They had not combined Nitre and Sulphur with Charcoal: much less had they changed the Mode of War into Science, by establishing Founderies for Cannon, and the Study of Tactics. Yet some Nations with a Knowledge of the Moderns, as the Chinese, have not improved, even in the Construction of their Vessels, according to the European Manner; continuing still in practical Ignorance.
Nor have other Indians improved in Proportion to the Opportunities of Instruction in several Arts.
Those of America, for Example, who continue to hunt, fish, and scalp: neglecting the Plough, and other Arts of Property and Peace.
332. 4. And thus it has been with the British Nation on the Subject of Airostation.
Cavendish, Priestley, and others, had produced inflammable Air, weighed, and found it lighter than common Air: and all that had seen a bright Fire might conclude, if they reasoned at all, that hot Air was lighter than cold.
Yet if Montgolfier had not made, on a large scale the Application of hot Air, in a Bag open at the Bottom, and properly poised; Charles and Roberts woud probably not have thought of applying the Gass of Cavendish: and Mankind woud not yet have soared into the etherial Regions.
332. 5. In this the French are still before the English, and will continue so to be, without a laudable and unlooked-for Emulation in the latter. That the former admire Liberty, Montesquieu’s “Spirit of Laws” may determine; but they are not addicted to Politics. Their Nobility are endowed with a liberal and enterprizing Spirit. They join and patronize Men of Genius and Talents in the Cultivation of the Arts, and Improvement of every Kind of experimental Knowledge. Their Pleasure consists in a national Ambition to excel.
They have Leisure, and are sober.
Half that Time which Men of Fortune in France dedicate to Taste, Invention, and Refinement; Britons spend among the Beasts and Birds: the other half, at the Bottle, and in political Cabals.
Present Profit is almost the sole Motive for Excellence in Great-Britain: and Experiments[110] not made with that View, are seldom repeated; are overlooked and forgotten.