3763. HOME, in France.—
The domestic
bonds here[France] are absolutely done away,
and where can their compensation be found?
Perhaps they may catch some moments of transport
above the level of the ordinary tranquil
joy we experience, but they are separated by
long intervals, during which all the passions
are at sea without rudder or compass. Yet,
fallacious as the pursuits of happiness are, they
seem on the whole to furnish the most effectual
abstraction from a contemplation of the
hardness of their government.—
To Mrs. Trist. Washington ed. i, 394.
(P.
1785)
