woman
who should bring me an immense dowry, with which I might assist my
country."

But he spoke much in praise of marriage, as an institution which the
experience of ages had found to be the best calculated for the happiness
of individuals, and for the good of society. Had he been a private
gentleman, he probably would have married, and I am sure would have made
as good a husband and father as he does a supreme magistrate and a
general. But his arduous and critical situation would not allow him to
enjoy domestick felicity. He is wedded to his country, and the Corsicans
are his children.

He often talked to me of marriage, told me licentious pleasures were
delusive and transient, that I should never be truly happy till I was
married, and that he hoped to have a letter from me soon after my return
home, acquainting him that I had followed his advice, and was convinced
from experience that he was in the right. With such an engaging
condescension did this great man behave to me. If I could but paint his
manner, all my readers would be charmed with him.

He has a mind fitted for philosophical speculations as well as for
affairs of state. One evening at supper, he entertained us for some time
with some curious reveries and conjectures as to the nature of the
intelligence of beasts, with regard to which, he observed human
knowledge was as yet very imperfect. He in particular seemed fond of
inquiring into the language of the brute creation. He observed that
beasts fully communicate their ideas to each other, and that some of
them, such as dogs, can form several articulate sounds. In different
ages there have been people who pretended to understand the language of
birds and beasts. Perhaps, said Paoli, in a thousand years we may know
this as well as we know things which appeared much more difficult to be
known. I have often since this conversation indulged myself in such
reveries. If it were not liable to ridicule, I would say that an
acquaintance with the language of beasts would be a most agreeable
acquisition to man, as it would enlarge the circle of his social
intercourse.

On my return to Britain I was disappointed to find nothing upon this
subject in Doctour Gregory's[109] Comparative View of the State and
Faculties of Man with those of the Animal World, which was then just
published. My disappointment however was in a good measure made up by a
picture of society, drawn by that ingenious and worthy authour, which
m