ABBÉ DE ST. PIERRĒ.

THIS honeft politician made the christian rule, of doing as you would be done by, apply even to politics. "The people," fays he, pay their taxes willingly, when a fove"reign can fay to himfelf, Would I, were I a fubject, that the fovereign should tax "me in the fame manner that I do my fub

રં

jects, and that he should demand of me fuch "a fubfidy for fuch a certain purpofe? They

pay willingly," adds he, “when all perfons "in a state are taxed in proportion to their

property, and when they know with certainty that the money thus drawn from them " is expended with wisdom and with proper economy."

"Every perfon," fays the Abbé, in his "Tarif "Tarifié," shall declare what he is worth, " and fhall be taxed in proportion to his pro

perty, of whatever kind it is. This tarif "fhall be calculated at five per cent. on the "income of lands that the poffeffor keeps in "his own hands; with refpect to lands that <6 are let to farm, they shall be taxed at two "and a half per cent. to be paid by the tenant. "The tax on money employed in trade shall be "at one and a half per cent. The tax on

"in

" industry and labour fhall be fixed at the rate "of fo many day's work in each profeffion.

"The certainty," adds he, (he is fpeaking of old France) "that a perfon fhall never be "exceffively nor exclufively taxed, nor more "taxed in proportion than his neighbours, will "eftablish commerce; increafe the number "of the inhabitants of the country, the "number of thofe who cultivate the ground, " and of confequence the fruits of the earth; "the rents and the revenues of the nobility; " and diminish the number of the poor and "the idle, because by thefe means every one "will find fome work or fome occupation on "which he may employ himself."

This benevolent projector has put the advantages of a public fchool over private education in a very strong light.

"Children," fays he, " that are brought up at a public fchool are in general more "manly* than thofe brought up at a private "feminary; they are used to wait upon them

* A celebrated admiral of our times, on feeing the dormitory at Westminster, exclaimed, “ Were it not for this, and "the forecastle of a man of war, our nation would become "a country of macaronies.”

"felves; to take care of their clothes and their "books, and to buy what they want for them"felves; they are taught to behave well to each "other; to write and to keep their accounts; "with many other habits of great ufe to them "in their future life. Raillery is indeed a "vice; but it often ferves to correct the "vices of him to whom it is applied, efpe

cially when all his companions join in it. "The proverb, that fays, Familiarity breeds " contempt, is founded in truth. Yet ftill parents with that their children should refpect them. It is true, indeed, that a mo"ther wishes often to fee her fon; but the "does not confider, that the feldomer he fees "her the more refpect he entertains for her. "If a child in general refpects his father more "than his mother, it is because he is lefs "cockered by one than by the other. It is odd, "but it is too true, that the tenderness of "mothers, instead of being advantageous to "children, is too often pernicious to them "and that a particular child, who would have "become a man of principle and of diligence, "has turned out idle and worthless, because "he has had a bad education, and has been "too much fondled by his mother."

;

M. DE

M, DE BUFFON,

if not the hiftorian, was moft affuredly the orator of nature. The magic of his ftyle either makes you believe what he tells you to be true, or difregard whether it is fo or not. He excels in defcription, and there is not, perhaps, in any language whatever, fo eloquent a writer. He has the talent of dreffing with flowers things that in many other writers would difguft, and yet are neceffary to his book from the nature of his fubject; and he fo decorates them, that under his pen their offenfiveness is not perceived. M. Herault de Sechelles, an eloquent lawyer, vifited M. de Buffon fome years ago, and publifhed an account of his entertaining visit with this title," Voyage à Montbard en 1785. From this book the following extracts are made: "I mentioned," fays Herault de Sechelles, "the word genius "to him- Genius*,' replied he, 'is nothing "but a ftrong difpofition to take pains. In"vention depends upon patience. A writer "fhould

"I know of no fuch thing as genius," faid our Ho. garth to Mr. Gilbert Cooper one day; "genius is nothing "but labour and diligence." This definition of genius was given by a perfon who feemed to have the faireft claims to that gift of heaven; the greateft ethical painter that ever exifted; and a painter of fo exuberant a fancy that every figure in his pictures is doing fomething, and

"fhould obferve and fhould confider his fub66 ject for a great while; it then unrolls itself "and developes itfelf by degrees; you feel "then as if a small stroke of electricity had

pervaded your head, and at the fame time "made an impreffion upon your heart. That "is the inftant of genius; then you feel the pleasure of compofition; a pleasure fo great, "that I have often spent twelve or fourteen "hours together at it. It was my greatest

ce

enjoyment; indeed I was more abforbed "with it than with my own fame. Fame may come afterwards if it pleases; and, to fay truth, in general it does come afterwards. "But would you increase the rapture, and at "the fame time be original, when you are "writing on a fubject open no book upon "that fubject; draw every thing from your << own head, and do not confult a book till

you find that you can produce nothing. I "have always made ufe of this method when "I wrote. By these means I have always en

his canvas is never extensive enough for his ideas; fo that in the ends of his pictures you often see mere hands and legs introduced for want of room for the faces that fhould accompany them; and which have ftill a propriety and a diftinctiveness of action.

That honour to human nature, Sir Ifaac Newton, faid of himself," that if ever he had been able to do any thing, he "had effected it by patient thinking only."

«joyed

1