6589. PEOPLE, French.—[further continued].
In science the mass of
the people [of France] are two centuries behind
ours; their literati a dozen years before us.
Books, really good, acquire just reputation in
that time, and so become known to us, and communicate
to us all their advances in knowledge.
Is not this delay compensated by our being
placed out of the reach of that swarm of nonsensical
publications which issues daily from a
thousand presses, and perishes in the issuing?—
To Mr. Bellini. Washington ed. i, 444.
(P.
1785)
