NATURE AND NURTURE 63 



to be natural to him which show themselves upon his first entrance into 

 the world ; to wit, the senses, and such passions and appetites as are dis- 

 covered upon the first application of their respective objects. 



Ale. That is my opinion. 



Euph. Tell me, Alciphron, if from a young apple tree, after a certain 

 period of time, there should shoot forth leaves, blossoms, and apples, would 

 you deny these things to be natural, because they did not discover and 

 display themselves in the tender bud? 



Ale. I would not. 



Euph. And suppose that in a man, after a certain season, the appe- 

 tite of lust, or the faculty of reason, shall shoot forth, open, and display 

 themselves, as leaves and blossoms do in a tree ; would you, therefore, 

 deny them to be natural to him, because they did not appear in his original 

 infancy ? 



Ale. I acknowledge I would not. 



Euph. It seems, therefore, that the first mark of a thing's being natural 

 to the mind was not warily laid down by you ; to wit, that it should ap- 

 pear originally in it. 



Ale. It seems so. 



Euph. Again, inform me, Alciphron, whether you do not think it natural 

 for an orange-plant tree to produce oranges? 



Ale. I do. 



Euph. But plant it in the north end of Great Britain, and it shall 

 with great care produce, perhaps, a good salad ; in the southern parts of 

 the same island, it may, with much pains and culture, thrive and produce 

 indifferent fruit; but in Portugal or Naples it will produce much better 

 fruit with little or no pains. Is this true or not? 



Ale. It is true. 



Euph. The plant being the same in all places, doth not produce the 

 same fruit sun, soil, and cultivation making a difference. 



Ale. I grant it. 



Euph. And since the case is, you say, the same with respect to all 

 species, why may we not conclude, by a parity of a reason, that things may 

 be natural to humankind, and yet neither found in all men, nor invariably the 

 same when they are found? And, as those fruits which grow from the most 

 generous and mature stock, in the choicest soil, and with the best culture, are 

 most esteemed ; even so ought we not to think those sublime truths, which are 

 the fruits of mature thought, and have been rationally deduced by men of the 

 best and most improved understandings, to be the choicest productions of 

 the rational nature of man ? And, if so, being in fact reasonable, natural, and 

 true, they ought not to be esteemed unnatural whims, errors of education, and 

 groundless prejudices, because they are raised and forwarded by manuring 

 and cultivating our tender minds, because they take early root, and sprout forth 

 betimes by the care and diligence of our instructors. 



