Page:An Enquiry into the Present State of Polite Learning in Europe.djvu/84

Thus we see, in what a low state polite learning is in the countries I have mentioned. Though the sketch I have drawn be general, yet it was, for the most part, taken upon the spot, nor are the assertions hazarded at random. I am sensible, however, of the impropriety of national reflection; and did not truth biass me more than inclination in this particular, I should, instead of the account already given, have presented the reader with a panegyric on many of the individuals of every country, whose merits deserve the warmest strains of praise. Apostol Zeno, Muratori, and Stay, in Italy; Haller, Klopstock, and Rabner, in Germany; Muschenbrook, and Gaubius, in Holland; all deserve the highest applause. But it was my design, rather to give an idea of the spirit of learning in thesecountries,