had opportunities of being well acquainted with a class of
men, from whom my own personal knowledge emboldened me to draw this
portrait.

'We learn from Caesar and other Roman Writers, that the travelling
merchants who frequented Gaul and other barbarous countries, either
newly conquered by the Roman arms, or bordering on the Roman conquests,
were ever the first to make the inhabitants of those countries
familiarly acquainted with the Roman modes of life, and to inspire them
with an inclination to follow the Roman fashions, and to enjoy Roman
conveniences. In North America, travelling merchants from the
settlements have done and continue to do much more towards civilising
the Indian natives, than all the missionaries, Papist or Protestant, who
have ever been sent among them.

'It is farther to be observed, for the credit of this most useful class
of men, that they commonly contribute, by their personal manners, no
less than by the sale of their wares, to the refinement of the people
among whom they travel. Their dealings form them to great quickness of
wit and acuteness of judgment. Having constant occasion to recommend
themselves and their goods, they acquire habits of the most obliging
attention, and the most insinuating address. As in their peregrinations
they have opportunity of contemplating the manners of various men and
various cities, they become eminently skilled in the knowledge of the
world. _As they wander, each alone, through thinly-inhabited
districts they form habits of reflection and of sublime contemplation_.
With all these qualifications, no wonder that they should often be, in
remote parts of the country, the best mirrors of fashion, and censors of
manners; and should contribute much to polish the roughness, and soften
the rusticity of our peasantry. It is not more than twenty or thirty
years since a young man going from any part of Scotland to England, of
purpose to _carry the pack_, was considered as going to lead the life
and acquire the fortune of a gentleman. When, after twenty years'
absence, in that honourable line of employment, he returned with his
acquisitions to his native country, he was regarded as a gentleman to
all intents and purposes.' _Heron's Journey in Scotland_, Vol. i. p. 89.

515. _Eternity_.

'Lost in unsearchable Eternity!' ['Excursion,' Book iii. 1. 112.]

Since this paragraph was composed, I have read with so much pleasure, in
Burnet's _Theory of the Earth_, a pas