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]70 LETTETIS ON SWEDEN,
appeared to me far superior to any other part of his
kingdom which had fallen under my view ;
and the
robust rustics to have their muscles braced, instead of
the, as it were, lounge of the Danish peasantry.
Arriving at Sleswick, the residence of Prince
Charles of Hesse-Cassel, the sight of the soldiers
recalled all the uupleasing ideas of German despotism,
which imperceptibly vanished as I advanced into the
country. I viewed, with a mixture of pity and horror,
these beings training to be sold to slaughter, or be
slaughtered, and fell into reflections on an old opinion
of mine, that it is the preservation of the species, not
of individuals, which appears to be the design of the
Deity throughout the whole of Nature. Blossoms
come fortli only to be blighted; fish lay their spawn
where it will be devoured ;
and what a large portion
of the human race are born merely to be swept pre-
maturely away ! Does not this waste of budding life
emphatically assert that it is not men, but Man, whose
preservation is so necessary to the completion of the
grand plan of the universe ? Children peep into
existence, suffer, and die ;
men play like moths about a
candle, and sink into the flame ;
war. and "
the thousand
ills which flesh is heir to," mow them down in shoals ;
whilst the more cruel prejudices of society palsy
existence, introducing not less sure though slower
decay.
The castle was heavy and gloomy, yet the grounds
about it were laid out with some taste ;
a walk, winding
under the shade of lofty trees, led to a regularly built
uud animal ed town.
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