( xxxviii )
compleat portrait of the age, of the world, and of mankind. It is a wonder if we shall not soon bring ourselves to believe, that there is no other mode of existence but that in which we ourselves subsist.
And yet there never was a time, when the public was more greedy after novelty: But where do men for the most part seek for it? In new combinations of ancient thoughts. They examine words and phrases through a microscope: They turn their old stock of books over and over again: They resemble an architect, who should think of building a city by erecting successively different houses with the same materials. If we would seriously form new conclusions, and acquire new ideas, let us make new observations. In the moral and political world, as well as in the natural, there is no other way to arrive at truth. We must study the languages, the books, and the men of every age and country; and draw from these the only true sources of the knowledge of mankind. This study, so pleasant and so interesting, is a mine as rich as it has been neglected. The ties and bands of connection, which unite together the different nations of Europe, grow every day stronger and closer. We live in the bosom of one great republic, (composed of the several European
