that the common people 
participate but very flowly ia the progrefs 
and advantages of the development of pers 
feétibility; that they long retain nume- 
rous veltiges of ancient barbarif{m, and 
that they are many ages behind the more 
fortunate and more enlightened claffes in 
civilization and intelligence. Thefe dif- 
ferences are alwsys more ftriking in re- 
mote provinces, and in {mall territories 
bounded ard re*tri€ted in their communi- 
cations by phyfical and moral caules. A 
great number of imall countries which are 
in this predicament, might be mentioned ; 
and it may be proved, that even tn Eu- 
rope, and in the mid ot the moft polifhed 
empires, there exift countries whefe inha- 
bitants are ftillin a kind of focial infancy, 
or who, preferving their ancient habits, 
may be confidered as living monuments, 
the obfervation of which affords informa- 
tion not le’s important to hitory than 
tho'e derived from the moft celebrated 
ruins and antiquities. Thus the inhabi« 
tants of Lower Bretagne have fearcely 
changed for feveral centuries, and ftill re- 
tain the lancuage and cufioms of the little 
culony which left the duchy of Cornwall, 
and took refuge on the coaits of France. 
Their ancient manners and idiom keep 
them infulated, and have hitherto proved, 
an 
