^793* on the study of natural history. 283 



systems, let the intention or explanation of such 

 systems be ever so good or correct. 



No pursuit can be truly endeared to us in which 

 we do not employ the energy of our understanding, 

 and satisfy our curiosity by our own particular in- 

 vestigation and minute examination ; to the want o£ 

 which I impure all that listlefsnefs and careh fsnefs 

 in the prosecution of rational curiosity which is so 

 notorious and so cruelly prevalent in common so- 

 ciety ; and which can only be removed by choosing 

 some one particular branch of knowledge in which 

 we wifli to excel, and setting ourselves seriously 

 and vigurously to examine every thing relating to 

 it, that either comes in our way accidertally, or that 

 we can by any means judiciously and properlj ob- 

 tain. 



An attentive and inquisitive mind often derives 

 very important instruction from appearances and 

 events which the generality of mankind regard as 

 trivial and insignificant. 



Even the great Sir Isaac Newton, of whom the 

 marquis de PHopital, one of the greatest mathemati- 

 cians of the age in which he lived, said, does Mr 

 Newtqn eat, or drink, or sleep, like other men ? I re* 

 present him to myself as a celestial genius entirely 

 disengaged from matter ; even this wonderful man, 

 my dear Alathea, confefsed to his most intimate 

 friends, what 1 believe to have been as authentic as 

 it is supereminently modest and unafsuming : 

 •' That for his own part he was sensible that whate- 

 ver he had done worth notice, was owing to a pati- 

 ence of thought, rather than any extraordinary sa- 



