the world. I looked around and asked whence the water came? I was told from Marli, about seven miles off, brought here in iron pipes. What! over these hills? said I. "Yes." The machinery then must be worth seeing? "It is indeed," said the French gentleman who was with us. I then requested of my doctor permission to go there the next morning, to which he assented and promised to go with me; when, after pausing awhile, reflecting on the useless wars of Louis the fourteenth and his shameful expenses at home, I uttered this quotation: "I will visit the sins of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation." The Frenchman, who understood English a little, asked me what I meant? I told him I was only repeating a part of our second commandment.

We visited the kitchen-garden, or potagerie, as it was called. It embraced thirty acres, separated by brick walls, each square of wall enclosing an acre, the whole enclosed by one embracing the whole. Every thing that nature could produce was here, assisted by art of the most scientific kind. We were presented with some peaches of the most delicious flavour. Melons, which in England are a hot-bed fruit, here grew in the open air, as in America.

We then proceeded to the "orangerie." Our guide, pointing to the head orange tree, observed, "There is, perhaps, the oldest tree in the world." "How!" said I. "This tree," replied he, "is called the Grand Bourbon; it was presented to Francis the first, (the duke d'Angouleme) who was cotemporary with English Henry the eighth, both of whom played such foolish pranks at Guisnes and Ardes. It was then known to be two hun

dred years old, and even before these two hundred years it was supposed to be of great antiquity."

Buffon, if I recollect correctly, observes that the natural lives of animals are four times the space it takes to bring them to maturity. Whether this also is the case with trees, let the reader judge.

Louis the fourteenth wrung from the hands of his poorest subjects their last sous, and not content with that, tortured their nerves in labour; for what? To have the paltry addition of "great" added to his title. He impoverished his country, preying upon the labours of his predecessors, pursuing his own wild schemes, and dying, left a miserable nation to be comforted by his successor. During the reign of Louis the fifteenth, a comparatively modest calm prevailed. When Louis the sixteenth ascended the throne all was joy and hope; and when the beautiful Marie-Antoinette arrived, to be received as his queen, there were no false rejoicingsthere was no need of hiring prostituted minds to bellow -out from their hoarse throats "huzza!" The souls of the people welcomed her, and every sound that issued from the tongue was sanctioned by the heart. Louis the sixteenth was called "Louis le bien aime," the well beloved. But if he had been called Louis le bien aimantthe man who loves his people; the title would have lasted longer: for he would have maintained the claim to it.

The minds of men are generally so wrapped up in selfish principles, that if they see a condescending virtue in another, they call it weakness; and, judging superficially, will condemn, when reason would approve. What raised Peter's realm? His condescending quali

ties for the good of his people. He travelled and worked as a common labourer in every shop or manufactory to which he could gain admittance, till he returned to his country with all the knowledge and practice necessary to instruct his countrymen in the execution of his grand design. Fools have laughed at the late king of France for making locks; at the king of England for being a farmer or a button-maker; but let us reflect, that it is the duty of monarchs to set the example of industry to their subjects; and whence will such an example be more quickly followed than from a throne? Kings are supposed to have as good an education as the best men in their nation can have given them. With this education they are supplied with means to practice.

Agriculture was very much in its decline in England about thirty years ago, when it was found necessary to revive its spirit. This circumstance being related to the king, he immediately ordered his lands at Kew to be put in the highest state of cultivation; and, to set an example to his subjects, attended frequently the work himself, and assisted in the labour. Every thing was done that the most scientific men could do, and the gardens and grounds were thrown open, under guard, for the inspection and improvement of the public. Soon after this the agricultural society was formed, which occasioned those admirable and useful treatises with which Mr. Young favoured his nation and the world: agriculture revived and flourished.

Louis the sixteenth, finding that his subjects were behind the English in the art of making locks, determined to stimulate the talents of his mechanics by doing something himself for their example: accordingly he

did so; and sent into the city the best lock that was ever made in France. The person who carried it was directed to show it to every locksmith in Paris, or to convene a meeting, where it might be publicly exhibited for the benefit of his subjects.

I have seen many beautiful works of different kinds executed by Louis the sixteenth, at a time when the Parisians were at least a hundred years behind the English in mechanics; when the government thought it necessary to send to Scotland for fifteen hundred hackney coaches, because they could not make any thing tolerably decent themselves.

But light men, who are mere automatons themselves, whose intellects are so barren of soil as not to give understanding an opportunity of rooting itself; they pretend to decide from a superficial view of actions which originated in the soul, were nourished in the mind, and matured by reason. The comprehension of some men is extremely limited; of others, extremely conceptive: hence arises unbelief on the one side and credulity on the other. The bishop of Bergen's kraken was so large as to extend beyond the stretch of the minds of the multitude;* yet many believe in the ex

* Pontopidon, bishop of Bergen, first asserted the existence of this animal. From all accounts, it appears to be incapable of swimming; his locomotive powers being confined to the bottom of the sea, excepting when, by the expansion of the remaining air within him, he is enabled to rise to the surface. The kraken is represented as being a mile and a half or two miles in circumference; when it rises to the surface, it is said to have the appearance of several small islands or rocks. This may account for the varying descriptions in the charts of the north seas, of small islands sometimes laid down in one latitude,

istence of that mass of animality. Many have laughed at the idea of the French confining themselves to fish, for food, during Lent, without considering that the secret wisdom of government ordered the practice, that earthnourished animals should not be killed prematurely, and that fishermen should have a certain vent for their fish. Why prevails, or rather, was established, in Boston, the custom of eating salt fish on Saturdays, but to engage a certain consumption for the encouragement of the fisheries. Search into every prevailing custom of this na

ture, and you will find it has its source in policy. About twenty years ago, in England, the riband manufacturers, not being able to dispose of their goods, sent a committee to the prince of Wales, to request that he would wear ribands in his shoes: he consented, and immediately the manufacturers were relieved.

Louis the sixteenth was of essential service to the mechanics in that branch of business; and all the return he received, about three years after the date of my present subject, was this remark, then commonly made: "to be sure he would make a very good locksmith, but

sometimes in another, and by some voyagers said no where to be found. The bishop observes, that the fishermen from the coast of Norway, when arriving at their usual fishing place, have frequently found, on sounding, only twelve or twenty fathoms where they expected to find sixty; and that they then say, "the kraken is here," and immediately remove. An instance is mentioned of a kraken's rising when the fishermen, in a boat over it, had not time to get entirely clear of it, and were upset by it. The bishop also states that one of these monsters, in attempting to get up a river and finding the depth of water insufficient, made an effort to turn, and was so entangled by his probosces among the trees, that he perished in ineffectual struggles, and caused a plague.

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