Chap. I. ANTIENT METAPHYSICS. ^ §5 



by nature endowed ; and he was fo fond of them, that he beftow- 

 on them offices of dignity and profit *. 



Nor, is this mofl: unnatural vice unknown in modern times, though 

 not fo much pra<5lifed as in antient. It is not, however, uncom- 

 mon in Italy ; and it is prcidifed in Ruffia; and has reached even to 

 the barbarians of Kamfhatka, where, it is faid, they have male ia* 

 thics as well as women in their feraglios. 



That vices abound in all the civilifed focieties of Europe at pre- 

 fent, is a fad that cannot be denied; and the natural confequence of 

 vices are difeafes. What the number of difeafes in Europe at prefent 

 is, we do not know. In the time of Pliny the elder, the .number 

 exceeded 300. The number now muft be very much greater; for, 

 befides the difeafes which our vices and unnatural manner of living 

 muft produce, we have got imported, from the eaft, difeafes un- 

 known to the antients, fuch as the fmall-pox and meafles, which, it 

 is faid, was one of the fatal confequences of thofe romantic expedi- 

 tions to the Holy Land, or Crufades as they are called. In England, 

 as there is more wealth, fo there are more difeafes than in any other 

 part of Europe ; fo many that they never have been numbered, and 

 hardly names found for them, much lefs cures. One of them is a 

 moft deftru6tive difeafe, particularly among children, I mean con- 

 fumption, of which it appears, from the bills of mortality, that more 

 die than of any other two difeafes. And, not only in towns is this 

 difeafe fo fatal, but alfo in the country: For I have a bill of mor- 

 tality in my country parifh, kept for two years, from which it ap- 

 pears, that near a half of thofe that die are killed by confumptions. 

 Now, when children die of confumptions, it muft be the confe- 

 quence of the weaknefs or difeafes of their parents ; and the fame 

 muft be the caufe of the death of fo many children of other difeafes, 



of 



* iEllus Lampridius, in the life of Heriogabalus, cap. 1 2. 



