Mr. M——, in his journey to India by land, met this enthusiast at Bassora, the 15th of August, 1770, who asked Mr. Pyrault, the French consul in that town, for a guide to conduct him through the desert. He was returning from Surat, where he had resided sometime with Mr. Anquetil de Briancourt, likewise a French consul. “This Arphaxad Tinnagelli,” says Mr. M—— in the manuscript account of his journey, “is a young man of about twenty-eight years of age, of middling stature, and seems to have the Lorrain accent. He gives himself out for an Arabian, born at Eliatiff in the gulf of Persia; he has written a romance, in which he has not shewn a more happy invention, than in his Arabian name. Notwithstanding his beard and dress, we soon discovered him to be a Frenchman, which he at length acknowledged. Having made himself pretty well acquainted with Arabic, he has written several things in that language, among others, a catechism called _Tinnagellique_ which begins thus: _Who is God? The truth. Who is his Prophet? J. J. Rousseau._ It was thought at Bassora,” continues our traveller, “that he had quitted his pranks entirely; and, on his promising to return to India and live as he ought, Messieurs Pyrault and Rousseau (the Persian, cousin to J. James) made him up an European wardrobe: he came with me as far as Mascata; but I could not get him any farther, and I left him quite disposed to go and complete his mission.” There is nothing more eloquent than outward appearance, especially among a superficial people. Why then do those, who, for the interest of their state or the happiness of their subjects, are under a necessity of commanding respect, neglect such powerful means? The beard presents them with the most simple, most natural, and most persuasive of all. With that mark of manhood our warriors would no longer look like women; we should have venerable old men and priests more reverenced. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ CHAP. III. _Of some SHAVED CHINS._ IT is a disgrace to man to have the most conspicuous mark of his virility taken off; to pretend that it becomes him to look like a woman, an eunuch, or a child, is the height of folly and ridiculousness. Even if this truth were not constantly supported by the will of nature, the opinion of all the most respectable characters of antiquity should be sufficient to establish it for ever among all nations, and this is what I would fain persuade my countrymen of.