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LETTER II.

of affedtion to our own country. There is a ftorytold of Abgarus . He brought feveral beafts takenin different places to Rome, they fay, and letthem loofe before Augustus : every beaft ranimmediately to that part of the Circus, where aparcel of earth taken from his native foil had beenlaid. “ Credat Judaeus Apella.” This tale mightpafs on Josephus ; for in him, I believe, I read it:but furely the love of our country is a lelfon ofreafon, notan inftitution of nature. Education andhabit, obligation and intcreft, attach us to it, notinftindb It is however fo neceffary to be cultivated,and the profperity of all focieties, as well as thegrandeur of lome, depends upon it fo much, thatorators by their eloquence, and poets by theirenthufiafm , have endeavoured to work up thisprecept of morality into a principle of paffion. Butthe examples which we find in hillory, improvedby the lively deferiptions , and the juft applaufesor cenfures of hiftorians, will have a much betterand more permanent effedl, than declamation, orfoug, or the dry ethics of mere philofophy. In fine,to converfe with hiftorians is to keep good com-pany : many of them were excellent men, andthofe who were not fuch, have taken care howeverto appear fuch in their writings. It muft betherefore of great ufe to prepare ourfelves by thisconverfation for that of the world ; and to receiveour firft impreffions, and to acquire our firfthabits, in a feene where images of virtue and viceare continually reprefented to us in the colors thatbelong properly to them , before we enter on