STUDY Vllt. 191 



confole Mankind under the preffiire of their po- 

 litical injuftice. But, if this were the cafe, how 

 could it have found it's way into the deferts, 

 and entered the head of a Negro, of a Caraïb, of 

 a Patagonian, of a Tartar ? How could it have 

 been diffufed, at once, over the iflands of the 

 South-Seas, and over Lapland ; over the volup- 

 tuous regions of Afia, and the rude Climates of 

 North-America; among the inhabitants of Paris, 

 and thofe of the new Hebrides ? How is it pof- 

 fible that fo many Nations, feparated by vaft 

 Oceans, fo different in manners and in language, 

 fhould have unanimoufly adopted one opinion; 

 Nations which frequently affeâ:, from national ani- 

 mofity, a deviation from the moft trivial cuftoms 

 of their neighbours ? 



All believe in the immortaHty of the foul. 

 Whence could they have derived a belief fo flatly 

 contradiifled by their daily experience ? They 

 every day fee their friends die ; but the day never 

 comes when any one re-appears. In vain do they 

 carry victuals to their tombs ; in vain do they fuf- 

 pend, with tears, on the boughs of the adjoining 

 trees, the objects which in life were moft dear to 

 them ; neither thcfe teftimonies of an inconfol- 

 able friendfhip, nor the vows of conjugal affedion 

 challenged by their drooping mates, nor the la- 

 mentations of their dear children, poured out over 



the 



