o meet with a man possessed of the common elements
of being, who has not submitted to the tyranny of opinion, and adopted
the theory most in vogue. Few of us like to be singular, and hence we
often adopt opinions, which, at first, we entertain most unwillingly,
but which, after we have defended a few times, we come to love most
heartily. Nothing so heightens our passion for a beautiful woman as
obstacles thrown in our way; nothing so confirms our admiration of a
theory as shallow cavils; a weak battery raised against a besieged town
always increases the courage, and heightens the resistance, of the
besieged.

In respect of the person who should be sent on this honourable mission,
the Society were for a long time much perplexed, and began to fear the
"foundering of their hobby from want of a jockey of required weight." It
was necessary that he should be deeply imbued with classic lore, and
profoundly skilled in languages, because he was to "detect lingual
affinities," and further, might have to read manuscripts, and decipher
inscriptions, of the ancient people. He was required to be deeply
conversant with military science, in all its details, for he was to
report of the nature of Indian tactics, fortifications, and defensive
structures; and it was essential that he should be a theologian, for he
was not only to sow the Word as he went, but to gather, if possible,
from the religious opinions, rites, and observances, of the nations
scattered over North America, proofs of a similitude to other people, or
to accumulate data for the opposite belief. It was very difficult to
discover a man so eminently gifted and taught, and the Society found
themselves heavily burthened with the search. Nevertheless one was at
length found, imbued to a reasonable degree with the requisite qualities
in the person of M. Philippe Verdier, of the city of Nanci. They applied
to him to undertake the proposed mission, and he consented, protesting,
according to custom, his utter unworthiness, and his belief that France
had many sons more competent to the task than himself.

M. Verdier had studied in his youth, with the view of becoming a priest,
and was profoundly skilled in the learning proper for that vocation.
Afterwards, when he had abandoned all thoughts of entering the
priesthood, he served in Holland under Conde, and there, and in many
other countries, in succeeding wars, acquired the character of a valiant
soldier and expert tactician. Excel