2i3 ANTIENT METAPHYSICS. Book IL 



mor^ than overjiocked. — In crjilized Countries the Inhabitants mid- 

 t'lply i}ery muchfajlcr in the Fuji Jgcs of Civility. 



FROM what has been fald in the preceding Chapter concerning 

 the natural ftate of Man and the firft ages of Ibciety, the reader 

 will be able readily to diftinguifh betwixt the knowledge of arts and 

 faiences, and that ftrength of Mind by which we are enabled to aft 

 and tofuffer. This is a diHin^tion which is obvious to common ob- 

 fervation ; for we every day fee men, who excel in arts or fcien- 

 ces, but are very weak in Mind as well as in Body. Savages, there- 

 fore, though without thofe acquired endowments, are very much fu- 

 perior to us in natural ftrength and firmnefs of Mind. 



They are alfb fuperior to us in natural fagacity, which we mufl 

 likewife diftinguiih from the knowledge of particular arts and fcien- 

 ces. And, if they were not by Nature fuperior to us, their educa- 

 tion and manner of life would make them fo ; for, among them, 

 every man has every thing to provide for himfelf that he needs, not 

 being fupplied by the fkill or induftry of another. He muft, there- 

 fore, acquire a dexterity and readinefs of wit and invention, which 

 no man among us can have, who fupplies himfelf only with one or 

 two things, or, like the better fort among us, with nothing at all. 

 It is no wonder, therefore, that the Savages of North America, ha- 

 ving fo much better natural parts than we, and being fo much more 

 (killed in thofe arts, which with them are the necelTary arts of 

 life, I mean hunting, fifhing, and making war according to their 

 manner, hold us in great contempt, as animals abfolutely ufelefs j 

 and, when they fpeak of us, commonly give us the name of 

 the ivhite nothings unlefs when they are angry with us, which 

 they have often great reafon to be, and then they call us the people 

 accitrfcd of God *. 



There 



• Adair's Hiflory of the North American Indians, printed in London, 1775. ^ 

 have heard a (lory of a Britifli officer who was failing down the river St Laurence, 



irt 



