...be estimated by the assemblies of the gay, or the banquets of the rich. The great mass of nations is neither rich nor gay: they whose aggregate constitutes the people, are found in the streets, and the villages, in the shops and farms; and from them collectively considered, must the measure of general...

...be estimated by the assemblies of the gay or the banquets of the rich. The great mass of nations is neither rich nor gay; they whose aggregate constitutes the people are found in the streets and the villages, in the shops and farms ; and from them, collectively considered, must the measure of...

...master of the real character and disposition of a people, it is not sufficient, that he associates only with the grandees of a nation. He must mix with the plebe ians: otherwise he acquires but false ideas of the country, and its inhabitants. "The great mass...