LETTER VII.
GLARIS.
My dear Sir,
THE canton of Glaris is a mountainous country, of eight miles long and four wide, according to their own authors, perhaps intending German miles; but twenty-five miles in length and eighteen in breadth, according to ſome Englifh accounts. The commerce of it is in cheeſe, butter, cattle, linen, and thread. Ten thouſand cattle, and four thouſand ſheep, paſtured in ſummer upon the mountains, conſtitute their wealth.
The inhabitants live together in a general equality, and moſt perfect harmony; even thoſe of the different perſuaſions of Catholics and Proteſtants, who ſometimes perform divine ſervice in the ſame church, one after the other: and all the offices of ſtate are indifferently adminiſtered by both parties, though the Proteſtants are more in number, and ſuperior both in induſtry and commerce. Ail the houſes are built of wood, large and ſolid, thoſe of the richeſt inhabitants differing only from thoſe of the poorer, as they are larger.
The police is well regulated here, as it is throughout Switzerland. Liberty does not degenerate into licentiouſneſs. Liberty, independence, and an exemption from taxes, amply compenſate for a want of the refinements of luxury. There are none ſo rich as to gain an aſcendency by largeſſes. If they err in their councils, it is an error of the judgment, and not of the heart. As
