410 STUDIES OF NATURE. 



'' plain, we (hould behold flarting up out of itV 

 ** abfence, a thoufand other evils of much more 

 " dangerous confequence. Nations do not under- 

 ** ftand each other ; this, you allege, is an evil : 

 ** but if all fpake the fame language, the impof- 

 '* tures, the errors, the prejudices, the cruel opi- 

 " nions peculiar to each Nation, would be diffufed 

 " all over the Earth. The general confufion which 

 " is now in the words, would, in that cafe, be in 

 ** the thoughts." He pointed to a bunch of 

 grapes : " Jupiter ^^ faid he, " has divided the 

 " Human Race into various languages, as he has 

 *' divided that clufter into various berries, contain- 

 " ing a great number of feeds, that if one part of 

 '■^ thefe feeds fliould become a prey to corruption, 

 *' the other might be preferved (27). 



^' Jupiter has divided the languages of men, 

 ** only for this end, that they might always be en- 

 *' abled to underftand that of Nature. Nature 

 " univerfally fpeaks to their heart, illumines rea- 

 *^ fon, and difclofes happinefs to diem, in a mu- 

 " tual commerce of kind offices. The paffions of 

 " Mankind, on the contrary, as univerfally, cor- 

 ** rupt their hearts, darken their underftanding,- 

 *' generate hatreds, wars, difcords, and fuperfti-' 

 *' tions, by difclofing happinefs to them only in 

 ** their perfonal intereft, and in the depreflion of 

 ** another. 



The 



