Chap. I. ANTIENT METAPHYSICS. 31 



cordlngly, we fee, that, in fome of the cold countries, there are very- 

 large bodies of men produced. In this country, where many people 

 think there is fo much cold that we cannot be too much upon our 

 guard againfl it, every man who has fenfe and rcfoluiion enough to 

 expofe himfelf to it, will feel the benefit of it. The indolent, who 

 would be exempted from the original curfe, and enjoy all the good 

 things of this life without toil and labour, would thrive much better 

 if they could perfuade themfelves to endure the cold of our climate, 

 which would brace them, and give them fome degree of firmnefs with- 

 out exercife; for I hold exercife to be lefs neceffaryin the cold countries 

 than in the hot, where, if a man will live delicately and indolently, his 

 folids will be relaxed by the heat, and his fluids will ftagnate, like wa- 

 ter in a pool, and he will die of a putrid fever, which, I am told, is 

 the common difeafe that cuts off fo many of our countrymen in thofe 

 climates. And I know a gentleman who, while he lived indolently 

 in Jamaica, ailed very much, but recovered his health perfectly when 

 he took to exercife, and even exercife which may be reckoned vio- 

 lent ; for he would have ridden 40 miles a day, with a burning fun 

 over his head. 



As to houfes, the fame New Hollanders (not to mention the Oran 

 Outans,) have nothing that deferves the name of a hut, but live, for 

 the greater part, in the hollows of trees, like the antient inhabitants 

 of Italy, mentioned by Virgil : And hence the origin of the fable, 

 that thofe antient Italians were produced out of trees *. The ftrong 



tall 



* Genfque virum truncis et duro robore nata. /Eneid. lib. 8. v. 315. 



Upon which the commentary of Servius is in thefe wojds : * Hoc figmentum Ho« 

 mericuin eft, et ortum ex antiqua hominum habitatione, qui ante factaa domos, aut 

 in cavis arboribus, aut I'peluncis manebant j qui, quum exinde egrederentur, et fuam 



edu- 



