Full resolution (JPEG) - On this page / på denna sida - Introduction
<< prev. page << föreg. sida << >> nästa sida >> next page >>
Below is the raw OCR text
from the above scanned image.
Do you see an error? Proofread the page now!
Här nedan syns maskintolkade texten från faksimilbilden ovan.
Ser du något fel? Korrekturläs sidan nu!
This page has never been proofread. / Denna sida har aldrig korrekturlästs.
INTRODUCTION xxiii
ners were of course extremely simple. There was seldom
a cause, either civil or criminal, of importance enough to
be carried before the Court of Judication, established at
Annapolis. Whatever little differences arose from time to
time among them, were amicably adjusted by their elders.
All their public acts were drawn by their pastors, who had
likewise the keeping of their wills; for which, and their
religious services, the inhabitants paid a twenty-seventh
part of their harvest, which was always sufficient to afford
more means than there were objects of generosity.
"Real misery was wholly unknown, and benevolence
anticipated the demands of poverty. Every misfortune was
relieved as it were before it could be felt, without
ostentation on the one hand, and without meanness on the other.
It was, in short, a society of brethren; every individual
of which was equally ready to give, and to receive, what
he thought the common right of mankind. So perfect a
harmony naturally prevented all those connexions of gallantry,
which are so often fatal to the peace of families. This evil
was prevented by early marriages, for no one passed his
youth in a state of celibacy. As soon as a young man
arrived to the proper age, the community built him a house,
broke up the lands about it, and supplied him with all the
necessaries of life for a twelvemonth. There he received
the partner whom he had chosen, and who brought him
her portion in flocks. This new family grew and prospered
like the others. In 1775, all together made a population of
eighteen thousand souls. Such is the picture of these people,
as drawn by the Abbe Reynal. By many, it is thought to
represent a state of social happiness, totally inconsistent
with the frailties and passions of human nature; and that it
is worthy rather of the poet than the historian. In describ-
<< prev. page << föreg. sida << >> nästa sida >> next page >>
