Of POLITE LEARNING.
15
ambition; for in a nation of slaves, as in the despotic governments of the east, to labour after fame is to be a candidate for danger.
For a state to attain literary excellence, besides, it is requisite, that the soil and climate should, as much as possible, conduce to happiness. The earth must supply man with the necessaries of life, before he has leisure, or inclination, to pursue its more refined enjoyments. The climate also must be equally indulgent, for, in too warm a region, the mind is relaxed into languors, and by the opposite excess, is chilled into torpid inactivity.
These are the principal advantages which tend to the improvement of learning. Encouragement from the Great is useful in preventing its decline.
Those
