icity, accepting and considering as brothers
all those who really desire to follow the example of their Saviour
Christ--all those who really love to do good; unworldly and unselfish,
they would think themselves dishonoured, their reputation sullied, if
the gown, which gives them in the eyes of the people a sacred character,
served as a cloak, a pretext to cover a dishonourable or disgraceful
action.

It is also remarkable, and speaks volumes in their favour, that the
bishops are almost always at war with these poor and self-denying
_cures_, and would wish to see them take more interest in temporal
affairs, which they do not in the least understand; they would fain put
into their mouths the language of anger and bitter feeling, alike
foreign to their natures and the religion of their Divine master. The
large proprietors also, those who live on their estates and do not press
hard upon their dependants, enjoy great consideration, and share largely
with the _cures_ the hold they have on the affections of the people.
They frequently direct the opinions of the masses, and, with the
exception of their pastors, are the only class our rural population know
and revere. As to the generality of our statesmen, good, bad, or
indifferent, their names, brilliant as they may be, are not half so well
known in our villages as that of the most obscure labourer, the humble
artizan who knows how to file a saw or make a wheel.

"Who is that gentleman, sir?" said a Morvinian of the plain to me one
day, pointing to a tall thin man, with a bald head, and a pair of gold
spectacles on his nose,--a notability of the legislative assembly who
was going to step into the village tribune.

"That gentleman?" I replied; "he is an orator."

"Ah! an orator: and pray what sort of a bird is that? what is he going
to chirrup about?"

"An orator is not a bird, my good fellow; he does not sing, he makes
very fine speeches."

"And what of them?"

"What of them? why they teach men their duty."

"Their duty in what?" continued the peasant, with his pinching logic.
"Is it the duty of a father, of a son, of a soldier, of a baker?"

"Not at all; the duty of a citizen."

"Citizen? I don't understand, sir," said the peasant.

"Well, your political duties, if you like it better."

"I am still none the wiser. And so this fine gentleman, with his yellow
spectacles and bald head, is not going to tell us anything about crops,
vineyards, planting, or sowing?"