Page:Works of the Late Doctor Benjamin Franklin (1793).djvu/213

203 ſeems, in point of univerſality, to have ſupplied its place. It is ſpoken in all the courts of Europe; and moſt of the literati, thoſe even who do not ſpeak it, have acquired knowledge of it, to enable them eaſily to read the books that are written in it. This gives a conſiderable advantage to that nation. It enables its authors to inculcate and ſpread through other nations, ſuch ſentiments and opinions, on important points, as are moſt conducive to its intereſts, or which may contribute to its reputation, by promoting the common intereſts of mankind. It is, perhaps, owing to its being written in French, that Voltaire's Treatiſe on Toleration has had ſo ſudden and ſo great an effect on the bigotry of Europe, as almoſt entirely to diſarm it. The general uſe of the French language has likewiſe a very advantageous effect on the profits of the bookſelling branch of commerce, it being well known, that the more copies can be ſold that are ſtruck off from one compoſition of types, the profits increaſe in a much greater proportion than they do in making a greater number of pieces in any other kind of manufacture. And at preſent there is no capital town in Europe without a French bookſeller's ſhop correſponding with Paris. Our Engliſh bids fair to obtain the ſecond place. The great body of excellent printed ſermons in our language, and the freedom of our writings on political ſubjects, have induced a great number of divines of different ſects and nations, as well as gentlemen concerned in public affairs, to ſtudy it, ſo far at leaſt as to read it. And if we were to endeavour the facilitating its progreſs, the ſtudy of our tongue might become much more general. Thoſe who have employed ſome part of their time in learning a new language, muſt have frequently obſerved, that while their