I Have Already Observed, That Vanity Is The Great
And Universal Mover Among All Ranks And Degrees Of People In This
Nation; And As They Take No Pains To Conceal Or Controul It, They
Are Hurried By It Into The Most Ridiculous And Indeed Intolerable
Extravagance.
When I talk of the French nation, I must again except a great
number of individuals, from the general censure.
Though I have a
hearty contempt for the ignorance, folly, and presumption which
characterise the generality, I cannot but respect the talents of
many great men, who have eminently distinguished themselves in
every art and science: these I shall always revere and esteem as
creatures of a superior species, produced, for the wise purposes
of providence, among the refuse of mankind. It would be absurd to
conclude that the Welch or Highlanders are a gigantic people,
because those mountains may have produced a few individuals near
seven feet high. It would be equally absurd to suppose the French
are a nation of philosophers, because France has given birth to a
Des Cartes, a Maupertuis, a Reaumur, and a Buffon.
I shall not even deny, that the French are by no means deficient
in natural capacity; but they are at the same time remarkable for
a natural levity, which hinders their youth from cultivating that
capacity. This is reinforced by the most preposterous education,
and the example of a giddy people, engaged in the most frivolous
pursuits. A Frenchman is by some Jesuit, or other monk, taught to
read his mother tongue, and to say his prayers in a language he
does not understand.
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