Page:Montesquieu - The spirit of laws.djvu/19

Rh custom whatsoever, which he has found in a political writer, the critic asks him, Is this a doctrine of Christianity? He might as well add, You say you are a civilian, and I will make you a divine in spite of yourself: you have given us elsewhere some very excellent things on the Christian religion, but this was only to conceal your real sentiments, for I know your heart, and penetrate into your thoughts. It is true I do not understand your book, nor is it material that I should discover the good or bad design with which it has been written; but I know the bottom of all your thoughts: I do not know a word of what you have said, but I understand perfectly well, what you have not said."

But to proceed. The author has maintained that polygamy is necessarily and in its own nature bad; he has wrote a chapter expressly against it, and afterwards has examined in a philosophical manner, in what countries, in what climates, or in what circumstances it is least pernicious; he has compared climates with climates, and countries with countries, Rh