The life of David Hume, Esq; the philosopher and historian, written by himself. ; To which are added, The travels of a philosopher, containing observations on the manners and arts of various nations, in Africa and Asia. From the French of M. Le Poivre, late envoy to the King of Cochin-China, and now intendant of the isles of Bourbon and Mauritius.

ADVERTISEMENT.

LES VOYAGES D'UN PHILO|SOPHE of M. le Poivre have been much admired in France. They were originally read before the Royal Society of Agriculture at Lyons, of which he was presi|dent, and afterwards before the Royal Society of Paris. For sometime they were handed about in manuscript, and at length, found their way to the press.

M. le Poivre's manner is easy and elegant; his observations striking and judicious; his senti|ments humane and benevolent.— The genuine happiness of every nation must depend on agricul|ture, and agriculture must ever be influenced by established laws and modes of government: na|ture indulgently smiles on the labour of a free-born people, but shrinks with horror from the ty|rant and the slave. This is his system, and it is the system of truth, founded on experience, and supported not only by com|paring cotemporary nations, but by contrasting nations with them|selves at different periods.

It is necessary the reader should keep in view the country of the author, as many of his strictures on European agriculture, though unapplicable perhaps to Britain, convey a descriptive picture of the state of cultivation in France.