To be poor, to be wretched, to be a slave, are hard indeed;
existence is not worth enjoying on those terms.
I am afraid thy
country can never flourish under such impolitic government." I am
very much of your opinion, Mr. Bertram, though I am in hopes that
the present reign, illustrious by so many acts of the soundest
policy, will not expire without this salutary, this necessary
emancipation; which would fill the Russian empire with tears of
gratitude. "How long hast thee been in this country?" Four years,
Sir. "Why thee speakest English almost like a native; what a toil a
traveller must undergo to learn various languages, to divest himself
of his native prejudices, and to accommodate himself to the customs
of all those among whom he chooseth to reside."
Thus I spent my time with this enlightened botanist - this worthy
citizen; who united all the simplicity of rustic manners to the most
useful learning. Various and extensive were the conversations that
filled the measure of my visit. I accompanied him to his fields, to
his barn, to his bank, to his garden, to his study, and at last to
the meeting of the society on the Sunday following. It was at the
town of Chester, whither the whole family went in two waggons; Mr.
Bertram and I on horseback. When I entered the house where the
friends were assembled, who might be about two hundred men and
women, the involuntary impulse of ancient custom made me pull off my
hat; but soon recovering myself, I sat with it on, at the end of a
bench. The meeting-house was a square building devoid of any
ornament whatever; the whiteness of the walls, the conveniency of
seats, that of a large stove, which in cold weather keeps the whole
house warm, were the only essential things which I observed. Neither
pulpit nor desk, fount nor altar, tabernacle nor organ, were there
to be seen; it is merely a spacious room, in which these good people
meet every Sunday. A profound silence ensued, which lasted about
half an hour; every one had his head reclined, and seemed absorbed
in profound meditation, when a female friend arose, and declared
with a most engaging modesty, that the spirit moved her to entertain
them on the subject she had chosen. She treated it with great
propriety, as a moral useful discourse, and delivered it without
theological parade or the ostentation of learning. Either she must
have been a great adept in public speaking, or had studiously
prepared herself; a circumstance that cannot well be supposed, as it
is a point, in their profession, to utter nothing but what arises
from spontaneous impulse: or else the great spirit of the world, the
patronage and influence of which they all came to invoke, must have
inspired her with the soundest morality. Her discourse lasted three
quarters of an hour. I did not observe one single face turned toward
her; never before had I seen a congregation listening with so much
attention to a public oration.
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