Page images
PDF
EPUB

vegetable productions with spirit; but fhe has fo combined it with other fubftances, that unless her work be tortured by fire, the spirit is not feparated, and cannot prove pernicious. Why fhould this force be put on nature, to make her yield a noxious draught, when all her original preparations are falutary?

15. The juice of the apple, the fermentation of barley, and the decoction of fpruce, are amply fufficient for the refreshment of man, let his labor be ever so fevere, and his perfpiration ever fo expenfive. Our forefathers, for many years after the fettlement of the country, knew not the use of diftilled fpirits.

16. Malt was imported from England, and wire from the Western or Canary Islands, with which they were refreshed, before their own fields and orchards yielded them a fupply. An expedition was once undertaken against a nation of Indians, when there was but one pint of strong water (as it was then called) in the whole army, and that was referved for the fick; yet no complaint was made for want of refreshment.

17. Could we but return to the primitive manners of our ancestors, in this refpect, we fhould be free from many of the diforders, both of body and mind, which are now experienced. The difufe of ardent fpirits would also tend to abolish the infamous traffic in flaves, by whofe labor this baneful material is procured.

18.

Divine Providence feems to be preparing the way for the deftruction of that deteftable commerce. The infurrections of the blacks in the Weft-Indies have already fpread defolation over the moft fertile plantations, and greatly raised the price of thofe commodities which we have been used to import from thence.

19. If we could check the confumption of diftilled fpirits, and enter with vigor into the manufacture of maple fu gars, of which our forests would afford an ample fupply, the demand for Weft-India productions might be diminished; the plantations in the islands would not need fresh recruits from Africa; the planters would treat with humanity their remaining blacks; the market for flaves would become lefs inviting; and the navigation, which is now employed in

the

the most pernicious fpecies of commerce which ever dift graced humanity, would be turned into fome other channel..

20. Were I to form a picture of happy fociety, it would be a town confifting of a due mixture of hills, vallies, and fireams of water. The land well fenced and cultivated; the roads and bridges in good repair; a decent inn for the refreshment of travellers, and for public entertainments. The inhabitants moftly husbandmen; their wives and daughters domeftic manufacturers; a fuitable proportion of handicraft workmen, and two or three traders; a physician,. and lawyer, each of whom should have a farm for his support.

21. A clergyman of good understanding, of a candid difpofition and exemplary morals; not a metaphyfical, nor a polemic, but a ferious and practical preacher. A schoolmafter who fhould understand his bufinefs, and teach his pupils to govern themselves. A focial library, annually increafing, and under good regulation.

22. A club of fenfible men, feeking mutual improvement. A decent mufical fociety. No intriguing politician,. horse jockey, gambler or fot; but all fuch characters treated with contempt. Such a fituation may be confidered as the most favorable to focial happiness of any which this world can afford.

DIALOGUE BETWEEN CICERO AND LORD

CHESTERFIELD.

MISTAKE me not.

Cicero. I know how to. value the fweet courtefies of life. Affability, attention, decorum of behavior, if they have not been ranked among the virtues, are certainly related to them, and have a powerful influence in promoting focial happiness. I have recommended them as well as yourself, But I contend, and no fophiftry fhall prevail upon me to give up this point, that, to be truly amiable, they muft proceed from goodness of heart. Affumed by the artful, to ferve the purposes of private intereft, they degenerate to contemptible grimace,. and deteftable hypocrify. Cheflerfield..

Chefterfield. Excufe me, my dear Cicero; I cannot enter farther into the controverfy at prefent. I have a hundred engagements at least ; and fee yonder my little elegant French Comteffe. I promifed her and myself the pleasure of a promenade. Pleafant walking enough in thefe elyfian groves. So much good company too, that, if it were not that the canaille are apt to be troublesome, I fhould not much regret the distance from the Thuilleries. But adieu, mon cher ami, for I fee Madame B. is joining the party. Adieu, adieu !

Cic. Contemptible wretch !

Cheft. Ah! what do I hear.? Recollect that I am a man of honor, unused to the pity or the infults of an uptart. But perhaps your exclamation was not meant of If it were, I demand an explanation.

me.

Cic. I am as little inclined to infult as to flatter you. Your levity excited my indignation; but my compaffion for the degeneracy of human nature, exhibited in your inftance, abforbs my contempt.

Cheft. I could be a little angry, but, as bienfeance forbids. it, I will be a philofopher for once.- A-propos, pray how do you reconcile your-what fhall I call it-your unImooth addrefs to thofe rules of decorum, that gentleness of manners, of which you fay you know and teach the propriety as well as myself?

