Salentum, he brings the men, with their
interests, their faculties, their desires, and their possessions, under
the absolute direction of the legislator. Whatever the subject may be,
they themselves have no voice in it--the prince judges for them. The
nation is just a shapeless mass, of which the prince is the soul. In him
resides the thought, the foresight, the principle of all organisation,
of all progress; on him, therefore, rests all the responsibility.

In proof of this assertion, I might transcribe the whole of the tenth
book of "Telemachus." I refer the reader to it, and shall content myself
with quoting some passages taken at random from this celebrated work, to
which, in every other respect, I am the first to render justice.

With the astonishing credulity which characterizes the classics,
Fenelon, against the authority of reason and of facts, admits the
general felicity of the Egyptians, and attributes it, not to their own
wisdom, but to that of their kings:--

"We could not turn our eyes to the two shores, without perceiving
rich towns and country seats, agreeably situated; fields which were
covered every year, without intermission, with golden crops;
meadows full of flocks; labourers bending under the weight of
fruits which the earth lavished on its cultivators; and shepherds
who made the echoes around repeat the soft sounds of their pipes
and flutes. 'Happy,' said Mentor, 'is that people which is governed
by a wise king.'.... Mentor afterwards desired me to remark the
happiness and abundance which was spread over all the country of
Egypt, where twenty-two thousand cities might be counted. He
admired the excellent police regulations of the cities; the justice
administered in favour of the poor _against_ the rich; the good
education of the children, who were accustomed to obedience,
labour, and the love of arts and letters; the exactness with which
all the ceremonies of religion were performed; the
disinterestedness, the desire of honour, the fidelity to men, and
the fear of the gods, with which every father inspired his
children. He could not sufficiently admire the prosperous state of
the country. '_Happy_,' said he, '_is the people whom a wise king
rules in such a manner_.'"

Fenelon's idyl on Crete is still more fascinating. Mentor is made to
say:--

"All that you will see in this wonderful islan