8506. TRAVEL, Philanthropy and.—
From the first olive fields of Pierrelatte to the
orangeries of Hières, has been continued rapture
to me. I have often wished for you [Lafayette].
I think you have not made this journey.
It is a pleasure you have to come, and
an improvement to be added to the many you
have already made. It will be a great comfort
to you to know, from your own inspection, the
condition of all the provinces of your own country,
and it will be interesting to them, at some
future day, to be known to you. This is, perhaps,
the only moment of your life in which
you can acquire that knowledge. And to do it
most effectually, you must be absolutely incognito;
you must ferret the people out of their
hovels as I have done, look into their kettles.
eat their bread, loll on their beds under pretense
of resting yourself, but in fact to find if
they are soft. You will feel a sublime pleasure
in the course of this investigation, and a sublimer
one hereafter, when you shall be able to
apply your knowledge to the softening of their
beds, or the throwing a morsel of meat into their
kettle of vegetables.—
To Marquis de Lafayette. Washington ed. ii, 136.
(Ne.
1787)
