24 STUDIES OF NATURE. 



before his death : between Titns^ ftigmatized with 

 the name of a fécond Nero, in his youth, and Titus 

 at his death, embalmed with the tears of the Se- 

 nate, of the Roman people, and of fhrangers ; and 

 tranfmittcd unanimoufly to pofterity as the delight 

 of mankind? 



It is not Climate, then, which regulates the 

 morality of Man ; it is opinion, it is education ; 

 and fuch is their power, that they triumph not 

 only over latitudes, but even over temperament. 



(Cefar, fo ambitious, fa diffolute ; and Cato, fo 

 temperate and virtuous, were both of a fickly con- 

 flitution. Place, Climate, Nation, Family, Tem- 

 perament, no one of thefe, and in no part of the 

 World, determine men to vice or to virtue. They 

 ;are every where free to choofe. 



Before we take into conllderation the evils which 

 men bring upon themfelves, let us attend to thofe 

 which are infiidled by the hand of Nature. It is 

 demanded. Why fhould beafls of prey exift ? 

 They are abfolutely neceflary. But for them the 

 Earth would be infefted with cadaverous fub- 

 fiances. There perifhes, annually, of a natural 

 death, the twentieth part, at lead, of quadrupeds, 

 the tenth part of fowls, and an infinite number of 

 inleds, mod of the fpecies of which live only one 



year. 



