to promote navigation and commerce, he finds himself no way interested in either. A discovery which some have pursued at the hazard of their lives, affects him with neither astonishment nor pleasure. He is satisfied with thoroughly understanding the few objects which contribute to his own felicity. He knows the properest places where to lay the snare for the sable, and discerns the value of furs with more than European sagacity. More extended knowledge would only serve to render him unhappy, it might lend a ray to show him the misery of his situation, but could not guide him in his efforts to avoid it. Ignorance is the happiness of the poor.

The misery of a being endowed with sentiments above its capacity of fruition, is most admirably described in one of the fables of Locman, the Indian moralist. "An elephant that had been peculiarly serviceable in fighting the battles of Wistnow, was ordered by the god to wish for whatever he thought proper, and the desire should be attended with immediate gratification. The elephant thanked his benefactor on bended knees, and desired to be endowed with the reason and the faculties of a man. Wistnow was sorry to hear the foolish request, and endeavoured to dissuade him from his misplaced ambition ; but finding it to no purpose, gave him at last such a portion of wisdom, as could correct even the Zendavesta of Zoroaster. The reasoning elephant went away rejoicing in his new acquisition, and though his body still retained its ancient form, he found his appetites and passions entirely altered.

He first considered that it would not only be more comfortable, but also more becoming, to wear clothes: but unhappily he had no method of making them himself, nor had he the use of speech to demand them from others, and this was the first time he felt real anxiety. He soon perceived how much more ele

gantly men were fed than he, therefore he began to loath his usual food, and longed for those delicacies which adorn the tables of princes; but here again he found it impossible to be satisfied; for though he could easily obtain flesh, yet he found it impossible to dress it in any degree of perfection. In short, every pleasure that contributed to the felicity of mankind, served only to render him more miserable, as he found himself utterly deprived of the power of enjoyment. In this manner he led a repining, discontented life, detesting himself, and displeased with his ill-judged ambition, till at last his benefactor Wistnow, taking compassion on his forlorn situation, restored him to the ignorance and the happiness which he was originally formed to enjoy."

No, my friend, to attempt to introduce the sciences into a nation of wandering barbarians, is only to render them more miserable than even nature designed they should be. A life of simplicity is best fitted to

a state of solitude.

The great law-giver of Russia attempted to im prove the desolate inhabitants of Siberia, by sending among them some of the politest men of Europe. The consequence has shown, that the country was as yet unfit to receive them; they languished for a time, with a sort of exotic malady, every day degenerated from themselves, and, at last, instead of rendering the country more polite, they conformed to the soil, and put on barbarity.

No, my friend, in order to make the sciences useful in any country, it must first become populous; the inhabitant must go through the different stages of hunter, shepherd, and husbandman: then, when property becomes valuable, and consequently gives cause for injustice; then, when laws are appointed to repress injury, and secure possession, when men, by the sanction of those laws, become possessed of superfluity, when luxury is thus introduced and

demands its continual supply, then it is that the sciences become necessary and useful; the state then cannot subsist without them; they must then be introduced, at once to teach men to draw the greatest possible quantity of pleasure from circumscribed possession, and restrain them within the bounds of moderate enjoyment.

The sciences are not the cause of luxury, but its consequence, and this destroyer thus brings with it an antidote, which resists the virulence of its own poison. By asserting that luxury introduces the sciences, we assert a truth; but if, with those who reject the utility of learning, we assert that the sciences also introduce luxury, we shall be at once false, absurd, and ridiculous. Adieu.

LETTER LXXXIII.

From Lien Chi Altangi to Hingpo, by the way of Moscow.

YOU are now arrived at an age, my son, when pleasure dissuades from application; but rob not, by present gratification, all the succeeding period of its happiness. Sacrifice a little pleasure at first to the expectance of greater. The study of a very few years will make the rest of life completely easy.

But instead of continuing the subject myself, take the following instructions, borrowed from a modern philosopher of China.* "He who has begun "his fortune by study, will certainly confirm it by perseverance. The love of books damps the pas

* A translation of this passage may also be seen in Du Halde vol. II, fol. p. 47 and 58. This extract will at least serve to show that fondness for humour, which appears in the writings of the Chinese.

"sion for pleasure, and when this passion is once "extinguished, life is then cheaply supported; thus "a man, being possessed of more than he wants, can "never be subject to great disappointments, and ❝avoids all those meannesses which indigence some "times unavoidably produces.

"There is unspeakable pleasure attending the life ❝of a voluntary student. The first time I read an "excellent book, it is to me just as if I had gained " a new friend. When I read over a book I have "perused before, it resembles the meeting with an "old one. We ought to lay hold of every incident "in life for improvement, the trifling as well as the "important. It is not one diamond alone which gives "lustre to another; a common coarse stone is also "employed for that purpose. Thus I ought to draw

advantage from the insults and contempt I meet "with from a worthless fellow. His brutality ought "to induce me to self-examination, and correct 66 every blemish that may have given rise to his

"calumny.

"Yet with all the pleasures and profits which are 66 generally produced by learning, parents often find "it difficult to induce their children to study. They " often seem dragged to what wears the appearance ❝of application. Thus, being dilatory in the begin"ning, all hopes of future eminence are entirely cut "off. If they find themselves obliged to write two "lines more polite than ordinary, their pencil then 66 seems as heavy as a millstone, and they spend ten "days in turning two or three periods with pro❝priety.

"These persons are most at a loss when a ban" quet is almost over; the plate and the dice go "round, that the number of little verses, which each "is obliged to repeat, may be determined by chance. "The booby, when it comes to his turn, appears "quite stupid and insensible. The company divert

"themselves with his confusion; and sneers, winks, " and whispers are circulated at his expence. As for "him, he opens a pair of large heavy eyes, stares at "all about him, and even offers to join in the laugh, "without ever considering himself as the burden of "all their good-humour.

"But it is of no importance to read much, except you be be regular in your reading. If it be inter"rupted for any considerable time, it can never be "attended with proper improvement. There are "some who study for one day with intense applica"tion, and repose themselves for ten days after. "But wisdom is a coquet, and must be courted with "unabating assiduity.

"It was a saying of the ancients, that a man never 66 opens a book, without reaping some advantage by it; I say with them, that every book can serve to "make us more expert, except romances, and these "are no better than instruments of debauchery. "They are dangerous fictions, where love is the "ruling passion!

"The most indecent strokes there pass for turns "of wit; intrigue and criminal liberties for gallantry " and politeness; assignations, and even villany, are put in such strong lights, as may inspire, even grown men, with the strongest passion; how much 66 more, therefore, ought the youth of either sex to "dread them, whose reason is so weak, and whose "hearts are so susceptible of passion!

"To slip in by a back door, or leap a wall, are ac"complishments that, when handsomely set off, en"chant a young heart. It is true the plot is commonly "wound up by a mariage, concluded with the con"sent of parents, and adjusted by every ceremony "prescribed by law. But as in the body of the "work there are many passages that offend good "morals, overthrow laudable customs, violate the "laws, and destroy the duties most essential to