Chap. r. ANTIENT METAPHYSICS. 23 



a 



mineral kingdoms ; and, not content with what he found above 

 ground, he has dug into the bowels of the earth, and and from thence 

 produced metals. But thefe could have been of little ufe to him. if 

 he had not brought down from heaven fire, as it is faid, but which 

 he now ftrikes out of flints, a difcovery that the Chinefe have not 

 yet made. Of the vegetable he makes food, and feuel for fire, 

 and many other ufes ; and as to animals, it is furprifing what a do- 

 minion he has obtained over them. The fiercefl: and ftrongeft of 

 them he has been able to refill and conquer ; others he has tamed 

 and fubdued, and made ufeful ta him, even fome of them of the 

 largeft fize, fuch as the elephant ; others of them he has domefti- 

 cated, and made companions of them, and guardians of his houfe, 

 and others of them he ufes for food. Nor is his dominion con- 

 fined to the land ; he reigns over the fea, and makes it fubfervient to 

 him, not only in furnifhing moft delicate food, but in wafting hin\ 

 to the moft diftant countries, and bringing from thence all the good 

 things of thofe countries which he by that means enjoys. The 



Leviathan, 



^^ whom God 



Created hugeft that fwim the Ocean ftream *, 



he has been able to conquer and kill, in his own element, and make 

 ufeful for the purpofes of life ; and modern art has fhewn upon 

 the fea a machine of enormous fize, vomiting fire and fmoke with 

 the noife of thunder, and fending death and deftru^lion to an amaz- 

 ing diftance : And this fo prodigious machine is governed by little 

 men fuch as we, and made to ride triumphant over the waves. In 

 fhort, fuch is this wonderful world of art, that not only thofe ftu- 

 pendous produdions of it I have mentioned, but even the meanefl 

 domeftic utenfil, aftonifties the philofopher who knows from what 

 fource it comes. 



Now, 



* Milton, 