Cic. To confefs the truth, I would not advance the arts of embellishment to extreme refinement. Ornamental education, or an attention to the graces, has a connexion with effeminacy. In acquiring the gentleman, I would not lofe the fpirit of a man. There is a gracefulnefs in a manly character, a beauty in an open, an ingenuous difpofition, which all the profeffed teachers of the art of pleafing know not how to infuse.

Cheft. You and I lived in a state of manners, as different as the periods at which we lived were diftant. You Romans-pardon me, my dear-you Romans had a little of the brute in you. Come, come, I must overlook it. You were obliged to court plebeians for their fuffrages; and if fimilis fimili gaudet, it must be owned, that the greatest of you were fecure of their favor. Why, Beau Nafh would have handed your Catos and your Brutufes out of the ball

[ocr errors]

room,

room, if they had fhewn their unmanly heads in it; and my Lord Modish, animated with the conscious merit of the largest or smallest buckles in the room, according to the temporary ton, would have laughed Pompey the Great out: of countenance. Oh, Cicero, had you lived in a modern European court, you would have caught a degree of that undefcribable grace, which is not only the ornament, but may be the fubftitute of all those labored attainments which fools call folid merit. But it was not your good fortune, and I make allowances.

Cic. The vivacity you have acquired in studying the writings and the manners of the degenerate Gauls, has led you to fet too high a value on qualifications which dazzle. the lively perceptions with a momentary blaze, and to depreciate that kind of worth which can neither be obtained nor understood without ferious attention, and fometimes painful efforts. But I will not contend with you about the propriety or impropriety of the outward modes which delight a fhowy nation. I will not fpend arguments in proving that gold is more valuable than tinfel, though it glitters lefs. But I must cenfure you, and with an afperity too, which,. perhaps, your graces may not approve, for recommending vice as graceful, in your memorable letters.

Cheft. That the great Cicero fhould know fo little of the world, really furprifes me. A little libertinifin, my dear, that's all; how can one be a gentleman without a little libertiniẩm ?

Cic. I ever thought, to be a gentleman, it was requifite: to be a moral man, And furely you, who might have enjoyed the benefit of a light to direct you, which I wanted,, were blameable in omitting religion and virtue in your fyf.

tem.

Cheft. What fuperftitious too! You have not then converfed with your fuperior, the philofopher of Ferney... I thank Heaven, I was born in the fame age with that great luminary. Prejudice had elfe, perhaps, chained me in the thraldom of my great grandmother. Thefe are enlightened days, and I find I have costributed fomething. to the general illumination, by my pofthumous letters.

Cic.

Father,

Boaft not of them. Remember you were a

Cheft.

Cheft. And did I not endeavor most effectually to ferve my fon, by pointing out the qualifications neceffary for a foreign ambaffador, for which department I always defigned him? Few fathers have taken more pains to accomplish a fon than myself There was nothing. I did not condefcend to point out to him.

Cic. True; your condefcenfion was great indeed. You were the pander of your fon. You not only taught him the mean arts of diffimulation, the petty tricks which degrade nobility; but you corrupted his principles, fomented his paffions, and even pointed out objects for their gratification. You might have left the talk of teaching him fashionable vice, to a vicious world. Example, and the corrupt af-fections of human nature, will ever be capable of accomplishing this unnatural purpofe. But a parent, the guardian appointed by nature for an uninftructed offspring introduced into a dangerous world, who himself takes upon him the office of feduction, is a monster indeed. I alfo had a fon. I was tenderly folicitous for the right conduct of his education. I entrusted him indeed to Cratippus at Athens; but, like you, I could not help tranfmitting inftructions dictated by parental love.. Those inftructions are contained in my book of Offices, a book which has ever been cited by the world as a proof, to what a height the morality of the heathens was advanced without the light of revelation. I own, I feel a confcious pride in it; not on account of the ability which it may display, but for the principles it teaches, and the good, I flatter myself, it has diffufed. You did not indeed intend your inftructions for the world; but as you gave them to a fon you loved, it may be concluded that you thought them true wisdom, and withheld them only because they were contrary to the profeffions of the unenlightened. They have been generally read; and their uniform tendency has been to introduce vice and immorality.

Cheft. Spare me, Cicero. I have never been accustomed to the rough converfation of an old Roman, I feel myfelf little in his company. I feem to fhrink in his noble prefence. I never felt my infignificance fo forcibly as now. French philofophers and French courtiers have been my

modelos

« PreviousContinue »