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fy’d to ſurpaſs us in Opera’s, ſince they are almoſt all ſcituated under a ſerener Sky.
If a private Man who miſtakes his Talent, and applies himſelf to things, for which neither God nor Nature have qualify’d him, does by that very choice deface all his good Qualities, and render himſelf contemptible to the World, how much more diſhonourable muſt it be for a whole Nation?
As all Kingdoms that are in different Latitudes, have Plants with very different Properties, ſo have they Natives with very different Talents. If any Yeoman of Kent or Suſſex, ſhould neglect to ſow his Wheat or his Barley, ſhould grub up his Fruit Trees, and demoliſh his Hop Grounds, and fall a planting the Olive of Lucca, the Orange of Naples, and the Muſcatello of Monte-Fiaſcone, or of Mont-Alchin; what would his Neighbours think of ſuch a Proceeding? And yet that Perſon would plainly aſpire in his choice. What then, muſt not the French and Italians think of us, who deſpiſe the moſt generous Productions of our own Minds, and indeed of the Mind of Man, for the vileſt of theirs of which we are not capable. Let us take heed, that as we have taken the Opera from the Nations which we deſpiſe, it senders us not contemptible to thoſe very Nations.
FINIS.
