268 STUDIES OF NATURE. 



perceives not their relations, unlefs there be fome 

 Reaumur at hand to difplay them to him ; or elfc, 

 the confiant habit of feeing them renders them in- 

 fipid ; perhaps it may be fome odious or con- 

 temptible prejudice ; for he is affefled flill more 

 by moral than by phyfical ideas, and by his paf- 

 fions more than by his reafon. 



We fhall farther remark, that all the fentiments 

 of conformity fpring up in the heart of Man, at 

 the fight of fome ufeful end, which, frequently, 

 has no manner of relation to his own perfonal 

 wants : it follows, that Man is naturally good, for 

 this very reafon, that he is rational ; feeing the 

 afpeâ: alone of a conformity, though entirely fo- 

 reign to him, communicates a fenfe of pleafure. 

 It is from this natural fentiment of goodnefs, that 

 the fight of a well-proportioned animal conveys 

 to us agreeable fenfations, which increafe in pro- 

 portion as the creature unfolds it's inftinâ:. We 

 love to fee a turtle, even in an aviary ; but that 

 bird pleafes ftill more, when at larg^e in the foreft, 

 uttering the murmurs of love from the top of an 

 elm, or when we perceive her bufily conftrufting 

 in it a neft for her young, with all the fulicitude 

 of maternal tendernefs. 



Once more, it is from a refult of this natural 

 goodnefs that want of conformity communicates a 



painful 



